Windows 98 vs XP

[Larry_OHF]

Larry - I notice you also said that you want to use Windows Media player for watching movies - DON'T. XP's built in firewall allows certain applications through without user knowledge and WMP is one of them. It sends details of all movies you watch to MS's servers. Currently they say they do nothing with this data but they could and I don't like the idea of them having this data anyway.

Is this undeniably true?

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Quote: Larry - I notice you also said that you want to use Windows Media player for watching movies - DON'T. XP's built in firewall allows certain applications through without user knowledge and WMP is one of them. It sends details of all movies you watch to MS's servers. Currently they say they do nothing with this data but they could and I don't like the idea of them having this data anyway.

Is this undeniably true? [/QUOTE]Yep it's true - I mean WMP tries to access the internet every time it loads up haven't you noticed? It's not such a big deal though. You can easily use free alternative programs to WMP which are actually better and you can also get a free 3rd party firewall (ZoneAlarm for example) which you can block WMP's net access with if you really want to use it.

LennonCook - the error handling in XP uses 2000's code - therefore 2000 is just as good - I never get blue screens of death in 2000. Also, your description of using the XP disc once is very misleading. What you have to do is: after installation, you have 30 days to "activate your windows". This means you click activate, it contacts an MS server, authenticates your version of windows and that's it. You don't have to type in anything. I never made any hardware changes after I installed XP Pro(have removed it since) so this is based on http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...activation.asp . This says that if you make a significant change to your hardware, the computer hardware ID will of course hash (if you don't know what this is, read about hashing functions in a security book ) to a different number. Therefore MS has no way of knowing that it is still the same computer that you are running that particular copy of XP on. Therefore you must reactivate by telephone. You DO NOT have to buy another license! That would be RIDICULOUS and even Micro$hit knows it! All they want to do is be sure that during no part of that copy's life, does anyone but you use it.

[Blade]

well i run xp home and i have no major problems it runs great and never crashes for me. The programs i have run have crashed a few times but thats about it. Some older games don't work well or don't work, and example is ff7 at the chocobo rases it crashes under xp and wont continue. One thing you want to make shure of though is you have the resourses to run the os. for once though microsoft actually put the minimum speks as the minimum required to run smoothly. As for upgrading i believe that it is actually only a certain number of components in a certain ammount of time that make you contact microsoft. If you let the time pass or put in everything at one it should be i believe. But then again i haven't really done any major upgrades to my system sence i installed xp, put in a new graphics card and a new burrner is all.

[Brennihelvete]

Originally posted by Vaskez: Quote: Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Quote: Larry - I notice you also said that you want to use Windows Media player for watching movies - DON'T. XP's built in firewall allows certain applications through without user knowledge and WMP is one of them. It sends details of all movies you watch to MS's servers. Currently they say they do nothing with this data but they could and I don't like the idea of them having this data anyway.

Is this undeniably true? [/QUOTE]Yep it's true - I mean WMP tries to access the internet every time it loads up haven't you noticed? It's not such a big deal though. You can easily use free alternative programs to WMP which are actually better and you can also get a free 3rd party firewall (ZoneAlarm for example) which you can block WMP's net access with if you really want to use it.

LennonCook - the error handling in XP uses 2000's code - therefore 2000 is just as good - I never get blue screens of death in 2000. Also, your description of using the XP disc once is very misleading. What you have to do is: after installation, you have 30 days to "activate your windows". This means you click activate, it contacts an MS server, authenticates your version of windows and that's it. You don't have to type in anything. I never made any hardware changes after I installed XP Pro(have removed it since) so this is based on http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...activation.asp . This says that if you make a significant change to your hardware, the computer hardware ID will of course hash (if you don't know what this is, read about hashing functions in a security book ) to a different number. Therefore MS has no way of knowing that it is still the same computer that you are running that particular copy of XP on. Therefore you must reactivate by telephone. You DO NOT have to buy another license! That would be RIDICULOUS and even Micro$hit knows it! All they want to do is be sure that during no part of that copy's life, does anyone but you use it.[/QUOTE]Funny thing Ive never been promted for such an reactivation. And ive uppgrade my computer to Oblivion... Hummm...

[Dagorion]

Thanks for all the help [img]smile.gif[/img] From what I have read here I think I will keep 98 although my main reason for thinking of getting XP was because of, like Larry said, the fact that it runs better with games and it has a better WMP but after reading about the spywear and info stealing WMP I think I'll stick with what I know...

[Vaskez]

Originally posted by Dagorion: Thanks for all the help [img]smile.gif[/img] From what I have read here I think I will keep 98 although my main reason for thinking of getting XP was because of, like Larry said, the fact that it runs better with games and it has a better WMP but after reading about the spywear and info stealing WMP I think I'll stick with what I know...

AS I keep saying: go get windows 2000 if you need to upgrade - it is just as good as XP in resource management and stability but the interface is more like 98. It basically has all the good features that you want from XP without the annoying stuff.

[Dace De'Briago]

Dual boot 2k and win 98. Keep the file system as FAT32 and you can't go wrong [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Dagorion: Thanks for all the help [img]smile.gif[/img] From what I have read here I think I will keep 98 although my main reason for thinking of getting XP was because of, like Larry said, the fact that it runs better with games and it has a better WMP but after reading about the spywear and info stealing WMP I think I'll stick with what I know...

I just spoke to a friend that has WinXP...and he says that there are easy ways to work around the spy-stuff...and keep your privacy. I am not convinced yet either way...but I am going to continue to investigate, and will probably end up buying it. I just need to tie up loose ends like finding out how to keep microsoft outta the loop.

[Harkoliar]

AS I keep saying: go get windows 2000 if you need to upgrade - it is just as good as XP in resource management and stability but the interface is more like 98. It basically has all the good features that you want from XP without the annoying stuff.

i heard that win2000 is not very user friendly and that it doesnt run some games especially pirated or burned ones... is that true??

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: I just spoke to a friend that has WinXP...and he says that there are easy ways to work around the spy-stuff...and keep your privacy. I am not convinced yet either way...but I am going to continue to investigate, and will probably end up buying it. I just need to tie up loose ends like finding out how to keep microsoft outta the loop.

Here's a page with the info you need to make a decision: The Direction XP is going
also: WMP Privacy Issues
and of peripheral interest: Why I hate Microsoft

[ 02-15-2003, 01:42 PM: Message edited by: Sir Krustin ]