Windows XP Home

[Arledrian]

Is it just me, or is Windows XP Home a total joke? It takes forever to start up, hogs memory like crazy, is buggy as hell, and makes my laptop look like a Teletubby accessory with its childish layout.

I'm so sick to death of having to take a shower or get some lunch while the computer starts up, and pressing a menu button only to have it depress without the submenu coming up. That's not even mentioning all the annoying updates that need to be installed, the constant de-bug windows, or the fact that I can only run a handful of programs without running short of memory.

Having gone from Windows 98se which was a fast, stable, efficient, and very reliable OS to this one, I have to wonder what possessed me to make this backwards jump. Is there any real benefit to keeping this OS aside from being guaranteed compatibility with the newest games and peripherals?

[WillowIX]

None what so ever. It should be a lot more stable than 98 though, but if you didn't have any problems with Win 98, well... You could try Win 2000, you get the same, if not better, compatibility as with Win XP. [img]smile.gif[/img] It also demands a lot less memory than Win XP. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[johnny]

No problems whatsoever on this side. I think it's rather fast to be honest. And i haven't had any bugs either.

[Timber Loftis]

Win XP needs a minimum of 256Ram for use. Mine boots faster than Win98SE ever did, though I admit it takes its time shutting down.

If you don't like the look of it, go to the control panel and change it. In fact you can make it look and feel 100% exactly like Win98SE if you like.

Win XP is really great, ole M$ actually coughed up something that's a keeper. I use external mouse, monitor, HDD, printer, scanner, camera, and I have never once had to install a driver for them. I tossed out those HP driver disks once I got XP. It's so nice that M$ finally got around to making software that simply works. It's been so long in coming.

I suspect you have gunk on your machine, low RAM, or a slow processor. Did the machine come installed with XP or did you upgrade? -- There ARE issues with upgrading.

I have only been unable to play one old game, and I can't remember what it is. I game a lot on my computer, and I'm in the middle of installing all my stuff anew, as I just got my 2nd XP laptop.

It crashed once -- only once, and that was with TOEE which is not exactly a Bastian of stability as far as programs go.

Anyway, it's one of the only things M$ ever did that I give a thumbsup to -- a half-hearted thumbsup, of course, but at least computers are starting to make life easier instead of harder.

[Zero Alpha]

Win XP Pro is much much better than home. even home is better than 98 though, but it does depend on your system specs. i wouldnt reccommend running XP on anything less than a 1GHz machine with 256mb of ram. even then you cannot expect a whole lot, so i suggest you turn off all the graphical options. you can do this in control panel > display properties> apprearance tab. its under advanced. also if you click on the themes tab in display properties, you can choose the windows classic theme (non tellie tubbie style). this may also speed it up.

[Arledrian]

Thanks for the replies [img]smile.gif[/img]

Timber, I have 256mb RAM and a 1.3ghz Athlon AMD processor. I know both are on the low side, especially for Windows XP - it did actually come with this OS right from the factory. I keep it very clean and am only using 4 of the 30 gigabytes I have, so I really don't understand what could be causing all this lagging and bugginess.

I was hoping to wait a couple more months with buying a new computer as I suspect that by January, I'll be able to pick up a P4 2.4ghz notebook for under $1000.

Which laptop did you go with in the end, by the way?

[Larry_OHF]

Here be another WinXP lover.

It does everything as good as I expect it to.

[Timber Loftis]

Dude, I got a Dell. 1.4Gb Centrino, 128 Nvidia, 512 Ram, 15.5" Screen. The only reservation I have about it is the 1.4Gb Centrino, as I was upgrading from a 1.0 Gb machine. However, all my research indicates it will run about as fast as a 2.0 P4-M, which I am hoping is not much slower than a 2.0 P4. I bit the "centrino is a faster system" bit, so let's see if it bites me back.

Besides, with Dells, you can replace the processor. It's got more replacable parts than any laptop I've seen.

It was expensive, but once you factored in the 3-yr drop-it-down-the-stairs warranty I got (including the screen!) and OfficeXP Small Business edition, it was a much better computer than I could get at BestBuy/CompUSA/PCConnection for the same price with the same perks. If you own a business, are a professional, or can classify your machine usage as business, then make sure you go the business computer services route with these places. They will cater more to you.

Since I also went ahead and got my Dad a long-needed laptop, they were able to give me about another $300 off the top on the deal, on top of the "perks" they priced at lower rates.

I have no idea why your XP machine is sluggish. You're running a system that is a bit better than the VAIO I was running and that my wife now owns. I used up 18 out of 20GB, had games installed on an external HDD, played everything on it (except TOEE -- video card issues) all the time fine. I used Norton regularly to clean up gunk. Maybe that's it. Your registry could be full of gunk eating your processing power. AFAIK windows doesn't have a real registry cleaner, so you need something like Norton.

[Arledrian]

You must've gone with the Inspiron 8600 - that's an awesome machine. As you say yourself, the Centrino processors are very speedy so your clock speed really is fine. Good thing you got the warranty - the screen on that notebook is beautiful and I would personally never sleep a wink without it being covered financially.

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered a registry cleaner, had been meaning to do it for a while, but I've always found more satisfying things to spend my money on up til now

Thanks for the advice [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-27-2003, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: Arledrian ]

[Timber Loftis]

If you do get a new laptop anytime soon (as you mentioned -- a few months, right) one great big frikkin perk of the Centrino is a baseline 5hr+ batter life. And, yes, it was the 8600. I got SXGA, as UXGA was quite a bit more -- not that I'd really know the difference without seeing it.