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[Taxi_Driver]

Fortunately, MS have released a util to prevent the auto download/install of IE7 for a set period.

None of my pc's (3 of them) have tried to download IE7......i havent downloaded/installed anything to stop them...maybe its my ADSL modem/router/firewall....stopping it  :-/

[Andy B]

I always wait a year 18 months before i get the new OS to let all the bugs get squashed out of it vista does look good though
sat on thw news though its comming out on the 30th/31st january

Unfortunately I doubt if my PC will last 18 weeks let alone 18 months. I'll ask at PC World  :-? then find out via Google.  

[Paul M]

Personally I'm glad to have finally moved away from M$ and their "Embrace, Extend, Destroy" policies. I recently upgraded the HD in my laptop which meant a reinstall of the OEM XP Pro, which started well with a General Protection Fault. When I got past that issue and finally got it installed, I quickly remembered how much of a complete PITA a new install of Windows is. I do not want Messenger, Windows Media Player, Movie Maker, Netmeeting etc etc.... Cos there are better apps out there that do the job in half the space (or less) and don't have highly sinister motives for being there (Media Player being the worst of those, hence why they've been forced to release a version of Windows without it in the EU after the anti-trust case). Finally I get round to updating, several hours later it's done and there's loads more sh1te clogging up my system. Brilliant.

And of course, the automatic update is now telling me that IE7 is a security update....er no, opps off, my security update is not running any version of IE and their accompanying zero-day exploits that fit nicely in with the M$ monthly update schedule. Disable automatic updates to prevent both IE 7 and Windows Genuine Advantage (to who? certainly doesn't provide any advantage to me) from being installed behind my back, and every 10 minutes it pops up a warning about updates being disabled. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhh!

My desktop PC is now Windows free, and I'm migrating my laptop that way too. I ain't touching Vista with a bargepole, XP is such a bitch to set up the way I want without all M$'s junk that I don't even want to start thinking how bad Vista is going to be. Besides, you still get crap like this coming in on a regular basis, and you can bet your ass it ain't gonna stop with Vista. It makes me laugh when M$ execs come out with crap like "Vista won't need anti-virus, it's so secure", yeah just like when you said XP won't have any buffer overflows  

Sorry for the rant, but I'm still churning from the hours of hassle I had with that laptop reinstall

[TheBoy]

Personally I'm glad to have finally moved away from M$ and their "Embrace, Extend, Destroy" policies. I recently upgraded the HD in my laptop which meant a reinstall of the OEM XP Pro, which started well with a General Protection Fault. When I got past that issue and finally got it installed, I quickly remembered how much of a complete PITA a new install of Windows is. I do not want Messenger, Windows Media Player, Movie Maker, Netmeeting etc etc.... Cos there are better apps out there that do the job in half the space (or less) and don't have highly sinister motives for being there (Media Player being the worst of those, hence why they've been forced to release a version of Windows without it in the EU after the anti-trust case). Finally I get round to updating, several hours later it's done and there's loads more sh1te clogging up my system. Brilliant.

And of course, the automatic update is now telling me that IE7 is a security update....er no, opps off, my security update is not running any version of IE and their accompanying zero-day exploits that fit nicely in with the M$ monthly update schedule. Disable automatic updates to prevent both IE 7 and Windows Genuine Advantage (to who? certainly doesn't provide any advantage to me) from being installed behind my back, and every 10 minutes it pops up a warning about updates being disabled. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhh!

My desktop PC is now Windows free, and I'm migrating my laptop that way too. I ain't touching Vista with a bargepole, XP is such a bitch to set up the way I want without all M$'s junk that I don't even want to start thinking how bad Vista is going to be. Besides, you still get crap like this coming in on a regular basis, and you can bet your ass it ain't gonna stop with Vista. It makes me laugh when M$ execs come out with crap like "Vista won't need anti-virus, it's so secure", yeah just like when you said XP won't have any buffer overflows  

Sorry for the rant, but I'm still churning from the hours of hassle I had with that laptop reinstall

I agree with most of that (though reinstall is easy - all my machines done monthly).  Vista offers much for corporates, not sure what it offers consumers, other than improved security.

Trouble is, there is nothing really to replace it.  XP is still the best option for consumer desktop...

[Andy B]

......
Trouble is, there is nothing really to replace it.  XP is still the best option for consumer desktop...

I suppose it's a bit like being able to work on your car - you either can or you can't. I can do mechanicals but I really really can't do computers!  
If you know what you're doing I suppose there are far better things than Bill Gate's finest but as I don't I think I'll be stuck with it.  

[TheBoy]

......
Trouble is, there is nothing really to replace it.  XP is still the best option for consumer desktop...

I suppose it's a bit like being able to work on your car - you either can or you can't. I can do mechanicals but I really really can't do computers!  
If you know what you're doing I suppose there are far better things than Bill Gate's finest but as I don't I think I'll be stuck with it.  

Alas, there isn't, even for nerds.

Mac OSX isn't too bad, though obviously hasn't really got the same software/driver support as Windows, though is improving massively lately.

Linux desktops are flippin' awful. Clunky and slow. And crash a lot (though this has improved lately).  Only people who use Linux as a desktop are workers who are forced to, or nerds who just want to be different.

Proper Unix desktops are probably worse than Linux ones - proper Unix vendors concentrate more on the core OS (as they tend to be used as servers) rather than desktop.

Most 'alternative' OSes to replace Windows have either bitten the dust, or become niche products, usually due to lack of software/hardware support.

[Taxi_Driver]

I think we should go back to using windows 3.1 or windows for workgroups 3.11, excellent OS   plus you didnt get virus's in those days   and if you were really lucky you got a 9.6k analogue modem  

Those were the days  

[TheBoy]

I think we should go back to using windows 3.1 or windows for workgroups 3.11, excellent OS   plus you didnt get virus's in those days   and if you were really lucky you got a 9.6k analogue modem  

Those were the days  

old git

[theolodian]

Update on me and IE7.  Rebooted with install of security updates.  Still no sign of IE7 since it was downloaded.


Oh, and yes my first job out of Uni we used Windows 3.11 and AutoCAD for DOS.

[Andy B]

I think we should go back to using windows 3.1 or windows for workgroups 3.11,  .......

I think I still have a (copy) set of both those systems somewhere!  

[TheBoy]

I bet I still have copies of Windows 1 on 5.25" and Windows 2 as well.....

[Andy B]

I bet I still have copies of Windows 1 on 5.25" and Windows 2 as well.....

I've never ever seen them in action.  :-?
Which 'computers' used an ordinary cassette tape for the programs? They took forever & a day to load anything up.

[CaptainZok]

I bet I still have copies of Windows 1 on 5.25" and Windows 2 as well.....

I've never ever seen them in action.  :-?
Which 'computers' used an ordinary cassette tape for the programs? They took forever & a day to load anything up.

Ahh the good old speccy was great in its day. I've got the emulator on my phone now how times change lol.

[TheBoy]

I bet I still have copies of Windows 1 on 5.25" and Windows 2 as well.....

I've never ever seen them in action.  :-?
Which 'computers' used an ordinary cassette tape for the programs? They took forever & a day to load anything up.

Original IBM PC had a cassette interface, as did some of the CP/M machines that predated PCs.

I've still got a Spectrum somewhere I think, and possibly a ZX81 as well. And a couple of QLs. And a BBC...   ...got a house full of junk.

[Martin_1962]

We powered up our Real/32 PC earlier this week, and also we are restating our Netware box