- Site menu:
- Latest Discussions
- Latest Newswire
- Archives
- Submit Story
- Story HOWTO
- Syndicate
- E-mail Alerts
The Biggest Windows XP Myth of All
As thousands -- perhaps millions -- of users seek to avoid Windows Vista, a new myth about Windows XP is emerging. But the myth, much like Windows itself, is full of holes. |
|
|
Comments (10)
I'd put somewhere around 2), the strange fact that I somehow cannot read and write files from my XP's NTFS boot partition using the a full LiveCD (MEPIS, KNOPPIX, even SLAX...)
Hmm.... I used the correct mount options, what's going on here?
I went through the five stages again last night. I was at work until 12:30 a.m. ... and the box pretty much gave up on me at 11. Sure, I rebooted and brought it back, but it just can't stand the heat.
At work I have an XP box, it has a 3.2 Gig Processor, beefy video card, 2 Gig of RAM heaps of freeDisk space, and i runs like a Dog with 3 legs.
I actually know what the problem is (other than it's Windows, no that actually is the problem, all other problems stem from that fact), but I'm not about to do anything about it, you see it's suffering from file fragmentation issues, in fact they are now so bad the OS can't locate continuous free disk space into which to grow the virtual memory cache file, so the machine spends a lot of time chewing up cpu and generally going no where. My boss's solution is to, as he puts it, repave the computer. The fact that the machine is badly fragmented also means that applications take forever to load. I could run the defragmenter, but gee I'm just not used to such a concept, I use Linux, and you never have to do that on Linux, and it just wouldn't occur to me.
I actually know what the problem is (other than it's Windows, no that actually is the problem, all other problems stem from that fact), but I'm not about to do anything about it, you see it's suffering from file fragmentation issues, in fact they are now so bad the OS can't locate continuous free disk space into which to grow the virtual memory cache file, so the machine spends a lot of time chewing up cpu and generally going no where. My boss's solution is to, as he puts it, repave the computer. The fact that the machine is badly fragmented also means that applications take forever to load. I could run the defragmenter, but gee I'm just not used to such a concept, I use Linux, and you never have to do that on Linux, and it just wouldn't occur to me.
> ...it's suffering from file fragmentation issues,
Well, if the install is more than 6 months old, that's a given with Windows. :( It sounds like yours is a lot older than that though.
If you have imaging software on hand, imaging the machine up to a server or second hard drive and back will usually do a better job of defragging the hard drive than using the defragmenter.
Well, if the install is more than 6 months old, that's a given with Windows. :( It sounds like yours is a lot older than that though.
If you have imaging software on hand, imaging the machine up to a server or second hard drive and back will usually do a better job of defragging the hard drive than using the defragmenter.
My 80 GB drive has about 13 GB free. You'd think that would be enough.
I like the fact that Windows rot sets into a server as bad as on a workstation. Some of my clients have Server 2000 boxes that can no longer defragment at all...it's all red, the defrag runs, it says it done and doesn't need anything else done, and it's still all red. Yuck. And things are slow, etc. The only way to fix Windows rot is to flatten the server and start over...which causes so much trouble in an Active Directory domain, especially since a lot of our clients run Small Bullsh...I mean, Small Business Server. That's a pain in the rump.
> The only way to fix Windows rot is to flatten the server and start over...
The only complete way, yes. But see my comment to tracyanne above about reimaging the machine. Since most imaging software rewrites file by file, it tends to defragment the filesystem fairly well.
The only complete way, yes. But see my comment to tracyanne above about reimaging the machine. Since most imaging software rewrites file by file, it tends to defragment the filesystem fairly well.
Quoting:will usually do a better job of defraggin
But I'm not interested in fixing it.
Quoting: But see my comment to tracyanne above about reimaging the machine
I'll keep it in mind...I have a few clients who could benefit from it. I am imaging on old Citrix server onto new hardware soon...perhaps that will improve the performance more than just the new hardware alone will. I'll do a defragmentation analysis on both machines and let you know the results...I'll get a screen shot of both.
Quoting: But I'm not interested in fixing it.
You'll be pleased to know that my way of fixing my Windows install is to boot into the other partition, Mandriva 2008.1. :) I install 4 billion programs on Mandriva, it just marches on...Windows just gets heavier and crappier...I need to reinstall after less than 2 months!! Oy!
Post a comment
A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.
Your message:Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help
Sign up and post (it is free) or Log in and post
2) OK, I've got my antivirus, my anti-spyware ... but I'm locked out of the administrator account and can't even defragment my drive. Oh well, they say NTFS doesn't need so much defragmenting. They must be right. Hey, I've even got OpenOffice. What's this OpenOffice?
3) Man, does this IE 6 stink. Maybe I'll finally stop ignoring those incessant upgrade messages and get IE 7.
4) Damn. IE 7 is much worse. Sure, I've got tabbed browsing, but does it have to be so slow. ... Oh well, I've got Firefox. And how come when I get a dozen windows open in XP, the whole box gets sludgy on me? Wait, it never used to crash this much ... I would reinstall, but I don't have the disc ...
5) Hey, you mean I can get OpenOffice, Firefox and 10,000 other applications with one system -- and from one place? All I have to do is open a package-management window and check off what I want? I never have to defragment? Backup software won't cost me anything? Viruses, trojans, malware and spyware won't bother me? I don't have to pay for upgrades? I can choose from dozens of different operating-system distributions with dozens of different desktop environments to suit my hardware and work needs? And it's all free, I can see the source code whenever I want?