Things I hate about Windows XP

[WilsonTung]

Windows XP Professional is a pretty good OS, but there are some things I really hate about it.

(1) Too much integration. I can understand integrating a webbrowser as part of the explorer, but not Windows Messanger (the sneaky thing just won't go away), Windows Movie Maker (wtf would I use this for?), Outlook Express, and Windows Media 8 (slow as all hell).

Microsoft should at least make them easy to uninstall instead of hiding their unistalls in the hope that someone will use these programs. Better yet, there should be options during installation of the OS that allow people to not install them in the first place.

(2) Install time. It takes way to long to install this operating system. At least it boots quickly though.

(3) Cheap pitches everywhere for MS related services. Why does my IE have to have a whole bunch of links to hotmail and other stupid things I never use? Why does Windows Messanger have to tell me to get a .NET passport? Wtf I don't want to be bothered - I just want my software to work.

 

[FuManStan]

<< Windows XP Professional is a pretty good OS, but there are some things I really hate about it.

(1) Too much integration. I can understand integrating a webbrowser as part of the explorer, but not Windows Messanger (the sneaky thing just won't go away), Windows Movie Maker (wtf would I use this for?), Outlook Express, and Windows Media 8 (slow as all hell).

Microsoft should at least make them easy to uninstall instead of hiding their unistalls in the hope that someone will use these programs. Better yet, there should be options during installation of the OS that allow people to not install them in the first place.


I believe that those are the exact things that OEM's are supposed to be able to remove with the release of XP SP1.


(2) Install time. It takes way to long to install this operating system. At least it boots quickly though.


Yeah, it seems no matter how fast the computer installation will take up to an hour


(3) Cheap pitches everywhere for MS related services. Why does my IE have to have a whole bunch of links to hotmail and other stupid things I never use? Why does Windows Messanger have to tell me to get a .NET passport? Wtf I don't want to be bothered - I just want my software to work. >>

 

[JellyBaby]

If you think a clean install on your own rig is bad you should see an XP system from Dell. The poor user is literally assaulted with ads, offers, trials and the like not just from M$ but from all those dandy Parters. It's really a shame to see usability shattered like that.

 

[ProviaFan]

<< If you think a clean install on your own rig is bad you should see an XP system from Dell. The poor user is literally assaulted with ads, offers, trials and the like not just from M$ but from all those dandy Parters. It's really a shame to see usability shattered like that. >>


Yea, I hate those things. On an HP system w/ windows preinstalled, I kept getting bombarded with this f_cking stupid yahoo ad, and also it kept popping up a box that wanted to play me a movie about "how to use the media player" or something like that. (it was very embarrassing that it would pop up in the middle of a powerpoint presentation). I deleted it from the "scheduled tasks", but it kept coming back; the only thing that got rid of it was to let the sucker play one time through (and then you had to sit through the whole freaking thing; there was no stop button).
Oh well, the rant ends here. (sigh)

 

[benjamit]

i don't know about you guys but i install os in my machines too dam often

and one thing that is clear for me is that xp installs considerably faster than any other windows before

i consider an os install to include drivers (from a full working system in one os to another full working system in another os)

xp has the most h/w driver support that i've seen

in this regard xp rocks, i don't even need all of those driver cds anymore

windows movie maker is like imove, ok for simple dv editing i you don't have a dvd burner or a mac or if you do have a mac but prefer dv editing on windows

 

[Mem]

<< (2) Install time. It takes way to long to install this operating system. At least it boots quickly though. >>



It also installs fast ,I guess it depends on your hardware but on mine it only took 30 mins which`s fast,also my WinXP is rock stable with no problems,funny how they`re boring when you`ve no problems.

 

[jkoXP]

goto INFO folder, look for sysoc

delete all instances of 'hide'
restart
goto ad remove componets, there you go, remove msn messenger

 

[smp]

I hate all that sh!t too .... MSN messenger et al .. ptooie

I can't believe that Dell's bombard you with ads ... that is really disrespectful because after paying all this money for a computer you get hit w/ advertising .. that should be illegal.

It's like the movie theatres .. here in Toronto they have all these new movie theatres w/ bigger screens/sound etc (as I'm sure they have everywhere) and tickets cost 12 CND .. up from about 7or 8 .. guess what? Advertising has increased too, before they used to show you previews, now it's full blown, full feature ADS!!! Like, WTF? I want my goddamn money back you dirty old misers.

 

[Haden]

It takes more than 15 minutes to configure XP after clean install, no problem thought but "Do not install" would be better than "Remove after install".

BTW, don't you think it would be great step forward if explorer would be separate from shell? (I just hate to lose all tray icons if I have to kill explorer process).
I think very light/fast, running with High priority shell process would increase overall system stability and response time.

 

[ProviaFan]

<< It takes more than 15 minutes to configure XP after clean install, no problem thought but "Do not install" would be better than "Remove after install".

BTW, don't you think it would be great step forward if explorer would be separate from shell? (I just hate to lose all tray icons if I have to kill explorer process).
I think very light/fast, running with High priority shell process would increase overall system stability and response time. >>


Yes, I think that would be a good idea to have it set up in such a way.

 

[c0rv1d43]

Hmmm. I found it very easy to turn off every item I didn't like (Messenger for instance) the first time I encountered it. (Of course, you do have to do it for each user account you set up. I wouldn't uninstall anything. I just tailor what's there to behave the way I want it to behave.)

There are some outstanding improvements in WinXP, even above Win2K -- a few for instances:

- There are no registry software hive size limitations, not that most sane people should be hampered by Win2K's limitations in this regard.

- RunAs can be set up so that it doesn't ask for a password, a big improvement over the Win2K implementation.

- Hardware support is outstanding, and parallel device driver loading results in fast boot times.

I agree that OEM installations of the OS are truly horrible -- at least all of them that I've seen. But since when didn't we just wipe the drive on any new OEM setup and re-install the OS any way?

The install time for the basic OS install is a bit longer than for Win2K or Win98SE, but there's hardly anything to do besides personal profile preferences after that. That's because of the outstanding device support. I've placed WinXP Pro on a bunch of different systems, some of them more than 4 years old. It has dealt, at least adequately, with every piece of hardware I've thrown at it. I'll admit that I use only mainstream hardware, but I think this record is still really impressive. I haven't enjoyed this level of device support on any other OS.

Most people seem to either love or hate the UI. I'll admit that I've had to expend a bit of effort to acclimatize myself to it, but the sucker works -- especially for end users. But I've forced myself to use the so-called "Fisher-Price" interface on my own systems, and I've found it to be quite effective. I've made some configuration changes from default to keep me from going insane when trying to use portions of the UI, like the "Find Files / Search" features, but every alteration I've had to make has been easy to implement and has resulted in an imminently useable OS interface. To be frank, I think that Microsoft did a pretty damned good job on this thing. And, contrary to the expressed opinions of many, I think that it does offer considerable value above and beyond the value of Win2K Pro. Admin types should be particularly happy with the rather outstanding array of features that it affords them in a networking environment. I come from a very long involvement with big iron and *nix systems, and I have never before seen any end user desktop with such an easily accessible array of features and compatible applications. Yeah, it's not the ultimate bastion from security risks. So what? I like it. It's my favorite OS so far after thirty years of involvement with computing systems.

- Collin

 

[evlyons]

I think I'll stick with Win2K. Sounds like a headache no matter how you look at it.

-earle.:disgust:

 

[MethuenPrincess]

Hey, where exactly is the INFO folder where I can remove those "pop-up" programs like Messenger? I get those too and it's hellva annoying.

 

[McCarthy]

My biggest problem with WinXP isn't the Fisher Price look (went Win classic right away) or even the messenger that I can't get to show in uninstall, but rather....

....Windows Explorer just quits working. I'm one of those guys who almost always has explorer (not internet explorer, the file one) open. I'll switch back to it and find it won't refresh a directory. Or it won't expand a branch. Or I'll select a directory and it'll show it empty - as well as any other selected. Close explorer, reopen it, all better. Keep hitting the windows update page hoping something there will magically fix it, no luck so far.

--Mc

 

[RalfHutter]

c0rv1d43 - How do you get rid of the password prompt when you use "Runas"?

 

[c0rv1d43]

<< c0rv1d43 - How do you get rid of the password prompt when you use "Runas"? >>



I just place this entire line --

C:\WINDOWS\system32\runas.exe /noprofile /env /savecred /user:[admin user account name] [path-and-program name]

-- in the Target field of the shortcut the user is going to use to start the program. The first time it is run from this shortcut you are prompted for the password. After that it runs without the prompt. If you enter "runas /?" at a CMD prompt you'll see the pertinent information. As you'll note from the information provided, this trick doesn't work in Home Edition. That makes sense because, unless you use "control userpasswords2" to get the alternate user accounts applet you can't even create user accounts other than the admin and limited types in Home Edition, and there's no group policy editory in any case in that version.

I had a bunch of Win2K Pro systems that I needed this feature on so that we could give Power Users access to driver and service controls, but the /savecred switch doesn't work with the Windows 2000 runas executable. And I'm told, though I haven't tried it, that the WinXP version of runas.exe won't work in Win2K. (Apparently, this is not a simple matter of Windows File Protection balking at the change.) If someone here knows how I can get this to work in Win2K Pro, I'd love to hear about it.

- Collin

 

[c0rv1d43]

<< ....Windows Explorer just quits working. I'm one of those guys who almost always has explorer (not internet explorer, the file one) open. I'll switch back to it and find it won't refresh a directory. Or it won't expand a branch. Or I'll select a directory and it'll show it empty - as well as any other selected. Close explorer, reopen it, all better. Keep hitting the windows update page hoping something there will magically fix it, no luck so far. >>



That's odd. The only Explorer issues I've had with either Win2K or WinXP were in Win2K before the SP2 update. Any other symptoms like slow Start Menu behavior, slow Desktop refreshes?

- Collin

 

[zigCorsair]

Ahh... explorer issues.

I agree with the goal of fixing having to kill all of IE when one window goes bad or I hit "debug" by mistake.

I think I have some bad sectors on my hard drive, because I did a quick format on my laptop - mistake. Windows explorer gets icons confused, and of course it crashes. Also, I think it'd be really good if navigating accross a network could be sped up somehow. I don't know the details behind it, but it's slow - even on fast machines and networks.

Props for a good comments - thought this would be more bashing than what it's been .

 

[VivienM]

<< I agree with the goal of fixing having to kill all of IE when one window goes bad or I hit "debug" by mistake.
>>



Just turn on the option to have IE run in a separate process, then each time you want to open a new window, instead of Ctrl-N (which opens a new window in the same IE process), use the IE icon on the start menu or the quick launch bar. Boom, if one IE window crashes, the others'll keep going just fine.

Disclaimer: this eats RAM. A lot of RAM. IE on XP seems to be mucho more RAM hungry than IE on Win2K; I'm talking 15-40 megs per process here. *hugs his gig of RAM...*

 

[Dreadogg]

I personally love XP it is a great OS! But you have to configure it right or it will treat you like a noob! I personally like GUI its really smooth the colors are great except the green start button ( by the way if anyone has a simple fix for this PM me I am to lazy to look it up) I also seem to think its pretty stable, now remember when those silly little programs like kazza etc.. crash is that really XP's fault? For you guys out there having problems with windows explorer have you tried Adaware? That seems to fix all those problems! the msn messenger thing I know there is a regestry key that just needs to be renamed or remove a comma or something like that and then you can see it in the addremove section of the control panel , anyone follow this? Or you could just go to start run and type this in "RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove" and hit enter and see what that does! But stick with you'll see eventually or you could just go back to win 98 ! LOL

 

[kitkit201]

if you hate the green button.. go to http://www.themexp.org and download some new themes that's not the typical Luna style (the green button kind)

personally, i love xp and it is good becuase i just plug in my peerless and boom it knows it instantly, no need for drivers or anything!