Windows questions from a clueless person

[ibex333]

Before I ask my questions i'd like to point out that I did a search on what I want to know, and did not find what I was looking for.

1)Currently I have Win XP Pro SP1, and I'm wondering if I should install SP2. I heared SP2 does something to your internet connection that screws up P2P programs, messes with your DL speed and so on. Is any of this true?

2)I heard the upcoming Windows Vista is nothing good. Too much eye candy, too demanding on the PC hardware, system hog, unnecessary new bells and wistles. If I dont upgrade when it comes out, will I still be able to use most consumer programs and games that will come is 2006-2007??? What happened to Longhorn? (or Shorthorn)
Jeez, I must have been living in a cave for the past 2 years. (that's partially true actually)

3) As an average to above average user with an AMD 64 Athlon, do I need Win XP 64 Edition? I heared it has too many problems to concider it.


I know that I asked too many questions and answering them takes up your time, so feel free to keep em as brief or as long as you want.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Before I ask my questions i'd like to point out that I did a search on what I want to know, and did not find what I was looking for.

1)Currently I have Win XP Pro SP1, and I'm wondering if I should install SP2. I heared SP2 does something to your internet connection that screws up P2P programs, messes with your DL speed and so on. Is any of this true?

There may have been some issues around programs that tried to open a LOT of connections at once (ie, BitTorrent, although BT clients generally being buggy crap doesn't help), but I think they have all been resolved. It definitely doesn't screw with your normal internet speeds.

2)I heard the upcoming Windows Vista is nothing good. Too much eye candy, too demanding on the PC hardware, system hog, unnecessary new bells and wistles. If I dont upgrade when it comes out, will I still be able to use most consumer programs and games that will come is 2006-2007??? What happened to Longhorn? (or Shorthorn)
Jeez, I must have been living in a cave for the past 2 years. (that's partially true actually)

Vista == Longhorn. "Longhorn" was the development codename. Please wait until it's out before passing judgement on it, as it is still in Beta. There's no way anyone outside of Microsoft can really say anything definitive about how it will look in its final form.

I doubt you will have problems using most programs/games for the next few years. I mean, a lot of stuff made for WinXP/2K will still run on Win95/98. It will be a *while* before games start requiring DX10, although you may miss out on some fancy graphics.

3) As an average to above average user with an AMD 64 Athlon, do I need Win XP 64 Edition? I heared it has too many problems to concider it.

Not really, unless you have some particular 64-bit application you want to run. 32-bit apps running under WinXP 64-bit don't get much (if any) performance boost.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Before I ask my questions i'd like to point out that I did a search on what I want to know, and did not find what I was looking for.

1)Currently I have Win XP Pro SP1, and I'm wondering if I should install SP2. I heared SP2 does something to your internet connection that screws up P2P programs, messes with your DL speed and so on. Is any of this true?

Nothing that I know of. p2p and other such programs work fine on my sp2 system. Not installing sp2 is one of the stupidest things you could do, administration wise.

2)I heard the upcoming Windows Vista is nothing good. Too much eye candy, too demanding on the PC hardware, system hog, unnecessary new bells and wistles. If I dont upgrade when it comes out, will I still be able to use most consumer programs and games that will come is 2006-2007??? What happened to Longhorn? (or Shorthorn)
Jeez, I must have been living in a cave for the past 2 years. (that's partially true actually)

Vista is longhorn. You should be able to turn off most of the extra eye candy. Software will probably support XP for a few years, at least. MS support of XP home is supposed to end at the end of this year though, unless something changed recently.

3) As an average to above average user with an AMD 64 Athlon, do I need Win XP 64 Edition? I heared it has too many problems to concider it.

Don't bother with it.

 

[scottws]

The connection "problem" isn't a problem at all. SP2 just lets you have no more than 10 half-open connections. It queues the rest. All that means is that P2P programs that use a lot of connections like eMule and Bittorrent take longer to acquire all the sources (since some of the connections are queued). You don't lose any true functionality as far as I know.

There is no reason not to install SP2.

 

[ibex333]

Thanx guys. I feel much more "up to date" now...
This stuff was getting me quite confused.

 

[stash]

MS support of XP home is supposed to end at the end of this year though, unless something changed recently.

Yes, something did change recently.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&x=16&y=12&C2=1173

Mainstream support of Home will now end two years after the release of Vista.