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XP Pro Upgrade

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It took over an hour to download all of the MS website updates after I installed the CD. Nope, I've got IE7, I went to Win Upd and it doesn't have anything new for me. How do I get IE8?
 
One problem I've got is that OE won't work. When I bring it up, it hangs and I have to kill the process or it will just sit there spinning forever. I guess the executable is corrupted. How can I fix this?
 
BTW, I had this OE problem before I upgraded xp, but the upgrade didn't fix it, as I had hoped. Is OE part of IE?
 
OE kinda got orphaned/forgotten about, it's closest replacement is this :

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mail-xp

You can install the Windows Live package, you can customize which parts you use.

Getting the latest IE8 for XP :

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-8

However, as Microsoft is now concentrating on IE9 and beyond, I wouldn't recommend IE8 as your primary browser. I advise going ahead and installing it and keeping all of the updates coming in for it, but use an updated Chrome or Firefox as your primary browser, as you'll then have access to things like HTML5 and more current fundamental security improvements. On the odd case you run across something that absolutely has to run on IE, then you can pop open IE8. This will give you the best chance of a stable XP experience.

Similarly, media player has been abandoned for XP, so you may want to grab VLC player, CCCP codec pack, Winamp, etc, for your media needs.
 
I also recommend FF or Chrome. IE is tied to Explorer- your file manager. To me, this gives IE's the potential to be much more dangerous than the other browsers. Better to completly disable IE through the "Enable/Disable Windows Features" utility.

Remove Media Player while your at it, and use something without as much access to your machine. I use GOM Player, Irfanview, and Foobar2000 to run all media.

Make sure to use Sandboxie or similar (I don't know of anything better and free) to run your browser in. Your browser is the window to the world, and all the nasty stuff out there. It only makes sense to keep it isolated from the rest of your system.
 
You'd have a much better system, going forward: doing a complete backup/disc format/re-install using the XP SP3 install disc. There's too much ancient cruft hanging around, as you now have it running.
Also: Windows Media Player includes the SRS Wow audio enhancement, which I consider pretty much essential for most music listening.
XP SP3 still gets monthly security updates, so it's still a decent option compared with buying a new copy of Windows 7. Just use Firefox + the AdBlock Plus add-on for most of your browsing needs, and with IE8 available for the occasional "IE only" web sites.
 
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vailr said:
You'd have a much better system, going forward: doing a complete backup/disc format/re-install using the XP SP3 install disc. There's too much ancient cruft hanging around, as you now have it running.
Also: Windows Media Player includes the SRS Wow audio enhancement, which I consider pretty much essential for most music listening.
XP SP3 still gets monthly security updates, so it's still a decent option compared with buying a new copy of Windows 7. Just use Firefox + the AdBlock Plus add-on for most of your browsing needs, and with IE8 available for the occasional "IE only" web sites.
Click to expand...


Only if you have rubbish speakers😉
 
cmdridq said:
Are you guys saying that OE is no longer supported/available?
Click to expand...

Available yes, supported, kinda. But the last version came out in April 08 (6.0 SP3). It was replaced by Windows Mail (for Vista), which is now replaced by Windows Live Mail (XP/Vista/Win7), though new releases of Live Mail won't install on XP.

So :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mail

and then

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_Mail

If you want a good local email client that isn't getting abandoned for XP, go get this :

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

It's fast, well coded, very customizable, and very easy to setup/use. It will be far better than OE/WM/WLM will ever be. A lot of this has to do with Microsoft nerfing the free email programs so that more people in corp/business keep using the paid Outlook product.
 
cmdridq said:
I don't have any love for OE, but I've got an addressbook with a lot of entries that I would like to backup or save to a new email client. Is that what this baby will do? If so, TBird, here I come.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's been a couple years since I've done an Outlook Express to T-bird upgrade, but I remember it was easy and effective.
 
cmdridq said:
Will TBird run OK with IE as the browser, or is Mozilla required?
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T-Bird will run fine in IE. I still use OE for sending mail in XP Pro, (OE6) with IE8. I receive my mail with good old Eudora Pro - still the best mail management system around. I can easily move my mail files between computers. I also use it in Win 7.
 
I installed TB, it looks pretty nice. But remember, one of the reasons for my xp upgrade was because IE and OE were so out of date, and in the case of OE, it just quit working altogether. But I've got a big address book, so I figured I could import it into TB. When I did the address book copy, TB just hung and didn't do anything for a long time. And it didn't copy my OE address book. Something in OE must be seriously whacked out. Is there anyway I can get my address book contacts moved into TB?
 
How do I tell TB to download my mail from yahoo? I have 2 email addys on yahoo, and TB seems to be getting only the primary one. I don't see an option in TB enter alias names. ??
 
OK, I'm making progress. I'm getting all of my mail on TB now, and I have gotten TB to import my OE address book. However, it only imported the work phone numbers, and not the personal ones. Is there anyway to snag those also?[/I]
 
I'm good to go. TB is pretty nice once you figure out its nuances. I've got all of address book info and I'm getting all of my mail from yahoo. Yahoo! Thanks so much for your help!
 
Sorry didn't check this thread for a while, but happy to hear you're in good shape. It's gotta be a nice feeling getting that XP box up to date and running nice stuff like thunderbird 🙂
 
Hey, thanks for your attention and excellent advice, I really appreciate it. Yeah, it was a load off my mind, getting things squared away after so long. There was so much funky shit happening because it was so out of date that I wouldn't have been surprised if it had just gone south permanently.

Anyway, I love how things are just normal and reliable again. TBird is great, I was able scavenge my dead OE address book and import it into TB, which surprised me cause OE had been dead in the water for a couple of years. My main headaches nowadays are getting the screens to display properly. Some websites just look terrible in IE7. Sometimes the displayed text is way big, other times way small. And I can't figure out why. I didn't have this problem in IE6. And in TB, I have to figure out how change the fonts and point sizes in the inbox screen. They're too small. At least these kinds of issues won't sink my ship, like before.
 
I did the IE8 upgrade last night. I like IE8 better. Websites are rendering better and screens actually look clearer or easier to read for some reason.
 
cmdridq said:
I did the IE8 upgrade last night. I like IE8 better. Websites are rendering better and screens actually look clearer or easier to read for some reason.
Click to expand...

I'd still advise switching to Firefox at least, or Chrome... Chrome is much faster, more secure, and just seems to work better overall. Plus they bundle flash and take care of updates. I install Chrome and remove any previous version of Flash on systems I run.
 
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