Anyone tired of all the updates for XP? Seems every week, there is more new updates... Why the hell did they release it to the public with so many bugs and holes... You would have thought as big of Company as MicroSoft they would have beta tested all the bugs out of it. What is software coming to ..... :)

--"what is software coming to..?" It's coming to spyware. Bloated, snooping spyware. I refuse to go to XP. It hogs way too much system resources, and has far too much spyware. They say you can remove it. And the antivirus software companies don't hire folks to make viruses, either. ;)

Why bother with them at all if your system is working? I got XP Pro when it first came out and haven't installed any of the updates. The original runs flawlessly for me and I don't fix what ain't broke.

I agree, Jackson - if it ain't broke, don't break it. ;) I prefer running my outdated, obsolete, Win2k...off the grid, that is.

I believe this was a satirical comment... Rather funny too...

Attached Link: http://www.xpantispy.de

The answer is MS do it because they know they can get away with it, there's not much in the way of an alternative to Windows these days, all those unixy type systems are still too fiddly to be attractive to joe public, XP & 2k are so simple to use that even the people who should never be allowed near a computer can use them, shame about the bugs, put them down to user error or your system isn't up to it ;)

I installed all the upgrades, and my mouse still have hic ups, if anyone know how to "cure"that let me know please....

Been using WinXP Home Version for several months now(it came with my new puter).Runs real nice and smooth...never added any updates.Just wondering...so many people seem to like Win2000 over XP, because it does not use as much resoures as XP.Well..how much less? On my computer all that I have added is the drivers for the printer and scanner,four Adobe programs,Painter7,and Poser(no antivirus etc.)But yet from a fresh startup,I have seventeen system related items running(as seen in the task mgr.).That does seem like alot.Does Win2K have less?

c1rcle, if Acid Pro would run properly on a Mac (the DirectX plug-ins don't always work when running it under Virtual PC), I'd be on a Mac exclusively (well, I'd have to wait for it to get to at least 1.8Ghz...) But Macs are so dang expensive.

XP also came on my new machine and I'm with Jackson, I don't bother with updates, i'm happy with xp so far

I'd love to have a mac too silver, but round here it's so hard to get the software, the shops don't like stocking it cause it doesn't sell. The only place I've seen selling it is PC world & they're too expensive for my taste.

I have a question for XP users with cable/DSL/T1, etc. who leave their systems running. I just upgraded a few months ago. This never happened to me before on previous operating systems but, now I get these strange little pop-up ads every so often that appear to be a result of microsoft scripting or something (i.e. not an explorer window). This happens when my system is idle, nothing running. Does this happen to everyone? Is there a way to turn this off? I don't like the idea that Microsoft has built on pop-up support if that is what this is. Evo

Evo your ads are probably using javascript which for some sites is vital to getting to them. The ads hide out in your IE cache for a time when they will get your full attention I use TweakXP, cleandisk Pro & adaware to get rid of popups & dodgy ads, TweakXP has parts that run in the background watching for these things to kill them before they become a nuisance, one problem with TweakXP tho it doesn't like Daz3d & shuts them down everytime I visit without switching off first.

TweakXP is freeware? I'll look into it, thanks! It is my opinion that pop-ups and unsolicited emails are the ruination of the internet, its great to see third party apps that can cleanup/cleanout this stuff, but the principal remains. I have not bought anything, nor have I even remotely been interested in, anything pop-ups offer. They should make laws against this stuff. Sorry for taking that OT. Just a rant. And now back to our regularly scheduled program... Evo

Evo - that's exactly what it is, is the spyware issue. I had the same thing happen a while back after I installed the free DivX bundle - all the spyware crap that was installed with that kept the ads popping up all the time. It really would interrupt my workflow, and cause problems while doing audio recording, not even on the internet at all. So it's either XP's spyware or another 3rd-party app that is causing the ads. I hate spyware.

I wish it was freeware, it's shareware but one of the best for breaking XP if you're not careful ;)

things like gator or cydoor, some don't even tell you they're loading so you get the software you want but also the ads you don't, adaware will get rid of them but stop the program they loaded with from working

***Niles - "*Anyone tired of all the updates for XP? Seems every week, there is more new updates... Why the hell did they release it to the public with so many bugs and holes... You would have thought as big of Company as MicroSoft they would have beta tested all the bugs out of it. What is software coming to ..... :)"

Tired of it? Hell no, I am happy to have them. The updates to XP are crucial for closing obscure vulnerabilities and potential security problems, as well as updating device drivers and so on.

No one who ignores updates has any right to complain when they get hacked or some other security problem.

Every operating system of any size has security issues, and WindowsXP is the #1 target out there for every would be "l33t hax0r" out there with too much time on his hands. On top of all that, XP has to run the widest range of software, both modern and legacy of any OS ever built.

If they WEREN'T updating it I'd be really pissed.

It is a fact of life that some people simply can't come to grips with, the Internet provides both the problem AND the solution to the situation:

• Never before have consumers encountered so much untrusted and untrustworthy data from unknown sources.
• Never before have users wanted to let so much of that data effect their experience.
• Never before have user machines been so open to attack from so many, for so long.
• Never before has the information on how to exploit a problem traveled so fast, with such a wide range of targets.

So with software both having to be more complex and more of a target than ever before, it is a damn good thing that companies can also use the Internet to distribute the counter measures. ME? I worry about any company who doesn't recognize this fact and provide me with updates.

There isn't an administrator I know worth his salary that doesn't check the updates and patches every few days, for Unix, Linux, MacOSX, the BSD's and all the Windows flavors. The only difference is that on Windows and Mac it is fairly easy to do it - on Unix/Linux it is a screaming nightmare.

If you think that an OS, or any reasonably complex piece of software, can be bug free at the time of shipping you are sadly confused. If you think an OS, any OS is or ever will be bug free to the point of invulnerability you are tragically mistaken.

The Internet has done something wonderful for all of us, but it has also presented us with an unprecedentedly hostile environment. Imagine the physical equivalent:

Imagine if any person on the planet could anonymously try to break into your house, knowing the details of every lock you own and having a copy of every method of picking those locks that ever existed. All this with almost no chance of being caught.

If it were me? I'd keep checking on my locks and changing/updating them as often as I can.

soulhuntre said: "on Unix/Linux it is a screaming nightmare." Unix yes, but have you tried the automatic updates available on Red Hat and SuSE Linux distro's...just as easy as Windows Update ;o) Cheers

As long as you haven't added anything else to the :) Seriously, it's true that RedHat (I don't use SuSE) is going pretty well, unfortunately they don't often keep up as fast as my clients need... so I wind up with non standard installatiosn and then the auto updates don't help :) That being said, I wouldn;t reallys upport Linux distro's if it wasn't for how professional RedHat is about this stuff.

I don't mind updates. Virtually every software, whether drivers/OS/games/utilities, anything, has updates. I think XP does a great job of making updating easy and timely. What I DON'T like are the built in features that XP comes with that I DON'T want, or want to change, that are virtually impossible to change without regedits and tweak utilities. Take MSN messenger for example. I don't want it, never use it, don't want it to run in the background. I have to go though extraordinary lengths to get this to stop loading on startup. I have pity on those poor souls who are less computer literate, especially with upcoming versions of windows, because, I can almost guarantee, that Microsoft is going to load on more and more of these built in features that tons of users don't want, and don't know how to keep from loading.

i just got a new comp with windows xp......i was and still am primarly a mac user....cause of work....but i needed a new comp and i couldnt afford getting a new mac with out being totally broke......windows xp is pretty good....but i was beginning to notice that after wanting to customize and get rid of things i dont need.......i cant seem to figure out how to do that......i find a few things about it annoying.....like having msn messenger....so what you are saying is that its gonna be a pain in the ass to get rid of it?.......its retardeed if you cant shut it on or off........but its nice to finally have some speed back........super high res pics.......here i come nnuu

I got rid of MSN messenger after a couple days of trying and haven't seen it since. That was a few months ago so I don't remember exactly what I did. I love getting the automatic updates!! And they're polite. They don't interfere if you start a download or something, instead they wait and pick up again later. You hardly notice a thing. It's not spyware. sheesh. I feel very comfortable with XP and IE6. Don't use Outlook at all though. But there is one really annoying thing about it. XP's sort order in Explorer is different from everything else. Can really drive you nuts (well not as nuts as Poser's I guess).

Search the web and download a program called AdAware. It will search your entire PC and let you remove all the annoying spyware programs.

Evo, Do you have the Microsoft Messenger Service turned on by default? Some spammers have been using that to send popups to Win 95/98/NT/2K/XP machines that don't have a firewall installed. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-962483.html This may not be what's happening to you, but is worth a look.

here's my anti hacker/virus toolkit Zonealarm Pro (outlook & ie6 only allowed to access internet unchecked) Norton Antivirus 2002 (scans everything including incoming/outgoing emails) Adaware (kills 99.999% of known spyware) Popupstopper (kills all known popups) adblocker (kills all known ads) cleandisk Pro (wipes out all IE cache files & cookies) also NEVER use passport to store anything you want to keep secret, like cc numbers or name & address. I'm always open to additions to my toolkit if anyone knows if I'm missing anything I need.

Microsoft Messenger drove me crazy...easy fix..right click on it,in options,disable run in background,..and then when nobody is looking....go to programs,and deleate it!

jelisa- That sounds exactly like it. Where do I go to turn that off? Evo

I started using Windows XP about four months ago, and I have to say I'm thrilled with it, no problems at all. Tweak XP is a "must have" in my book though, to customize certain things, and I did have to tweak my paging file size in order to run 2-3 things at a time without running out of memory, but all-in-all, it's been very cool. And I have to agree regarding the updates, I run them religiously when they pop-up ... for me, it's a big convenience in lieu of having to try and figure out where I'm vulnerable and what updates I might need to correct it.

I'm always open to additions to my toolkit if anyone knows if I'm missing anything I need Circle, take a look at PestPatrol... it catches a few things that AdAware misses and it's not intrusive to the system. Just another tool for the toolkit. :) http://www.pestpatrol.com

thanks Questor, I'll give it a go :)

Attached Link: Prevent Windows Messenger from running on XP

Don't know if this post is too late, but for what it's worth...I tried that XPantispy, mentioned towards the start of this tread...Boy that is nice! Stoped those ballons,and would have stopped Messenger(if I hadn't already killed it), plus a few other nice things.And it dosen't run in the background,like many of the other progs mentioned.

That program may be good, but it's going to stop the automatic updates that you may really want/need. I think running a firewall and/or popup stopper, and anti-virus is sufficient.

I agree, I run Zonealarm and an incomming hardware firewall (Netgear) ... I use "crazybrowser" from "crazybrowser.com" as my IE shell and it gives me tabs AND a nice pop-up killer. Problem all solved :)

jelisa- ok I did that fix, lets hope it works. I've never heard of the gpedit.msc though. I'll have to look around in it and see what else it can do. Evo

I think gpedit (or something with a similar name) is an XP Pro only tool which overlaps with Regedit but has a more friendly interface - that's my memory from a Q&A article in a mag or paper.

Hi,new here.I have a question which I hope is not straying off of what you all are talking about(sorry when it comes to spywear,antivirus,firewalls, etc, I'm about as dumb as dumb can get).Will any of the programs or updates you have mentioned stop or prevent one from getting up to 100 Emails per week (most of which is XXXX Porno in nature)?

hmm good point I don't have a spam killer installed, can anyone suggest a good one?

I tried the kill-messenger registry hack last night. It worked, but it slowed OE to a crawl. Oh well.

I tried the same messenger fix, though through gpedit.msc I'm not sure if it worked quite as I expected. I had one pop-up while I was AFK after I had done the fix. I think this may be because I didn't reboot after the change. Gpedit.msc does not, however have a save feature, so it is hard for me to tell if the change did apply. I did a reboot and haven't seen one yet, so that may have been it. We'll see. I also downloaded Ad-aware, and my god, I had literally hundreds of adware programs and cache files, etc. Needless to say, they are no longer. Now, can anyone recommend a superb pop-up killer program? The best for your money type...easy to use, no hassles, etc.

Regedit doesn't have a save or apply feature either - it's definitely doing it without a safety net.

to the OT forum

Get MAILWASHER - it's free/shareware (he asks for a payment but leaves it to your good will). Don't have the addy handy, search for it. You run it once online, but BEFORE running your email. It checks your email, makes a list of everything in there, and allows you to delete or BOUNCE (send back as 'undeliverable' - thereby removing you from their mailing lists) any email you choose. Senders of Bounced emails are added to a 'Blacklist'. after you process the mail, during which it bounces & deletes marked items, it starts your regular email program so you can download the ones you kept. It's GREAT.

Attached Link: http://www.mailwasher.net

Yeppers, I just LOVE checking that little "bounce" box on all the pornospam and other Garbage I've been getting in email. It's SOOOOOOOOO good to be able to bounce their crap back as "undeliverable" to all those jerks spamming the world at large. HAHA! (click) Take THAT, a**hole! ;o)

Attached Link: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/22/1034561484653.html