Am I Finally Ready to Upgrade from Windows XP? -- Part 1

Windows XP was released 8 years ago, in 2001. Like many home users and IT professionals, I elected to "upgrade" from Vista to XP. I cannot tolerate Vista. Sure, the Aero interface looks nice, but Vista itself is a mess. In stark contrast to Vista, I have consistently found WinXP SP2 to be the most reliable, secure, compatible, and responsive Microsoft O/S.

Incidentally, I advise against installing the latest XP service pack, SP3, due to widely reported problems. Additionally, SP3 offers little beyond the countless Windows Updates that have been released separately since SP2. If you regularly download and install these Windows Updates, there is no compelling reason for the average user to download and install the risky SP3.

Vista was obviously poorly received overall by home users and businesses alike, due to problems with reliability, security, compatibility, and responsiveness. Vista epitomizes the bloatedness and sluggishness that M$ is (in)famous for. A few examples of perplexing problems I have personally encountered with Vista:

• A Windows Update that essentially forced Vista to self-destruct. It would not even boot the recovery partition.
• I have never been able to convince Vista to properly work with a projector. I've never had a significant problem connecting to a projector from XP.
• Productivity hits via unintuitive settings placement and overall sluggishness.
  
• UAC. Enough said.

I certainly am not claiming that XP SP2 is flawless. But at least until Windows 7, it was the least problem-ridden and most productivity-enhancing M$ O/S since the ground-breaking Windows 95.

Update -- Aftermath of Social Networking DDoS

Apparently, the recent DDoS attacks crippling social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook actually targeted a single user, probably for political reasons. Details here.

"Autopsies" of 22 PC Parts

Fascinating inside look of everything from a hard drive to a netbook, from MaximumPC.com.

Since I Can't Tweet...

#Twitter is under a DOS attack. #Facebook problems may be related. http://status.twitter.com/ http://tinyurl.com/nm2vwv

UPDATE (8/7/09 00:10)
#Twitter, #Facebook, & other social networking sites are recovering from #DDoS attacks. http://status.twitter.com/ http://tinyurl.com/kjewm2. Facebook seems more responsive now, but I still cannot update my Twitter status.

Links Roundup -- Hands On With Hardware; Portals & Search Engines

Top 10 Computer Hardware Fixes and Upgrades

• Focus is on desktops and MacBooks. NOTE: Lifehacker.com has been experiencing technical difficulties lately, and may not be accessible. If in doubt, try this.
  

Video: How to Build a PC - Every Step Explained

• For more in-depth coverage of dealing with hardware.

Yahoo Redesigns Home Page; Does It Matter?

• I personally am not thrilled by Yahoo's recent redesign of www.yahoo.com, which enables a lot of customizable apps. The old design was simple, uncluttered, and efficient, and regularly supplemented iGoogle in my Firefox. What portal, if any, do you use?
  

Microsoft and Yahoo Sign Deal, Ink Partnership

• Microsoft and Yahoo recently reached an agreement that will replace Yahoo's own search engine with Microsoft's new Bing, in exchange for ad revenue sharing. The goal, of course, it to better compete with Google. According to this analysis of search engine market share, the combined Microsoft/Yahoo effort will roughly yield 20.36%, while Google dominates at 77.54%.
  

Editorial Cartoon re: Microsoft - Yahoo "Merger"

• To close on a lighter note...
  

Update 2 -- Windows Live Mail Woes

I just opened Windows Live Mail, re-added my Hotmail account, and watched in amazement as it promptly downloaded all my Hotmail folders and emails. Hopefully they will not disappear again. I will continue to research this mysterious problem with syncing Hotmail in WLM.

Update -- Windows Live Mail Woes

I submitted a help request to Microsoft Customer Support, and received the following notification via email:

"Ben, if you can properly access your messages and folders through Web-user interface (www.hotmail.com) and the issue only occurs in Windows Live Mail, we have confirmed that the problem that you have described is a known and unresolved problem with Windows Live Mail. Our product development team is aware of the problem and they are working to resolve it for a future release. Please understand that I cannot determine when the problem will be resolved."

Wow. So MS is encouraging Hotmail users like me to migrate to Windows Live Mail, and then acknowledges that it's broken. Maybe I would be more sympathetic if WLM's Hotmail synchronization was simply buggy. In reality, WLM fundamentally won't work with my Hotmail account, and presumably countless others. Perhaps MS should once again postpone its termination of Outlook Express' Hotmail support?

Windows Live Mail Woes

After initial testing on a different PC, I downloaded Windows Live Mail, Microsoft's simplistic successor to Outlook Express. As explained in an earlier post, OE's support for Hotmail syncing is nearing its bitter end, necessitating migration to WLM. While sluggish, WLM ultimately got the job done on the test PC.

Installing on my main PC, however, is another story. After the rather bloated install program finally finished installing WLM, it kindly began to import my Hotmail account from OE. The import seemed to work, although I was disappointed to discover that, even on this faster PC, previewing email was still strangely sluggish. Then my Hotmail folders, including the inbox, suddenly disappeared. I clicked the Sync button, and WLM informed me that "Windows Live Mail needs to download the folders before you can read the messages in this account. To download the folders, click Download." So I clicked the Download button. And nothing happened. Double-checking settings, deleting and re-adding my Hotmail account, and restarting WLM all failed to remedy my problem.

I googled this phenomenon, and a few recent hits indicated that I was not the only frustrated user confronted by this problem. As the sever URL used by WLM appears to be correct , it appears to be a server problem on Microsoft's end.


After trying the Download button for the 100th time, I got bored and decided to change the theme color for WLM, via the Colorizer toolbar button. At first, I thought that the Colorizer was also broken, because I did not perceive the theme color change when I selected a different shade of blue. Then I finally realized that the color was indeed applied, just very subtly. So at least this isn't a problem after all.

I really don't want to resort to the Godzilla that is Outlook for simply checking my Hotmail account (via the Outlook Connector referenced previously). And I would prefer a full-fledged email client versus resorting to Hotmail on the web. Hopefully the WLM situation is resolved soon. Stay tuned...

Seagate Outlet Center - Incredible Deals on Quality Hard Drives

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Seagate's Outlet Center -- essentially a part of its e-store that offers amazing bargains on its high quality, high performance hard drive models that are being liquidated in favor of newer models. Most of the drives are external models (e.g., USB, FireWire, and/or eSATA). Imagine purchasing a 200 GB USB drive for a mere $24.99, or a 1.5 TB FireWire drive at over 50% off! These represent real deals that were featured in the most recent Outlet Center sale.

The Outlet Center opens about once a month, and typically remains open until its products are all sold out. Products are sold out quickly, so I recommend that you sign up for the email list and that you buy a drive ASAP.

Seagate has an excellent reputation for its hard drive products, and as far as I know it is the only manufacturer that routinely offers a 5 year warranty on its drives. On the topic of reliability, while I was never impressed with Maxtor's reliability (e.g., lots of failed drives), it is possible that Seagate's acquisition has improved the quality of Maxtor drives.

Computer Hardware Chart

As featured on Digg, check out this comprehensive pictorial guide to PC components. Apparently you can even order it as a poster print. Beyond it's obvious value to a geek, it might also be useful to direct computer novices to this chart when providing remote tech support (e.g., instead of trying to explain what a PS/2 connection looks like).

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