windowsxp
You are viewing stuff tagged with windowsxp.
You are viewing stuff tagged with windowsxp.
It’s not impossible, but not exactly straightforward, to engineer an argument against this statement:
That’s just the start. Why didn’t Microsoft implement some really awesome tools to assist with driver and hardware management? What they have is so basic! They have BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars and this is the best that they can do?
Honestly, Windows XP isn’t terrible as an operating system; if you stick to simple stuff and don’t expect too much, it can serve you well. But in terms of bang-for-the-buck, it must be the worst piece of software ever. Because if it’s the best that a company can do with more money than most (e.d.: ‘some’) countries, well that just says that the company in question is pathetic.
Computers are most useful when they get out of our way. I recently realized that when I say I work with computers, people automatically peg me as that computer geek who loves hardware, spec sheets, and processors. Thing is, I only know about them in order to get these blasted machines to do what I want to do. I spend an inordinate amount of time shoehorning machines into working the way I think, so (pardoxically) I can stop worrying about shoehorning the machines into working the way I think. I’ve always seen Windows as a respectable software tool to deal with, but I must liken the experience to taming a wild stallion (without any of the glamorous trappings inherent in the animal analogy). Windows has to be poked, prodded, altered, trimmed, augmented, and examined from the top to the bottom and up again, to get it to do what you want it to do … when you want it to do it.
Visual Task Tips - Install this program, and when you hover your mouse over the task bar, it’ll give you a thumbnail preview of the represented window. Very useful. What caught my eye was this is extremely lightweight: just 90kb!
Alternative to Windows Media Center - Not simple enough right now, but a very good contender if you don’t want to buy Media Center.
A better Alt Tab Task Switch - Upgrade your alt-tab experience with screenshots of what you are alt-tabbing into. Potentially great for those who do a lot of IM’ing.
Get your Windows Product Key - Because someday, you’ll have to reinstall.
UNEASYsilence: best section - If you are running windows XP and are interested in making it run faster, more efficiently, and less like Windows (that is, more intuitively), then check out this fantastic resource for changing everything you dislike about windows (plus, other great program recommendations as well).
Now Mykala said that I was posting this simply to say “look at me, I fixed her computer lalala I am amazing …” However, I am not posting the following log of an actual conversation of an OnStar … shoot wait no it’s not one of those weird commercials … this is a real world example of the badness and goodness of the internet. You see, Mykala’s computer was rather thoroughly infected by some guitar tabbing sites visited through internet explorer. I record the following technical details to help anyone facing a similar situation. First, if you use Internet Explorer, you have to understand that it is so useful for online banking and Outlook Express (what St. Thomas uses) because it is tightly integrated to a core operating system technology called ActiveX (an oversimplification, true). ActiveX, when exploited, gives hackers the ability to install programs on your computer without your consent or knownledge. Answer number (3) on this website will help you safeguard internet explorer from running thing it should not.