Windows XP nostalgia

[epk]

While it is true the NT core made xp more stable, a lot seem to forget how it was at launch. I really think stock and post SP2 should be considered as different OSs as they're miles away from each other. Out of the box xp was crash-prone and rather hole-y, security wise. Yes, most of the crashes were due to bad drivers (Oh, hi there, Nvidia) but still. That's another thing that was fixed by the time the Service packs arrived. Oh, and let's not forget to mention it ran way slower than what most of us were using at the time (98/ME). I still remember doing game benchmarks with my friends to compare

 

I think xp was a bit like Vista. A great and needed change but definitely not a smooth one.

[binaryzero]

NT4 SP6 and Windows 2000 Professional were also quite good. 

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

I remember XP being awesome.     After the crashy mess that what WinME (impossible to use) it was an improvement.

 

 

However, I remember having to do clean install every few weeks, as the OS slowed down to a crawl if you installed/uninstalled many programs.  

Only way so speed it up for a clean install.  Otherwise Windows folder continued to grow and OS was slow.

 

 

Yeah, SP2 was where it got much much better.

[Dot Matrix]

You've got the ability in Vista and 7 to disable the DWM though (Which people did because they thought it helped performance )

Christ, I remember those debates. Feels like the same debate we're having (again) over on the UAC thread. I can't help but facepalm each time these conversations crop up.

[sinetheo]

Christ, I remember those debates. Feels like the same debate we're having (again) over on the UAC thread. I can't help but facepalm each time these conversations crop up.

 

There are people today in 2015 who claim the new icons help performance in Windows 10 as a simply fill gradient can save cpu cycles. Funny but aero is not actually disabled at all in later windows. It is just not translucent.

[Open Minded]

In 2001 XP was simply amazing

 

Not if you were using Windows 2000.

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

Not if you were using Windows 2000.

Not if you also a gamer

XP was awesome If you were luckily to have driver that worked well.

If I did not game I would have kept 2000. Instead of XP

[Open Minded]

Not if you also a gamer

XP was awesome If you were luckily to have driver that worked well.

If I did not game I would have kept 2000. Instead of XP

 

I never had any issues with games on W2K.  It was always super stable.

[sinetheo]

I never had any issues with games on W2K.  It was always super stable.

 

Windows 2000 lacked UPNP and a firewall. Very insecure. You can turn a firewall on but then you would have to open a port for each app/game. That to me was the appeal of XP.

 

I hated DOS so much as we all thought XP was bad and obsolete today??! Trying using an 8 bit OS from 20 years ago where the shell and apis are built upon. Shoot ...

[Som]

Windows XP was received very negatively at first, wasn't till the first service pack that things settled down, plus that theme was terrible.   Still see it every other day for repairs, still use it for under powered computers,  and still easier to repair than windows 8

[+Warwagon MVC]

Stable? You must be drunk or got hit in the head

 

I never had an issue. Few BSOD's here and there. But I lived off the same install for 4 years. I wasn't one of those crazy people who would reinstall every 6 months. Back in the day I even paid $20 to download the RC1.

[sinetheo]

This is all I remember about XP:

 

Oh, and this:

 

 

Here DOT since you are an XP hater I figured you would get a chuckle out of this one?

 

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/yX8yrOAjfKM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[JustGeorge]

My first attempt at updating my Win98 PC to XP went south. It would install/work fine, but would hang on shutdown every time. My crappy PC at the time was to blame, though. Anyone remember Amptron motherboards? Pieces of ****! Once I had a decent PC built (PIII, Asus MB) XP was great from there on out. 

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

I never had an issue. Few BSOD's here and there. But I lived off the same install for 4 years. I wasn't one of those crazy people who would reinstall every 6 months. Back in the day I even paid $20 to download the RC1.

 

 

 

every 6 month?     every 1 month... at the longest.

 

 

i reinstalled XP more times that i care to remember.  it was the way to fix it.   i love how i can run win7+  for a month and not even have to reboot (and never needing clean install to work well)

 

 

my win8.1 pc just got slower (instead of 30sec boot, it is now 45sec.....       who cares.     with XP it was 10 minutes instead of 2 to fully load)

[Anibal P]

every 6 month? every 1 month... at the longest.

i reinstalled XP more times that i care to remember. it was the way to fix it. i love how i can run win7+ for a month and not even have to reboot (and never needing clean install to work well)

my win8.1 pc just got slower (instead of 30sec boot, it is now 45sec..... who cares. with XP it was 10 minutes instead of 2 to fully load)

I was on Linux till I got a win Vista computer, got tired of the BSODs and my games ran better on Linux using Wine

[x-scratch]

1. only time i had bsod was when i modded certain files (trial & error)

2. used nlite to slipstream drivers, updates & tweaks

3. loaded oracle vm recent & xp was update with march 20015 updates

4. can careless what people say about xp

[Intersect]

It was good pre SP1. I used it day 1

 

Compared to WindowsME it was a MUST. The issue with SP 1 was some older chipsets and security bug. I used blackICE before the built in firewall with XP SP 1 and just built a blazing 700 MHz Pentium III with a solid intel board. No problems at all. Yes it was slower at the time but I had a HUGE 384 megs of ram to handle it. Yes I could only do 5 tabs in Mozilla before it ran out of ram. :-)

 

Yes the companies are idiots. To this day I refuse to work for anyone running XP unless it is in a VM or some piece of non networked equipment. Someone who does not value IT that much will fire you when their own incompetence hits and does not assign value to your role. Bad combo.

 

Wow voice recognition was truly aweful in that link. He had to talk like a robot in slow mode. I am used to GoogleNow today

hey in its day that was considered bleeding edge software.

[Ian W]

Windows XP brought the NT kernel to consumers and all that it provides

[DocM]

Still have XP as alternative OS on a few systems because of multimedia hardware with no Win7+ drivers. Otherwise, we use Debian or Win7 (because Win8 is bovine excrement) on the workstations and Android on the tablets & phones. iOS has been expunged.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Anyone remember net send?

 

People in our college used to totally abuse that and send random messages to other classmates, (for example nice hat) then people would be looking about trying to workout who sent the message.

 

All fun and games until eventually someone sent a rude message to the entire domain, the messenger service was disabled a few days after that.

 

 

Also anyone remember the messenger service spam back when people had one PC directly connected to the internet with no firewall:

 

 

It would actually be interesting to connect an un patched XP system directly to the internet and see what happens, or just how long it takes for it to be compromised.

[sinetheo]

?? Nostalgia, there's still companies using it...

 

XP wasn't good until SP1.

 

 

Here's nostalgia - 

 

 

Here is a Gem from XP pre-sp1 in terms of stability

 

http://ask.slashdot.org/story/01/12/14/051218/windows-xp---the-experience-thus-far

 

It has been repeated over and over and yet no evidence is there that XP was unstable at all at launch compared to Windows 98. True SP 2 made it more stable and a little more secure and very slow on turn on the century hardware too. 

[binaryzero]

I remember going to the midnight launch of Windows 98, forking over the couple hundred $$ for a copy, installing it, and then 2 days later formatting and loading Windows 95 back on.

[PGHammer]

Here is a Gem from XP pre-sp1 in terms of stability

 

http://ask.slashdot.org/story/01/12/14/051218/windows-xp---the-experience-thus-far

 

It has been repeated over and over and yet no evidence is there that XP was unstable at all at launch compared to Windows 98. True SP 2 made it more stable and a little more secure and very slow on turn on the century hardware too. 

Then why did Windows ME get pushed by OEMs?

 

Instead, I went to Windows 2000 Professional - XP's immediate predecessor - as a home OS.

 

Except for the UI, it did everything XP did.

 

The real reason folks went to XP is because ME signaled the end of the 9x track - in other words, there was no option.

 

ME, in fact, was the only 9x-based OS from Microsoft I unhesitatingly refused to recommend - under any circumstance.

 

Not for office use, home use - or, in fact, ANY use.

[wahoospa]

Windows XP pre-service pack 1 had a big problem, 'windows messenger' let numrous virus get into the machines until it was found out you had to disable messenger. (Not the messenger that people were using to chat with)

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

Anyone remember net send?

 

People in our college used to totally abuse that and send random messages to other classmates, (for example nice hat) then people would be looking about trying to workout who sent the message.

 

All fun and games until eventually someone sent a rude message to the entire domain, the messenger service was disabled a few days after that.

 

lol, oh god yes. Though we did it before XP, it was so much fun screwing with people in the dorms.