While not a computer support expert like others on here, I have had a good experience with XP (Pro Corporate).  I run a small home network, with several XP machines.  I had Win2k Pro before and while it was also stable as hell I prefer XP for some odd reason.  I actually like the GUI, although I changed most of the menus, folder browsing and such to classic style...

Drivers, drivers, drivers, drivers, drivers...


In my humble experience XP is pretty driver sensitive--maybe that is stating the issue incorrectly--it could be that it is more difficult to properly write good drivers for XP than other OSs (i.e. I've noticed that changing to new drivers from old versions in XP tends to cause more trouble issues than I ever noticed in 98--but, XP is far more complex than 98 with its native support for more new and varied technologies).  

Having said that, I now (from experience) do a CLEAN install whenever I change a critical driver (video, sound etc).  

This practice has several benefits.  1) Totally negates the possibility of any old reg keys hanging around to mess up the new driver; 2) this practicve FORCES you to keep a clean, organinzed, and backed up system (and helps you really prioritize which applications you really need on your system); 3) the fresh install gets rid of old junk that clogs up resources which generally results in snappier performance; 4) see #2's benefit--if you do have a catastrophic failure you are less likely to lose all of your critical data.  

XP, on the whole, is vastly superior to all DOS/non-NT based windows and definitely is a cut above Win2k in that it loads much faster (my biggest complaint with 2k), performance oriented drivers are really being written for XP now and not 2K, and I ended up liking most of the new GUI features.  

I see on the horizon for you...CLEAN INSTALL.

You got me beat with your number of PC's.  But we literally support Win 95, 98, 2000 Pro, 2000 Server, 2000 Advanced Server, NT 4 Workstation, NT 4 Server, NT 4 Terminal Server, Open VMS 7.1-2, Tru64 Digital Unix, Red Hat Linux 7.1, Citrix MetaFrame and if you count routers and managed switches, Cisco IOS 12.1-2.  And don't get me started on hardware architecture.  And now that I reread this list, I kind of don't want to go to work tomorrow...

But, having all that stuff is one of the major plusses and minuses of our company.  I get to get my hands on lots of different things, but it becomes very difficult to learn all the ins and outs of the stuff you want to know.  We have 3 IT guys (including me) and I am expected to provide level 3 support on all the MS Server OSes and all the network gear.  Level 2 on the desktop stuff.  And God forbid should you need help from me on the DEC/Compaq/HP gear.  But the other 2 guys complement my lack of knowledge on that stuff.  And I complement their lack of knowledge on the things that I am responsible for.  And anybody in the business should know at least this one thing...documentation, documentation, documentation.

And not to completely hi-jack this thread, which it may be too late for, people need to keep in mind that not everyone that has an MCSE is a damn "paper MCSE".  I got my MCSE in NT 4.0 about 2.5 years ago because my company paid for me to take the tests and I had a raise that was dependent on the outcome.  So it would have been stupid to turn that down.  The MCSE goes right along with my other certs. that don't mean shit to anyone except me until it's time to start looking for another job.  And my experience in the IT field has been that if the HR department in is charge of getting an IT position filled, then they want to see the nice little pieces of paper that say "Certified".  If the IT department itself is in charge of the hiring, then nothing beats experience.

Didn’t mean to imply that all MCSE’s were less than knowledgeable. I have worked for and with a lot of really sharp guys and gals. On the other hand I have also seen a lot of MCSE’s who don’t know their a** from a hole in the ground.

A lot of this I blame on the training industry, promising their potential clients high paying jobs for a couple of weeks of classes and a few (coached) tests. Unfortunately, it just isn’t that easy. There is no way to substitute a few years of experience.

I’m what a lot of the newer guys would consider a “dinosaur”. I earned my degree in 1992 and after working with NT from just about the beginning (3.5), decided to go for the MCSE after my employer offered to pickup the costs.

I can’t say that the MSCE has gotten me anything that I would not have gotten without it, but it does complement my degree and my experience. That is what I think that MS had intended.

i just hate all the crap buried in the liscence agreement. plus the whole dont register we hijack your machine (home version) and the whole if they think its a pirate copy well they highjack your machine also.

Too funny!

[img]http://a880.g.akamai.net/7/880/51/c374895c215b93/www.apple.com/switch/stories/images/ellentop10022002.gif[/img]

[img]http://a772.g.akamai.net/7/772/51/1581d2ab72cb93/www.apple.com/switch/stories/images/qtplayer_ellen_143x142_0715.jpg[/img]

LOL!...

I wrote a college essay overnight and got an A-.  My Dell notebook puter running Win2000 Pro was on for about fifteen hours straight without a hiccup.  And I was doing net research simultaneously too!

Hey what do they mean Apple doesn't crash?  The PB G4 crashed on me beforee.

Maybe I need mo' memory.  It's running a mere 256mb of 266mhz DDR.  My Win2000 puter had 512mb of 100mhz.

What's Microsoft up to now?

They'll lock your puter out if you try to register with a previously used product key?

What's the deal Cyrax777?

Yes, it's true, if you use a duplicate key/activation code, you will get locked out.  But...

You boys aren't trying hard enough.  

You need a corporate version of XP (even a hacked version will work) and a real random key generator (i.e. the infamous "XP Key Recoverer and Discoverer 5.12"--it might be hard to find but it does exist--I have no idea where to get it though) in order to avoid the silly "product activation" scheme.  

Not that I have or would do this but a random keygen exists that generates a genuine MS corp key individual to your hardware that MS CANNOT lock out because it is randomly generated according to their activation code protocols.

I have heard ;) of computers "activated" in this manner with all of MS's latest updates applied with NO LOCKOUT.  So yes, it works.


Disclaimer:
Oh, and don't ask me to tell you how to do this possibly illegal act.  There are plenty of cracking sites (and forum posts) around...so with some effort, you can figure it out yourself.  

I found a bunch of people talking about that thing.

"Google is my friend."

anyone who needs the xp key generator send me an IM, i have an excellent key generator that will make keys for windows xp, and office xp. And the key generator file is only 48 kb, easy to email.

That's cool XM777.  I agree with what you said.  I get tired of hearing the commercials on the radio stating "MCSE's earn $67,000 a year so get your MCSE in 4-6 weeks!"  Too bad they don't state that the average MCSE has 9-11 years of IT experience.  When we were hiring here a while back, we used a very simple question that immediately ruled out 7 of 10 applicants.  We asked them "If, on a Win 9x platform, you do not have access to the Start--> Programs--> MS DOS Prompt, how else can you get to a command prompt? 7 of them had no idea and of those 7, [b]3[/b] were friggin' MCSE's!  We ended up hiring a guy with no MCSE but with real world experience.

Ctrl-Alt-Del [:D]

I've has about the same experience with XP as everyone else ;). Never had a freeze up, never had any problems, except for some XP+HL bugs that are just annoying.

That's easy, insert Win98 boot disk and cold boot.[BD]

Or run cmd.exe from the "run" command

Or

Hit the F8 key when booting and select "command prompt only"

Or

Create a shortcut to cmd.exe

Or

A couple of other ways I can't think of right now..

Congratulations!  You're hired!  Are you an MCSE with 6 weeks of experience? If so, we can start you at $84,000 a year, just like your school promised.

I got XP with a new Dell (P4, 2GHz) several weeks ago and I must admit, XP is by far the most stable version of Windows I've yet used.   It's not perfect, but I haven't had to reboot yet.

I'm running four separate users and the only issue I had was figuring out how to set up the individual desktops so that only TWO (or three) users had direct access to a particular program without cluttering up the other user's desktops.  

The only other issue I have is that the computer has built-in sound and I'd like to disable it and run with my old sound card only because it has a game port on it, and I need that joystick for flying my F-16!  (Falcon 4.0...if any of you are Viper jocks,  email me!  Let's rumble!)

I'm too cheap to buy a new joystick just because the new ones are USB instead of serial.


And yes,  I use NETSCAPE.  Netscape 7.0.   Once I hacked all references to AOL and the AOL Instant Messenger out of it,  it is a good package though it doesn't know what to do with some movie formats.

Internet Exploder SUCKS!!!   I've used Netscape forever. (Since version 3-something.)

CJ

mattja,

Actually my comment "integrate with the OS" was referring to the fact that once MSJVM is installed, it cannot be uninstalled.

I know that SUN JVM does include an uninstall applet. Thank god for that.

Of course YMMV, but it has been my experience that installing Sun JVM on an otherwise rock stable system produced some of the same symptoms that SeaDweller had described.. lockups, failure to suspend, failure to shutdown, etc.

Coincidence? Maybe, but the removal of the Sun software cured these problems in each and every case.

I switched from Windows 2000 to XP last Spring (Beta 2, RC1, RC2, and Final Release). When I first got Beta 2 it had a number of problems. RC1 fixed most of them. RC2 fixed the rest of the major issues. It still has its quirks though.

Overall, XP is a better OS for the home user than 2000. But, if you want something that is Business Only, I have found 2000 to be the most stable Windows for that purpose. XP will go longer between reboots most of the time. But, it tends to slow down faster than 2000. This is most likely because of the new features they integrated into XP that weren't in 2000.

Most important things to do when you install XP:

1) Clean Install
2) Switch the GUI from Acid Trip to Classic
3) Turn off the f'in "Personalized Menus". They will annoy the shit out of you.
4) Turn off all wizards. They are annoying and won't let you fully configure you're system.
5) Open Various System Folders (\Windows, etc...) and click Show Files.
6) When Configuring the Start Menu click to show "Administrative Tools", "Logoff", etc...on the Start Menu. XP hides these by default because it is afraid you'll screw something up.

There are number of other minor changes that will need to be made to make the system usable by anyone other than a dimwit with no computer experience (who it was designed for). After a couple months you will have it exactly as you want it.

Windows XP underwent less than two years of development time, a record low for MS OSes. It was rushed to market in order to beat out a court ruling. It is not an upgrade from Windows 2000. It is most definitely NOT more stable than Windows 2000, which went gold Dec 99 and has seen 3 service packs.

Xtra Price for Xtra Problems. It has loads of memory consuming crap and spyware. Not to mention the "activation" garbage. Stay away from Windows XP, use Windows 2000.


Not a problem: any driver for Windows XP will work on Windows 2000 (and vice versa). Under the hood they are the same OS with minor changes. If Dell says Windows 2000 is not supported on a new computer I would be very surprised, but it won't affect you.

POS Sun JVM did lock up my system the other day.  I simply clicked the little Java thing and BAMM!  Total freeze out.

It's gone now and I did manage to remove the JVM from my puter before I reinstalled everything from scratch again.  At least the remove program thing worked.

I got time later so I'll reload Win2000 from scratch and see if the XP driver works.

Edited to add:

It doesn't work and Dell can suck off since they refused to certify a Win2000 Pro video driver for the ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 16mb.  

Hey Michael Dell--->>>[double finger]

My next topic will be DELL AND XP SUCKS!

Looks like I'm gonna have to reload the crap they call XP.  Annoying POS.

I called microsoft to reactivate my legal copy of xp 2 times now.  Screw them and their activation policy.  

P.S.  I have a dell inspiron 8000 and it runs win ME and rocks.  Guess even dell messes up ocasionally.

Is that why 2000 is NT 5.0 and XP is 5.1?



That's what memory is for.

And here's the reason I even bothered to reply:


Uhm, can we say "Bullshit"? Without having to dig in my memory, I can tell you that a Soundblaster AWE 64 ISA does not work under 2000 but it does under XP, whereas a HP 14 GBe (an external tape drive) works under 2000 but not under XP.



Didn't you just say...

Good point. I've seen some wierd problems with soem OEM WinXP installs. Almost always, these problems are fixed by doing a "clean" install instead of a restore.....

That might be just what the doctor ordered....

hey poster child:
I was at an interview about a year ago and the guy asked me if i planned on getting andy certifications.  I told him i did not plan on it because it is just a piece of paper that sez you passed some tests that did not actually reflect your true skills and that i thought it was a scam provided by microsoft.  Of course i looked up and see his mcse hanging on the wall...

LOL!...Did you get the job?

Stupid Dell just released a bios update for my puter on Nov. 12, 2002.  What a coincidence, did they see this thread????

Tell them I'm still waiting for my Win2000 Pro ATI Radeon Mobility 7500C 16mb video driver.

This is why noone values the certifications anymore. They have all these "schools" out there taking peoples' money and coaching them to the test. I had one call me a couple years ago and tell me I could have my certification in 6 weeks if I went with them.

I told them no thanks. There was no way I could have learned in 6 weeks everything I needed to know for 4 semesters worth of classes. Very simply they were coaching to the test.

They are the reason certifications are worthless. Those of us who actually know our shit are being harmed by the blight of certified idiots put out by these "schools".

What really pisses me off are the commercials where they state there are 80K unfilled IT jobs. Can someone show me where they are ??? I have looked hi and low and can't find them. Anyone ??? That is because they are bogus.

The other dumbass one is the SECT Commercials with the guys who state that it is a great career because: they have job security, they are in demand, finding a job is easy, and they can learn in 6 weeks (or however long it is).

I hjave about a dozen certifications (Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, Comptia) which are now worthless because of these assholes. About the only thing I have that has any real value anymore is a College Degree. But, even that can't get me the $80K/yr. jobs they advertise on TV right out of the gate.

Everyone wants job experience. Personal experience and certifications count for nothing nowadays. The only things that count are that you either have a Bachelor's (or better) Degree or several years of job experience. Don't even bother with the certs. as they won't get you anywhere...

I hope you got the job.  If an employer can't take a small dose of honesty, then you might be better off somewhere else.

I tend to agree about many employers requirement of having a degree and that is where I got lucky.  I did 4 years in the AF and pursuing a degree was impossible with all the damn TDY's so I started my college education about 4 years late.  I happened upon this job and I didn't even have a year of college or any experience beyond PC break/fix stuff.  And now I am the Network and NT/2000 Sys. Admin.  And I still don't have my degree.  But like I said, I was lucky.  I guess I have my winning personality at the interview to thank for the job.

no..I did not get the job, he kinda gave me the well, thats all i have, do you have any questions for me (get the hell out of my office).  But I did find a better job a few months later! guess it was fate or something- only 200+ people sent in their resumes for the job I have now....fate again?!?!