So, after an exhaustive amount of time at my law firm, and even before that, planning for the immense overhaul of our three horrifying-Intel-integrated-video-Dell-desktop-PC's from the archaic Windows2000 system to WindowsXP: It finally happened.

All three systems are up to date, and running WindowsXP, SP2. So, why is this so exciting?

Well, one of the major reasons why I have been so keen to respecting Microsoft, and the Windows family in general, is that I feel Microsoft is a pretty responsible company. Sure, they lag sometimes, say, with IE6 -- but, in terms of Operating Systems, and security, I think they did an okay job.

Let's recap: WindowsXP was launched in 2001, and is based on Windows2000. Every version of Windows is going to be based on the latest, most stable version of Windows out. Windows Vista is no exception, it is based on Windows Server 2003.

It is easy to make the argument that "windowsxp isn't safe" -- But, if it is patched with all the regular updates shipped out by Microsoft monthly, weekly, then it becomes a pretty robust, secure operating system. In fact, I have never used a firewall on my own personal computer until a week ago. I've never needed to. Out of fear of compromising our sensitive law firm data, I have insisted on firewalls for business PC's, however -- Sort of a knee-jerk reaction.

It becomes very evident, how far behind software is, at present, compared to how many changes have happened since 2001 on the hardware level.

I did a mini-lecture on it, for my students last week. Since 2001, IDE has been replaced with SATA, and then almost immediately by the SATA II interface, providing much higher bandwidth throughput, AGP was replaced by PCI-e 1x, 4x, and 16x, Dual-Core processors were introduced (mainstream, affordable), AMD pushed these faster than Intel could keep up, hence the apparent stock market fiasco. Intel seems to be catching up with their Duo Core line and the new "leap ahead" slogan. Their stock still suffers, however -- as of this writing it's trading at $19.76, and it seems to keep dropping!
Plenty of other hardware changes, but those are the big ones I can think of off-hand.

WindowsXP has been able to keep up with these changes pretty remarkably. I can leave my WindowsXP Media Center Edition 2005 PC running for days without a system crash, virus infection, browser hijacking -- but then again, I'm not the target market for point-and-click-easy-to-use software. My dual-core processor can be used efficiently with the Set Affinity capability, even the rudimentary Base Priority works relatively well considering its old age.

-- Enough, back to my law office. I configured the law office computers all with the latest updates and patches. Since WindowsXP uses the Luna interface, I can set a beautiful looking VistaXP theme that almost matches that of Windows Vista, sans Aero Glass of course. It looks beautiful, and truly modern. Clean all those ridiculous shortcuts off the desktop `New Folder (3)` and suddenly, WindowsXP doesn't look like something out of 2001 anymore. It almost resembles Windows Vista. Use Hibernation/Standby regularly, and your computer is blazing fast!

I even had a plan to configure a RAM Drive, to install a few programs like Word Perfect and *maybe* Microsoft Word, although I have a feeling it might be too big. Once Word Perfect is installed on a RAM Drive, it would be lightning quick. No problem using RAMDiskXP, and WindowsXP. Sure, it could be done in Windows2000, too, but I just don't trust it.

My boss is lucky. Never had a hardware failure of any kind. And, considering the utter cheapness of his Dell Dimension (Inspiron?) sub-$500-PC, it's pretty remarkable the PSU hasn't died by now, or the motherboard, chipset, head crash, etc. Lucky.

Seeing my boss rely on Norton Internet Security 2006 was not only painful, but an inconsistent, paranoia-inducing nightmare that only kept getting worse. Norton is an incredibly irritating, obnoxious, groundbreaking program that can define nagware with just one screenshot. Your subscription is about to expire! With ever new Dell PC that is shipped, if you try and skip the subscription for Norton Internet Security, or Norton Anti-Virus -- you are prompted with the following message: "Are you sure you don't want to renew your subscription? Your computer is not protected until you do."

Sure, you and I can brush off a message like that. But, I bet your little sister, or your mother might be afraid by a big corporation telling you your computer is unsafe. Combined with all the news about how "Linux is better/safer" sure aids in boosting sales for Norton and their paranoia-inducing software. Everything you do on the Internet flags a "Permit/Block" prompt. It's worse than any pop-up ad I have ever encountered because I can't just click "Cancel" or "Ignore" or close it, I have to think about what it's asking me: Do I want to accept a cookie from [link] - Well, no, but, who cares? Cookies can't do any damage on their own. -- Windows Update is trying to launch an ActiveX script, Permit/Block? Christ alive. It's irritating.

Uninstalling Norton AnythingSecurity is a big relief to my senses, and makes me feel like I am doing true good for some one's well-being. I installed Zone Alarm personal firewall to replace Norton Internet Security. I configured all of the commonly used programs to allow for Internet access by default, to minimize the initial shock of a new firewall constantly asking for permission to access the Internet. i.e., Firefox is trying to access the Internet!

AVG to replace Norton Anti-Virus. One could not ask for more from the folks at Grisoft and their amazing programming. They deserve a big round of applause.

Windows Desktop Search, surprisingly, from Microsoft's division of MSN. Which was created partially out of a response to the Google Desktop Search. Not only is it fast, but it's integration is unparallelled. Naturally.

Windows Defender Beta 2, runs as a service, silently in the background. This program---err, service, is absolutely remarkable. It's unlike anything I have ever seen come out of Microsoft. It is so unobtrusive, it doesn't ever shock you with a bunch of little pop-ups--only if you are about to make a big mistake, will it prompt you to confirm you are SURE you want to run a keylogger on your own computer. It silently appears in the system tray for all other reasons, such as suggesting you run a system scan. Incredible.

All of these simple programs set up on a computer make for an enjoyable experience with WindowsXP.

So much work is going into Vista to secure the operating system from malware/virus creators, I fear that many people will not upgrade to Windows Vista, but will keep their existing XP computers for several years. This is a shame.

I read an article a while back (maybe six months ago) that stated a staggering percentage of work computers still running Windows2000.

I have found that using batch scripts, using the xcopy command is still the best way to backup data. Then schedule it. It's reliable, it keeps sub-folder integrity and you can even use the "verify on" command to check whether files have been written successfully to a disk. Excellent.

On the same note, Windows Vista has what I have read, is a very superior backup solution, including many features like Image which can already be found in several programs like Acronis True Image and of course Norton Ghost. Acronis True Image is able to do something like a volume shadow copy, and does not need to enter the pseudo-DOS-mode like Norton Ghost does, however, which is most definitely a plus.


-Sam
-March 15, 2006