Frost, I think you need to write to the Admins to see if we could have your post address this point. I think we see it at least once a day, but if we had a sticky that was titled "Upgrade or Full License" I bet we can answer some of these posts before they happen. Now, I'm not saying I don't like answering these posts, but if I were the one with the question, I'd prefer to find that answer fast.
Yes but it's so fun pretending to know the answer. Thanks Microsoft for adding to the suspense!
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Since when does XP need reinstall often? 10 years ago maybe, but tell it to my computers that run XP for over 5 years strong (and even system restore is disabled...)
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Sup, you got that right. XP in 2009 is about as Stable as DOS 6 is still (Only, DOS 6 boots almost instantly on a P4)
:)
If properly maintained, XP can run for just as long as Vista and Windows 7. The problem is, XP doesn't do very much self maintenaince out of the box like the two newer OSes. How many times have you worked on a friend or family member's computer, and decided performance had degraded enough (due to the lack of cleaning) that a reinstall was the quickest way? Many for me. Vista and Windows 7 at least help out the average joe by doing things automatically.
I would certain hope, on what's supposed to be an enthusiasts forum board, that the readers and members could maintain their own computers, regardless of OS.
Well, for one, both the new OSes schedule their defraggers out of the box to run. Second, I've noticed they keep the disk from becoming fragmented much better than XP. Still not as well as Linux, but better than XP.
Also, as your usage may change over time, or new apps are install/removed, SuperFetch adjusts to your usage, keeping your most common apps performing fast. This is the single biggest reason....because Vista and Windows 7 self-tune to your needs.
The UI also doesn't get bogged down as you load up on shortcuts, start menu items, etc. A older XP system drives me crazy at the delays in expaning menus and start menu items.
It would take a long time, but as a test, you could give a set of users either XP or Vista systems or identical hardware, and after 6 months of daily usage, see which ones are performing nearly the same as the day they were given out, and which are slowing down quite a bit.
Antman, take a look at Scheduled Tasks. If you expand out Windows, you will see a ton of things that are scheduled. Very nice indeed, and I give many kudo's to the Vista and W7 Engineers for this. This was one of the pet peeves that I had with XP.
We still have to use XP at the hospital that I work for, but I must have a dozen cleanup/maint scripts that I run on my laptop. It was fun building all the scripts, but it's nice having them built for the average Joe/Jill.
That's about what I do. I have a "clean" fresh install of Win 7 (activated) imaged, and then one with just Photoshop CS4 (activated), and one more with PS and Office 2007. No updated video drivers, no AV, etc. Takes less than 5 minutes to restore any of them (I use Acronis TI, but Windows own backup app works fine too).
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