Long live Windows XP! Long live Windows 7! Long live Outlook Express!
So, to date Windows 7 is dead and defunct thanks to Microsoft. To have a new king, the previous one must be dead.
Microsoft killed Windows 7 because it had to sell a few billion new operating systems, scrapping Windows 7, now useless (according to Microsoft logic).
All right, then, in our dear economic and financial system.
So why did I decide to write on this Forum, in response to the New Member WmToensing?
Because, after reading the answers to your question, I laughed for a whole hour.
So I have to explain why I had to laugh.
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Today on the web there are millions of posts in forums and blogs.
99% of these interventions are silly, stupid and without any technical and IT seriousness.
I know that when I look for answers on the web, I have to look for 100 links to find at least one serious one that answers my questions.
Often on various forums I have asked questions about the Windows system, without having serious answers, but only nonsense.
In truth, some users, very few, give absolutely complex answers, capable of being understood only by specialized engineers.
But only a few, on the other hand, know how to explain themselves well, able to make themselves understood by "everyone".
It seems that some users, very competent, are ashamed to use a language and a way of explaining topics, with simple and clear methods.
Perhaps they are afraid of making a bad impression on their fellow web specialists, of being laughed at.
Others, on the other hand, are megalomaniacs and must necessarily show off their expertise in order to earn some praise or special mention in some scientific or university magazine.
I leave aside these inconclusive people for the general public.
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I come from decades of in-depth schooling, working in airline technical offices, teaching in high schools.
I started using the Commodore from the first model, then the ZX Sinclair Spectrum, and then the various Microsoft systems.
Dos 2.0, 3.0, up to 6.2 and then Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Millennium, Windows NT, 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, 8, 10, in both all 32 and 64 bit versions.
I also used Linux in dozens and dozens of "distros".
In the meantime, I have used dozens of hardware machines.
I currently have the following Desktop PCs here in my home:
Commodore 128, IBM Compatible PC 8 MHz 640k of Ram, Pentium 1 - 200 MHz, Pentium 3 - 800 MHz, Pentium 4 - 1700 and 2500 MHz, AsRock DualCore with 4 GB of Ram, Asus i5 with 16 GB of Ram.
I also have the following notebooks:
Aspire 1300, Samsung N150, 2x HP 15-acxxxx, HP 14-cexxxx.
All these machines work "perfectly", with the Notebooks all in DualBoot.
All Desktop PCs are equipped with at least 2 removable Hard Disks, with various operating systems.
For example, on the AsRock PC I have Windows XP, Windows 7 32 and 64 bit, Windows 8 and Windows 10 32 and 64 bit, with the possibility of having 4 Hard Disks inserted together and turned on at the same time.
On the Asus PC I only have 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 10 systems, with Hard Disk in MBR and GPT.
I have been using the computer for more than 40 years.
In the last 15 years I have never had any virus or Trojan or other malware infections, and only five cases before.
All my systems are perfectly controlled and verified, with maniacal configurations for security control.
I use bi-directional third-party firewalls, rigorously configured, so that there isn't a single Microsoft or third-party application that can escape my control.
I have a tight control of all Windows Services, and I know by heart the processes running on every machine, on every active Hard Disk.
Every day I check, on the PC in use, which processes are active, and if I find a single unknown file name, I investigate and eradicate it.
I am in control of every door and I know why they are open and what they do, in real time.
I use various software for active computer control and for the elimination of any extraneous and unwelcome activity.
I am familiar with many parts of the Windows Registry, which I check periodically.
I often work with the registry keys, data and values, to modify each configuration to my liking.
I am familiar with the Windows FileSystem, and I recognize the names of hundreds of files.
I always have a copy of the original installation of each Windows system, and I often check by comparison which foreign files are placed in the System32 folder or other folders, checking dates and properties.
I can boot my PCs with various Live operating systems from USB or DVD, in order to search the Windows FileSystem for which files to delete.
In the same way, with Win10PESE or Win10XPE on a USB key, I can load the Hives of any register and modify or delete any entry I want, canceling any authorization to access the protected keys.
I can change any system file name I want.
For example, I rename all Iexplore.exe files to Minesweeper.exe, as I use Firefox.exe to navigate.
But the most important thing is that I use the "Sandboxie" application on all systems, in order to use for each installation even more virtual areas, up to 10, each dedicated to specific uses.
Each browser operates in a dedicated virtual area. Any software I want to try I install in other virtual areas.
All virtual areas are only partially deleted, saving all virtual download folders and all e-mail folders.
The e-mail client always and inevitably opens in a dedicated virtual Sandboxie area.
And guess what my email client is? Outlook Express.
Outlook Express is perfect for me. He never cheated on me.
Like driving a strong, powerful dog with a short, sturdy leash, so I drive Outlook Express.
I use 50 different email accounts, grouped into 6 different identities.
Can you tell me which email client can provide me with such a comprehensive service, if not Outlook Express?
Instead Microsoft Outlook, which I know well, I don't like because all the mails are in a single file with the PST extension, a file that often gets corrupted, with the loss of all the maisl, as I read in hundreds of desperate user forums, as it is happened to dozens of my acquaintances, many professionals.
I divide the mail for each individual account into individual folders, and then divide each account folder into subfolders based on senders.
I have never lost a single email in 20 years.
By now my email database is 6 GigaByte.
For each installation, for each identity, I always have a backup copy of the mail files, performed every month.
The Outlook Express address book is always empty, because all my contacts are not registered in Outlook Express, but are copied separately in a text file, and are also copied separately in a paper notebook.
All the passwords I use, hundreds of them, are written separately, and not saved in the browser, and copied by hand into a paper notebook, even if I remember half of the passwords well by heart.
My personal data fills over 200 GigaByte with hundreds of folders and subfolders, so a stranger looking for my personal data would have dozens of days to waste.
I have dozens of copies of data partitions and operating systems on about 10 external USB drives, each 2TB, so I could never lose a data or an operating system.
When I install a new system, every 5 application installations I make a copy of the system partition, so I can fix every error.
In some cases I have also installed 400 applications on the same system, such as on Windows XP.
Almost all of my applications are installed "offline".
I never update my Windows systems with automatic updates, because I block all updates, even with third party applications.
I only update when there is news of a serious system flaw, and only for that problem.
For systems that are still active, every two years I manually update with the penultimate valid version, using a copy of the entire system and activating the Setup.exe of the new system, with the previous Windows system up and running.
So I update everything at once, always "offline".
For disk or partition copies, both MBR and GPT, I use Aomei Backupper or Ghost64 or Ghost32 in Dos, often using a Windows Live, such as Win10XPE.
I haven't used antivirus anymore for over 10 years.
But every month I insert a Kaspersky or Avast Live DVD and do a full scan, with great results, never malware.
I regularly use radical cleaners of the operating system and registry, sometimes deleting hundreds of useless keys, especially after uninstalling cumbersome programs.
To uninstall each application I use third party software, such as Revo Uninstaller in advanced mode.
I often manually check in the Registry that there are no remaining keys, and if I find them I delete them.
All my systems are perfect and run great.
For example I have eliminated the Main service and Prefetch and Superfetch, which are used only to waste time and do not give any advantage.
I like to delete all traces of use of the PC after each use, so I often also delete LOG files and strange hidden Windows folders, in AppData, where all the links of each web browsing are copied.
For Windows 10 I use minimal configurations to minimize any invasion of my privacy by Microsoft.
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I conclude by writing that I still use Windows XP and Outlook Express perfectly well for e-mail, and that I have now compiled my post on Windows 7 64-bit on an Asus machine with 16 GB of Ram, in a software called iDailyDiary, and that then I copy and paste on the SevenForums forum page.
I invite Microsoft to think that I am not a moron idiot who uses Windows like an idiot, but that I am able to use and modify Windows at my pleasure, and still enjoy the use of Windows XP and Windows 7 in perfect safety without problems. .
Therefore I have a lot of sympathy for the user WmToensing, who initiated this post, and I admire him for his personality. I wish him a long and peaceful life.
I am almost 81 years old & not very computer literate. A few years ago, I bought a Windows 7 home computer but have primarily used it just to listen to music as I couldn't get it to send or receive Outlook Express 6. I therefore bought a used computer that ran Windows XP. I have a seperate Seagate external hard drive for each computer but it appears that my XP computer has not downloaded any of my my email or extensive email files which I wish to save. Why can't Microsoft provide a Windows 7 system that uses Outlook Express 6 or a system compatable with it. I HATE Windows 7 & WILL NOT have anything to do with Windows 8, 9, 10 or whatever they are going to call it! I wish i could get Bill Gates to read this!
