I'm taking the plunge again...XP, take 4.

[digitalwanderer]

Yeah, so I decided to give XP another go again....I never bothered re-installing it since me last 98se re-install and I haven't really missed it. But Rightmark3D won't run on XP, so I'm going back to a dual-boot 98se/XP.

I HATE XP!

Sorry, had to get that out. 98se makes sense to me and it fits me well, too many years of playing with it probably helped. XP isn't as intuitive to me to tweak, so I still get some headaches with it. (Actually, I generally end up tweaking it "one step over the line" and abandoning the install. :rolleyes: )

Any advice/tips for a fresh XP install? Should I do SP1 or not? Which dets are good for XP right now?

Any input appreciated. I'm not a noob with XP anymore since I've been thru this a few times now, but I ain't an oldhand at it by any means. I just figured that I've never whined about me XP experiences here so I thought it might be a change-o-pace. ;)

[The Baron]

Always clean install.

SP1 is your friend if you use the speed patch (I'll find the URL later).

43.51s seem to work fine for me.

XP is a much superior OS if for no other reason than its ease of tweaking and repair compared to 98SE. You can actually tell what's going on in XP (event viewer, Administrative Tools, etc. al), where in 98SE you're kinda left in the dark.

[StealthHawk]

What's this speed patch you're talking about?

[netviper13]

There's a bug in SP1 that can cause programs to take up to 20 times longer than normal to start up. Microsoft released a patch to fix it.

[vampireuk]

Instead of XP install 2000, I love win2k:D

[digitalwanderer]

Man, I just picked up 2K too and was thinking of giving it a go!

XP is doing ok, but I'm having severe difficulty with the brightness control in "Enclave"...which is sort of why I re-installed it. It's just too bloody dark and the brightness control doesn't have any effect!

I tried 43.51, 41.09, & 30.86 and they all did the same thing whether I adjusted the levels thru control panel or rivatuner, low-level or driver level.

What did I miss, how'd I screw up? More importantly, how do I get the gamma control to work in D3D games in XP? :confused:

[Mojo]

speed patch?

im using SP1 but know of no such a patch...

a link would be thuper ^_^

Mojo

[The Baron]

Because I'm everyone's buddy:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9274

[Starscream]

Originally posted by vampireuk
Instead of XP install 2000, I love win2k:D

I concur, 2k > xp.

[Riptide]

Regarding the speed issue aforementioned, take a look at the controversy around hotfix (sp2) Q811493. I would suggest NOT installing this if you have.

It caused my girlfriend's Dell 4550 Dimension to get pauses after you try and open programs up. Remove this "fix" and the problem went away. Her PC is not the only one out there having problems with this stupid security patch.

My P4PE, on the other hand, has no problem with that patch. I removed it anyway, just in case.

[|JuiceZ|]

Originally posted by The Baron
Because I'm everyone's buddy:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9274

yer such a nice guy :hug:

[The Baron]

To quote The JuiceZ (who, once again, is LooseZ):

MikeC bat phone

I cannot tell you how much that made my day. Now get him to reply to my emails, and I'll send you $20. ;)

[digitalwanderer]

Got the gamma to work out in games, sort of. (Thanks to whover explained to me a good reason to leave the stupid little nVidia-thingy going in the tray, the pre-sets work like a charm. :) Annoying, a bit...but it works and is soo damned solid. Thanks. :D ) XP doesn't perform too badly for me, I'm scoring about 9500 onions in XP to 9750 in 98se for a quick number; but nothing major.

Thanks for the help/input, it's appreciated. :)

[The Baron]

Dig, that's probably because you've got ****loads of services running. ;)

[VeritechK7]

services shouldn't matter much really. How much ram do you have there mr wanderer? some games as i've noticed require a good amount more of memory than others. This comes about exiting the game and would hear the hard drive page out the game. So having a good amount of ram and good page file size, would really help. update : you have enough. ..:D

[demonized]

Originally posted by Riptide
Regarding the speed issue aforementioned, take a look at the controversy around hotfix (sp2) Q811493. I would suggest NOT installing this if you have.

It caused my girlfriend's Dell 4550 Dimension to get pauses after you try and open programs up. Remove this "fix" and the problem went away. Her PC is not the only one out there having problems with this stupid security patch.

My P4PE, on the other hand, has no problem with that patch. I removed it anyway, just in case.


how did you remove it? i cant do it in add and remove in the control panel.

[Riptide]

Strange. It showed up in my add/remove programs list.

You might try going to windows update. I think there might be a way to remove updates within it.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally posted by VeritechK7
services shouldn't matter much really. How much ram do you have there mr wanderer? some games as i've noticed require a good amount more of memory than others. This comes about exiting the game and would hear the hard drive page out the game. So having a good amount of ram and good page file size, would really help. update : you have enough. ..:D

I was gonna say, 512MB is the max me T/CUSL2-C's can handle.

Is there any tricks to improve the page system? Me XP side is still about 250 onions behind my 98se half. ;)

[zsynth]

Well, I finally tried XP myself, and I must say,I have very mixed emotions about it. At first, yes it seemed quicker and better than 98se, UNTIL I tried to install Zonealarm Pro 3.7 (full retail-cable modem), and play a few games. First off, I d\l'ed the sp1 & updates (TONS of em), I disabled any and all error reporting,DRM & media player identifiers(prefer to use Zoomplayer), disabled the TOTALLY ANNOYING Messanger crap with it's constant irrating pop ups, then tried installing ZA PRO. I had problems installing that, (WinXP does NOT like 3rd party firewalls-only their own totally hole filled crap firewall) but after figuring it out, and setting it up EXACTLY the same as with my 98se, I couldn't get online. After lowering the security restrictions, and giving explorer, AND XP "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services" FULL acess, I finally got online. Then, EVERY little nit-picking thing I did in XP is trying to connect to the internet. Open a program, it's trying to connect, run a game, it calls home to momma, make any setting change, again, it requires a connection. I mean, WTF, if this ain't the beginning of the end of privacy, I don't know what is. I tried to copy a link to a web site that criticized XP - and guess what? A "MSRATING.DLL" wanted access thru ZA. MSRATING.DLL??? Can you say "BIG BROTHER"? Man, it's going to get a lot worse, and sooner than you think. The ONLY way you can see this XP activity is through a 3rd party firewall.
Tried some gamming. Played my favorite game, DF Black Hawk Down.I got a lot of MAJOR stuttering! Have ALL the latest drivers, patches, tweeks. ****! It plays buttery smooth with max details, AA & AF, in 98se! WTF! This is "the great new os? Start trying all kinds of tweeking in XP. Every time I click on something to change a setting, a different dll WANTS TO CONNECT to the internet. This was getting BEYOND annoying. Disabled page filing(I have 1 gig mem) - N.G. Finally found that by setting memory usage in Performance\advanced to SYSTEMS CACHE (with page filing still disabled), I eleminated the constant stuttering. This "new & improved" os needs just as much tweeking as 98se ever did & it already has twice the amount of updates (just being out & not that old as 98). So what's improved? The spyware? I've givin up trying to use ZA with XP. It's way too annoying to use with "security". If I don't give the system access, it causes problems. Lax up the security, then "what's the point" of using a firewall? God help us when LONGHORN is shoved down our throats. Your going to need 2 machines. One-Online, one Offline. I'm going back to 98se. At least I had control over "my own system" without looking over my shoulder constantly.


Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev 1
XP 2500 Barton@2103 (Therm Volcano 11)
Antec550 True PowerPSU
1 gig PC3200(Samsung) (200meg ram drive)
LiteOn 48x24x48
AOpen DVD
(1) WD 80gig w\8meg buf
(3) 40gig Maxtor's ATA 133
ATI 9800 PRO Cat 3.2 Rage3DTweak DX9.0a
TB Santa Cruz

[VeritechK7]

hey zynth .. did you hear about that sp1 bug that plagued the memory management for xp users? that might have been your problem . and if i remember right the built in firewall should have been disabled to boot.

[zsynth]

Yep, I made sure the built in firewall was disabled before installing ZA. No, I didn't know about the mem management problem in SP1. All I can say is the Performance\ advanced setting cured my stuttering. But these constant alerts from ZA asking me if I want to give some dll (many,many different one's) permission to access the internet is rediculious (3 in just the last 5 min).

[eyeguy616]

Wow, you must use a ton of stuff that wants access then 'cause I use XP Pro on my main comp (amd 1400mhz, 512megs ram) and laptop (P3 600mhz, 196megs ram) and have never had anything like what you're describing. BTW, ZoneAlarm never really worked right for me so I switched over to Sygate Personal Firewall. Obviously those apps that want internet access are going to show up in Sygate/ZoneAlarm when you open them, so open all the ones you plan on using (mostly your games, Windows Update, whatever) and choose whether or not that program/dll will EVER have access. There should an option to keep your decision for that paticular program wanting access forever, or until you need to change it. I only had to answer these sorts of popup questions once per program/dll with Sygate so there's no excuse for ZoneAlarm poping up the question so many times.

You're probably either on your first day with the ZoneAlarm installation and need to open all your programs at least once to get ZoneAlarm to recognize them or you're not clicking that little check box that keeps your decision for that program/dll. Once you do this and disable/manual a few services, WinXP will be far superior to Win98. Also, if you persist on using IE for your browsing needs, there will be many dlls/programs you'll have to deal with. Get Mozilla-FireBird, Opera, or some other browser so that you're a little more safe.

~eyeguy616

Add: disabling the page file is a big no-no. Windows will always need that pagefile no matter how much you have, so put it at either the same size as your total ram or 1.5x to 2x. If you do have a ton of ram, let windows manage its own pagefile.

[bigC]

i felt the same way: hated xp, loved 98se, but since taking the plunge, i will never go back to 98. xp is just so much better: its easier to use, better organized (ie, how you access pictures, files, etc), very stable, and very fast for gaming. i won't be going back to 98 again :D

[Red Dog]

Xp is awesome as long as you go through it and disable everything you dont need, get it up to fighting weight so to speak.

I ditch all auto updates, etc.

visit Black Viper's services guide and make an informed decision which services you dont need. very, very nice site.

BV also made up registry patches to config xp's services to different uses such as, default settings, game machine, internet gateway, supertweak, etc.

overall its pretty safe if you save a restore point or hardware config. BV recommends safe procedures

I turned off over half of the services without issues.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

[Red Dog]

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

he even made a xp tweak guide.