OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

If you are considering purchasing XP Home Edition, it would be a very bad idea at this point in time. As of Dec. 31st, 2006, it will get no more security updates or any other updates:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060103-5891.html

Either wait for this to be satisfactorily resolved, or purchase XP Pro instead, which will continue to recieve mainstream support for 2 additional years, then it goes into a 5 year "extended support" phase where it gets only security updates. MS will probably change this policy once bad PR starts building up, but it isn't IMO worth the risk purchasing XP Home for now.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

...I knew I should have built the time machine, instead of the teleporting lawn chair.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Post about the other discovery you made tonight Fyron... about the new flaw in MS OS.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

I didn't "discover" it, I just pasted it from a RSS feed I read.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060102-5876.html

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Ooops, good point, I must improve my communication skills..

By discover I mean he uncovered the information and informed us.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

I love not being vulnerable to all the new crap.

98se dosen't have that buggy MWF support by default.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

All versions of Windows have this vulnerability. Even Windows 3.1 from the days before Microsoft had even noticed the internet! It's not truly a 'bug' but an intentional feature of Windows. It's actually possible to make code function calls from a WMF file because WMF files were designed for fancy functionality, but without any thought for security. This is yet another lesson on Internet Exploder. Don't Use It, Mmm'kay? People who surf with a non-Microsoft browser are dramatically less vulnerable. You can still be sent an email with a trojan in it, but at least you won't infect yourself in routine surfing.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

But only if you have a MS viewer to load those WMF files.

Basic 98se + irfanview to look at the files with dosen't get owned.

http://blog.ziffdavis.com/seltzer/ar.../03/39684.aspx

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Good link, SJ, thanks.
(PvK remains content with Win98SE and Win2KPro at home; sees no reason to join the XP Borg 'cept at work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif )

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

This may have been resolved:
article

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Well now, looks like Microsoft upset its larger comsumer base and decided to do a think of thier SOP.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

"THINK" and "MICROSOFT" should never be used in the same sentence. Watch your grammar AT.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Hi, y'all. I just dropped back in this evening to search for an old thread w/ some comments by Fyron about fine-tuning XP, and here y'all are talking about it right now. Whaddyaknow?

So far I've taken the approach that PvK and SJ espouse above, sticking w/ Win98SE on all of my machines because it does what I need it to do and I've seen no reason to move to XP. Except that now my boys have a couple of games that need XP to run, plus they have some Christmas money that they'd like for me to use to put XP on their machines, so I guess the time has come.

So it looks like I should buy XP Pro (and I think that is what Fyron had recommended before, in that old thread I was coming here to re-read), but are there different variations of that? Seems like last time I checked TigerDirect they had several different XP Pro packages listed. I've also been told that I should get the "corporate" version of XP Pro because that doesn't do all of the "phone home" crap, but have not had much luck on finding out where to get this.

Also, where is a good place to buy it from? Any recommendations on that?

Also, Fyron, I think you mentioned before doing a lot of fine-tuning to XP Pro to make it work a lot better than it would right out of the box; can you point me to any good site or FAQ w/ instructions/suggestions on that fine-tuning?

And regarding this WMF exploit, would it be useful to just remove the file associations that go with that extension, so that if you run across one it wouldn't open/display? Or would IE try to display it anyway, thereby running the embedded virus?

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Space Badger! Now that's a name I haven't seen in a while.

You can only legitimately get a corporate version if you are in a corporation that has purchased a volume licensing scheme. Or maybe a school or other big organization. You won't find it for single license sale legally anywhere.

I believe there is a patch out for the WMF exploit.

I lost my links to optimization sites on dead hdd. Someone else will have to post something.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Howdy, Fyron. Thanks for the info. I'll hunt a bit more for that old thread and link it from here if I find it; I think you gave a few site links in that thread.

I haven't played any Space Empires online since Kwok's Aldan Galaxy game folded, and my boys got interested in other games, so I only play the occasional solo game against the AI nowadays. I was glad to see I still have an account on this board, since it has probably been over a year since I logged in here.

Anybody still playing SEIV, or have y'all moved on to SEV now? I haven't bought that yet, since I was still getting good enjoyment out of SEIV but not really playing it much.

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Oops, browsing some other threads I see that SEV still hasn't been released yet, so I guess that is another reason that I haven't bought it. *g*

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Actually, Space Empires V is not out yet... perhaps later this year. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

New people coming in...Old people coming back (Hi Badger)...

[Singing]It's beginning to feel a lot like Space Empires Five...[/Singing]

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

Hey, Narf. Any ETA on SEV, or is it just "when it's done"?

Re: OT: Don\'t Buy XP Home
 

The ETA is when it's done. February used to be a date mentioned, but that's very unlikely.