On Oct 25, 2:06*pm, "PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABear...@gmail.com> wrote:
> [crosspost to WinXP General]
>
> 1. How does your problem relate to Windows Update?
>
> 2. Who had access to your computer while you were away for a week?
>
> 3. What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
> subscription current? *What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
> What third-party firewall (if any)?
>
> 4. Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
> machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
> it)?
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002www.banthecheck.com
>
> At 17:09 UTC, 25 Oct-09, Mark wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm running a 4 yr old Gateway desktop, Windows XP Media Center, w/SP3.
> > I was out of town for a week and when I came home the computer was
> > different. Couldn't connect to the internet and IE8 would not load,
> > Firefox
> > loaded fine. Noticed the desktop was rearranged and the toolbar at the
> > bottom looked like Windows 98. The only time the computer restarts is when
> > it updates automatically. It's on all the time. Here's the problem;
>
> > While trying to diagnose the problem, I tried to do a defrag. Wouldn't do
> > it. I tried to do a system restore, wouldn't do it. So, I went into safe
> > mode. When it loaded in safe mode, it gave me a choice, click yes to
> > proceed
> > to safe mode or click no to restore your computer. I clicked yes and it
> > went
> > into safe mode, then it automatically shut down and restarted before I had
> > a
> > chance to do anything. Tried again, and clicked no to restore and it said
> > System restore is not able to protect your computer. Please restart your
> > computer and it did so automatically. I went to msconfig and set it to
> > start
> > in safe mode. Now, it just goes round in circles starting in safe mode,
> > shutting itself down, and restarting in safe mode. I can't get back to
> > msconfig to change the setting. I tapped F8 key and chose to start normal,
> > but it started in safe mode again. I can't get out of safe mode now.
>
> > I want to do two things.
> > 1) Get out of safe mode
> > 2) Restore my computer to an earlier time to see if that corrects my
> > original problem.
>
> > Any help would be appreciated.

If your system is infected with a certain malicious software and you
added the /SAFEBOOT option through MSCONFIG, you need to remove the /
SAFEBOOT option from the boot.ini file manually.

The malicious software will keep you from booting in any kind of mode
to run MSCONFIG again in order to turn off the /SAFEBOOT option - that
is what it does.

You can fix the booting issue easily through the Recovery Console if
RC is installed on your HDD, invoking RC using a bootable XP
installation CD or if you have no XP media, creating a bootable XP
Recovery Console CD using files you can download to some other working
computer.

After that, you can work on removing the malicious software(s).

To the second group:

You will probably HATE this train wreck of an OS.  You will kick yourself blind for foolishly wasting your money as you stumble your way through it, constantly wondering where this or that setting is, knowing that you must have missed it.  You'll convince yourself that it's there somewhere and will look over the same menus again and again and again.

You'll get on Google and — whoops! — it's a brand new OS and no one knows dick about it.  And the things you want to tweak weren't problems in XP and Vista, so no one's discussed them in the past.

And to think — you could have bought that cool (fill in blank), instead!  Damn!

I give you about two days before one of two things happens.  Either you convince yourself that you can sell the Win7 disc at your next garage sale (so the whole thing won't be a total loss) and you'll switch back to XP or Vista, or you'll give in and simply accept your fate.  If you want to adjust some setting in the future and find out you can't, too bad.

But take heart.  You'll be able to console yourself because a slimmed-down Windows 7 doesn't use up as much energy as the power-hungry bloated Vista, thereby preventing global warming.

So you'll have that going for you.


The Bad News

I spent a day on the following list.  I first (ahem) attempted to do all of my usual system tweaks, then I installed and used different programs, set up the anti-virus/spyware and firewall programs and got online, downloaded and uploaded files, went to the farthest left-wing blog sites out there and left horrible, scathing comments signed "Bird Dog" everywhere I went, edited a web site, did a video project, and basically just used the rig as I normally do.

Brace yourself:

• The Start Menu can't be changed.  The 'classic' entry on the Start Menu Options is history.  That means, rather than quickly running the pointer out to a folder within a folder within a folder, you have to merrily click-click-click your way to the folder.  Then you have to click-click-click to get back to the top of the menu so you can choose another program.  It's so abysmal that this, alone, would keep me from using this putrid, disgusting abomination of an operating system.
   
  (And they said my reviews weren't objective.  Hah!)
   
  
• You'll also have to get used to the large entries on the Start Menu.  The "use small icons" option is no more.
  
  
• Worse, every time you use a program, Win7 is going to put its icon on the main part of the Start Menu, so things are constantly shifting around, which means you have to hunt for each entry, rather than knowing right where they are.
  
  
• Windows Search, as a program, is history.  The only thing you're given is the little search box at the bottom of the Start Menu and at the top of windows.  From there you can do an 'advanced search' and most of the old Vista Search pops up, but then you'll probably have to expand the window just so you can see the options.  What they gained by eliminating Search's own window is anybody's guess.
  
  
• You can't disable the Quick Launch tool bar if you don't use it.  You have to manually right-click on each icon to get rid of them, and you'll have to do it every time a new program puts an icon there.
  
  
• Folders are now "programs".  As in, should you leave a couple of windows open and attempt to shut down, a great big full-screen message pops up that warns you "2 programs are still running!"  Thankfully, it closes after a few seconds, but it's still stupid.
  
  
• You know how 'Auto Arrange' keeps a window's icons neat and alphabetized?  It's gone.
  
  
• Similarly, I always liked "Align to Grid" as it kept the icons from doing that ugly stretching thing (in Vista) when changing the size of a window.  The option is kaput.
  
  
• You can't turn off Hibernate, which means you'll be dragging along a gigantic 3-gig file for no reason, doubling the time it takes to make a backup image file, whether using a program like True Image or the Windows backup program.  And you can't just delete the file because it's "in use".  Thankfully, you can turn it off (and get rid of the big file) using the method on the Vista Tweaks page.
  
  
• You can't adjust individual system colors anymore, like the 'selected' color and the color of the window frames.  All you get are the 'Themes'.  Pay attention because there'll be a test.  I'm going to touch on this particular item down below.  As simple as it is, do you see any underlying significance?
  
  
• Be forewarned; not all of your programs that installed on Vista will install on Win7.  My fairly recent edition of ZoneAlarm (firewall) wouldn't install, and Norton SystemWorks 2009 (!) has "known compatibility issues".  And even though I have Admin privileges as a user, Norton Anti-virus wouldn't install unless I did a "Run as administrator" on the Setup icon.
  
  
• Under the heading, "It's small, but they all add up,", add to the list the fact that you don't have separate Input and Output volume controls anymore, and can't change the 'color depth' of the monitor.
  
  
• And a whole shitload of stock Windows programs are history.  Possibly the finest Windows tool they ever came out with, Movie Maker, is no more.  Probably half the videos on YouTube were made with Movie Maker.  Imagine the surprise of budding young videophiles opening up their new Windows 7 and discovering they now have to shell out $259 for a commercial video editing studio.  And there are lots of little things missing in the various 'Accessories' folders.  This, on the $320 'Ultimate' edition.

What a disgrace.

And no, for the record, I didn't cough up $320 for this post.  I signed on to beta-test Win7 last summer, then latched onto a commercial version (unactivated) after it was officially released so I could see what the difference was.  My one forlorn hope was that the 'Ultimate' version would contain the lost programs and settings.  What else, after all, does the word 'ultimate' mean?
 

Oh, I forgot one:

There's no email program.

Yes, you read that right.  Almost ten years into the second millennium and the newest operating system in the galaxy doesn't contain a simple email program, something that's been around for two decades?  Outlook Express (now renamed 'Windows Mail' in Vista), one of Windows' crown jewels and a program that outperforms the vaunted ($$) program 'Outlook', is gone.

Hey, you said you wanted to get rid of the bloatware, right?
 

The Good News

Now, all of this isn't to say that Windows 7 is totally worthless.  I'm sure there are a number of very positive enhancements to it, which I'll start listing below as I come across them:

1.  Now has 'Repair' feature on Safe Mode boot-up menu

2.

3.

4.

5.

So it's got those items going for it!

It's pretty clear that Microsoft has taken two messages to heart:

1.  Quit trying to add cool features like transparent windows and the Sidebar because the whiny vocal minority will start screaming about "bloatware" and such.

2.  Quit treating the users like they know what they're doing.  The fewer options they have, the less trouble they'll get into.

Large corporations are amazingly like politicians, aren't they?  You constantly get the feeling you're being herded along like sheep.
 

And what kind of information is the public getting?

I have read a dozen Win7 reviews and watched two videos, and every single one of them pushed the same two memes:

1.  Vista is bad because it's bloated.  Of course, by "bloated" they mean "a whole bunch of perhaps vital, necessary programs running in the background that other, more worthless piece-of-shit operating systems don't offer" is beside the point.  What they never mention is... you can turn off the bloatware!  Do that, and Vista is a quick, snappy, stable operating system.

2.  Windows 7 is the operating system you've been waiting for.  Quick, functional, basic — no frills or snags to bog it down.  If you like simple, you'll love Windows 7!  Of course, what none of the articles or videos mentioned about Windows 7 was everything I listed up above.
 

Summation

I didn't exaggerate or mislead anybody in the first part of this post.  It is a basic, stable operating system, and for casual users with bloated systems, it'll be perfect.  And, outside of a few hitches, it took everything I threw at it (big complicated video editing studios, audio editors, web editors, desktop publishing tools, etc) and never peeped a complaint.  Or perhaps they've removed the error messages as well.

While the full version of 'Ultimate' costs $320 at Office Depot, the 'Home' upgrade disc is only 120 clams, so it isn't particularly a wallet-buster if you want to give it a shot.  Just remember the golden rule:

No complaining about it afterward.

That ends the official part of the post.  Following is some related commentary in case you're really bored at work today.
 

— Since email programs are considered 'tools', like a browser, and aren't included in the 'bloatware' department, it's a real puzzle why they removed Outlook Express aka Windows Mail.  My only guess is that they're pushing their online email site, MSN.  Nor do all of the common freebie replacement email programs (Thunderbird, Eudora, etc) import Outlook Express/Windows Mail files (assuming you want to save your old mail), so you might end up having to dig up a program that'll convert the database files to some 'universal' format, like UNIX, then import that into your new email program.  It'll be way too much for most people and a great part of their lives will be lost.  For many, email archives are the modern-day version of keeping a scrapbook.

Allow me to be the first to label the removal of their email program a debacle of the highest order.
 

— The techies who wrote so glowingly of Win7 (yet accidentally forgot to mention everything I listed up above) are really going to be in a bind.  On one hand, they'll have to pretend to their readers that everything's just peachy and they're just a-lovin' their new Win7 system — while secretly they'll be reacting just as I did as they discover to their horror that option after option is missing.

A techie who can't tweak his own system?

Now that's funny.
 

— While I'm positive that this is just a silly illusion on my part, consider an interesting thought:

Do you know what the "MS" in "MSNBC" stands for?

MicroSoft.

Now, if we extrapolate MSNBC's left-wing agenda and figure Microsoft is in the same bag (as evidenced by their pandering to the green crowd — did you notice all the green bars in Vista?  Think that's a coincidence?), then we note how they removed one of the few things that made a person's system stand out — changing the colors of the window frames and 'selected' color, thus individualizing the system.  We note how neatly it's removal fits into the left-wing agenda of conformity.  In the world of the future, all people will dress the same, and get the same pay, and have identical computer operating systems.

But I'm sure I'm reading too much into it.
 

— By the way, in case you were wondering, the reason it's called "Windows 7" is because it's the seventh version of Windows.  And here's the list now:

1.  Windows 3.1
2.  Windows 95
3.  Windows NT
4.  Windows 98
5.  Windows 98SE
6.  Windows 2000
7.  Windows Millennium
8.  Windows XP
9.  Windows Vista

Okay, so it was close to the seventh version.

The odd thing is, I can see them not counting Windows 3.1 and 98SE — but what other one are they not counting?  By all rights, this should have been "Windows 8", and even that's a horseshit name.  On the other hand, at least it beats "Panther", "Leopard", "Cheetah", "Velociraptor", "Hog's Breath", "Snake Eyes", and the rest of those goofy Mac names.

Update: A commenter points out that it's the seventh 'Home' version of Windows (Windows NT and 2000 were commercial and Win98SE doesn't count), so there's the answer.
 

— I sent a copy of this article to my buddy RadioHowie for vetting before I posted it.  He sent back a single sentence:

"Remind me never to install Windows 7."

Amen, brudder.