It was 10 years ago to the day,
When it seemed to be time to make way,
For a brand-new PC,
With Windows SE,
And a much bigger disk in its bay.

USB ran like a storm,
And multiple tasks were the norm.
It started up fast,
And the occasional crash,
Was soon fixed with scanreg/ restore.

When anything complex went wrong,
A reinstall went like a song.
Then I chanced on this site,
And I thought that I might,
Try repairs for myself before long.

I got help from Alex and Jim,
Carol J, Malcolm Fowler, and Tim.
And athough sometimes rude,
With the guidance of Gewg,
I was soon once more doing my thing.

Eight years went by in a flash,
(and still the occasional crash).
But a disk once more full,
And a screen growing dull,
Meant the day of XP came to pass.

Now its all bedded in and OK,
The old beast has been taken away,
It was easy to use,
And it rarely confused . . .
This old codger who's 60 today.

I learned a few things on the track,
And I don't really want to go back.
Many thanks for your aid,
And the difference you made,
In repelling that virus attack.

I shan't be rushing to Vista,
Or to Linux (which I've heard is swifter),
Change for its own sake,
Simply fattens the cake,
Of the makers of disks and transistors !

Tip: Run a free scan for common Windows errors ad

re: Farewell to an old friend ! Monday, February 16, 2009 at 12:21 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) MartinM wrote: [...]But a disk once more full, And a screen growing dull, Meant the day of XP came to pass. Here in the 21st Century, my choice is to never give money for software that 1) requires Product Activation (clueless vendors grow the number daily) or 2) requires a dongle (e.g. many closed-source CAD programs) or 3) surreptitiously (and/or clumsily) writes to my boot sector (e.g. Intuit's junk; Sony music CDs) or 4) constantly tries to "phone home" or 5) includes any other DRM measures. Now its all bedded in and OK, The old beast has been taken away, It was easy to use, And it rarely confused . . . This old codger who's 60 today. Happy birthday, you old fart. I shan't be rushing to Vista, See "Product Activation", "phone home", and "DRM" (above) and "Windows Genuine Advantage"(below). Or to Linux (which I've heard is swifter), It's called Free Software and the *free* part means Freedom[1]. To wit: No attempted lock-in via proprietary file formats. No not-backwards-compatible continuous forced upgrade cycle. No Windows Genuine "Advantage" by which MSFT can cripple your OS via remote control --even though it's an error of *their* crappy "verification" mechanism (whether that error rate is 42% http://www.google.com/search? q=42%.of.the.people.reporting.problems.were.actually.running.Genuine.software or "merely" 22%.) http://www.google.com/search?q=intitle:One.in.Five+WGA+22.Per.Cent With Micros~1's unwillingness to actually remove the infection vectors in their defective-by-design software, it's also gotten to the point that running a M$ OS outside a virtual environment just makes no sense. Debian Linux v5 was just released and their (verified exploit-free) software repositories now contain over 23,000 completely FREE applications any of which can be downloaded & installed with a single command line instruction. If by some slim chance you can't find a FREE replacement for a Windoze-only app, there are ways to run that app without exposing your computer to infections: When running (more-secure-by-design) Linux as the host OS, you can open a virtual session using VirtualBox[2] or VMware[2], invoke the MSFT OS to get your closed-source payware Windoze-only app to run, and close the virtual session. At that point, all the Windoze-only infections and M$-specific nonsense go poof with the virtual machine.[3] ...of course, this assumes that the Windoze-compatible app you need to run **won't** work under WINE (a possibility that grows more slim each day) with WINE (a replacement for M$ code libraries) in turn being called under Linux --and none of this requires paying the Microsoft Tax(tm). ...and I haven't yet mentioned Free Software's freedom to select a (still-supported) OS configuration which allows you to use your old hardware. There was no need to dispose of your old hardware; there are a number of Linux variants that could make it useful as e.g. a file server or print server or firewall or as a desktop computer. Change for its own sake, Simply fattens the cake, Of the makers of disks and transistors ! In this life (if he's lucky), every man gets to pick his own poison. In my case, I've decided not to be in league with any further plans of The Borg --plans which will restrict my freedom to use my computer as I wish. I especially won't give money to be abused. [1] It also almost always means "gratis" aka zero-cost. [2] Both are gratis; VirtualBox is also libre (GPL'd). [3] There are also fewer device driver issues because all the devices which (virtualized) Windoze uses are **virtual** devices, with the actual hardware being accessed via Linux --which has the best out-of-the-box hardware support of ANY OS. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Monday, February 16, 2009 at 12:33 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) Thoughtful, in your verbose way. I am indeed planning Unix after XP which, used carefully, is now pretty stable, usable, well supported (by expertise and by 3rd party products) and free of MS nagging intrusion (and dumping IE helps on the security front). The PC I'm writing this on is dual boot - Linux/XP - just experimenting in preparation for 2019 :-) But you concentrate on the technical things, and all I was really saying in my own verbose way was "thanks" ! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Monday, February 16, 2009 at 2:47 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) MartinM wrote: Thoughtful, in your verbose way. I wouldn't want to leave out any of the salient points. 8-) I am indeed planning Unix after XP which, used carefully, is now pretty stable, usable, well supported (by expertise and by 3rd party products) and free of MS nagging intrusion (and dumping IE helps on the security front). The PC I'm writing this on is dual boot - Linux/XP Now you have me curious as to whether it came that way or... Did you do the test drive first via bootable CD? What distro? ..and how many distros did you go thru before installing? - just experimenting in preparation for 2019 :-) Each time they reach stability, M$ *does* manage to shoot itself in the foot. The payware shrink-wrap model is hard to sustain without obsolescence-by-design. 8-( But you concentrate on the technical things, Well, I wouldn't want you to miss out on any opportunities. 8-) It appears my advocacy for Free Software does have some folks curious. Then again, perhaps I'm taking too much credit. Open Source really "sells" itself--once folks are aware there are options. and all I was really saying in my own verbose way was "thanks" ! Back in the day, you steered me towards some good stuff too. I think of all of this as one hand washing the other. Man, is the server's RTC screwed up! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Monday, February 16, 2009 at 2:55 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) Its a Dell laptop (which is sold either/or, so I knew there was basic compatibility). Tried Puppy from a CD just to familiarise myself, actually first of all to learn how to rescue HDD data with a dead Windows OS (not mine, I'm all backed up !). Experimented with Fedora (as a friend had a DVD available). Played around with several others, settled on Ubuntu for now as I found it the least confusing (after all I'm a user really, not a mechanic other than by necessity). Installed without a single issue, been solid ever since. Better stop there (as this is really a Windows forum isn't it ?) other than to say the only barrier to using OpenOffice is fear itself :-) Regards M [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Friday, February 20, 2009 at 4:31 pm Posted by Ms. Eagle (33640 messages posted) What a cool poem, Martin. You're very gifted. :) Although, I don't recall you getting help from me. How's that possible, when you're so much smarter than me?! P.S. Happy belated B'day, but I'm 1-1/2 yrs. ahead of you. (I know, I know... I don't act my age!) I don't know about you, but it really hurt to turn 60. Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 2:51 am Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) You helped me with Hosts files, among many other things. 60 is great - I don't have to behave any more and I can no longer blow out all the candles . . . driven back by the heat :-) Think what you can do in the next 40 years LoL [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Farewell to an old friend ! Monday, February 23, 2009 at 8:55 pm Posted by Ms. Eagle (33640 messages posted) You're too funny sometimes, Martin! 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