Microsoft delivers critical fixes for Windows, IE and Excel Microsoft's monthly patch fest for August included fixes for 14 security holes, including critical flaws in Internet Explorer, Excel and in Windows components such as XML Core Services, Vector Markup Language and Object Linking and Embedding automation. Six of the nine bulletins issued as part of this month's Patch Tuesday …
Maybe it's just because I ain't had my coffee yet but whiney bitches like you really f**k me off with your holier than thou attitude. I unashamedly use XP, for what I use ot for it's rock solid (never crashes with me) and allows me to do all the stuff I want to at home - word processing, surfing, playing music and playing online games. So what if it needs updating and patching, everything created by man needs updating and tweaking and improving. You're a whalloper. Fact.
Antoinette, as-tu aucun ... sigh.
So, OSX has no updates? *nix has no updates? TRy going a week without updates on your *nix release, you'll be surprised. OSX? They are just really really good at marketing.
Apple, a few weeks ago, they disabled a feature instead of fixing it. The crap fight would have been insane.
Stop bashing Windows - yes it sucks at times, yes Microsoft do make an obscene amount of money out of it, but do you honestly expect people who have barely just got used to where the "New Message" button in Outlook is (and a few other buttons) to pick up Linux/MacOS/etc that easily in order to make the switch feasible? Windows mostly just works out of the box, even if it does need patching regularly (with the exception of Vista, IMHO).
Every year (more or less) I try to dig myself into Linux, and every year I get frustrated and give up. Why? Because it doesn't work as well from a layman's point of view, because unless you're prepared to spend a long time getting used to it, things work differently in different distros, because it doesn't have the same hardware compatibility and similar applications, etc - the list really could go on for a long time, but all it would cause would be a flame war. And Microsoft also happens to be pretty much stuck with a lot of backward-compatibility baggage - not that they're making much of an effort to get rid of it, mind you (unless breaking Creative's sound cards in Vista can be considered progress).
And I'm not really computer illiterate either, so that argument won't work. Yes there are indeed other better OS's out there - they're just not made with the end-user clearly in mind and they won't offer the same experience.
I guess if the open-source community would stop bickering and throwing handbags around and then started collaborating and working to consolidate the existing knowledge and distros into a few clear products, then it might be possible to put them side by side and compare apples with apples.
I can't wait for the fan-boyz and gurlz...
"I unashamedly use XP, for what I use ot for it's rock solid (never crashes with me) and allows me to do all the stuff I want to at home - word processing, surfing, playing music and playing online games."
So which ones of those things can't you do on a free, 99% virus and security hole free Linux Desktop?
Or do you rather like paying +£100 (i've no idea what it even is) in license fee's to use an OS that is full of security holes and virus'.
(don't get me wrong, I don't hate windows, I'm just interested in why XP is so good for those tasks?!)
Why do people seem to think providing updates is a bad thing. Sure it shouldn't have happened in the first place, but then FireFox, Thunderbird, Opera also have regular updates to fix holes... (And I still use these three apps as well...) Oh and not a single one of my x86 boxes has ever exploded with Windows on it. My laptop nearly did with Linux (wouldn't turn the fan on to keep things cool), but never Windows.
Face it all OS's have their issues, trying to place on above another is a pretty pointless exercise. Use what's most useful to you (be it BEOS, (a particular flavour of) Linux, Apple, MS or whatever).
100% in agreement with you Simon. Too many people thinking they are above every other person on the planet because they do not use a Microsoft OS. In reality they are no different to others apart from they whine about everything.
I use Vista here on all the machines I have in the household and NO, yes read it correctly NO problems whatsoever; no crashes, no BSOD's, no issues at all. I don't use AV software on any of them - just anti malware applications, no firewalls, use P2P, use IE7 with protected mode off in Administration accounts exclusively, UAC turned off, no performance hit over XP, no software incompatibilities, etc, yet NOT ONE SINGLE PROBLEM. Before anyone thinks otherwise, the machines are on 24/7/365 and permanently connected to the 20Mb web connection. The only times they are rebooted is for the updates.
Friends and clients machines I have set up in similar fashion are also completely problem free!
Maybe if people thought about what they put on their machines and how they use them, they wouldn't suffer problems. I get more calls from clients and friends who have gone against my advice and bought Mac's because of the marketing gumph with problems than I do from the larger user base of Windows users I support. I have been known to phone up some of my Windows user clients to check if everything is ok due to not hearing from them for maintenance over a period of time, and they are completely fine and happy (which then leads to them ordering more systems and other hardware from me!!).
I'll tell you why I choose to use XP over linux for the tasks you mention - because it works. Having tried many many linux distros over the years I haven't found one which works with all of my hardware, straight out the box. Sometimes it's the soundcard, other times it's a network problem, still other times it's printing, but it's never flawless. My hardware is hardly exotic either, having been available since early 2003. And before you say it, I don't think it's acceptable to have to spend hours searching online in geek forums for a solution to hardware problems that shouldn't exist.
I keep testing new distros every couple of months, but so far I have yet to find one that passes this undemanding test. The only other OS that came close to "just working" as XP does was BeOS, so I'm sure that the goal is possible. Until that day arrives, I and many others are forced to stick with XP.
"I don't use AV software on any of them - just anti malware applications, no firewalls, use P2P, use IE7 with protected mode off in Administration accounts exclusively, UAC turned off"... "the machines are on 24/7/365 and permanently connected to the 20Mb web"
So it's YOU that's been sending me all that spam and malware! Now we know who is to blame.
Seriously, no AV or firewall, running as admin with a 20Mb net connection and you use P2P? You probably have a series of virus infections that House MD couldn't cure. You're recklessly endangering everyone else on the internet with your lax attitude. If you did support for my company I'd be making sure the contract was cancelled asap.
I hate the way the update system pops up a window every five minutes telling you it will restart unless you tell it not to. All too often that happens just as I'm doing something else and a stray Return key restarts my PC, typically losing whatever I'm working on at the time.
This update had me seriously thinking finding a Windows replacement as I sat there hitting the reset button in the hope of getting my PC as far as my desktop without locking up. Thanks Microsoft. Good job there.
I have 3 boxes .. a Mac, a Linux box and a Windows box. Guess which one I'm using now and use most of the time ..
Windows! I bemoan Windows/Microsoft/Bill Gates constantly when things don't quite work as I want them, but still I come back to it and use it as my main box. Why? It supports the most games easily, software is easier to find and install for it if I need it, and most of the files I work with or deal with in relation to family and friends are in formats easily recognised by Windows.
I know that this kinda sounds like "everyone else uses it, so I do too" and that is true to a certain extent. Why make things harder for yourself?
----
So which ones of those things can't you do on a free, 99% virus and security hole free Linux Desktop?
----
games games games games games games games... (look up the Mac vs PC spoofs on YouTube).
The only thing that bugs me about Windows Update is the fact that it pops up that helpful little balloon telling you that "you can continue working" when you know full well you can't because as soon as the update is complete <4mins usually you'll have to reboot anyway.
I've said it before, horses for coarses - you want a web server? Run Apache on FreeBSD, (home) user-friendly graphics/video editing, get a Mac - GaM3orZ FTW(dows).
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Modify or create DWORD value EnableBalloonTips and set it to 0
That took me less than 30secs on google, it's not exactly what you want, but should do the job. I'm not going to bother to search any further, because I'm at work...
Oh, yeah, it's probably in TweakUI as well...
Play games old chap, that's what he can't do on his linux box.
And before you spit your dummy in my direction, I'm typing this on R52 my Thinkpad which is dual booted XP/Etch (debian 4). I confess to being in XP right now, but that's only because I saw there were a load of updates to get when I read El Reg in IceWeasel earlier.
now we know who the people are who own the bots
very right you are to get angry at people making fun
of your ignorant MS using ass if they find out it's you
you may lose your internet connection and have to
do something like let those patches roll for a change.
Sorry to tell you this MS doesn't release these things
for their health they have to you are a target and you
will always be a target, have a nice day.
I use linux myself at home, but people who live and breathe it and put posts on news sites about it are cocks who need to get a life.
PS to the fella above who can't find a distro that works on all hardware out of the box, try PCLOS - it's hardware detection is absolutely excellent, even things like my wireless adapter worked straight away.
there's a lot sales people commenting here! On commission are we?
There are sales people who are selling unique, detached plots with a splendid view in code editors. The only ones that are allowed have all the line to themselves. Don't trust those that give away plots that are semi-detached to statements; heresy, should be burnt at the stake these, these ... wotnots.
This post has been deleted by its author
Apart from Fraser's suggestion,
you can also set Automatic Updates only to download the updates by opening the control panel, selecting "Automatic Updates", and then choose either
"Download, but not install" or "Notify before downloading".
In this case, when you shutdown your machine, you will have a
"Install updates and shutdown machine".
You don't get bothered about installing the updates otherwise.
The automatic updater will appear in your taskbar should you wish to review
what's about to be updated.
The only thing that I can't do so far with Linux is play games and use my Behringer mix console for when I go abroad and fancy streaming a mix back to the UK.
I'm not arsed at all about the debate about the pros and cons between Windows, OSX or Linux. If one of the others could do all of what I want then I may be tempted to try but I just hate all these wingnuts that constantly bitch & moan about 'this is better' or 'that is better'.
If the 95% (or whatever it is) of the world's computer users used Linux or OSX instead of Windows then I'm pretty sure that those OS's would be shown up to be just as holey as Windows. Why on earth would hackers/crackers et al that create virii etc to attack & own Windows computers pour their resources into creating malware for something that maybe 1 in 20 users would be affected by (and that ratio can be lowered further by those that use firewalls and keep all their protection up to date)? It makes no sense so Windows is the logical target to reach their nefarious goals.
I hate M$ products and have looked into linux but my teeth are still white and shiny so i'll stick to xp. It sounds like a contradiction but I grew up with M$ from windows 3.1 for workgroups. Apparently it's the same with cars, if you get a beemer you'll always have one, Mercs the same, regardless of what they do to them, you'll have spent to much time saying why yours is better.
I'd like to see how linux kept up if it was as widely distributed as windows. At the moment no one writes viruses for it as it would be a pointless exercise. The few percent market share it has is hardly going to make any would be writers rich or famous. Then would come the problem of the mish mash of patches for the different distros and the confusion of which to download for what. At least M$ has a central point of update. 'The community' is all well and good, but only if it all pulls together in the same direction.
i want to try linux again.
Ms peeps can use ms. and it can be free (cracked)... or paid for, to allow updates.
People take it really personally. (why??? its bill who should take it personally)
i did cry abit inside though when he called everyone a Ms Luser. It was quite witty though...
emotion seem to bring out the best vernacular in people.
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