[xpclient]

So every once in a while I still read somewhere that Windows XP was a warmed up Windows 2000, which is incorrect. In fact, XP deserves a major version number increment. I want to dispel the myth and change the perception of those who think XP was a "minor" release just because the kernel version number was incremented from 5.0 to 5.1. XP was a major release. I wrote this article on Wikipedia: Features new to Windows XP to prove it (and show off a bit as well)

[tomasz86]

But isn't XP just an updated Windows 2000?

Of course a lot of nice features were added but there are also many useless ones.

[UltimateSilence]

tomasz86, on 15 June 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

But isn't XP just an updated Windows 2000?

Of course a lot of nice features were added but there are also many useless ones.

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

And jalapeño, xpclient. That's a bigger list than Windows 7's!

This post has been edited by UltimateSilence: 16 June 2012 - 12:52 AM

[tomasz86]

UltimateSilence, on 16 June 2012 - 12:44 AM, said:

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

Even



or



?

This post has been edited by tomasz86: 16 June 2012 - 01:13 AM

[5eraph]

Those two annoyances can be easily disabled with registry tweaks.

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant","SocialUI",0x10001,0
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant","UseAdvancedSearchAlways",0x10001,1
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour","RunCount",0x10001,0

[tomasz86]

I know but still

The dog is a little more difficult to eliminate though. FDV provides this tool: dogdestroyer.exe (source: http://www.vorck.com/windows/)

It will kill the dog once and for all. He also shows how many useless entries in registry were added just to provide this "feature".

[xpclient]

Yes I certainly don't use that search UI with Agent (Dog, Earl, Courtney etc) but the Windows 2000 UI you can easily get with a registry tweak or TweakUI. But they also improved that in XP: the path field accepts environment variables and there is an option to search system and/or hidden files.



I also love the background music of the "tour". It was composed by Bill Brown. Listen to just the music minus the voice in this video.

This post has been edited by xpclient: 16 June 2012 - 05:52 AM

[5eraph]

Do you have a link to the XP Windows Welcome music? Microsoft made the mistake of not including it in XPx64.

[xpclient]

You mean this one?: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=O1BlakAsa4Q

[UltimateSilence]

tomasz86, on 16 June 2012 - 01:12 AM, said:

UltimateSilence, on 16 June 2012 - 12:44 AM, said:

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

Even

http://www.groovypos.../02/image89.png

or

http://www.hawaii.ed...swinxp/tour.jpg

?

The search companion has a couple of fans (though I am not one of them)... It's not difficult to turn off. It's nice knowing that it's there in the unlikely event that one prefers it.

And the Tour is nice, IMHO.

This post has been edited by UltimateSilence: 16 June 2012 - 02:15 AM

[5eraph]

xpclient, on 16 June 2012 - 02:11 AM, said:

You mean this one?: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=O1BlakAsa4Q

That's the one.

In XPx86 it's located at "%SystemRoot%\system32\oobe\images\title.wma".

[allen2]

Also the search tool in XP is a lot more intuitive than the one in 7 : to search the content of file, you need to modify the search options needing a few more clicks as explained there.

[tomasz86]

By the way, isn't Agent Ransack better and more intuitive than all those Windows default search tools?

[5eraph]

That is the main reason I haven't switched over to Win7, allen2 I know third-party tools exist; I just really like XP's built-in search assistant best.

Windows Search 4.0 is entirely too bulky. I kill the prompts to install it from Microsoft Update and IE8 with the following tweaks.

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search","CurrentVersion",,"04.00.6001.503"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search","SetupCompletedSuccessfully",0x10001,1
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\WindowsSearch","ShowPrompt",0x10001,0

This post has been edited by 5eraph: 16 June 2012 - 02:48 AM

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

xpclient, on 16 June 2012 - 02:00 AM, said:

Yes I certainly don't use that search UI with Agent (Dog, Earl, Courtney etc) but the Windows 2000 UI you can easily get with a registry tweak or TweakUI. But they also improved that in XP: the path field accepts environment variables and there is an option to search system and/or hidden files.

Never liked that lightweight Search in WinXP either. It is too amateurish HTML Active Desktop -like in appearance and the search results (with or without dog) are incomplete. I always preferred the Visual Basic designed form dialogs with 98se being the last good one. At least it is a brute force "find everything" kind of search.

Has anyone tried out Nir Sofer's nice little app? It works on everything in the NT Family ... SearchMyFiles

It is an EXE, just put a shortcut anywhere (Start Menu, Context Menu, etc) and it's definitely old school ...

[jaclaz]

Very good.

I would presume that when you use 1.5 Gb instead of 600 Mb of disk space, there must be *something* added to an OS.

1500/600=2.5

I am glad to know that - contrary to my previous beliefs - EVERY single Mb of the 900 Mb more are worth it, and that every added feature, including Autoplay is actually an improvement.

And of course all the work by Nuhi and fdv is perfectly pointless .

Of course I a do not approve of many things (not in the article by itself, but in viewing it as "Windows XP is better than 2K" advertising for it) but notwithstanding the "opinions", the article looks like very accurately written and exhaustive .

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 16 June 2012 - 03:26 AM

[xpclient]

Btw XP's TweakUI, if you run it as admin and with compatibility mode set to Server 2003 or XP on Vista/7, it runs just fine to tweak many of the settings that are the same.Of course, for things that have changed like the thumbnail size tweak in Explorer or the search platform, it won't work. Still it allows you tweak quite a lot. For 64-bit Windows 7/Vista, use this TweakUI: http://www.softpedia...t-Edition.shtml

[Joseph_sw]

I think you may add this to download-able feature (free)
http://en.wikipedia....M_Control_Panel
Starting with win8, this stuff finaly got being official.

But, even the free DaemonTools for win9x were superior.

[xpclient]

tomasz86, on 16 June 2012 - 02:31 AM, said:

By the way, isn't Agent Ransack better and more intuitive than all those Windows default search tools?

Agent Ransack is fantastic. The paid version, FileLocator Pro is too awesome. It has real-time search combined with power of using iFilters to look inside file formats without any indexing required. I use FileLocator on Windows 7/Vista because the file search GUI turned into an abomination.

[Ponch]

Main missing feature in 2k was Windows Activation. Remember when people were demanding that for their next upgrade ?