Free Republic

Excerpt - Redmond, WA (AHN) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is pulling the XP operating system from its product line come Monday. The move comes 18 months after the company launched the Vista operating system. Although Microsoft will not sell the XP program any longer, they will still generate revenue from providing support for the software as it will no longer be free. Microsoft will offer extended support packages for XP until at least 2014. ~ snip ~

Microsoft has given another lease of life to Windows XP only days before PC makers have to stop selling it. Windows XP reaches its end of life on 30 June but Microsoft has now said it can continue being sold until June 2010 but only on cheap desktops. The decision follows one made in April to extend the life of XP on low cost laptops until the same date. It comes as Dell, HP and Lenovo exploit loopholes in Microsoft's licensing terms to keep putting XP on machines. Growing market In an announcement at the Computex trade show in...

Researchers said Windows XP Service Pack 3 delivers a measurable performance boost when compared to Windows XP with Service Pack 2.Windows XP runs some applications up to 10% faster with the latest service pack installed, a research firm has found. "We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (v.3244) delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop OS," wrote staff at exo.performance.network, in a blog post. The researchers found that a PC loaded with Microsoft's XP SP3 completed the OfficeBench test suite in less than 50 seconds. A similarly configured system running Windows XP with...

Okay…I give up. I’ve got to ask for some help. Freepers have given me great advice on holsters, guns, etc., but now I need computer help. I recently re-installed XP Media Center on my Dell Dimension E310. Now, whenever I re-start I have no sound. And when I go the Control Panel, I get the “No Audio Device” with all of the selections grayed-out. And I mean all of them: The Volume section, the Sounds section, the Audio section…all of them. When I troubleshoot the hardware it says the device is working properly. I’ve searched the web (and lots of...

According to Microsoft's timeline, XP is on its way to becoming an ex-operating system. The approaching death of Windows XP may upset you, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. Microsoft Corp.'s product life-cycle guidelines have foretold the fate of XP since 2001. In fact, Microsoft has been killing off one version of a product as it is replaced with another for years now. But this time around, the approaching demise of XP is getting more attention than, say, the final passing of Windows 2000. Why? For a couple of reasons: XP is the most widely used operating system on...

Goodbye, Windows XP. Microsoft, which released its latest operating system, Vista, last year, plans to stop selling Windows XP in stores and through its PC partners on June 30.

I need help. Out of the blue, my WindowsXP (SP2) system has gone crazy. It is frequently giving me a warning message in the System Tray that says: Windows - Delayed Write Failed Windows was unable to save all the data for the file D:/$BitMap. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere. That file is apparently hidden, but revealing hidden files doesn't show it. My WinXP volume is on C:/ and the D:/ drive volume is for data files. I've...

Hackers have newer methods to hack into your systems. They are smart enough to detect security loop holes in your PC and enter through open ports,unencrypted Wi-Fi connections,malicious websites or internet servers. It is better you check your PC periodically for invasions and protect your system to prevent pilfering and damage of data. Detecting security loopholes. Eliminating malicious programs. Tracking hackers .

How Not to Install Windows Vista SP1 Beta Chris Pirillo Commentary I thought I would have been fine with installing the first Windows Vista SP1 beta last night (after having been invited and accepted into the feedback program). Guess what?Everything seemed fine after the first three installer-induced reboots, but then I came to see a black screen of… nothing but my mouse cursor. No matter what I tried, I could not move past this snag.I tried rebooting in Safe Mode a few times - and the first few times, it showed me that SP1 was installing itself again. Eventually,...

I have a trojan, do not know how I picked it up: intcodec-v6.667.exe and intcodec-v6.400.exe The WGA on this WinXP pro was made invalid, and now I can't DL updates for Norton Virus either. Those are seperate issues. Immediate need is to remove this virus, only ref I got on the net was here http://fileinfo.prevx.com/adware/qq2b5d34188554-INTC22293613/INTCODEC-V6.766%5B1%5D.EXE.html but I do not know anything about prevx.com or the free removal tool for this trojan. Does anyone know if prevx is legit, and does anyone know of any other ways to remove this trojan? Thanks for the help.

I'm at my wit's end -- maybe some FReeper who is smarter than I can tell me what clue I am missing. Here is what happened: My wife's computer's hard drive crashed, so I purchased and installed a new hard drive, formatted it, and Windows XP Pro was and is working fine. The wife's computer is as follows: Dell 4600C Series P4 3.06GHz, slimline case with vertical CD drive, purchased in January 2004. Network Adapter according to original invoice is "Integrated 10/100 Ehternet" Then the problem came when I tried to get on the Internet. We have a cable broadband...

Without any warning or even an official announcement, Microsoft has quietly pushed back the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to late 2007. This new schedule places the release at least a year later than the previous schedule, under which SP3 would ship sometime in 2006. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previously announced that his company would ship SP3 "before" Windows Vista, which is now due in late 2006. Microsoft's new schedule for SP3 was revealed in a service pack roadmap that the company posted to the Web late last month. According to this document, Windows XP SP3...

main page Codecs, Players, Resources, and Links 4 ways to find the codec of a AVI clip Codec Instalation problems in Win9x, Nt, Win2000 Fix for Divx 4 and 5 encoding Sound Codecs Tools - Resources Window Xp Problems A word or two about ALL IN ONE CODEC patxhes:  DO NOT USE THEM! As well meaning as the creators of these regestriy hacks are, their computer is not your computer, and you really have no idea what you might be messing up your own system by you having, or not having, something on your computer that they did or didn't...

On April 12th, all Windows XP computers configured for automatic updates will receive Service Pack 2 from Microsoft. While there are several important security fixes and Windows enhancements, there are numerous known conflicts with certain popular software applications. A few of these programs include Norton AntiVirus and ZoneAlarm. For a complete list of these conflicting programs, click the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130&product=windowsxpsp2

Aiming to crack down on counterfeit software, Microsoft plans later this year to require customers to verify that their copy of Windows is genuine before downloading security patches and other add-ons to the operating system. Since last fall the company has been testing a tool that can check whether a particular version of Windows is legitimate, but until now the checks have been voluntary. Starting Feb. 7, the verification will be mandatory for many downloads for people in three countries: China, Norway and the Czech Republic. In those countries, people whose copies are found not to be legitimate can get...

Windows XP users could be excused for feeling a little less safe this week. Security tools maker Finjan Software warned on Wednesday that it found as many as 10 security flaws in the last update to Microsoft's flagship operating system, Windows XP Service Pack 2. In a statement that contained few details, the U.K. company claimed that the vulnerabilities could enable attackers to remotely access a victim's files, remove security measures aimed at Internet threats and run programs without any notification to the user. Windows XP SP2 "suffers because it is still basically the same operating system and has some...

Hello all you PC geeks out there. I need some help with Windows XP and know of two webpages that were very helpful to me in the past. I have seen these links here on FR that reference two different resource pages for solving various minor problems with Microsoft products. One of them was by a gentleman by the name of Bob Cerelli and the other was a Rick (something). If anyone has those links, would you mind posting them? They were a tremendous help to me, but unfortunately, like a moron, I didn't bookmark them. Thanks in advance.-Andonius

Hey take a look at Longhorn if your using WinXP or WinXp SP2. Pretty cool. Longhorn Transformation Pack Remember, backup all your files before using this, this is just a look into what Longhorn will look like, just a taste. I found this site from anandtech.com he is a reputable computer geek and would not put something on his site that would harm your system. I have it on my computer and give you some neat themes and even gives you a weird side bar for notes and such.. Pretty cool... Here is one of the MANY wallpapers that comes...

The Blaster worm, which continues to create chaos by crashing numerous vulnerable Windows machines across the Net, has changed the rules on malicious code attacks. Unlike Slammer or Nimda, home users have borne the brunt of the attack - although businesses of all sizes have also suffered. Blaster shatters the partially reassuring notion that email-borne nasties are the most significant threat for Harry Homeowner. Now updating patches and using perimeter security, always good ideas, have become prerequisites for Windows users. With the appearance of new variants of Blaster already appearing on the Net, its worth reviewing the nature of Blaster,...

Red-Faced Microsoft Pulls Controversial Ad Spot Featured PR Agency Employee POSTED: 9:28 p.m. EDT October 14, 2002 WASHINGTON -- Red-faced Microsoft executives have pulled an ad that purports to show a free-lance writer who switched to Windows from rival Macintosh. There were questions about whether the woman actually existed. It turns out she works at a public relations company hired by Microsoft. The Associated Press tracked her down by examining personal data hidden within documents that Microsoft published with its ad. She says, "It was me. I made the switch." Microsoft's ad was apparently a response to a national...

I am currently using WinXP, and like it. That is, except for a couple of irritating quirks. For one thing, when I am working with one window open, and I open another window, the graphic, for the other window, on the taskbar will keep blinking until I go back to it, maximize it, and then I can go back to my first window. Also, when I am surfing the net, and having an instant message chat at the same time, the little graphic on the task bar will start blinking when I get a new message. I use Auto Hide...