The New Computer Has Arrived

[queerbychoice]

. . . and this is my first entry on it. But I'm not exactly happy with it so far.

1. I HATE WINDOWS XP.
2. How the hell does this 2.6GHz or whatever thing manage to be slower than my old 233MHz one? That's probably Windows XP's fault.
3. It keeps crashing. Constantly.
4. When I press Control-Alt-Delete and try to end whatever program has last frozen up, it refuses to close the thing. The Control-Alt-Delete function itself freezes up.
5. The spam I'm getting here is scary. A box popped up which read just exactly like a spam email, except it was in a Windows box, not even in a browser window but in a Windows message box and there weren't even any browser windows open and the only websites I've visited so far are the preprogrammed internet homepage, which is netscape.com, and LiveJournal. How did the spam get there? I can't believe they mailed me a computer with creepy spyware pre-installed all over it.
6. When I tried to close this particular spam window, it froze my computer. Not only did it freeze my computer, in fact, but even when I pressed the "off" putton to turn the computer off completely, the computer absolutely would not turn off. I had to actually pull the plug out to get the thing to turn off.
7. It wasn't the only very weird scary new form of spam pop-up window I've gotten already on this thing.
8. I've reset the Windows color scheme (in Desktop Properties/Appearance) three times now and it keeps inexplicably erasing my settings and returning my computer to te dull grey-and-navy-blue default color scheme. It does not provide anyplace to save my customizations where Windows 98 did. This is minor compared to the rest of the problems, because I suspect there's a way to work around it hidden somewhere or other, but I'm still annoyed.
9. It keeps getting some error that causes it to reboot itself. Have I mentioned that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE WINDOWS XP?
10. I should say something positive in this entry, shouldn't I? Uh . . . the new computer's case is very pretty, a deep midnight blue and silver instead of the usual beige. It's very nice to look at.

If only it would actually function for any purpose other than scary spam delivery.

Comments

[piman.livejournal.com]

To turn off the computer with the power button, hold it down for 10 seconds. Modern systems have "smart" power buttons, to compensate for stupid users.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Hey, you're alive! You hardly ever post in your journal.

This is useful information, thank you. Now I just hope I can get rid of the scary spam.

[piman.livejournal.com]

This will hopefully change after this semester is over (the hardly ever posting, not the alive part).

[inkstained.livejournal.com]

The pop-up spam that looks like a Windows box is a weird feature of XP, and yeah I can only think it ships with this horrible thing installed already. You get used to Windows XP, I hated it at first too and now I quite like it. I like it a lot more on my laptop for some reason than on the computers at Uni. I don't know why it keeps crashing, computers don't really *crash* anymore. Call the folks you got it from.

-ink

[priedpeesh.livejournal.com]

i don't run an xp but i've heard about something like this re: pop up windows spam. basically XP machines were shipped with this "windows messenger" feature default enabled (supposedly to be used in networks so that the systems administrator could contact everyone on the network) but spammers can actually use it to do exactly what you describe (i think), essentially exploiting the feature.

if this is what you're describing, you have to go to Control Panel / right click Messenger Service and go to properties, click "Stop" and change Startup Type to "Disabled"

also i'm not sure if they give you the complimentary newest versions of everything so you might want to run windows update and see if there are any security patches you need to download?

good luck with your computer :)

[inkstained.livejournal.com]

There is no Messenger Service bit in Control Panel...

-ink

[deadinmotion.livejournal.com]

It's a non-uninstallable component. there are blocking programs you can use that run in the background.

[priedpeesh.livejournal.com]

ah, this will teach me to just extrapolate solutions. this website (http://www.stopmessengerspam.com/windows_xp/windows_xp.html) gives step by step instructions on how to disable messenger. (incidentally it also has the aforementioned program you can download)

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's from the Windows Messenger service--you can delete it from Control Panel add/remove programs. Also, if you go to Control Panel, open up Network Connections, right-click on whatever you happen to have (my school connection is my LAN), go to properties, and look at the "advanced" tab--you can click a checkbox to set up a Windows firewall, which definitely helps against spam/worms. :)

[iadork4life.livejournal.com]

FUCK PCs!!

I'm getting a Mac. They *DON'T* crash! :)

--marielle

happy Mac owner

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I succumbed to temptation (and cheapness) and had a PC interlude in the middle of my Mac ownership. No regrets---esp. now that I have a Mac again!

Re: happy Mac owner

[alysbowie.livejournal.com]

My parents have a Dell with some of the same problems. I, thankfully, have a Mac. (*phew!*)

Re: happy Mac owner

[iadork4life.livejournal.com]

yay. just one question:

why can't PCs be pretty like Macs? you would think they might catch on....:-p

Re: happy Mac owner

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Mine is pretty! I said that in the entry here. It is deep blue and silver. It's extremely pretty. Now if only it would work right . . .

Re: happy Mac owner

[iadork4life.livejournal.com]

pft. not as pretty as Macs. :) Macs are gorgeous :-p

just my opinion though. i think windows XP is kinda ugly too.

--marielle

[dancing-mage.livejournal.com]

Actually, I work for Academic Technologies on my campus, and we consistently have more problems with our Macintosh computers than we do with our PCs. And based on our experience, Windows XP is a far more stable OS, allowing us to leave them on for days at a time without restarting, whereas the Macintoshes must be shut down every night and restarted every morning.

I think many people blame non-OS related system crashes on Windows because Microsoft is such an easy target.

[iadork4life.livejournal.com]

*mrawr* dammit...you keep your mouth shut or i'll never convince my parents to let me get a mac!! ;)

--marielle

[dancing-mage.livejournal.com]

Well, how's this for endorsement:

My father works for Intel, we get all sorts of free chipsets and motherboards for PCs, and yet my next computer is going to be a PowerBook G4 (http://www.apple.com/powerbook/index15.html). I'm pretty enamored with Apple, myself at the moment.

Besides, I hear that Panther (the new Apple OS) clears up a lot of Jaguar's problems.

[iadork4life.livejournal.com]

good :)

btw, you're tres cute, doll.

[summerrose.livejournal.com]

I've worked with a variety of eras of Macs, and yes, some of the older versions of MacOS are.... odd. In that unstable way. Windows 2000 is more stable than the older MacOS versions, but also easier to break. The new operating system from Apple, Mac OS X, however is more stable than anything else I've seen on a personal computer(where personal computer = computer that isn't a workstation or a server or the such, and where the operating system is the one which the computer shipped with). I maintain/administer the Windows lab computers at my college and am involved in the same for the Mac lab computers as well.

Messenger Service Spam

[dark-matter.livejournal.com]

This website (http:www.andyrathbone.com/tips/netsend.html) suggests that you do not disable the messenger service since you might have programs that use it but instead install XP Service Pack 1 form the Microsoft Update webpage and then enable the firewall on you internet connection. Our family computer which runs on Windows XP was having this problem, and after I installed the service pack and enabled the firewall I have not received a single messenger service pop up add. Hope this helps.

Re: Messenger Service Spam

[dark-matter.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the link in the previous comment doesn't work. It should point here (http://www.andyrathbone.com/tips/netsend.html).

Re: Messenger Service Spam

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you!

[exterra.livejournal.com]

We've been having a similar experience recently. At work we ordered a brand-new computer with some absurdly fast processor (maybe 2.6GHz, I don't remember) and tried to install Windows XP on it. The damn thing took nearly 24 hours to install, and takes like 15 minutes to start up. At this point, we actually think there might be something wrong with the computer rather than with XP, but it does not diminish my hatred for Windows. If it wasn't a computer for work, I'd be ready to try and open-source solution. The boy is using some open-source platform on his personal laptop that looks almost as easy as Windows as far as interface goes. If you have geeky enough friends who could teach you, you could try and open-source solution.

[freedomreigns.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... I never noticed a huge difference between whatever version of Windows I have now (I got this laptop in May.) and whatever I was using before. I know there are supposed to be extra features, but other than Windows messenger (that I don't use because I like MSN messenger more) I haven't noticed a difference.

... but at least you have a pretty looking computer now ;-)

[dragkingvenus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hate XP too. I got my computer today too! But I don't have the monitor yet, I'm getting mine from home tomorrow. Mine is just black, but I like it.

[summerrose.livejournal.com]

To make XP faster and happier: turn off all the large colored things at the tops of the windows, as well as the various visual effects (like the menus fading in and out). It's somewhere in control panel - if you can't find it, I'll see if I can remember where it is (I don't have an XP machine in front of me - mine are all MacOS, Linux, and for testing purposes, Windows 2k).
Basically, you want to turn off all the brightly colored stuff- when you're done, it should look more or less like Windows 2000, but with slightly different icons for some things.