The WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) server goes down over the weekend. It’s ridiculous. My commentary on the situation.
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vista and xp BOTH suck (the latter less than the former)! i’m surprised at how much we forget over such a SHORT period of time. i had a hard enough time upgrading to xp a couple years ago (yes, i held out THAT long), and i’ll NEVER upgrade to vista–i’ll switch to linux or buy a mac before then!!
does anybody here even USE windows xp!? have y’all noticed how the system tray… SUX?!? half the time, all my system tray icons don’t appear after logging in (i’ve experienced this on MULTIPLE installs, and, no, i DON’T have nor have had even the SLIGHTEST bit of malware)! not to mention, tool tips frequently disappear behind the task bar/system tray ALL THE TIME!! go ahead–look these up. these are WELL documented task bar/system tray bugs in windows xp. the clock doesn’t even manually sync with an internet time server without stopping/starting some “service!!!”
the task bar/system tray isn’t the ONLY broken thing windows xp has to offer. add/remove programs lists *FREQUENTLY* used apps as “rarely used” or even “never used,” and that goddamn auto run dialog box NEVER stops popping up (even if i select “remember action” or whatever)!!!
oh, and let’s not forget “hide ‘unused’ desk top/system tray icons!” 🙂
face it, windows xp is nt for noobs! 😛
#1 – Blah blah blah XP sucks blah blah blah I’ll NEVER use Vista blah blah blah system tray blah blah blah Evil blah blah blah
Do you want some cheese to go with that whine?
1. Oh god, here we go again. Just buy your mac and shut the fuck up.
1. We know this, & many agree with you. So, go to http://www.distrowatch.com and do something about it….
Well, I upgraded from Windows 98se, finally, about 2 years ago. Although Windows 2000 was out (oooh and groovy Windows ME), I wasn’t in a hurry to leave 98se behind. However, the more I used XP, and once SP2 was released, I had no further reason to delay.
Since then, I’ve been very happy with XP. It runs extremely smooth, smooth, only has problems when I ‘push it’ with funky new software or ‘testing’.
WGA? Yeah, great – I’m legit, so I ‘fixed’ it. Anyway, I don’t run auto-update, that’s a silly thing to do. I update when it’s necessary.
On the other hand, I’m a computer expert on a professional and hacker level, and my IQ is over 160. Heh, “not your average cumpooter d00d”. I have a hardware firewall between me and the world, and know what to avoid.
Know what else? It runs more software than any other platform. It’s used by more of the world than any other platform.
HERE is a discussion point: If MAC and Unix were here first, why did Windows win? (who was greedy first?)
#1: You’re a great example of the pot calling the kettle black — ergo, the n00b calling the newbies newbs.
A.) You said, “…all my system tray icons…” — how many do you have? I have 3, and 2 of them are optional: volume (opt.), AV software (opt.), and a custom watchdog I’m developing that monitors ‘things’ (heh, essential). It takes a real newbie to leave a lot of unnecessary crap running in the Taskbar/background.
B.) Tooltips? Heh, well, if you need them, or can’t figure out how to disable them entirely, that’s all you needed to say.
C.) Time Sync? I’d suggest taking your cumpooter to the Geek Squad guys, and ask them to replace “the battery on the mobo” – they’ll know what it means, and you won’t need Time Sync. any more than your microwave or VCR need it.
D.) Add/Remove, Autorun… wait a second…
Duh, silly me – #1, is your first name PARIS?
#6 – Simple. Volume licensing. Mac OS X will never be whored out to the PC manufacturers. It’s people like you (you know, the ones who put up with all of Microsoft’s bullshit) who make Windows number one in market share. Personally, I don’t care that your operating system sucks, I’m not the one using it.
Users screwed just over the weekend? Microsoft has been screwing users for years.
#6 – You may be a bright guy but you are certainly a poser and not anywhere near as much as an expert as you claim.
1. “I’m a computer expert on a professional and hacker level”
Is that supposed to be a rarity at this site or something? No one in IT refers to themselves as a “computer expert” that is actually in IT; there are too many specialties. Hacker level? WTH does that mean? Hacker as in “can’t write code so I mess with exploits” type of hacker?
2. “and my IQ is over 160.”
Who doesn’t.
3. “I have a hardware firewall between me and the world”
Wow, you have a router. I impressed. No one has those these days, you must be a billionaire.
Here we go again…
MS Sucks…
Buy a Mac…
Can we change the record? Damn!
How about a discussion instead of the “yew know M$ Windoze really sucks dude… ” and the “Well get a Mac, its the best, God loves it so shut up (rising intonations)”
Easy to see how the reputations started for both sides simply by reading the comments… 😉
Cheers
See TIHZ_HO, That was my gripe all over the WGA failure post…I don’t even think XP is better than OSX or the other way around.
It’s the attitude of these “win sucks, buy a Mac” or “Bill is the fat ugly capitalist Pig (allegedly… 🙂 ) and has been screwing you for ever”… I mean, for the one’s that are claiming themselves to be more enlightened than the rest such bigotry is, at least, unbecoming.
Live and let live folks, that’s all…
Microsoft needs to have a mirror server cause this is crazy. They have 90% or so of the software market and the whole world comes to a stop over one server?
Yes, everyone bash Microsoft, feel better? Now their is no reason for a company not to want to protect it’s product. But, I do think Microsoft needs to do something different. Now I know with XP you have 30 days to Activate XP without any degrade of the OS. Is Vista not the same?
My personal thought is that Microsoft should stop the Windows Advantage program and go to a Windows Update program. Make it so the Windows Key only allows one computer to update. That way if you install it on another machine you have the option of activating updates on that machine which in turn will deactivate the other. This would be much better than what we have now. I really do not think their is that much pirate copies here in the US anyway. Most people still get their windows from buying a new machine anyway.
The most unfortunate thing about WGA is that people with pirated copies can’t get updates. People like the Chinese, who yes – have millions of pirated copies out there. Since they can’t get updates, all the known vulnerabilities of Windows are exploitable on Chinese machines. Why do you think most of the spam and DDOS/hack attacks are now launched from China?
So, if we remove the ignorant Chinese user base, who buy their pirate copies from street vendors, what are we left with? The remaining pirates that download their copies. However, if they’re clever enough to be able to find Windows XP or Vista for download, don’t you think they could find a way to update their systems one way or the other? They already have…
#16
http://www.autopatcher.com
#17 you’re mixing things.
He has a point. If pirated windows don’t get updates, then they are more vulnerable to exploits. Ergo more exploited machines in China. Nowadays the majority of “virus” attacks are to co-opt computers into huge networks of zombie machines to do their master biding, be it forward Spam or DDOS. A lot of exploited machines are in China and yes a lot of attacks come from there. Perfect sense.
“How do they exploit newly patched flaws if thay don’t have access to those patches they are bringing down?”
You seem to be under the illusion that “the chinese” are a sort of mafia organization that are there to attack GoUSA… well, some are, but the majority are just plain people going about their business just like “the americans”…it’s just that there are a lot more over there…
P.S. one more thing… reports show that the majority of co-opted machines are within the US.
# 6,
a) about 10; and NONE of them are “unnecessary.” there’s the windows removable hardware, sound, and network icons (and an annoying security alert reminding me that i have *WINDOWS* update disabled (because i installed *MICROSOFT* update that “fsck’d up” windows update to the point that, if i let it run in the background, it’ll use *100%* of my cpu)! this is a WELL documented bug in windows/windows and microsoft update (and so is the internet time sync bug). the other icons include avg, pg2, the kx driver icon (kinda a second sound icon), fah, and now atitool (i have to run the latter, because my gpu gets too hot). also, they run in the background anyway, so what does it matter. y’know… lack of icon != lack of process.
b) did i say i wanted to disable them? no. in fact, i pretty much said the opposite–siting how very USEFUL they are for system tray icons (such as utorrent or trillian or even fah). however, the usefulness is completely LOST (as are they–BEHIND THE FREAKIN’ TASKBAR)! READ MY POST NEXT TIME IF YOU PLAN ON INSULTING ME, JERK!!
c) internet time sync… just another bug you didn’t seem to want to recognize.
d) what about add/remove programs and autorun (or autoplay–whatever it’s called)? i encounter these every once in a while, and they too have their own bugs.