hey beware of microsofts update , it supposed to fix an error message or something , i use auto update but check out what its installing first , ive had no error messages but figured SURE why not intall it anyhow ,it killed me after installing the update it wanted to restart , well after restarting DEAD ,screen went black ,shuts down, trys to boot up , black screen , shut down ,visious lil cycle going ,
so i did a repair with my windows installer cd , that sort of worked but outlook express got killed ,took all day to fix this thing up , and i don t know what other damage i will find over the next while but all i can say is

MICROSOFT SUCKS BIG TIME

i had no problems that i know of until now

oh by the way i found the error message they were talking about , i recieved it after running the repair ,

WINDOWS HAD TO BE SHUT DOWN
THE SYSTEM HAS JUST RECOVERED FROM A SERIOUS PROBLEM
MEMORY DUMP


THANK you microsoft you bunch of MORONS

wow, how long did it take you to figure that out :) no seriously its probably something that was screwy on your install before the update, as they do actually test WU patches pretty well. Personally i reinstall all my windows boxes every couple of years because they have a tendancy to get more flakey with time.

Chances are that all your data is fine, and all you need to do is to back it up and reinstall, welcome to the microsoft experience.

everything has been fine till now , the same thing happened to me when they first came out with their antispy program
but im probably due for a wipe anyhow been nearly a year trouble free , much better than in the past , used to do a reinstall every 2-3 months , but i used to beat the snot out of this thing , ive always learned the hard way
, its more fun that way!

I've heard that if you update windows now without a registered copy, then it will crash your system. Many copies aren't registered properly with Microsoft and if you do an update it will kill your PC!

My theory is to NEVER update and just DO NOT EVER use internet explorer and youll be fine!

Use FIREFOX. best web browser out there. lol I find myself re-formatting sometimes less than 2-3 months:) I hate having tons of remanents of crap slowing my computer down.

Jon

hard drive images :) i always update and use FF as well.

Wow, since I've been running Windows 2000, or later on, graduated to Windows XP, I've never had to reinstall Windows as I used to with Win 9x. I always do the updates and I use Windows Explorer, run a hardware firewall, and AVG now for anti-virus.

Hardware failure will trash the best system though, and sometimes it happens as a coincidence.....

true. hardware failures do some weird things. ie. one instance I saw a computer kept blue screening. It turned out to be a bad stick of RAM. Another, windows setup kept crashing half way through. The problem: bad CD drive. I re-install windows about once a year anyways. I just can't stand it when things slow down.

i always update , its all registered , best antivirus good firewall , router , viruses are not a problem ,this update didn t work for me , hardware and everything is the original stuff ive been running for 3 yrs , its the update i have absolutely no doubt about it

http://www.wservernews.com/index.cfm?id=572
at the InfoSec show in Orlando, Mike Danseglio, program manager in the Security Solutions group at Microsoft, virtually threw his hands up in the air and suggested that corporate and government system admins should create an automated process to wipe clean hard drives and reinstall both the OS and apps on a regular basis as a way to deal with malware infestations.
I've assumed our home computers would eventually be running open source software. I have a legit version of an older version of MSoft office that needs to be registered. Last time I tried to install it, the registration server wouldn't do it. This could happen to all of us at any time with any microsoft software, and there is very little we could do about it.

XP service pack 2 was supposed to be a big step up for security, but it didn't seem to help anything. And more people seem to have realized that there are ways to make big money out of infesting people's computers. We're in trouble, and Microsoft knows it.

And people laugh at me as I run Office 97 on Win95/98SE boxes. They laugh even harder at my DOS 6.xx/Win 3.11 box.

The software for the above boxes came suppied with "serial number" and don't pull an ET (phone home) when/if you try to reinstall them.

All of my old legacy systems just run, don't crash and never have update problems - I wiped the Win 3.11 directory and reinstalled it 1 time since 1999 (original install) due to a corrupted file from a spyware I didn't catch.

For the level of wordsmithing and spreadsheeting and levels of technical/industrial software i use, the old, legacy stuff I use works just fine. Hardware is becoming an issue but Gates and Company don't care and don't ask if I want to update anymore - something I'm QUITE thankful for.

The way I see it is that the day M/S makes their system impervious to hacks is the day they won't sell anymore "updates". Face it, they have many people "hooked" on the latest and greatest whatever that really isn't always needed. Classic example of a dope peddler if you ask me.

- I wiped the Win 3.11 directory and reinstalled it 1 time since 1999 (original install) due to a corrupted file from a spyware I didn't catch.


Make sure you back up those floppies. :)

Memo to GER21: Already done and via burning onto CDROM.

Had too many floppies go bad just sitting. Besides, once you figure it out, what used to take an hour to do while switching floppies takes 15 minutes via CDROM.

.

. Classic example of a dope peddler if you ask me.


i understand that since the install cd came with my system and i didn t physically buy it (though it is a package deal) , microsoft is soon to cut support unless of course i or anyone else in the same boat wants to pay for support ,

YA !!! like thats gonna happen !!!!!

i think all these hackers punks should put their real skills together and sit down to create a system that will put windows to shame and out of buisiness rather than just being a thorn in Gates side

microsoft never supports oem sofware unless you pay for a case (I believe it's $75). The sytem builder (ie dell, gateway, hp) provides support.

Dertsap: ever heard of linux? redhat, fedora,...

ya im experimenting with ubutu linux for my router system , i m looking at trying oem cnc ,for a laugh , some guys like it ,im using xp in my work shop and its a HOG , so ill see how it goes , can t beat the fact that its free , nothing to loose , im having issues running it on virtual pc so ill go full install on another old pc first , ikeep picking them up at the second hand store for next to nothing ,stock pile never hurts to have , i can picture mdf killing a few pc s , that stuff gets into everything
the home system will stay xp

I work for IT departments so computer parts are easy for me to get. Right now I'm setting up a hp vectra (933mhz p3) with win xp or 2k (haven't decided yet) Hopefully it's fast enough. You can buy barebones p4 systems for under $200. I may do that instead as I have a processor lying around plenty of ram, etc.

i pick up p2 s at value villiage for 10 bucks ,their good enough for the abuse i put them thru