What do you like most about Windows XP?

Windows XP, released in 2001 is for many people "as comfortable as an old shoe", but why is this and why do people hold this insecure and buggy operating system in such high regard? I was reminded of this today when installing a copy of Windows XP in the new Hyper-V client in Windows 8, a process that seemed to take forever by today's standards for installing an OS.
Windows XP is still in use today across many businesses and even in many homes (not to mention it's still the dominant operating system in countries like China because of rampant piracy that was stamped out with Windows Vista and Windows 7). When the operating system was first released though people saw things differently. They were used to the battleship grey of Windows 98 and, for those who were brave enough, Windows Me. They had gotten used to the stark interface of Windows that had been staid since the very first version in 1985 and why should they change to something that was bright blue and had a desktop wallpaper straight out of Tellytubbyland?
Now though things have changed. There can be no doubt that people love the look and feel of Windows 7. It is clean, crisp and easy on the eye, but it's no longer just the look that keeps Windows XP in people's hearts. So what is it?
I want to take the opportunity to look at some of the way that Windows XP does fail miserably by today's standards, apologies in advance for this. XP was released when the world wide web was still new and hardly anybody even had a dial-up connection. I remember trying to connect to the Internet via my dial-up ISP and it was painful to say the least, reminiscent of trying to load a game from a cassette player on my ZX Spectrum in 1982. When I did get online there was very little, if anything to do there. The web was new, clean and above all else, clean!
I'm stressing clean here because this was the time before criminals found out how to exploit the Internet, and it's users, for their own financial gain. Unfortunately it was also a time when Microsoft had a 99% unchallenged monopoly in the Internet browser market and, as such, the version at the time, IE6, stagnated and has now become a millstone around the company's neck for this very reason.
All of this aside however Windows XP was compatible like nothing else, and to be honest, nothing since either. In order to get my legacy graphics package Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 to work, the one thing I have left and use fondly because nothing has touched it since for power an usability, I have to install it in XP and while XP mode has been brilliant in Windows 7, I have to use the somewhat complex Hyper-V in Windows 8 to continue to run this software.
So what is it about Windows XP that we all love so much? Is it like me, just software compatibility or is it something else? Perhaps the non-glass user interface, perhaps the familiarity with the OS or perhaps something else? Why not tell us why you love Windows XP in the comments.
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What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help