Hawk

Great advice nigsy! In my case Kurt, I was unable to find a Win7 installation disc so I bought a lappie with an OEM Win7 preinstalled. I find it very similar to Vista. I ran the Win7 upgrader on my desktop but found it too expensive to upgrade & that is why I am thinking of changing the O/S to Linux. I plan to run XP on it for a bit after April/14 as there is nothing of value on the machine like passwords, pictures, etc.. These are aither burned to a CD or are on an external HDD. Also, I have SP3 & all Windows Updates burned on CD should I have to do a format & clean install down the road. It is a long process but can be done. I think at this stage, I will continue to run XP on the desktop with the live Linux Mint. If I get too much grief in April/14 I may just change to Linux & be done with it or a dual boot system like my old lappie. I know very little about Win8 or 8.1 except what I have picked up from reading other posts. From what I learned, I see no possibility of me ever using either one. Have a great Christmas guys! Regards, Hawk "Cold in the North woods"

Thanks for the concern Juliet but I got me a nice little "Armstrong heater" that keeps me nice & warm as long as I don't go outside. Regards, Hawk "Cold in the North woods"

Great post Juliet & others who added to it. I am running XP Pro on this machine but also have a live Linux disc as well. I have a dual boot on my old lappie with Linux Mint & Win XP Pro. My other lappie is running Win 7 Home Premium. Before April 2014, I may install Linux on the desktop I am using now. Not sure yet if I will make it dual boot or just run Linux. Regards, Hawk "Cold in the North woods"

This may not be new to a lot of XP Users but it worked for me. I was having a problem updating XP Pro at Windows Update as well as the Automatic Updates. At WU, it kept telling me that the ActiveX wasn't installed & there was no option to install it. The Automatic Updates kept running svchost.exe & maxing out my CPU so I had to shut both down. I used a work-around to find out what updates were missing by using Belarc Advisor. Once I found them, I started manually downloading & installing them. There were quite a few. I would check with WU every now & then & at one point was offered the ActiveX which I installed. I was then shown a "New" WU which I followed to here: http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/muoptdefault.aspx?returnurl=http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate&ln=en-us Make sure you are using IE as default browser when you go there. I followed the instructions & installed ALL the "Critical" updates. Belarc now reports I have no updates missing. Worked for me. That's the way I see it anyhow. Regards, Hawk

Hi josetpaul, I just did a quick Google....have a look & see if there is anything that will help here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=IE8+WinXP+X86&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp&gws_rd=cr&ei=0YKFUrfpOeeuyQH9x4EI Regards, Hawk Do you have SP 3 installed?

Thanks Humblemoon...very interesting....now I can see if my plane in still in the sky. I have a few other programs that I didn't list but I thought I would list a couple of Sites instead. One of the Sites I like best for freeware is http://www.freewarefiles.com/ . One of the Sites I detest is http://en.softonic.com/ because they insist on using their own downloader which is full of "Crapware". When I first started using WinXP, I didn't care for a desktop full of icons or the quick launch toolbar next to the Start button so I devised my own. It also worked in Vista & now I find, even Win7. I first make a folder I name ALL PGMS usually in My Documents. Next, I make other folders & name them Cleaners, Defraggers, System Info & so on. I put these folder in the ALL PGMS folder. After I install a right-click enhancer, I move the folder to Programs in Local Disk C. Next, I put all the desktop icons (Shortcuts) in the appropriate folder. Once I have them sorted & put an icon on each folder, I put a shortcut of ALL PGMS on my desktop. My desktop now has two icons plus my browsers. Makes a nice desktop. That's the way I see it anyhow. Regards, Hawk

I use a variety of small utilities on XP & I believe most worked with Vista (When I had it) & I have tried a few on Win7 without a problem. Have a look & see what you think. SIW (System Information for Windows): http://www.gtopala.com/ Is a stand-alone utility & is portable. Atlantis Nova: http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/nova.htm Is a word processor if you don't want a whole suite. Auto Sizer: http://www.southbaypc.com/autosizer/ This utility will resize pages to fit the Window. Boot Safe: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/BootSafe.shtml Is a stand-alone utility that will boot to safe mode without going through BIOS. Change Icon: http://pmdevigne.free.fr/ If you want to put an icon on a file. Easy Print Calendar: http://easy-print-calendar.en.softonic.com/ This has many different formats that can be printed. E-Mail Stripper: http://emailstripper.en.softonic.com/ Will remove >> on E-mails..Got it from firekraker Installed Program Printer: http://lib.giveawayoftheday.com/Installed_Program_Printer_110166/ Will print or save all the programs listed in Programs on your computer. Print Folder: http://no-nonsense-software.com/freeware/ Will print the contents of a selected folder. Pix Resizer: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Video-Editors/PIXresizer.shtml Will resize pictures & photos to a location you specify. Webshots Desktop: http://www.freewarefiles.com/Webshots-Desktop_program_4519.html No longer Webshots but it will change wallpaper manually pluse has a 3 month calendar that fits in top right corner. It has to be modified to work this way. Regards, Hawk

Appears you are correct TomK...it was TFC not ATF. I rever used TFC before & it made me wonder at the time why she would ask a User to D/L & run ATF. I never found it that good when I first found it quite awhile ago. My apologies..... Regards, Hawk

Should let Jacee know TomK...I read in one of her posts where she suggested a User to download it. Thanks for the update...Good to know. Regards, Hawk PS...Think I will give TFC a try.

I believe that next to protection, maintenance of your computer comes in second. If you don't maintain your computer, you will find it starting to get slower & slower. (See thread-Amazing). The following is a list of disk cleaners & defraggers & some programs have multi-tools besides these ...most notably registry cleaners. If you run one, please make sure that the program has a Backup/Restore function or it will set a System Restore point. The Disk Cleaners & Defraggers are pretty well straight forward. (I know...NOT for Linux Peeps ). CCleaner or Crap Cleaner is a disk cleaner & also a registry cleaner (With backup & restore) plus a couple of other tools: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ ATF Cleaup Utility is mainly a disk cleaner. Both it & CCleaner will clean Firefox as well: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Secure-cleaning/ATF-Cleaner.shtml CleanUp! is mainly a disk cleaner: http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=69 360 Amigo System Speedup has multi programs so read the help file before running: http://www.360amigo.com/products/ The freeware downloasd is on the left side of the page. Comodo System Utilities also has multi programs so read the help file before running. http://comodo-system-utilities.en.lo4d.com/ DisKeeper Lite is a defragger. If you download & run, put a check in the circle "To run with error". It still works like it should.: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/diskeeper_lite.html Auslogics Disk Defragger: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download/ O & O Defragger is slow & thorough. The slower a defragger runs, the better job it does. : http://www.oo-software.com/en/free/download.html There is a multitude of tools like this on the Net but these are the one I prefer. I have tested many over the years....some that gave me a lot of problems. I hope some or all of these FREEWARE programs are of assistance to you. Regards, Hawk

Hi nanibear, I don't run Win8 but your update to 8.1 could have caused it. Did you check to see if Vipre is compatatible with 8.1? Also, is it a retail program & if so, did you contact Sunbelt? If it is not, in XP I have done the old uninstall/reinstall trick that sometimes works. Just a suggestion... Regards, Hawk

I thought that today it would be good to post some backup programs so I am listing a few I have used: Driver Forge is a driver tool: http://www.freewarefiles.com/DriverForge_program_43369.html Driver Booster will check drivers on your system & provide updated downloads: http://www.iobit.com/driver-booster.php Double Driver is a backup/restore program: http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm Paragon Backup is a full system, partition & drive backup/restore plus will provide a boot disc: http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/ caintry_boy has a backup program for Win 7 which I will ask him to post. More to come... Regards, Hawk

KurtBleach asked that these be posted here: I won't be posting in it since I'm pretty sure it's close to 10 years since I ran Windows, but I'll throw a few things out in here. Antivirus: AVG http://free.avg.com/ca-en/homepage Firewall: ZoneAlarm http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm Media Player: Winamp http://www.winamp.com/media-player/all Regards, Hawk