36
Vendorama
The idiot-proof,
plain-English guide
to choosing the right
memory for rig.Fix
Windows
Now!
Contents
Ed Word
Please send feedback and pie
to [email protected].OCTOBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC 5
W
hen I reviewed Windows XP, way back in
October 2001, I declared it the best Windows
yet, awarding it a perfect score of 10 and the coveted
Kick Ass award. Oh how times have changed!
After four short years, the sparkling luxury sedan
of an operating system that was Windows past has
been replaced by an unserviceable hulk of an OS
that’s one bad app away from a parking spot on
cinderblocks behind KFC. Windows is in sad shape,
and it needs a lot more than a Service Pack and a
few nag screens to fix the problem.
Windows users have lost control of their
computers. Whatever you call it, the situation with
spyware, viruses, worms, and Trojans is destroying
users’ confidence in their computers. When
unexpected things happen—and believe me, they
do—victims just assume that’s the way things have to
be. You shouldn’t have to live with pop-ups, an ever-
changing home page, painful slowdowns, or any of
the other nasty side-effects of computing today.
This isn’t a problem that affects only grandparents
and technophobes. Maximum PC editors have had
spyware infestations on their machines. Virus and
worm outbreaks plague everyone , whether they
cause lost downtime, destroy your data, or just create
a deluge of spam hawking mortgages and generic
Viagra. Sure, Microsoft is making some sweepingchanges in Windows Vista that should help, right?
Not really. The fixes in Vista won’t do anything to
help the hundreds of millions of people using Windows
XP right now. Service Pack 2’s Firewall and Security
Center helped slow the unchecked spread of viruses
and worms, but the spyware problem is worse than
ever. Why in the hell should Microsoft expect users to
pay to upgrade to Windows Vista when Windows XP
has caused them nothing but trouble? Why should
I shell out my hard-earned dollars to get a fix for the
underlying flaws in its OS?
Before I’m going to recommend that anyone
spend money on Windows Vista, I want to see fixes
to Windows XP. Show me you can make XP work,
protect it from evil-doing applications that install 16
other even-worse applications that send my credit
card information to Russian hackers. Give me a
solution that helps me right now and I’ll think about
upgrading to Vista at the end of next year.
I’m still really excited about Vista. I have high hopes
that Microsoft will deliver an innovative new operating
system that takes full advantage of the resources
modern hardware has to offer, and that will protect my
machine. But I want to see Windows XP fixed first.44
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26
Windows Vista