When last did you run Windows?

[amethyst]

Using Windows XP Professional SP3 currently. Runs as fast as any Puppy on my machine. Graphics and fonts are lovely. Sound also superior in my opinion. Think I'm going to use it for a while.

[p310don]

I find on same spec machines, XP is better at video (linux screen tearing), sound is on par (you need to turn up all volume controls in linux)

I run windows every single day for work. I run XP in a VM hosted on Fatdog. I have windows only software that functions perfectly well, but the old hardware was getting on, so a migration to VM happened last year. It doesn't see the internet, that's what the host is for

[GMBudwrench]

I use Windows for some tasks that I haven’t learned to do in Puppy yet. But I use Mikes portable Seamonkey in Puppy when browsing/downloading files from here, as Puppy doesn’t automatically download updates or antivirus definitions, which makes my limited WiFi hotspot data last longer.

[ozsouth]

I last regularly ran windows (xp) at work, just before I retired over 8 years ago. I did trial win 10s last year - its limiting exposure has merit.

[amethyst]

Running the very latest internet browsers with xp is a problem of course. MyPal (a third party concoction of Palemoon for XP) is about the only option I know of. Have to see if I can find the latest version.

[amethyst]

I last regularly ran windows (xp) at work, just before I retired over 8 years ago. I did trial win 10s last year - its limiting exposure has merit.

I had Windows 10 on my laptop. It's good but was too heavy for my machine specs so deleted it. Just love Windows XP, plain and simple. If I had a more powerful machine, I would not mind using Windows 10 though.

[ozsouth]

@amethyst - win 10s runs on lower spec than win 10 - is put on low-powered netbooks etc & can (almost) only run software from the windows store - a sort of security measure. Side-loading is very restricted. Is aimed at schools etc.

[amethyst]

I'll just upgrade to Windows 7 but only if internet browsers really become a problem.

[Wiz57]

Running the very latest internet browsers with xp is a problem of course. MyPal (a third party concoction of Palemoon for XP) is about the only option I know of. Have to see if I can find the latest version.

When I boot into XP on this old netbook, I most often use another 3rd party developer version of palemoon,
roytam's NewMoon. My old Compaq Presario laptop runs Win7 Ultimate.
Wiz

[amethyst]

Running the very latest internet browsers with xp is a problem of course. MyPal (a third party concoction of Palemoon for XP) is about the only option I know of. Have to see if I can find the latest version.

When I boot into XP on this old netbook, I most often use another 3rd party developer version of palemoon,
roytam's NewMoon. My old Compaq Presario laptop runs Win7 Ultimate.
Wiz

Yes. I also have the last Seamonkey version which worked with XP. That was released in September 2019 so not too old either.

[amethyst]

I use Windows for some tasks that I haven’t learned to do in Puppy yet. But I use Mikes portable Seamonkey in Puppy when browsing/downloading files from here, as Puppy doesn’t automatically download updates or antivirus definitions, which makes my limited WiFi hotspot data last longer.

Very easy to preset any Windows machine to NOT update anything.

[mikewalsh]

I used XP for the whole of its 13-year lifespan. And ME & 2000, and 98se, and 95, etc, etc, before that.

By the time 2014 rolled around, I realised I'd been stuck with Windoze for the better part of 30 years, and I was absolutely fed-up to the back teeth with it. I just wanted a change.....a major "sea-change". So; bye-bye Windoze, hello Ubuntu. Of course, I hit Linux just at the time a lot of Ubuntu's kernels were being built to 'eliminate' older hardware (which I soon learnt was NOT the 'Linux way'; Shuttleworth was beginning to pursue his dream of taking on Windoze at its own game, and he lost quite a few of his 'regulars' during this period.)

Graphics on the old Compaq tower started freezing-up with a vengeance at the drop of a hat; Unity's 'hardware accelerated' requirements didn't help. Oh, I tried out lighter variants like Mate & XFCE, but didn't like them.....so a mate on the Ubuntu Forums steered me toward Puppy in November 2014. Tahrpup had just been released, and I was mucho impressed. It even worked, OOTB, on ye anciente Dell lappie.

That was it. I was 'hooked'. Been here ever since, and haven't even thought about using MyCrudSoft's abortion any more....

Why would I want to...??

Mike. ;D

[amethyst]

I used XP for the whole of its 13-year lifespan. And ME & 2000, and 98se, and 95, etc, etc, before that.

By the time 2014 rolled around, I realised I'd been stuck with Windoze for the better part of 30 years, and I was absolutely fed-up to the back teeth with it. I just wanted a change.....a major "sea-change". So; bye-bye Windoze, hello Ubuntu. Of course, I hit Linux just at the time a lot of Ubuntu's kernels were being built to 'eliminate' older hardware (which I soon learnt was NOT the 'Linux way'; Shuttleworth was beginning to pursue his dream of taking on Windoze at its own game, and he lost quite a few of his 'regulars' during this period.)

Graphics on the old Compaq tower started freezing-up with a vengeance at the drop of a hat; Unity's 'hardware accelerated' requirements didn't help. Oh, I tried out lighter variants like Mate & XFCE, but didn't like them.....so a mate on the Ubuntu Forums steered me toward Puppy in November 2014. Tahrpup had just been released, and I was mucho impressed. It even worked, OOTB, on ye anciente Dell lappie.

That was it. I was 'hooked'. Been here ever since, and haven't even thought about using MyCrudSoft's abortion any more....

Why would I want to...??

Mike. ;D

My reasons: Linux still does not have a driver for my printer/scanner (something I'm really going to need frequently now); dial-up for LTE connection (and 3G/4G) speed with my cellphone is much faster (3 times as fast), graphics are better (I've said this from the start, i don't think it's debatable); sound is also better IMHO (debatable, maybe); my wonderful Windows application are of course running like a greyhound. Puppy is still good though but I need a bit of change of scenery. Going to use XP fulltime again mainly necessitated by operational requirements.

[mikewalsh]

@amethyst :-

Nic:- To some extent, I agree with you. I'd never use it online anymore, but there's still plenty of software for an off-line XP machine that's well worth using.....me, though, I just don't have the patience with it any longer. Puppy does everything I could possibly want, and my kennels have been streamlined & fine-tuned for my usage for quite a while. It "works" for me.

Mike. ;D

[amethyst]

Now to brush up on my batch scripting skills. A thing that I neglected when using Windows last. Could make many things easier like scripting for Puppy. I'll have to join some Windows forum to show off my batch scripting skills.

[tosim]

One month ago-to use TurboTax to do my income tax. That is about the only reason, one of my machines is dual booted.

[JASpup]

I'm newly using mainline Xenial on a XP laptop. Most of my posts here are on a popular budget netbook, and the ones that aren't are on a 64-bit desktop.

The XP is on a sturdy Dell. I like the monitor. I prefer the netbook keyboard. These machines feel like they're designed to be used in one place, they just happen to be portable (unlike a light, small-footprint netbook).

I've booted XP on it a couple times accidentally, forgetting my new USB boot key (a USB just for booting the internal drive). My feeling is that if you include the test of time, Windows XP is the best pc os we have, and 90% of everything most of us do on computers today can be done in it, even though Redmond wants it mothballed. Putin is right.

XP system graphics are antiquated, Clippy is a drag, but we can fix some of it with customization. The main problem with all later Redmond offerings is resource hogging. I'm so conditioned I want to use the oldest Puppies compatible with whatever packages I use (namely browsers), BECAUSE REDMOND SCARED ME OFF NEWER OS. I consider an achievement making a new system using the same system resources, but that is neither desirable or possible. The pc market is the planned obsolescence they taught us about 50s car designs.

I booted XP before key a little bit for disk partitioning. I want to make an ataflash compatible, but I did something to make my 64-machine not like it, so it's back to the drawing board.

I'm intending that I don't know how to partition an external usb drive. I'm making it complicated.

I'll never normalize Windows again, but it's there for backup and old tricks.

[sonny]

I'm finalizing my divorce with Windows 10 actually after nearly 30 years of marriage (when she went by the name of Windows 3.1 back then).

[amethyst]

I've decided to go the dual route. Windows for business, Puppy otherwise. In my current circumstances it will mean that I use Windows more than Puppy as I'll basically be using Windows during te day.

[sonny]

I've decided to go the dual route. Windows for business, Puppy otherwise. In my current circumstances it will mean that I use Windows more than Puppy as 'll basically be using Windows during te day..

Agreed. Windows is strictly for "business apps" (not for "business"). We use WIndows because our business apps run in Windows. We don't use apps that came with Windows, do we? I only used one of its accessories called "File Manager/Windows Explorer".
Windows 10's business model is treacherous. And that's the irreconcilable difference behind our divorce.

[rockedge]

Last night my wife needed some student report cards printed out from her work laptop which runs Windows 10. First it needed updating and pestered me until I did. Four hours later I opened up OpenOffice which I installed for her sometime ago. Then exported the files as PDF and used FTP to transfer them to a Puppy Linux Tahr machine that I have set up to do printing and scanning, including acting as AirPrint for all the Apple devices the wife has, that turns a cheap Canon MG2500 into AirPrint and network capable.

Windows 10 would not "see" the printer nor AirPrint at all and will not recognize any samba set ups from the Puppy's which WinXP did well. Hence the FTP transfer.

[JASpup]

I'm finalizing my divorce with Windows 10 actually after nearly 30 years of marriage (when she went by the name of Windows 3.1 back then).

Good for you. I suspect any machine designed to run Windows 10 will run Puppy well.

[8Geee]

October 2008 ex-W98.2. Never bothered with admin-based Windoze. Xandros Linux (came with EEEpc) then Puppy Slacko 5.5XL, then 5.7. Still running my spin on 01Micko's excellant 5.7. No regrets/tears here.

8Geee

[sonny]

If you still have Windows 10 running in one of your computers, try to find out how many "24/7 always-on online surveillance cameras" in there by checking with this French guy's generic utility called "Windows Spy Blocker".

Here are the shortest steps to get it:

1) Open your Windows PowerShell as Administrator
2) Copy and paste this line below in there:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

3) Once it's done, copy and paste the final line below:

choco install windowsspyblocker

4) Double click "Windows Spy Blocker" icon from desktop

[JASpup]

I've written this before more than once but not everyone's seen it: Precise 5.7 was the first Puppy I booted a few years ago before it went on the shelf.

I got a kick out of seeing it load, but it looked rustic to me and I didn't understand its usefulness (e.g., how to get online).

I came back out of necessity. Windows hell. Mint frustration.

( Mint, if you haven't encountered, wants to be installed and isn't as happy running live as Puppy. )

Writing of... sonny just reminded me to pull the Ethernet cable when I boot Windows. Malware Bytes isn't a bad idea other... it just found a trojan on my Android.

[sonny]

We just don't pull the ethernet cable when booting Windows 10, but when installing it as well!
If our computers are online when fresh installing Windows 10, we can't complete the final stage until we enter our email, phone#, Skype, or any other account that we have. Microsoft servers try to use "force" when they know we are online.
So, we must get off the internet (wired/wireless), click the "Back" button, "Next", then finally you will be prompted with your desired "local account" option (user name and password only).

[cthisbear]

I have many computers running Windows Tiny7 Rev01
by eXPerience a genius.

Build Date: 31st August 2009

Release Date : Late Summer 2009

I believe this is it.

https://archive.org/details/Windows.Tin ... eXPerience

Just 699.9M...yeah baby.
Installed under 4gigs compared to 16 gigs for the standard.
An absolute just works winner.
And quite light.

If the morons at MicroSlop had him on the team Linux would not have progressed as much.

:::::::::::::::

With XP he had this...another winner.

Tiny XP Rev 11 Multi Incl Tiny B II And Micro XP 086 E XPerience 2010

https://archive.org/details/TinyXPRev11 ... rience2010

Chris

[amethyst]

I have many computers running Windows Tiny7 Rev01
by eXPerience a genius.

Build Date: 31st August 2009

Release Date : Late Summer 2009

I believe this is it.

https://archive.org/details/Windows.Tin ... eXPerience

Just 699.9M...yeah baby.
Installed under 4gigs compared to 16 gigs for the standard.
An absolute just works winner.
And quite light.

If the morons at MicroSlop had him on the team Linux would not have progressed as much.

:::::::::::::::

With XP he had this...another winner.

Tiny XP Rev 11 Multi Incl Tiny B II And Micro XP 086 E XPerience 2010

https://archive.org/details/TinyXPRev11 ... rience2010

Chris

I downloaded that Windows 7 Tiny sometime ago but couldn't get it installed. Install programme was complaining about some drivers so didn't proceed. Any suggestions (how did you get it installed?).

[JASpup]

No threat here not understanding what it is. License-avoiding hacked up versions of Windows? Faux Windows?

[rockedge]

@JASpup all I know about is mostly said here:

For the few 200-300 searches I see a day looking to fix an install of Tiny7, I have some information that is going to help you. Help you a whole lot. You need to hear (read this) because the answer is right in front of you but you somehow just can not see it.
Windows 7 is an operating system created by Microsoft.
Tiny7 is not.
Tiny 7 is a copy of windows 7 that has had so much stuff stripped out of it, you get a faster running machine because there are a whole lot less resources being used by the typical running software.
Some things you install may not work because the software that it depends on, will not be on the machine. So you have to search for that software on the internet and get it installed so your machine can run the process you are needing. Trust that this software has a potential of making your computer a tad bit slower.
On that note. Windows Tiny 7, is not a full legal version to install and run as a computer. The guy that distributes the software, Makes it clear that he is just trying to see how little of processes he can make it to before the operating system is none functional. His goal is to run the operating system with as few resources and processes as possible. He is uploading the software for you to look at what he did, and then give him ideas as to what to do next. He has no intentions of you making this your primary operating system on your primary computer. I think that is why he stopped working on the project after tiny vista was fully complete.

On that note. DO NOT try and register tiny7. That is not what he intended for you to do. DO NOT try and get updates to Tiny 7. It will check with WGA (windows Genuine Advantage), see it is a pirated copy of windows, and then it will lock you down. You will then be locked out of your own computer, simply because you have not been logical

But on that note, I have used a similar type of project with Windows XP to use on VirtualBox....totally cracked and can register and update no problems. A good old school Assembly coder "fixed it". Pay back for MicroPuppet using code from him in 1982 without credits or cash.