One of the most stable and usable operating systems of its time, has completed its 11 years! Released To Manufacturing on 24 August 2001, Windows XP has been the bestselling operating system till now. Most of us have used it, experienced it and just loved it! Windows XP is the successor to Windows 2000; it is one of the first user-oriented operating system by Microsoft, which is built on the NT Kernel – the first being Windows 2000.
The clean and simplified visual design of Windows XP made it accessible and attracted more customers towards it! Microsoft launched many editions of Windows XP; including Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition, Tablet PC edition, etc. Another fact that would interest you is that Windows XP was the first Windows OS to support 64-Bit processors, which allowed working with large amounts of memory and projects, such as movie special effects, 3D animations, engineering, and scientific programs.
Whenever I see the XP’s default wallpaper (‘Bliss’), I can make out in a minute that the PC is running Windows XP. The wallpaper was so visible and popular that anybody could tell from a distance that it was XP. Windows XP made a mark in the consumers mind via its wallpaper, design, usability and user-friendly features.
Here are some facts about Windows XP that you should know:
- From the mid-1970s until the release of Windows XP, about 1 billion PCs have been shipped worldwide.
- Microsoft XP development project was code-named as ‘Whistler’ after the Whistler, a Canadian resort town in British Colombia.
- The default wallpaper in Windows XP (“Bliss”) is a BMP landscape captured in Napa Valley outside Napa, California.
- Windows XP was the first Windows OS to support IPv 6, the next generation IP address.
- Windows XP is compiled from 45 million lines of code.
- It was the first Windows OS to treat Zip Files.
- Windows XP Media Player was the first to display media cover.
- ATM machines run on Windows XP.
Windows 7 has a market share of around 42% today! Windows XP has a market share of approximately 42%…even today…ie as much as Windows 7!
Microsoft launched 3 Service packs for Windows XP which were:
- Service Pack 1: Released on September 9, 2002. It had some security fixes.
- Service Pack 2: Released on August 25. 2004. Improved connectivity features.
- Service Pack 3: Released on April 21, 2008. It contained some serious final updates for Windows XP.
After using Windows 7 or Windows 8, some of you may feel that Windows XP is dated, but never ever think that XP would lose mind space. There are still many people who are sentimental about and who just love their XP and refuse to upgrade.
Windows XP is like an old shoe, worn-in, cozy, comfortable, which no one wants to discard … even today!
It is still being used in many computers and millions of people are dependent on this OS. But “The XP retirement countdown has begun”, as it will reach its End of Support in 2014.
If you loved your XP, do let us know what you feel about this operating system from Microsoft.
Windows XP is probably the best operating system ever as far as handling 2D graphics is concerned. – Although Windows 7 & 8 with their advanced graphics-handling algorithms have the edge over XP as far as 3D graphics are concerned, (XP being limited to DX9, despite the capabilities of whatever graphics-card is installed.) XP still has the edge, even if only in terms of fractions of a second, in the amount of time taken to process 2D graphics for programs such as Microsoft Office and the like.
Yes Win XP is one of the best OS in this era ! It is why I am still using it ! Please try to conduct a Giveaway contest of Genuine License key of Windows-XP service pack 3.
Windows XP was the successor to Windows 2000, not Windows 98. And it was Windows 2000, and not Windows XP, that was, as the article put it, “the first user-oriented operating system by Microsoft which is built on the NT Kernel.”
Windows versions 1, 2 and 3 (ending, actually, in version 3.1, which was the first Windows version that finally got any respect) were just graphical user interfaces (GUI’s) sitting atop MS-DOS, using the FAT file system.
Windows 95 was the Windows-1.0-thru-3.1-era’s successor, and looked quite different… much better, faster, more features, and more like an operating system in its own right. However, Windows 95 was still just a GUI, sitting atop MS-DOS.
Windows 98, and then Windows 98SE followed. Though considerably improved over Windows 95, they, too, were just GUIs sitting atop MS-DOS (though with the better FAT32 file system).
Windows ME followed Windows 98SE; and its most salient improvement was considerably better looking graphics and icons. It, too, though, was just a GUI sitting atop MS-DOS, using the same file system as Windows 98SE.
The NTFS Windows NT came along during the FAT32 Windows 98 days; and the two existed simultaneously (in other words, NT was not a “successor” to Win98SE; rather, they overlapped). Microsoft hoped that Windows 98SE would become a largely consumer product, and Windows NT would be used in business. As it turned out, most businesses used Win98SE. Windows ME, though, was just a joke… neither taken seriously, nor used, by anyone, to speak of.
On the FAT side, there was no successor to Windows 98SE and then Windows ME. The FAT file system versions of Windows died with them.
On the NTFS side, the successor to Windows NT was Windows 2000; and all Windows 2000 was, basically, was Windows NT, but with Windows ME’s fancy graphics and icons. Windows 2000 also utilized a TCP/IP stack OEMed by Microsoft from Sun Microsystems… the both first and last time that Microsoft ever did anything like that. The stack was superior to anything Microsoft had ever made, but Microsoft was loathe to pay Sun a royalty for each copy of the stack that was in Windows 2000 copy. Consequently, Windows 2000 was squelched as quickly as Microsoft could squelch it; it was very short-lived. It looked good, though; and connected to a network or the Internet smooth as silk, more trouble-free than any Windows version before or since; and the connectivity part of it virtually never broke. And because Win2K was based so solidly on the time-tested, tried-and-true NT, it was rock-solid… a real workhorse. I loved it; and was sad to see it go.
The successor to Windows 2000 was Windows XP, but it wasn’t merely a slight improvement over its Win2K predecessor. Windows XP was its own pretty much entirely new thing… based on the NT kernel, with the NTFS file system, but nothing else about it was quite like any past Windows version in most other ways. That it’s been Microsoft’s biggest and most popular operating system, which more people are loathe to stop using than any other Windows version, speaks volumes.
Windows Vista is the successor to Windows XP; and is like Windows 2000 in the sense that it’s ending-up being relatively short-lived, and Microsoft would like to forget that it ever existed. Windows Vista was the right idea, but in the wrong implementation… one in which Microsoft overreacted to complaints from the Mac and Linux worlds that Windows was a security nightmare. Windows Vista was so buttoned-down, in terms of security and annoying warning/confirmation dialogs, that it made people want to pick-up their computers and hurl them to the concrete. Vista absolutely harrassed the who didn’t know how to turn off its over-the-top security lockdowns and warning/confirmation dialogs… some of which turning off required registry hacks. Once configured and hacked, though, Windows Vista (at least the 32-bit version) ended up being a quite wonderful little OS. The 64-bit version, though, has at least a few rough edges.
Windows 7 is the successor Windows Vista; and is nearly identical to it, but with all the security and confirmation nightmarishness either removed, turned-off or toned-down by default, or easy to turn off if not. Windows 7 also removed, by default, the ability to run Windows XP-specific software without purchasing an additional module. This annoyance, of course, was in keeping with Microsoft’s trying to get XP users to release their death grip on it and upgrade to a newer Windows version… in this case, Windows 7. Microsoft is nothing if not manipulative… sometimes egregiously so.
Windows 7 is the best version of Windows since XP; some argue it’s better, some argue it’s worse. However, I predict that once people get a taste of (and are driven verily mad by) Windows 8, then Windows 7 will suddenly be hailed as the best version Microsoft ever made… second only to XP in some people’s minds, and better than XP in others’.
I’m stickin’ with Windows 7 for as long as I can. I’ve got a death grip on it which makes most blindly-loyal XP users’ death grips look like child’s play. That said, I’m going to purchase the cheap upgrade to Windows 8 by the end of February 2013 (to get the special low price), but on optical installation media, so I don’t have to actually upgrade at that time. Whether that particular machine will EVER be upgraded to Win8, I don’t know… probably not. But if I ever decide to pull that trigger, at least I’ll have gotten my copy for dirt cheap.
Hope that helps.
____________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
This version was subject to an alarming quantity of viruses, trojans, parasites, etc. It took Microsoft many years to come up with better security, an anti-virus, and countless patches to address all of the security holes. During the first part of last decade, I made a bunch of money by cleaning viruses off of Windows XP and IE6 – thanks, Microsoft!
Thanks. Editing…
Great info about Windows versions. Completely agree with you.
And I’m also on the same side for Windows 7 forever…
the only M$oft O/S that don’t mess-up with “Audio”
Actually, I think Microsoft is about to learn a hard lesson with Windows 8. I could be wrong…
…but if I am it won’t be because regular desktop and/or notebook computer users embrace Windows 8 so much as it’ll be that so many of them migrate over to portable (phone and tablet) devices running Windows 8. If enough people do that, then Microsoft will learn nothing; and, in fact, it will mean that Microsoft well anticipated the not-quite-sea-change from desktops/notebooks to phones/tablets.
Desktop/notebook (which includes laptops and even netbooks for our purposes here) users are, I believe, going to hate Windows 8. If the portable-devicelike “Metro” interface is allowed to be turned off on desktop/notebook devices, in favor of the traditional Windows 7 style desktop, then more desktop/notebook users will embrace it. In fact, its fewer versions, and lower pricing, would, if Microsoft were smart and had thought it through, could have been what finally got the XP users to release their death grips and upgrade to Win8. But the shoving down everyone’s throats of the “Metro” style interface, no matter the device, is so off-putting that it’s just making XP users dig-in their heels even more; and now it’s got Win7 users doing the same thing. Microsoft really didn’t think this one through.
And that Microsoft considers the “Metro” style interface to be so integral that it’s not optional (at least as that into which one boots and initially logs-in) is evidenced by that the “Metro” name is being dropped; and it’s all just going to be called “Windows 8,” now… with no mention of, nor differentiation from it, of the portable-devicelike, formerly “Metro” interface. It’s all just Windows 8, now. So any hope, then, that desktop/notebook users might have had that Microsoft would come to its senses and allow the “Metro” interface to be turned-off at least for non-portable device users is officially gone.
This has done nothing, in my case, but make me want to hold-on to Windows 7 for dear life. I’m about to purchase a new Dell machine, and because the one I want is a new model, I’m holding-off as long as I can before Windows 8 starts be put onto them by default in October, waiting for Dell to work-out the bugs so that I get a most-up-to-date-and-patched notebook, but which still as Win7 on it by default. It’ll still, in any case, be eligible for the super-cheap Win8 upgrade by end-of-February 2013 (which I’ll be getting on optical installation media so I don’t have to actually upgrade to Win8 at that time; in fact I’ll likely never upgrade it, but I’ll at least have the upgrade for super-cheap if I ever did). Then, hopefully, by the time I’m ready for another notebook, Microsoft will have come to its senses and Win8 Service Pack 1 or 2 will, by then, have more Win7 features and a turn-off-able (yes, I know that’s not a word) Metro interface (either that or Win9 will be out by then and Microsoft will have figure it all out).
Of course, as well as I take care of notebooks…
SEE: http://bit.ly/OjKVBr (my article about notebook cooling)
…I can really make ’em last; so Windows 11 might be out by the time this one I’m about to get finally dies. [grin]
I confess, though, that I keep my eye on Linux, too. If that OS would just end-up having the wonderful selection of apps that Windows has, I’d probably have moved over to it long ago. I love Linux in the server room; and routinely use it for all servers except those which absolutely MUST be Microsoft. But Linux isn’t usually a good choice on the end-user desktop.
I sure wish the Chrome OS would be all that it could be… though I’m not wild about everything happening in the cloud. It’s just not practical… likely never will be in the US until the cost of bandwidth becomes both super-fast, and also really cheap or even free, like it is in other countries. The SAAS model also nickels-and-dimes one to death and keeps one paying forever rather than ever allowing a single capitalized expenditure on software.
However, any Android user will agree that once you embrace that world, it becomes much easier to embrace the entire Google paradigm; and, in fact, it was that event (my going in for a penny, in for a pound with Android on my very large phone) which got me to switch away from Internet Explorer as my browser, and over to Chrome, instead (actually, I use SRWare’s IRON browser, which is Chrome, but with respect for my privacy; and it’s also capable of being portable so I can keep the copy I have on my computer in sync with the one I have on a thumbdrive so I can travel with it).
[sigh] So many changes.
As I often say in some of my political writings, I’m sometimes glad that, because of my age, I’ll not live to see some of what’s coming. Doing everything in the cloud is not how I ever want to do computing. Ever. So I’m glad I’ll likely miss it… or at least won’t ever be forced into it because there’ll still be more traditional computing still available.
Right now my fear is that the world is so going to shift over to portable devices (phones and tablets), that the last of the (at least affordable) desktops and notebooks are now rolling off the assembly line; and that in not very long they’ll be so uncommon that they’ll cost an arm and a leg to purchase. The fact that so many tablets have docking stations with regular keyboards should be evidence enough that notebooks (and even netbooks) should never stop being made. Same for desktops, if the computing requirement is such that it’s beyond what even a “desktop replacement” notebook can do.
Oy. I worry, very much, about the future when it comes to what computing is going to look like. I’ve been present for nearly all of computing, save for the very earliest of it, back when mainframes occupied entire rooms and had tubes in them. And so I’ve seen change, change, change over the years; but none of it ever actually “scared” me… at least not like the sea change to phones and portable devices at the expense of desktops and notebooks.
But enough of this rambling.
_______________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
I’m a broadcast (Radio) sound engineer for about 25yrs.
Setting up production-studio and (real time) Audio Processing unit.
In “Audio Processing” unit (which produce 192kHz MPX Output) need low-latency, high-performance audio system.
So its only work with ASIO Driver that (theoretically) by-passing Windows Audio Kernel/Mixer.
In Windows7, low latency audio never work right. Sound output is often (too frequent) “dirty” (crackling, pop, noise etc.).
No matter I try to fixed it, never work right.
From installing old, recent even beta sound-cards drivers.
Try almost all Windows7 tweaks and tricks, but nothing come clean.
I’m just suspect that ASIO in Windows7, not really let sound-processing being by-passed.
Windows7 Audio Service which also depend on other services
such as Multimedia Class Scheduler, RPC, DCOM, RPC EndPoint, Windows Audio Endpoint
those interference is the culprit of “dirty” sound output.
WindowsXP SP3, work fine.
But…..
1. It’s difficult to find/buy a new copy of WinXP
2. If I got one, WinXP price is more expensive than Win7 (stater/basic)
Why I have to pay more, for O/S that not supported anymore (?)
3. WinXP system need to re-boot its system, at least one-time in 6 months.
If not, the unit became unstable. Its really a problem for 24/7 Radio Station.
Unfortunately, all professional (Broadcast) Audio Processing software built for Windows 🙁
Warmest regards.
Okay… the very first, and VERY important thing: Windows is not like Linux. I cannot be run for long periods of time without being rebooted. Windows handles memory (RAM) poorly, and software authors don’t make sure to perform memory-related housekeeping either as often as they should, or usually at all. If you’re only rebooting your copy of Windows once per six months, then that, right there, could be the entire problem.
I recommend that every copy of Windows for the desktop (not Windows server, but desktop Windows) be rebooted DAILY. And I mean daily, not every other day, or once per week. I mean daily, as it religiously daily. No exceptions. You can argue with me all you want about how Windows shouldn’t need that, and all I can do is agree with you…
…and then tell you to reboot daily. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Daily. Period. No exceptions.
Secondly, I would never use the Windows PC as the audio processor. No way. And neither would any self-respecting radio station… at least not in the US. You need an external device of some kind… something like one of these…
http://www.audio-processor.com/fm-processors (FM)
http://www.audio-processor.com/am-processors (AM)
http://www.audio-processor.com/hd-processors (HD)
…though I’m not prescribing any of those devices, or even anything made by that company. I’m simply linking to it as an example of what you should be using. The PC, then, becomes more of a control surface. The external hardware is doing all the processing.
That said, there are some terrific audio processing software apps out there for Windows which, as long as they’re on good enough hardware, can be quite good. But there’s the rub: By the time you ensure that the PC hardware you have is adequate, you could just as easily (and almost as inexpensively) gotten a cheaper (but still fast) PC, and external sound processing hardware, and been better off.
No matter which way you do it, though, the PC must be rebooted DAILY. Find an hour in the 24-hour day when you have the least number of listeners. Have things set up so that music will play from a device which bypasses the PC (and audio processor, if it’s separate)… maybe something in the transmitter room during the reboot. Then take the PC and audio processor offline, fire-up the bypass player, and reboot the PC (and you might as well reboot the audio processor, as long as you’re at it). Then take the bypass player offline, and put the PC and audio processor back online. Simple as that.
Hope that helps!
____________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
Hello Greg, nice to have conversation with you 🙂
I forget to tell you, that I’m from Indonesia.
Like other “under development country” anywhere else, there are things to consider:
1. Hardware “Audio Processor” aren’t likely our favour. Because their expensive for our most customer.
2. All those hardwares, didn’t have authorized dealer down here. So, when something broken, fix it will be a pain in the ass.
3. Hardware “Audio Processor” is also “software” processing, but work on some “chip”.
Look here http://omniaaudio.com/9 — a New Breed of Hardware Audio Processor
build by my dear friend Leif Claesson (Swedish who live in Thailand)
this machine, based on Software called “Breakaway Audio Processor for Windows” http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=136
after all system integration in some chips, it will cost you USD 10k (Omnia 9)
but, with with Windows PC System, only need USD 1k maximum. (include PC, SoundCard, O/S, Software).
And, maintance will be easy as it get, it’s only a PC anyway.
NOTE: WinXP, rebooted once per 6 months, working nicely in my humble experience.
First, just in case I did not adequately convey this: REBOOT WINDOWS DAILY (at minimum).
Second…
To be clear, just because there’s software involved in an external audio processor, it’s not accurate to call it software processing, in the same sense that it is in a PC. You used the right phrase: On a chip. The software is part of firmware; software on a chip. As such, it’s lightning fast… not even in the same league as a Windows PC doing the processing. It’s completely unfair to compare them like that. A Windows PC is doing ten thousand things other than audio processing every instant that it’s doing said audio processing. A dedicated external processor is handling a tiny, tiny fraction of those kinds of peripheral processes in addition to the audio processing… which processing it’s doing, incidentally, better than the Windows PC ever does. Do not underestimate the value and magic of an external hardware audio processor in a radio station environment.
Whenever you’re running a piece of hardware in a remote place where there’s no repair support, then you must have a hot-swappable backup. And when the main one goes bad and you swap-in the backup, you send-off the main for repair or replacement.
Obviously, though, it sounds like money is the primary problem; and that you’re forced to use the Windows PC as the sound processor.
Fine. But you don’t get to escape spending serious money on hardware there, either… at least not if you want the PC to operate up to professional radio station standards. Granted, you won’t have to spend as much on the PC as on a dedicated external hardware audio processor (actually, depending on the processor, that’s not necessarily true… good processors need not cost the kind of money you described), but you still need to not take the cheap route.
Any Windows PC, no matter whether running XP or Vista or Win7, needs the maximum 4GB of mathematically-allowable RAM if it’s a 32-bit version of Windows, and a dead minimum of 8GB (preferably more… up to 16GB) of RAM if it’s a 64-bit version of Windows. And you need to be running a RAM manager. Most of the ones that sit in the system tray and allege to free-up RAM when needed are pretty much useless. There is one, however, that doesn’t sit in RAM and monitor anything. Using the Windows scheduler, it runs every few minutes (I tend to like every 10 minutes, but you can make it more or less), checks the status or RAM, removes anything that needs to be removed and reorganizes things a bit, and then closes completely. That kind of RAM manager actually works; and you’ll need it.
The machine needs a minimum dual-core processor of around 3GHz; preferably a quad-core. If you can afford them, make it a pair of dual core processor (on a motherboard that can handle them, of course)… that’s the killer combination. But for just audio, a single good-and-fast dual-core should do it.
The machine needs a good-and-fast hard drive, too… minimum 7,200 RPM, and preferably 10,000 RPM; with a very fast average seek time. With audio, the RPM and seek time is not quite as important as with video, but it’s important to eliminate as many latency issues as possible at the hardware level whenever you’re doing media because Windows, alone, is gonna’ throw every possible monkey wrench into it that it can… and will introduce every kind of latency you can imagine.
The motherboard needs to be just a motherboard, with no built-in/integrated video or audio. It can have built-in hard drive, floppy drive, and optical drive circuitry on it, though. But it needs to be capable of handling a high-end at least audio card; and even if you don’t also put-in a high-end video card, it needs to be capable of handling that, too.
And the audio card you get, given what you’re trying to do and where you’re trying to do it, needs to be the singlemost expensive component in the mix… very high-end. And its drivers need to be absolutely current.
The video card, surprisingly, also needs to be good. Video plays a far more serious role in the operating of a Windows computer than most people realize. A glitchy video card can make a machine virtually unusable… much as what you described your machine is doing. Video plays a role in nearly every single thing the computer does. If video is “iffy,” then so’s the whole computer. So though you’re doing audio only in your radio station, you still need to not skimp on the video card; and you need to make sure that it’s using the absolutely most up-to-date drivers at all times.
In that same vein, the motherboard’s chipset drivers (which must be installed before anything else) are critical… especially to audio and video. Before declaring almost anything else bad or glitchy or anything else on a machine, on should always verify that the chipset drivers are right; maybe even re-install them.
In fact, so critical to a machine’s operation are the basic motherboard and chipset drivers; then, next, the video drivers; then, next, the audio drivers; then, next, the I/O device (keyboard and mouse/trackball) drivers — all in that order — that whenever I see a machine that’s acting squirrely, I reinstall all of those before almost anything else. You’d be amazed what just reinstalling the video drivers will do with a machine that’s behaving badly.
But when a Windows PC is being used for something like audio or video in a professional production environment, said PC needs to be dedicated to that task. It should, in your case, be running almost nothing else but the audio processor software (and, of course, Windows, obviously).
And the copy of Windows on the machine needs to be configured and optimized for its single task of audio processing. Before even installing the audio processing software, the copy of Windows needs to be completely up-to-date… all patches, all service packs, every last possible thing that it’s supposed to have.
I’ve already mentioned the hardware drivers.
And because you’re doing audio, I repeat what I earlier wrote: Get the audio codecs right on the machine as part of configuring Windows. I cannot more strongly recommend the Shark007 codecs. They’re best of breed; and highly configurable (though even in your setting, the default configuration should be more than adequate). Get those right before using the machine for any audio. And because there’s a small chance that the Shark007 codecs may accidentally interfere with something that the audio card installs, re-install all the drivers and software for the audio card after installing the Shark007 codecs.
Whatever configuration tweaks to make Windows more snappy and responsive also need to be made… including any registry hacks. Whatever needs to be done to make Windows a lean, mean fighting machine needs to happen before the audio processing software is first installed.
Software to keep Windows from becoming bogged-down with temp files, and hard drive fragmentation, and registry fragmentation all need to be installed before the audio processing software, too. And they need to be configured, and set-up however you’re going to set them up to automatically do what they do on reboot or whenever you tell them to do it. Anti-malware software, too!
Then, finally, once you have Windows operating optimally; once you have it so that you’ve reduced to just a minute or two the time from when you turn on the machine until when Windows is fully booted and the mouse cursor is no longer a little hourglass or the circular spinning thing, and the hard drive light settles down to just a quick “I’m just checkin'” flash every few seconds, then and only then can you install the audio processing software.
Never, by the way, start using a Windows machine until it’s FULLY booted-up as indicated by what I just wrote!
Once you have Windows, itself, and all its important little maintenance utilities all exactly the way they’re supposed to be, and you’ve got it running like a lean, mean fighting machine, and you’ve installed the audio processing software, then you tweak and configure said software however it needs to be to optimally perform for you. You probably know far more about that part of it then I, or most others reading, here. But I fear that you’ve not taken seriously how much you need to properly (and that’s the operative word) prepare first the hardware, and then the Windows and adjunct operating/maintenance software before even CONSIDERING beginning to use the machine for audio processing.
The final thing to think about is cooling. People underestimate the importance of cooling. People think that the cooling fans and heat sinks that came with the machine are enough. They are NEVER enough. It’s important, first, to get the heat bled off the components… especially the main processors on the motherboard, and on the video card, and even on the audio card. Three separate aftermarket, oversized heat sinks with high CFM fans may be required; and then once the head is bled off the components and is floating around in the air inside the cabinet, there needs to be one hell of an airflow through the machine to remove that ambient heat. That means additional cabinet fans, organized so that the ones on one side of the cabinet draw air in, and the ones on the other draw air out so there’s adequate true cross ventilation.
You also have to worry about dust. I just wrote an article about keeping notebook computers cool in which, if you read it, you’ll learn what dust does and where to find it and why it needs to be removed, from where, and how often. You’ll also learn about fan technology and inefficiencies.
SEE: http://bit.ly/OjKVBr
In addition to everything I’ve herein written, if you don’t routinely clean the machine and its fans, and generally keep it running cool, it will become an unreliable mess in just a few months. Do not underestimate the power of heat to really goof-up a machine!
And did I mention DAILY rebooting? Religiously? Whether it seems the machine needs it or not? Did I mention that?
DAILY REBOOTING!!!!!!! Make it your mantra.
If you want specific recommendations for hardware, software utilities, etc., I’m happy to make them, but I’m not sure we want to waste everyone’s time doing it here (unless everyone wants that). If I’m correct, then it might, at this point, be time to take this discussion off-line. If so, then do not hesitate to privately email me. My email address is in my signature, here.
The bottom line is that if you did not take care to ensure that your Windows PC meets all the general hardware specs that I’ve herein mentioned; if you have not been rebooting daily; if you are using the machine for more than just audio processing; if you did not take care to prepare and configure and tweak Windows, and make sure that it’s a lean and mean fighting machine; if you are not ensuring good air flow, and doing quarterly cleaning…
…if you’re not doing ALL of those things (including periodic cleaning out of all temp files and defragmenting the drive and the registry)…
…then it’s no WONDER you’re having trouble.
This has nothing to do with XP versus Vista or Win7. As bad as people say Vista is, I could make 32-bit Vista run like a top in your radio station, and process audio like a champ, without a single hiccup.
You should be using 64-bit Win7 on hardware such as I’ve described, configured and tweaked as I’ve described, with added cooling and periodic cleaning, and daily rebooting…
…and, trust me, it would be perfect.
The only thing that would be better is a lesser PC, and an external hardware audio processor… connected via USB if necessary, but via firewire if possible.
I’m sorry you’ve been having so much trouble, but it’s not necessary. It’s all about throwing enough hardware at it, and then making sure that both the hardware and software are optimized. Then, after that, it’s proper maintennance…
…including DAILY rebooting! [grin]
____________________________
Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com
thanks for your enlightment, on your to tutorial “how to do my job”
…..
gladly my PC Audio Processor systems still working normally on WinXP.
(more than 20 Stations here in Indonesia, which I being supervised…. for about 6-7 years now)
also my colleague in Netherland, Turkey and several others, around the world.
I like Windows XP better than Windows 7. Better interface. Faster. Less flashy. It didn’t give me Genuine errors even though I have a legal product key of it. However, I only upgraded for neccesity, because time was running out for XP.