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Windows XP how many people still use for it their MAIN OS?

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Reply 180 of 187, by Jo22

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RayeR wrote on 2025-02-28, 14:22:
Jo22 wrote on 2025-02-28, 03:09:

That way, gamers and power users would have adopted it without so much complain.

Not that easy. As I remember that times even a lot of gamers from overclockers community I participated with enough powerfull computers refused to upgrade to Vista. Because there was still some differences - XP got just better FPS and lower latency in games and also some games had compatbility issues in Vista.

Ah yes, I remember. Windows XP went through same when it was fresh.
There had been gamers who said that Windows 98SE had better performance/FPS.

RayeR wrote on 2025-02-28, 14:22:

It might be caused by changing video driver model and drivers might not be well optimized at the beginning. So many of those gamers/users just skipped Vista and go to Win7 later, also after some more HW upgrade. On some fast C2D/Q the differences fades. And of course they needed DX10 for new games and also new games was optimized for Win7...

Yes, driver model was a problem. And lack of GPUs with DirectX 9c/Shader Model 2.
Some users also used XP drivers (XPDM) on Vista, rather than WDM 1.0 drivers.

Aero Glass also was an issue, or rather the lack of it. Dual monitor support was wanky, too

With Aero Glass, the GUI ran on GPU as shader program and did cause less CPU usage.
The Composition Manager did coordinate mixing GDI and Direct3D output.
That's why a duplicate copy of video RAM was kept in PC RAM, which had caused higher memory usage. 🙁

When Aero Glass was being enabled, Direct3D ran all the time, so that DirectDraw, OpenGL and exclusive Direct3D access had to be integrated into that Direct3D output.

When Vista RC was out, I had bought an used Geforce FX 5200 just for Aero Glass and Vista.
The 5200 was being described in a Vista book by Microsoft Press,
but at same time being discouraged because it was meeting the requirements so barely.

Also interesting is that Vista/7 had three types of Direct3D 9x, 9EX and 10.
- With DirectX 10 later being updated to version 11 in one of the Service Packs or Platform Upgrades..

At this point, Windows Vista had most of the features of Windows 7.
With the exception of the older driver model and the lack of 2D acceleration.
On the bright side, though, Windows Vista had kept its majestic GUI.

That means that nowadays, Windows Vista is still good enough for tasks that normally would require Windows 7.

In VMs or in picture editing, hobby use etc. It's still an affordable alternative.
Also, it comes in a shiny big box! 😁

But I'm afraid I'm talking too much again here! 😅

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 181 of 187, by Sabina_16bit.

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I remember,I could run Age of Empires 1 on Windows XP without any problem,but Age of Empires 2 did not worked on XP & I had to reboot into Windows 98 SE,when I wished to play Age of Empires 2.
The PC was AMD Duron @ 701MHz(yes,is showed 701MHz in POST) with 320MB RAM & 2x80GB HDD & it also had 2 video cards,as some SW only worked with AGP card(for example Windows XP) & some games only worked with PCI video card,I had to switch between them in BIOS.
Particularly the DOS 32 game Bahn only worked properly with PCI video card,if I attempted to run with AGP video card,it frozen,everything was frozen,system halted,only if I disconnected the mouse,it also worked with AGP card,probably it used IRQ12,or so,just guess,back then I just noticed,it does not working with AGP,I just tried the PCI card from dead old PC & it worked,so I let it in & always switched the video in BIOS...

Reply 182 of 187, by theelf

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real world windows xp usage! here my xp laptop in action, 2025, using putty to connect to a unix server, and ffmpeg for mpeg4 transcoding in background.

Supermium as web browser

IMG-20250301-161212.jpg

Reply 183 of 187, by dormcat

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Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-02-28, 12:44:
Thanx for independent confirming. I already elaborated it in independent treads " Serious Bug of AVG Antivirus for Windows XP or […]
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dormcat wrote on 2025-02-28, 05:01:

Interesting...... csrss.exe caused ~50% CPU usage after last update on my C2D E7400 WinXP build. Could you elaborate "EoL sabotage"?

Thanx for independent confirming.
I already elaborated it in independent treads " Serious Bug of AVG Antivirus for Windows XP or Possible Sabotage" & in "Do U Know about an Antivirus still Usable with Windows XP?", the latter I based,after I found confirmation,they did it as a part of EoL strategy to get rid of Windows XP users,it is a link to that in both that topics.I also wrote to AVG & they r just ignoring my emails,which I understand as a response "Fuck u,unwanted XP user,we r proud about what we did to u.".
So it is sure,they will not fix it,thus if we will continue to use AVG,it will fry our CPUs,that is,y I started a discussion about finding a replacement for now unusable AVG.
So 50% on C2D?
That is 1 entire core of Your 2.
But I have AVG on single-core ThikPads T42 & X40,where it consumes 100% of the CPU.
On C2D I also have Windows 7,thus no need to install antivirus to XP,I scan all partitions from Windows 7 by its Antivirus,but those laptops have 2 small HDDs to add Windows 7,in wosrt case,I will try to add Windows 7 SuperLite,mainly with X40 it is a problem,it only has 40GB HDD & only 16GB is free...
On this system AVG's stub in the back is most painful.
But U r OK,I guess,U have a multiboot on a C2D & U can do malware scans from a newer OS.

Correction: the program running at ~50% was not csrss.exe but AVGSvc.exe. I've replaced it with Avast; now AvastSvc.exe has 10% spikes every 10 seconds or so but no more constant ~50% anymore.

Reply 184 of 187, by Sabina_16bit.

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Thanx for testing.
For me AVGSvc.exe ~50% & csrss.exe ~50%,total 100%,sometimes only csrss.exe 100% & they r variously sharing always 100% together. Always these 2 files eats up everything.
May U give me a precise download link for Avast version,U used for replacing AVG successfully?

Reply 185 of 187, by dormcat

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Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-04, 02:52:

May U give me a precise download link for Avast version,U used for replacing AVG successfully?

Just Google version 18.8.2356 (build 18.8.4084.0) and grab the offline installer from Filepuma.

Uninstalling AVG requires restarting computer once and that's the only hassle. Install Avast afterwards and it would update virus definitions automatically as long as you've connected to the Internet.

Reply 186 of 187, by Sabina_16bit.

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dormcat wrote on 2025-03-04, 19:45:
Sabina_16bit. wrote on 2025-03-04, 02:52:

May U give me a precise download link for Avast version,U used for replacing AVG successfully?

Just Google version 18.8.2356 (build 18.8.4084.0) and grab the offline installer from Filepuma.

Uninstalling AVG requires restarting computer once and that's the only hassle. Install Avast afterwards and it would update virus definitions automatically as long as you've connected to the Internet.

Thanx.

Reply 187 of 187, by UCyborg

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I ran Vista for a while on the old computer back in the day. The computer was too old to make it shine. Still, back then I thought it was cool that it came with the driver for both NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 graphics card and HP DeskJet 3550 printer. The driver for graphics card was XPDDM kind, there weren't any notable problems with the games compared to running them on XP.

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A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.