Gripes about the Windows OS

I thought I'd start a thread about end user gripes about the Windows OS in general and ask if they are being addressed in Longhorn.


1. Longevity
Some of my fellow developers out there are well aware of this problem and have put up with it for over a decade (even since Win3.1). The Windows OS (regardless of version or year) will start showing it age after 6 months of use and invariably has to be re-imaged to bring it back into full vitality, regardless if only MS products have been installed on it or not. I've had countless number of development machines go south on me, with only Microsoft products and tools installed on it after 6 - 8 months. Usually no OS file, registry or setting has been modified during this time period, but the machines are taxed to a higher limit that usuall. I suspect its some sort of 'resource' issue that accumulates over time. Its like cheese in the fridge, which will accumulate spores of mold and fungus over time and start to show green...


2. Upgradability
Upgrading from a earlier version of a Microsoft product, from the OS to Office, to a more recent version, 100% successfully. It just doesn't happened the majority of the time without an issue being raised.

I find that often occurs with new PC's. When you first get them, they are very fast, booting and loading programs. However, after a while they just seem to be a lot slower (and that is even when you have not seen a faster PC) - even if you never installed anything in that time period (perhaps Office though - although it may have been installed when you got it).

Is it a hardware issue (i.e. processor/hard drive/RAM etc less effective after a while), or the OS? Defragmenting does not always speed up the computer, ut reinstalling seems to.

I used to also have that problem; at least until I started using pagedfg (from www.Sysinternals.com). On that site is an article describing exactly what is happening (fragmentation of paging, registry files), and why normal Defrag cannot touch those files. They also has a free utility (pagedfg) that will load and defrag these files at bootup time, before the files are used by the OS. This will help keep your system running clearer and efficient.

I suspect the biggest problem is the registry files. Those files are not designed to free up space from deleted entries, or update entries (as updates are done by delete and add new entry).  The files just be fragmented faily quickly.  I notice that registry files get defragmented every 3rd or 4th day.

Give it a try and see.  It has helped me on a dozens of systems, both servers and personal machines.

Mark

They do have quite a few useful tools on their site. Good that they are freeware as well.

My gripe would be the amount of stuff you need to download to "fix" an install of XP

- ie6 update
- winmedia update
- sp1 - 100 megs ( says its 30 but its NOT)
- many megs of patches
- .net framework etc - 20 / 30 meg

5 reboots

* its not so bad on super fast machine - but as tech support for my firends with P2 / P3s it is BRUTAL

Please just put all of the above in ONE file
(SP1 Xtreme) or something

A file i can download - and burn to CD
so i never have to go to winupdate 5 separate times on each re-install - reboot

thanks

Issue #1 (logevity) used to be an issue with me.  But I have found that by once a month running PageDfrg (Sysinternals), RegScrubXP, and setting Diskeeper to defrag my hard disk whenever the screen saver goes on keeps my system like new.

DrvCareXP might be a good tool as well.

I find Diskeeper to be a great tool for longitivity. It makes my PC feel as if I had installed Windows on it yesterday.

It is a shame that people have to go to third parties in order to keep their computers running at full efficency. Software to keep computers running at full efficency is really something I expected to find intergraded with Windows (while being easily accesible, used and configured so you don't have to do it manually), from Microsoft.