Windoze woes continued

[ffutures]

Main PC will not boot under windows at all now, but does work under linux - so the problem is Windows, not the computer. It's been getting worse for some time, so my best guess is that something went wrong several updates ago, and has really buggered the Windows setup. I'm transferring work etc. off the PC to my network drive, then I need to think through my options. One is to start from scratch with the existing PC, reinstall stuff I really need, and try to keep to a minimal system. But I suspect that the problem is that XP is now so bloated and slow that it simply won't run reliably on that PC. That would explain why the other XP box also has problems - they're similar specifications, but the other one isn't used much so the only common feature is that they've had the same Windows updates. Linux works for now, but Ubuntu and most others are now so big I wouldn't want to rely on any recent release continuing to work.

Overall I think the best option is to stick to my original plan and buy a good fast modern PC. I think the quad core one I looked at yesterday may be the best bet, but I'm still open to suggestions. I'll try to reach a decision over the weekend, so any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I've still got auto-updates switched off after that event a few weeks ago where the updates broke my computer. Thankfully I didn't get as far as installing them, because I read that loads of people had their XP machines completely bricked by the updates.

I rather cynically wonder if MS have done it on purpose to try and force upgrades on people by breaking their computers.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If I can ever get XP to boot properly I'm going to try rolling it back and removing Net Framework 4, which is my main suspect.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Worth a shot. ONe of the big problems that cropped up when I was having trouble was that MS had screwed with the USB drivers, a lot of people found their PCs wouldnt boot unless they removed all USB devices. Might be worth a shot?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That doesn't seem to be the issue here, but it's hard to be sure.

[chuk-g.livejournal.com]

XP is going end-of-life as of this coming April anyway, I would recommend staying away from it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm aware - I'm really not keen on Windows 7 or 8, but I suppose there really aren't many alternatives if I want to continue to use Windows software - I know that WINE simply doesn't work well enough for my needs, which rules out Linux.

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

Have you thought about, that you could self build your pc?. I have just bought a new pc, and out from computer store website, I picked all parts that I wanted, and then I paid a little extra for them to put the pieces together.
To guide me, I used Techreport guide (http://techreport.com/review/25584/tr-fall-2013-system-guide/2) here one for an econ box. For that particularly build you could take away the gpu card, as the internal gpu in the new intels, are not total crap especially if you don't game.

If you have the money for it, are ssd harddisk very nice. I went from an upstart to about 15min, in the old pc, to about 15s with my samsung evo ssd

I bought for my pc win 8, and I really disliked it, but then Iinstalled Classic Shell, where you change the shell to look and feel like win xp to win 7. Win 8 do have some nice new features that I do like, just annoying you have download a free third party fix, like Classic Shell.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

As I've said, I'll probably pick something close to the specification I want then ask for dealer upgrades on hard disk size etc. I don't particularly want to do the whole thing from scratch, I'm far enough out of touch with the current processors, boards, etc. that I couldn't be sure I was putting together a good package, whereas HP usually gets these things more or less right.