Using Windows XP in 2016.....not exactly the smartest thing to do.  But here's why I'm still using the ancient OS.  

As you all probably know, I absolutely HATED Windows Vista when it came out in 2006.  I absolutely refused to switch to it, and I advised all my clients to stay with XP.  That was a long time ago and Microsoft has released some great OS's since then.  Windows 7 was spectacular.  I switched all my personal computers to Windows 7 in 2009 when it was first released because it was rock solid out of the box.  Windows 7 was basically a polished version of Windows Vista with a new skin, but by 2009 all the kinks had been worked out and it was a pretty solid OS.

Windows 8 came out later in 2012.  Underneath all the BS it was another rock solid OS.  The issue with Windows 8 was too much focus on phones and tablets when it's really an OS for computers.  Windows 8 introduced some VERY great features such as UEFI support and a volume indicator when you hit the volume hotkeys on the keyboard.  It also updated to ancient file transfer protocol from Windows 95.  It also secured the Administrator account even further.  No longer would deactivating UAC give you full administrative rights.  Because of this, it was a MUCH more secure OS compared to Windows 7.

Then Windows 10 was released in 2015.  To be honest, it's a good OS, but not as good as Windows 8 under the hood.  Usability wise and looks wise, it's miles ahead of Windows 8.  But I'm most concerned with what's under the hood.  Windows 10 has some driver issues, and it breaks compatibility with a LOT of older software.  And there isn't much in the way of new features with Windows 10.  It's basically Windows 8 with an updated kernel and a start menu.  

Windows XP was released in 2001.  So after 15 years, and 3 subsequent good OS releases, why would anybody still be on Windows XP by choice?  Well to be honest, I haven't used XP on any of my personal machines since I upgraded to Windows 7 in 2009.  But I just built a new machine and loaded Windows XP on it.  The reason?  Old programs and games.

There were some programs and games that I still use that were totally broken by Windows 7 and Windows 8.  Unfortunately they don't work on Windows 10 either, so I've decided to keep a permanent Windows XP computer from now on.  I put it in my bedroom and connected it to my 65" TV.  This will now be the main computer in my bedroom.

Of course going online with Windows XP isn't smart.  So I've neutered internet capability.  I dual boot with Windows XP and Windows 10 on the same computer.  What this experience has taught me is how PRIMITIVE Windows XP actually is.  It's hard going from newer OS's back to Windows XP.  Honestly I thought it was going to be a breeze.  After all, it was my main OS for 8 years.  But in some ways.....a lot of ways......Windows XP is REALLY showing its age a lot worse than I anticipated.  However, on a fundamental level there's really not a whole lot of difference.  We could technically still be on Windows XP if Microsoft had kept up support for it.  It's a very impressive OS for something that came out 15 years ago.  

Now if I could run it on all my personal computers safely, would I?  The answer is a resounding NO.  Windows XP was impressive for a 15 year old OS, but I'd miss a lot of features in Windows 7,8, and 10.  And things that are so easy nowadays like moving all the user folders to a secondary hard drive require modifying the registry in Windows XP.  Each new version of Windows has a LOT of improvements.  Even Windows Vista had a good number of improvements (I just wasn't willing to deal with such a buggy OS for those improvements).  

However there's a certain amount of nostalgia that I get from using Windows XP again.  I genuinely like the OS.  And even though it's technically a dead OS now, it could still be a usable product today if Microsoft had kept up on it.

For anyone that's interested, here are the specs of my Windows XP computer:

- AMD A10-7850k 3.70Ghz Processor
- 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz RAM
- 250GB SSD (Samsung 850 Pro)
- 2TB WD Black Hard Drive
- Windows XP Pro & Windows 10 Pro Dual Booted

Years ago I never would have thought about custom making my furniture.  I always thought it was waaaaaay too expensive.  You know, something that only rich snobs did.  But actually, you might be surprised (I know I was!).  I spent about 10 months looking for a new bed for my room.  Technically I haven't owned a bed for the last 7 years or so (I've been using the free bed frame thing they give away with mattresses).  Honestly I didn't care.  But I've been changing a lot of things in my life lately, so I thought what the heck, right?  

Anyway, so I set out to look for the perfect bed.  My requirements were BEYOND simple, but it was just impossible to find!  All I wanted was a full sized platform bed with a FLAT headboard.  No frilly crap.  No holes, no weird textures, and NO LEATHER!  I want my head to feel a flat surface behind me when I sit up in bed.  But alas, I searched for 10 months and I just couldn't find it.  The headboard was either super weird or way too short.  So I decided to have my bed custom made.

I had the job done at a local furniture store.  All their pieces are real wood.  I mean, real wood.  Not ugly looking Amish wood.  Just real wood.  And stained.  The furniture is so well built, you can actually STAND INSIDE the dresser drawers when they're pulled out!  I didn't buy a dresser, but the bed is made of the same stuff.

Anyway, I was looking at regular beds (that were NOT custom built) from $1,100 to $2,000.  So I figured a custom job with real wood like this would be something ridiculous like $5,000.  When it was all done it was only about $2,500 including delivery!

Now I know what you're thinking.  What a rich snob I am, spending $2,500 on a bed and thinking it's cheap!  But look at it long term and it makes a lot of sense.  Barring a house fire, this bed should last at least 200 years.  All their custom made furniture comes with a 100 year warranty.....and they've been in business since 1812 so I think they'll make good on that warranty!  

I'm pretty excited.  I think I'll have them build a custom dresser and some tables now.  If I'm going to use this stuff until I'm dead, I think I can afford it!  This is soooooo much better than buying some cheapo painted pressed board crap from Becker furniture for $1,500.  It comes with a 1 year warranty, but you can buy a 5 year warranty for an ADDITIONAL $500.  NO THANKS!  I'll go 100% solid wood custom built for a few hundred more.

EDIT:  I'll post pictures of my room in the "show us your room" thread later.  Then you can actually see the bed.

No matter how much I upgrade my master computer, it always seems like I need more so fast.  I remember back in 1999 I upgraded my hard drive from a 2GB to an 80GB.  Spent a boatload to do it too.  I seriously never thought I'd use that much.  Right now I have 4 1TB hard drives, 1 500GB hard drive, and a 128GB SSD.  They're not all full, but it just goes to show you how much technology changes.

Now if you guys remember, I just upgraded my computer to an i7 3770k 3.5Ghz quad core with 32GB of RAM.  I seriously thought that I wouldn't need an upgrade anytime soon.  But now as I sit here using 22.75GB of RAM, I am once again reminded of how futile it is to try to build a computer so powerful I could never use it.  This is what I currently have open:

*12 Waterfox (internet browser) windows open with a total of probably 300 tabs between them
*9 Google Chrome windows open with probably 200 tabs open between them
*6 folders open
*AVG open
*2 Books open in Adobe Acrobat Reader
*Opera internet browser open with 4 tabs
*TOR anonymous browser with probably 10 tabs open
*Windows Update open
*Text document open with proxy server list
*Media Center open with Netflix
*Internet Explorer with 1 tab open
*Photoshop with probably 10 things open
*Media Player with music open
*Settings/Computer Info window open

This is typical in a day for me.  As some of you may know, more RAM doesn't make your computer faster.  It just allows you to have more things open at once.  And I love my minimize button.  I rarely close anything.  I'm seriously wondering when I'll need to upgrade my motherboard so I can handle 64GB of RAM.  Or, may the heavens help me, 128GB of RAM.  Still, I have enough power on this computer so that I can keep all this open and running and still run a game like Skyrim.  Maybe I won't have to upgrade anytime soon after all.  I don't know.  But anyway, just thought I'd share this with y'all.  Technology sure does move fast.  Oh and don't be thinking you're in the stone age if you have 4GB of RAM or even 2GB.  For "normal" use, that's more than plenty.  Even really expensive computers from HP and Dell only have 8GB or sometimes 12GB.  I just have a more extreme machine.

Well I've come to terms with the fact that I just don't have time anymore to maintain a public server.  Because of this, I'm selling the server I initially purchased to host a Land Before Time file sharing website (among other things).  Some of you might already know this, but I've been planning this project for a while.  I didn't share it publicly because I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up.  

The server is for sale on Craigslist here:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/sys/3259536628.html

Pic:


It's a pretty amazing server.  Cost $2,600 just 6 months ago.  I don't know if anyone would be interested in purchasing it here, but I'm not interested in selling it to someone that's not local (nothing personal.  I just don't want to have to ship the thing. ).  

As for the LBT file sharing website, I have some other plans for thelandbeforetime.org to maybe enhance its file sharing and hosting capabilities.  If so, it may eventually be able to replace this server (though I will have some high monthly hosting costs).  I'll have to comply with ALL requests from Universal Studios regarding take-downs of copyrighted materials though.  I don't know.  LBT is unfortunately a dying series and I don't know if there are enough of us out there to keep it alive.  I hope so, but sometimes I have my doubts.

I've seen and used Ipads before from clients and friends, and it seemed like a mildly useful gadget for on the road.  I've decided to start offering jailbreaking and unlocking services as part of my business and I need to be able to help clients with iOS device problems so that's why I really got one.  In the past 2 days I've hacked the absolute s**t out of this thing while maintaining its original settings and programming for when clients have questions of me.  And do you know what my conclusion from all this is?  The same it was before I got an Ipad.  Seriously, "what's the point?"  

I really don't get what all the fuss is about these over sized phones that can't make a call.  I tried using my Ipad for the day instead of my computer and it was utterly worthless.  Wow.  I can browse YouTube and post pointless s**t about my life on FaceBook.  Oh, and I can be nickled and dimed to death for every little thing I want to do with this wonderful little thing called an "app."  If there's one thing Apple is good at, it's marketing.  Now making a useful product that's affordable?  That's obviously  not something they're capable of.

The only reason Android tablets have seen ANY sort of traction is because of Apple's marketing and people that either can't afford or don't want to spend the money on an Ipad.  I've also used HP's TouchPad.  And you know what?  It's about 1000x better than the Ipad.  But it didn't succeed.  Why?  Because even a better tablet is pretty useless.  Everyday people don't need tablets.

Now there are some VERY good uses for tablets.  Thinclients.  I'll say it again.  Thinclients.  It offers businesses on the go access to pertinent information through custom apps.  Now that's useful.  Everything else?  Not so much.  I can't believe how good Apple is at brainwashing people into buying useless crap.  I wouldn't be surprised if they sold the iToilet that didn't flush (but it smelled real nice) and people were lining up at the Apple store in order to buy it.  I'm f***ing pissed.  This piece of useless crap goes back to the store tomorrow. :

DIT:  Of course I'm going to need an iOS device to help clients and such, so after returning this $800 paperweight (including the Ipad and extended warranty), I'm going out and buying a nice cheap Ipad 1 and upgrading it to the latest version of iOS.  Yes, yes I know it makes the Ipad 1 extremely slow when you upgrade it.  But I'll just have to hack the crap out of that one too and take out some of the worthless BS Apple's baked into the OS.

I'm surprised no one has created a topic about this yet, but has anyone else tried waterfox?  It's the "unofficial" 64 bit version of Firefox.  I've been using it for a while now and I must say, I like it.  For someone that keeps dozens of internet windows and hundreds of taps open at one time, a 64 bit browser is absolutely essential.  At first I found it to be a terribly unstable browser, but after living with it for a few days it began to mellow out.  So, has anyone else tried it?

I've been EXTREMELY busy lately working on a new project.  I'm going to totally remake TheLandBeforeTime.org and the LBT Server from the ground up.  I've been secretly working on it for the past 6 months or so and I just can't resist giving people a little sneak peek.  So here it goes.  This image gallery has a few kinks to work out yet, but it has a flash uploader meaning you can upload UNLIMITED photos at once without having to select them one by one!  Please do try to keep it under 1,000 pictures at a time though otherwise you might affect other people's speed while you're uploading.  

Although it's technically not finished, feel free to upload whatever you like (LBT related only please.  I noticed someone uploaded a Lion King image).  I'll transfer the database over to TheLandBeforeTime.org once it's finished so everything will be saved.  I've also allowed comments on individual images.  People can add new folders and upload pictures without restrictions - signup not required!  Check it out here:

Check Out The New Image Archive!
Check Out The New Image Archive!

In the end the image archive will be integrated into TheLandBeforeTime.org with additional PHP commands.  But I'm not quite ready to open a public beta of the new TheLandBeforeTime.org site yet.  I may be looking for a few administrators to help with the new website depending on how complicated it is.  It will have a GREATLY improved forum that even rivals GOF as well as a private messaging system so members can communicate with one another.  It will have a usable chatroom and a few other surprises that I won't reveal here.  But anyways, let me know what you guys think of the new image archive.

The game is very simple.  I saw it on another forum and it's actually pretty funny.  Just paste whatever is in your clipboard here.  Some of the things people post is really funny!  I'll go first.

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I was at Microcenter today and I was trying to pick up a motherboard for an older Dell computer.  It had DDR2 memory and an older AM2 socket.  So anyway I go walking around and I get the help of one of the guys there (they always know the best inside deals and are happy to let you in on them).  I ended up building a kickass rig.  What did it cost me?  Less than $250! :!

The thing is downright amazing.  Let's go over the parts and what I paid for them:

1.  AMD II X4 640 Processor (3.0ghz Quad-Core) - $94.99
2.  Biostar Motherboard (Max 16gb DDR3 memory) - $40.00
3.  Crucial 1066 DDR3 memory (2 x 1gb) - $32 (they had another 4gb for only $50 but I didn't have the cash at the time)
4.  Ruby Red gaming case with window, 480 watt PSU, and a blue lighted case fan - $34
5.  1tb 7200rpm Samsung Spinpoint drive - $59
6.  Lightscribe Dual Layer DVD Burner - $20

Total cost was $249 exactly.  With the extra 4gb of ram (for a total of 6gb) it would only cost $299!  So anyways, on with the video.  This video shows the boot time as well as more explanation of the parts:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r5fqCMn-aY

Here's a quick picture.  I should mention that the case is NOT bright red in real life.  That's why I can handle it.  It's more like the second picture than the first.





A comparable HP model would run $600 and would only be expandable to 8gb of ram and have a slightly slower processor!  This was an EXCELLENT deal!

I recently found these great videos buried in Youtube that describe in detail just about everything about SSD technology.  It's very fascinating.  The videos are technically about how SSD's are bad for forensics and data recovery, but they're full of great information.  If you've ever been curious about SSD technology, watch these videos.  It's worth an hour of your time, trust me.  I've never seen a more in depth explanation of how SSD's work:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcO7xn0wJ2I

The videos are quite technical, but he's pretty good at explaining things in plain English.  Just hang in there.  Part 2 and beyond is much better than part 1.