Nikhil Dev

Just a while ago, Nash sent me this amazing graphics and I burst out laughing in the office.

I am sure anyone who sees this will.

Was going through this article and found something that really interested me. This is a short list of some of the things that you can do on a Linux machine but not on a PC or Mac.

1. Upgrade to the newest version legally and without paying money
2. Have the latest version of the operating system run faster than the previous version on the same hardware
3. Easily install and run different graphical interfaces if I don’t like the default setup
4. Install twenty programs with one command
5. Have the system automatically update all my installed programs for me.
6. Install the same copy of my OS (Ubuntu) on multiple computers without worrying about license restrictions or activation keys
7. Give away copies of the operating system and other programs that run on it without breaking any laws, governmental or ethical or moral, because it was all intended to be used this way
8. Have full control over my computer hardware and know that there are no secret back doors in my software, put there by malicious software companies or governments
9. Run without using a virus scanner, adware/spyware protection, and not reboot my computer for months, even when I do keep up with all of the latest security updates
10. Run my computer without needing to defragment my hard drive, ever
11. Try out software, decide I don’t like it, uninstall it, and know that it didn’t leave little bits of stuff in a registry that can build up and slow down my machine
12. Make a major mistake that requires a complete reinstallation and be able to do it in less than an hour, because I put all of my data on a separate partition from the operating system and program files
13. Boot into a desktop with flash and effects as cool as Windows Vista on a three year old computer…in less than 40 seconds, including the time it takes me to type my username and password to login
14. Customize anything I want, legally, including my favorite programs. I can even track down the software developers to ask them questions, contribute ideas, and get involved in the actual design/software writing process if I want to
15. Have 4+ word processor windows open working on papers, listen to music, play with flashy desktop effects, have contact with a largely happy community and have firefox, instant messaging, and email clients all open at the same time, without ever having had to beg someone for a code to make my os work, and without the system running so slow it is useless
16. Use the command “dpkg –get-selections > pkg.list” to make a full, detailed list of all software I have installed, backup my /etc and /home directories on a separate partition, and you are able to recover your system any time, easily
17. Run multiple desktops simultaneously, or even allow multiple users to log in and use the computer simultaneously
18. Resize a hard disk partition without having to delete it and without losing the data on it
19. Use the same hardware for more than 5 years before it really needs to be replaced…I have some hardware that is nearly 10 years old, running Linux, and still useful
20. Browse the web while the OS is being installed!
21. Use almost any hardware and have a driver for it included with the operating system…eliminating the need to scour the internet to find the hardware manufacturer’s website to locate one
22. Get the source code for almost anything, including the OS kernel and most of my applications

As usual, when there is nothing to read, there is Digg. I was goin through one of these articles in that and something interesting that I saw there interested me. Microsoft has secretly launched the Service Pack 3 for Windows Xp. As for now this is available to only a selected number of users and is possible through a hack. Thats why I thought that I will write some detailed instructions on how this is achieved.

1. Open Notepad and type in the following into it

@echo off
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\XPSP3 /f 2> NUL
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\XPSP3 /v RCPreview /t REG_SZ /d 1c667073-b87f-4f52-a479-98c85711d869 /f
echo XPSP3 registry key has been set. Please check for updates in Windows Update - Kudos to nikhildev.com
pause

2. Now save that file with any name like “windowsxpsp3.cmd” . Make sure that you have the double quotes and the .cmd extension.

3. Now double click on that file and let it do its work.

4. Once you have confirmation, log onto the window update website and look for any Windows update available.

5. You will see that Windows Xp Service Pack 3 is one of them listed. Just install that and reboot the computer once everything is over.

Thats all that you need to do to install the new Windows Xp Service Pack. Microsoft says that in the new Windows Xp Service Pack 3, it has included a lot of bug fixes and few features from Windows Vista. I I havent tried any of the features as I am writing this before rebooting my computer. Will keep the results posted about the Service Pack 3 for Windows Xp.

Do comment, if you need help or are stuck in some step.

Looks like a lot of people(including me have tried to switch over to Vista and in the end ended up reverting back to Xp as it seems to be a lot more bug free now and have a lot of application support. Microsoft claims that its Xp sales are still on with profit and its planning to release a new SP2c as its running out of product keys. Was reading an article from digg and this is what it has to say

“Microsoft Corp. has had to create a new build of Windows XP Professional for computer makers because the six-year-old operating system’s continued popularity has nearly exhausted the supply of product activation keys.

“Other signs of the not-dead-yet operating system’s vigor have included retreats by manufacturers like Dell Inc. from earlier Vista-only policies. In April, for example, Dell again began offering Windows XP as an option to consumers. It had already done the same thing for small business customers.”

There must always have been times when you widows defragmenter to do more than just mere defragmenting. Especially for Xp users, it would be really good to have features like scheduled defrags and defrags in system idle time just like Windows Vista. The smartest alternative that I have found for this is JKDefrag which can be downloaded for free. The main key features of this are :-

1. Much tighter defrag than the windows defragmeneter.

2. Scheduled Defrags.

3. Include of exclude directories.

4. Screensaver visualiations of defragmentation.

5. The best of all its free.

This one just puts the windows defrag to shame.