I have given up with Windows

[Mav451]

What can be said...

I've run dozens of Windows PCs over the years, and they're certainly a lot less reliable and more problematic than the OSX Apple computers I've used.

Windows XP is a pretty decent OS, and it really IS a lot better than Win98. However, it definately has a lot of issues; first being security/crapware vulnerability, and second being the need to support so much crazy hardware -- crashes and hangs are still a reality of the windows world, especially if you're on teh cutting edge. I recently got an Athlon 64 system to replace my P4, and I've turned up dozens of problems already -- Windowblinds doesn't work with it, PoE (a Battlefield Vietnam Mod) crashes out randomly, etc. Mind you, I'm using all namebrand hardware, nothing cheap. If you run as an administrative user and you regularly install new programs, you're going to have to format windows every couple months to keep it running quickly.

That said, if you DON'T run as an Administrative user, and you DON'T regularly install and play with new programs, Windows XP is very solid -- this is why it's a great platform for corporate use. However, the home user doesn't have an IT department to configure their firewall, filter spam and viruses out of their email, ensure that the user has no privledges, keep their home directories on the network, regularly backed up, etc.... This is where OSX shines -- It works great with little to no support.

Crashing out randomly is usually not a fault of Windows XP, but your hardware. Please do not confuse the two, as its hilarious the kind of stuff I've seen on this board.

People blame BSODs on XP all the time, but I can guarantee you almost 90% of that is from bad memory sticks or weak power supplies (and sometimes, an outdated BIOS if you are on a cutting edge board). The problem is that the Socket 754 boards (assuming you are on 754 and not 939) has been out for almost an entire year--making it a relatively mature chipset in "PC time" >> where newer/faster is always coming out.

My A7N8X had some quirks/problems for the first few months, but since then BIOS/driver updates eliminated those issues. (a7n8x being released in late Q3'02--being that its been nearly 2 years). I went from BIOS 1002 to 1007. I can tell you alot of fixes go on between even just one BIOS revision, much less 5 revisions.

I can tell that if I get a BSOD or hardlock, its definitely a hardware issue. I tried Crucial Ballistix--which gave me constant BSODs (when I've been having 0 since early '03, when I built this). While memtest didn't pick up errors in the first 4 hours, had I run it much longer (1 day), I would have seen the errors and not run it in the first place.

Memtest your memory first before laying all the blame on XP. Its something you should do regardless of what OS you have. Just remember to leave it on overnight.
http://www.memtest86.com/#download1

Likewise a friend was having restart problems. Not temperature related, and not relative to games either (restarting in desktop or in games) >> where gaming usually stresses both the CPU/Video card. But since it was happening at random, that left the power supply. It was a 400W Allied P-O-S. I put in the solid-rock that is an Enermax 350W (26A on the +12V line, see that in any other PSU?).

The restarts were gone INSTANTLY.