Why I don't like Windows...

from JoeUser Forums
I run Windows XP on my MacBook using Parallels Desktop.

I arrived at the University of Haifa yesterday and started using the local wireless network with Mac OS. Today I thought I could try it with Windows as well.

I started up Windows XP which was configured to use my home network, of course. I use fixed IPs at home. In Mac OS I can change the network location and leave my home network configuration alone. So I figured I could set up a new connection in Windows to avoid having to modify my finely tuned existing network connection.

I disabled the network connection and started the "Create a new connection" wizard.

The wizard asked me some questions and then claimed that it needed a reboot to set up the connection. (Why?)

After the reboot the only connection object I found was the disabled existing connection object. The wizard hadn't done anything, o so it seemed. Still unable to connect to the Internet Windows XP announced that the computer's hardware had changed considerably (and this is Windows running in a VIRTUAL MACHINE that certainly didn't change) and needed to be re-activated.

I believe the wizard made Windows believe that the hardware changed, although it left the network settings alone.

After a few reboots I convinced Windows to connect to the Internet using my (now modified) existing network connection object. My home network settings are lost, but at least I could activate Windows over the Internet.

Windows annoying features:

1. No network locations and the ability to switch between them.

2. Network connection wizard does not create a new connection object.

3. Windows needs to be activates and re-activated, which, since it tracks hardware changes will always add itself as one further problem to whatever existing problem caused the hardware change.

Mac OS advantages:

1. Supports network locations.

2. Does not requir a network connection wizard. A new location will always default to DHCP and existing network locations keep their settings.

3. Does not require activation, not even when the system thinks that the user doesn't have enough annoying problems to deal with.

I know, I know, Windows is great and has so many advantages over Mac OS, but none of Windows' advantages are particularly helpful if one simply wants to connect to the Internet and read email.
18,539 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

and this is Windows running in a VIRTUAL MACHINE that certainly didn't change

Have another go using the OS as designed...and compare your apples with...um....apples....

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Network location switching works fine for me.

Though, it connects a little too easily in McDonalds...   

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Vista supports non-poopy stinky networking, with those Maccy features. Go Vista babeh, bring Windows into at least the 21st Century ... what? If he can post his detestment of XP, surely I can post my Vista support?
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Vista's great unless until it burns ya & throws you back into the dark ages!
I'll try Linux I'd like to jump ahead into the 22nd century.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

Have another go using the OS as designed...and compare your apples with...um....apples....


It doesn't seem as if you know much about virtual machines. A physical machine is not "more designed" for switching network locations than a virtual machine. It's entirely irrelevant whether the machine was physical or logical. Network locations as a feature are either present or not in an operating system. They do not appear and disappear depending on the hardware you run it on.


Network location switching works fine for me.


That's great. How?
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If you can't get Vista, then...

...Use the netsh.exe utility, you'll find it on the XP cd if it is not already in your C:\Windows\System32 folder..

Set up your main network (with fixed IP addresses) then use 'run' with the following command:

netsh -c interface dump > c:\"folder path"\main.txt

Now set up your secondary network (set to 'Obtain an IP address automatically') and 'run' the following:

netsh -c interface dump > c:\"folder path"\secondary.txt

When you need to use your main, 'run' the following:

netsh -f c:\"folder path"\main.txt

When you need to use your secondary, 'run' the following:

netsh -f c:\"folder path"\secondary.txt

You can create batch files for each of those and place them on your desktop.

For further reading on netsh see here LINK 

Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Thanks, Fuzzy.

But this seems a bit too complicated. I think I'll stick to Mac OS.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

You are right.  Windows sucks!

Fuzzy is right, but it is easier.  Use the alternate option in the properties of Windows TCP/IP screen.

At least Fuzzy found you a way, but I still hate the damn thing, even if it does pay the bills!

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
1. No network locations and the ability to switch between them.

2. Network connection wizard does not create a new connection object.

3. Windows needs to be activates and re-activated, which, since it tracks hardware changes will always add itself as one further problem to whatever existing problem caused the hardware change.


All 3 of these are incorrect. I have 4 different machine running XP with both a wireless network and a hard wired network and have had "no" diffficulties changing from one to the other.

Reactivation is ONLY required "if" you change certain hardware. IE: motherboard, CPU, hard drive are the "only" one that will cause a reactivation.

And try using a PC OS on a PC, not a Mac.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

It doesn't seem as if you know much about virtual machines.

I have around six at the moment....

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
maybe you can go to MacCustomize.com to complain about windows
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
All 3 of these are incorrect. I have 4 different machine running XP with both a wireless network and a hard wired network and have had "no" diffficulties changing from one to the other.




That is NOT what a network location change does. Please do not assume that when I talk about a certain feature that Windows doesn't have I am talking about something else.



A "network location" is not either a wireless or a cable network. A network location is a set of definitions for all networks one connects to.



I have a wireless and a cable network at home and my computers are set up for them. Wen I take one of the computers elsewhere, I can change the network location and define new networks, with the old ones inactive but I can switch back to them.



It has NOTHING to do with the ability to be connected to several networks at once without problems. It is about the ability to be connected to several distinct sets of networks without the need to reconfigure adapter settings.









Reactivation is ONLY required "if" you change certain hardware. IE: motherboard, CPU, hard drive are the "only" one that will cause a reactivation.





Yes, but unfortunately, Windows XP asked me to re-activate it despite there having been no such changes. The information that ONLY such changes would demand a re-activation is hence not very helpful (and nor is what I told here wrong because of that).



Apparently attempting to create a new (second disctinct) network connection (for the same adapter) counted as a hardware change.



Try it out yourself?





And try using a PC OS on a PC, not a Mac.




Would have been the worse idea. If I hadn't had Mac OS on the same computer, I would have been stuck with a Windows with no network connection.



The thing to learn here is: keep a second OS around.



(BTW the idea that Windows develops new software features based on your hardware vendor is a myth. Windows XP does NOT support network locations and it has NOTHING to do with whether you use an Apple or a Dell.

Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top


It doesn't seem as if you know much about virtual machines.


I have around six at the moment....



That's nice. Yet you do not seem to know much about what they do.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Did you WANT any help here, or were you looking to argue? I can tell ya right now, the people here will bore quickly of insults!
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

It doesn't seem as if you know much about virtual machines.


I have around six at the moment....



I have 25.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have 25.

Yes, but you, too won't know what to do with them....as you are Windows-centric, not a Mac-fanatic....

Leauki ....I'm glad you don't like Windows.  If the OS won't play nice for you on your MacBook well I guess that clearly reinforces your choice of a MacBook.  Heaven forbid you actually ran the OS NATIVELY on a system intended for it and thus were confident of a fair and legitimate basis for comparative research.

But I digress.  This is sourced from JU, where everyone seems to have an ego and an attitude.  State an opinion.  Call it fact.  Deny validity of contrary argument.  Most of all, be controversial.

Running an OS within a VM adds another layer for potential performance issue, so the performance of the Win OS is disadvantaged over that of the native OS.

Compare them fairly.

Fire up a box with WIN....and a second with Mac.  Anything less is guaranteed prejudicial....

 

Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top

Did you WANT any help here, or were you looking to argue? I can tell ya right now, the people here will bore quickly of insults!


What insults???


If the OS won't play nice for you on your MacBook well I guess that clearly reinforces your choice of a MacBook. Heaven forbid you actually ran the OS NATIVELY on a system intended for it and thus were confident of a fair and legitimate basis for comparative research.


What do you mean "comparative research"? I just installed the damn thing and found that it lacked a feature I needed. The feature exists neither when run in a VM nor when run on "native" hardware. (Although why a random PC would be more "native" than the highly standardized Mac I do not know. The hardware is mostly the same and Apple provide all the drivers. In fact Sony laptops have more problems with Windows than Apple laptops.)


Running an OS within a VM adds another layer for potential performance issue, so the performance of the Win OS is disadvantaged over that of the native OS.

Compare them fairly.

Fire up a box with WIN....and a second with Mac. Anything less is guaranteed prejudicial....


You don't get it. This was not a comparison for some article. It was a MISSING FEATURE. The performance of Windows was excellent, it was the missing feature that was annoying.

And that feature simply doesn't exist on Windows XP, not in a VM, not on a Dell PC (which I use at work, now with Vista). It has NOTHING to do with "performance issues".

Some facts:

1. If an operating system doesn't include a certain feature running it on another type of computer won't make the feature appear. It needs to be implemented first. (This particular feature is missing in Windows XP and is missing independently of where XP is run.)

2. Running a VM or several of them does NOT make an expert on virtualisation technology and its advantages or drawbacks. (Parallels Desktop creates a VM that is a PC. That's the point of the Intel hypervisor technology Parallels uses. Windows XP runs on the VM just like it runs on real hardware and cannot tell the difference.)

3. Buying two computers and installing two operating systems on them just to confirm that a missing feature of Windows XP is also missing on the second computer is idiotic, especially when done because somebody thinks that the missing feature is a "performance" issue.

4. Windows XP's performance in Parallels is excellent and the missing feature in XP would not appear if the performance would be better.

Anything still unclear?
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Blah Blah Blah yakedy Schmakedy.....
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top

But I digress. This is sourced from JU, where everyone seems to have an ego and an attitude. State an opinion. Call it fact. Deny validity of contrary argument. Most of all, be controversial.

About covers it....

Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Quite topic unrelated tip, but to people that have to switch between different networks often : Mobile Net Switch saves me a lot of hassle when traveling and switching to different networks in our different companies (even for connecting different network adapters and network-drives) and at the hotel for example. No reboots neccessary. With windows, You just have to know where to find the good tools that can handle missing features.