So Long XP. It was good knowing you!

[Sabine Klare]

Thank You, Aminifu. I will try to do the best.

I remember, I had posted in Facebook, that Windows 8 would look very ugly. Someone, much younger than me, had commented: "Ich bleibe bei XP, bis ich in die Kiste springe!" ("I'll stay on XP, until I'll jump into the box!"). He wants to still use XP, as long as he is alive.

Someone else is very angry, that XP is unsupported now, because he had installed some very expensive software. These versions don't work on Windows 7. He would have to buy newer versions of all the software, and he would have to pay again very much money. Otherwise he could still use XP, but offline, as long as his XP machine would work, and for the internet he could use another computer.

On XP the "Transparent Firefox", customized with Stylish, wasn't possible yet. Vista and above is required. I love to see Milkdrop in Desktop Mode behing my "Transparent Firefox" (with Winamp in Windowshade Mode). On my PC with Windows Vista I have no problems doing that, but on my notebook with Windows 7 I have the flickering-problems, if I put Milkdrop on the desktop. It will be a nightmare for me, if Windows Vista will be unsupported some day. I know, that many people hate Windows Vista, but I love this Windows Version.

I don't really know, why one of the XP machines didn't work anymore July 2007. January 2006 there was a pipe break in the apartment above, and we got a water damage. The apartments below stayed dry, because we were at home. We had to move, and after the moving we checked our music synthesizers, TV etc. They still worked, but maybe the water damage was the cause, why suddenly we were not able anymore to turn on this XP machine, while I had to bring the other one to the service shop. For a passionated XP User a fire in the house or apartment would be a nightmare (it would be the most terrible nightmare anyway). Maybe a damaged XP machine could be repaired, but a destroyed XP machine can never be replaced, also not by an insurance.

We do not want to think about such things, we should enjoy our computers, mobile devices and of course also our Winamps. And I have learned, we should be something brave...

[Aminifu]

On my PC with Windows Vista I have no problems doing that, but on my notebook with Windows 7 I have the flickering-problems, if I put Milkdrop on the desktop.

Have you tried the following:

1. Right click Computer, choose Properties > Advanced system settings
2. Go to Advanced tab, click Settings (in Performance section)
3. Untick "Animate controls and elements inside windows"
4. Click OK twice

[Sabine Klare]

The monitor of the old XP machine works. I have checked the cables and reconnected. The power cable wasn't connected correctly...

I have deleted some other WAVs, which I don't need on the XP machine (the music didn't have been from us, and it's already on the other 2 computers). On this machine there should be only music & videos from us, also only my own artwork. I want to keep enough disk space free. I have discovered, the local harddrive C has totally 37.2 GB, 5.32 GB are still free, the other 31.9 GB contain our own artist works. The backup D has totally 34.3 GB, 31.8 GB are free, 2.44 GB are in use. The recover E has totally 2.92 GB, 1.39 GB are free, 1.53 GB are in use. I have also looked into the control panel. The monitor has a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixel, I read also: "Plug and Play-Monitor with NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X (Microsoft Corporation)". The soundcard seems to be Realtek AC97 Audio, but I see no "What You Hear" and no "Stereomix" in the settings. I have already mentioned, that June 2007 Windows XP had to be reinstalled.

There is only IrfanView, Goldwave 2001 and the Windows Media Player for XP. I have played a short video. Not sure, if Winamp will come to there. Maybe Frank wants to use this machine. It has 2 accounts: Frank's account and mine. I have turned on the XP machine with Frank's account. But also if no Winamp will come to there, at least our own music and those .wmv-files, which I have created with Windows Movie Maker, our album art, my textures and my Terragen Artwork are there now. Frank could use this machine offline again, if he wants that.

Aminifu, I have copied Your instructions via .txt-file to my notebook. I didn't have the time yet to try that, because Frank and I got an E-Mail yesterday. The broadcast on Mixlr is not for free anymore. I had a bad evening, after on 29th April I had enjoyed one of the cPro2-Skins so much, and I wanted to repeat that. I have already created 5 new .m3u-playlists with Winamp for my next live-broadcasts...

[Sabine Klare]

Thank You, Aminifu. Then I have also very good news for the video-artists, who want to create Winamp-Milkdrop-Videos for YouTube on Windows 7. I have played some songs of the long playlist "Ambient & Deep House" (I do that always in Shuffle Mode with Repeat Playlist)...

I think, it is very good, that the old XP machine has 2 user-accounts. I have already some ideas. "Frank" will go off now, and the next time "Sabine" will go on...

[Aminifu]

The monitor of the old XP machine works. I have checked the cables and reconnected. The power cable wasn't connected correctly...

That happens a lot, or the power indicator stops working and the device is actually switched off when you think it is switched on.

When I was doing service work over the phone, my first question was; "Are you sure it's turned on and getting power?".

[Sabine Klare]

Hahahahaha...

The monitor has a power supply unit and 2 cables. The cable to the network connector wasn't connected correctly anymore with the power supply unit, maybe it had happened during one of the clean-up operations in the apartment. Suddenly I wanted to check the cables. I have disconnected the cable from the monitor and I have followed the way of the cable. Then I have discovered, it belongs to this power supply unit. I have reconnected the cable with the monitor, then I have checked the connection of the other cable from the power supply unit to the network connector, it was no longer fixed in the power supply unit. But the connection works again now...

The other old monitor for Frank's Vista machine was more in use, while the monitor for the XP machine was only rarely in use. The monitor for his Vista machine had made more and more problems, until it was really dead. I had the replacement monitor already at home and I just needed to connect it. Frank had to get used to it, that he has to work with 16:9 now instead of 4:3. He loved more 4:3, while I love more 16:9 and 16:10 (the monitor for my Vista machine is in 16:10). The Winamp Skins Bento and cPro2_-_Winamp_for_Mac_Sync.wal really look better on 16:9 & 16:10 than on 4:3. Okay, for the XP machine also the 4:3 monitor will do the job for me now...

The XP machine will not become a further Workstation PC for me, but I can use it now, I can do with it, what I want, and both accounts are administrator accounts. To change between them, I have changed the waiting time for the screensaver from 60 minutes to 15 minutes, then I can change between the accounts during the same session. You have already suggested different installations in different accounts. But on the XP machine I have changed from "Frank" to "Sabine" now, and on the desktop I don't see "Arbeitsplatz", Goldwave 2001 and the folders anymore, only Avira etc. Okay, then a few new installs will come into Frank's account and not into mine. I have copied only a very small selection of setups from the USB-Sticks into a new folder on the desktop, I have also sorted them in subfolders...

Edit: I have found the solution for the desktop in Systemsteuerung > Darstellung und Designs > Desktophintergrund ändern > Desktop anpassen. At least I can see now also "Eigene Dateien", "Arbeitsplatz" and "Internet Explorer" (maybe still useful for .html-files), although I cannot see Goldwave 2001 and the few created folders on the desktop, and I have access to the music, videos and artwork only via "Arbeitsplatz" > "Dateien von Frank" ("Dateien von Sabine" doesn't contain these files). I have made also some other changings, in "Sabine" I wanted to have now "Stonehenge" instead of "Grüne Idylle", in "Frank" I have changed from "Kein" to "Zeitmaschine". I will go back to there, while I am learning to know XP very late (we have already 2014)...

[Satuim]

^

Though I understand your fundamental principle, one does not simply throw away a $750,000 UPLC/ms/ms because a $500 computer is out of date.

Oh, It's Drivers. Sorry I misunderstood your post and though it was a software toolkit.


Windows XP is the last windows OS that has a "classic" vibe (if you could call it that)
Windows XP was perfect for me to experience old OS's without actually ever using them.

Good Job MS...

[Aminifu]

XP ... classic! That's funny.

Guess you never used (or saw) DOS or Windows 3.1.

[Sabine Klare]

I look on the old XP machine everyday for some minutes. I can do with it, what I want, because Frank doesn't use it anymore. I had moved some folders and files, to make everything more tidy, also I had renamed some WAV-files in a folder, because they didn't have the artist name yet, and I had added cover.jpg into the folder. I had left the other folders, how they are. The Windows Media Player is very confusing, although before June 2007 once I listened to some WAV-files with headphones. At least once Frank had put 4 or 5 songs into a list. But the Windows Media Player on XP is an old cucumber and I cannot deal with it (fortunately such problems can always be solved!). Just found again a longer WAV-file, which I have checked with Goldwave 2001 (at first I thought, it would be the shorter YouTube-Version)...

What was Windows 3.1? I know only something about Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows ME. I saw once Windows 95 and Windows 98, and 1997 I saw also the game "Creatures" (with the Norns) the first time on a friend's PC (Windows 95). Later he sold his PC to us, because he bought another PC, then we ourselves bought a PC with Windows 98, and I had to edit the typos very often, when we worked on our textes for Transwelten. But before July 2010 I never saw Winamp (only the Winamp-Milkdrop-Videos in YouTube)...

Maybe someone should compose the "Nostalgia Beats" (such a song doesn't exist yet, at least not in YouTube)...

[Aminifu]

What was Windows 3.1?

It was the first commercially successful version of Windows, released in 1992. It caused me to buy my first pc, before then I only used them at work. That pc and AOL software introduced me to the internet at home and personal e-mail (a few years before the WWW got started). 22 years ago, a long time for some, relatively short for others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_3.1x

[Sabine Klare]

Oooh... And I had always thought, Windows 95 would have been the first Windows Version. But today I have learned...

Okay, and I have just listened to a song on YouTube (and watched the video):

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.php?p=2994001&postcount=26289

But when I saw the Windows Media Player on Windows Vista in action, I thought, the new visualizer is more boring than the old one. I never watched them, when I listened on Windows Vista. Then the older visualizer on Windows XP was much better, although never so good like Milkdrop 2. But on both Windows Versions the Windows Media Player is very confusing, it doesn't give me the neccessary overview and the XP Version is more difficult for me than the Vista Version. But I have "solved" the problems with the Windows Media Player on XP...

[Aminifu]

Okay, and I have just listened to a song on YouTube (and watched the video):

Thanx for the tune. To be honest, I don't listen to a lot of that style anymore. Not enough hours in a day!

[Sabine Klare]

Most people don't have enough hours in a day (also I myself). But it's more important, if someone has a well-paid job without overtime.

I still want to post the link to all uploads of this other YouTube-User now:

https://www.youtube.com/user/lostilein/videos

At first this user had used the Windows Media Player on XP, then the Windows Media Player on Vista and later Winamp.

Since some years the "U-Bahn TV" in the Berlin U-Bahn (the metro trains in Berlin) is used, there are also places with infos on the U-Bahn-Stations. And the supermarket Kaisers uses LCD-monitors for their advertisement-videos. Windows XP was always used for that, and I saw the old error-message "Softwarename has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." twice. For Vista & Win7 it's the error-message "Softwarename has stopped working". What will the Berlin U-Bahn and Kaisers do now, if Windows XP is not supported anymore after 14 years?

2 years ago I discovered in a Turkish snack bar an old notebook with XP. The team had always used it for the internet, and they wanted to play also music from their notebook via their HiFi Systems. But suddenly their notebook didn't work anymore and it had to be brought to the service shop. After some weeks it was back, and I saw the screensaver of Windows XP again. The team had played music from YouTube in Firefox via the HiFi Systems very often, or they had surfed with Firefox. I think, they have to disconnect their notebook from the internet now and they have to use another notebook with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1, if not already done (I didn't see it in action anymore since 1 month).

Okay, Windows XP had lived for 14 years. Will also Windows Vista and Windows 7 live for 14 years? Then those computers can stay connected until 2020 and 2023. And then the users would have to use Windows 8 / 8.1 and above. I hope, Winamp & Milkdrop will work also on future Windows Versions, not only on Vista & Win7...

[Kilyn]

Windows XP is the last windows OS that has a "classic" vibe (if you could call it that)
Windows XP was perfect for me to experience old OS's without actually ever using them.

What exactly are you referring to? If it's the look and feel, you still can use the "old look" if you want -- the options for it might be a bit difficult to find, but they're still there. At work I have Aero disabled on 7, and so on, because I don't want to be distracted by the flashy effects and whatnot. You can even disable most of the new start menu/taskbar features if you really want to.

If it's applications, I don't know what your beef is -- you might not be able to run really old games or the like (but then there's DOSBox and such), but most applications have either been updated to work on "newer" versions of Windows (i.e. 2000+) or have been superceded with applications that have...

XP, like every other OS put out by .. uh.. anyone, was slated to have support dropped for it eventually -- you knew this, everyone else did. XP might just be the one that survived the longest, which certainly does say a few things about it, but that doesn't mean it's going to be around forever.

XP ... classic! That's funny.

Guess you never used (or saw) DOS or Windows 3.1.

I remember using DOS and Win 3.1 on a 486 laptop in high school. Yup. 486. Laptop. Oh, and the battery was completely dead so I had to carry around the brick and plug it in, in any class I wanted to use it with. Fun times.

[Aminifu]

I remember using DOS and Win 3.1 on a 486 laptop in high school. Yup. 486. Laptop. Oh, and the battery was completely dead so I had to carry around the brick and plug it in, in any class I wanted to use it with. Fun times.

Yeah, the good old days!

Those machines were both a joy and a pain. My first was a 386SX desktop (1st thing I had to add was a math coprocessor). Things have come so far and the costs have dropped so much, the youth of today would not believe it and they think they have problems. Of course they do, but it's all relative. One day these machines and software will work like they should and most should be able to afford them (maybe).