1. Thanks for the tip. My WMP has been hanging pretty regular the past few weeks and besides that it takes forever to load. Been looking for an alternative.

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Brian

2. Windows media player classic is the best player out there, but you forgot to mention quick time alternative which can replace QT as well. You can get both here: http://www.free-codecs.com/

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Tommy

3. Whoever posted the drivel about all things MS needs to get a reality check. Windows XP SP2 has enough security options in concert with just a couple of freebies I'd recommend i.e. AVG Antivirus, Zone Alarm that make it virtually impregnable. If you take the trouble to use them properly. Also Windows Media Player 10 is a class act. If you find it too complicated there are free video tutorials to download. BTW I use Realplayer as well but only because BBC and others have a restrictive practice on what software you use.
I'm "tired" of the "Lets knock Microsoft" at this time. Why? because all of the knocks may well have applied to earlier incarnations of Windows, but not XP. If you want a leaky Browser read about the security breaches in Firefox. Now the hackers have had time to learn they have started on that. How about knocking the hackers and spammers? That is a much more laudable objective than displaying a lack of knowledge on how to use computer applications sucessfully.

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Mike

4. Whoever posted the drivel about all things MS needs to get a reality check. Windows XP SP2 has enough security options in concert with just a couple of freebies I'd recommend i.e. AVG Antivirus, Zone Alarm that make it virtually impregnable. If you take the trouble to use them properly. Also Windows Media Player 10 is a class act. If you find it too complicated there are free video tutorials to download. BTW I use Realplayer as well but only because BBC and others have a restrictive practice on what software you use.
I'm "tired" of the "Lets knock Microsoft" at this time. Why? because all of the knocks may well have applied to earlier incarnations of Windows, but not XP. If you want a leaky Browser read about the security breaches in Firefox. Now the hackers have had time to learn they have started on that. How about knocking the hackers and spammers? That is a much more laudable objective than displaying a lack of knowledge on how to use computer applications sucessfully.

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Mike

5. Mike, perhaps you should check out search.us-cert.gov (thats the US Computer Emergency Response Team if you don't know). Try this, search for these terms: "Microsoft", "Windows", "Internet Explorer", Microsoft Office", "Windows Media Player", and "Closed Source". Add those article counts up and keep it in mind when you search for these terms: "Linux", "Open Source", "Mozilla", "Firefox", "Opera", and "OpenOffice". Now add those article counts up. You'll notice a trend... Linux, open source, or simply alternative software has MUCH fewer emergency counts. How's this for a sample: Microsoft Office has 2321 articles while OpenOffice has 18. (as of last week anyway) No typos, simple facts retrieved from the country's best computer emergency response team. And also note that I indluded more open source/alternative terms to make up for Microsoft being one of the biggest security holes known to the computer age but if you're willing to do some research, you'll find it still doesn't help Microsoft.

By the way, the public doesn't need to knock Microsoft, they do that on their own by saying "Windows XP has so many severe security flaws, that a major update is the only way to fix it." Don't believe it? It's from their sales pitch for Windows Vista to several major businesses and governments.

As for Firefox being "leaky", at least the Firefox team responds to security problems rather than ignoring them while Internet Explorer still has security problems inherited from as far back as IE 2, possibly earlier.

You might be tired of people knocking Microsoft, but I'm tired of people knocking open source when they don't even get the facts first.

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Josh

6. If you read my original comment instead of jumping to conclusions you will find I most certainly do NOT knock Open Source. I merely point out a fact about one Browser.I also happen to use Firefox on my Mandrake Linux. Please read carefully. Try not to think I want a war with Open Source. I use Linux as well as Windows.
Both have there attractions. I believe that Windows XP SP2 is the best offering from MS we have had to date. I build my own machines and my experience of XP SP2 is that it installation is very straight forward. It's applications run very well, particularly WMP 10. As I have said I use Real Player. I also use DivX and Cyberlink software for playing DVD's I notice no slowness of response, so I am speaking of my experience. I have been using XP since the Beta phase. With Zone Alarm and AVG plus adaware, pest patrol etc. I have detected viruses but only a handful in all that time. They were deleted on discovery and never got to the system files. I prefer to rely on my own experience rather than do a "search" because like statistics "search" results can be misleading. You will find what YOU are looking for. Know what I mean?

Posted at 6:34AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Mike