Re: Windows Start Menu

On Jul 8, 12:09 pm, "James J. Gavan" <jgavandeletet...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Pete Dashwood wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:

In article <1PWdnVpn8_rgS8_XnZ2dnUVZ_redn...@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
arnold.tremb...@xxxxxxx wrote:

James J. Gavan wrote:

Not COBOL per se, but something we are all interested in.
(snip)
But there surely has to be an easier way without going to individual
applications, to Add or Remove them from the Startup Menu. I either
misunderstood what MS were saying, or their Help is badly worded.
Any takers ?

Jimmy, Calgary AB

This is not necessarily easier, but there's quite a bit of useful and
free information here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Windows-XP-Startup-Faster

Including some bad advice regarding clearing the prefetch folder.

Better advice available here:
http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPMyths.html

This is excellent. Confirmed a number of things I have believed for some
time :-).

I think the single MOST IMPORTANT thing for the average user is NEVER
download or run a so called "optimizer" that promises ot improve
performance. Most of these are simply Registry cleaners that have little or
no effect on anything and can be dangerous. If you are experienceing serious
performance problems, the best course of action is to post to a MS forum
describing exactly what happens.

Pete.

Thanks to Arnold, Doug and Pete and I'll take note of the areas you have
pointed me at. Normally I don't need to fiddle with the Start Menu
but on this occasion I wanted to stop AVG and Ad-Aware fighting like two
babies under a blanket.

I certainly agree with the above, which you only start to find out, when
you give it a shot by downloading. Free Download - Bull***. If they
were to word it FREE TRIAL - that would be honest; the former is
deceptive until you start experimenting. Again I'll cover 'Security'
experiences in a little detail - but frankly I don't think I would put
my total trust in any of them. user 'X' can advocate say AVG; 'Y'
comments "No I don't like AVG. I tried Product Q and it displayed
Trojans that AVG didn't list".

There's a fortune being made by security software firms from people
buying coverage on something that Microsoft SHOULD address - not third
parties.

You are not MicroSoft's customer, the OEMs and retailers are. You are
a customers of these OEMs and retailers. Microsoft builds products
that suit its customer's needs.

When Windows slows down under the load of the malware and the anti-
malware competing for resources the user feels the need to throw more
money at MS's customers to buy a nice shiney new box that rids the
user of this problem. Job done !

When the user shows up in the shop the retailer has the opportunity to
'sell up' to the 'premium' or 'ultimate' edition of Windows which
usually requires that the machine also be a 'premium' or 'ultimate'
model as well. This adds much more revenue and profit for the
retailer. They can also sell many add-ons, such as MS Office, a few
games, Norton's and much more also increasing revenue and profit. You
go in because they advertise a 'budget' model and wind up with a
mortgage on your house.

Retailers put on the shelves what makes the most profit for them. They
love selling Windows because they know that in a few months that super-
fast machine they just sold you will be dragging its feet and slower
than that old 486 you ran Word Perfect on in 1987 as it gets clogged
up with malware and anti-malware.

Microsoft fix it ?? don't be silly that would completely ruin the
computer market.

Actually MS have released anti-virus going back to MSAV on DOS
6.something which was a Central Point product that, like so many 3rd
party addons in DOS 6, was not paid for by MS. There was also
'Malicious Software Removal Tool', which sounded like it would
maliciously remove the likes of WordPerfect and Lotus, and 'Live
OneCare' all of which were inadequate.

Soon there will be 'Microsoft Security Essentials'. Expect Norton,
AVG, and other 'Microsoft Partners' to go belly up, as happens to many
'partners' when MS desires their revenue*.


* You may think that a 'free' service would not generate revenue but
stopping Norton, AVG etc getting revenue means that this gets taken
off the TOC of Windows and that budget can help pay the increased
prices demanded for Windows 7.

Also after MS announced their new 'security essentials':

"""Symantec shares fell 0.5 percent on Nasdaq and McAfee fell 1.3
percent on the New York Stock Exchange, while Microsoft was up 2.1
percent. The Nasdaq composite index .IXIC was down 0.47 percent."""

See, it has worked already.

.