I have had it with Microsoft

CM · Post by CM » Sun Oct 24, 2004 6:37 pm

I have literally had it. I dont like microsoft products to start with and now windows media player is causing problems with music match. IE is crap and in general i dont like XP and SP2 has just pushed me over the edge. I have a firewall i like. I have anti-virus i like. Get rid of this pre-packaged crap that cant do jack.

So i was wondering if all you wonderful geeks could explain to this 75% geek which is the best LINUX version to use and how hard is it to set up. Secondly i am currently using firefox and i am slightly annoyed that it keeps opening up new webpages in a seperate window instead of a seperate tab in the same window. How do i change that?

Plus any additional help to de-microsoft my system willl be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah and complain about Microsoft all you want.

Edit: Oh yeah i forgot to ask will my games still work on Linux? Say my Kotor or NWN cds? Before i go ahead and download say Suse or something a compatibility assessment would be nice.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:01 pm

Secondly i am currently using firefox and i am slightly annoyed that it keeps opening up new webpages in a seperate window instead of a seperate tab in the same window. How do i change that?

When you right click on the link you have no option to open in 'New Tab' or 'New Window'? (Or 'In this Window' as well). There is an extension to force a link to open 'In this Window', but I don't think this is what your looking for.

CM · Post by CM » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:05 pm

Actually that is exactly what i am looking for. I want any link i click on to open in a new tab. Wonder where I could download that?

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:13 pm

[QUOTE=CM]Actually that is exactly what i am looking for. I want any link i click on to open in a new tab. Wonder where I could download that?[/QUOTE]

My lack of wording, it forces the new link to open in the first window, not a new tab. The right click on a link should give you the option of choosing a new tab. Here is a link to the extension, called This Window.

This Window

CM · Post by CM » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:20 pm

So no program or add on which gets all the windows to open up in the same window but different tabs? Oh well, the right click it is.

An added question it seems most games dont support Linux like NWN and WoW (only a bit is supported). So does that include the ones that emulate windows like Suse?

If it does include windows is it possiible to have windows and linux running on one pc?

CM · Post by CM » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:29 pm

Alright bugger this. With all i can read it would be pretty stupid to have both windows and linux on one pc when i am trying to do away with windows. So here is what i need help with if it can be done.

Firstly if it is actually possible to play games with Linux without having to get special add ons and specially marked games, then great hook me up with whatever there is for me to get rid of Microsoft.

If that is not possible, please tell me how to get rid of the following from my Windows XP:

1. IE
2. Microsoft Media Player
3. Anything else that there is a better freeware version available

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:39 pm

[QUOTE=CM]So no program or add on which gets all the windows to open up in the same window but different tabs? Oh well, the right click it is.

An added question it seems most games dont support Linux [/QUOTE]

No add on that I know of, but Vicsun might know of one. After a while you get use to the right click, but if Vicsun has one, I would download it.

As for Linux, I would love to get away from MS, but the games seems to be the weak link. And sadly (or some might say galdly) I don't have XP, still in the stone age of 98se and will not update until forced to.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:12 pm

That is why I use netscape and Winamp...

You're right, CM, Microscoft is junk.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:30 pm

Opera's my choice: great program, and constantly being updated with extra features. The only reason IE has any market at all is its bundling with Windows.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:36 pm

CM, you might try XPlite and see if that meets your needs. I still use 98Lite on an old Pentium notebook computer, and it does wonders for keeping my OS small, fast, and reliable.

You might have screwed yourself by installing XP Service Pack 2, so if I were you, I'd install Windows XP from scratch and limit yourself to updates prior to SP2.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:51 pm

If I were to install XPlite does it have to be on a fresh install and if not what would happen to everything that's on my computer now?

Opalescence · Post by **Opalescence** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:58 pm

Erm, truthfully I don't really care as long as my computer's motherboard hasn't melted or somesuch

. Out of curiosity, what's so horrible about SP2?

garazdawi · Post by **garazdawi** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:42 pm

1. IE You cannot get rid of tihs pey say as windows messenger works through IE and uses it's proxy settings. You can however delete all the shortcuts to it that you can find and you'll be rid of it forever. You might also want to have a look at this and more specifically this extension
2. Microsoft Media Player For playing music I use iTunes and for video I use the Real Alternative (can't seem to find a link...)
3. Anything else that there is a better freeware version available for Firewall I use Kerio.

as for a linux dist. I can highly recommend SuSE. I've used it extensively and found nothing but good things in it

I've also heard alot of people say that gentoo is a great OS but I cannot vouch for that myself. The only reason why I don't use Linux permanetly right now is because of my sporadic tendansies to game.

EDIT: Oh and I would really recommend everybody to look at Miranda and OpenOffice. Both are really good opensource alternatives to MSN Messenger and M$ Office respectively. Also if you have firebird you just have to have Thunderbird, it's a really great mail client.

Edit:didn't see this at first.
[quote="CM]An added question it seems most games dont support Linux like NWN and WoW (only a bit is supported). So does that include the ones that emulate windows like Suse?[/quote"]SuSE does not emulate windows, it uses X windows like all other graphical Linux distrubutions. All graphical linux distrubutions can however emulate windows through the use of wine or xwine, but this can be really tricky to get to work as you have to link to directx/opengl/whateverthegameuses manually and generally you are looking at quite a performance hit when emulating. So generally playing games that were not built for linux on a linux system can be really hard ad only people that are prepared to spend days trying out settings might get it to work.

garazdawi · Post by **garazdawi** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:46 pm

[QUOTE=Opalescence]Erm, truthfully I don't really care as long as my computer's motherboard hasn't melted or somesuch

. Out of curiosity, what's so horrible about SP2?[/QUOTE]
It installes a firewall with an interface that is just horrible and it's almost impossible to turn off. Also my external sound card has stopped working because of it and I've had some other minor HW incompatabileties with it. Hopefully M$ will fix these issues soon but as external soundcards is a pretty small target I have few hopes for it being fixed...

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:24 am

You can remove Media Player like any other Windows component, can't you?

What about RadLight? Less tawdry, much faster.
I really don't know why MS always goes for design and spectacle instead of expediency. That's why many people don't like their applications.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:56 am

I've had no problems with the microsoft firewall - well turning it off that is - since I run my another firewall.

Anyways - the reason why microsoft goes "overboard" some times (often) is because of the "ordinary" computeruser - the ones that uses the Internet sometimes, uses the computer as a typewriter etc - generally speaking the people who know little about computers.
These people are in a massive risk of getting their windows installations messed up if they need to fiddle to much with settings.
They are in great risk of spam, virus, trojanhorses, phising, spyware, malware and anything else floating around the Internet and so on.
They are also the people that don't know the ins and outs of Windows.

Thus Microsoft has to support these users, because the "experienced" users will find ways to turn off the things they don't want whereas "casual/common" users can't figure out how to turn things on that they do want. (well - some can, but then they may be experienced instead)
These latter users are also the ones that have greates need for the visual styleing of Windows.

That is why many "geeks" go with Linux because of the increased control and many casual users stay with Windows for the massive pre-installed items.

It is possible to remove almost any component from Windows (although - I think minimum IE4 is needed somewhere) such as Media player (I belive).
You need to fiddle with an .ini file and change a setting in there so the components becomes visible in the "add/remove programs" in the Control panel.

I personally still run Microsoft/IE/Office etc at home as well, because I can't really be bothered switching to and learning Linux for both private reasons (time, compability with software/hardware, no problems with Microsoft) as well as professional (.NET development).
And I do not want to dual-platform on my computer at home because I have no reason to do it.
I just remove what I don't want from windows (Messenger for one *grrrr* - although I have gotten MSN and ICQ now due to work

- but messenger still goes away fast. I don't want that on my computer) and change various settings in the registry.
And then I add software as alternative to the windows software I don't want to use (Mediaplayer for instance).

thenenea · Post by **thenenea** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:56 am

Keeping XP and getting rid of most of the junk

CM, it looks like you don't really need to switch from Win XP to Linux just yet. Don't get me wrong, Linux is great but the support for populat games is pretty weak and making Windos games run on Linux can be pretty tricky. So my opinion is you should stick with Windows and your favourite firewall and disable/remove the annoying Windows components. The best way you could do that is through XP-antispy a small program that is free and lets you disable/remove most of the junk. The new version also allows you to disable the Windows Security Center and Firewall so you could use your favourite one instead. The program can be found here:

http://xp-antispy.org/component/option, ... /Itemid,1/

CM · Post by CM » Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:12 am

Thanks alot all of you guys. I am gonna check out the other browsers and see what i can use etc. As for XPlite is looks great but i am not willing to pay for it. Freeware would be great. Thanks thenenea and welcome to SYM

CM · Post by CM » Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:24 am

I just downloaded Opera and i like it alot. The side bars are annoying but it is a great browser. Just waht i was looking for. Thanks Fable.

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 9:08 am

As far as linux goes I'm a huge fan of SuSE as it's real easy to use, but it being a large distro means like windows you get stuff with it you'll probably never use and therefore it takes up more space than you'd like. Gentoo on the other hand is perfect because it's the ultimate in customizable OS but if you're new to linux don't even think about it. It is the worst of the newer versions of linux as far as installers goes. You can stumble through it if you'd like, but until they come out with a good graphical installer i'm keeping my distance.