http://tech.msn.com/microsoft/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1433991
Thank you, .:Mac:.
They says Windows Vista does better than XP. I don’t thing so while.
Windows XP has more then 20 upgrates even after SP 2.
Vista is beta (while for some time), but it has more them 10 upgrates.
IMHO, by my mind, XP is much more safe them Vista right now.
.:Mac:., I think you’ve made good choice - Mac OS 
Yep, I made that choice long ago and never regret it
This might provide an interesting read to those considering Vista and time on their hands 
A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
Thanks Cloussau, that was definitely an eye opening article. I thought all this would be behind us after the Sony fiasco, but it appears that it is only going to get worse. Much worse. I guess I will stick with WinXP for the forseeable future.
Just downloaded it to read off-line possibly print, I hate reading long pages of text on my monitor.
I do know one thing, I doubt it will change my mind about Vista, it will be a long time before I have it on my system as XP Pro still has a long support life cycle left. I will probably soldier on with that until SP3 and a bit, by then I will probably be looking at a new system (less likely to have any hardware issues so no interim upgrade just to run Vista), so I will be looking at what OS I will use who knows what Vista might be like by then.
David,
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I like Ubuntu as my main OS. “Boot it and do it (*)” is quite a change from continually updating all the security programs associated with Windows. Besides, Linux is very kind to system resources.
If you haven’t already thought about it, a dual boot system is way cool!
It took a few days to change the mind set, but it’s satisfying to look upon MS, as just a family of products, not “the” products.
Though I made it pretty clear in previous posts/threads, that I would be saying goodbye to MS forever with the switch, I left XP on this new box, because I get a free upgrade to Vista.
Once I’m done playing with it, it’ll probably be deleted, but I certainly can see the advantages of dual booting if someone needs programs where there are no open source alternatives (though that list is getting shorter every day).
Edit:
(*) An interesting read:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=295676&highlight=firewall+antivirus+antispyware
Ubuntu is a good system, but is lacking in driver support. On two of my systems it wouldn’t even get past the boot screen. However straight debian loaded fine on them. SimplyMepis is good too.
Be careful with dual booting Linux if windows is on it first.
When setting up a dual boot system, Windows should be installed first. I don’t know how other distros handle it, but Ubuntu 6.06 and 6.10 can automatically partition the hard drive for you. I could be wrong, but I believe that a Windows install over Linux, will overwrite the master boot record, and delete any Linux instructions.
Edit: Typo
Windows will overwrite the mbr (master boot record) if Linux is installed in the first partition.
It won’t mess your Linux installation, but if you want to boot Linux again you will need to use a third party boot loader (like BootPart http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm) or reinstall LILO or GRUB. With BootPart you can use Windows boot loader menu and boot Linux. With LILO or GRUB, you’ll need to overwrite the Windows boot loader or use a floppy to boot.
If you install Linux after have being installed Windows, just install LILO or GRUB in the mbr to boot with both systems.
You can boot Windows and with BootPart load Linux at another partition
Other very good boot loader is GAG http://gag.sourceforge.net/ 8)
Tech,
Do any of the regular security updates overwrite the MBR, or is this just a concern if you reinstall Windows?
As far I know, MBR is not changed by regular windows updates or any other security update from common security programs.
There are MBR infectors… so, it’s possible to change/mess/infect the MBR, as you can have a backup of it, as you can restore it…
Could you also reinstall Ubuntu from the live CD if the MBR gets screwed up?
Yes you can reinstall Ubuntu and fix the MBR.
Or, you can boot XP in the Recovery Console and use FIXMBR command.
Or, you can run fdisk with the /MBR option to recover Windows MBR.
Or, you can choose Advanced installation mode (F6 twice at the installation splash screen) or you can download the Alternative CD of installation if you need to install LILO and/or GRUB in another partition than the first one.
^,
O.K., thanks.
Maybe I’m the only one that’s had probs with installing Linux after windows. I usually follow Techs advice above.
Backing up, fixing and restoring MBR
-
Backup the MBR by Linux:
dd if=/dev/$WINDOWS_DISK of=mbr.backup bs=512 count=1
Where $WINDOWS_DISK will most likely be hda. You want the disk NOT the partition. Keep the mbr.backup file somewhere safe. -
After installing Windows, get into a Linux system, either with a Kubuntu bootdisk, or a live system, and run the restore command.
dd if=mbr.backup of=/dev/$WINDOWS_DISK bs=512 count=1
If you need to change the Windows partitioning, do that in Linux with (qt)parted, before running the dd command.
This method could FAIL if you change anything in your partition table after you’ve made the backup. If it get wrong, you would lose your partition table, which renders your data inaccessible until you fix it…
All commands will need to be run as root in Linux.
I’m using three OS on my PC: WinXP Pro and Feodora Core 6, also I’m trying OpenBSD 3.9 and want to mix Feodora partition with new Mandriva.
I have Ubuntu, but only as life CD - sometimes it helps me to restore Feodora after my experiments.
I wonder if this might be relevant to Cloussau’s previous posting re content protection: George Ou seems to be having a lot of problems playing media files on Vista, amongst other problems:
Long list of Vista bugs that will keep me off Vista
George Ou seems to be having a lot of problems playing media files on VistaHe's not the only one.... Vista wouln't recognize my soundcard.... :'( :'(