consider something other than ms

I have been a Windows person for years! My email address even reflects my Microsoft Certified Professional status. I am getting sick of this WGA stuff though, all the spying and prying, breaking stuff that works perfectly well, the (now) mandatory updates... The larger and larger installation footprint, the DEMAND for more and more hardware capabilities. It's CRAP, I tell ya!I decided to locate something else. Ubuntu. I have turned several people on to it now, and I can honestly say (and they will agree) that I have done them a favor. Fast, stable, FREE, updates when and IF I want them, literally THOUSANDS of applications, I can run Windows apps (if desired)... MANY more INCLUDED bonuses, including free e-mail functionality, free Office functionality and interchangeability, multi-carrier Internet chat client, (Yahoo, AIM, MSN, and others) graphics editing... Good stuff, kids!HUGE community support at www.ubuntuforums.org, and they are fast and generally courteous. My laptop's hardware was COMPLETELY supported right out of the box... I can now connect securely and safely at any Starbucks WiFi hotspot. Say THAT about Winblows... You can't, can you?!PM me if you are really interested in getting out of the never ending, faster spiraling Window$ trap! It is really nice, because Ubuntu images burn a "Live CD" or "Live DVD", meaning you can run them on YOUR computer, without touching your existing installation, to see if you like it before committing to it.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

You can do the same with many different flavors of Linux. I use Knoppix on occasion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Free_distributions_based_on_Debian  the12volt • Support the12volt.com

The WINDOWS file folder alone on my XP hard drive is 3 GB.  I don't have enough computer time to make any changes in the near future, but I will look into that eventually.  I'm tired of weeding through the updates so that I can weed out the spyware (at least try to.)  "this update will look at your system to see if the Windows is registered...and provide you with information on how you can obtain a registered version..."Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

stevdart wrote: "this update will look at your system to see if the Windows is registered...and provide you with information on how you can obtain a registered version..."

"Windows Genuine Advantage". And if cancelled during installation in the "WOW Starts Here" Vista (shyah, RIGHT...) Vista will phone home without warning the user, and report itself as pirated. It will also contain enough information to allow Microsoft to pinpoint you by IP address. The CAN come to your door... BS, man... B... S...It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."