Why is XP a great Operating System?

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Rider200

Personally I think Microsoft went off the deep end with Vista and keeps diving deeper with Windows 7.

I have been using XP since it was a pre beta, the company I worked for was part of a program called JDP (Joint Development Program) with Microsoft and other large corporations that had a lot of computers that would be effected by a major change in an Operating System.

My first contact with XP was in 1999 (just after I completed my MCSE) when my boss asked me to be a member of the JDP. Cool I get to play with a new toy!

Uhhhhh, not cool…

As they say in politics – "You don’t want to watch how they make sausage." The same goes for developing a new OS.

I was also involved in the JDP for Vista in early 2004, after a couple of months I decided I my time would be better used doing my job than to be trying to make Vista run on some of the company computers, my boss agreed and let me drop out of the program.

Vista had a lot of problems when it was introduced and really did not become a stable operating system until after the first Service Pack was released. And today it still has more problems than XP did in it’s long history.

When XP was released everyone was thinking it was an upgrade to Windows 2000. They were proven wrong in less than a month.

XP was a major revision of the core programs that make the Operating System work, from the Kernel (the base program of the OS) to most of the drives for hardware to the hardware it would run on.

XP has three major factors going for it

  • It has backward compatibility to Windows 95 (Try running DOOM on Vista/Windows 7)
  • It has a smaller foot print for memory usage than Windows 2000 and most assuredly Vista and Windows 7.
  • It will run on a 486 processor (if you still have one around, Windows 2000 wouldn’t).

When MS introduced Window 98 they also started a program called "Driver Signing". Driver Signing means that MS has tested the driver and the hardware to not cause issues with the OS that the driver was written for then issues a certificate for the driver.

This caused a lot of hardware manufactures to bulk at doing the extra work for their hardware, plus the fact that MS was charging a license fee for the certification of the drivers.

With XP MS dropped part of the Driver Signing program and would add a notice to the driver properties if the driver that was installed did not have a certificate from MS. MS still charges a fee for certifying a driver though.

Yes, a lot of hacker/thieves have found holes in XP’s security to hack in to computers but if the owner followed some simple rules then the chance of getting hacked would be almost zero! Don’t blame MS for your failing to secure your computer Mr. IWASHACKED!

After over 12 years of use I still have XP on all of my computers, I have tried Linux, Mac OSx, Vista, and Windows 7 but always come back to XP.

Why?

Because like a great pair of old Jeans, it just feels good!  :)

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RAID! Whoa, are they kicking down the doors?

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Rider200

No, and it isn’t a bug spray either.

In the computing world RAID stands for Redundant Array ofIndependent Disks!

Whew, thought I was in trouble there for a minute…

So what is a RAID and how does it work?

There are three key types of RAID configurations: RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5. We will not take into account the other types in between. (This applies to the both SATA and IDE controllers that are add on cards or embedded in to the motherboard, and SCSI add on controllers – used mainly in servers).

RAID 0 is when you have a RAID controller in a system but don’t use the RAID facility of the controller.

RAID 1 is one of the most often used to backup (mirror) the OS drive.

RAID 5 is the other most often used configuration with servers for enlarging and making a redundant partition or partitions.

A hard drive interface is just that, an interface between the hard drive and the motherboard. The only function of the interface is to connect the hard drive to the motherboard to facilitate the transfer of data back and forth from the drive to the motherboard and from the motherboard to the drive.

A hard drive controller on the other hand controls the function and transfer of the data back and forth. Some controllers have a built in backup system called a cache (to speed up the transfer of data), it may also have a battery backup to keep the cache powered up in case of a power failure or an when the computer restarts unexpectedly, such as in a inadvertent restart by software failure or human intervention.

When a hard drive controller has the ability to add the raw space of one drive to another drive this is called an array. If you have say four different capacity drives for example:

  1. 100 GB
  2. 200 GB
  3. 250 GB
  4. 300 GB

You could combine them all in to one large partition, this is called an array the total size of the partition would be 850 GB before formatting.

Now if you wanted to have redundancy for your array you have to use a controller that has the ability to take part of that partition and use it for storage of a special type of file. This is called a RAID controller.

What the engineers have came up with is a way to take a certain length of data and create a code that tells the controller what is in the that data. This is called parity or CRC (Checksum Redundant Code). What the controller does is takes the data in bytes and adds it up to come to the CRC, if one or more bytes change from when the code was calculated the controller can replace the changed bytes back to the original data.

When the array is created the person (usually a Systems Admin) will select the type of array that will make the redundancy. The most common types stripe and mirror.

RAID 1 is a mirror is two drives (they should be the same size, but the mirror drive can be bigger if that is all you have) one will be the original drive and the second will be the mirror drive. The mirror drive is an exact copy of the original drive. What ever changes on the original drive is changed on the mirror drive. If one drive fails your backup is the other drive either the original or the mirror. When there is a mirror drive array and one drive fails to get the computer operational again the Systems Admin has to ‘Break the mirror’ that is remove the bad drive from the array. This procedure would be done from the Array interface or software provided by the array controller manufacture.

RAID 5 is three or more drives made to look like one partition. The controller adds all the raw space in to one large drive. The difference is that it then takes size of smallest drive and makes that space the parity space. By using the stripped type of CRC or parity the redundancy is spread across all the drives. This allows for the controller to rebuild the data if one drive fails. The draw back of this type of array is that if one drive fails it can recover the data but if two or more drives fail there is no way to recover the data. Backup of important data is a must!

When you make the RAID 5 partition you will select the size of the parity in bits, common sizes are 32 bit, 64 bit, 128 bit, and newer controllers have 256 bits.

Now the bad news: RAID 5 will use the smallest capacity drive to create the array. That is if you have four dissimilar sized drives such as the example above the controller will take the 100 GB drive as the base size of all the drives then create the RAID partition. With out RAID you would have a 850 GB partition, with RAID 5 you would only have a 300 GB partition! Whoa, you lost 550 GB by using RAID! No you lost 450 GB because 100 GB would be the parity of the other 300 GB.

For this reason it is important that all drives be the same size and then add one more drive to supply the parity for the RAID.

Lets say you want to have a 1 TB RAID 5 array, how would you order the drives?

You could use either 5ea 250 GB drives or 6ea 200 GB drives. Do you see how I figured that out?

4ea 250 GB drives for data, 1ea 250 GB drive for parity or 5ea 200 GB drives for data, 1ea 200 GB drive for parity.

Last thing to remember about using RAID to protect your data: BACK IT UP! and if a drive fails REPLACE IT IMMEDIATELY!

Note: This is a hardware solution not software such as the array you can create with say Windows Drive Manager (the drive manager does not have redundancy!)

If you have a server or would like to learn more about building your own server this is an excellent starting point – Build and maintain a Server

Now where is that bug spray??…

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Low display real estate?

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Rider200

Do you run out of open space on your desktop? Have a task bar that is two or three rows deep?

That is a lot of open windows to sort through to find the application you need to use.

There is a better way to organize your desktop and have fewer applications displaying at one time.

One way to do it is with a display that rotates 360*, that is the desktop is a loop of all open applications in their own space. I used Desktop 360 for a little while but it gave me vertigo and had to quit using it.

Then I found a program that creates four individual desktop displays.

Now this one doesn’t spin left and right, it just opens the display to another desktop. Cool, no more going past the application I need or vertigo!

Now I am a little embarrassed about this post because I just found this neat tool about six months ago and it has been around since early 2008! Sysinternals Desktops is a Microsoft program so running it doesn’t cause any problems, where as Desktop 360 did lock up once in a while. I tested the program in Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) with only one issue.

Virtual Desktop only uses 2.9 meg of memory but the four explores will range from around 9 meg to over a gig (depending on what applications you have open on the particular desktop.

The application can be started at start up or you can start it once your desktop is loaded. It minimizes to the tray and to switch from one desktop to another you click the icon and small window opens with the four desktops, just click on the desktop you want to go to.

One of the nice features of the application is it takes a screen shot of the each desktop so you can see what application is open in which desktop until you get used to using it.

The four desktops are numbered from top left to bottom right, top left is number 1, top right is number 2, bottom left is number 3, bottom right is number 4.

I have my desktops setup this way:

Sysinternals Desktops is a Microsoft program

Sysinternals Desktops by Microsoft

  1. Is my communications desktop, that is my email, twitter, and sometimes Face Book or My Space if I am working on my pages.
  2. Is my edit desktop, that is my HTML editor, graphics program, word, and any other program or web site I use to manage and work on my web sites.
  3.  Is usually my file and domain management desktop, sometimes I have explorer open or File Manager (old NT 4 program for managing files) and the domain management applet Users and Computers.
  4. Is usually has VM Ware for Virtual Machines, the web cam and other miscellaneous programs.

So on a normal day I have at least ten and up to twenty programs open at one time. (I have a quad with 4 gig – 3.25 useable memory). And have no discernable performance problems.

When I look at the task bar I know exactly what is open on the desktop, no looking under different programs for the one I need.

One issue that is very apparent (in all Windows versions) is that if you use Explorer to open a folder that is inside a folder then the next time you want to open that folder from a different desktop it will not open. That is to say if you have a folder that has short cuts to other folders and open the inside folder on say desktop # 2 then close it. Then go to say desktop #1 and try to open the folder it will not open the short cut. I think it has something to do with Explorer itself.

How ever if you close the folder in desktop # 2 then want to open it again it will open, the problem is only if you try to open the folder in a different desktop. (Does this make sense?).

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What do you know about operating systems?

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Rider200

Besides Windows or Mac?

Such as Linux, or Novell, or say Amiga?

There are a lot of dead operating systems also but unless you have a need then best let them stay in their respective graves of history.

If you are a IT pro you may use Novell or Linux.

Novell is a premier Server Operating System. It was the first Server OS’s for the PC written in the early 1980′s.  It has a UNIX look and feel but has simplified commands made to run on 16 Bit processors. As technology move forward so did Novell, it was the first true 64 bit operating system. Novell fell from being a main Server Operating System because the company made a decision to not get in to the PC/Mac Operating System game.

Novell relies on other Operating System publishers for client or workstation OS.

Linux on the other hand can be either workstation or server depending on which ‘distribution’ you choose.

Linux started in 1991 and has yet to become the defacto Operating System for any major computer manufacture. Yes, there are some manufactures that offer Linux on their computers but they also come with an upgrade option for either Windows or Mac Operating System.

The Linux operating system is an ‘Open Source’ or free for the most part. There are commercial versions available that make using the os simpler but it is still a baby Operating System.

Why do I consider Linux a baby Operating System? Because if a big publishing company such Novell or Adobe took the reins in the research and development it would be a rival to Windows and Mac. (MS Windows has gone through seven major revisions and Mac has gone through five since 1991!)

This is not possible because open source means anyone can write a driver, program, or service for the OS and claim ownership with copyright so not one major company will pick up the ball and make this a truly great Operating System.

At this time most users/owners of Linux are the geeks, students studying for a programming degree, or some one that wants to mess around with the bleeding edge of computer programming use it.

As a ‘roll your own’ type of OS the only time I would recommend it is if you want to learn more about how an Operating System works or if you are bored, because if you don’t want to be fixing it every other day don’t load it up on your main computer!

Being an IT guy I have heard people whine daily about Windows and Mac OS’s but never a peep about the problems Linux has.

Why is that?

Because for the most part Linux is free! If you had to pay to have all those problems Linux would be another has been OS in the grave yard of history…

Now this is my opinion on Novell and Linux, others may have different opinions, so lets hear what you have to say.  :)

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Why would you want a server are you a Nerd or a Geek?

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Rider200

A long time ago I was under the impression that anyone that knew how to work on/with a server and networking were Geeks! (note the capital G).

Then I needed to progress up the food chain in order to make more money, funny how having children will entice you to do things you would have avoided if possible.

One way to make more money was with a second job or start a business of my own. Well the second job was the business. It didn’t work out very well.

So to move up the food chain I started studying for Server Administration and Networking.

After about three months of study I came to the conclusion that to proceed any further on my new adventure I would need a server to practice my newly discovered knowledge. Doing so at work was not an option, well I could have then I would have to find another job. Kinda self defeating if you know what I mean.

So I scrounged up the hardware I needed to build the computer. That hardware was my test bed for my Novell certification and my experience with Linux. However the hardware would not support any Apple Operating Systems. :)

Once I had the hardware set up (an old 486 with 128 meg of ram and a 160 Meg hard drive) I loaded up the server Operating System and began to trash it with my testing.

Then I found a coupon for an upgrade to NT 3.5 for a price I could afford. ( I was also buying expensive MCSE books at this time so money for hardware was not readily available).

Over the next six months I would go through the Novell/MCSE text books, run the exercises, reload Novell or NT 3.5 and start all over again. (That computer was in the closet until last week, I finally decided we needed the space for other things we want to keep).

At one time I had seven servers running in my office, the noise was deafening, then the Misses pulled my power plug one day when the electrical bill came in…

Now I have two servers running, one is a true server (server hardware) and one is an old laptop that is the firewall/proxy server.

The reason for this post is I setup Word Press and MySql on my IIS server to test new themes for this blog. The experience was enlightening that with very little software programming experience I could actually take some Linux based programs and make them work on a Windows Server.

Now I know what you are saying but you don’t have to be studying for a degree or certifications to have a server.

You could use a server to store your files, increase the security of your network, share printers, have a web site. A server opens up a whole new world for those that want to take the next step.

You can do all this with out a MCSE or an BS in Computer Science. I am not saying it is easy but if you want to have a server it will not cost you three years and $10,000 or more to gain the knowledge. All it takes is some time, a book or two, and some research.

Be careful you may turn in to a nerd!

:)

P.S.

Note: You can use an old Windows NT 4/2000/XP workstation as a server by changing a couple of parameters (in another post) and use that as a server, the draw back is you can only have
10 consecutive connections at one time.

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One repair will pay for three copies of this book!
Now you can know what I know!