Explorer like Win2k in XP?

[jwl812 0]

In Windows 2000 windows Explorer, you could set it up so that when you clicked on a file like an mp3 file or audio file it would play in explorer and a video file would show up as a small thumbnail video and you could play that in explorer also. Can you do this in XP? I cant seem to find it if you can.

[DosFreak 2]

Can't help you either. I've never found a way to convert XP FULLY to 2K mode to my liking and tweaking XP to get to that mode is such a pain that I just gave up. So for now I use 2K for work and XP for gaming,,,but mostly 2K for both until I can find the years that it will likely take to configured a policy/.reg to tweak XP to a usable level for me.

[jwl812 0]

So you use win2k for most things DOSFREAK? How is your gaming performance in Win2k? I am contemplating moving back to Win2k. WinXP is problematic at best for me. Seems to be a slow performer and a resource hog. Just fishing for some advice.

[Admiral LSD 0]

heh, you couldn't even pay me to move back to Win2k now

[DosFreak 2]

Hmmm, for me:

 

Too much tweaking of the desktop required to get rid of annoyances. I will have to actually have to sit down with notepad and go through EVERY single thing in the OS and document all of the annoyances and then have to look for all the .reg fixes to do it. That'll take more time than I have.

 

I've noticed that XP seem's to be slower than 2K with time....On the surface it *seems* faster and I was thinking that it was Application/Background but it isn't that either. Even with all of the desktop graphics settings set for "Best Performance" there is just too much lag/latency in the XP desktop. It's not simple graphical tweaks either. Processor usage seems to be increase and even something as simple as the CTRL-ALT-DEL when you need it the most may not ever come up if the system is "busy". This never happened in NT4/2K.

 

RTM of 2K: Dec 1999

RTM of XP: Sep 2001

 

That's pretty much a year and a half of development time for XP which sums it all up for me. As insane as it sounds .NET will likely be a better desktop OS for the power user than XP is.

 

The "increased compatibility" has no effect on me whatsoever. ALL of my games on 2K work on XP. The built-in XP sound emulation is crap compared to VDMSound and even XP's ability to play DOOM/BUILD games with SFX isn't a factor for me since I cannot play BUILD games in VESA in XP anyway.

 

The UI since it's so unresponsive to my needs and does not benefit me in the slightest doesn't turn me on. "2K Classic" is not 2K and the UI is still slow.

 

XP is newer than 2K. No Service Pack yet so less polish. XP also seem's buggier to me than 2K was when it first came out and the fact that XP Pro "feels" like XP Home doesn't turn me on either.

 

The tons of "XP" programs that started coming out when XP was released just give me a sick feeling inside and I immediately ignore those. XP this...XP that ;( How about usability/efficency? I really don't care about the "experience".

 

Hardware compatibility. It's said that XP supports more devices. Wrong. 2K currently has more driver support than XP does worldwide. I've run into this situation several times. Yes the drivers are in most cases interchangeable but when your building systems for someone or fixing someon's system it's best to use certified drivers for the OS.

 

I have never seen the supposed performance increases that others report. I can only conclude that they not comparing the 2 OS's fairly (using different driver/hardware). In all of my testing 2K and XP are pretty much the same or so close as to not really matter.

 

The product activation in XP is a big turn off. I use the already activated versions but that product activation really makes me . It's amazing that people actually buy the retail versions of XP. I just can't figure it. That's why I refuse to buy XP. I will be supporting their product which I do not approve of. I'll just continue to use my work copies.

 

With all this said: XP is MS's latest and "greatest: OS. For continued usage of the latest and "greatest" Windows programs your gonna have to use XP at some point. The trick is to constantly keep track of alternative OS's and be aware of backwards compatibility of the latest Windows programs with previous OS's.

[Xiven 0]

Quote:

In Windows 2000 windows Explorer, you could set it up so that when you clicked on a file like an mp3 file or audio file it would play in explorer and a video file would show up as a small thumbnail video and you could play that in explorer also. Can you do this in XP? I cant seem to find it if you can.

Yes, this would be the main reason why I do not use XP as my main OS

And no, I have no solution, but if you do find one please let me know.

[Admiral LSD 0]

For me at least, the desktop doesn't require any tweaking to get rid of annoyances because well, there aren't any real annoyances to get rid of.

 

Stuff that required lots of fiddling around to get working under 2k installs and runs effortlessly under XP. A few things still require a bit of fiddling but the list is a lot shorter than under 2k. Again, this is from my experience with both OSs.

 

Like I said, after 10 months of using XP, you couldn't even pay me to switch back to 2k. No way in hell am I putting up with all the crap that it threw at me again.

[clutch 1]

I like them both, but XP has more of a future in AD management than 2K, so that's enough reason for me. But hey, I also dig RedHat 7.3 so I am getting used to all kinds of interfaces...