XP Questions

[Kilgore Trout]

Couple of quick questions re windows xp.

When I log on to one of my computers I get a "welcome screen" where I'm supposed to click on my user name before it proceeds with the rest of the boot up procedure.

I want to skip this welcome screen and go straight into a complete boot up under my user name. I am the computer administrator since I'm the only user of this pc.

I used to know how to get a complete boot up without stopping for welcome screen stuff; but, I forget how to do it.
So if anyone out there knows,can you tell me how to get rid of the welcome screen stage of boot up?

Also, I'm trying to get the blue swirling "E" symbol for internet explorer on my desktop as a shortcut for getting on net; but, I can't figure out how to get symbol there.

If anyone has answer for one or the other can you let me know.
Thanks.

 

[jwmorrice]

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-103

 

[WoodPeckr]

Believe if you have multiple user accounts you get this delay.
Believe if you eliminate them and only use one account this delay should be gone.

Why are you using crappy IE?
You're better off using Firefox.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Okay, great, thanks for the input. Solved both problems.

And, btw, I've tried both Firefox and Opera and to me they offer nothing that explorer already does so there's no point in using them.

When I did put all of Opera, Firefox and Explorer on my system once to experiment with which one I liked best I also found they kept bickering and arguing with each other over which one gets to be default browser and I don't need that hassle. So, I just use explorer.

 

[Horney_Senior]

Why are you using crappy IE?
You're better off using Firefox.

I'm using Ie 8.0. I've tried Firefox and I DON'T LIKE IT!

 

[WoodPeckr]

Multiple browsers are no problem.
I had 4 at one time, IE, Netscape, Opera & FF. They don't conflict with each other and it doesn't matter which is default. You just select your fav as default, then check off the box that says (Don't show me this box anymore) and that pop-up won't come up anymore.

BTW Opera is my fav because it's quicker than all others, is considered the most secure at present, has a built in bit torrent client that performs very well, has a foreign word/phrase translator built in, re-sizes web page pix by simply hitting the + & - keys and on XP and XP Pro has a 'voice feature' that if you right click and highlight this post, your choice of a male or female voice will verbally read this post to you! Just a few reasons why I like it best. The latest Opera beta 10.0 also throws in a spell-checker and a 'turbo feature' that speeds up slow Internet connections.

 

[Hobbyer]

Multiple browsers are no problem.
I had 4 at one time, IE, Netscape, Opera & FF. They don't conflict with each other and it doesn't matter which is default. You just select your fav as default, then check off the box that says (Don't show me this box anymore) and that pop-up won't come up anymore.

BTW Opera is my fav because it's quicker than all others, is considered the most secure at present, has a built in bit torrent client that performs very well, has a foreign word/phrase translator built in, re-sizes web page pix by simply hitting the + & - keys and on XP and XP Pro has a 'voice feature' that if you right click and highlight this post, your choice of a male or female voice will verbally read this post to you! Just a few reasons why I like it best. The latest Opera beta 10.0 also throws in a spell-checker and a 'turbo feature' that speeds up slow Internet connections.

Yeah I have a few as well. Opera, IE 8, Chrome, FF and Safari.
Opera was the fastest... until I tried SARAFI 4.0 ... to me it's even faster than the already fast Opera. Maybe, I'm just imagining but shit seems to load incredibly fast. I have it installed on both Vista and my Hackintosh running Leopard and it flies on either one.

Chrome ain't bad, and I keep IE around for work vpn since it requires IE to access. Not sure what FF is good for anymore and it's by far the slowest out of the bunch. And that tabbing feature is available everywhere now. I use Opera the most though, just used to it I guess plus the built in torrent is nice as you say.

WoodPeckr, you're not crazy about Apple I know, but give Safari a try, like to hear your opinion on the speed comparison.

 

[WoodPeckr]

WoodPeckr, you're not crazy about Apple I know, but give Safari a try, like to hear your opinion on the speed comparison.

I'm not really against Apple but like many other PC and Linux users, can't understand why Mac fans would pay so much for basically a unix/linux OS, that we all get for FREE. We marvel at how Mac marketing has brainwashed their cult so. Once you learn anything about computer operation you discover they ALL DO THE SAME THINGS basically, so you naturally seek to do this as cheaply as possible to cut costs. This business practice seems lost on the Mac fanboys who happily pay double and triple every few years.

I have used Safari in the Apple Stores and am very familiar with it. It's nice and I'd say about as fast as Opera. The Apple store has a connection similar to a T3 and really flys but I'd say it loads pages as quick as Opera on my newer laptop running Vista 32 bit, while Ubuntu 64 bit runs Opera noticeably quicker. I was going to give Safari a try on my Windows PC till reading reports Safari is not very secure on Windows! The Mac OS is very secure but this is not the case when running Safari on M$.

Right now I run Linux 99% of the time and so far Safari does not have a version for Linux......don't know what the hold up is here. Have noticed FF runs slower on M$ lately. However FF and Opera run very snappy on Linux especially on the 64 bit Linux distros.

Haven't tried Chome yet and from what I've read, reports say it needs more development and seems to be about where Opera was 8 or so years ago.

I have IE8 but never use it. M$ forced IE8 on me through one of their updates awhile back.

Have been using SeaMonkey on Linux and like it. SeaMonkey reminds me a lot of the old Netscape Mozilla browser back in the day. It's quick and renders video and porn very good!....

 

[Hobbyer]

Well, no need to understand really... I mean people pay a very wide range of prices for essentially the same thing for virtually every product/service out there. The most grotesque example being 1st class vs economy airline tickets. No matter what anybody thinks, 1st class still sells! I don't bother trying to understand how people spend their money, it's all good if they are happy with it, I mean, it's their money.

Anyway, the new wave of 64bit apps will become mainstream soon and things should really start to get interesting. Memory intensive apps are going to get a good boost. I'm thinking of throwing together some old parts to build a computer strictly for downloading and surfing shady sites and Linux seems to makes sense for this. How far back would you say Ubuntu hardware support goes? I mean I got a 3dfx (remember them?!) Voodoo5 video card and older mobo, so not sure if they are supported.

 

[WoodPeckr]

....I'm thinking of throwing together some old parts to build a computer strictly for downloading and surfing shady sites and Linux seems to makes sense for this. How far back would you say Ubuntu hardware support goes? I mean I got a 3dfx (remember them?!) Voodoo5 video card and older mobo, so not sure if they are supported.

Join and ask on the Ubuntu Forums, they give excellent support.
For the most part older PCs and parts run linux better but I had no problems at all when the latest version of Ubuntu was installed on my new laptop. Then a couple months ago updated to 64 bit Ubuntu which runs even better.

Linux is perfect to surf the 'suspect' and hacker sites with impunity since their security is better than M$. Have used linux for over 3 years with NO anti virus and have never picked up a single 'nasty bug' as yet, knock on wood....and I hit all the suspect sites.

 

[Don]

I'm not really against Apple but like many other PC and Linux users, can't understand why Mac fans would pay so much for basically a unix/linux OS, that we all get for FREE. We marvel at how Mac marketing has brainwashed their cult so. Once you learn anything about computer operation you discover they ALL DO THE SAME THINGS basically, so you naturally seek to do this as cheaply as possible to cut costs. This business practice seems lost on the Mac fanboys who happily pay double and triple every few years.

Macs look cool. That is why they are popular and why people who like how they look pay so much for them. I am by no means an Apple nut (in fact their fans annoy the heck out of me) but even I admit that they look pretty cool. For some, looks are the most important. But I prefer performance (per dollar), compatibility (which OS has the most support in terms of software) and configurability in terms of HW (how easy is it to mix and match various graphics cards, HD, MB, CPU, etc to get the exact system I want?)

 

[needinit]

Multiple browsers are no problem.
I had 4 at one time, IE, Netscape, Opera & FF. They don't conflict with each other and it doesn't matter which is default. You just select your fav as default, then check off the box that says (Don't show me this box anymore) and that pop-up won't come up anymore.

BTW Opera is my fav because it's quicker than all others, is considered the most secure at present, has a built in bit torrent client that performs very well, has a foreign word/phrase translator built in, re-sizes web page pix by simply hitting the + & - keys and on XP and XP Pro has a 'voice feature' that if you right click and highlight this post, your choice of a male or female voice will verbally read this post to you! Just a few reasons why I like it best. The latest Opera beta 10.0 also throws in a spell-checker and a 'turbo feature' that speeds up slow Internet connections.

If the original poster doesn't know how to select a default browser then select the message to not prompt for that again, he is certainly not going to understand or be able to test which browser is better.

Unfortunately most computer users have no idea about extra functionality in browsers etc...they just go in and out of websites clicking around!

Thanks, from me to as you pointed out a reason or two for me to try Opera (which I haven't used).

 

[WoodPeckr]

Opera 9.64 is an excellent browser.
Opera 10.00, though a beta version runs very well also.
I usually don't use beta browsers but this version got good reviews so I gave it a try and like it.