42 replies to this topic

[Andavari]

Windows annoyances
Post something that royally annoys you

What annoys me the absolute most with Windows would have to be after writting something onto a floppy or after ripping an audio CD some programs display a dialog about no disk being in A:\ or no CD being in E:\ or F:\.

[krit86lr]

Oooooo! Great topic.

My biggest annoyance right now is that in the past month "Automatic Updates" has had 2 updates that were not compatible with my computer, and caused corruption. WTF - The MS solution is: "Don't customize your computer".

If you want the hotfix that is made to fix the problem NOW rather than when it's released you must pay.

[Eldmannen]

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)

And that active registration (?) thing, that when you install Windows, it have to connect to the Internet and report to Microsoft.

[Matt_]

MSN Gaming Zone and Netmeeting, which I can't seem to even get rid off.

[Eldmannen]

Yeah, it sucks that some software in Windows is very difficult or impossible to get rid of.
Such as Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express, Windows Fax/Image Viewer, Windows Messenger, etc.

[Andavari]

I got rid of Outlook Express using Unlocker, and then I removed every registry reference to it I could find as well as it's other files/folders in Documents and Settings. I must have gotten rid of most of it or completely because it doesn't show up in Internet Explorer as a selectable email client.

[Eldmannen]

Yeah, but that is kind of taking it to the extreme...

It shouldnt be that troublesome.

[mps69_1999]

I agree, bundles suck. You should be able to choose what apps you want installed, not have to install everything then spend the next week uninstalling MSN, Outlook etc.

[Andavari]

Yeah restorting to brute force removal of Outlook Express is a bit over-the-top and shouldn't be necessary in the first place however since it doesn't have an uninstaller that I'm aware of that was my only choice. My decision to deal with it in that manner came about because I'm not the only one who uses my computer and I noticed one day someone was playing around with Outlook Express and all I was thinking of is "this vulnerable s**t is going to infect my comp when someone downloads something in an email - remove it now."

I'm a bit on the extreme when it comes to the bundleware that Windows automatically installs. I don't want MSN, Outlook Express, Windows Media Player (just the codecs alone would suffice for me). I'd also like it if those stupid empty folders for Microsoft Frontpage, and MSN Gaming Zone would stay dead after I delete them, which is more than an annoyance.

[Eldmannen]

Yeah, I agree. I dont want MSN, Outlook Express, etc either. WMP I can live with (atleast 6.4, not the newer versions). And I dont like those stupid empty folders either...

[Ultimate Predator]

Empty folders annoy me to, also got one called xerox, I don't want it, but it keeps coming back.... I'm thinking of getting rid of Outlook, cn the "brute force" way cause problems?

[Eldmannen]

I get the Xerox one too.

[Andavari]

Ultimate Predator, on Mar 10 2006, 11:04 AM, said:

Empty folders annoy me to, also got one called xerox, I don't want it, but it keeps coming back.... I'm thinking of getting rid of Outlook, cn the "brute force" way cause problems?

I've got that xerox one as well.

I removed Outlook Express a couple of weeks ago and haven't noticed any problems. Be forwarned it takes something like Unlocker to delete it, and I removed all the registry entries I could find before I rebooted. I used CCleaner's registry cleaner, EasyCleaner's registry cleaner, then RegSeeker's registry cleaner. I then performed a search for Outlook using RegSeeker after all the keys that the registry cleaners could find were removed. I then looked in "Documents and Settings\User Profile\Application Data\..." and found a folder and some files. The only thing I didn't do was look into the "Windows\System32" folder for .dll's, etc., hence that would take ages to find since I don't know what the original installation put on the system.

[lokoike]

My absolute least favorite thing in the world is that damn Recycle Bin icon! The bug is that you delete everything from it, and it still shows pieces of paper in it, even though it contains no files! And this isn't specific to XP; I've run into this problem ever since the dawn of the Windows GUI!

The only way I've found to fix it is to make a temporary file/folder, delete it, and then remove it from the Bin, AND EVEN THEN it doesn't always work!!! This alone is enough to make me want to switch over to nix!

It makes me wonder that if old Willy boy and his buddies at MS can't even take the time to fix something small like that, do they even care about the big stuff?! It's the little things that bother me...

[Andavari]

That Recycle Bin bug annoys me when it happens which isn't that often on WinXP but then again I really don't utilize the Recycle Bin all that much. You're right it isn't just an XP thing I witnessed it allot more on Win98 though.

[medab_1]

Shared .dll files & one Service being connected to something else so that if you disable a Service,something else quits working.

Back in the days when space was at a premium,sharing files between programs saved space.
Today computers have Gigabytes of space.

I would like to see stand-alone Windows applications.
Each with its own uninstaller.

I use lots of stand-alone downloaded programs.
If I don't like them,I uninstall them.
Each contains its own .dlls & .exes,whatever is needed.

I think Microsoft should lean in this direction in the near future.
It would make a lot of people happy.

[krit86lr]

Microsoft has released security bulletin MS05-051. The security bulletin contains all the relevant information about the security update.

After you install this update, you may experience various problems in Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) or Microsoft COM+ applications. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
909444 Systems that have changed the default Access Control List permissions on the %windir%\registration directory may experience various problems after you install the Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-051 for COM+ and MS DTC.

[burtman]

Eldmannen, on Mar 10 2006, 05:34 PM, said:

I get the Xerox one too.

This is something to do with nVidia (at least on my system). I managed once to delete it manually, for it to reappear next reboot. And I just managed to get me first ever BSoD for over five years, by trying to delete it with Unlocker !!

(If it is nVidia's, then why's it called xerox ?? They related ?)

[lokoike]

burtman, on Mar 11 2006, 07:57 PM, said:

This is something to do with nVidia (at least on my system). I managed once to delete it manually, for it to reappear next reboot. And I just managed to get me first ever BSoD for over five years, by trying to delete it with Unlocker !!

(If it is nVidia's, then why's it called xerox ?? They related ?)

I don't believe it is related to Nvidia, because I have a pair of notebooks with ATI integrated, both of which contain this folder as well. Also, I built a computer 2 months ago with an ATI x850 graphics card, and Program Files still contained this folder.

I think it is related to Windows itself. I just built a new comp, with a clean install of Windows XP Home SP2, so I'll fire it up tomorrow and see if that folder is there or not. But I'm pretty sure it will be.

[Andavari]

Well I have that xerox folder and I have an ATI display card, so I'd think it isn't nVidia related.

Hmm, this is new my xerox folder now has a folder in it named: nwwia

Although not all that interesting from a RegSeeker full registry search I was able to find references pointing to xerox (the bagmru is probably just some junk references though) that seem to be hardware related, notice the PCI reference:

And nwwia shows up in two bagmru references.

Update:
I did a Google search for nwwia and it seems as if some people got rid of the xerox folder using Sysinternals Process Explorer.