Windows Client UPDATE--Are You Ready for 64-bit Windows?--December 8, 2005

1. Commentary
- Are You Ready for 64-bit Windows?

2. Reader Challenge
- November 2005 Reader Challenge Winners
- January 2005 Challenge

3. News & Views
- South Korea Lowers Antitrust Boom on Microsoft

4. Resources
- Tip: Problems With Windows 2000 SP4 Update Rollup 1
- Featured Thread: Dell Video Drivers Not Working

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==== 1. Commentary: Are You Ready for 64-bit Windows? ====
by David Chernicoff, [email protected]

Recently I've been hearing from a lot of users who have expressed interest in 64-bit Windows XP. They usually have a lot of questions about performance and application availability and wonder whether they'll have to upgrade their hardware if they plan to use the new 64-bit OS.

I answer as many questions as I can, but I can't answer them all because I don't know how the users who are asking about using 64-bit Windows are using their computers. How you plan to use the new OS is crucial in determining whether the OS is suitable for you. Microsoft realizes this, and has made a trial version of the OS available.

You can download XP Professional x64 Edition software at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluation/trial.mspx . This Web site will let you order the OS on CD-ROM (for free in the United States) or, if you have a fast enough connection, you can download a 550MB ISO image and burn your own installation CD-ROM. After you create an installation CD-ROM, you can copy the files to a network share in the same manner you would with other versions of Windows.

I don't suggest that you install the new OS on a production system (and you can't upgrade 32-bit Windows to 64-bit Windows, anyway) because the best way to get rid of the trial version is going to be to reformat and reinstall the OS of choice. The 64-bit OS will install on any AMD 64-bit processor as well as any Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T) processor, and although the site states that it requires only 256MB of RAM to use the 64-bit OS, you'll want at least 1GB. However, to really test the advantages of a 64-bit system, you'll want to try it out with at least 4GB of RAM or even more if you have a motherboard that will support larger amounts of memory.

Although 64-bit programs are available, desktop users will most likely be running 32-bit applications. This means you'll be using the Windows on Windows64 (WOW64) subsystem, which allows 32-bit programs to run, unmodified, on 64-bit Windows. It does this by creating a 32-bit virtual environment in which those programs can run. Most 32-bit programs will run more slowly under WOW64 than they would run natively under 32-bit Windows, but if you have programs that can benefit from large amounts of available memory, they might see a performance improvement under 64-bit Windows.

You'll likely find that even if your applications do well under 64-bit Windows, the tools and utilities that you use on a daily basis in 32-bit Windows might not be available at all under the 64-bit version. Applications that access the core components of the OS will need to have native 64-bit versions available, meaning that after everything is said and done, 64-bit Windows will remain a special purpose OS for the near future.

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==== 2. Reader Challenge ====
by Kathy Ivens, [email protected]

November 2005 Reader Challenge Winners
Congratulations to the winners of our November 2005 Reader Challenge. We had a deluge of correct answers--one of the largest responses I've seen in many years. As a result, this month only, we're awarding three prizes instead of two. Many of the responses contained interesting comments about how much fun it is for “old timers” to use their knowledge of DOS commands. I was amazed at how many respondents told me they still use the SUBST command on workstations. Apparently a lot of old applications that have hard-coded drive locations are still in use (some assuming the presence of NetWare), and the SUBST command is the easiest way to accommodate them.
First prize, a copy of "Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks Second Edition," goes to Mark Hutchinson of New York. Second prize, a copy of "Windows Server 2003 Network Administration" goes to Joe Sperber of California. Third prize, a copy of "Windows Server Cookbook," goes to Norman Vance of Texas. All books are from O'Reilly & Associates Publishing.

December 2005 Reader Challenge
Solve this month's Windows Client challenge, and you might win a prize! Email your solution (don't use an attachment) to [email protected] by December 21, 2005. You MUST include your full name, and street mailing address (without that information, we can't send you a prize if you win, so your answer is eliminated, even if it's correct).
I choose winners at random from the pool of correct entries. I'm a sucker for humor and originality, and a cleverly written correct answer gets an extra chance. Because I receive so many entries each month, I can't reply to respondents, and I never respond to a request for a receipt. Look for the solutions to this month's problem at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=48704 on December 22, 2005.

The December 2005 Challenge:
I received the following email message from a Windows Client UPDATE reader: Dear Columnist, somebody deleted the administrative shares from some of our servers, and we're getting errors such as users being told they can't log on, or network path was not found. I entered the administrative share again using the Sharing tab of the Properties dialog box, but it doesn't cure the problem, and when I reboot the shares are missing again. How do I get these deleted administrative shares back?
Can you answer his question?

==== 3. News & Views ====
by Paul Thurrott, [email protected]

South Korea Lowers Antitrust Boom on Microsoft
After weeks of delays, the South Korean Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled yesterday that Microsoft has taken advantage of its market dominance and engaged in unfair business practices in that country. The commission fined Microsoft $32 million and ordered the company to offer consumers two alternative versions of Microsoft Windows OS within 180 days.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/48694/48694.html

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==== 4. Resources ====

Tip: Problems With Windows 2000 SP4 Update Rollup 1
(contributed by David Chernicoff, [email protected])

A client called me in a mild panic to let me know that several of his older computers had simultaneously developed problems with their floppy drives. It seemed that when a user tried to save work from Microsoft Office to a floppy disk, the system would lock up.

I was happy to be able to tell him that he didn't have a hardware problem; he had run into a bug in the Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4). The fix, while an annoying repetition of work, is simply to reinstall an updated version of the rollup, which you can find at the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;displaylang=en&familyid=B54730CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en

Featured Thread: Dell Video Drivers Not Working Forum user Jester04 works on a Dell Inspiron 8500. After installing the video drivers and restarting the computer, the screen stays black instead of showing the logon screen. Read more about the problem and offer your advice at the following URL:
http://forums.windowsitpro.com/web/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=36&threadid=44197&enterthread=y

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