Short list of reasons why Win2k is awesome/underrated
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Everybody loves Windows XP, right? Windows 2000 is that without all of the bloat.
Easy and familiar to Windows 9x and NT4 users.
Runs Windows XP apps with a simple patch.
Speedy and lightweight.
Simple but efficient UI.
Comments
Windows 2000 is great for a lot of things, but looking at isn't really one of them in my personal opinion. I actually prefer the look of Vista over all else, but I'm certain that's just me.
I still have plenty of computers running Windows 2000, but the SP4 executable is getting hard to find. I think I might have a copy of it somewhere, that might be worth uploading if it's not already here...
Already here. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-nt-2000/patches
My entire high school was using Windows 2000. That was around 2000-01. Every student had a username and password to use on whatever computers we had access to. These student accounts were set up so that we were restricted from installing programs on those computers, and there were no desktop icons to access the hard drive or CD-ROM either. Well, I discovered a method that defeated / bypassed that restriction, thanks to Internet Explorer. All I had to do was download an application and select "RUN." Really good security there.
Oh dang, if I would have known I could get those here I'd have about 8 or 9 more hours of my life back.
Stupid question, do they have XP SP3? It's not the operating system, but a patch for it that Microsoft no longer carries. I constantly have to get it through Softonic and I hate it.
I know XP isn't going to be on here for a good long while, but what of the patches for it? Or rather, where's a safer place I can get them than Softonic?
I don't know what you mean by having to "constantly get it". You download this stuff once and you are done.
For other updates, use the wsusoffline installer. Just download the updates once and take them to each computer. Or has Microsoft pulled those updates?
Microsoft lists all the updates via Google, but when you go to the website to download it, all you get is a 404.
It appears to me that they have pulled anything made before Vista from the website.
By "constantly have to go get it," I mean that some of these computers don't have USB or ethernet or some other thing I need to get the update by using them, and Internet Explorer 6 refuses to connect to Google anyways. The most up-to-date CD I have is the XP Home SP1 disc.
Who knows, but that was a considerable oversight. Not that I was installing malicious software, but I still to this day do not know how they never caught me doing that.
It was a good OS. 15 years ago. The world of tech has moved on a lot in the 16 years since its release.
Windows 2000 is entirely useless for my tech requirements currently. Would anyone have used Windows 1 as their primary OS in 2001? I think not.
The difference was Windows 1 had almost no applications. Try DOS. There were lots of people who continued to use DOS well in to the Windows era.
I remember doing something similar with Windows 95 at our schools.
Granted, it was with smuggling diskettes into the computer room, but it was worth it to play Thexder at school.
2000 is one of my favorite old OS's, but it does lack certain things I've grown to love. For instance, Aero Snap. Being able to drag a window to the top of the screen to maximize it is fucking awesome and it drives me crazy not having that feature.
Beyond that, it is generally its lack of support for current applications and hardware that render it useless in today's world.
Security is also a concern. Numerous vulnerabilities that have been long patched in modern versions.
It also lacks good wireless networking (really didn't become a thing until XP SP2). Also, in terms of running it within a domain environment, it lacks the gpupdate command. Yes, it had equivalent commands, but when you're used to running gpupdate /force on modern clients, it's a bit of a pain in the ass to try and remember 2000's equivalent commands.
And while the UI was one of my favorites, I can no longer live without a modern start menu / start screen. Being able to hit the windows key and start searching immediately for a file or program is a god send. XP's new startmenu was garbage, but the vista and 7 menu were much better.
And speaking of menus, I've gotten so used to the power menu in 8.x and 10 that it drives me fucking crazy every time I get on a Windows 7 or older machine and it's not there. I constantly find myself right clicking on the start button.
I'm sure there's other reasons why it's technically no longer a suitable OS, but that's all I can think of for now.