I use windows xp service sp2. Undoubtedly it is a very easy software to set up and use and I recommend it for all applications especially for people who are not very computer savvy.
Unfortunately some recent developments have forced me to reconsider my decision to buy and use windows. I have been using automatic update to keep my system up to date. I found out that some software especially written by Google and HP don’t function very well under a limited user account which is supposed to prevent you from malicious software. So I now run as an administrator, as a user of Linux I feel very insecure running in this mode... its like browsing or chatting as root which is very unnatural.
Recently after an automatic update, I found that I could not access gmail. It kept telling me that my computer has cookies blocked. On checking the settings I found them to be ok. But when I checked the advanced settings I found that there was an entry blocking the site google.com from setting cookies on my computer. How dare Microsoft take their war against Google to my desktop??? Who gives those $#@#@’s any right to mess around with my settings? Luckily for me I stay alone and no one uses my computer but me and I know that I didnt block anything. I dared not write this until a friend of mine confirmed from Chennai that the same thing happened to him.
The first thing I did was to ’’uninstall’’ (It can never really be uninstalled) Internet Explorer, then I downloaded Mozilla suite and Open Office and they are doing well, also on another hard disk I have installed Debian GNU/Linux and familiarising myself with it in my free time. Contact me in a few months time if you want to buy my copy of Micro$oft Window$ at a reduced price.