something different

[3dfx]

Well I haven't formatted in like 8 months and I feel like a format now and I'm not sure whether to re-install XP Pro or go back to something like win 2000.

[UtwigMU]

Slipstreamed XP SP2 is the way to go:
- compatibility
- most drivers are there, so less hassle with finding aditional drivers
- XP has some nifty stuff over 2k, but you have to disable stupid user defaults like autoplay popups, search puppy, simple file sharing...

[Nowhere]

Or if you don't play much (and judging by hardware you have, drivers won't be a problem for you) just install 2k - you install it, update, and it's ready to go. With XP you have to waste huge amounts of time to achieve useable state...

PS. Or go with 2k3 - best of both worlds
PPS. On the second thought...have you considered Ubuntu?

[3dfx]

I think I'm less sure than I was before guys ... haha

Although I'm thinking of installing 2000 to try it and compare since I've been using XP for a while now.
I'm also tempted to create a seperate partition for Ubuntu (is this a good Linux release?).

[Nowhere]

Very good, I highly recommend it (it's possible that it'll become my main OS)

[UtwigMU]

People like Ubuntu.

I tried both SuSe and Ubuntu LiveCD. I like SuSe - looks excellent too (better than Windows).

[3dfx]

I dont do much gaming on my PC anymore so it wouldn't be a real problem but i was wondering if either of these releases support Half Life/ Half Life 2 out of the box or am I better served installing windows on another partion?

[Nowhere]

People like Ubuntu.

I tried both SuSe and Ubuntu LiveCD. I like SuSe - looks excellent too (better than Windows).

Hey, you mean stampede or something?!

Seriously...it probably is, but I personally knew from day one that Ubuntu is for me - I've been looking for a Debian - based distro centered around Gnome for a looong time

[Nowhere]

I dont do much gaming on my PC anymore so it wouldn't be a real problem but i was wondering if either of these releases support Half Life/ Half Life 2 out of the box or am I better served installing windows on another partion?

Keep Windows for gaming. (well, you can play using Cedega...but it has it's share of issues - most notable for you is that ATI drivers for Linux aren't very good)

[3dfx]

Many thanks for the info Nowhere

[Gurm]

Be aware that after you've installed slipstreamed XP SP2, you'll need to patch the TCP/IP so that you can have more than 10 incomplete connections at a time, or else anything more network intensive than web surfing will bork your machine and require a reboot.

[Lucid]

About the SP2 TCP/IP "Patch":

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=267665

[isochar]

What's funny/weird is that NOD32 identifies it as a virus:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Win32%2FTool.EvID4226

[Marshmallowman]

I have used the patch(a version of it) , the main benefit was for emule.
I don't notice any difference when browsing or downloading.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I like how that someone in that thread says applications that trigger the warning are faulty 'cause they try to make connections to offline clients... how can you find out if they're offline unless the program tries to make a connection first?

BitTornado (and I'm sure most of the other BT clients) has a quick resume feature that stores clients it had connections to in previous sessions to resume quickly without having to get the list from the tracker again. Of course some clients are not gonna be there anymore, and if it's a busy torrent it could easily exceet the limit of incomplete connection attempts.

I don't have a real problem with the limit, but making people patch the tcpip.sys file to change it is pretty lame, it's not like it's difficult for a virus, trojan, or nasty spyware to "fix" the limit themselves anyway, a registry entry would have been much more reasonable.