Category Archives: Windows XP

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004

An update to Windows XP Media Center, again intended for OEM use. Very little has changed on the desktop side with most of the enhancements being done to the Media Center program. Again this version was intended solely for OEMs, so only OEM-type product keys can be used. When installing on an OEM system, like my Dell XPS Gen5, activation was automatic and I don’t remember it prompting for a product key. On VMWare, it’s a different story with it being locked out of the OS on the initial boot-up.

Some issues may occur regarding product activation since this is a Dell OEM copy, to get around this:
Spam F8 upon boot up
Select Start in Command Prompt
When the Command prompt window appears, enter ‘explorer’ and wait for the setup prompt to finish, this will reboot the PC automatically

Version Information

Component	Version
Internet Explorer	6.0.2800.1106.xpsp11.020828-1920
Outlook Express	6.00.2800.1106
Windows Media Player	9.00.00.3005
Windows Messenger	4.7.0041
Windows Movie Maker	1.1.2427.1

The desktop remains the same as a default Windows XP, with the only noticeable difference being the Media Center icon on the Start Menu. A new Online Spotlight option is now present, This would take you to an online website, displayed within the Media Center application (possibly using the Internet Explorer engine) that would have provided further information with using Media Center.

Play DVD

The main DVD player, again we have difficulties playing DVD discs due to the lack of hardware MPEG2 decoder. You would think they would support software rendering by now.

My Videos

Videos stored in the My Videos folder are located and played back here. This does not include Recorded TV, which has its own section. Video playback requires a supported graphics card that will provide acceleration, that VMWare (Or its driver) does not support.

My Pictures

Similar has before, photos can be displayed as a single image or as part of a slideshow. Media center supports the common file formats and will display images from the My Pictures folder, or the Shared Pictures

My TV

TV functionality is still a mystery, as my DVB-T tuner adaptor is still not recognized by the Media Center Application. From looking at the help files, Media Center has full PVR functionality with the ability to schedule recordings, pause live TV & rewind. You can now watch TV in slow motion, which is useful for sports events or frame by frame to check if anything has been missed (or for any subliminal messages).
As with the previous version, you can configure the TV source to be through an antenna, using a satellite or a cable feed. The latter two probably need a set-top box along with an infrared blaster to control it.
Pay-Per-View also appears to be supported, but I’m unsure how this is implemented. Possibly it interacts with your cable box’s PPV application?
As for the TV listings, as Microsoft has killed off the EPG servers we are unable to load any channel listings.

My Music

Little here has changed compared to the previous version. Music stored in the My Music folder can be played or organized into a playlist, and played through the media center application.

More Programs

Additional programs that integrate into Media Center are displayed here, which can include games or links to the website. Dell has bundled a few WildTangent games that are intended to be played using the Media Center remote.

Otto: The objective is to turn all of the squares into your colour, whilst avoiding the enemies.

Gem Master: Similar to Sega Columns, clear the board by matching three or more colours together

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

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Because calling it Windows XP Basic Editon wasn’t elaborate enough…

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC (FLP for short) is basically Windows XP but for old systems and was intended to be used in an Enterprise environment since it was only offered through this channel. It was not made an option for OEM or Retail channels and was intended to be used for computers that were previously running say Windows NT or 98, who wanted to run an XP-based os but due to the limited specifications were unable to run the ‘Full fat Xp’.
As this was released in 2005, and 98/NT4 was due to lose support the next year, this OS was intended to be an upgrade path for those old PCs that were still running those operating systems but were not capable enough of running Windows XP.

Install

You will notice that this installs differently compared to stock Windows XP, and using a newer Windows Installer. Gone is the blue install screen. This is similar to what Windows Vista would use, and the Longhorn Beta’s (Pre-Reset) would install in a similar method.

After the installation has been completed you are prompted to reboot your PC. After the initial reboot, you are treated to a configuring screen, of which you are prompted to reboot again, and again. There are several reboots needed before the install finished and we are presented with a desktop.

Well, it looks just like a regular Windows XP install, minus the desktop background which has been replaced with a regular solid blue colour.

A lot of personalization themes are missing, there are very few screen savers or desktop backgrounds available, although the desktop styles can be changed.
I’m curious as to why Luna is included and selected by default? Surley an OS intended for low-end usage would use the Windows Classic theme, or maybe there is very little performance difference between the two?

So let’s see what missing and if anything has been removed or added.
On a note, a fresh install is using 1.33GB (post-VMWare addon installed)

The security center from the XP service pack 2 is included and will warn that updates are not enabled and that no antivirus software is installed.

Windows Media Player 10 is included with the OS and was the latest release at the time, Again I’m confused why this is included instead of Media Player 9 or 8, which would have helped reduce the install size

There are no built-in games with this build, and they cannot be optionally installed (The Windows components section is missing)

Windows Messenger 4.7 comes with this build also. Strangely the audio tuning wizard does not work, just giving the error message when we try to open it

An observation I found was how Windows handles an application crashing, an error message appears in the same fashion Windows NT 4 would crash, with no option to generate a useful error report, no apology, just a notification that the program has crashed.

Software Testing

Curious to see how it handles software of the era it was released in. Most 32bit Windows software should run fine, though I wonder how well DirectX games will run. DirectX 9 does come included with the OS preinstalled.

Sonic Stage

Sony’s music player software for their Walkman music player (Think of the iPod but better), this can playback ATARC files, which was Sony’s own file format, and could connect and purchase music from the CONNECT store, which they shut down in 2008

Unreal Tournament

A DirectX-based game, but can run in software rendering instead. Here it works but is prone to graphical glitches, possibly due to the VMWare graphics acceleration

San Francisco Rush 2049

One of my favorite games in the San Franciso Rush series, and only 17 years until it becomes reality. Runs without any issues

Norton Internet Security 2006

Standard Anti-Virus and security software by Symantec

WordPerfect 2006

An alternative basic office suite similar to Microsoft Office suite included a word processor and a spreadsheet application.

Matchware Mediator

Similar to Adobe Dreamweaver, this lets you build rich multimedia pages

Microsoft Intellipoint & Intellitype 6.2

Utility commonly bundled with Microsoft keyboard and mice, adds additional functionality that is not covered by Windows but can be used with third-party keyboards. I like to use it because it adds a volume indicator when using the volume keys on a keyboard that features one.

Upgrades

By default Service Pack 2 is included, and service pack 3 can be installed as an optional upgrade. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 can also be installed as upgrades to Internet Explorer 6.

Support for Windows FLP ended on the same date as Windows XP – April 2014.

Well, I’m not sure what happened but I seem to have broken the OS, at least when it comes to shutting down. A few errors with winlogon.exe come up, before the OS BSODs completely.

Windows XP Media Center Edition

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Windows comes to the TV

One of the many editions of Windows XP, this time intended for use in the living room and to react to the growing popularity of media centers of the era like the Tivo in the US, and the Sony PSX DVR in Japan.

Install

Mostly appears the same as Windows XP Professional and even identifies itself as such.

Has its own boot screen, which would disappear in service pack 2

Desktop

The desktop will resemble a stock version of Windows XP. The only difference you will notice is the Media Center icon in the start menu.

Media Center

This is the main attraction to the Windows Media Center edition and is only included in these editions of Windows XP. It’s intended to be controlled using the media center remote which would have been included with the Media Center PC, although third-party remotes, along with their dongles would come available. As such it’s fiddley to use with just the keyboard and mouse.

MyTV

The place where your TV channels are located. Here you can browse the TV Guide, also known as an EPG, and set up and configure recordings that allow your PC to become a DVR (Digital Video Recorder, like a Tivo or Sky+) There are various options to set up your TV signal, either through cable (with or without a set-top box), satellite or terrestrial/antenna signals.

Settings up the TV signal requires you to connect to Microsoft and provide your Zip or postal code (only US zip codes work, my postcode wasn’t recognized at all despite my locale being set to the United Kingdom)

I was curious to see if my DVB-T tuner was recognized over USB, since Freeview had only recently launched back in 2002 when this operating system was released, Sadly this was not the case as DVB-T wasn’t supported, despite being a thing in 2002 (Freeview in the UK launched in 2002, and we had DTT since 1998 with the launch of ONdigital, however, the USofA uses ATSC which Media Center might support since Microsoft tends to be US-centric for its first generation products)

In a way this is the successor to Web TV for Windows that shipped with Windows 98

My Music

Music tracks ripped from an audio CD will appear here, and sync with Windows Media Player so any tracks added with also appear in Media Center. Presumably, this would also support DRM music from either MSN Music, since this predated Playsforsure or the Zune DRM (Microsoft had a lot of music stores).

My Pictures

Photos and image files located in the My Pictures folder will be displayed here and can be played in a slideshow. Images can be sorted into albums if you have sorted them into folders within the My Pictures folder. Pictures can be sorted by name or date

My Videos

Similar to Pictures, but videos are shown instead. We seem to run into the same issue with playing DVD video as documented below, likely due to requiring graphics acceleration for video playback.

Windows Media Player doesn’t seem to give a shit and will play the file regardless, so why can’t Media Center?

Play DVD

I was unsuccessful in getting a DVD movie to play, and I believe this is due to the lack of a hardware MPEG2 decoder that is required to play back DVDs. This was a Microsoft OEM requirement and meant some TV tuner cards were incompatible as they decoded MPEG2 in software instead, using the main CPU to do the decoding.

As VMWare lacks a hardware MPEG2 decoder, Windows Media Center and Media Player are unable to play back DVDs in their current form. Even after installing the K-Lite codec pack, we are unable to play.

We might have better luck installing on an actual system from the era, specifically one with a graphics card that has onboard MPEG2 decoding, assuming Media Center is compatible with it. I should note that some ATI All-In-Wonder graphics cards of the time also used software decoding to reduce costs and had issues getting their cards certified for the media center due to this implementation. As for why Microsoft did not allow for software decoding, it could be because of multitasking concerns if the user tries to do something else whilst watching a DVD, or DRM concerns. In contrast, the Xbox console decodes MPEG2 in software on its Pentium 3 processor, but it’s unknown if the GeForce GPU accelerates this somewhat.

Maybe later versions are more flexible when it comes to decoding but for now let’s skip ahead.

Conclusion

And that’s it, its pretty much Windows XP with an added Media Center application bundled in. As for why it wasn’t sold as a software upgrade package was due to Microsoft imposing strict hardware specifications in order to use Media Center, specifically with the processor, hardware MPEG decoding, 3D graphics acceleration and an IR remote and sensor. Microsoft really didn’t want anyone using this on hardware that was subpar or missing any components in order to give a consistent experience for the end user.

Version Information

These version numbers will change once later service packs are installed.

Component	Version
Internet Explorer	6.0.2800.1106.xpsp1.020828-1920
Outlook Express	Exact same as Internet Explorer
Windows Media Player	8.00.00.4487
Windows Messenger	4.7.0041
Windows Movie Maker	1.1.2427.1
DirectX	8.1 (4.08.01.0810)

Windows XP Starter Edition

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Diet Windows XP

A very crippled version of Windows XP intended for use in developing countries and for users new to desktop computers.
One of the limitations is you can only run up to three programs at a time, and Windows Explorer will prevent you from opening more. So what counts as a program?
Well, it seems anything that has an icon on the taskbar. Background programs or programs that hide in the system tray don’t seem to count until you click on them. One example is MSN messenger which will run in the background, but we cannot get to the main window if we have three programs already running.
Also because of this, it likes to group applications into the same icon on the taskbar even if we only have one instance running. Opening Internet Explorer and creating a new window is a good example of this.

The screen resolution is limited to 1024 by 768, not a huge issue since that screen resolution was common back when this was released, although it seems a silly limitation to implement. I’m also not sure how it handles widescreen resolutions. After installing the Vmware tool and trying to resize the resolution by expanding the window, Windows just restored the resolution back to 1024×768.
There probably are ways to get around this, via the use of registry modifications but then you might as well install a properer version of Windows, not Diet Windows XP

Install

The installer is the same as every other Windows XP installer and even identifies as Windows XP Home Edition

Desktop

Well, it looks like we’re stuck with the Windows Classic theme, no Luna themes here. In face we don’t even have the ability to customize the classic themes, all colour schemes and even the theme tab of the display properties has been disabled.
I even tried to install the Royale and Zune themes but they have no effect. The only thing you can customize is the background (Only ships with one) and the screensaver, which included two exclusive screensavers.

Another annoying thing is the removal of context menus, the ones that come up when you right-click. Why they removed that I have no idea.

Programs

There are a few bundled programs that are exclusive to this edition of XP:

Getting Started

A user guide of sorts for new and inexperienced users which goes through the basics of using Windows, and how to perform common tasks like browsing the internet, Email, listening to music and importing photos from a digital camera. All of this runs within the Windows HTML help engine

Video Help

A more interactive version of the Getting Started program, complete with sound and visual demonstrations. Some of these would be presented in a different language

My Support

Very similar to the Getting Started program, but resembles a knowledge base website and provides more information on using the various applications on the computer. Also includes a glossary.

Change Language

A utility to change the systems language is likely intended to be used by a system builder since the average user won’t use this often.

Control Panel

Seems we are stuck with the category view, with no option to use the traditional classic view

Also, there are a few options here that are non-functional, like the option to set up a windows workgroup or a home network since it does not exist in this version, but the link to it still remains. You would think Microsoft would remove the link to it at least.
This does make it difficult to share files other a network with the lack of direct Samba support, FTP seems to still be functioning.

Windows Firewall is set to be always on and cannot be directly controlled.

Screensaver

Image Spiral

Wind Silk

Conclusion

In terms of compatibility, it seems to be a regular version of Windows XP, with support for DirectX 9.0 that gives 3D gaming support.

16bit programs will also run without any issue, although DOS compatibility will be the same as Windows XP

You have to wonder why this even existed, as Windows XP was already a few years old at this point & PCs of the time shouldn’t have too much trouble running it, and even if it did you would prefer to install an older version like Windows 2000 or ME.
Possibly Microsoft wanted to curb piracy in these developing countries and fend off competing Linux distributions. But again why would you prefer a legal but crippled version of Windows over a pirate copy that has little to no restrictions for the end user?

Microsoft would also make starter editions of their successive operating systems, Windows Vista and Windows 7 starter editions but would ease up on the restrictions

Version Information

These version numbers will change once later service packs are installed.

Component	Version
Internet Explorer	6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158
Outlook Express	Same as Internet Explorer
Windows Media Player	9.00.00.3250
Windows Messenger	4.7.3000
Windows Movie Maker	2.1.4026.0 (This build brings up the Windows version in Help, About)
DirectX	9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

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Beating the iPad by 8 years (What’s a Newton?)

One of the many editions of Windows XP, Intended to be used on portable tablet PC systems, this can be seen as an early implementation of Windows for Tablet systems, something which is more common today than it was in 2002 when this version was released. Major differences stem from the pen and touch support and the inclusion of the tablet input panel.
This kind of makes this version of Windows suited to touchscreen-based PCs, at least they can use the added touch functionality. System requirements are mostly the same as XP Professional, with it being heard for use with the mobile variants of X86 processors like the Transmeta Crusoe or the VIA/Cyrix M3, there is no ARM version.

Despite being branded for Tablet PCs, there is nothing stopping you from using it on a regular desktop PC, although some of the added features will be of little use unless you have some sort of touch functionality, like a Wacom graphics tablet. Pretty much all Windows software that can run on regular XP editions will function here.

Install

Not an issue with the build, some weird VMware trickery it tries to do.

Installation is very similar to a traditional Windows XP install and even reveals itself to be Windows XP Professional in the installer. It’s only after the install we see the first signs of Tablet PC Edition.

Post-Install

Shortly after the first boot completes, we are treated to a tutorial that explains how to navigate Windows using the Pen and Touch controls. This may differ compared to OEM branded versions as they may include special tutorials included by the manufacturer themselves, especially if any additional features or capabilities have been added.

Once we get to the desktop it looks like a typical Windows XP install, the only major difference is the keyboard input panel to the right of the start button, this will bring up the Tablet PC Input panel which is used to type.

Tablet Components

Microsoft bundled a few extra applications to help and complement the use of a tablet PC. Some OEMs would also include their own software.

Get Going with Tablet PC

A tutorial that runs after you first log in and will go through the basics of using your tablet device, it will also ask questions in regards to what features your device contains and the type of stylus used. You can run this later at any time since it’s accessible from the start menu.

Sticky Notes

Before its well-known debut in Windows Vista as a desktop gadget, Sticky Notes first appeared here albeit in a different incarnation. Here we can only capture drawing done by the stylus or mouse. Audio can also be captured by using the record option. From using it, there does not seem to be a way to enter text based notes, nor can the background colour be changed. Flags of different colours can also be added, but this seems to be only cosmetic, it does not activate anything in the journal.
Notes can be exported in the EMF image format, which can then be opened in the Windows Picture and Fax viewer. Compared to other image formats, this one seems to handle text a lot better, especially when zoomed in up close. Originally this format was used for Clip-Art in older versions of Microsoft Office.

Windows Journal

Acts as a literal notepad or scratch book where you can jot down notes written using the stylus. You also have the option to write in a regular pen or use a highlighter, and an eraser can be used to delete writing. Images can also be added and removed.
Text cannot be entered unless you manually add a textbox and position it on the page.
Windows Journal viewer was later made as a separate download from Microsoft, which allowed for Journal files created to be viewed on regular editions of Windows XP

Inkball

A game that was later included in Windows Vista, the objective is to guide the ball into the hole using your style to draw black lines which cause the ball to bounce and reflect in the opposite direction, later levels feature multiple coloured balls with the objecting to ensure the correct coloured balls enter their respective coloured holes.
Vert difficult to play with the mouse since the cursor will disappear, making it difficult to determine where your pen is located.

Keyboard Input

As tablet PC devices lack a physical keyboard, an onscreen keyboard is included to make text entry and input easier. This is not the same as the On-Screen keyboard that came with Windows 2000 and is still included here, the Input panel being larger and more suited to a touch screen.

Conclusion

Although this wasn’t the first version of Windows to be designed for a mobile or portable device, as the Windows CE line of operating systems were intended to be used on PDAs and smartphones of the time, and there was also Windows Pen Computing, a touch input based OS that was similar to Windows 3.11. But it pushed the NT line of operating systems into a more mobile direction and with the arrival of the ultra-portable Sony VAIO UX Micro PC models which started the handheld PC market, and the upcoming netbooks and tablets which would become popular years after the release of XP Tablet PC Edition

Regarding the touch input and control, Microsoft would later incorporate pen and touch-based interfaces into all editions of the operating system, foreseeing as they could be standardized on future systems. Windows 7 introduced a new pen and handwriting recognition, whilst Windows 8 would make touchscreens the center point for its user interface, this would come at the expense of general usability, and traditional users would feel ostracized by the new interface.

Version Information

Component	Version
Internet Explorer	6.0.2800.1106.xpsp1.020828-1920
Outlook Express	Exact same as Internet Explorer
Windows Media Player	8.00.00.4487
Windows Messenger	4.7.0041
Windows Movie Maker	1.1.2427.1
DirectX	8.1 (4.08.01.0810)
Inkball	1.0.2201.0

IBM Thinkpad X41

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One of the last generation of Thinkpad laptops branded as IBM before Lenovo was introduced. Let’s take a look at what software was included with a typical IBM Thinkpad install.

Desktop after a fresh install, complete with an IBM custom wallpaper and a link to the Access IBM for the OEM Link.

Access IBM

A program that goes through the features of the ThinkPad and allows easy access to common functions that Windows does not typically cover. It also has links to various support topics and articles, acting as an electronic alternative to the bundled documentation.

A shortcut to Access IBM appears in the Windows Help & Support center.

IBM Update Connector

Checks for driver updates and any new versions of bundles software. In a domain environment you can also set up your own IBM update server where approved and tested updates can be distributed, instead of downloading from IBM directly.

Battery MaxiMizer Wizard

Helps monitor the battery health and how to get the best battery life.

ThinkVantage Technologies

Shows off the different features of your ThinkPad like the rescue and recovery software to recover any missing or corrupted files. The active protection system with shuts off the hard drive when a fall is detected, possibly a sensor is embedded into the laptop to allow it to detect this.

SONIC Expresslabeler

Adobe Reader

Appears to be present but not completely installed by default. Opening it for the first time reveals some sort of unarchiver. Also a look at an interactive wallpaper also provided by IBM, which displays a graphical view of the hard drive and its space used, and the calendar which shows the correct date (But not any schedules or reminders). There’s also a section for email, but I have yet to get this to show anything, possibly only works with Outlook Express.

InterVideo WinDVD

DVD playback software for the included DVD drive, this does not function in the virtual machine as it complains about the lack of copy protection. Even Windows Media Player had issues playing a DVD.

InterVideo WinDVD Creator

You can create and burn your own DVD video discs, intended for use for home movies (Through I wonder if DVD-rip torrents could be imported and burnt in this way). here we can create and manipulate the DVD home menu using its own design and navigation. Alternatively, a static slideshow can be created using photos captured from a digital camera.

IBM (Sonic) RecordNow!

A popular CD recording utility I’ve seen bundled on various laptops from this era (Toshiba A60). You can burn a regular ISO image or an audio or MP3 CD. Sonic would later be acquired by Roxio and would be integrated into their products.

Norton Antivirus / Internet Security

Typical virus protection of the year, Norton AntiVirus was bundled with various IBM products. Norton has the ability to scan and detect any virus embedded in email applications, providing you use an email client that Norton supports (Like Microsoft Outlook)

I’m surprised it even allowed a version this old to be activated, I doubt it would perform well against modern malware.

Desktop Themes

Two desktop themes come included, which feature their own sounds, desktop icons and wallpaper. Both will use the Luna silver theme

Wallpaper

Three wallpapers are included, with the second one being a dynamic active desktop wallpaper mentioned earlier.

Screensavers

A few screensavers that show off and advertise the features of the laptop.

Control Panel

Various control panel applets that have been preinstalled by IBM

IBM Active Protection: controls the freefall hard drive protection

ThinkPad Configuration: Supposed to change various options for your Thinkpad

Misc

Sony VAIO PCV-RD620G

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A mid-2003 desktop PC that functions as a media center of sorts, and features dual optical drives (CD burner with a DVD reader) and remote control with an IR receiver. Some models featured an analog TV tuner and a dial-up modem fitted to one of the PCI slots.

Recovery Wizard

Our VAIO journey starts with the Recovery Wizard, which takes us through the formatting process.

Remarkably it looks like a Windows 2000 environment.

Post Install

The Sony-branded OOBE, which presents the opportunity to register with Sony and Microsoft.

Norton Internet Security comes bundled with the laptop which provides virus protection for a year since it is activated, along with a firewall. Norton also integrates itself into Internet Explorer, providing popup protection. It also appears within Windows Explorer itself.

After the first bootup, we are prompted to insert one of the VAIO recovery disks, these are tied to the machine and will not work inside a virtual environment, and rely on different copy protection

Interesting, Norton seems to be able to pickup and download a few updates, considering this product is nearing 20 years old that’s quite impressive. But I doubt these cover the latest virus definitions, Norton possibly still operates the server that holds these aged definition updates.

There are a few programs missing since the final part of the recovery wizard specifically checks that you are running on a Sony VAIO PC. I wonder if this checks for the exact model, or if there is just the Sony string in the BIOS, would this work for other Sony models?

SonicStage

SonicStage was the software used to manage and playback Sony’s ATARC format audio, which was their own property audio format that was initially used on the first MiniDisc models, and was later used for their Walkman digital music players. ATARC was more efficient than MP2 and MP3 at higher bitrates but compared less with AAC or WMA. ATARC was also only supported on Sony products, and even then not all of their electronics supported it, Sony Ericsson phones in Europe had no support for ATRAC, and neither did the first PlayStation or the PlayStation 2, with the PS3 introducing support for the codec.

SonicStage was very similar to iTunes in concept and acted as a way to play purchased songs from Sony’s CONNECT store. As these files were protected by DRM, an account and correct authorization was required to playback the songs purchased by the user. SonicStage could also sync and transfer songs to supported Walkman players, and only Walkman players.

This was during a dark period of time where record companies insisted that much purchases online had to be digitally protected using some form of DRM, which meant purchasing music from one vendor would mean you could only play that track on software or a device that the vendor had support for. This meant music purchased from iTunes could not be played back on a Walkman or a Microsoft PlaysForSure device without burning it to a CD, then reimporting it as MP3 or whichever format the program and device supported, basically the analog hole.

Was it any wonder people turned to piracy?

DRM free music stores later came about, and many vendors eventually started offering DRM free downloads for their songs and all was well. Then the music industry went one step further and insisted streaming was the next best thing, meaning you no longer owned or had direct access to music, instead of being steamed from the cloud for a monthly fee.

As for Sony, the CONNECT store closed down in 2008, and Sonic Stage was discontinued and replaced a few years later with MediaGo, which was mainly intended for the Sony PSP but could work with compatible Walkman devices. Sony would later try again in the music market with Quircity, a streaming playroom before being rebranded to PlayStation Music, and then been killed off in favor of Spotify on the PS4.

For a company that has its own major record label, Sony does suck with online music services.

Screensavers & Wallpapers

Theirs a VAIO screensaver bundled which is a bunch of stock photos taken with a few transition effect applied, with stock music being placed in the background.

You can of course customize it with your own photos, or memes if that is more your thing.

Various backgrounds, these would blend in with the laptop design and supported a variety of resolutions (whilst the internal LCD would use its optimal resolution, Sony provided different wallpaper resolution’s in the event you connect an external monitor.

PrintStudio

Appears to be a creative photo editing application where you can import photos from a digital camera (maybe a Sony CyberShot camera) and apply effects or add clip-art to them. You then have the option of printing these out or attaching them as an email. you can also create greeting cards with this, so it acts similar to Microsoft Publisher in a way,

Netscape browser version 6, a popular alternative browser (Didn’t Microsoft discourage OEM’s from doing this? Sony clearly didn’t give a fuck)

Moodlogic

I think this is some sort of last.fm service from before its time, where it will organize and find similar artists depending on the ones currently in your library, whilst organizing your current music collection. This no longer works and requires a connection to a server that is long since defunct. It sort of similar to Apple Genius playlists.

Memory Stick Formater

Formats a Sony Memory Stick, nuff said. Not sure why you can’t do this in Windows Explorer, possibly due to Magic Gate encryption?

Quicken 2004

Software that Sony loved to bundle with their VAIO systems, is some sort of account and spending management software.

AOL

An advert for AOL, looks a bit basic for 2003 standards.

Help & Support

Sony’s help center branding

External Links

Sony Support

Dell Dimension 1100

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A low-end desktop system released by Dell in 2005, paired with a Pentium 4 and 512MB of RAM with onboard Intel graphics. Typically paired with a 15inch LCD monitor. Nothing really special about the system and there’s a distinct lack of Microsoft Works unless it was included in a separate CD.

Typical Dell desktop background of the era. I remember this was used on the Inspiron 9100 also. Notice the AOL being branded as LOL, not sure if that occurred on the actual system or something that got renamed

Software

Let’s look at the software bundled

McAfee

Dell and McAfee are commonly seen together, and this system was no exception to that. Like Norton, this acts as both the antivirus and the firewall for the system.

McAfee firewall will pop up if a new program tried to connect to the internet or access a network resource.

Dell Support

A utility that pops up whilst your in the middle of a SimCity/Civ session and causes the game to minimize itself, only for Dell Support to prompt you about a rip off offer, then when you try to restore the game it freezes and you have to kill it in task manager and you lose all your unsaved data.

In all fairness its useful for first time computer buyers, bot the occasional popups will get annoying after a while. There is an option to reduce or turn off the alerts.

Google Desktop

A software application that allowed you to search Google from your desktop, and included an indexed desktop search client. This also placed a search box on your taskbar of which will bring results from both the web and files/folders that are local to the PC. This would give a similar experience to the Windows Search feature that was introduced in Windows Vista, although Microsoft would also release Windows Search for Windows XP.

A sidebar included widget-like functionality, similar to Mac OS X Tiger that was released at the time. As its a Google produced, expect it to data mine the hell out of you, I’m sure most people took the time to read the privacy policy.

Core Photo Album 6

Photo management application. This is designed to gather can collect images from an external source, such as a digital camera or an external SD card.

You can edit and apply different effects like sepia, or add a digital frame if you wish, and then export and save or print to a photo printer. Different effects include red-eye removal, which was common on a digital cameras of the time. Alternatives included Microsoft PictureIt, Adobe Photoshop Elements,

This copy was part of a trial, and expires after 60 days of use.

QuickBooks

Some sort of accounting software is designed for small businesses like a high street shops. It makes several mentions of creating business so I’d say it’s for a commercial environment in comparison to Microsoft Money which is more for home/personal use.

This appears to be a full back-office management system since it allows for you to create customer accounts, useful for booking appointments. In this was in functions similar to Microsoft Access

MyDVD LE

I assume this is intended to create DVD discs and backups, but will not function since this technically isn’t a Dell machine.

Musicmatch JUKEBOX

A popular music player and an online digital music store, that was mostly backed by Yahoo. Here you could purchase music to transfer to a supported music player. Alternatively, it can function as a standalone music player, as an alternative to Windows Media Player. MusicMatch was later discontinued in 2006.

AOL

The 9.0 desktop client comes included along with a free internet trial

Sonic CINEPlayer

A DVD player of some sort. However, this will not function in a VM and will inform that its intended for only Dell computers. The full screen interface appears very similar to Windows Media Center.

Roxio Creator LE

CD burning and authoring program that supports the use of burning audio CD’s and can burn ISO disk images.

Compaq Presario 700 (VMWare)

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An early Windows XP era laptop released around 2002, not to be confused with the Presario C700 which was HP branded. Windows XP Home Edition was the operating system bundled with the restore CD

Restore Process

This one used a slightly different way of restoring the default image, and I believe this is due to the copy being modified so that it will restore on any machine, instead of being tied to a specific model.
Here you must manually select the recovery image (located on the CD drive) and then proceed with the installation. If the hard disk is blank (Which it will be if we have just created the drive) the software can automatically initialize and format the disk and will create the correct partitions.
Once this has been set up, the recovery process will begin and the system will notify once it has been completed.

After the first reboot, we will most likely run into a BSOD, since we had installed it in a virtual machine instead of actual hardware, it’s expecting a motherboard that’s completely different. At this points It’s Hirens time

Same as the eMachines system, we just need to reset the hard disk controller to clear the error. After a reboot we are onto the OOBE.

OOBE

Once we cleared the BSOD boss fight we move on to the OOBE (Out-Of-Box-Experience) where we set up the system for the first time. You will notice the Compaq branding and will be informed of the Compaq Advisor, which is some sort of assistant. At this point you can also register your system, although I doubt there is much point,, Microsoft probably discontinued the registrations servers and Compaq has since been absorbed into HP.

Desktop

After that, we are presented with our new desktop, along with a funky wallpaper. There are several of these OEM wallpapers that are available in different colours. I’m not sure if these are reflective of the laptop itself or Compaq just whacked a few different colours for the user’s preference. It kinda reminds me of the original iMac with its various colours and shades.
Of course, you also have the regular Windows XP wallpapers if you prefer.

Interestingly it will try to install a driver for a Compaq Easy Access Internet Keyboard. This has little to no effect on the VMWare keyboard. On the desktop, there are a few internet shortcuts to various affiliate links like ABC, Disney,

VMWare

As this is pre-Service Pack 1 we are limited to how we can install the VMWare add-ons, the later tools require service pack 3 and will fail to install on an old Windows XP install. We can however download and mount an old version of VMWare Tools
Be careful with this, as these tools were intended for the version of VMWare they were released with. I got a BSOD when trying to display one of the 3D screensavers, and had to upgrade to a later version to fix the issue.

Software

There isn’t much included, there is Netscape 6 and RealPlayer 8 bundled, and Microsoft Works and Money 2001

Compaq Advisor

Seems to be some sort of help/assistant program, sort of similar to the Windows Help & Support but more tailored to the Compaq-related stuff. The actual Windows Help & Support has a few customizations made to it, mainly with some Compaq stuff added.

Microsoft Money 2001

There isn’t much included, there Netscape 6 and RealPlayer 8 bundled, and Microsoft Works and Money 2001

Microsoft Works

Version 6 of Microsoft Works comes bundled here, which serves as a basic productivity suite. It contains a word processor and spreadsheet software, along with a variety of templates to choose from.

OEMLink (Presario Info Center)

Another system I’ve found to make use of the OEM link feature of Windows XP. This acts like a help center that shows the different capabilities of the PC, along with recommended software, some of which might be preinstalled with the system. Some of these are not present here so there might be another disc that includes this.

SynthCore

Also, this appeared in the start menu, it’s some sort of MIDI file samples that came bundled with the soundcard. These play normally on the emulated SoundBlaster but do not sound the same as they would on an actual system.

Control Panel

Easy Access Buttons: This lets you reassign the easy access buttons on the keyboard to open different functions
Compaq Advisor: Change settings in relation to the Compaq Advisor, appears to have been developed by Neoplanet Inc
Automatic Compaq Updates: Enables updates
SoundMAX: Opens the soundcard utility, does nothing in this VM since were using a different soundcard

Other

Archive Link

eMachines T2200

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Product Information

The Bliss wallpaper, with a touch of eMachines

We all know eMachines, and have probably used an eMachines system at one point in our lives, known for being very affordable (Cheap) computer systems for first time buyers or for people who just need a basic system. Typically found at PCWorld or Currys, These computers are typically paired with either an Intel Celeron or an AMD Durion or Athlon.

Install

eMachines made use of Norton Ghost to operate the recovery media, this initially presented us with a Windows 9x style boot menu which gave us the option to boot into the recovery environment.

Ran into a few issues getting this one up and running. Whilst the initial restore process went through without a hitch, I was greeted with a BSOD upon bootup

Following the guidance on the archive link, I booted into Hirens and ran a script that reset the hard disk driver, which was causing the BSOD.

When the command windows open’s, choose option T first to set the target root, this is the Windows install directory (C:\WINDOWS). Just check that Hirens actually mounted it to C as it may have assigned the hard drive to another letter.

Programs > Registry > Fix Hard Disk Controller

Programs are located in the Hirens Program launcher, Not the start menu

Alternatively, navigate to the CD-ROM root and go to HBCD\Programs\FixHDC.bat to launch the program

After a reboot, we were able to boot into Windows and progress through the OOBE section, which has some eMachines customizations.

OEMLink

The start menu here has an OEM link which I’ve rarely seen on Windows XP systems. This is an option that can be selected in the Windows XP start menu that takes you to online OEM information.

Realtek AvRack

Some sort of bundled media player that makes of the sound cards processing functions, none of these are functional under a virtual machine since it emulates a different soundcard. I was able to play a regular MP3 file but none of the effects would work. These would have included echo and voice pitch changing effects

AIM AOL Instant Messenger

Another popular instant messaging application, this was supposedly popular in the US, but didn’t take off in the UK where MSN was more popular.

ICQ

ICQ was a popular instant messaging program before the likes of AIM and MSN Messanger took over. Each user would have a unique ICQ number. I personally never used it myself since it was already obsolete when I first heard of it (2004) and barely anyone I knew had an ICQ account.

McAfee

Bundled antivirus software, this also comes with a firewall bundled. Sadly this version can no longer be updated and we are stuck with virus definitions from 2002.

Although once you enable the firewall, be prepared for endless connection alerts whenever you open a program or even do anything that uses its own socket.

Winamp

A popular media player bundled with this system. A little redundant with Windows Media Player, unless Winamp is capable of playing a file that WMP cannot.

Microsoft Works

Microsoft’s entry-level productivity suite that provided a word processor, spreadsheet software, and a basic database. To make the program more user-friendly to use, a a task launcher is used to open various elements of the application since this is designed to appeal to users who are not familiar with office productivity software. Here a user can select from a list of tasks they wish to complete, and Works will open the correct template for them.

Some of these are very specific like coaching a sports team or planning a family reunion. Some of these are quite useful, there’s a template to create a fitness log using a spreadsheet that helps keep track of your workouts, or if you want to keep track of road trips.

Microsoft Money

Money 2003 – used to organize your finances and bank accounts, back in the early days of internet banking. Nowadays most banks offer something similar online.

Cyberlink PowerDVD

PowerDVD is software intended to allow DVD video to be played, it was commonly bundled with PCs that came bundled with a DVD drive. Although I’m sure Windows Media Player is capable of doing the same thing so this software would be redundant?

BigFix

Appears to be a utility that monitors your PC’s performance, and is preinstalled from the CD. There are also links to eMachines technical support. In normal operation, it will notify you if a software update or patch is available and will prompt you to install it (It does not install automatically). Although if Windows Update is enabled then this kind of redundant, possibly that would have checked for driver updates also?

BigFix was later acquired by IBM and was renamed IBM Bigfix.

RealPlayer

Realplayer was a popular way to stream video over the internet since it was cross-platform, supporting both Windows and Macintosh.

Compuserve

Another internet service provider provided its own software to access its services.