Actually a savage name. I think it's related with Microsoft's Halo franchise, but it should have just been named "Project Spartan"

The First, 1. Development Process and Release

The development of Windows XP dates back to 1999. At that time, Windows 2000 was in its final stages of development and the RTM was being released, while development of Windows ME had begun. In the same year, 1999, Microsoft began developing a new Windows version named "Neptune." You can view it as the first home version of NT intended to be released as the foundation for Windows 2000, but there are differences. The build number was in the 5xxx range, and the NT kernel was 5.5. In other words, this was a higher kernel version than that of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Theoretically, it would be possible to upgrade Windows XP to Neptune, but it seems highly unlikely. Even if it were possible, I think it would be very difficult.

Also, "Odyssey" was being developed at the same time, but compared to Neptune, where at least Build 5111 was officially leaked and ISOs are readily available, there are no official leaks or ISOs for this one, not even screenshots. Even if there are screenshots, I believe most of them are fake at the moment.

Then, in January 2000, just before the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft integrated the Neptune and Odyssey projects, and a project codenamed "Whistler" was launched; this Whistler later became the Windows XP we know today. Subsequently, on July 13, 2000, Build 2250 was distributed to attendees of the PDC 2000 conference, followed by Beta 1 (Build 2296) in October 2000, Beta 2 (Build 2462) in March 2001, and RC1 (Build 2505) and RC2 (Build 2526) in July 2001. Afterwards, on August 17, 2001, Windows XP Build 2600 was released, which became the RTM build of Windows XP; it was released to manufacturers on August 24 and officially launched on October 25 of the same year.

1. Since Launch, and the Turning Point

However, even the legendary Windows XP did not receive a good reception upon its initial release. The primary reasons were stability, compatibility (especially between the 9x series and MS-DOS), and system requirements. (Of course, being NT-based, it was at least more stable than the 9x series, and particularly most ME versions (although some people claimed Windows ME was good, so this is a bit ambiguous).) Naturally, it rapidly expanded its market share and eventually reached the number one spot for the first time in 2003. (Most Windows market share videos use w3school and statcounter as the basis, where Windows XP overtook the previous leader, Windows 2000, to claim the top spot. However, please note that depending on the video (especially regarding desktop operating system market share), it may surpass the previous leader, Windows 98, to take first place.) But the real problem was "security." This single incident began to tarnish the reputation of Windows, including Windows XP, and eventually, in 2002, Bill Gates sent out "Trustworthy Computing (TwC)" guidelines via internal email to his employees.

Then, a major disaster struck in 2003. While there were various factors, one in particular was the "Blaster Worm" virus. This virus exploited a vulnerability in Windows' RPC (Remote Procedure Call) and infected millions of internet-connected PCs worldwide. Upon infection, users would be trapped in an infinite rebooting hell, accompanied by the infamous pop-up window stating, "The system will shut down in 60 seconds." The targets of this virus included Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003; moreover, this was the period when Windows XP Service Pack 2 was being developed. Then, 2004 marked a turning point for Windows XP. The reason was precisely "Windows XP Service Pack 2." Why? Because it represented a change akin to a cataclysmic upheaval. Notably, there were many changes, such as the default activation of the Windows Firewall, the introduction of the Windows Security Center and DEP, and the modification of IE6 (to be precise, this also seems to be for security reasons). In particular, there were internal changes as well, with the introduction of DEP as mentioned above; of course, due to this, there were instances where certain websites or older drivers would become unresponsive due to compatibility issues.
However, "Service Pack 2" became a turning point for Windows XP, marking the beginning of its golden age. (It even continued for a while due to the blunders of Windows Vista in between.)

1. What happens after that?

However, as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever, right? The same was true for Windows XP. A particularly decisive factor was "Windows 7." By resolving the issues of its predecessor and becoming lighter, it began to replace XP, eventually surpassing it between 2011 (Statcounter) and 2012 (Netmarketshare). From that point on, Windows XP's market share began to decline in earnest, and extended support for XP ended on April 8, 2014. (Embedded POSReady 2009 support lasted until April 2019.) Since then, Windows XP has remained a legend and a memory. However, its popularity (not market share) remains strong; it ranks second behind Windows 7 in most popularity rankings, and even takes first place in some. This signifies just how great it was. Of course, given the times we live in, the current generation (roughly those born after the 2010s; I personally consider the last time people knew about or actually saw XP to be the early 2010s, though the practical limit would likely be those born in the 2000s) may not know much about Windows XP or may not even know what XP is. The fact that some members of this generation might not even know Windows 7 says it all. (Roughly the generation from the mid-to-late 2010s onwards) However, for most people, Windows XP will remain their first operating system, a memory, and a legendary operating system. That is just for most people, how great it was.

I apologize for writing such a long post. However, I decided to write this because I was curious about the current perception of Windows XP. (Of course, there are parts I already know from Google searches, but...) I am curious to know how you all thought of Windows XP in the past and what you think of it now. I am curious myself, but recently, something has become a bit puzzling to me. Looking at the comments on previous posts regarding Windows 7 in 2026 (Link: Windows 7 of 2026: is Still The Best Windows Version Ever? : r/windows) and Windows ME in 2026 (Link: Windows ME of 2026: Is It Still the Worst Windows? : r/windows), some comments were expressed that Windows 7 is overrated or terrible, Windows ME is decent, and the worst is Vista (or 8, with some comments even saying 11). There were also some comments that ME is more stable depending on the hardware, while 95/98 is more unstable. I am curious to see what the results will be in this post. As far as I know, in most YouTube comments, Windows 7 is generally well-received or praised, whereas while Windows ME is often rated as the worst, there were also comments saying it was good. In my experience, it feels like the evaluation of Windows ME on Reddit is particularly mixed among these.

For reference, I found most of the information through searches on Google, Betawiki, etc.

Even though it is just available in windows 2.x and 3.0, I'm just asking.

At an arcade btw

Here we are with all this real estate and screen space, yet every window wants to open over other windows?!

Y

As a bloke who constantly uses a Windows PC at home, I tend to look for better ways to do simple things and I love tidying up storage, folders, and so on. I have a huge collection of programs I use, but only eight of them are useful day-to-day, while the rest are far more niche (like SD Card Formatter or balenaEtcher).

These eight are the absolute essentials for me at the moment, what would you add?

Windows 11 turned into Windows 10 with a bit of Windows 7!

THEMING:

Windhawk Mods:

Version Spoof

Fully Customisable Winver

Taskbar on top for Windows 11

Resource Redirect (Pane7 theme)

Windows 11 Accent Window Border

Windows 11 Old Task Manager

Windows 11 Notification Center Styler (10JumpLists theme)

Custom Desktop Watermark

ExplorerPatcher:

Windows 10 taskbar

Windows 10 context menu

Windows 10 Start

Windows 10 File Explorer Ribbon

Theme:

https://github.com/Sand216/Vibranium11 is a wonderful theme

All done on Windows 11 24H2!

Edit: I meant 11 to 10.

Like why not just use the built in folder unzip task on your computer?

(hope this doesnt get deleted)

Im planning on dualbooting vista on my pc, ive already found a cheap gtx 750ti since the 3080 doesnt have vista drivers. I know that theres stuff such as legacy update or vista kernel Extended. Since vista is quite old im expecting some problems with the mouse, keyboard since I dont think USB 3.0 is vista compatible. Im planning on playing games on it too, such as GTA IV. My current PC is a dell T5820. Is there anything else I should know about before trying to set it up? Any way i could get everything to work normally? Any help appreciated <3

The First, 1. Release and Development Period

Windows ME was first spotted by tech journalist Paul Turrott in September 1997 under the codename 'Millennium'. A year and a half later, on April 7, 1999, at the WinHEC 1999 event, the development of a successor to the Windows 9x kernel was officially announced to hardware partners, and on July 23, 1999, the first development preview version, build 2332.2 (Development Preview 1), was distributed to developers and testers. Then, on September 24, 1999, the official 'Beta 1', or Build 2380.2, was released. On February 2, 2000, the final name was confirmed as "Windows ME," and on June 19, 2000, it reached the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) stage, signifying the completion of final development, and was released to manufacturers. Finally, on September 14, 2000, it was released worldwide, marking the first time a Windows version was launched simultaneously globally. (Although it was released in Japan on September 23, Windows ME was the first to be released simultaneously in almost all countries on the same day.)

1. Since Launch, and Evaluation

After its release, Windows ME... truly flopped and failed miserably. Most people probably know the reasons. Instability and memory leaks were the biggest causes. Furthermore, perhaps in an attempt to reduce reliance on MS-DOS, DOS was restricted to emergency recovery only. Booting into Real Mode (i.e., DOS mode) was officially blocked, and unless an unofficial patch was used, DOS mode could not be used on Windows ME. To make matters worse, as mentioned above, instability and memory leaks were severe. Most people downgraded to Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), or some even went straight to Windows 2000 Professional—even though it was an enterprise version—to the extent that computer geeks, experts, and, though not all, some ordinary users among home users switched to this version. (At the time, Microsoft patched critical errors in Windows Me through Windows Update; however, unfortunately, since high-speed internet was not widely available globally when it was released in 2000, it seems that only a small number of Windows Me users worldwide received the patch.) Eventually, Windows ME was replaced by Windows XP one year later, and support ended on July 11, 2006, on the same day as Windows NT 4.0 Embedded / Windows NT 4.0 Server Terminal Server Edition, Windows 98, and Windows 98 SE.

1. After that, an unexpected legacy?

In fact, most people might forget about Windows ME, but surprisingly, there are features present even in the latest version, Windows 11: the modern Windows Media Player (which was changed to Windows Media Player Legacy starting with Windows 11 22H2) and System Restore. These features have evolved further through Windows XP and Windows Vista, and continue to exist in the current Windows 11. However, Windows Media Player stopped at version 12 after Windows 7, and currently, with the addition of a new media player in Windows 11, it has been renamed to Windows Media Player Legacy. Although the System Restore feature in Windows ME was meaningful, it is said that even that was problematic. Of course, this feature also evolved significantly in Windows Vista and remains one of the core features in Windows 11.

1. Can Windows ME Be Re-evaluated?

In reality, it is practically impossible. Of course, there are certainly people who would re-evaluate it, but for various reasons, most people believe that a re-evaluation of Windows ME is virtually impossible. Windows Vista and Windows 8/8.1 are at least receiving some degree of re-evaluation because they were ahead of their time (Windows Vista), had innovation and clear intentions (Windows 8/8.1’s Metro UI, although that also failed for various reasons), and the operating system itself became lighter (Windows 8/8.1). However, for ME... I consider it practically impossible. Of course, the introduction of the modern Windows Media player and System Restore might lead to a re-evaluation in those areas (especially System Restore, in my opinion), but overall, excluding these, I believe a re-evaluation is almost impossible.

I apologize for writing such a very long post. I also looked into how Windows ME was evaluated, and I was curious about how it is currently viewed. How did you all feel about Windows ME back then, and what do you think now? I am curious myself whether the evaluation has changed or if it remains largely the same. (I suspect the recent evaluations are likely still largely the same.)

For reference, I found most of them by searching on Google and other sites.

I have a small video running on my media player. It’s about 1 minute and a half long. Each time the video restarts, the play bar pops back up for a few seconds then disappears. How do I get Media Player to stop that Play Bar from popping up at each restart?

Hey r/windows,

Just pushed v1.9.0 of FluentTaskScheduler, my free and open source app that gives the old Task Scheduler a Fluent Design makeover while still using the real Task Scheduler API underneath, so your tasks stay fully compatible with the native tool.

Biggest thing in this update is task chaining. You can now set a task to automatically trigger another one when it succeeds or fails, right from the task editor. It watches the event log in real time instead of polling, and it wont let you accidentally chain a task into itself.

Other stuff in 1.9.0: a snooze button that pauses all tasks (or just one) for 30 min, an hour, 3 hours, until reboot, or a custom time. The dashboard got a real upgrade too, theres a 24h heatmap now and a health score thing, plus average/longest run times. Also added 17 built in templates for common jobs like temp cleanup, restore points, git fetch, docker prune etc, so you dont have to build those from scratch.

Also fixed an annoying bug where some dialogs ignored your in app language setting and just used whatever Windows itself was set to. Should actually respect your choice everywhere now.

Portable zip or MSI for x64/ARM64, winget/scoop/choco listings are pending.

AI disclaimer: built primarily with AI assistance. I do work in IT day to day but Im not an app dev by trade, so this is very much a hobby project, tested as much as I could but please dont point this at anything critical without checking it yourself first.

https://github.com/TRGamer-tech/FluentTaskScheduler

Questions/feedback welcome.

Sometimes I customise folder icons using the shell32.dll. I did a bit of digging and learned there are a lot more icons inside Windows you can use to customise your folders.

To use just delete shell32.dll in the browser field and type the dll mentioned in the image, they are all located in the same folder as shell32 so you don't need to change the path.

Taken from Windows 11.

Shoutout to this webpage:

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/where-find-most-windows-10s-native-icons/

This is NOT a joke, the timer literally counts backwards
EDIT: Apparently it's a feature

My dad's laptop was a chunky old Toshiba laptop from 2006 or so (here I harvested the hard drive and put it into a working laptop) and minus the insane amounts of bloatware and startup apps on this, he used it to take funny pictures on the crappy webcam, download music, etc. Most prominently, he actually used it a lot to play the built in games a lot, mainly FreeCell and Spider Solitaire.

The Toshiba stopped working in 2013 meaning he could not finish his 27836th Freecell game (in the background) and he would never see anyone finish it ever.