Microsoft Windows MicroXP 0.8 | 100 MB
Good for poor PC configuration and should fly on your powerful rig!
With a total installation size of just 200Mb and a CD size of just 99.9Mb, this has to be one of the smallest Windows XP installations out there. Whats more - you can use 99% of the programs you always use and up to now there is not one single report of any game not working in MicroXP. Install includes default XP drivers for Ethernet/Sound/SCSI/RAID and integrated with Service Pack 3 final.
Features and Benefits:
This installation takes only 4 Minutes 20 seconds.
This install includes default XP drivers for Ethernet/Sound/SCSI/RAID
It has all languages kept, except Chinese/Japanese/Korean.
It has all keyboard layout choices kept.
It also has Service Pack 3 final slipstreamed into it.
Services Remaining In Windows:
Cryptographic Services
DCOM Server Process Launcher
DHCP Client
Event Log
Logical Disk Manager
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
Network Connections
Plug and Play
Print Spooler
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Remote Access Connection Manager
Remote Procedure Call
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telephony
Windows Audio
Windows Installer
Wireless Zero Configuration
All these services are enabled except “Print Spooler” which you will need to enable in “services.msc”.
To use the functionality you need, for example: a printer, just click the green square icon near the start button.
There you can double click the service you need to use and even a novice user can now read the service descriptions and decide what to enable and what to keep disabled.
For example if you have a Dial-Up connection (for example: ADSL Broadband) then it says “Dial-Up Connection” in the services as opposed to the long and overly technical descriptions put in by Microsoft by default.
The services window can be set so you can see all service names and all columns in the services window are fully visible. Just click “Standard” at the bottom and double click all the columns
at the top where the top row joins the columns. When you install some programs, they might put a new service in and add their own long and overly technical descriptions, nevermind, its nice whilst it lasts.
eXPerience Desktop Folder Contents:
Desktop Icon Layout (Lets you save your desktop icon layout)
Driver Install Tool (Easily install all your drivers, see ReadMe)
Keyboard Settings (Quick access to Regional and Language options)
Registry Backup (Make a complete backup of the registry in one click)
Services Config (Files to enable and disable functionality)
Web Browser (Browzar, to download a full browser of YOUR choice)
Windows Media Player 11 (This is just a readme file about WMP11)
WHAT YOU CANNOT DO?
This is a greatly reduced installation of Windows XP Professional SP3
Please read these notes BEFORE using this edition of Windows:
STANDALONE SYSTEM ONLY
No local networking is possible. The “Network Connections” service has been kept in this edition of Windows to stop errors when installing Ethernet card or modem drivers. The “Network Connections” service is not there to support LAN networking. You can of course just try to plug another computer into your MicroXP computer, but networking in this way is not guaranteed to work, because the related services for this are removed (Computer Browser and Workstation).
SINGLE USER ONLY
You cannot add any additional users. Do not try to add more users, otherwise your main account that is used by default (Administrator) will become the new account and after logging in, you will not have any desktop theme (not even Classic) and the whole account will be ruined. You’ll probably have to install Windows again because if you make a new account it replaces Administrator” and tries to log you in with “Default User” - the problem with this is - there is no “Default User” anymore.
NO WEBCAMS, SCANNERS OR DIGITAL CAMERAS
You cannot use these devices in this version of Windows, because the “Windows Image Acquisition” service is removed.
NO NATIVE SUPPORT FOR FTP SITES
There is no “built in” support for downloading from FTP sites, try using Filezilla or WS_FTP if you need to do that. Even just Opera or Firefox can probably do it. This functionality is gone
because the “Application Layer Gateway” service is gone, along with ALG.EXE that normally runs in Task Manager, taking up about 6Mb RAM for what amounts to no reason.
NO VISITING WINDOWS UPDATE
You cannot visit Windows Update with this version of Windows because Internet Explorer is removed. You can manually download updates from Microsoft and you can also use the alternative
“Windiz” Update website through Opera or Firefox. Because so much has been removed from this edition of Windows, you are not likely to be any more “safe” installing updates for Windows.
NOTE: Because this edition of Windows uses a patched “winlogon.exe” in order to remove the “oembios.bin” file, you really should not update Windows anyway, in case “winlogon.exe” gets replaced by an update. There are more details about this in the eXPerience folder on the desktop once MicroXP is installed.
NO FAST USER SWITCHING
Apart from you only being able to have the one account anyway (Administrator) the ability to do Fast User Switching is also removed.
NO PASSWORD STORAGE/AUTOCOMPLETE
Windows will not save stored passwords, however, this only really applied to Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, which are removed. You will be fine using Firefox or Opera web rowsers and Thunderbird email client for emails. Those are self contained programs and take care of storing your passwords by themselves.
NO CD-ROM AUTOPLAY
When you insert a CD that would bring up a screen to install the program contained on the CD, this does not happen in this version of Windows, you will have to explore the CD manually and run whatever file it is that runs the program’s setup, usually “setup.exe” on the root of the CD. If the CD has a file called “AUTORUN.INF” then open that file and look at which .exe file is listed in “AUTORUN.INF”
NO SCHEDULED TASKS
You cannot set programs, like AntiVirus or Hard Disk Defrag programs to run in the future IF they need the Scheduled Tasks service in Windows. If you are going to run those types of programs you will have to manually scan or defrag whenever it is convenient. Despite this, one program that will schedule its operations is Perfectdisk defrag, you do not need Task Scheduler for this program to run a scheduled defrag.
NO REMOTE DESKTOP
There is no Remote Desktop in this version of Windows because the “Terminal Services” service is removed.
NO THEMES
You cannot have the Luna (Blue/Olive/Silver) desktop theme in this version of Windows, the only theme you can choose is “Windows Classic” which it is already set to by default. You can however install “Windowblinds” if you want to and it will work fine, Windowblinds does not rely on the Themes service. You could even make MicroXP look like Vista with the “Ironjer” AeroGlass The Remix V4. Use v4 not v5 of that if you use it.
NO “UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY” SERVICE
I always thought “UPS Service” delivered parcels but apparently not, if you have this type of device then it will not work on this version of Windows. A UPS is only used for emergencies like if you have a power cut - thats if you even have such a device.
WHAT YOU CAN DO?
- PROGRAMS -
You can still install and run just about all the programs and gamesthat you can run on a normal installation of XP. There is a text filein the eXPerience folder on the desktop that has a list of programsthat work and includes some that don’t work (not many). Even Office 2007 installs on this version of Windows
- GAMES -
Up to now, there has not been one single report of any game not working on MicroXP. Gaming is what this edition of Windows is all about, it gives better benchmarks than any other version of
Windows I have ever tested.
- DIAL-UP CONNECTION -
You can still use a Dial-Up connection (Broadband or old 56k modem). This is the one major flaw in other stripped out operating systems, a lot of UK users still use a modem with broadband… in this edition, RAS Dial-Up/PPPoE/DSL/ADSL connectivity is OK as well as old 56k modems. Yes, try this install on a Pentium II or even an old 486 might run it! They had 75Mhz processors and 8Mb RAM with 4Mb graphics cards.
- WEB BROWSER -
This installation already includes a basic web browser called “Browzar” that uses a few core files left from Internet Explorer. No, Internet Explorer is not included, but select files included in this installation that come from Internet Explorer are vital to running Windows. Its also Internet Explorer related files that allow you to open CHM files, which you can do in this edition of Windows. This “Browzar” web browser is only here so you can at least get online and download Firefox, Opera, Netscape or whatever browser you want. This not only saves space on this CD,
but you get to choose what web browser you want to use and you get the latest version not an old and possibly insecure version. Flash v9.0.124.0 for Firefox and Opera is included, so Google Video and YouTube work straight away in whichever browser you install.
- PASSES WGA CHECKS -
If you go to download for example, Windows Media Player 11 from Microsoft’s downloads section, you will need to “validate” windows by running the “GenuineCheck.exe” file that Microsoft asks you to download as part of the “Windows Genuine Advantage” checks. Its fine to do this, don’t be scared of your key being blacklisted.
- WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 11 -
You can install Windows Media Player 11 in this edition of Windows.
- WMV STREAMS -
Once you have installed Opera, Firefox, Netscape or the browser of your choice, as long as you install Windows Media Player 11, you can stream Windows Media Videos from websites like the BBC’s News website, or anywhere that has WMV streams. This is possible because there are three DLL files added to the “Windows Media Player” folder in “Program Files”. Don’t worry, theres no Windows Media Player there, it only contains the vital DLL files for streaming compatibility in Firefox and Opera.
- FLASH -
If you install Opera or Firefox web browser(s) in this special “MicroXP” edition of Windows, you can go visit YouTube or Google Video without even having to install Flash Player. You can just
watch the videos right away.
