I had some patches several months ago for DOS and Windows. Because Windows is such a pizzacrap I've had to reinstall Windows several times since then. And I didn't remember the names of the patches. So, I thought I would just look them up on the Microsucks site and download them again. WRONG!!

The Microsucks Y2K page (www.microsoft.com/y2k/) is useless. Maybe SOMEWHERE there is something useful. But pages and pages of crap re "The Y2K problem is due to ... 2 digits ... 4 digits ... yada yada". Downloads page gets you to some doofus page... Forget it. Search on "pach" or "upgrade" -- nada.

So, I thought, well I'll just drill down from the main page (www.microsoft.com). WRONG! Their site was bad enough months ago. Now the revised one is completely useless.

I hope DOJ/Rhinohaunches blows them into a million pieces.

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

No such luck, I'm afraid, Mr. A. It is hard for those who don't know to appreciate what a truly terrible product Winblows is. VB? Not bad. Access? Pretty good, finally. Windows and/or NT? Terrible beyond imagining.

One way to conceptualize Y2K impacts is that it will be as if the whole world were "inside" the Windows OS. Wow! Now, THAT'S frightening.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), December 17, 1999.

Sometimes more is less. This is true for MS Y2K page.

These are the exact pages you need:

For Win98:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp

For Win95 (scroll down to featured updates for y2k):

http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/

Thank you and good night....

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 17, 1999.

DITTO!!!!! I upgraded my office computer from 95 to 98 so that I would be "compliant." NOW!!!! MS Lookout Express and MS IE will not work. Period.

They suck. I hope Bill Gates loses the use of his penis.

Bob

-- Bob (bob@bob.com), December 17, 1999.

Thanks mucho, hamster: Looks like what I (and EVERYONE needs). I'll check them out in detail later -- one of the subpages bombed out my Netscape because Microsucks insists I have "Enable JavaScript" checked in my "Edit | Preferences | Advanced" area. My default is unchecked, so I'll do a session later with them with it checked. Usually, if a site insists, I just say "adios mf", but I guess I got to make an exception in this case.

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 17, 1999.

Hey A,

Oh well, hamster beat me to it!

There are a couple of new files, not included in the Win/95 Y2K update package, on the Downloads page. One of them, the LIBRAY UPDATE, doesn't even mention Y2K on the "short" description, but if you look at the READ.ME:

"This update also addresses a Year 2000 issue which may cause some applications built with the Microsoft Foundation Classes to improperly handle dates that are greater than December 31, 1999. In addition, this update addresses an unrelated April 1, 2001 date- handling issue."

The other Y2K update is the Dail Up Networking 1.3 Y2K update, under NETWORKING on that page.

See my post here for hot-links:

I just found ANOTHER Win/95 Y2K update, not included in the Y2K "package"

And if you haven't been to the Windows Update Site, check it out. A few people seem to have a problem with it, but if it works, it's pretty nice. Not great, just nice...

Have fun! Tick... Tock... <:00= ...

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 17, 1999.

Someone who needs to call someone or something "names" may need to look at the operator. I have NEVER had a problem with windows patches.....maybe it's the operator or hardware! Get a grip!

-- MicroLuv (Get @Grip.com), December 17, 1999.

I am too confused to mess around. This PC was bought in October. It had better work. Also, my one at home was bought only last November. That one had better work also if I ever get back to NYC. True that I don't expect my 386, the prior computer to work at all.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 17, 1999.

Mara,

You're starting to sound like a small business owner... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 17, 1999.

Where did Bill Gates get the name Microsoft?????.............Ans; It's what the girls at harvard called him!

-- Alfred E. (what@MeWorry.com), December 17, 1999.

OK. I unfortunately am using microsucks windows 98 on a micron computer i just purchased last week. will this program also be noncompliant and need to have patches downloaded or did they started including compliant versions at some point (that sounds way too easy, so i'm guessing they haven't)?

i've already resigned myself to patching up windows 95 on my old computer, which is about to become my parents' for internet access, but i was hoping my new computer would be OK since it's so new. please tell me that's true (or break it to me gently that it's not).

thanks for your patience. i know this may be a stupid question.

-- nance (nancyw@mailcity.com), December 17, 1999.

Big Dog,

That was quite profound...inside ms os.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 17, 1999.

I can't for the life of me understand why you all just dont but a $999 IMac? I've used the Mac OS since the mid-80's & while it isnet perfect & it's getting more complex, it still seems prety stable & easy to use.

The reason most of the people in the Mac ThinkDifferent ads are dead (Ghandi, John Lennon, Desi Arnez, etc..) is because the Mac pre- dominates in the alternate universe, in the here-after, in heaven. Here on earth, only the remnant 5-10% use the tools of heaven, while the remainder suffer in a hell on earth.

-- INever (use windows) (inevercheckmy@onebox.com), December 18, 1999.

Ah, yes, the Purgatorio of Windows. La Fenestra, the aperture into an electronic Franz Kafka novel. Very funny comments on this thread. Big Dog--that's a beautiful simile you used. Maddening, frustrating yells of "what idiot would ever dream this up?" rang out on my first contact with 'windows' after years of Mac nirvana.

Two years ago Nicholas Negroponte of MIT wrote on this in Wired, naming the many common frustrations which we all know and hate so well. Only those who had tasted of the golden Apple knew the mechanistic abyss that windows was, and is. A computer version of Byron's "Dark, satanic mills," the nineties have been, if nothing else, the decade that saw the rise of soul-deadening electron mining, as, more and more, the populace found itself shackled to a mindless tyrant, the computer.

Enough verbosity. BigDog and others, I would highly recommend Steve Talbott's website, NetFuture, where you will find extremely thoughtful discussions on Technology and Society.

Oh, and BigDog: I have a lot of respect for your integrity, and it saddened me to see you continuing to bother with Flint. Unless you consider it a simple act of charity (entertaining Flint, that is), note the date (I'm sure you have), let go, and enjoy the Christmas season. Remember: the real Jubilee starts Christmas Eve.

Pax Christi

-- Rider (Wake@Dawns.Smile), December 18, 1999.

Bob, Mara, and nance,

If you have Win/98-SECOND EDITION, then you already have the Y2K updates. But if you have the ORIGINAL version, THEY ARE NOT INCLUDED.

Tick... Tock... <:00= ...

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

Sysman: How can I tell if I have the original version or the second edition??? Also, is it just me, or have you noticed that the threads on this forum that you have already read are not turning another color...they just stay blue now on my screen even if I have already read it. Is yours that way too??

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), December 18, 1999.

PS - It also looks like the Y2K updates, both of them for Win/98, are included in the "Customer Service Pack" if you have that installed. Perhaps some of our Win/98 users here can tell us how to tell if we have the 98 Y2K patches inatalled, since I'm still a 95-B guy... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

jeanne,

I think 98 works the same as 95 here, click the System Icon in Control panel, and it shows you the version. Mine says 4.00.950 B. Again, perhaps one of our 98 folks can tell us for sure... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

Where did Bill Gates get the name Microsoft?????

If something is micro-soft, it must be mega-hard, and that's how his software is to use.

-- Steve Heller (stheller@koyote.com), December 18, 1999.

Oh, and jeanne,

As for links not changing color, if you clear your browser history, that's what happens. It also happens if you use http://18.24.3.72 to access this site, and not http://www.greenspun.com, like Diane has been talking about. Your browser keeps track of this part of the address to know where you've been. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

Jeanne: See also Dians's Ping thread. And, if you go from the main page (new questions) by right clicking on "new window" to get to a thread, then when you close the window, the link you clicked on won't change color until you refresh the main page.

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 19, 1999.