Beware the ghost of operating systems past: In which our hero is visited by an old friend
(2021/01/05)
- Reference: 1609844406
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/01/05/12boc/
- Source link:
12BoC With the Twelfth Night approaching, we finish our [1]12 Borks of Christmas* (12BoC) series by waxing a little Dickensian as the ghost of operating systems past pays a visit.
Spotted by Register reader Don Harwood at the platform of Radley (near the UK city of Oxford) a while ago, the Help Point seems to be in need of help.
Our reader noted that the hardware doesn't appear to have changed in the months since the borkage and those specs look a little weedy for Microsoft's latest and greatest. A reminder, perhaps, of how frugal Windows XP now seems compared to the bloatfest of today's Windows.
Except, in this case, XP is bleating about virtual memory.
[2]
Click to enlarge
The error is all too familiar to Windows users and can often lead to some tinkering with the paging file size or a full-on hardware upgrade (or a hunt for what is chewing through the memory). It doesn't look like this bit of kit has been blessed with either large amounts of RAM or disk space.
"I pressed the button," explained Don, "and asked for help to increase the size of the virtual memory paging file, but needless to say they were unable to offer any assistance."
Heroic gesture. We're not sure we'd want to put our fingertips near either the buttons or that touchscreen. Then again, 2018 seems an awfully long time ago now. Indeed, XP was still on life support; Windows Embedded Standard 2009 didn't breathe its last [3]until 2019 .
Radley is not alone. Another reader spotted similar borkage at the delightful single-platformed Wargrave railway station, on the Henley-on-Thames branch line.
[4]
Click to enlarge
Snapped mere days ago on New Years Eve, Windows is again struggling with that pesky virtual memory. Still, at least it looks like the recycle bin has been moved, even if nobody has seen fit to upgrade the poor thing.
As for the Help Point itself, the machines appear to come from [5]Trans Data Management and the interactive touchscreens are designed to funnel up-to-date information to passengers.
The kit, which can still be seen around the country, is "robust and hard-wearing" according to the firm.
If only the version of Windows running within could be the same. ®
A little ditty we are calling: The 12 Borks of Christmas
* ♬ On the 12th day of Christmas, the bork gods sent to me:
Ghostly XP flailing,
[6]Boss bork averted ,
[7]Time to modem down ,
[8]Fetch the cable guy ,
[9]A bork within a bork ,
[10]A boot-hurt ATM ,
[11]Fix the printer, nerds ,
[12]Scottish parking whi-i-i-i-nge ♩------♩ ,
[13]One dead DB ,
[14]Petty angry user ,
[15]Flightless Windows signage ,
and [16]a server they said had ceased to be ♫
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/12BoC
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/12/18/bork12v.jpg
[3] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search?alpha=Windows%20Embedded%20Standard%202009
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/01/04/brok12b.jpg
[5] https://trans-data.com/help-point/#1543923113927-2c165838-90687657-823c
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/04/12boc/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/03/12boc/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/02/12boc/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/01/12boc/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/31/12boc/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/30/12boc/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/29/12boc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/28/12boc/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/27/12boc/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/26/12boc/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/25/12boc/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Spotted by Register reader Don Harwood at the platform of Radley (near the UK city of Oxford) a while ago, the Help Point seems to be in need of help.
Our reader noted that the hardware doesn't appear to have changed in the months since the borkage and those specs look a little weedy for Microsoft's latest and greatest. A reminder, perhaps, of how frugal Windows XP now seems compared to the bloatfest of today's Windows.
Except, in this case, XP is bleating about virtual memory.
[2]
Click to enlarge
The error is all too familiar to Windows users and can often lead to some tinkering with the paging file size or a full-on hardware upgrade (or a hunt for what is chewing through the memory). It doesn't look like this bit of kit has been blessed with either large amounts of RAM or disk space.
"I pressed the button," explained Don, "and asked for help to increase the size of the virtual memory paging file, but needless to say they were unable to offer any assistance."
Heroic gesture. We're not sure we'd want to put our fingertips near either the buttons or that touchscreen. Then again, 2018 seems an awfully long time ago now. Indeed, XP was still on life support; Windows Embedded Standard 2009 didn't breathe its last [3]until 2019 .
Radley is not alone. Another reader spotted similar borkage at the delightful single-platformed Wargrave railway station, on the Henley-on-Thames branch line.
[4]
Click to enlarge
Snapped mere days ago on New Years Eve, Windows is again struggling with that pesky virtual memory. Still, at least it looks like the recycle bin has been moved, even if nobody has seen fit to upgrade the poor thing.
As for the Help Point itself, the machines appear to come from [5]Trans Data Management and the interactive touchscreens are designed to funnel up-to-date information to passengers.
The kit, which can still be seen around the country, is "robust and hard-wearing" according to the firm.
If only the version of Windows running within could be the same. ®
A little ditty we are calling: The 12 Borks of Christmas
* ♬ On the 12th day of Christmas, the bork gods sent to me:
Ghostly XP flailing,
[6]Boss bork averted ,
[7]Time to modem down ,
[8]Fetch the cable guy ,
[9]A bork within a bork ,
[10]A boot-hurt ATM ,
[11]Fix the printer, nerds ,
[12]Scottish parking whi-i-i-i-nge ♩------♩ ,
[13]One dead DB ,
[14]Petty angry user ,
[15]Flightless Windows signage ,
and [16]a server they said had ceased to be ♫
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/12BoC
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/12/18/bork12v.jpg
[3] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search?alpha=Windows%20Embedded%20Standard%202009
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/01/04/brok12b.jpg
[5] https://trans-data.com/help-point/#1543923113927-2c165838-90687657-823c
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/04/12boc/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/03/12boc/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/02/12boc/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/01/12boc/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/31/12boc/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/30/12boc/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/29/12boc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/28/12boc/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/27/12boc/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/26/12boc/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/25/12boc/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Def
10 times faster? I think not.
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SjIB0P9-lY
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SjIB0P9-lY
First stop
chivo243
Back when I deployed PCs with XP, the page file was the second thing I adjusted... right after adjust for best performance and use classic mode.
User Name: Administrator
Anonymous Coward
Brilliant.
Re: User Name: Administrator
Captain Scarlet
Its just lazy
Re: User Name: Administrator
Def
Or incredibly clever.
Someone I used to work with used to make sure the user called Administrator had the most restrictive access on the computer. The real admin account was called something completely different.
Re: User Name: Administrator
chivo243
nimda?
Re: User Name: Administrator
Stoneshop
The real admin account was called something completely different.
Nqzvavfgengbe ?
Ah, BG Info
Steve Foster
I still have that on some of my servers...
Sure, it wasn't the most stable of systems, it was pretty much like Windows 10 although it booted up about ten times faster. I wonder if they will try to fix the problem by plugging in 1 gigabyte of RAM?