XP Pro' s"Learned Behavior" and NLEs

[Dave Cardillo]

I'm fishing for information regarding compatibility with better grade NLE's, say 5-700 range for the PC, and XPO Pro. My system was built with the AMD 2800 Barton core processor, 1G ram, Radeon 9600, 2 SATA raided 0 125 Baracudas, one gets the profile. I have little experience with NLE's, and so I tried the one which came with the computer, Ulead's 7. Also, I obtained the soon to be defunct Roxio's Videowave 7 to learn on. It seems that XP Pro is "learning" some of my behaviors, and - I know that sounds crazy, but - well, here's an example. I created a file in Roxio, edited it, ran it to DVD, no problems. Then I went to do a second edit for sound, and could not get the program to respond as it had previously. Some symptoms include program hangs. So I eventually uninstalled Roxio, put the vid in the recycle, and reinstalled Roxio, with all the firewalls, anti viral stuff disabled, as well as things in the sys tray. When I captured the video again, Windows placed it in the library folder under the same name as the one I used earlier for the deleted program! I thought this odd, but I have other examples of this learned behavior which have nothing to do with video, editing or the like.

I am contemplating doing two things: Purchasing Pinnacle Liquid 5.5 (not set in cement), and taking this computer off line permanently for sole use with photography, thereby avoiding the next wave of Win "upgrades". I'd appreciate any comments, opinions, similar experiences.

[Josh Allen]

Not sure this helps you much, but I run Premiere on an XP Pro, P4 box without any problems. I do have it connected to the internet, and I do install patches/service packs as they become available. I also keep it barebones though, not installing any other software.

[Dan Euritt]

i've been running winxp with a 3 ghz p4 on the laptop, all the latest upgrades, on the 'net, the whole 9 yards... the biggest problems i'm seeing is that older editing programs that ran fine on win2k don't always work right on winxp... so make sure that the program you are using is fully winxp compatible.

i've never heard of your "learned behavior" thing, and in fact, it's not really clear exactly what problems you are having.

i would advise you to go ahead and fully upgrade winxp with all the latest patches... then go to: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm and turn off all the unnecessary crap that winxp runs... including that horrid automatic update function.

this will be a real pia for most people, because that site isn't for beginners... most of you would rather just edit with your pc, instead of having to babysit it's operating system :-)

on top of that, i personally would never install a norton/symantic product of any kind, and i like to turn off the xp firewall, and run the free version of zonealarm instead... the free avg virus control is also what i use, but do not set up any kind of scheduled scanning or auto update of the virus signatures... i would also not install that new xp service pack 2 that's coming out at the end of the month, until it's been well tested.

[Dave Cardillo]

Thanx for the rapid and helpful responses, fellas. My XP Pro is up to date on all the latest notices, (except SP#2) and I have not read anything comprehensive from the technical news services regarding compatibility issues. What I wish for is that one of the editing programs is "stable" within itself, and I've seen this language used moreso for Pinnacle where I've been reading.

OK Here's the strangest thing my PC has done. (I get stares and looks of disbelief from people when I tell this one.)

A month ago, I walked away from the system for about 45 minutes, left it idling. I walked by and decided to shut the monitor off at the switch rather than go into settings as I've done with versions of Win 98's for many years. I later went back, turned the monitor back on and resumed the task. A few days later, I turned on the system, walked away from it for more than 30 minutes, and when I went back, the system had itself blanked my monitor. It does this all the time now, and I've not done anything with the settings panel. It's like it's learning my behaviors. Glad it doesn't have arms, legs and some part in a sci-fi movie.
Thanks again
D

[Josh Allen]

If I recall correctly, Premiere will only run on XP Pro, and mentioned, it has been rock-solid stable for me.

[Chris McKee]

The "learned behaviour" you describe (capturing video to a previously used folder) is probably a setting that got stored in the computer's registry. Often, when you uninstall a program, some registry information is left untouched. Or, possibly your user settings were stored in a different file hidden on your drive.

[Rob Lohman]

Why are you pondering to get Liquid? Not that there is anything
wrong with that choice, but I was wondering how you arrived at
that position.

If you haven't done so already I would at least try out demos of
various editing packages including Premiere and Vegas. That way
you will have a better understanding of what works best for you.

Keep in mind that if you are going to try out demos; do some
ACTUAL editing in there. Just looking and clicking through an
application will not give you a feel for it!

[Joseph Bradley]

I am running a home brew ASUS A7N8X board machine with AMD 2.1 gig, 2600+ proc and 1 gig of ram. I have three, IDE 7000 rpm hard drives (NTFS), one for programs, one for data, and one for paging files. The system is XP Home with updates current. I just added a Matrox G550 AGP dual head display board with Viewsonic VP191b LCD as primary and 17" NEC FE700+ secondary. I use the machine for internet, MS Office apps, digital photo editing and dv editing. I use Norton anti-virus (not running when machine off line). I do have the MS firewall activated. I have as much automatic stuff turned off as I can: updates, clock, screen saver, system sounds and windows screen enhancements running classic mode). I do not necessarily recommend such a variety of uses for an editing work station, and in the future will doubtless go for a more dedicated machine. However, I must say for now the rig is rock solid and multi-tasks well, even when editing video. I was introduced to Adobe three years ago with version 6. When I upgraded last year to Pro 1.0 the learning curve was pretty steep. They had changed a lot of things, but it was more powerful, and eventually easier to use. I just got Pro 1.5, and it has smoothed out some of the lumps in the first version. I am liking it a lot, but cannot compare with any other suites out there. Good luck with your search.

[Bill Ravens]

There's several comments I can make about "learned behavior" in Win XP. It's true that WinXP will learn what your program habits are at boot time and "pre-load" these programs into your computers memory. The definitions of which programs these are are kept in a folder in the root\Windows\Prefetch folder. It behooves everyone to periodically manually clean out this folder. You'll e shocked at how much quicker your computer boots. There's also freeware available to keep this folder cleaned out.

Other than that WINXP doesn't really "learn" or adapt to a user. If you've got a network connection, and you have Windows Update enabled (oh foolish you) WinXP WILL automatically download Windows updates. It's really not wise to leave this feature enabled, which, by the way, is the default option that ships with WinXP.

[Jim Underwood]

Bill,

Thanks for the tip on the XP prefetch. I was not aware of this behavior. For those that want more info on this, see What is the Windows XP Prefetch?

However, I have to disagree with you on disabling the Windows Updates.

First, you can configure it to ONLY notify you when new updates are available, but do NOT download NOR install. I highly recommend this.

Second, in order to guard against new security threats (like trojans), everyone should immediately review, and probably install, all new updates that are labeled as "Critical Security updates".

The problem that we all have, as member of the Internet community, is stopping new trojans and other security holes as quickly as possible. By enabling Windows Update to ONLY notify you, you maintain control but can respond much more timely to new security threats.

There are a number of cases where major companies got hit hard by a trojan that fixes were released several weeks prior to them being hit. The system admins were just not doing their job by keeping their systems up to date in a timely manner, and they paid for it bigtime. Some of these companies lost millions of dollars.

One specific caution: Don't install new operating system (WinXP, Win2000) Service Packs when they are first released. Give them a month or so to make sure there are no unintended problems with the SPs.

BOTTOM LINE: Windows Update is a GOOD thing when used properly.

[Rob Lohman]

Jim: I think Bill meant that you should run the check for updates
and install manually. Not that you shouldn't run it at all. The
reason for doing it manually is to make sure it doesn't start
checking and/or downloading and/or installing when you are
doing something system critical like capturing or editing a clients
piece.

Ofcourse you should always have at least the latest security /
critical updates as soon as you have the oppurtunity to install
those.

[Jim Underwood]

Rob,

Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up.

The way it was stated could lead people to believe that they should just disable Windows Update altogether. Disabling and setting the proper configuration are two different things.

I happen to be in the IT business, but I assume that, to many here, the computer is just a tool, and they don't want to be bother with it any more than necessary. So, for them, it's important to choose your words carefully.

Just want to be clear, that's all.

[Rob Lohman]

Very true Jim and it's definitely good to explain it exactly. I'm in
the same business as well! <g>

[Bill Ravens]

Indeed, one should always be sure they've got the most up to date and appropriate security on their system. I did not, by any means, mean to imply one should not. Nevertheless, M$ products are, by far, the most notorious for causing system problems. The only thing M$ ever did to further the IT industry is to provide some definition of "standard". Altho', Gates didn't do all this out of charity or the goodness of his heart, so I hesitate to give him as much credit as you think he/they deserve. M$ is like a disease that cures you of your heart trouble but kills you with cancer. At any rate, M$ updates, by their nature, need to be used WITH CAUTION. I would never advocate BLIND acceptance of some of their follies.

Now, on a practical note, Rob's right. If you let your system automatically log onto the net and download and install updates, without your knowledge, you risk many nasty ills such as dropped frames, audio drop-out, etc, etc, etc.

[Jim Underwood]

Bill,

You obviously don't like Windows or Microsoft. Why don't you use a Mac instead?