Win Media Player V 9

At MicroSoft's beckoning, without first researching, I started to install the new version of WIn Media Player, V9, and after reading the extensive and somewhat ambiguously worded End User License Agreement (that to me inferred that without further approval that they could download lists of song titles to my machine any time they so desired that would restrict what I could play...), I cancelled out of it (selected that I did not concur with their EULA), but it went ahead and installed anyway (actually they had two EULA's, I agreed to the first, disagreed with the second...so I guess it was installed based only on the first...or it was a bug...). ANYWAY, has anyone been able to decipher the legalese in the EULAs such that it can be expressed in layman's terms, so that I can have some idea of what the implications are of having V9 installed? Can I simply block MS's "intrusions" via my firewall or do they manage to bypass FW blocks somehow (like on "updates ")? Is there a comparable or better freeware player out there (I do like the visual effects of WMP)??? Is anyone aware of potential problems of attempting to revert to V8, and how best to do that to avoid problems (without any backup...), i.e. using 'oldversion.com'?

 

I just did this yesterday.

Media Player 7.1 download

I uninstalled version 9 and cleaned out temps and registry and defragged. Rebooted to safe mode and installed ver7.1. Defragged again.

Worked just fine. Listened to George Jones all afternoon.

 

Hi
Isnt this what system restore is made for ?


Regards


Lonny

 

Hey Lonnie,

I don't get the connection.

 

Hi

We win me and xp can use system restore to get out of eerant , bad installs ,
Or unwanted installs --the beta version of media player recomended setting a restore point prior to the install just in case .

Regards

Lonny

I just noticed you use both avg and fprot
I have avg if i get f-prot do i have to disable one or the other
scaning memory ? I would think so -just for the resource useage

Lon

 

Hey Lonny

F-prot is a dos version that is not running at the same time as AVG. I have AVG running all the time and every once in a while, I drop to DOS and run f-prot.

I also have Trojan Hunter running in windows. So far have never had a trojan or virus. (knock knock)

I had ME for awhile but disabled system restore as too intrusive. I use Norton Ghost for my protection.

One thing I learned from being a Beta tester for AOL (3.0 thru 4.0) for a year and a half. Never use anything Beta on any machine you want to keep.

 

Lonny:

As and explanation, so that you don't feel that I am too terribly dense, I did actually create a restore point prior to the install. Why I am not sure, habit I guess, becasue on the only two occasions that I actually attempted to do a restore, the process failed. And, lately I have run into some real nightmares with flaky software, so in a situation like this, I tend to be leery of clandestine processes that have failed in the past, and consequently look to stable processes (like uninstalling and installing an old version in this case) that on the surface may take a little longer, but in the long run avoids the possibility of yet another time consuming nightmare. SO, have you had any problems with system restore, or have your experiences been uneventful? And, yes, I do have an external hard drive specifically for backup, but it has not worked since upgrading to XP, no drivers that I could find… So, here I am doing the best I can in Murphy's Law Land, with everyone thinking I am an idiot, when I am really just in too much of a hurry…

 

keywester Hi

"SO, have you had any problems with system restore, or have your experiences been uneventful? "

No I havent had any of the horror stories ive overheard with system restore ,one time it refused to work until I restarted ,but then it would have worked if needed--made me wonder. Had the problem with it reseting each mounth untill they came out with the pacth .for the pacth

" "As and explanation, so that you don't feel that I am too terribly dense" "

If anyones dence here it be me .Usualy
Usualy if I attempt to help ( get a word in edge wize) they are very much more undence -educated than I--taking that into consideration , I tend to see things from a more basic level ,
where-as the poster may have overlooked or over thought a problem . Anyway

So did Bmoore1129 suggestion help ? seams that atleast for I (perhaps) with windows me it would work -but with no restarting
until I went into win setup and reinstalled the more basic version.

But I dont use wmp much --I did have the beta version ,and notice they came out with the final release,Got it to. Ill never get another beta --till other people check first.

To bad most all the improvements revolve around protecting copyrighted material , and flashy touches >dodads<.

Have you been to wmp web site or ms kb to get some clues as to reverting .

Good luck
Bmoore1129 I just installed anti-trojan 5.5 --evaluation version good for mm 15 days , i must be lucky.nada found .

Ive been thinking to get a firewall but hesitate becouse of resources , any idea how much percentage a firewall uses ?
And what would be the best choice for a free at home version ?
Ill stay away from fprot --being dos illiterate, I should say ,mm
minimul startup .

Regards
Lon

 

Lonny:

Regarding "Ive been thinking to get a firewall but hesitate becouse of resources, any idea how much percentage a firewall uses ? And what would be the best choice for a free at home version? "

I do have some input as I have recently switched from "free" ZoneAlarm to Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.4.

Why?? LONG story VERY short, I used ZA 2.6 for a year and a half, was suckered into a free "upgrade" (they didnt say it was "beta ", but sure seemed like it was), and immediately started experiencing consistent disconnects on my DEDICATED "always on" DSL connection. ZA was no help, their suggestion was to purchase the non free version to fix the problem. I finally got tired of the disconnects, tried to revert to ZA 2.6, and ZA "locked down" my DSL connection, unable to connect (imagine trying to fix the problem with NO connection, just ZA's tech support number on the screen!), they seem to have gone to great pains to keep you from easily UNinstalling, and I have seen this exact same opinion expressed on BBS's...

Anyway, I researched the available free firewalls, and decided on KPF -- altho, Agnitums' Outpost looked very intriguing but saw way too many negative postings, so stayed away from it. But, point is, KPF is stated to have a "small footprint" resource wise on a PC (whereas ZA is a resource hog) and I have noticed better performance with KPF, especially in startup/shutdown (went from 4 to 5 minutes to about 30 seconds).
KPF does not (yet) have all the third party bells and whistles like ZA, but their need is questionable, and KPF works, is efficient, and hopefully will keep intruders out... Don't just take my opinion, do some online research, there are BBS's that address firewalls. But, I did go thru that, and KPF looked to be the "lesser evil "...

Do not know about the percentage of resources used, never tracked that, but my bottom line would be that KPF was implied to be the least resource intensive FW.

Best of luck on whatever you decide, it IS a jungle out there on the net. kwestr

 

Thanks for the imput

Lon

 

FAO Keywester:

In answer to your question regarding a better player than WMP9,

try JetAudio 5 Basic from

http://www.jetaudio.com/download/index.html

 

thanx for the tip Mahmud603

do you know if there are any problems if I leave WMP in place while trying out JetAudio?

 

You should be OK but after installing it click on the register as default within options.