Just tried an illegal, manipulated copy of Windows XP named "Windows XP Performance Edition, March 2009" obtained from one of my friends who procured it VIA BitComet and believe me the entire experience taught me a lesson albeit in a practical way. Being an MSP (Microsoft Student Partner) I should not be encouraging any use of illegal or inauthentic copies of software especially from Microsoft but the ploy of this blog is valid enough to encourage you to try this illegal copy so you'll get know the importance of "Genuine and License Software". You'll also understand as to why Microsoft spends millions behind it's "Genuine Advantage" campaign to enlighten the end-users about the pro's of using genuine Microsoft software.
Download Windows XP Performance Edition: (Try it at your own risk though) |  |
Now about "Windows XP Performance Edition":
- An illegitimate, manipulated version of Windows XP released over Torrent sites by a user known by his alias "" in a bid to remove all not-so-required windows components and automated tweaks to achieve the best possible performance.
- The source is an ISO file which comes preloaded with Microsoft latest Service Pack 3 (SP3). The ISO file is in a highly compressed format weighing just 256 MB in contrast to the size of the genuine version which is 650 MB.
- The "i386" folder has been smartly manipulated by the illegitimate author to remove many Windows components like Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Messenger, Mouse pointers, Games, Networking components, additional drivers, additional services etc in a bid to achieve high performance. Also a lot many tweaks to the Registry Editor are made inherent to facilitate more ease for the user.
- The ISO also contains a crack for "Genuine Advantage validation" .
- The author claims that this Edition also works well on Virtual machines like Virtual Box v2.2.1, Virtual PC 2007, VMWare etc.
But the real blunder is when the author in a bid to remove windows components to reduce the size and attain best performance has also removed essential windows components and hence a lot many errors, failures, inconsistencies and flaws can be witnessed. The feasibility over a long term for this illegitimate product can be put to nil from all my observations and experiences with it after just an hour of experiments.
The intent was good from the author's point-of-view but I don't thing he'll be successfull before 10 more revised realeases.
No IIS(Internet Information Services) in it and cannot be added by any way. That's just one example. The story goes on and on ....
The biggest JOKE - Type "control" in Start-->Run and you see "Fault Exception error at a memory location 0x0054ca"
Want some more... - Type "devmgmt.msc" in Start-->Run and "mmc" fails.
I guess a lot many things are going to fail if I spend another day or two .... :) :)
Now my dear readers, I'm sure by this time you must have realized as to why Microsoft spends millions behind "Genuine Advantage" campaign and why genuine and authentic software is invaluable !!
Small note dated 11th Sept, 2011: I went through the comments recently and I do not rule out the fact that this Edition might have improved since this post have been written. A gentle request to consider the points in this post for the period and the version when this post has been written.
The link to the torrent download has been updated above.
