Windows bootup screens through the ages

Microsoft Windows has been around longer than I have, and has seen a great many iterations through the years. This two-page article shows the bootup screens for Windows 1.0 through Windows 7, illustrating the progression from what was effectively a blue screen (of death?) to the pretty Windows logo in Windows 7.

And now, with the advent of Windows 8, and today's modern technology, we'd expect the new logo to be even more beautiful, right? Right?

Uhhh... no, sorry.

Working with Windows

Here are a few links I found useful when messing with Windows:

• Create or delete a service in Windows XP
• How to bring back the missing Security tab in Windows XP
• How to show Quick Launch in Windows 7
• Startup folder locations in Windows 7
• How to enable ping response in windows 7

Legacy icons in Windows XP

When your computer is a bit busy, you might notice something like this while Windows Media Player is loading:


The icons in the upper right hand corner show while it is busy loading. A similarly dated prompt appears when there is an error accessing your CD or DVD drive:


Notice that this prompt does not use the Windows XP styles.

I have always thought that this is because the XP visuals are simply a layer over Windows 3.1 or Windows 2000 functionality. If a window gets stuck (as in the Windows Media Player example) then you can see the old layout before the XP one is rendered over it. This is obviously a waste of performance.

On the other hand, I think the CD/DVD error was simply forgotten and left as it was.