As an earlier post went, Windows is taking up all my free time. Well its doing it again. I am re-discovering the joys of running Virtual PC 2007 on a P4 2.6GHz with 1 GB of ram. Not fast enough or enough space. I am trying to make a deadline and demo the dotNet 2.0 project I have been working on for some time. I'll use the VPC to test my software. I would do this at work but my tax dollars are working and paying overtime this weekend on the highway between here and there. There's no good reason to drive an automotive obstacle course at $4 a gallon.

Right now its attempting to update its Service Pack from 2 to 3. I started the process at 9:00AM. We'll keep a clock on it and I'll give you the details as they go. With VPC2007 running, I'll be able to keep up with the Pentium 4 I'm pretty sure. BTW this is from one of the ISO's I down loaded some weeks ago.

9:20AM We're adrift in the doldrums! I can almost hear the Muppets singing their musical version of “Heat Wave” in Treasure Island, a true classic. Nothing seems to be moving very fast. I can read all of the file titles as they are scooped up into the restore point.

Its 9:31 AM and its actually replacing the files, its copied and stored the SP2 state.

I forgot to detail the VPC's stats – It has 2 hard (since they're virtual shouldn't that be soft?) drives, the expando-matic kind, and it has 300 MB of RAM space. In an effort to keep the virtual machine running as fast as it can, I haven't started VS2005 yet because that's gotta run on the “real” as opposed to the “unreal” PC.

9:35AM and its writing the registry and at 9:36AM its “Finishing Installation” for at least 5 minutes so far.

9:40, SP3 is installed, its doing its obligatory reboot.

9:45 I connected to Windows Update and of course VPC passed its WGA test AGAIN! How often should Microsoft have the right to “ping” the CDROM key or license number?

9:48 I start the download of the now 13 security updates. Just a week ago it was 5 or 6.

9:52 It has installed IE7 and all the other stuff and is rebooting.

9:54 Its back up and running. Nearly an hour. I just love Windows.

10:15AM I just remembered! I have to install dotNet 2.0 on the VPC since the project needs the dot Net 2.0 runtime. At least I remembered before trying to install the application!

10:49AM After downloading dotNet 2.0 and the SP1 for it and installing it, I realize I've been messing with it for 2 hours. I just love Windows.

10:52 AM I get all of the profile settings BACK to where they were BEFORE the post-SP3 security updates were installed. Now I can really do what I wanted.