I just stuck WinXP on my laptop (the reasons are not relevant here)

I was surprised to see that there appears to be no easy way to have multiple connection profiles--eg when going back and forth from home to office. Uncle Google quickly confirmed that this is a known limitation and also found several 3rd party utilities.

More generally, the network setup on XP is a convoluted mess compared to the various methods available to Linux users.

How could something so fundamental survive so long in an OS that was--and maybe still is--the most-used in the world?

Cynical answer: Because MS could not make money improving it.

I wonder if Win 7 is any better....

Something you might like to think about doing to get some control of the thing is to install VirtualBox then install XP in it. Your networking is handled by VirtualBox on the Linux side of the world and XP uses whatever Linux hands it.

Also, you can install multiple virtual machines, so you can have XP and Win7.

By the way, Microsoft is still Microsoft -- to my great amusement (yeah, really, laughed my head off) I told Win7 to search devices and got the Blue Screen of Death. I don't really give a hoot if any Windows installation works except that it will run TurboTax and Stamps.com so I don't much care what the Vole does but, well, he ain't changed his spots! VirtualBox (or, what the heck, VMware) makes your life with micocrap much, much easier (not pleasant, just easier).

Hope this helps some.

Yes--I will be setting up in a VM also. The only real point of installing now is to check on some specifice issues--eg wireless at the office. I want to know if it works on a native Windows install before engaging the help desk there.

To clarify what you are saying: The VM effectively acts as a router in passing the internet connection to Windows?

Stamps.com doesn't work on Linux? Hmmm, a new cause.....

Now I'm running Windows update---another convoluted mess!! I want to get some Windows engineers and show them "pacman -Syu"

I guess that if the Unix philosophy is "do one thing and do it well", the the Windows philosophy is "make a huge kludge that tries to do everything very poorly".

I've essentially done what tronayne suggested. I have VirtualBox running my XP install (need it for work) and let Slackware do everything networkwise. One thing I really like about doing it this way is that I can disconnect the network cable in VBox and still have connectivity with my host os. This way I don't have to mess with any settings on XP, I can just connect in Slack and be done. Oh, and the snapshot feature is fantastic.

Continuing...

After (finally) finishing Windows Update (includes SP3), I proceeded to install some missing drivers (from the HP Driver DVD). Eventuall, it dawned on me that I might be able to run some utility on the DVD. Bingo!!

Now HP has taken over and is installing all manner of things---and is doing so at a snail's pace. One thing caught my eye--it was installing SP2!! Please tell me that this does not mean that it just undid >1hour of Windows Update.....

Yes, it certainly appears to have.

Oh, something I forgot to mention (getti' old, gettin' old). If you do install VirtualBox, be sure to install the Guest Additions first thing after you install winders -- makes life easier.

Well, HP did not undo SP3, but I am still running Windows update---it seems that, over a period of ~8 hours, it finds something new almost every time I run it.

I'm a lousy record-keeper, but my hunch is that Windows is taking ~3X as long to install as the equivalent Linux setup.

Sounds like you guys got farther than I did with Windows 7. It came on a new box I bought. Bascially I was forced to buy it. I asked the sales guy why I had to pay for an OS I didn't want or need, but he didn't have an answer for that. Anyway, I started Windows 7 just to see what it was like, if MS had come any farther. I didn't get past the EULA's. They were downright scary. Stuff like MS will search your system, phone home, and if finds this or that, it will disable this or that, record your IP, log this and that, scan and make sure you're in compliance, warning! so-and-so may be removed if found, don't try and circumvent this-or-that, etc, etc, etc. I could've swore I bought the computer but obviously MS thought it still had total control over it. It wouldn't let me use the system, or exit out, so I had to pull the plug. Really, what's next? In order to use Windows 10 you'll have to insert electrodes into your brain and give Microsoft total access and control or else no computer for you?

This is precisely why I build my own machines. Even when I ran windows it was better to install it yourself than buy the preinstalled bloatware that came with the system. My first store-bought computer was a Sony Vaio, I wanted to build one, but I was taken by all the "bundled software." I soon found that half of it was useless and the other half was trial-ware, then windows failed, and the stupid restore disk didn't believe it was meant for my hardware, and I wound up having to go out and buy a copy of windows anyway........That was a learning experience!

With my newest build the sales-guy helping me seemed a little unhappy with me, when he tried to push 7 on me and I told him "no thanks, I run linux"

Yeah, the eula is total bull *.

smeezekitty, I hope your OS is not going to do stuff like that.

I am going for GPL.

Seems like its always something with M$.

I hate the constant updates. Other than that, if a guy uses windows in a half way smart manner, it seems to work fine. I used it from 3.0 up until xp and never had any real problems with it. I just like linux a lot better, thats not a knock on windows.