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Subject:Re: GPFs (was Re: PC Processing Power) From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 28 Mar 1997 17:01:14 -0800
On Fri, 28 Mar 1997 11:03:00 -0800, Wilcox, John (Contractor) wrote:
> A faster machine really pays off. I have a new P200 with 32MB of RAM
>and a
> 3 gigglebyte drive on my desk. It crashes just as frequently as my old
> machine (both on Windows 3.11), but it reboots so much faster. Over the
> course of a day, those minutes add up!
I find it more efficient to simply avoid the need to reboot. Saves
even more time when you don't have to redo work that was lost in the
last GPF.
> ------------------------------------------
>*****
>Microsoft Corporation has just announced a new PC keyboard designed
>specifically for Windows. In addition to the keys found on the
>standard keyboard, Microsoft's new design adds a GPF key. This key will
>instantly generate a General Protection Fault when pressed. Microsoft
>representatives state that the purpose of the GPF key is to save Windows
>users time by eliminating the need to run an application in order to
>produce a General Protection Fault.
>*****
Cute.
>(That was on the Net a couple years ago.) Kevin, when you upgrade to
>Windows 95, you'll find that GPFs don't crop up quite so often, but I
>still get one occasionally. I think Micro$oft "solved" the problem by
>substituting the Page Fault. (They probably just changed the error
>message generated by a GPF.) I get a PF every few days or so.
They've also resurrected the old Windows 3.0 classic, Unidentified
Application Error (UAE). I see that more often than I do GPFs in Win95
these days.
I have to support a couple dozen Win95 machines at work now... just
makes me all the happier when I come back to my Warp machine at home.
I think the last time I rebooted from a crash was Tuesday before last
(I did reboot a couple times today, trying out a new installable file
system, but that doesn't count).
Your friend and mine,
Matt
<insert standard disclaimer here>
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