Can't Defrage XP Any Ideas 6673

Damn, that's insidious! Just one more reason for me to drag my feet on buying a copy of XP. As a consultant, I try to keep an installed copy of every major OS on hand. So far, all of my clients are sticking with Windows 2000, so I have not felt the need to upgrade, but I know that day is coming (though at this point maybe most places will skip XP and go to Vista).

Yes. I do have a stand-alone Win2000 system, but I actually do most of my Windows work from within a VMWare session on my Linux system. This can lead to some interesting possibilities. For example:

While working at one client, I had a call from another client that I sometimes do telecommuting work for. They needed me to make an emergancy tweak to something, but the only way I can access their network is through a VPN session configured on my home system. I ended doing the following.

- Used VNC to access the desktop of my home Linux system. - Fired up Win2000 under a VMWare session. - Started the VPN session to my client's network (they had provided only Windows software). - Within Windows 2000, opened up another VNC session to the Linux box on my customer's network. - Made the change and logged out.

The funny thing is, there is a Linux client for their VPN solution, but their helpdesk does not support it (despite the fact that this company sells a Linux based product and has numerous developer with Linux workstations).

Thad