Ham Radio Forum

A recent European Commission decision requires that Microsoft supply crippled versions of Windows XP Home and Pro editions in EU countries. Those crippled versions are designated Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N. They have all standard built-in media playback functions removed which makes it impossible to stream media from many websites, including this site, even if Windows Media Player or other players are installed.

Microsoft has released an upgrade users can install without charge to convert crippled European versions of Windows to fully-functional standard versions to overcome that handicap. It is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2ab49f45-0f03-4736-9b11-fe4b5b3cb712&DisplayLang=en

After installation you may want to send the European Commission a letter telling them what you think about their mandatory crippling of your computer and the computers of other EU users in comparison to users in other parts of the world.

-Bob

I just installed the European Windows upgrade with no problems, except that the upgrade file is huge and takes a long time to download. It is nice to have the Windows media functions back again. I hadn't been able to listen to the smeter receivers since buying a new computer. Now the audio streaming works great again.

Thanks for letting us know this.