Windows XP....the long awaited version that is supposed to revolutionize the way we think about Windows. This is the largest and most important upgrade since the release of Windows 95. Without a doubt, the release of Windows XP has been touted as a pretty big deal. It is designed to close the gap between consumer and business level operating systems from Microsoft. Was it little more than a makeover, or does the operating system really deliver? Let's take a look. 

Windows XP pretty much marks the end of the two separate levels of operating systems that are traditional of Microsoft. In the past, as you know, Microsoft had Windows 95, 98 and ME for the consumer, while NT and 2000 were meant for the more robust users. Windows XP merges the lines together with its' inherent 32-bit kernel and driver set from NT and 2000. Both versions of XP (Home and Professional) share the same basic structure, with the major difference being the Professional version incorporates some features that make it more suitable to the business world such as portable user accounts, logon validation and on-disk encryption. 

The changes in XP over previous operating systems are pretty profound. First of all, the look is completely different. It has the same basic structure that Windows is famous for, but many elements of the design have been changed. These changes have made it powerful enough to handle new and emerging technologies (although USB 2.0 and Bluetooth are not yet supported). More importantly for the consumer, XP finally offers the stability only NT or 2000 users have enjoyed. For those of you using 98 or especially ME (arghh!), XP will be worth your money just for the increased stability. For 2000 users XP is not really a necessity, but it is still a cool upgrade. 

I found that installing a fresh copy to another partition went very smoothly. Upgrading from an older version on the other hand, did give me some problems. I had a few driver issues arise during the upgrade which drove the setup program batty. Another time it completely froze during some kind of detection phase. The PC went into an endless loop, rebooting whenever it reached that same phase in the setup procedure. Pretty strange. I have no way of knowing how typical these problems are, but I would say that Microsoft needs to work on some bug fixes to the setup procedure. Of course this can be done dynamically by Microsoft because the setup utility has a feature allowing you to download the latest setup files before continuing. Dynamic Update, as it is called, will download the new files and use those to install XP. Installing a new copy (without upgrading) was as smooth as can be, and I beat myself over the head for not trying to do it that way earlier - especially given that I can very easily just multi-boot into any operating system I want. 

As far as the install process is concerned, it is a pretty typical operating system installation that isn't really worth addressing. The setup interface is updated to look nice. Like previous versions of Windows, Microsoft has made every effort to make the setup procedure as hands-free as possible, with the PC restarting itself when needed, etc. 

The install CD has a System Compatibility check that can be run with the click of a button. The Upgrade Advisor will scan your system and alert you to potential incompatible drivers. As for requirements, you need to make sure you have at least 1 gig of spare drive space on the installation drive, along with at least a 300MHz processor and 128 MB of RAM. This would be bare minimum, though, and I would recommend higher. 

The last portion of the install that is worth addressing is the Product Activation procedure, something that has drawn a lot of fire from the privacy freaks. Designed to crack down on software piracy (something quite frankly they could never do), it ensures that you cannot make copies of your operating system and install it on other PCs. The way they do this is that they require you to activate the software online or by phone within 30 days or the OS shuts down. Activation is based on the product ID and a hardware hash value, which is dependent on your specific hardware. This effectively ties the OS to that computer. If you make 5 or more major changes to that hardware configuration, it will force you to reactivate the product. A reactivation will reset the clock on the hardware changes. Likewise, the clock will reset every 120 days. If you replace or reformat your hard drive and wish to re-install XP, you will need to re-activate it. 

This is something that is new to the operating system realm, but not completely new to Microsoft. Office XP follows the same procedure. Not every version of XP contains the code for this. Consumer copies or any version bought in a store will pretty much require you to follow this procedure. It is only the versions that are bought via a volume licensing arrangement from Microsoft that do not require users to do this. 

This procedure has drawn a lot of fire because it supposedly is an invasion of privacy. I do not view it as such, although I do view it as an inconvenience. The procedure does not require or use any personal information at all. Also, the registration only used a hash value generated locally by an algorithm that is supposedly uncrackable. It does not scan your system and tell Microsoft all about it. It simply sends over the hash value. With the clock-resetting on hardware changes every 120 days, this should not be an issue for most users. Those of us who have installed an OS on more than one machine, though (and face it - a lot of us have), will find this to be a pain. But, that is Microsoft's mission.


As I stated before, the design of Windows XP is different from any previous version. In my opinion it is more user friendly. 

One of the things I noticed when I first booted into XP is that my screen was not cluttered with icons! This was Microsoft's original intention with XP, although they did allow flexibility for those manufacturers who want to clutter you with stupid icons. Besides that, you'll notice a new start button, new background images, colors and icons. Open windows in XP sport a new, funky title bar and rounded top corners. All this is controlled by a theme capability. This acts kind of like "skins", in that you can change the appearance of the whole operating system by applying another theme. I personally enjoy the new design, although some more traditional users may cry about it. To try and serve everyone, Microsoft has included a "Classic" theme so you can make XP look a little more like what you've been used to seeing. 

The Start Menu has been upgraded. It is now a two column deal - the left side containing icon links to your most frequently used programs and the right side containing icon links to My Documents, My Computer, My Pictures, etc, as well as the Help and Run options. The start menu is very configurable, and you can control what is displayed on the left side. I like this design a lot better than previous versions, which would simply contract your Program List. 

A neat little feature that should have been incorporated before is that XP will hide inactive Taskbar icons. This means those of you who never change default program configurations and get craploads of icons in your taskbar will recover some screen real estate. Clicking the little arrow will show you all the icons again, should you want to see them. 

Microsoft has also made the Explorer and Control Panel easier to use. The File Explorer shows file details and potential actions on the left side as links. Clicking on Folder View will show the tree structure of your drives as usual. A new Viewing mode has been added, and that is thumbnail view. If you go to a directory containing images and switch to thumbnail view, you will actually see thumbnails of the images instead of just file names. If you have subdirectories of images, a large folder icon will appear for that directory displaying some sample thumbnails of what images are in there. Very handy for managing and viewing images. The Control Panel has been vastly redesigned by dividing functions into major categories. It is much easier to navigate, but someone used to the normal Control Panel may find it a little tedious at first. You can always switch it over to Classic View if you so desire. 

XP uses Cleartype technology to make text appear clearer on screen. This technology is geared toward flat screen LCDs. Since I use an LCD monitor, I noticed the difference and it is quite nice. On some CRT monitors it could appear a little fuzzy, so you have the option of turning it on and off. 

The interface for XP is certainly new, but not so different that a normal Windows user couldn't use it. Some users might think it looks like a Mac in a way, but I like it. Once you get used to it, I think you'll agree that it is more usable friendly than previous versions.

Windows XP could be called a cartoon OS with some of the design changes it has undergone, but the power is not to be taken lightly - especially by users of Windows 9x or ME. It is based on the Windows 2000 kernel, one which has proven itself to be very stable and reliable. In the past, Windows has unfortunately become almost synonymous with crashes and errors. Windows XP however, like 2000, really increases stability with better memory mapping and driver protection. 

Windows XP also comes with some features to better manage your PC and recover from a fouled up installation or other problems. The largest of these is the System Restore tool. This allows you to make manual or automatic snapshots of your PC configuration. If something goes wrong later, you can revert the whole setup back to your snapshot and make the PC exactly as it used to be. System Restore, by default, stores images of each drive partition ON each drive partition. This could take up some space and drag performance a little bit. I recommend you adjust your System Restore settings and select to monitor only those drives you really care about, keeping in mind that each monitored drive will have a file on it for this purpose. 

The Help system has been completely redone. It sports a brand new interface which integrates help from third party vendors, as well as merges online content so that you can request help directly from Microsoft or send feedback. With the Remote Desktop feature, you can also allow friends or family to connect to your PC remotely and operate or debug your system from afar.


Performance is pretty good with XP. Windows 2000 users will not recognize a huge change because the kernel is pretty much identical. Windows 9x or ME users will recognize a large increase in performance for most applications. Regular business apps will probably seem to run about the same. Heavy multimedia apps are said to still run a little faster on ME, although it is faster than 2000. 

Boot up time has been significantly reduced with Windows XP. I didn't actually clock it, bit it seems as if a good 10-15 seconds was shaved off of what it took to boot up Windows 2000 on the same machine. It was a bit odd seeing Windows XP welcome you and then see the desktop appear almost immediately. On previous versions you'd see the desktop, but would have to wait for all the icons to load up as well as any background software. Kudos to Microsoft on the boot up improvement. Shutdown was not as impressive. ME is pretty fast on shutdown, but XP takes longer. It seems as if it took longer than even 2000. It would come to the "Windows is Shutting Down" message and sit there for a little while before popping off. Going into and out of Standby was pretty smooth and peppy, so that worked fine. 

Basically, I would summarize this section by saying this: Windows 2000 users - it's good, but pretty close. Windows 9x or ME users - you need this, as it will tremendously improve the stability and performance of your machine.

The multi-user capability of XP has improved quite a bit over previous versions. Each user account has the ability to have its own privileges and access, its own desktop, its own document library, settings, etc. You also have the ability to change between logged in accounts on the fly. One PC can have multiple user accounts open at one time, with each session maintaining its session data even while another user is using his/her session at the time. Once that user is done, the other user can log back into their previous session and carry on where they were before with no data lost. Logging out shows a nice interface displaying the available users, and clicking the username allows you to go in. 

The networking for XP is the same as 2000. Each network connection can be edited or reconnected on the fly without rebooting. Also, you can plug your XP machine into multiple networks and it will automatically reconfigure its IP address and other settings. This allows you to bring your XP laptop home and connect it to your home network while using it on the corporate network at work. 

The Network Setup Wizard is pretty cool. It really does a fine job in walking you through the process, describing what you are doing and even providing diagrams of common network topologies to better aid you in setting up your home network. 

For high-speed internet users, XP offers a built-in Firewall. Its not the best in the world, however. Microsoft has not been known for the best security in the whole world at times. I would recommend using a third party firewall. You can also share your internet connection across your network with XP's built-in internet connection sharing.

One thing that is noticeable is the XP's partnership with Microsoft .NET. When you begin doing much of anything online, XP will begin bugging you with popup tips to sign up for a .NET passport, saying you will need it for tasks such as instant messaging. You do not need it to use any third party utilities such as AOL Instant Messenger, but some first-timers might think you do need it and sign up with Microsoft. Also, using Outlook Express will bring up the Instant Messenger icon in the taskbar, and it can take a little digging to figure out how to turn it off. 

For remote access, XP has Remote Desktop capability. If you enable it, you can allow other people to connect to your PC and view your screen on their own system. You can even allow them to control your PC using their mouse and keyboard and chat with you in real time. Both ends must be using compatible software, namely XP. This can be very useful for troubleshooting and technical support. You can also access your desktop machine from your laptop across the internet. I have not personally set this up yet, so I cannot speak to the difficulty in doing so.

Throughout XP, there are a lot of links to sites on the internet, much of them Microsoft. Many of them are ways for Microsoft to make a little money off of you after you have purchased XP. I can't say there is anything wrong with this. For example, in the My Pictures folder, there is a link to shop for pictures online which of course leads to Microsoft sites or affiliates. There are default links to MSN Explorer, a built-in option to connect to Hotmail (which of course is Microsoft).

XP is packaged with Internet Explorer 6.0. It works pretty much the same as IE 5.x. One difference, however, is that its' default configuration for security is rather strict, and a lot of cookies are blocked by default. Given that a lot of sites use cookies, I found it surprising that Microsoft did that. Any experienced user can adjust the settings, but a new user might not know how to do this or might not be aware of it, and this could cause problems for them and webmasters as well.

All new versions of Windows are touted as having increased multimedia capabilities. Win XP lives up to that, probably better than Windows 2000. A lot of the new capabilities can be summed up by this: Windows Media Player 8. 

WMP 8 is included with Windows XP, but is also available as a free download. It allows you to play CDs, rip them to your hard drive in WMA format and organize songs into playlists. To rip a CD into MP3 format would require a plug-in be added onto WMP. WMP has an open architecture, allowing third party developers to develop MP3 encoders for use. WMA format has a lot of advantages over MP3, but MP3 is more popular. 

WMP 8 supports video playback, streaming videos over the internet as well as other internet multimedia support and features. You still can't play files in RealAudio format. If you have a CD-R/CD-RW drive, you can burn your own music mixes to CD using the built-in Audio CD burner. You can also interface with a portable music player and transfer music to that. 

WMP 8 has that funky skinning ability, so you can choose from 13 included skins or download some if you want. They completely change the look of the program, for those of you who get a kick out of it. 

Windows XP also comes with a Movie Maker program which is pretty similar to that of Windows ME. 

The bottom line is that Windows XP is an excellent operating system. I like its new design. I have found that over time, it is even easier to use than Windows 2000. It has increased support for new hardware, tighter integration of various PC tasks, and increased reliability. 

I think that a lot of people would do well upgrading to XP. People who use ancient DOS only software will want to do a double take, because as Microsoft moves on, legacy support for old DOS products will fall by the wayside. People who use Windows 2000 can hold off on this unless they really want to jump onto the bandwagon. Windows 2000 and XP are pretty much similar once you take the new interface out of the equation. Windows 9x users should definitely upgrade for increase reliability and stability, if nothing else. Just make sure that those of you using older versions of Windows have the computing horsepower necessary to run this thing.