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Product
Description
Packed with multimedia features,
Windows XP Home Edition aims to unlock the full potential
of your personal computer. It also looks great, with rounded
window corners, larger and more detailed icons, and a clean-look
desktop.
The best thing about Windows XP is that, because it belongs
to the Windows NT/2000 product family, it's designed from
the ground up for reliability, security, and networking. XP
Home users will soon see the benefits of this. The dreaded
Windows crash-and-reboot cycle really is much less common
with XP, and, provided the hardware is up to scratch, XP's
performance is better, too. The downside is that using a different
code base can make compatibility with old applications less
assured. Business applications normally run fine, but older
games, MIDI software, and system utilities may well cause
problems.
Windows XP is more customizable
than previous versions, including its visual themes that let
you change the whole appearance of Windows in an instant.
Fast User Switching is a neat feature for computers used by
more than one person--it lets another user log on without
killing the previous user's session, and when you switch back,
running applications and open documents are as you left them.
This is impressive, but what really counts is that XP understands
how to deal with multiple users. Each user has their own special
folders, such as My Documents, which cannot be seen by other
users. And for those with more than one computer, the network
setup wizard simplifies setting up a network.
Windows XP Home has many strong
multimedia features. New Media Player lets you copy music
from CD to hard disk, create your own playlist, and write
your own music CDs if you have a CD writer. You can also play
back DVD-Video (but only if a hardware or software DVD decoder
is already installed) and play MP3 audio files and MPEG videos
(but sadly not the popular RealMedia formats). Admittedly,
Media Player does nothing that you cannot also do with free
alternatives, but it is slick and nicely integrated. There
is also Windows Movie Maker, a basic tool for capturing and
editing videos that's fun to use, although too limited for
serious work.
For Web browsing, XP Home comes
with Internet Explorer 6.0 and MSN Explorer. The most significant
new feature for Internet users is the built-in firewall. A
firewall protects against one of the most disturbing security
risks, in which other users unknown to you might connect to
your computer while it is online, reading private files or
causing other damage. XP's built-in firewall is a simple affair,
but it does prevent most types of unauthorized connections.
The XP user interface is not
a radical departure from earlier versions of Windows, but
there are a number of small changes that together add up to
a significant improvement. For example, you can add and remove
shortcuts from the Start menu by right-clicking on the icon
and selecting Pin or Unpin from the pop-up menu. Windows online
help is integrated into a Help and Support Center that works
like an internal Web site, with searchable help, tutorials,
and walkthroughs. Laptop or other flat-screen users can set
Windows to use ClearType for screen fonts, for a more readable
display.
There are, of course, some
pitfalls. Windows XP Home is demanding on hardware, and it
would be a mistake to install it on less than Microsoft's
recommended minimum. Business users note: unlike Windows 98
or Me, XP Home Edition cannot join a Windows server domain,
so the networking is peer-to-peer only--see Windows XP Professional
Edition for this functionality. There is also no multiprocessor
support, and a mildly annoying anti-piracy measure requires
you to obtain a code from Microsoft for full installation
and any future system changes. But don't let that put you
off: this is Microsoft's best Windows yet.
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Windows
Me / XP / 98