windows XP the new way (Microsoft Windows XP (Whistler))

Member Name: cabletow

Product:	Microsoft Windows XP (Whistler)
Date:	02/11/01 (568 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stability, speed, simplicity

Disadvantages: drivers, drivers , drivers

Windows XP the new incarnation of windows from Microsoft is an amalgam of Me and 2000 and it hums.

I have been using XP for a week and you all want to know if you should upgrade. The answer is yes and no.

The good: It is faster, more stable and has a simpler user interface. It is basically an reworked NT system and has the added benefit of allowing plug and play making adding hardware a breeze. XP professional also allows easy networking.
The photo handling and viewing features are fantastic, and the new look media player is a doddle to get around.
Programs load faster and for me the two features I really love are the fast restart and the event log to chase errors. But for most it's most endearing feature is its stability, no more freezes and no more Blue Screens. If a programme fails it simply shyts that programme down. It also has got rid of 98's worst feature the GDI resource limitations - now you can run as many programmes as you want.

The Bad: Forget trying to load it on a Pentium 2. You need a 350+ processor and more than 64 Mb of RAM to make it worthwhile. So that may mean a new computer. The main drawback though is the need to get new drivers for most applications. Microsoft were not quite truthful in their build up stating that 2000 drivers would work. They don't, not for everything.
Most hardware manufacturers play ball and are providing XP drivers but the unscrupulous are making you buy a new product.

The problems I had: Two things would not update their drivers, my modem ( hence awhy my Dooyoo life has been quiet recently - apologies) and my scanner. The only modem I found that would load was a Zoom V92 PCI modem model 3025, and the only scanner was a Visioneer 4800 USB. Total cost above the software £100.
The other big problem was Adaptecs CD rewriting and copying software. They are not providing patches but encouraging me to buy their latest versions at $89. Norton too are doing the same,
like I say unscrupulous. ( AVG's free virus scanner and Zonelabs free firewall work perfectly well though! although Xp has it's own firewall, but I suspect this will be easily hacked.)

Once again Microsoft seem to have released a system with too little Beta testin too, I have had XP a week and had to download 5MB updates to address known issues.

The verdict: Well for those of you getting a new computer it is a definate must as this is the way forward, the same OS for all systems at home or at the office.
For those of you with a relatively new system and with few peripherals yes yes yes it is the way forward. For those of you with an older system and with lot's of well loved applications that are more than a year old stay as you are.

As mentioned minimum requirements are 300 Mhz processor1.5 Gb free space and 64MB RAM, but I would suggest you really need another generation of spec above this.

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