Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Windows XP Professional helps prevent problems that can arise if important system files are changed, or incompatible programs are installed. In addition, if serious problems do occur, Windows XP makes it easier to restore your computer to its normal operating state.Device Driver Rollback: Drivers are the bits of software that come with your digital camera, keyboard, or other device to communicate with your system. If you upgrade a driver and it disrupts your system, in most cases Windows XP can reinstall your previous version of the driver.
Last Known Good Configuration: If you change your hardware or software, then have trouble starting your computer, this feature can help. Windows XP saves your configuration settings after each successful startup. Then, if your system won't start, it uses these “last known good” settings to start your computer and lets you troubleshoot the new hardware or software.System Restore: This feature works like the Undo command in a word processing program. System Restore automatically monitors and records key system changes. If you change a system setting and then discover a problem, you can easily reverse the change.

Windows XP Home Edition Improvements

• Start-up time is slightly faster than older versions of Windows. XP also "wakes up" more quickly from suspension or hibernation.

• Stability. Microsoft claims that XP is more stable than prior versions of Windows which should reduce crashes. Our experience has been that both XP and its predecessor, Windows 2000, are slightly more stable than Windows 98.

• Security. A basic Internet firewall, which rejects connection attempts that are "attacks" from external Internet connected computers, is included with Windows XP Home Edition.

• Built-in basic CD-ROM burning facilities. If your needs are simple (e.g., you just need to burn data), this can replace your separate burning software. One caveat: this software doesn't work with all CD-R/W drives.

• Improved handling of digital images and related devices. For example, the new XP adds drag-and-drop support for some cameras that otherwise lack it.

• Fast user switching. Users lack passwords by default. This can be a feature or a problem depending on your point of view. For the average home user this is a convenience.

• Power management enhancements for laptop users.

• Enhanced help facilities. XP's enhanced Help and Support System is especially useful for Internet-connected users.

• System Restore (like Windows ME), and the ability to enter safe mode to correct problems (like Windows ME/2000/98 etc.) While this feature is not entirely new, it's a worthwhile inclusion.

• Integrated 802.11 wireless support.

As an evolutionary product, Windows Media Player 10 is immediately recognizable as a member of Microsoft's Windows Media Player product family, and yet it also offers a fresh face to what has always been an overly complicated product. Windows Media Player 10, if you can believe it, actually offers a lot more functionality than previous versions of the player, but it presents much of that functionality in far simpler ways. For example, in addition to aggregating music and video files like previous versions, Windows Media Player 10 can aggregate pictures, Recorded TV shows, and other media, though that ability might be limited by the kind of PC you have, and which portable devices you interact with. The free media player completely overhauls version 9, offering a simple, clutter-free interface that reflects the influence of massive consumer and focus-group testing.

The new player's features are quickly accessible from easy-to-read toolbar drop-down menus. The menus are turned off by default at first, resulting in a streamlined look. Users can turn the menus on with a right mouse click.Organizing user libraries of purchased music and video, CD-ripped music, and recorded TV is much like using Windows Explorer, but even easier. Users can search by title, artist, album, or their own star rating. Playlists can be created quickly by dragging and dropping titles into playlists that appear as folders.Users can copy CDs into WMA or MP3 formats and then drag and drop them into a portable device or burn them to a CD. Windows Media Player 10 recognizes a wide array of portable devices (it integrates the necessary drivers for many of them) and promises seamless syncing.

Windows XP Home Edition and Professional are essentially the same 32-bit operating system. Both feature the same kernel and basic capabilities, and unless otherwise noted, everything in this review applies to both versions. The Home Edition, as you might expect, is targeted at home users, or the majority of people who were previously using Windows 98 and Windows Me. Professional is targeted at business users and power users, so it offers business-oriented features and some additional capabilities that would be expected by the more technical people. For a complete rundown of the differences,  . But remember one key fact: Professional is a true superset of Home Edition, so if it's in Home Edition, it's in Pro as well.

Microsoft is permitting upgrades from Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, NT 4.0, and 2000 to Windows XP (see my showcase, What to Expect from Windows XP, for details on which Editions support upgrades from which previous versions of Windows). What this means is that Windows 95, Windows 3.x, and Windows NT 3.5 do not qualify for upgrades. On a related note, evaluation versions of any Windows OS, including Windows XP, do not qualify for upgrades either. This all makes sense: Computers running Windows 95 or older wouldn't be capable of taking advantage of Windows XP anyway.