- Platform: Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / XP / 95, Linux, Unix
- Media: CD-ROM
- Item Quantity: 1
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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
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. --Tim Anderson
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
I purchased a new dell computer to replace my laptop and of course it came with XP already installed on it. I was open minded and gave it a chance, but ulitmately, I reformated my hard drive and put windows Me back on it. Hopefully this review can help you decide if this if for you or not.
-IF YOU HAVE NEVER OWNED A COMPUTER AND YOUR FIRST SYSTEM ALREADY HAD WINDOWS XP ON IT, KEEP IT, THIS IS DEFINITELY FOR YOU.
--here is why, this is a great operating system when all the drivers are compatible with it. Of course if your system came with XP on it, all the drivers are pre-installed and thus compatible.
--for those not on the technical side, your computer will be more reliable with XP on it because it doesn't crash nearly as often as 98 or ME.
--it is pretty user friendly in that it doesn't require that you have to read a huge book to learn how to use it. The tutorial in the begginning is sufficient enough to get you started and the overall use of the system is not complex.
-IF YOU HAD A PREVIOUS COMPUTER AND WANT TO UPGRADE TO XP AND YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF WINDOWS IS BASIC, STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS XP.
--here is why, if you are upgrading your computer, you'll find that a lot of your stuff that worked fine with 98 or me will not work with windows XP. You'll have to download those drivers from the internet and if your modem is not working with XP, your [messed up] because there is no way you'll be able to get onto the internet to download your drivers, unless you have a second computer and a way to transfer files from each other.
--overall it can get very complicated and fustrating to get everything to work the way it did when you had 98 or ME so it requires a fair amount of advanced knowledge to get things to work right. So unless you are comfortable with some advanced trouble shooting, stay away.
-IF YOU ARE WINDOWS SAVY, HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE, STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS XP.
--here is why, the control you have over XP is very little compared to that of 98 or ME. The whole program is like an airplane that is always on auto pilot that can't be turned off.
--I for one was frustrated with that because I like to have total control over my OS and be able to disable programs, etc that I don't want running or options that I don't need which take up a lot of memory. With XP there is very little control over that. If you try to go to system configuration and look for the start-up tab to disable programs that load on startup, it's not there, for some reason XP does not give you the option to disable those programs loading on startup. If you push ctrl-alt-del and disable them from there, once you restart windows, you'll have to do it again.
--Be prepared to have some of your favorite programs or games to not work correctly with XP, I'm sure enough has been said about that with other reviews.
--Expect some of the new drivers you do download to not fully work, ie. for example I downloaded an XP driver for my scanner's make and model from their site, XP recognized my scanner and the diagnostic on it was successful, but a couple of my art applications did not recognize it.
--many things are forced on you. XP will force you to use that dumb little MSN messenger, which starts up everytime you log onto XP. You can't easily disable it unless you get into the regedit, but good luck.
--lastly is the activation protection, which you must do within 30 days or you can no longer user it. This is the worst feature about XP because if you are like me who is consistantly upgrading your computer, it will cause a problem. I reformat my hard drive at least twice a year to clean up old junk, with XP everytime you do, you'll have to re-activate XP by calling microsoft or going online. If your computer came with XP on it, you wont have to activate it, but if you make a change to your computer (ie. hard drive, peripherals), you'll have to then activate XP. Microsoft put this in there so that people couldn't pirate XP by swapping hard drive with a computer system that doesn't requrie activation and installing XP from there and then swapping back hard drives. XP wont let you, you'll have to activate XP once you put your hard drive back in because windows will start recognizing different hardware.
Overall I gave it a low score based on my personnal experience. I didn't think it offered that much new. Sure it doesn't crash nearly as much, but the minute you try install your peripherals, you may run into problems and then XP will start crashing on you. The last straw for me was XP would not work with my RIO mp3 player. I already sacrificed a scanner and webcam not working but no one can take away my music. When I switched back to ME, life was much better because everything was compatible again and I look back at my XP experience as just a horrible nightmare. XP is not break through, most of it consist of improved media (ie. media player or movie maker) but those are just programs and can be downloaded from microsoft. The actual inner guts of XP is nothing revolutionary that requires you to consider upgrading. In a year or so, everything will be XP compatible and you most likely will be forced to upgrade but for now, stay away until all the kinks are worked out and reliable drivers become available.
-most XP incompatabilities were with USB peripherals, external hard drives, mp3 players and webcams-
-XP seemed to do well with many printers though.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
First off, WindowsXP is by far the most stable version of Windows yet. And this is coming from a computer programmer/power user that has run every type of application known to mankind on his home computer. But while stability is important, here are the gripes I have with the product:
- The product activation. My hard drive crashed twice on my brand new computer (it was defective from day one) and I have had to re-activate XP three times now. I have never had to re-install an operating system due to a hard drive crash in my lifetime. Funny how it happens now when Microsoft tries to reduce software piracy. The fact that I can only reinstall it one more time before I've used up my activations is ridiculous. Does this company not have enough money already? Imagine having to activate EVERY piece of software you buy before using it. The computer industry would collapse and people would throw their computers out the window.
- So much for efficient operating systems. Without a top of the line system, most users won't be able to run XP. But that is after all the point isn't it? Microsoft and Intel have a good pact going where they both help each other. Microsoft creates the most bloated and demanding operating system, and Intel creates a new Pentium chip (for $700) so you can run it. A continuous cycle of profits. Of course you can always stand pat and get left behind as applications stop being written for the older versions of Windows...
- The endless advertising for Microsoft. Without a doubt, Microsoft is using XP to promote a whole host of other Microsoft products. Whether it's Outlook, Passport, Internet Explorer, or whatever the case may be, this is a truly unfair advantage to other companies.
- The childish search feature. A perfectly good search engine has been crippled and now features a silly dog animation. Whatever happened to just being able to type in a file name with wildcards and find it?
- The new start menu. Simply put, use the old one.
- Explorer. I need to sift through TWO ADDITIONAL LEVELS of garbage to get to my C drive. What a pain in the behind. And the default view for EVERY folder is tile view instead of detail view. You need to switch them one by one to detail.
- Scan Disk. It used to take about one minute, now it takes about one hour. You've gotta love that.
With that said, it does have a refreshing look. It does start up MUCH faster than older versions of Windows, and without fail, consumers will be forced to buy it eventually whether they want it or not because there is no alternative.
- Chris
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Several years ago, I made the horrible mistake of upgrading my home computer from Windows 98 to Windows ME. From that point on it was nothing but trouble. I thank God that my home office is in a windowless basement room or I would have thrown my computer out of the window. Finally, after numerous crashes I came to the realization that something had to be done. Going back to Windows 98 was not an option (I had misplaced my disc long ago) so I upgraded to Windows XP.
Aside from the sticker shock, I am pretty happy with it. No longer does my computer freeze up every thirty minutes or so. Although I am sure that it has new and improved features, I am not a new and improved kind of guy- Email, some web surfing and word processing pretty well describes my computer use. For this, Windows 98 was just fine. But, time marches on. If you have Windows 98 and are doing fine, there probably no compelling reason to upgrade (I still use Windows 98 on my church computer), but if you are into video, advance graphics or the like, an upgrade would be in order.
There are two features that I appreciate. You can set up user accounts that keep people from changing your settings or reading your private correspondence. And, you are given the option to change the look of the screen to the older Windows look- I guess you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. If you have Windows ME, to not hesitate, dump the junk and buy XP, you will never regret the change.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great response time!
I'm really happy with the quality of the product I bought from the Amazon web site. The seller decription of the product was spot on. Read more
Published on February 10, 2010 by Sandra M. Britton
Microsoft XP and beyond
Kudos to most every review that I've read about Microsoft OS after 98. If they could just add the driver updates so that new apps would function properly and leave the good stuff... Read more
Published on December 6, 2009 by R. C. Miller
xp home edition
I went to put this on my computer and already had a better version on my computer, so I couldn't use it
Published on April 20, 2009 by Monta Giles
Got exactly what I paid for! Thanks guys!
I ordered a copy of xp for a secondary computer's operating system, and I recieved the order in a few days, in great condition! Read more
Published on February 9, 2009 by Craig A. Smith
Unstable and ...
In its early years, this operating system was one of the most unsatisfactory I have ever used --- including DOS, Win 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows 98. Read more
Published on November 2, 2005 by Alyssa A. Lappen
Windows XP Computer
I'm StoryMaker. Sometimes, Windows XP gives you the XP face. What do I mean? Look at XP sideways. Sometimes, it gives you that face. Sometimes, it gives you the C: face. Read more
Published on July 30, 2005
Who ever said XP crashes they are WRONG!
Please don't buy the WinXP upgrade because for one thing I had to renstall it 5 to maybe 6 times and when you do that your harddrive will make sounds. It might make a click sound. Read more
Published on March 12, 2005
another load from microsoft
lies lies xp is not stable and it crashes at the same rate as win- me its obvious that microsoft dident try hard. Read more
Published on February 15, 2005 by Atticus Finch
Stable, but somewhat not compatible
Windows XP gives you good compatibility, great security, and wonderful perfomance. The reason I picked 4 stars is because older programs do not work. Read more
Published on January 20, 2005
So far, so good
Well, I have a pc that I bought in 2001, it came with Windows Me. I upgraded to Windows XP Home about eight months ago, give or take, and I've had no problem at all. Read more
Published on December 16, 2004 by K. Hicks
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