eXPerience This!
Written: Nov 15 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great interface, rock-solid stability, great OS!
Cons: Strange driver installation, windows messenger is annoying
The Bottom Line: The most worthwhile upgrade available. If you have the cash on hand, definitely go ahead with it. Incredible.
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| jazz976's Full Review: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (N09-00048) For ... |
If there were one word to describe the new OS from Microsoft, it would be wow. Completely re-vamped, easier to use, and completely stable.
First things first. I installed XP on this system:
Dell Inspiron 8000
700 Mhz Pentium 3
320 MB RAM
10 GB Hard Drive
It had Windows Me on it (a terrible OS)
Setup:
To install XP, I bought the upgrade, and performed a clean install. I highly recommend this. To do this, you simply set your BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM, and when prompted, format your hard drive (backup your files first). Then XP setup will take you through the installation. For me it took about 40 minutes.
About the OS
Stability
First off, I love this OS for one reason: stabilty. I have not had a crash yet, even though several older programs have stopped responding. XP calmly exited from them without requiring a reboot or anything special.
Appearance
It looks great. Visually pleasing, with nice colors and cool little effects, such as menus fading out and things like that. Though these may seem small and unimportant, they are actually very nice to have. One great thing for laptop users like me is a function called ClearType, which changes the way text looks on an LCD screen. It is supposed to be easier on your eyes, which is good, but I just think it makes your text look better.
Ease of Use
XP is very easy to use, giving you simple wizards everywhere. This may become annoying or redundant for experienced users, but fear not, for they can be easily turned off. Everything is neatly organized.
Hardware
XP includes millions of drivers for a huge range of peripherals, so when installed, it immediately installs drivers for almost everything. This is helpful, except when it doesn't have a driver for your peripheral. If that happens, it doesn't tell you, and you just have to find out the hard way. This is one of the few problems with XP.
Hype
Everyone is saying that they won't buy XP because it "keeps going back to the big Microsoft mother ship" and that it forces you to sign up for a .NET passport. There also has been big talk of how bad activation is. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE. I haven't been asked once about .net, and Windows activated in about 30 seconds, without me having to do anything: I pressed activate, and then it was done. While you may be disappointed that you can't install XP on all 18 of your computers, that is exactly what Microsoft is trying to stop. Sorry.
Windows Messenger
I hate windows messenger. I am a proud user of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), and never will use this inferior program. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't want me to think that way, and prevents the average user from uninstalling Messenger. Fortunately, there are experts in the field of computers who have found ways around Microsoft's stubborness. You CAN uninstall Windows Messenger, simply by editing a file in the Windows folder...you can find instructions on www.windowsxp.com, in the Expert Zone Community.
Overall, this OS is probably the best upgrade you can make. Between the absence of crashes (an incredible improvement over Me), the ease of use, and the incredible appearance, it is almost a perfect OS.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jazz976
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Location: Lexington, MA, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 1 member
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