One of the main things that interested me about XP Pro was the multi-user component. My father likes to use the computer but is pretty computer illiterate and he gets easily confused when he goes onto the computer and finds that all the icons on the desktop have moved (new ones added) or the default homepage has changed. With XP Pro, every member of my family has an account set up that is not only easy for even the most computer illiterate to use, it is also designed just for them. With every family member having hundreds of digital photos, gone are the days of sifting through everyone elses photos to find the specific photo you want. The simple and user friendly format is great. My dad can now just hit on the icon with his name and go to a desktop that has JUST what he needs on it and it never changes. I can make all the changes I want (online and off) without worrying that I am going to confuse anyone. My brother can download all his programs that I have no interest in and I don't have to deal with a desktop cluttered with icons that I could care less about. It's great.

On another note, what XP Pro allows you to do with pictures is wonderful. Gone are the days of wasting page after page of photo paper because you couldn't figure out how to line up your two photos on one piece of paper without making them run over. XP Pro allows photo printing to be SO simple - do you want 5x7s, 8x10s, 4x6s, wallets, etc? Being able to view slideshows of all of your pictures or set up (quickly and easily without extra software) a screensaver of your favorite pictures is fun and just a neat feature!

I admit that when I switched over to Windows XP Pro, I was incredibly worried about the drivers problem. I have a digital camera card reader, a printer, a webcam, and an MP3 player that came out well before XP was every heard of. And to my shock, everything was simple and pain free. In fact, XP found my printer without me even having to ask it ANYTHING, when before, I needed to download special software and go through a huge long process just to get my computer to work with Win98.

My computer was notorious for random freezing or random restarts. Seemed like every day it would freeze a MINIMUM of three times, and that was on a good day. Since Windows XP Pro was installed, have not had a SINGLE problem of that nature. I heard that XP was more stable and reliable and now I'm totally believing it.

I have three complaints (thus far, I've only been using it for 4 days) about Windows XP Pro. One is the amount of RAM it hogs. Slow to start, change users, and boot things up, only minimal improvement was seen when my computer was updated to 312 MB of RAM. The time isn't a big deal, but its definitely slower than I'm used to.
Secondly, XP thinks it's helping you by turning your startbar into a handy pull-down list when you have more than 5 windows open. This drives me nuts! Quite often, I have Outlook Express open, maybe some websites, and then am surfing eBay or something. If I want to open another window, like if I want to keep my search page open and then select a few things off from it to look at individually (I guess I'm known for having 5-12 windows open at a time), it zaps them all into one clickable start bar item that pops up a pull-down list. I find this annoying and pain-staking. Instead of just clicking from item to item and easy navigation from related windows (perhaps looking at what digital cameras Best Buy sells compared to their reviews on eopinions) it makes you mess with stupid pull down menus. A definate no no.
My third complaint is that Windows XP Pro requires a manual shutdown. Before, my computer shut itself down when you went to SHUT DOWN. Now I have to sit around and wait for it to go through the process, wait for it to tell me that it's ready, and then hold down the power button for 5 seconds. Again, not a huge deal, but if I'm in a hurry, its a pain.

All in all, I'm loving Windows XP Pro. Ask me again in a month or two and hopefully I'll be singing the same song

Recommended: Yes