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Windows
XP FAQ
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to Microsoft, Windows XP is the most important software release
for the company since they launched Windows 95. If you are
currently running Windows 95/98/Me, Windows XP will bring a lot more
stability and security to your workstations. However if you are already running Windows 2000, Windows XP isn't that much
of jump. Our Windows XP FAQ
is designer for Administrators and power users who may be
considering migrating to Windows XP. If you have additional
questions about Windows XP that you believe should be include in
this document, please send your comments to feedback@labmice.net |
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What
is Windows XP? |
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Windows XP is
Microsoft's newest desktop operating system for
both consumers and businesses. Over the past few years,
Microsoft has been building and supporting two
completely separate versions of Windows. Windows
95/98/Me was designed for consumers with an emphasis on
ease of use, compatibility, and multimedia capabilities.
At the same time, Microsoft created Windows NT for businesses
who need security, and reliability. (NT version 5.0 is
now called Windows 2000). The Win9x and WinNT versions
of Windows may look the same, but they have a very
different code base, and don't use the same drivers.
Windows XP builds on the stability and strength of the
Windows NT/2000 Operating System, while incorporating
the usability of Windows 95/98. Although Microsoft has referred
to Windows XP as a merging of the code base between
Windows 95/98 and Windows NT/2000, it has a lot more in
common with Windows 2000 (NT 5.0) and is sometimes
referred to as NT 5.1 |
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Why
are there multiple different versions of XP? |
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XP will initially
be released in two
different versions: Windows XP Professional (for
businesses) and Windows XP Home Edition (for consumers.)
Although the kernel for both operating systems are the
same, the Home Edition is a stripped down version of the
Professional version. Its main focus is the consumer
home PC market, and it is designed to be easier to use.
Much of its interface assumes that you have a full time
internet connection and that your primary online
activities are browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, listening to MP3 and
online music, and sharing photos and other digital media
on the web. XP Professional is designed for business and
advanced home users who need security and enhanced
networking capabilities. It looks and feels just like
Windows 2000 once you drop the XP color scheme and
choose "Windows classic." Windows
XP Media Center Edition and Windows
XP Tablet PC Edition are special versions of the
operating system designed for specific hardware. You can
only get these versions when you purchase a the
specialized hardware directly from the manufacturer. |
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What
are the feature differences between XP Professional and
Home Edition? |
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XP
Professional and XP Home Edition share the same kernel
(the "guts" of the operating system), and this
kernel is based on the Windows 2000 operating system.
The differences between them are in the level of
security they provide, networking capabilities, and
advanced features. For business users, Windows XP
Professional is very similar to Windows 2000 in its
feature set. XP Professional supports multiple
processors, multiple monitors (up to 9), Group
Policy. Encrypting File System,
Dynamic Disks,
IIS, a built in backup
program, and advanced networking capabilities (such as
IPSec.) All of these features are missing from XP Home
Edition. Another important distinction between the two
versions is that XP Home Edition cannot join a Windows
NT/2000/2003 domain. If you wish to network with other PC's
in your home or office, you must be part of a
workgroup. If you're a "power user"
purchasing Windows XP for your personal workstation,
Windows XP Professional is a better choice than Home
Edition, if you can afford the price difference. Windows
XP Professional is also more secure
than Home Edition, which is an important consideration
for users with a full time high speed internet
connection. |
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What
are the differences between Windows 2000 Professional and
Windows XP Professional? |
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Not much.
Microsoft has added a host of new features to both
versions of Windows XP, but nothing that appears to be
absolutely compelling
for business users. One of the new features called
"Fast User Switching" allows to to run two separate
logged in sessions at once. This allows a user to do everyday work
such as e-mail using a non-privileged user account, and
then run an Administrative session at the same time
without rebooting or resorting to the "Run As"
command. This also allows you to quickly log onto any
users workstation and make administrative changes
without logging them off. The remote assistance feature
of XP can also help reduce support costs by allowing
your Help Desk staff to interact with a user's PC over
the network. XP's built in ZIP compression support can
also save your company a lot of money in licensing fees
if you are currently using a third party utility such as
WinZIP. |
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What
does the "XP" stand for? |
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The official
Microsoft answer is that XP stands for
"experience", in the sense that they are
combining their years of experience creating two very
successful desktop operating systems into one really
great product. Pundits have come up with their own
definitions of XP, including "eXPensive" and
"eXtra Profits" |
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What
are the system requirements? |
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It seems that
Microsoft has always configured its Operating Systems
for the future generation of hardware, and XP is no
exception. Unless you bought a PC recently, you'll
probably want to upgrade your desktop PC before you upgrade
your OS.
Below is a table of bare minimum and recommended
hardware requirements, as well as our "real
word" recommendations.
| Windows
XP system requirements |
| Component |
Bare
Minimum |
Recommended |
"Real
World" |
| CPU |
233
Mhz |
300
Mhz |
+600
Mhz |
| Memory |
64Mb |
128Mb |
+256Mb |
| Free
Disk Space |
1.5GB |
2.0GB |
+8GB |
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When considering these
system requirements for your workstations, keep in mind
that RAM is a larger bottleneck than CPU
speed. (i.e. Adding 256Mb of RAM will give you a better
performance boost than upgrading your processor speed by
200 - 300 Mhz). Windows XP is also designed to take advantage of
Intel's Pentium 4 instruction set (SSE/SSE2), so you'll
see slightly better performance on the newer processors.
XP Professional also supports multiple processors.
In addition, Microsoft
recommends that your BIOS should be newer than January 1, 2000
if you wish to use the hibernation and advanced power
management features of Windows XP. You can run a free test on
your PC to see if you meet the upgrade requirements, by
clicking here
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How
much will it cost to upgrade? |
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Windows XP has
a number of pricing schemes, depending on if you intend
to upgrade from a previous operating system or if you're
installing it on brand new hardware. Windows XP Home
Edition will cost $99 for the upgrade version and $199
for the full version. Windows XP Professional will cost
$199 for the upgrade version and $299 for the full
version. |
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What
are the upgrade paths for Windows XP? |
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For Windows
NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Systems:
You can upgrade to
Windows XP Professional only.
For Windows 98, 98SE,
and Windows Me Systems:
You can upgrade to either
Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional.
For Windows 95
Systems:
There is no upgrade path. You'll need to
buy the full version of Windows XP and perform a clean
install.
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What
about Product Activation? |
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The product
activation feature of Windows XP (and Office XP) is
designed to discourage casual copying of the software. Once you load Windows XP and type in the Registration
Code, it creates a unique ID for your workstation based
on your system configuration and
prompts you to register that ID with Microsoft within
120 days, or your Operating System will no longer
function. Although the process only takes a few
moments to complete over the web (and slightly longer
over the phone), this requirement has caused a storm of
controversy. ( For more information, see Microsoft's
Product Activation FAQ) Product Activation is only required on the retail and some OEM versions
of Windows XP and not on the volume licensing program that most businesses use. Windows XP upgrade licenses acquired through one of
Microsoft©s volume licensing agreements, such as Microsoft Open License, Enterprise Agreement, or Select
License, will not require activation. Installations of Windows XP made using volume
licensing media and volume license product keys (VLKs) will have no activation, hardware checking, or
limitations on installation or imaging. |
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What
information is transmitted to Microsoft when I activate
Windows XP? |
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The
Installation ID created by Product activation is
specifically designed to guarantee anonymity and is only
used by Microsoft to deter piracy. The Installation ID
is comprised of two different pieces of information ©
the product ID and a hardware hash. The
product ID is unique to the installation of
Windows and is created from the unique product key
used during installation. (The
product ID can be found by viewing the Properties
of My Computer. The
hardware hash is an eight byte value that is created by
running 10 different pieces of information from the
PC©s hardware components through a one-way
mathematical transformation. When you activate your
product over the web, the installation ID is submitted
to Microsoft, and then a digitally signed certificate is
sent back to your PC. Activation is not product
registration. The only information required to activate
is an Installation ID created by the software and, for
Office XP and Visio 2002, the country in which the
software is being installed. No personally identifiable
information is required to activate. For more
information see "Technical
Details on Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP" |
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Can
Product Activation be bypassed? |
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Within a few
days of its launch on October 25, 2001, hackers
released a "crack" that disables XP's product activation
feature. This "crack" is being passed around
the Internet contains a set of instructions for setting
a registry key that disables activation. Microsoft made
the existence of this registry key public to its
technical beta testers telling them where it was and how
to set it to disable activation, and included it as a
testing tool. Some users who are suspicious of the product
activation feature have decided to use this tool, but it
is likely that Microsoft could release an update that
counteracts it so I wouldn't recommended. Business can
be eligible for volume licensing (which doesn't require
activation) for as little as 10 licenses. Which means if
you have 5 PC's running Windows XP and Office XP, you
qualify for the program. Check with your Microsoft rep
for details.. |
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What
happens if I don't activate Windows XP? |
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If you don't
complete the product activation process after 30 days,
Windows XP will still boot, but you'll be unable to launch
Windows until you call the Microsoft Clearinghouse and
enter the code. |
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I
rebuild and/or upgrade my PC all the time. How many
changes can I make before I have to reactivate Windows
XP? |
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The Windows XP
Product Activation Code is based on a combination of 10
system hardware settings, including CPU, NIC card, RAM,
Video card, sound card, etc., If your machine has a
PCMCIA slot (most laptops), you can change 9 of the 10 items before you
need to reactivate XP. For most desktop systems,
you can change up to six items, however changing the
same component repeatedly counts only as one change.
Also, adding additional components doesn't count as a
change. If you purchased a new PC with Windows XP
preloaded from the manufacturer, the product ID is
linked to the BIOS, so you can technically change as
many hardware components as you wish, as long as you
don't change the system BIOS. |
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Should
I deploy Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP
Professional in my company? |
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If you are
planning to deploy Windows 2000 before January 2002, or
are already deploying Windows 2000, you should probably
stick with Windows 2000. If you are planning a
deployment after June 2002, you should consider Windows
XP Professional. The stability and compatibly issues are
about the same, but you'll get a longer life cycle out
of Windows XP in terms of support from Microsoft and
third party vendors. |
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Is
there an XP Server? |
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No, there
isn't. "XP" is only the designation for the Microsoft's
desktop Operating System. The newest
server version is Windows Server 2003 and was released
in April 2003. Microsoft has decided to split the
development and release cycles of desktop and server
operating systems to better serve their customers.
Consumers (and the PC industry) like frequent OS updates
to keep up with newest trends and hardware. Corporations
don't like to update their infrastructure and retrain
their IT staff that frequently. So, you can expect
Microsoft to release a new desktop operating system every
2-3 years, and a server operating system every 4-5 years. |
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Will
my software run on Windows XP? |
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Windows XP is
built on the Windows 2000 kernel, so for business users
who are already running applications on Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000, the upgrade should be pretty smooth.
Microsoft says that over 90 percent of Windows 2000/NT
and Windows 9x applications distributed in North America
in the past three years already work on XP. Notably, one
of the applications that doesn't work is Novell Client
32 V4.80. This incompatibility will have an impact for
business users who are still running in a Novell
environment, but I'm confident that Novell will probably
release a new client within the next few months. For
home users who are more interested in gaming, there are
several issues with older games that rely on DOS. A
large percentage of the games we've tested in our labs
work just fine with XP, but serious gamers may want to
consider dual booting XP with Windows 98 to support
legacy games, and older controllers. Also, since XP is a new operating system, your
system and disk utilities, as well as AntiVirus software
will not work with Windows XP and will need to be
upgraded. |
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What
about Hardware Compatibility? |
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According to
Microsoft, Windows XP supports 12,000 devices straight
out of the box, including the top 1,000 best-selling
devices sold during the year 2000. At this writing, over
300 hardware devices have earned the new XP
logo--meaning they've been subjected to higher testing
standards. However there are still a large number of
hardware devices that aren't compatible and are waiting
for updated drivers. These include multi-function
printers/scanner/fax machines, web cams, CD writers,
etc. You can use Microsoft Compatibility Advisor to
check your system before you upgrade, and/or check with
your hardware manufacturer to see if they've posted new
drivers for Windows XP. Please keep in mind that it is
the hardware manufacturer's responsibility to
write XP compatible drivers for their products - not Microsoft's. In fact, not supporting a new operating
system is a tactic used by some manufacturers in order
to get you to upgrade your current product. Microsoft
released an avalanche of technical details, driver
guidelines, and beta software to manufacturers a full
year before Windows XP shipped in order to give them as
much as lead time as possible. In a random survey of legacy
(pre-2001) printer and scanner drivers available for XP,
we noticed a definite support trend that favored the
higher end (and higher profit) devices and left entry
level models (or those commonly given away with Win95/98
PC's) unsupported. It's really not that hard to write a
driver (or update software to work with Windows XP) but
some manufacturers just refuse to do it. You should
always check the status of your existing hardware before
upgrading to XP. |
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What
about performance? |
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There has been
a lot of Microsoft bashing going around in the press and
on discussion forums regarding XP's performance and most of it has been crap. Many of the published
evaluations you'll see are between the Win9x platform,
which isn't really fair because XP is built
on the NT/Win2000 code base. Of course it's faster and
more stable than the 5 year old code for Windows 9x (including Windows Me).
However, when you compare Windows XP with Windows 2000
they're pretty evenly matched. On systems with +600Mhz processors
and 512Kb of RAM, our XP installations run just a hair
faster than the same systems running Windows 2000. XP
also has a definite advantage over Windows 2000 on
Pentium 4 processors. |
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How
stable is Windows XP? |
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We were very skeptical when we
first loaded Windows XP
Professional on our lab PC's, but for the most part,
we've been happy with the new Operating System. Our
"clean" installations of XP Pro on a variety of desktops
and laptops went smoothly and have been very stable. We
did run across a few upgrade issues as well as unexplained lockups on a single test
system (a Dell Latitude C600), which turned out to be a
faulty memory module. That said, we get a lot of hostile
e-mail from users who are having nothing but problems
with XP Home Edition and Professional. After a bit
of investigating, most of their issues seem to be
preventable (user inflicted) causes and not inherent instabilities
with XP. I'm not saying XP is perfect - it does have it's
share of bugs. But you can improve XP's (or any
Microsoft operating systems reliability by following
these guidelines:
- Only
use hardware that
is on the Hardware Compatibility List -. This ensures
that the products and drivers went through rigorous
testing and are supported by Microsoft. If you're
trying to use a Win9x or Windows 2000 driver to make
your legacy hardware work, you'll probably start
having stability issues.
- Place
all of your systems are on a UPS (not just a surge
protector). Power fluctuations can lead to
unexplained system problems and data loss.
- If you can, always try to
install Windows XP on a clean system, instead of
upgrading a current installation.
- Be
selective with your software. Third party software
isn't always written to Microsoft's standards, and
can cause instabilities. Games and
freeware/shareware utilities are the usual culprits,
but poorly written system utilities can cause
problems as well. Constantly installing and
uninstalling various programs may leave behind
residual registry entries and system files that can
slow a system over time, and cause instabilities
- Don't run
third party themes or freeware screensavers - Many of
these are written by amateurs, and you just never
know what you're getting. Screensavers
look nice, but are usually unnecessary with modern
displays. Try choosing the "blank screen"
option as a screensaver, or have the monitor power
down when not in use.
- Don't
run third party system utilities - Many of the
"system utility" packages on the market
don't work as well as advertised, and can cause more
problems than they solve. Think carefully before
installing these. In our opinion, they're just not
worth it.
- Don't
over tweak your system - We set up our systems the
way we like to work when XP is first installed and
then leave it alone. I work on several desktops and
laptops every day, and don't really have a need to
change systems setting, fonts, colors, themes,
screensavers, performance settings, network
settings, power setting, etc., In a survey of
corporate help desk calls, 80% of problems were
traced back to something that the user did
themselves. This usually involves constant tweaking
and experimenting that leads to stability issues. We
have a standard build that installs the applications
we use, gets rid of the default Blue XP theme we find so
annoying, and locks down security settings. That's
about it.
- Perform
routine system maintenance. This means performing a
full virus scan, defrag, and cleaning out the temp
files routinely. You should also check event logs
for potential problems, and keep up on the latest
system updates from Microsoft.
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How
secure is Windows XP? |
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Again, this
depends on what you are comparing it to. XP is vastly
more secure than Windows 95/98/Me (which didn't have any
security), and is on par with Windows 2000. There has been
a lot of hype about the Remote Desktop and Remote
Assistance features which can allow another person
running Windows XP to interact with your desktop,
however there are several adequate safeguards in place
to keep someone from doing this without you knowing it,
and so far hackers haven't figured out a way to exploit
it. Another controversial topic is Microsoft's use of
full raw sockets API in Windows XP that could
theoretically allow hackers to use XP workstations as
"zombies" in a broad based denial of service
attack. (Click here
for more info). Of course these issues are in addition
to any programming errors, code glitches, and oversights
that may come up in the course of any operating system
release. In our opinion, a properly configured Windows
XP Professional system is no more a risk than a Windows
2000 system. |
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What
did you like or dislike about Windows XP? |
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I suppose the
two most frequent complaints about Windows XP is the new
interface and Windows Product
Activation. I personally hate the new
"Playskool" interface. I half expect a purple
dinosaur to pop up and give me instructions. (Shudder)
Thankfully, a few mouse clicks will change it back to
the "classic" interface. The next thing we
hated was Windows Product Activation. Although the web
activation was painless and took only a few seconds, it
still feels a bit like "Big Brother" and makes
us a little uncomfortable. We also had mixed reviews about
the "clean"
desktop. On the default XP setup, there is only one icon on the
desktop - the recycle bin. This is a welcome departure
from the multitude of AOL icons and other junk
cluttering the Win9x desktop, but over the years we've
become accustomed to using the "My Computer",
"Network Neighborhood" and "My
Documents" desktop icons. (Fortunately, you can get
these back with a few mouse clicks) Fast user switching
was a disappointment since it doesn't work if you're
logged into a Windows 2000 domain. (We haven't tested it
using an NT 4.0 domain). On the plus side, we like
the built in support for compressed files, the Help
system is vastly improved (it even provides hyperlinks to
related TechNet articles), the support for digital
cameras and scanners is excellent, and there other
several smaller "features" that are useful to
administrators. For example, we like having the ability to
automatically synchronize the time on our laptops using
an internet web server when we aren't logged into the
domain, and we like the that XP preloads popular printer drivers
into the default installation so you won't need to
provide your XP installation CD every time you need to
print to a new printer. Overall, we like
Windows XP as a desktop operating system. To borrow a
phrase, it's a small step up from Windows 2000
Professional, and a giant leap from Windows 95/98/Me |
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Is
it worth the upgrade? |
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If you are
currently using Windows 95/98/Me or Windows NT 4.0,
Windows XP will most likely be a worthwhile upgrade.
You'll like the speed, security, and stability of XP,
but may have some issues with hardware and software
compatibility. The new user interface is well suited for
non technical computer users, but seems to drive the
hardcore computer geeks crazy. (Thankfully you can
easily switch it back to the classic Win9x look) Home users may be better off buying a new PC with
Windows XP preloaded rather than try to upgrade the
hardware and OS on an older system. Businesses and power
users that are already running Windows 2000 will
probably not see a significant reason to upgrade.
The general user response
based on feedback and newsgroup postings is mixed. On a CNET
forum, over 7,000 users where evenly split on their
reviews of XP Home Edition. 54% liked it, 46% hated it.
XP Professional faired
a little better with 68% positive and 32% negative
user reviews We spent a few days reading hundreds of these
complaints, and noticed that a majority aren't
really legitimate issues with XP. People expect the
operating system to stay stable no matter how poorly
third party software is written. They expect XP to be
100% compatible with cheap or out of date hardware, and blame
Microsoft for the lack of drivers. They expect all programs
written for Windows 95/98/Me to work on XP. And if they
buy a new system with Windows XP preloaded on it, and it
crashes, they blame Microsoft and not the OEM's crappy
hardware configuration. These are the same issues that
have been raised for every Windows release since Win95.
While being completely crash proof regardless of the
abuse the operating system is subjected to is a lofty goal for any
operating system, it's a bit unrealistic. Windows
XP is certainly not perfect, it's not crash proof, and it's
not compatible with every piece of hardware and
software. But it is a vast improvement over Win95/98/Me
and Windows NT 4.0 in terms of ease of use, security,
stability, and performance. XP Professional is also on par
with Windows 2000 Professional in these areas, but
easier to use. If you're concerned about
compatibility with your old software or hardware, you
may wish to consider dual booting Windows XP with your
older operating system, using VMWare,
using a swappable hard
drive bay, or simply keeping your old PC up and
running for a while and running Windows XP on a new PC.
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