Windows XP
Introduction
Windows XP was released in August 2001 as the successor to both Windows Me and Windows 2000. It is an extended version of Windows 2000 and sports a simplified user interface and friendly login process.
Standard Editions
- Home, for the average home user
- Professional for businesses and more advanced home users:
- RTL (Retail) with normal product activation
- VLK (Volume Licensing Key), also called "Corporate". This has no activation and is aimed at large organisations.
Special Editions
- Tablet PC Edition — XP Pro (Retail) with added support for touch-screens and pen stylus control.
- Media Center Edition — XP Pro (Retail) with built-in video recording and electronic programme guide.
- Starter Edition, a low-cost version scaled-down version of XP Home available only in Asia & Russia
- Embedded for set-top boxes, ATMs and other devices (scaled-back XP Pro)
- Fundamentals, a thin client version for use with older hardware.
64-bit Editions
Contains the WOW64 (Windows on Windows) subsystem for compatibility with 32-bit programs. However, system software such as device drivers must be specially written for 64-bit (i.e. 32-bit drivers cannot be used).
- XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003 — a specialised version of XP Pro for use with Intel Itanium processors only. (Now withdrawn.)
- XP Professional x64 Edition — XP Pro for AMD64-compatible (x64 or EM64T) PCs. (This does not run on Itanium processors.)
Service Packs
Microsoft release occasional Service Packs incorporating bug fixes, security patches and improved hardware support. SP1 for XP was released in September 2002. Users had to wait another two years for SP2, which included new software: Security Center, housing an improved firewall, and popup-blocking for IE.
SP3 is due in mid-2007 and will contain a number of features back-ported from Windows Vista, such as IE7 and Media Player 11.
New features introduced with XP
Driver Rollback
Allows you to discard a newer driver in favour of the previous one.
ClearType
This uses sub-pixel rendering to enhance the smoothness of text on LCD screens by selectively highlighting red, green or blue parts of pixels. This can give a blurred effect but is such a popular feature that it is automatically used on IE7 and Vista.
Fast User Switching
This feature (which is also found on many Linux distributions and Mac OS X) allows users to log out without closing programmes. These programs continue to run in the background, even when a different user logs in. When the original user logs back in they can pick up where they left off.
This feature is unavailable on domain workstations for security reasons.
Remote Assistance
Remote Assistance is an under-used but powerful feature built into both Home and Pro editions. It allows the user to request help from someone else using Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger or via email (using a feature that works best in Outlook Express). When connected, both the user and assister can chat, exchange files and operate the user's desktop.
The following website gives an example of easy-to-follow instructions for connecting to their own remote assistance service.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/rmassist.mspx
As you will see it is a fairly convoluted process, which explains the lack of popularity of this very useful feature!
Remote Desktop
Remote Desktop (RDP) (also called Terminal Services) is often confused with Remote Assistance. However, Remote Desktop is only available with XP Pro.
It allows you to log in to your XP Pro machine from anywhere on the Internet, provided you have a Remote Desktop client program. (The client program is built into XP Home and Pro, and also Windows Mobile for PocketPC)
For security reasons, remote desktop users must have a password.
Microsoft have provided a clear guide to enabling Remote Desktop:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.mspx
To enable Remote Desktop, go to the control panel System properties; on the Remote tab select "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"; finally press the "Select Remote Users" button to choose who can log in through RDP.
Differences between Home & Professional
Professional is a superset of Home, offering additional remote access, security, performance, manageability and multi-lingual features.
| Home | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Network Setup Wizard, Windows Messenger, Help & Support Centre |
| Yes | Yes | Network Setup Wizard, Windows Messenger, Help & Support Centre |
| Yes | Yes | Laptop support: ClearType & DualView |
| Yes | Yes | Wireless connections — automatic 802.11 configuration. |
| Yes | Remote Desktop (a.k.a. single user Terminal Services) | |
| Yes | Yes | Remote Assistance (shared desktop) |
| Yes | Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 webserver & FTP server | |
| Yes | Offline Files (access to network share when disconnected from server) | |
| Yes | Multiprocessor support (Home supports some HT processors) | |
| Yes | Yes | Internet Explorer 6 privacy support (improved in SP2) |
| Yes | Yes | FAT, FAT32 & NTFS |
| Yes | Encrypting File System built into NTFS | |
| Some | Yes | File access control |
| Yes | Can connect to a Windows Server domain | |
| Yes | Group Policy | |
| Yes | Network Software Maintenance & Remote Installation Service (RIS) | |
| Yes | Roaming User Profiles | |
| Yes | Yes | Run any language applications on any language Windows XP. |
| Yes | Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on |