Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 Complete package

Author's product rating:   

Instructions / Help	Good
Ease of use	Easy
Ease of Installation	Satisfactory
Reliability	Good
Value For Money	Poor

Advantages:	Stable  |  User friendly
Disadvantages:	Not the most secure OS  |  Expensive

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Before I start this review I'm going to apologise for how long it is likely to be, but to properly review such a huge product as an operating system is going to take quite a lot more than a few paragraphs. To make it easier for you to find the information you personally will need, I'll organise everything under headings.

---My History with Windows---

The first version of Windows I ever used was Windows 3.1, a long, long time ago and I remember thinking how wonderful it looked and how much more you could do with it. This was in a time, when all the other computer systems I had used were text based, and any programs that you might use were kept on some sort of floppy disc or tape.

I also had very limited use of Windows for workgroups, but these were a long time ago.

Quite a few years passed, and finally I was able to afford my own computer, which came with Windows ME, which looked very nice and was easily customisable, but boy was it unstable. I found that it was "crashing" several times a day and I almost cheered on the day that my next computer that came with Windows XP arrived.

I've since owned three computers that have each come with Windows XP Home installed, and have had quite a bit of experience with it over the last three years.

---Do you need the complete package?---

This is an important question to ask yourself before buying Windows XP/SP2 Home Complete, especially as there is a huge price difference between this and an upgrade. If you are running Windows 98, 98SE or ME, then you will only need to upgrade, if you are running any other operating system (or have none at all) then you will need to buy the complete package.

Another interesting point to make is that there are two versions of the complete software available, one is the retail package, which is what I'm reviewing and the other is the OEM version, which can only be bought with a piece of hardware and is intended for use when building a computer.

---Why I bought it---

I bought this package because my original operating system was destroyed by a nasty virus, and as I had changed the way my hard drive was formatted, the supplied recovery disc wouldn't work. I didn't have time to get an OEM version, and didn't need any hardware anyway, so I decided to just buy the complete package to save myself time.

---System Specifications---

Windows XP Home is quite hungry in terms of processing power, RAM and hard drive space and requires that the computer meets AT LEAST the following specifications (although the higher the specs the better it will work).

* PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required; Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended

* 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)

* 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space.

* Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor

* CD-ROM or DVD drive

* Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

My own computer exceeds these requirements many times over, being

* Pentium 530 (running at 3000 MHz)

* 1024 MB RAM

* 2x200 GB Hard Drive.

---What you get---

Windows XP Home comes supplied on a single CD-ROM, which is found enclosed in a green folder, and then packed in an oversized box. It's very important that you don't throw the folder away as it has your product key printed on the back. There are also some very minimal instructions included, which I didn't really bother with.

* A genuine Windows XP CD has holographic printing on it, if your copy doesn't then it's not genuine.

---Installation---

To install Windows XP, you will need to make sure that your computer will boot from your CD/DVD-ROM drive first, mine did this automatically but you might need to change some setting in your computer's BIOS. I can't tell you how to do this, as it is different for different computers.

Once your computer is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive, you need to put the Windows installation disc in and re-start the computer. On re-start you will be prompted to press any key to boot from disc, so press a key and the installation program will start to load. From there on in it's pretty much a case of following the prompts and deciding whether you want to format your drive. It's a good idea to actually format using the NFTS system, especially if you plan on using large video files, as it supports files over 4GB.

Installation took just over an hour, including formatting, and just over half way through I was asked for my product key. All in all it was a pretty simple process, and the only reason I needed to sit and watch what was going on was so that I could enter the product key.

---Starting Up---

When I started Windows up for the first time, I hit a few problems. Firstly I had no sound, and then I found I didn't have a network card installed. I later discovered that this was because the drivers for both my sound card and NIC card weren't actually included in the installation. However, Windows still started up without any other problems, and immediately asked me if I wanted to register and activate my copy. I had to leave this until I had sorted out my internet connection, but you MUST activate Windows XP within 30 days, which you can do either over the telephone or on-line.

I was then offered a chance to take an interactive tour, which I didn't bother about, as I've been using XP for a while, but would suggest that if you were new to XP it would be a good idea to take a look.

---Customising---

Windows XP is of course easily customisable, from changing your desktop background, to a number of options to enhance accessibility for the disabled. I can't say I actually noticed that much difference in the amount of different things I could customise, between XP and ME though, so there is no real improvement in this area.

---Ease of Use---

Windows XP, seems to have been made with the non-technical person in mind. No longer are computer's the territory of "nerds". There seems to be a wizard for almost everything, from printing pictures, to connecting to the internet. Of course, you can delve deeper into the working of the system, if like me you want to sort things out yourself, but for the "average" user, the wizards can do it all for them.

---Stability---

I've found XP to be extremely stable, especially after having used ME. I can work with programs that are very processor hungry with lots of multimedia and I have no problems. With ME I found that if a used one of these programs for more than an hour, windows would become very unstable, so much so that I ended up not using the programs. I've only really had one problem with XP shutting down, and that was due to the fact that my Cable Modem was incompatible when used via USB, a problem that was easily solved.

If a program does freeze it is easy enough to shut it down, using Ctrl, Alt, Del, which gives you the option of ending a program now.

---Connectivity---

Once you've ensured that you have a physical connection to the internet, you can easily set up access with the Internet Connection Wizard, although this isn't actually needed with a broadband connection, as everything seems to just work immediately. It is also simple to set up a network between computers, using the Network Set-Up wizard. Having previously struggled to do the same thing with ME I can say this is a great improvement.

SP2 comes complete with a new security centre, which doesn't feature on my other computers (that only have SP1). This includes a pop-up blocker, that works pretty well, (I no longer see any pop-up ads on Ciao or Dooyoo), and a firewall that is effective enough to pass the security check on the Symantec (Norton) website. The only thing it doesn't include is a virus checker, so you will still need one of these.

Microsoft have kindly included their own web browser, Internet Explorer (IE), which I use as little as possible along with an e-mail program, Outlook Express. I use Outlook, for the simple reason that it's what I'm used to, but only use IE if a particular site demands it.

---Installing Hardware---

I've found most hardware is extremely easy to install, and is automatically detected by Windows, which then opens up the Add Hardware wizard. I've only really had one problem and that was with a cable modem, that even after updating drivers was causing some sort of problem and constantly shutting windows down. Other than that I've made short work of installing, a printer, camcorder, digital camera, network adapter, and sound card.

---Installing programs---

The majority of programs, install perfectly well and quickly, but I have had some problems with older games, where they refuse to play. Some of them I've been able to sort out by changing the compatibility mode, but others have refused to work even with this. So bear this in mind if you plan to use old programs that were designed for Windows 95 especially.

---Multimedia---

Windows XP handles multimedia, exceptionally well. There are a number of inbuilt programs which allow you to perform basic manipulations of video and music along with the ever favourite paint program.

Windows Movie Maker allows you to create home movies, while Windows Media Player allows you to play music and video files, "rip" music from Cds (in WMA format) and burn your own compilation Cds. Although these are nice little additions, I tend not to use them, as I prefer other versions which are far more flexible.

A new feature of XP is the ability to "drag and drop" files onto a CD-R, without the need for a Cd writing program. I have used this a few times when I've wanted to move files between computers and can't be bothered to open my burning program up, and it works perfectly well.

---Maintenance---

XP makes it very easy to keep your computer system in good condition, with such functions as the disc cleanup (which deleted un-needed files) and a greatly improved disc fragmenter. I say the fragmenter is improved, because it looks much neater than it did with ME, and seems much quicker. I used to sit and watch the pages of little squares in ME for what seemed like hours, with a fairly small drive. The fragmenter on XP however, is virtually static and takes a lot less time for a much larger disc.

The only thing that is missing is an easily accessible disc checker, it is there, but very hard to find. But XP will detect if there's been an abnormal shut down and automatically check the disc if there has.

You can schedule XP to automatically perform a clean-up and de-fragment at any time you wish, weekly is enough for most users.

---Other features---

There are some other pretty standard features, all of which were available on Windows ME, including some games, pinball's a favourite in this house, notepad (a very basic word-processing program), address book and calculator.

---Support---

The help functions in XP pretty well cover any problem that you could have. There are trouble-shooters for troublesome software and programs, how-tos that cover such topics as "how-to" set up a network, and wizards for countless functions. If all this on-board help isn't enough you can get a friend to help you via remote assistance, as long as you're both connected to the internet and they're running XP. I've used this function to help my Dad sort out a hardware problem, and it was so much easier than talking him through it.

The final part of support is the automatic updates that you can get from the Microsoft site. I personally don't have this switched on, but I do regularly go to the site to see if there's any critical updates, it's just that I'm not that keen on allowing Microsoft that much control of my "baby"

---The bad bit---

No matter how Microsoft try to diminish our fears by adding features such as the security centre, it is a proven fact that Windows XP is far less secure than it's Linux based counterparts. And when you take into consideration the sheer volume of users, is it any surprise that it's the hackers favourite target. I'm sure I remember that there was a lot of blurb that XP was the most secure version of windows yet when it first came out, and yet it seems that almost every week there's a story how a new vulnerability has been found.

So by simply having Windows installed I'm putting my computer and personal details at risk, although I do lower that risk by keeping all virus definitions up to date and ensuring that I install any security updates that Microsoft issues.

---Prices---

Windows XP/SP2 Home complete cost me the princely sum of 179.99 from Staples but is available on-line for 159.99 plus delivery from eBuyer.

The OEM version is somewhat less and only 55.56 (+delivery) from eBuyer, while the upgrade is 82.24.

---My Opinion---

I would have loved to install a different operating system on my computer, just to show my disgust at how over-priced Windows actually is, but unfortunately it is perfect for what I need. XP Home is stable, user friendly and supports almost any type of software and hardware I will ever need. As I know about it's drawbacks, I have protected myself against hackers the best that I can, so I can happily spend my time surfing the web, listening to music and creating my DVDs.

While I'm sure Linux is the more stable and secure platform, due to the fact that I just wouldn't be able to get the programs I want to use to run on it, it's not for me. I am therefore recommending XP Home, for home users that want a stable platforms to carry out the everyday tasks that we all like to use computers for, be it browsing Ciao, or turning their home movies into DVDs.