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Summary: Windows 2000 is absolutely wonderful!
Review: After years of rebooting, I finally made the decision to upgrade to Windows 2000. I consulted others and did my homework to get ready. I did the upgrade with only a few problems. These were due to other software. I would recommend that you definitely remove ZoneAlarm completely from your computer, if you have it. The programs's uninstall did not work properly and I finally found another program to remove it. It would not let me get on the Internet to download IE patches. After this was resolved, I have not had any problems with it. It never hangs up. I also bought a huge reference manual that had shown me some wonderful new options. This is the best operating system available. That's my humble opinion.
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Summary: W2K more than fluff!
Review: From Ramon Ray,Windows 2000: Another money making grab by Microsoft? Some of you, like I have thought in the past, may think that Windows 2000 is just another "update" to Microsoft's line of Windows operating systems. Windows 3.1, then the new face lift of Windows 95, 98 and now 2000. I was advising my clients that not RUSH to Windows 98 if they had 95, but only rush if they had 3.1. However in the case of Window 2000, I think every small business person should get Windows 2000 on their computers as soon as possible. It can be a costly upgrade, especially if you have to upgrade (or buy a new computer) your computer hardware (more RAM, larger hard disk, faster processor) on top of purchasing Windows 2000. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel and tell you what you can easily read in PC Computing, PC World, WindowsMag.com, or other sources, but I just want to summarize the benefits of Windows2000 and explain why you need it. BENEFITS OF WINDOWS 2000 Microsoft has worked hard to add a plethora of new features to Windows 2000. Some cosmetic surface changes and more substantive internal changes. There's a slew of new file management features in Windows 2000, such as new "open/save" dialog boxes, easier ways to open unknown file types and etc. You can now customize the Windows toolbars and personalize the menus. For new computer users, just give them the basics and as they advance add more - or let Windows 2000 move more frequently used menus to the top - AUTOMATICALLY. According to the Microsoft Corporate Preview Program Guide, "In addition to having been rewritten in simpler language, error and action messages have been improved throughout to eliminate steps or to provide the user with more information on how to resolve problems. The "Network Neighborhood" folder has also been replaced to include a more powerful "My Network Places" folder. Microsoft didn't just edit the network folder but also improved on the file searching tool. For the mobile worker there's a complete inventory of increased mobile solutions....from better power management, to easier synchronization, "offline files and folders" for work anywhere, anytime, and anyplace, new network connection wizard, and more. WHY YOU NEED WINDOWS 2000 Windows 2000 will allow your small business to work more productively. With less crashing, better interface, and more powerful installation options (like only install this program when it's used...so your PC is not full of program pieces that you don't use) Windows 2000 is a better tool for your small businesses. Technology will always be complex, but Windows 2000 reduces that complexity by a lot!
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Summary: Tough to Navigate, Yet Stable
Review: Funny, Stable and Microsoft together. Until I started using Windows 2000 Adv. Server, I didn't think that there was such a thing. Well, the next NT product is. Buyers beware though, it is very tough to find drivers for a lot of todays hardware. Also, this isn't a product for most consumers. It is a lot more difficult to navigate too. Once you get the hang of it though, it is pretty awesome. I particularly had trouble with getting my computer to view things on my lan and getting on the internet. But after a little tweaking and a lot of crossing my fingers, it is working quite flawlessly. Some changes that I appreciated are a hardware wizard and in the Add/Remove Programs it tells you how often a program is used. On the other hand, I didn't like the way that the Network and Network Properties pages are setup. Also, Dual Booting is quite easy to do now and the installation is pretty smooth also. Novices beware, but advanced user will enjoy it after they get all their hardware/drivers working.
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Summary: The best OS nowadays
Review: I couldn't imagine a Microsoft OS to be stable and running without problems but that's exactly what Win2000 is. Some people were anxious about the fact that it doesn't run on older systems. Nowadays the minimum systems sold fit exactly the parameters that Win2000 needs. What I suggest: don't try it unless you have at least a Celeron 333 Mhz with 64 MB RAM (With this configuration it will run perfectly). Why is Win200 so good? It's a robust OS and has many applications that are easy to use and manage and it is user friendly with the Win98 interface. Do I sound like a MS ad? Yes I do but this time the ads were right. Hardware support isn't a problem now as all hardware have their Win2000 drivers, there are only few exceptions (sadly one of these was my modem). Installation is easy and the installer asks as few questions as possible, installing an ISDN-card or a network card is easy and is done during the installation process. The installation lasts about 30-45 minutes depending on the speed of your system. You can install the upgrade on a computer that doesn't contain an OS, because the installer demands the installation CD of the older OS so you can upgrade your system without tricks (that's what you had to do by Win98, it was tricky to get a new system from the Upgrade CD). Anyway you may keep your old system parameters as well when you are uprgrading. Yet better: when ou're upgrading from Win98 you may keep your programs too, and don't have to reinstall them again. Internet Connection Wizard is the same as in Win98 SE. It's not hard to connect to the internet. Creating a dual-boot system is much easier than in NT and Win98. You may have Linux, Win98 and Win2000 on one hard disk, in this case use the Linux Loader to boot your system, if you have only two Microsoft products on your hard disk, Win2000 recognises them and you may start it with the Win2000 loader. Win2000 is NT 5.0 so it is a multi-user system with an Administrator and Administrator configured users. You can give some administrative privileges for some users. Win2000 comes with NTFS 5, a new file system that is much better than NTFS 4 used in NT 4.0. Win2000 also supports FAT16 and FAT32. This means that you can drag your files created in the other OS to Win2000 without having any problems. There are many administrative tools in Win2000 and their use is really easy. Help is OK, it contains a lot of information and the processes can be understood by anyone. So you've got the feeling of Win98 but this OS is much better. I haven't had any crashes since I've been using it (9 months). This is a record. Of course Win2000 has some failures as well. For example it doesn't work well with Office2000, I had many problems with these two. Office2000 just won't start many times and installing Publisher from the upgrade CD is impossible (anyway this is a failure of Office2000 but the installer used in Office2000 and Win2000 is the same one). You should consider that if you plan to play with your machine, Win2000 isn't your choice. It supports many devices and has many drivers for them, but games aren't written for this OS. About 60-70 % of my games just won't run under this OS. This isn't a big problem for me as I use my machine for working purposes and if I want to play, I boot Win98. The best choice is to maintain a dual-boot system where you can choose what to do. Comparing Win2000 with former Microsoft OS-s, this is the best OS I've met by far and it is the best choice for anyone who doesn't want to learn Linux but wants to have a stable and working OS.
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Summary: Boots fast, is rock-solid compared to other Microsoft OS
Review: I couldn't wait to ditch the Windows ME that came on my new PC. I had plenty of RAM (you need at least 64 MB and in my opinion that is cutting it a bit fine.) The installation went smoothly, most of my applications work fine. This is a new PC, just shy of 1GB cpu speed and with components that have drivers for Windows 2000. Warning: upgrading an older computer? Make sure the drivers for sound cards and peripherals are available for Windows 2000. You can do this by checking the website support section for the various devices you own. Download any new drivers you might need. If your PC is too old, you may not find any drivers for certain components. This happened to one of our PC's at home. If you are setting up a home network, Windows 2000 is MUCH better than Win98 and WinME for doing this. And it boots a lot faster than WinME and WAY way faster than NT. I did have the occasional system hang but nothing like with WinME or Win98. In short, this is the operating system of choice for PC's if your PC can handle it.
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Summary: Comparing Windows 2000
Review: I tried upgrading my home system to Windows 2000 last weekend, but I ultimately decided to back out. Part of that was because there was a conflict between my Partition Magic program and Windows 2000. The other part was that when the Windows 2000 installer analyzed my system, I was informed many of the devices, such as the Conexant 56k modem and 1.5 megabit DSL modem, the nVidia graphics card, and several multimedia drivers, would all need to be upgraded with newer ones from the manufacturer to make sure they would work. At that point I decided to leave my system as Windows ME. It's possible they would have actually worked; the installer program was just saying that they might not without the upgrades. Not having any of them at the time, I didn't want to risk it, so I backed out. However, I did want to say that I have been using Windows NT and Windows 2000 at work and they are definitely much more stable than Windows 98. The main thing is if an application crashes on my NT Workstation computer, I can close that window and the rest of the programs, and the machine itself, continues to run okay. This isn't always the case with 98. And my Windows ME system, which I upgraded to last week at home, is noticeably more unstable than the former Windows 98 Second Edition. I get more inexplicable lockups now than before, but it's liveable for me because the system boots about 4 times faster and shuts down about 8 times faster than Windows 98 did. Most of that is due to the last remnants of DOS finally being eliminated. Another advantage to having ME is the extra multimedia support and getting Explorer 5.5, but I don't really need most of the features it offers. Anyway, getting back to Windows 2000. It is very stable but you may need more memory, a faster processor, and more hard disk space to run it, depending on your system. Also, it won't do all the multi-media and graphics and game-type stuff that '98 will. But if you want extra reliability and don't care about the lack of the other whizzy-bang features, this OS might be for you.
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Summary: MS Office 2000 Recalled?
Review: I was in COMPUSA just about 20 minutes ago when the manager came to the cash register and started grabbing all of the Office 2000 boxes from the display there. While collecting, he franticly barked out orders to the red shirt lackeys that where surrounding him. "Get all Microsoft Office 2000 products into the back NOW! Microsoft just recalled it and we are not to let another copy out of these doors." I asked him about the recall and you would think I was asking for the alarm code for the store. He shrugged and said "All I can tell you is that we were ordered by Microsoft to send all MS Office 200 product back and not to sell anymore copies." I wonder what gives? Security hole? Trying to force Office XP on us? Hmmmmmm
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Summary: Best Microsoft Operating System YET
Review: I'm new to networking, but have had wonderful success with this operating system on my home network. Rather intuitive for the most part. I have a mixed environment of clients: NT 4.0, and Win2k Professional. Getting everything running was easy. The Server wizards help tremendously - - especially for newbies like myself. I'm still learning quite a bit almost daily. I have SQL 7.0 running, my own web server (IIS), and Microsoft Exchange 5.5. Very stable operating system. Great security. Great interface. I'm especially fond of the support for: USB devices, plug-and-play, and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (allows the computer to hibernate/power down devices). Another great feature is the sharing of IRQ's. That made me nervous at first, since normally devices didn't IRQ's (interrupt addresses) well in earlier versions of Windows. One piece of advice: don't install anything that isn't certified or isn't created to run on Windows 2000 Server. Although the operating system is tolerant, an errant piece of hardware or software could create more headaches than you may be ready for. IIS (Internet Information Services) is included - which allows you to host your own web server. ASP (Active Server Pages) - a feature of IIS allows you to program interactivity in your web pages - - bringing them to life.
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Summary: Don't Even Bother With Microsoft Windows Me!
Review: I'm not trying to knock Microsoft Windows Me!, but Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional is THE BEST operating system on the market. I was running Microsoft Windows 95, then Microsoft Windows 98 then finally Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition. I was going to upgrade to Microsoft Windows Me!, but when I heard it was still using the Microsoft Windows 98 engine, I said enough! I upgraded to Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and it was the best move I made. It has all the plug and play of Microsoft Windows 98 but it's built on NT technology. I couldn't upgrade to Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 because I have a scanner plugged into a USB port but Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional took care of all of that. I have a four year old Gateway Pentium Pro 200 machine and it's now running faster than my work laptop which is Pentium III 366MHz. Did I mention that my laptop is running Microsoft Windows 95? I will be upgrading that one very soon too! One word of caution though, MAKE SURE you check out the hardware and software compatibility list, especially the hardware one. My sound card, an Ensoniq Vivo, was not supported but I was able to use the legacy NT 4.0 driver. It took a while before I got is working, but it was worth it. Even if you are a home user, don't bother with the other ones. I used to have to reboot my machine two or three times a night in a four hour span. So far, I haven't frozen yet in over a week. The only time I have to reboot is when I occassionally add new features or software. My vote is, way to go Microsoft! What took so long to put the plug and play and NT technology together? Thanks for your time all.
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Summary: should you upgrade to a higher version?
Review: I've used win95, win98, nt, 2000pro and xp. As much as 2kPro is my prefered windows environment, it is sufficiently old that most users should seriously consider the more recent windows versions instead.
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