Rating: 
Summary: Unstable Nightmare While Using MSN-DSL Connection
Review: DON'T SAY YOU WERE NOT WARNED: I have the very latest version PC (with all Microsoft updates) and it is crashing daily. It crashes, at least 4-5 times per day. The crashes are random, but always seem to take place when I click on something related to email or while on the Internet: I'll click on a link in Internet Explorer, or an email in Outlook and the computer crashes, requiring a manual reboot. I never had these problems while using Windows ME. So the stability factor has gone WAY DOWN.I've submitted numerous crash and bug reports to Microsoft and the system always says I'll be contacted within a few days by email -- I've not received any responses except to say that they do not know what the problem is. I have also called customer support numerous times and all they have me do is reinstall XP, which has not helped. My conclusion is that Microsoft is swamped with crashes on this not-ready-for-prime-time OS. I hope Microsoft will fix Windows XP, it is driving me nuts. I cannot recommend this product. It is unstable and Microsoft support is no help whatsoever - I know more about windows xp than the MS customer service staff that are supposed to be providing support. Good luck if you decide to venture into XP land.
Rating: 
Summary: IT's the best
Review: After reading a lot of these reviews I can see that a lot of people have no idea what they're talking about. For instance: one guy say's that in XP you have no controle over it what so ever.....this is purly BS because the fact of the matter is, what makes this program so great is the fact that you do have controle over everything right down to the smallest detail. True! You have to know what your doing, and you have to "find" the controls yourself they just don't jump out at you and say "here I am" but once you find the features of this OS you are in controle and I mean in "FULL" controle right down to even changing the log on screen ....(how many could do THAT in 98) I've been running my XP for about 4 months and not one time has it EVER crashed ....not once ...and I run one hell of a lot of programs plus I'm on a cable connection and down load well over a BILLION bites a month. The ONLY drawback that I've seen with this OS is the fact that it is a power hungry...in other words you have to have "POWER" to run it...that means plenty of memory(at least 228) a very fast procceor (600 or more)and a super fast memory card....(I have the all in one )if you don't have what it takes then of course you won't be happy with it. The very best advice I can give you is check out TechTV.com here is where you'll learn everything you need to know about computers and OS's (no matter what your running.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this for you? Find out
Review: I purchased a new dell computer to replace my laptop and of course it came with XP already installed on it. I was open minded and gave it a chance, but ulitmately, I reformated my hard drive and put windows Me back on it. Hopefully this review can help you decide if this if for you or not. -IF YOU HAVE NEVER OWNED A COMPUTER AND YOUR FIRST SYSTEM ALREADY HAD WINDOWS XP ON IT, KEEP IT, THIS IS DEFINITELY FOR YOU.
--here is why, this is a great operating system when all the drivers are compatible with it. Of course if your system came with XP on it, all the drivers are pre-installed and thus compatible.
--for those not on the technical side, your computer will be more reliable with XP on it because it doesn't crash nearly as often as 98 or ME.
--it is pretty user friendly in that it doesn't require that you have to read a huge book to learn how to use it. The tutorial in the begginning is sufficient enough to get you started and the overall use of the system is not complex. -IF YOU HAD A PREVIOUS COMPUTER AND WANT TO UPGRADE TO XP AND YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF WINDOWS IS BASIC, STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS XP.
--here is why, if you are upgrading your computer, you'll find that a lot of your stuff that worked fine with 98 or me will not work with windows XP. You'll have to download those drivers from the internet and if your modem is not working with XP, your [messed up] because there is no way you'll be able to get onto the internet to download your drivers, unless you have a second computer and a way to transfer files from each other.
--overall it can get very complicated and fustrating to get everything to work the way it did when you had 98 or ME so it requires a fair amount of advanced knowledge to get things to work right. So unless you are comfortable with some advanced trouble shooting, stay away. -IF YOU ARE WINDOWS SAVY, HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE, STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS XP.
--here is why, the control you have over XP is very little compared to that of 98 or ME. The whole program is like an airplane that is always on auto pilot that can't be turned off.
--I for one was frustrated with that because I like to have total control over my OS and be able to disable programs, etc that I don't want running or options that I don't need which take up a lot of memory. With XP there is very little control over that. If you try to go to system configuration and look for the start-up tab to disable programs that load on startup, it's not there, for some reason XP does not give you the option to disable those programs loading on startup. If you push ctrl-alt-del and disable them from there, once you restart windows, you'll have to do it again.
--Be prepared to have some of your favorite programs or games to not work correctly with XP, I'm sure enough has been said about that with other reviews.
--Expect some of the new drivers you do download to not fully work, ie. for example I downloaded an XP driver for my scanner's make and model from their site, XP recognized my scanner and the diagnostic on it was successful, but a couple of my art applications did not recognize it.
--many things are forced on you. XP will force you to use that dumb little MSN messenger, which starts up everytime you log onto XP. You can't easily disable it unless you get into the regedit, but good luck.
--lastly is the activation protection, which you must do within 30 days or you can no longer user it. This is the worst feature about XP because if you are like me who is consistantly upgrading your computer, it will cause a problem. I reformat my hard drive at least twice a year to clean up old junk, with XP everytime you do, you'll have to re-activate XP by calling microsoft or going online. If your computer came with XP on it, you wont have to activate it, but if you make a change to your computer (ie. hard drive, peripherals), you'll have to then activate XP. Microsoft put this in there so that people couldn't pirate XP by swapping hard drive with a computer system that doesn't requrie activation and installing XP from there and then swapping back hard drives. XP wont let you, you'll have to activate XP once you put your hard drive back in because windows will start recognizing different hardware. Overall I gave it a low score based on my personnal experience. I didn't think it offered that much new. Sure it doesn't crash nearly as much, but the minute you try install your peripherals, you may run into problems and then XP will start crashing on you. The last straw for me was XP would not work with my RIO mp3 player. I already sacrificed a scanner and webcam not working but no one can take away my music. When I switched back to ME, life was much better because everything was compatible again and I look back at my XP experience as just a horrible nightmare. XP is not break through, most of it consist of improved media (ie. media player or movie maker) but those are just programs and can be downloaded from microsoft. The actual inner guts of XP is nothing revolutionary that requires you to consider upgrading. In a year or so, everything will be XP compatible and you most likely will be forced to upgrade but for now, stay away until all the kinks are worked out and reliable drivers become available. -most XP incompatabilities were with USB peripherals, external hard drives, mp3 players and webcams-
-XP seemed to do well with many printers though.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good OS
Review: I had windows 95 for 4 years then I got windows 98 for about half a year. Then I bought a new computer and it had XP on it. I was a little suspicious because of all the people saying it was buggy. But I have never had a problem yet. Very good program with lots of little goodies that make me very happy.
Rating:
Summary: Acvivation scheme very obnoxious
Review: Microsoft has added the requirement that users do a minimal registration in order to use this or any other new MS product. This makes it so you can't move it from one computer to another and if you upgrade some of your hardware, you will have to call them and explain your story. If they don't believe you, then you won't be able to use it on your new computer. Microsoft is getting very "nervy" with this next generation. It's a good product, but it's nothing you couldn't get from Windows 2000 or better yet, Linux.
Rating:
Summary: XP-VERY DISAPPOINTING.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Finally a good upgrade easy download,Well I'm telling everyone don't believe everything that's said about Windows-XP. I have Windows 98. I thought that I could upgrade to xp. I tried 2 times to upgrade only to be stopped right in the middle of the installing process. My computer is barely 2 years old, and I've never had trouble downloading a program, as I had trying to download this one. I know that sometimes programs freeze but I was hoping that it this one wouldn't. I wish that I could rate this a minus one. The only way this will work is if you buy a computer that has Windows XP preinstalled.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Too Bad!
Review: Microsoft has my compliments, this is the best OS I've dealt with to date. It has a comfortable look/feel, extremely user friendly, and is remarkably stable. Not to mention it seems almost completely self-sufficient upon completeing installation. There were some set backs installing this System, but all were minor, consisting mostly of downloading the proper drivers off the internet. In my opinion it has easily surpassed it's predacessors. However, if I were too install this OS again I would take the time to get the proper drivers off the net first, just some advice for you future XP users.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, they got it closer to right!
Review: I purchased three copies and installed on all my computers. They are much more stable then they had been in the past. Before you purchase, go to Microsoft's website and ensure all hardware in your system will be compatible. It may be necessary to reinstall some software and to obtain NT drivers for some hardware, but with all three of my systems, I was able to get everything working without having to purchase replacement equipment. The GUI is much nicer then in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Act Like You have a choice
Review: In all honesty, I cannot understand why people are buying Windows XP. PRODUCT ACTIVATION
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...Product Activation is not difficult,as some reviewers have pointed out, but I will not submit to being treated like a criminal in my own home having to beg mercy from some corporation to be able to use the product that I BOUGHT. Send a clear message to Microsoft that treating you, the customer, as an assumed criminal is going to lose your business. PRODUCT STABILITY
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Windows XP is more stable than Win 95/98/ME. But so is Windows 2000, without the product activation "feature" builtin. If you are tired of system instability associated with Windows 95/98, upgrade to Windows 2000. Be forewarned: Hardware incompatibility may be a problem as it is with XP. 2000, just like XP, is a Windows NT derivative, so do a little research before upgrading to make sure drivers are available for your hardware and games and other programs that you own will work. CHOICE
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There are choices out there. If you're shopping around for a new computer, have a look at the product line from Apple. Max OS X is a very nice platform. Mandrake Linux is geared toward new linux users if you think you might like to try linux. My mom uses Mandrake Linux 8.2, available for purchase from amazon. If you'd like to stick with windows, but want increased stability, look into windows 2000, which is what I've upgraded my computer newbie relatives to who wanted to stay on the windows platform.
Rating:
Summary: This product saved me $1500
Review: ...I am generally reluctant to praise anything from Redmond, but I have to admit that this is a good product, and saved me from buying another new computer. I bought a new Gateway 1 ghz machine about 2 years ago, running ME (the worst WIndows ever). It locked up about 3 times a day, and it locked up so hard the only way to reboot was to unplug the machine. It had lots of problems recognizing USB devices. Finally, I just gave up on it and bought a Mac Cube, and figured I would buy a new PC when the price of 2 ghz machines got down... However, I had pre-ordered XP on Amazon and forgot I had done so. One day XP shows up and I figure, what the heck, I might as well dig out the old PC and try it. Installation was not without some problems (see below) but I felt like I had a whole new PC. It has not crashed once since I installed XP last August - not once. It is faster, easier to use, and rock solid. And with the DSL stuff built in, I no longer have to use MacPoet for PPPoE, and I swear even DSL is faster now. Best [money] I ever spent on a PC, and I have been a PC user since 1983. A word of caution: before you upgrade, go out on the internet and get all the XP drivers from the manufacturers of you ancillary equipment, particuarly your modem. My modem, my ethernet card, and my Soundblaster did not work after I installed XP, and I no longer had a way to get to the internet to get the drivers or register XP. I had to get the XP drivers using my Cube and DSL, then write them to a CD, then load them on the PC. A little foresight on my part would have saved me a lot of work and diagnostics. Once the three drivers were installed, everything was cool. And I was blown away at how simple getting DSL set up was under XP. It was kind of a PITA under ME. Now I use my Gateway more than my Mac because it is a lot faster with only 20% of the memory my Mac has (Cube still on 9.2 because OS X crashes hard). I would give XP 10 stars if I could.
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