Rating: 
Summary: XP=?????????
Review: What does XP stand for in Windows XP?????? eXtra Problems!!!! From being hard to install to having to get all the needed upgrades for it once it is installed. Then it seems it likes to crash or close a window on me everytime I get online. If I wanted eXtra Problems I wish I hadn't got XP
Rating: 
Summary: The great disappointment
Review: After installing XP, I got a number of messages stating that XP was not compatible with a number of applications. For some I had to go to the net to get patches from the manufacturer. Others (Corel WP office suite 7) required that I fork out for an upgrade. Even with the "compatible" programs there were continual interuptive messages that something went wrong and that message would be sent to MSFT. I feel that I bought a beta version of something.I uninstalled XP and went back to 98...creating more problems.
Thanks for nothing, Microsoft!
Rating: 
Summary: eXtraProblems!
Review: Once again, an OS from Microsoft is released too early. I did my homework and ran Microsoft's Upgrade Advisor. It informed me that my soundcard would need to be upgraded, and two programs would need to be reinstalled. not thinking this was a problem, I went ahead with installation. Well, my monitor was not recognized, reducing it to Plug and Play. Updated drivers did nothing to help. My video card was not "Logo certified", so those drivers did not work either. Too make a long story short, some 6 hours later, Win98SE found it's way back on to my computer. Don't buy this upgrade unless it comes preconfigured on your machine. You will save yourself time, money, and patience.
Rating: 
Summary: Can your comptuer handle XP
Review: Microsoft Windows XP professional Upgrade is great, it is visually appealing, simple to use, and depending how much of a computer buff you are, makes it easier than ever to connect all your periphals with your computer.
However, there are downsides to XP that have really annoyed me about the program. Because XP has been built on a different platform, unlike other editions, such as 98 and ME, with XP you will probably find that you will have to download new drivers for your software. While XP comes with many drivers of objects it isn't always recommended that you use Microsoft XP's built in drivers, as there not always the best option.
Ie the drivers for my Hewlett Packard 930c printer weren't compatible with XP so I used XPs drivers, with their drivers my printer printed at a much slower rate and used a lot more ink because of the fact that they aren't the proper drivers for the printer.
The intergration of the Operating system is great with such programs as messenger.
Finally as a tip, I recommend that you reboot your computer when you install XP, as your comptuer will run at its peak peformance with the new operating system.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the money
Review: I am so tired of my computer crashing that I feel like the kid in the DSL commercial who throws his computer out the window! If this Windows XP will prevent that from happening then it's worth twice as much people pay for it. Windows ME has been the biggest hunk of junk ever created! Hopefully I wont be saying the same about XP. Only time will tell.
Rating:
Summary: An eXPensive upgrade
Review: It was only (...)for the software. It was over (...)in other associated emergency help costs. This is my $800 tale of woe so you might learn from it.
Halfway through the upgrade on my 256MB 1Ghz Windows ME Dell the thing hung. Wouldn't go forward or backwards. I called Dell. Firstly, as I hadn't bought the disk from them they told me I would be on my own from here on out. Secondly after they charged me (...)to "help" they reduced my machine to a black screen with a c prompt and with the only option to either lose EVERY file I ever had OR save the files assuming I knew their names .... via floppy! So much for their eXPerts. Long story short the heroes at Millenium Technical Solutions in San Francisco (ask for Frank if you ever get in similar pickle) had me up and running eXPediently. Now I discover my Epson 1240U scanner doesn't have XP drivers so won't work, neither does my 3Com Homeconnect webcam or my Roland Midi interface, or my digital camera interface. Oh and the CD burner that Roxio provides doesn't work. So I have gone from a competent but somewhat unstable ME to a more stable and prettier but extremely dumb XP. Not exactly the warm embrace from the digital world I had hoped for.
The morale of this sad tale is a) always backup before upgrading an OS. We all know this but rarely do it. I learnt the hard way. b) be cautious about buying from a non-OEM source if you still have some sort of service agreement c) If bad goes to worse get expert help and avoid the clowns on the help lines d) XP will be great when the drivers and bugs are worked out. But for right now its pretty mediocre. Looks like the all new Microsoft is a bit like the old Microsoft - promise big then follow up slowly.
Rating:
Summary: Windows 2000 is the best....
Review: Forget it stick up with Windows 2000 , Me or 9x
This Software is Useless and demands lots of Money...
Rating:
Summary: Worth the getaway from ME but............
Review: MAKE SURE YOU RUN THE COMPATIBILITY program FIRST.
For God's sake, uninstall ANY software that is uncompatible, namely any NORTON product, and ROXIO (ADAPTEC) product especially CD-CREATOR!!!!!!
I went for an ENTIRE WEEK EVERY DAY seeking help from Dell, Microsoft, and ROXIO ( and all associated newsgroups) trying to get my CD-R/CD-RW working after I UPGRADED from ME to XPPRO. The software conflicts that resulted from CD-CREATOR clashing with XP could NEVER BE RESOLVED EVEN BY MICROSOFT. They finally gave up and said, "It's a software issue, contact Roxio". Roxio says, "It's a Microsoft problem" ARG! Read the newsgroups. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CANNOT USE THEIR CD-R/CD-RW drives becuase of this problem. AND NEITHER COMPANY WILL HELP THEM! Finally, I had to REFORMAT my hard drive and start completely over. Now, it works but I have to re-install every application back onto my computer and reload all my backup files. What a pain (...)!
Rating:
Summary: XP Home Upgrade a Must!
Review: A lot of the press pundits say it really doesn't matter if you upgrade from Windows 9x or ME to the new XP operating system. While this may be true for those who run Windows 2000, it most definitely is not true for the Windows 9x crowd. At first I was a little leery of installing this system on my computer, but after reading a lot of the literature, and running the Upgrade Assistant available at various sites, I decided to give XP Home a try. I rigorously followed the instructions right down to removing programs which might interfere with installation and began the process. Ninety minutes or so later, I had XP installed, and another hour or so let me reload my Norton Systemworks 2002 and Norton Internet Security 2002. I also installed Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum - this program required a patch from the Roxio web site. As far as hardware goes, the only item that seemed to present a problem was my Visioneer 6100 USB scanner which XP said was incompatible. However, another download of software from Visioneer solved this problem. Now I have a system which doesn't bog down, no matter how many programs I have open. It is totally stable - the only reason to reboot is if you have turned off your computer. I have had no more "blue screen" crashes, and have left my computer running for several days at a time. If you have the system to handle it - (I would highly recommend at least 256 MB RAM) Windows XP Home will definitely improve your computing experience! One final note - the Activation process truly does not ask for any personal information, and if you already have a Hotmail or MSN account - you can use this for registering the program as well.
Rating:
Summary: Here We Go Again......
Review: Well, it's finally here....after all the hype, all the M$ brainwashing, Windows XP is here for the taking. I've been playing with this "greatest thing since sliced bread" that came on my new laptop that I bought three or four weeks ago. My desktop is still running Win98. I've read most of the other reviews that have been posted and as usual, some liked it, some hated it. Personally, I'll take a middle-of-the-road stand on this one. Hence the three-star rating I gave it. OK, I'll admit that it's real artsy-fartsy. Nice and pretty with lots of bells and whistles. You know what they say about bells and whistles...they're the last refuge for the insecure and talentless. Anyway, there's a few things about this that really irritate me. First is this activation thing. I have a problem with M$ telling me what I can and can't do with something that I've paid for. (this is assuming that I buy it for my desktop) I tend to change internal hardware often enough that I see this activation issue as a royal pain in the butt! Microsoft is concerned about privacy, but what about the privacy of my computer? What concern is it of Microsoft's how often I change my hardware that they feel their software should monitor that? Second, I'd rather use Easy CD creator 5 platinum for burning CD's since the way XP does it seems a bit archaic to me. Third, Microsoft's "coincidental" exclusion of support for a few pieces of hardware such as Logitech Mouseware since M$ makes their own mouse. Easy CD Creater isn't supported because CD burning capabilities come with XP. Some DVD player software isn't supported for the same reasons. As for the stability issue, granted, it's probably more stable. It should be...M$ has had long enough to get it right and keep the backwards compatability out of it. But in all honesty, and I swear this on my mother's grave, I never really had any major issues with Win98 crashing on me. Sure, once in a while it would bite the bullet and crap out, but not often enough to be an issue, mostly just a slight inconvenience. Most of what I do on my desktop is graphics and believe it or not, I've had both Photoshop 6 and PhotoImpact 6 open with rather large images open at the same time along with a web page, Word 2000 and e-mail and have not had my machine crash. I'll go for days and weeks with no glitches on Win 98 whatsoever. I'm not a computer expert, but I've been around the block enough times to know that it isn't always the OS or the programs that are open that makes the OS crash. Sometimes the person at the keyboard lends a hand as well. Speaking of graphics and pictures, there's photo software in XP that acts as a browser, editor, organizer,blah, blah,blah. For that stuff, I'll stick with ACDSee 4.0. It's far more functional. Forgetting that XP is in my laptop, I believe I'll hold off on updating my desktop for a while. As with anything Microsoft, I'd bet a paycheck that in three to six months there will be an "XP Second Edition" (or some similar name) that will come out with all the patches and bug fixes that will come along and possibly the inclusion of additional drivers. That will give me time to road test this OS on my laptop. At least at this point I've sort of got the "best of both worlds" for now. There's no doubt in my mind that eventually we'll all end up XP'd as more and more programs come out for it and the older OS's begin to fade away. Win 95 is officially dead already. How much longer for 98 and ME? Time will tell. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not bad-mouthing XP at all. There's some nice, useful stuff in here. But it's only useful if you have a use for it. As I said, my biggest gripe is the apparent continuation of M$ to basically say "play my way or I'll take my ball and go home". So, think carefully and do your homework before you run out and drop a hundred or two on this. Make sure you have enough system and that it's not too old as well as making sure you can get drivers for anything that XP doesn't support. My desktop isn't quite a year old and XP says there's compatability issues. And make sure you need the extras that come with XP. There's not a lot of sense in buying what you never use or something that a separate program you already have does for you and may even do better. (CD burning for example) It might be best to watch, listen, and learn over the next few months and see what happens with the release of an updated XP.
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