Mouse Clix

By Hobie Lunin

A New Year, a New Operating System (Windows XP)

Frankly, I have not yet upgraded to Windows XP (Home Edition). I was very enthusiastic when it came out last October, especially after seeing a demo at Circuit City. There, they explained, I could go to Microsoft’s website and download a program that would evaluate whether any parts of my current system would have any problems within XP. I did this and discovered a few places where I could experience some problems and the DVD, Printer and Scanner were among those listed at the end of the evaluation. My printer manufacturer said that they were sure that there would not be a problem, but suddenly I was wary. I think I will let some other people get there first and then I will look at it again in the spring.

For now, I will just tell my readers what Microsoft is saying about the advantages of their newest Operating System and let you decide what you want to do. Of course, if you buy a new computer these days it will probably have XP preloaded, so you have a better chance of not having a problem with any new hardware or software you load especially if the accompanying literature indicates that it is compatible with XP.

My experience in trying the system out on someone else’s computer leads me to believe that this is a noticeably improved system. This will be very evident if you share a computer with several members of your family. You will be able to set your own partition exactly the way you want and anyone else will be able to do the same without effecting your setup. An improvement allows for instantaneous change from one user to another. Say Dad wants to interrupt Mom to see his e-mail. When Mom gets back to doing what she was doing, she will find that everything is just as she left it. No need to back out of any programs to allow Dad to do his thing.

System Restore is a nice plus. Those of you who have Windows ME have this feature, which allows you to restore your system to a previous state if something goes wrong with your computer. It also solves the problem of making some inadvertent change in a program that you cannot seem to figure out how to undo. I have used this program in other people’s computers to solve problems and it was quick and easy.

The following information was touted on-line at www.microsoft.com: The Remote Restore application allows you to authorize someone to access your computer from a remote site to either help solve a problem or demonstrate a process to you. The Network Setup Wizard is designed to help make it easy to have all the computers in a household network to share files or the Internet access and a printer.

The Windows Media Player for XP adds to this program allowing for easy storage and use of downloaded music, to burn CD’s and to play DVD’s. Having all your media in one place will be very helpful for organizing and finding the music you want.

Microsoft would like to gain some ground on the popularity of AOL Messenger by providing a universal messenger program for all, allowing communication by voice or video in addition to the traditional text. This new messenger is preloaded in XP.

My Pictures is new and is an easy place to store all your photos, organize and preview them as well as order prints over the Internet.

The new Operating System has a new desktop with less icons and giving you all the features you use most right up front, so you can speed up your tasks. Included in the new system is Internet Explorer 6, which (it says) will keep your personal information private. It also bills itself as having more reliability with new and better features. (Well, I am only writing here what they are saying which in this case sounds like a lot of hype.)

On the other hand, they are saying that the system is more reliable as parts of it are based on Windows 2000 which has been found to be more stable with lots less of locking up and “freezing” problems.

Before you make a decision, I recommend you allow yourself the time to go to the Microsoft web site and read the specifics in their list of the ten top reasons to buy XP. In addition, I suggest looking at the videos that are available there, that will give you an in depth look at each of the advertising claims. If your Internet connection is very slow and this type of thing takes too long, I suggest doing this at the local library on their computers, which run on cable. In addition to the promotional videos, there are some tutorials as well and these will be useful to you even if you stay with your present system, no matter what it is.

In summary, it is obvious that Windows XP will be helpful to families who either have many people using one computer in the house or many people using separate computers in the house who would like to share the Internet, a printer or scanner. Windows XP seems to make this easier to do (and probably less costly, as well).

Finally, if you are planning to get the Professional version of XP rather than the Home version discussed above, I suggest getting an on-line evaluation at the Microsoft site. Point your browser to: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp to get your computer evaluated before you make the purchase. The evaluator will tell you in advance what software conflicts there may be.

Hobie Lunin is a Computer Instructor and Consultant, and can be reached at mouseclix2@yahoo.com. Previous articles can be seen at http://mouseclix.tripod.com. Information about taking lessons with the author of this article is on this web site.