Windows XP can cause system problems when upgrading from previous operating systems.
Windows 98/98SE:
When upgrading from Windows 98 the install seems to be ok for a little while. Problems with incompatible drivers, however reported and maybe minor, they can cause severe issues later. Video drivers seem to be a big problem. What's worse is that the drivers that are included with the Windows XP CD may not work. Sound cards, ethernet cards, cd-writers, modems, and usb may all also give you trouble. My experience with upgrading was not one I enjoyed. The install went well until I realized it felt like I was still using the old Win9x way of handling memory. Things began to crash shortly after upgrading to Windows XP specific drivers. I received the fatal crash about five hours after the install.
Windows ME:
I have not personally upgraded from Windows ME as I never liked it enough to keep it running on any system I had. I always had problems with it and cannot believe that upgrading from Windows ME to Windows XP will be any better than with Windows 98. Although in being fair, I have been told the upgrade from Windows ME to Windows XP is much better.
Windows NT/2000:
Here you should have no real problems being that Windows XP is really only a Service release update to Windows 2000. In fact most programs cannot even tell the two operating systems apart from each other anyway. Most will identify Windows XP as either Windows 2000 Service Release 2600 or Windows NT 5.1 SP 2600, thats in final version of course.
After having serious problems upgrading I decided to do a full install from scratch. This also proved to be an interesting situation. During the first boot after full install, I encountered a problem. I could hear the nice microsoft music playing in the background of what should be the logon screen, but was unable to see the screen itself. The screen was completely blacked out. Luckily I remembered the trusty F8, and during the second boot chose the VGA mode. While I didn't like how it looked exactly, I did get to see the screen and my desktop. I downloaded the ATI Radeon Driver I needed from the Site and also read something interesting there as well. The Video driver included on the Windows XP doesn't support OpenGL. I didn't think that had anything to do with why I couldn't see Windows, but it made me wonder what else it didn't support. After installing and rebooting yet again, I was finally able to see everything at startup.
While I enjoy Windows XP, I do recommend that you check to make sure that all the hardware in the computer has certified drivers that you can readily download if needed. You should also be aware that Windows 2000 drivers should work perfectly if you cannot find an XP driver.
Here is some other information you should know:
Home edition: Lacks file encryption, remote access and integration with Windows 2000 server. Shared folders on a LAN can only be set to either public or private with the Home edition. In contrast, the Professional edition allows shared folders to have their own individual passwords.
And one last thing, all of those who are worried about these internet worms like Code Red, IIS does not come installed by default. I have also found that the personal firewall doesn't really work, and this makes me fearful of users who are not aware of the full berkeley unix sockets implemented in Windows XP. Any good hacker could write a simple code that could be used on a Windows XP machine to send source spoofed packets to an unsuspecting destination.
That's all I really have to say about that.
John D. Saucier
jsauce@magicguild.com
Certified Technician
