Windows XP

Windows XP is a major revision of the Microsoft Windows operating system created for use on desktop and business computer systems. As of February 2006, it is the latest general-purpose version of Microsoft's family of operating systems, and is expected to be succeeded by Windows Vista sometime in the second half of 2006. Codenamed "Whistler" during its development, it was released on October 25, 2001. The letters "XP" are said to come from the word experience. The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which has additional features and is targeted at power users and business clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition, released one year later, consists of Windows XP Professional with new features allowing users to record and watch TV shows, watch DVDs, listen to music and more. Two separate versions of Windows XP were released, the Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 processors and the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for what Microsoft refers to as the x64 processors.

Windows XP greatly improved stability and efficiency from previous Windows consumer editions that used the hybrid 16-bit/32-bit kernel by using a pure 32-bit kernel. It also offers more efficient software management to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer versions of Windows. Windows XP also overhauled the graphical user interface (GUI), a change Microsoft promoted as user-friendlier than previous versions of Windows. Windows XP is also the first consumer version of Windows to use product activation to combat software piracy, and this restriction did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates.

Editions

The two major editions are Windows XP Home Edition, designed for home users, and Windows XP Professional, designed for business and power-users. The Home Edition lacks several features provided by Windows XP Professional. For instance, the Home Edition cannot become part of a Windows Server domain — a group of computers that are remotely managed by one or more central servers. Many businesses that use Windows have a Windows Server and a domain. It also uses by default a simplified access control scheme that does not allow specific permissions on files to be granted to specific users under normal circumstances.

Several features available in the Professional Edition are unavailable in the Home Edition. The Remote Desktop, which lets users operate one PC over a local area network or the Internet while using another PC, is available, however, it can only act as the client and not the server (It can control XP Pro based machines, but other XP Pro or XP Home machines cannot operate it). Offline Files and Folders, which allow the PC to automatically store a copy of files from another networked computer and work with them while disconnected from the network, is unavailable. The Encrypting File System that encrypts files stored on the computer's hard drive so they cannot be read by another user, even with physical access to the storage medium, is absent. iSCSI support is also unavailable.

Also absent is Symmetric multiprocessing, the ability to divide work between multiple processors (CPUs) — Windows XP Professional supports up to two CPUs, while the Home Edition supports only one. Windows XP Home Edition does however support the Hyper-threading functionality present on some Intel microprocessors. Although it has been reported to work on some dual-core microprocessors available from both AMD and Intel, Microsoft has recommended upgrading to Professional Edition for improved stability and compatibility.

Some Centralized administration features, including Group Policies, Automatic Software Installation and Maintenance, Roaming User Profiles, and Remote Installation Service (RIS) are also unavailable in the Home Edition.

Windows XP for specialized hardware

Microsoft has also customized Windows XP to suit different markets and there are now several different versions available. Five different versions of XP for specific hardware were designed, two of them specifically for 64-bit processors.

The Windows XP 64-Bit Edition was designed specifically for Itanium-based workstations, and is incompatible with most other 64-bit processors. This edition was discontinued in early 2005, after HP, the last distributor of Itanium-based workstations, stopped selling Itanium systems marketed as 'workstations'. However, Itanium support continues in the server editions of Windows. AMD 64-bit processors, namely x86-compatible 64-bit (x86-64) ones, may be used on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, which was based on Windows Server 2003. This version of Windows XP supports AMD's Athlon 64 and Intel's Pentium 4 with EM64T.

Microsoft had previously supported other microprocessors with earlier versions of the Windows NT operating system line (including two 64-bit lines, the DEC Alpha and the MIPS R4000, although Windows NT used them as 32-bit processors). The files necessary for all of the architectures were included on the same installation CD and did not require the purchase of separate versions. The current design, whereby different versions of the same operating system are produced for different architectures, represents a fundamental shift in the design philosophy of Microsoft's operating system and marketing efforts.

The Windows XP Media Center Edition was made for special Media center PCs. Originally, it was only available bundled with one of these computers, and could not be purchased separately. In 2003 the Media Center Edition was updated as "Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003", which added additional features such as FM radio tuning. Another update was released in 2004, and again in 2005, which was the first edition available for System Builders.

For specially designed notebook/laptop computers, Microsoft designed the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The Tablet PC Edition is compatible with a pen-sensitive screen, supporting handwritten notes and portrait-oriented screens. It cannot be purchased separately from a Tablet PC. Another unique edition is Windows XP Embedded, for specific consumer electronics, set-top boxes, kiosks/ATMs, medical devices, point-of-sale terminals, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) components.

In March 2006, Microsoft will be introducing a "thin-client" version of Windows XP called Windows Fundamentals For Legacy PCs, which will target older machines (as early as the original Pentium). It will only be available to Software Assurance customers, who would like to upgrade to Windows XP to take advatage of its security and management capabilities, but can't afford to purchase new hardware. Applications will typically be run on a remote server using Remote Desktop.

Windows XP Starter Edition

Windows XP Starter Edition is a lower-cost version of Windows XP available in Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, India, Brazil, and Spanish for Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela). It is similar to Windows XP Home, but has some features either removed or disabled by default.

According to a Microsoft press release, Windows XP Starter Edition is "a low-cost introduction to the Microsoft Windows XP operating system designed for first-time desktop PC users in developing countries." It is seen as an effort to fight unauthorized copying of Windows XP, and also to counter the spread of the open-source GNU/Linux operating system, which has been gaining popularity in Asia and South America.

Specializations

To appeal to foreign markets whose consumers may not be computer literate, the Starter Edition includes additional specializations not found in the Home Edition such as localized help features for those who may not speak English, a country-specific computer wallpaper[1] and screensavers, and other default settings designed for easier use than typical Windows XP installations.

In addition, the Starter Edition also has some unique limitations [2]. Only three applications can be run at once on the Starter Edition, and each application may only open three windows. The maximum screen resolution is limited to 1024x768, and there is no support for Workgroup networking or domains. In addition, the Starter Edition is licensed only for low-end processors like Intel's Celeron or AMD's Duron. There is also an 80GB disk size limit, but Microsoft has not made it clear if this is for total disk space, per partition, or per disk. There are also fewer options for customizing the themes, desktop, and taskbar.

Market adoption

In late July 2005, Microsoft announced [3] that they reached a milestone of 100,000 units of Windows XP Starter Edition sold. In the mass market, however, the Starter Edition has not had much success. Many markets where it is available have seen the uptake of cracked or pirated versions of the software instead.

Windows XP Home (and Professional) Edition N

In March 2004, the European Commission fined Microsoft €497 million and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player. The Commission claimed Microsoft "broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players". Microsoft is currently appealing the ruling. In the meantime, it plans to offer a court-compliant version of its flagship operating system at the same price as the full version. This version will not include the company's Windows Media Player but instead encourage users to pick and download their own media player. Microsoft wanted to call this version Reduced Media Edition but EU regulators objected and suggested the Edition N name, with the N signifying "not with media player". Due to the fact that it will be sold at the same price as the full version, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens have chosen not to stock the product, and preliminary figures imply a lack of consumer interest. ^[4] [5] [6] [7]

New and updated features

Windows XP introduced several new features to the Windows operating system line. Some of the most noteworthy and recognized include:

• Faster start-up and hibernation sequences;
• The ability to discard a newer device driver in favor of the previous one (known as driver rollback), should a driver upgrade not produce desirable results;
• A new, arguably more user-friendly interface, including the framework for developing themes for the desktop environment;
• Fast user switching, which allows a user to save the current state and open applications of their desktop and allow another user to log on without losing that information;
• The ClearType font rendering mechanism, which is designed to improve text readability on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and similar monitors;
• The Remote Desktop functionality, which allows users to connect to a computer running Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications, files, printers, and devices; and
• Support for most DSL modems and wireless network connections, as well as networking over Firewire.

User interface

Windows XP features a new task-based graphical user interface. The Start menu and search capability were redesigned and many visual effects were added, including:

• A transparent blue selection rectangle in Explorer
• A watermark-like graphic on folder icons, indicating the type of information stored in the folder.
• Drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
• Task-based sidebars in Explorer windows
• The ability to group the taskbar buttons of the windows of one application into one button
• The ability to lock the taskbar and other toolbars to prevent accidental changes
• The highlighting of recently added programs on the Start menu
• Shadows under menus (Windows 2000 had shadows under mouse pointers, but not menus)

Windows XP analyzes the performance impact of visual effects and uses this to decide whether to enable them, so as to prevent the new functionality from consuming substantial additional processing overhead. Users can further customize these settings. [8] Some effects, such as alpha blending (transparency and fading), are handled entirely by many newer video cards. However, if the video card is not capable of hardware alpha-blending, performance can be substantially hurt and Microsoft recommends the feature should be turned off manually [9].

Windows XP adds the ability for Windows to use "Visual Styles" to change the user interface. However, visual styles must be cryptographically signed by Microsoft to run. Luna is the name of the new visual style that ships with Windows XP, and is enabled by default for machines with more than 64 MB of RAM. As Windows XP requires 64 MB of RAM to install, this means that it is enabled for practically all users. Luna refers only to one particular visual style, not to all of the new user interface features of Windows XP as a whole. In order to use unsigned visual styles, many users turn to software such as TGI Soft's StyleXP or Stardock's WindowBlinds. More computer literate users "patch" the uxtheme.dll file that controls the ability to use visual styles.

The default wallpaper, Bliss, is a JPEG photograph of a landscape in the Napa Valley outside Napa, California, with rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds.

The Windows 2000 "classic" interface can be used instead if preferred. Several third party utilities exist that provide hundreds of different visual styles. In addition, another Microsoft-created theme, called "Royale", was included with Windows Media Center Edition, and is available for download on Microsoft's site for Home and Professional Editions.

Service packs

Microsoft occasionally releases service packs for its Windows operating systems to fix problems and add features.

Service Pack 1

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. Its most notable new features were USB 2.0 support and a Set Program Access and Defaults utility. For the first time, users could control the default application for activities such as web browsing and instant messaging, as well as hide access to some of Microsoft's bundled programs. This utility was later brought into the older Windows 2000 operating system with its Service Pack 3. Service Pack 1a was later released to remove Microsoft's Java virtual machine as a result of a lawsuit with Sun Microsystems.

LBA-48, which allowed the OS to view and use HDD space above 137 GB, was enabled by default. Native support for Serial ATA was added.

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released on August 6, 2004 after several delays, with a special emphasis on security. Unlike previous service packs, SP2 adds new functionality to Windows XP, including an enhanced firewall, improved Wi-Fi support with a wizard utility, a pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer, and Bluetooth support. It also includes a new API to allow third party virus scanners and firewalls to interface with a new security center application, which provides a general overview of security on the system. This helps to suppress spyware and viruses. Other features include enhancements to the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), now the Windows Firewall (which is also turned on by default), advanced memory protection that takes advantage of the NX instruction that is incorporated into newer processors to stop buffer overflow attacks, removal of raw socket support (which has caused a drop in "zombie" machines: infected computers that can be used remotely to launch denial of service attacks) [10], and improvements to e-mail and web browsing [11] (a full list of service fixes and modifications for SP2 is available on Microsoft's website). However, when the service pack was released some programs did stop working, and Microsoft officially listed several of them on its website [12]. The company AssetMetrix reports that one out of ten computers that upgraded to SP2 had severe compatibility problems with their applications. [13] [14]

SP2 also includes major updates to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition, and also supports 24 new languages from every continent. [15]

There were also some visual changes made with Service Pack 2. On the opening screen (where it says Microsoft Windows XP with the three scrolling squares), the "(C)1985-2001" designation at the bottom was removed, and the edition name was removed (e.g. "Home Edition" or "Professional"). In addition, the Wireless Network Connection Icon, which used to show two computer symbols (like the LAN Connection Icon) now shows just one, with a radio wave symbol on the right side.

While well received in general, Service Pack 2 was not without its critics. Thomas Greene from The Register claimed that SP2 was merely a placebo of sorts in terms of features, fixes, and security updates:

Service Pack 3

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is currently in development. It will be released after Windows Vista has been finished; presently, Microsoft's web site indicates a "preliminary" release date of "2H 2007" for Service Pack 3.[17] Service Pack 3 may include Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, and many other changes, but Microsoft has not made any official statement on feature sets.

A document[18] on Microsoft's web site suggests that Service Pack 3 will include additional support for doing true "per-user" application installing. Another page[19] suggests improvements to managing the list of "hidden" wireless networks.

Common criticisms

Security issues

Security concerns have long been an issue with Microsoft products. Windows XP has been criticized for its susceptibility to buffer overflows, malware, viruses, trojan horses and worms. Security issues are compounded by the fact that users, by default, receive an administrator account that provides unrestricted access to the underpinnings of the system. If the administrator's account is broken into, there is no limit to the control that can be asserted over the compromised PC. Nicholas Petreley for The Register notes that "Windows XP was the first version of Windows to reflect a serious effort to isolate users from the system, so that users each have their own private files and limited system privileges." [20] However, Rob Pegoraro, for The Washington Post, noted that "XP Home's 'limited account'," the only other option, "doesn't even let you adjust a PC's clock." [21] Windows XP Home Edition also lacks the ability to administer security policies and denies access to the Local Users and Groups utility.

Windows, with its large market share, has traditionally been a tempting target for virus creators. Security holes are often invisible until they are exploited, making preemptive action difficult. Microsoft executives have stated that the release of patches to fix security holes is often what causes the spread of exploits against those very same holes, as crackers figured out what problems the patches fixed, and then launch attacks against unpatched systems.

Many attacks against Windows XP systems come in the form of e-mail trojan horses which are sent by worms. A user who opens the file attachment(s) can unknowingly infect his or her own computer, which then e-mails the worm to more people. Notable worms of this sort that have infected Windows XP systems include Mydoom and Bagle.

In August 2003 the Blaster worm, which became one of the most well known Windows worms, exploited a vulnerability present in every unpatched installation of Windows XP and capable of compromising a system even without user action. Even security-conscious users had trouble with Blaster, since it could infect a computer with a newly installed copy of Windows XP before the user had time to download security fixes [22]. Windows XP was also vulnerable to the Sasser worm, spread by using a buffer overflow in a remote service present on every installation. In May 2004, Sasser quickly spread through computers running Windows XP and Windows 2000. Increasingly widespread use of Service Pack 2, and greater use of personal firewalls, appears to have been making worms like these less of a common occurrence. [23].

Spyware and adware are a continuing problem on Windows XP and other versions of Windows. Spyware is also a concern for Microsoft with regard to service pack updates; Barry Goff, a group product manager at Microsoft, said some spyware could cause computers to freeze up upon installation of Service Pack 2 [24]. In January 2005, Microsoft released a free beta version of Microsoft AntiSpyware which removes spyware and adware from computers.

Windows XP offers some useful security benefits, such as Windows Update, which can be set to install security patches automatically, and a built-in firewall. Service Pack 2 enables the firewall by default. It also adds increased memory protection to let the operating system take advantage of new No eXecute technology built into CPUs such as the AMD64. This allows Windows XP to prevent code from being executed on areas of memory flagged with an NX bit and stops buffer overflow exploits from running arbitrary code.

Perhaps the greatest threats against Windows security are the actions of Windows users themselves. There is little defense against a user opening an e-mail attachment without realizing that it is malicious (the default setting of Windows XP to hide file extensions doesn't help in this regard), or failing to keep reasonably current on Windows Update patches. Service Pack 2 attempts to remedy this with the Attachment Execution Service that records the origin of files in alternate data streams attached to files downloaded with Internet Explorer or received as an attachment in Outlook Express. For example if a user tries to run an executable File downloaded from an untrusted security zone, Windows XP with Service Pack 2 will prompt the user with a warning.

Product activation

While product activation and licensing servers are common for business and industrial software (especially software sold on a per-user basis for large sums of money), Windows XP gave many casual computer users their first introduction to it. The system was introduced by Microsoft to curb illegal distribution of Windows XP [25]. Activation requires the computer or the user to activate with Microsoft within a certain amount of time in order to continue using the operating system. If the user's computer system ever changes — for example, if two or more relevant components (see list below) of the computer itself are upgraded — Windows may refuse to run until the user reactivates with Microsoft.

Privacy fears were raised about the nature of the data transmitted to Microsoft. Microsoft then released details about the nature of the information transmitted [26]. It includes a cryptographic hash of the following ten values:

• Display adapter name
• SCSI adapter name
• IDE adapter name
• Network adapter MAC address
• RAM amount (as a range, e.g. 0–64 MB, 64–128 MB, etc.)
• Processor type
• Processor serial number (if applicable)
• Hard drive device
• Hard drive volume serial number
• CD-ROM/ CD-RW/ DVD-ROM identification

This information is used to seed the generation of a number which, along with the CD Key and country of installation, is transmitted to Microsoft. According to Microsoft, no specific details about the hardware are transmitted. However, as key changers and keygens were soon available on the Internet after Windows XP's release, many users managed to circumvent the product activation process.

There exist volume-licensed copies of Windows XP Professional that do not require Windows Product Activation at all. These copies, intended for use by customers with many PCs, are referred to by some as "Windows XP Corporate Edition". According to Microsoft, 90% of pirated installations of Windows XP use a volume-licensed version to circumvent WPA. The most famous volume license key (VLK) is one beginning with FCKGW, which was released with the first pirated copies of the final version of Windows XP.

User interface and performance

Critics have claimed that the default Windows XP user interface (Luna) adds visual clutter and wastes screen space while offering no new functionality and running more slowly. Supporters of the new interface praise its task-oriented nature and the automatic grouping of related windows on the taskbar to reduce clutter, and point out that the higher system requirements of Windows XP allow it to easily handle the increased processor demand; with a small amount of tweaking, it is possible to return to the Windows 2000 look, (or with minimal additional effort, the Windows 95 look can be achieved) which is faster, but which many consider to be less visually attractive.

CNET's web site lists hundreds of positive and negative reviews of Windows XP Home [27] and Professional [28] from users. David Coursey, Executive Editor of ZDNet's AnchorDesk [29], and Paul Thurrott, who runs SuperSite for Windows [30] have both written positive reviews of the operating system.

Integration of operating system features

In light of the United States v. Microsoft case which resulted in Microsoft being convicted for illegally abusing its operating system monopoly to overwhelm competition in other markets, Windows XP has drawn fire for integrating user applications such as Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger into the operating system, as well as for its close ties to the Microsoft Passport Network service.

In 2001, ProComp claimed that the bundling and distribution of Windows Media Player in Windows XP was a continuance of Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior [31], and that the integration of Passport into Windows XP was a further example of Microsoft attempting to gain a monopoly in web services [32]. Both of these claims were rebutted by the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) [33] [34]. ProComp is a group including several of Microsoft's rivals, including Oracle, Sun, and Netscape. ACT and CompTIA are both partially funded by Microsoft. The battle being fought by fronts for each side was the subject of a heated exchange between Oracle's Larry Ellison and Microsoft's Bill Gates [35].

Microsoft responded on its "Freedom to Innovate" web site, pointing out that in earlier versions of Windows, Microsoft had integrated tools such as disk defragmenters, graphical file managers, and TCP/IP stacks, and there had been no protest that Microsoft was being anti-competitive. Microsoft asserted that these tools had moved from special to general usage and therefore belonged in its operating system.

To avoid the possibility of an injunction, which might have delayed the release of Windows XP, Microsoft changed its licensing terms to allow PC manufacturers to hide access to Internet Explorer (but not remove it). Competitors dismissed this as a trivial gesture [36]. Later, Microsoft released a utility as part of the SP1 which allows icons and other links to bundled software such as Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and MSN Messenger to be removed. The components themselves remain in the system; Microsoft maintains that they are necessary for key Windows functionality (such as the HTML Help system and Windows desktop), and that removing them completely may result in unwanted consequences. One critic, Shane Brooks, has argued that Internet Explorer could be removed without adverse effects, as demonstrated with his product XPLite [37]. Dino Nuhagic created his nLite software to remove many components from XP prior to installation of the product [38].

In addition, the first release of Windows XP, the "Buy Music Online" feature always used Microsoft's Internet Explorer rather than any other web browser that the user may have set as his/her default. Whether this flaw was intentional or simply an oversight is unclear. Under pressure from the United States Department of Justice, Microsoft released a patch in early 2004, which corrected the problem [39].

Software compatibility

16 bit applications have been incompatible with newer revisions of Windows XP like the 64-bit edition and it's successor Windows Vista.

Copying restrictions

Microsoft Windows XP service packs are designed so that they will not install on computers running installations of Windows XP that use product keys known to be widely used in unauthorized installations. These product keys are unique to each boxed (or bundled) copy of Windows XP and are included with the product documentation, but a small number of product keys have been posted on the Internet and are responsible for a large number of unauthorized installations. The service packs contain a list of these keys and will not update copies of Windows XP that use them.

Microsoft developed a new key verification engine for Windows XP Service Pack 2 that could detect illicit keys, even those that had never been used before. After an outcry from security consultants who feared that denying security updates to illegal installations of Windows XP would have wide-ranging consequences even for legal owners, Microsoft elected to disable the new key verification engine. Service Pack 2 only checks for the same small list of commonly used keys as Service Pack 1. This means that while Service Pack 2 will not install on copies of Windows XP which use the older set of copied keys, those who use keys which have been posted more recently may be able to update their systems.¹