Twenty years on from its release, Windows XP remains one of Microsoft’s most successful operating systems. Although extended support ceased in 2014, XP runs on many computers worldwide and is still the most popular version of the software.
Select the partition on your hard drive you wish to install XP on. Ham suggests using NTFS, which is more advanced than the older FAT file system.
Features
If more than one person uses a computer, Windows XP lets each user have a unique computer account. The account tracks each user’s personal settings, documents and email accounts. When someone else wants to use the computer, users can choose to Switch User or Log Off. The previous user’s applications continue to run until the new user logs on.
Windows XP features a new, improved GUI that includes drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop and in menus. It also adds a task pane to the Windows Explorer window that displays folder contents as well as a list of open files and drives. A simpler folder view hides dotted lines between subfolders and makes each folder browsable by single clicking. It also adds API support for burning DVD and Blu-ray Discs.
Other enhancements include better security features (such as the ability to disable a password prompt) and more flexible user permissions, with a more intuitive property sheet that compares explicit and assigned permissions against inherited ones. It also supports vectored exception handling, which is faster and less prone to crashes than structured exception handling.
Installation
When the computer boots up after inserting the full version bootable windows xp CD, you need to watch your screen. It varies from PC to PC which combination of keys will get you into the BIOS setup, which is the first thing you need to do before the files start to load up on your computer.
After a few minutes the program should check to see if there is already an installation of xp on the computer. If it is, press F3 to exit the program and back up your data before proceeding.
Next it will ask you which partition of your drive you wish to install xp on (as seen in the first picture). You can choose to create a new partition here but this is not required. Then it will ask you to choose a file system, FAT32 or NTFS (recommended). Select the latter and move on. Then it will start copying the windows xp files onto your computer. This process can take a while depending on the speed of your hard drive and the computer.
Security
Although Microsoft will no longer be providing new security updates for Windows XP, users can still take steps to protect their systems. These measures include disabling USB ports, restricting autostart programs and encrypting files and data. Additionally, it is important to keep other software on the XP system up to date. This includes antivirus, firewalls, software distribution clients and browsers.
In addition, it is important to use different computer accounts for each person using the XP machine. This will prevent the same account from being used by multiple people and minimize the impact of a successful attack.
Users should also consider utilizing a network or host-based intrusion-protection solution that can detect and block known software vulnerabilities and attacks. It is also recommended that users monitor community chat boards and threat intelligence feeds to stay aware of any information about new vulnerabilities targeting XP. Those who decide to remain on XP should have a plan in place for isolating these machines and moving them to supported systems quickly in the event of a crisis.
Compatibility
After the success of Windows 95 and the relative simplicity of Windows ME, Microsoft seemed to be following an “If it ain’t broke… don’t fix it” philosophy for this release. Nonetheless, XP did add a few key features that proved invaluable to users.
For example, XP made use of a system called Program Compatibility Mode which allowed older applications to ‘pretend’ that they were running on a previous version of Windows. Depending on the application, this could solve a number of problems such as erratic mouse pointer behaviour or complete software lockups.
However, it did not address hardware incompatibilities which are usually resolved through the use of third-party drivers for hardware expansion cards (soundcards, graphic card, etc.) and the installation of drivers from the manufacturers of USB or other external peripherals. In some cases these are still required today for a large proportion of XP-only applications and hardware. This is especially true for government organisations which are unwilling to move away from XP in order to keep their critical CAD, MIS and other IT software up to date.