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Released: 2005-03-03 Rating:  
More Details: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 @Amazon Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 @aStore |
Product Description
WINDOWS XP PRO W/SP2 EN
Customer Reviews:
order by theft
For me to rate a thief who stole my money you are having a laugh and for amazon probably not investigating this person is going to get away with my money so i am not given one star didnt get real support from Amazon over this issue. Anybody could set up an account as a dealer and steal anybody's money the way this person has done to me so im not being polite about what i have said and a revue is not being given
Mr J Forsyth
Actually pretty good 
I have 6 PCs one each running on 98 and 2000 and four on XP. In comparison, 98(rev B) is excellent and generally very stable but lacks some critical facilities e.g. the ability to view picture thumbnails. That said, the machine that it's on is in regular use as a word processor and does a grand job. 2000 is brilliant. Never falls over, has the ability to show thumbnails (albeit only one file at a time) and is not too hungry for resources. Let's pass over ME, that was pathetic and had more bugs than the natural history museum. The one machine that originally had ME was upgraded to XP (without any problems).
XP SP2 is, in my opinion, the Microsoft operating system most fit for purpose to date. This is written 6 months after the release of Vista! Why? Well, in my experience XP is stable and capable of running the vast majority of software without crashing. It's not perfect but it does 99% of everything most people will ever need.
Mac OS - great but you have to buy an expensive Mac to go with it, so limited range and a WHITE KEYBOARD would last about 30 seconds with me and it's £50 extra for a black one!. Linux - now getting worth a look but still doesn't support much of my legacy software and a touch geeky. Vista - don't get me started here, just read all the reviews with less than 3 stars.
The good points about XP: stable, runs almost everything, only one legacy program I have won't run with it but that's not a major issue. Decent networking, reasonable number of automated task wizards, lots of built in drivers, good support and now well sorted (post SP2). Clear and easy to use interface easily customised to suit most users. Can handle both business use and most media applications.
The bad points: You can argue security and I would agree, but a decent 3rd party firewall & virus checker should see you ok. Otherwise, not much to grump about. Downside is that it's limited to 2GB of RAM.
Oh, I've now also had to remove Vista from no less than 3 machines and install XP Pro at the owners' request. Does that tell you something?
My intention is to hang on to XP Pro as long as I can and hopefully skip the Vista bloatware until something better comes along.
Better (and cheaper) operating systems out there
I don't like Windows and choose not to use it, but it has its place. In particular, it's extremely easy to use and install, requiring little or no knowledge of computers. You follow the instructions and an hour later you have a usable operating system. Installing software is also a doddle, and you'll have no problem finding software or hardware that works.
However, it also has its problems. The core of the operating system is now nearly six years old, and it shows. It's expensive, and it has a poor security policy. For these reasons you might want to consider some alternatives:
- Wait (only about 6 months now) for Windows Vista. It looks set to be a huge improvement on XP and will be bang up to date
- Try linux (www.linux.org) It's free (yes, really!), it's stable and it's secure, BUT you need to know a bit more about computers (or know someone who can install it for you) to get it working. Once it's up and running though it works in the same way as windows so you don't need any computer knowledge to use it. All the software for it is free and you can run most windows software if necessary.
- Try Mac OS X. This won't be an option if you have a PC already, but if you're looking to buy the hardware too a mac may be worth considering.
Basically, I wouldn't recommend XP any more, especially not so close to the release of Vista and since there are (in my opinion at least) superior offerings out there.
The world's most unrealiable operating system!
Having read the reviews listed here and as a regular long term 'power' user of Windows XP I felt the need to set the record straight about this operating system, particularly for all those thinking of purchasing it or who have used previous versions of Windows before, including XP without service pack 2.
In the last several months I have had to waste countless hours restoring i.e. formatting and re-installing, maintaining and repairing this operating system, on not one but three machines. Numerous times, I have had to go through this same tedious process, when XP has for no apparent reason just corrupted, shutdown or failed. A year ago I had to put up with this same fiasco three times in one month when XP suddenly caused my laptop to die, again for no apparent reason and not because of hardware failure.
As for the security issues with this operating system, believe everything you hear about its vulnerabilities, we are talking about thee most exposed operating system in the world! As a result it is fundamental, particularly if you use a Broadband connection to access the Internet, to have a multitude of firewall, spyware elimination, virus protection and general internet security software installed if your machine is to stay afloat for even a few hours.
For those who are considering moving from 98, 2000 or even the dreadful ME, don't get me wrong, XP does look a lot better, does work more efficiently with hardware, particularly the plug and play USB function, it is faster, provides some nice features such as remote assistance, which allows you to see your friend's desktop and help them out with any problems, as well as letting you see thumbnails of your images in a filer window and for that it gets one star from me. However, when it comes to reliability, stability and speed, out of all the operating systems that I have used, Windows is the absolute worst!
For all those reviewers or users who have recently started using it and think it is the best thing since sliced bread, I would say that yes you have the best version of Windows available and those using earlier versions should upgrade. However, I think it only fair to warn you that even though it is an improvement on previous versions, it is still Windows and although it may look fantastic when you first get it up and running, give it a few months or a year, and it will undoubtedly screw up, slow down or fail believe me; even with the alleged Service Pack 2 and numerous updates. In short despite the relatively few benefits, personally this OS has wasted more of my time than any other and when it comes to issues like those I have described above there are in my opinion no excuses!!
If you see anyone who says it doesn't work -- ignore them!! 
If you see anyone who says it doesn't work -- ignore them!! Because the operating system that I'm using at this precise minute is Windows XP with SP2 and by God, it surely does work. I have had no problems with it what so ever. I think it looks nice, very secure (even though Microsoft is bringing out "Windows Vista" (formerly known as "Longhorn") which is meant to be the securiest operating system in the Windows Family. I don't think that I'll ever look back to the previous systems and say "I wish that I kept with such-n-such system" as I love this one too much!!
Microsoft, keep up the good work as you're doing brilliant. I will look forward to your next operating system, Windows Vista.
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