Is Windows XP meeting your expectations or causing more exasperation than you bargained for?

Microsoft's latest operating system just turned six months old, and most would say that it's neither a failure nor a raging success. While XP promised the latest and greatest multimedia, security, and ease-of-use features available, many users have not yet upgraded, fearing the hefty system requirements and potential compatibility disasters inherent in a major OS upgrade.

At the end of the day, some 17 million of us chose the XP route. Did we really get what we paid (quite a lot) for? Is XP really more stable and more secure? Does it support all of our hardware and software? Does it really have cool, new features we can't live without? In honor of its half anniversary, we checked in on XP to see what major issues linger, if any, and what features you might be missing.

The system requirements swamp
Windows XP seems to come with two sets of system requirements, confusing many would-be upgraders. Microsoft issued a minimum requirement for hardware performance and capabilities; if you don't meet that requirement, XP simply refuses to install. But the company also issued a minimum recommendation--a set of far more stringent specs that should result in optimum performance. So, which set applies to you?

We've taken the last six months to play around with various hardware configurations and found that you need worry only about the minimum requirements. You can run XP on any system that meets or exceeds those specs--namely a 233MHz CPU with 64MB of RAM memory, 1.5GB free drive space, 800x600 display capability, and a CD-ROM drive. But if you want XP to run fast and crash-free, the minimum recommendation offers a sort of best practices target point.

More is better
Over the past six months, we've determined that XP runs just fine on a Pentium III-500 with 128MB of RAM. As expected, however, boosting both hard drive speed and RAM makes a significant difference in XP's performance. For best results, choose a hard drive that spins at 7,200 or 10,000RPM (vs. a 5,400RPM drive), a fast enough processor to feed it (400, 600, or 800MHz vs. 233 or 266MHz), and generous amounts of RAM (256 or 512MB vs. 64 or 128MB). You should probably avoid 8- or 16-bit ISA or legacy I/O cards for sound and video, and we highly recommend PCI or AGP video cards, too, in order to enjoy XP's nifty video effects, such as menus that fade in and out and drop shadows on windows and desktop icons.

Many complaints indicate that several system-board and hardware vendors have not and do not plan to provide XP drivers, but we've found that most hardware works well using Windows 2000 drivers. For example, you can't install Windows XP if your motherboard contains the HighPoint Technologies HPT-366 chipset (Highpoint's tech-support personnel confirm this); XP just doesn't have the drivers to support the chipset. To get XP to work on that hardware, you can download and use Windows 2000 drivers for the chipset or contact HighPoint Technologies' help desk and ask for XP-specific drivers, which you must load early in the XP setup process.

Service pack, anyone?
Every operating system has glitches and gotchas; the key to an OS's success is how quickly they are discovered and fixed. So far, Microsoft has released approximately 30 critical and recommended updates for XP, including 9 patches covering security problems.

Of course, all that constant tweaking can be a pain. Perhaps you're wondering if your OS just isn't ready for prime time. If you're holding out for a second edition of XP, dig in for a few more months. Microsoft plans to release its first service pack in the second half of this year. The company won't tell us exactly what Service Pack 1 will include, but we expect it to have many of the updates you can already get via Windows Update, such as USB 2.0 and Bluetooth support.

Microsoft belatedly released USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP in February, and recently announced that it will include both Bluetooth support and a line of Bluetooth peripherals, such as keyboards and mice, in the service pack.

Microsoft also announced that, in addition to the usual fixes, this service pack will include support for new smart displays such as Mira, new tablet-style PCs, and Freestyle digital-media devices for consumers.

The help you need
So, after six months, you're still having trouble figuring out how to use XP properly and running into compatibility problems at every turn? We've seen hardly any buzz about a feature that could save your tail, so we thought we'd offer some friendly advice to those in search of tech help.

XP's Remote Assistance feature lets you seek help from your corporate IT department or PC-savvy pal online--in real time. Here's how. If you're online with XP or XP Pro and need a little tech support, simply press the F1 key to access XP's Help And Support screen. On that screen, select "Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance," and XP sends e-mail requesting help to your company's IT department or a friend. You can even send the request via Windows XP Messenger, XP's built-in IM client. Note: Your IT department or tech-savvy friend must be running XP Pro; only the Pro version can view or control another XP Pro or Home system.

Once your chosen helper receives and accepts your request, he or she can view your onscreen movements and offer advice via Messenger or over the phone. You can also hand off control of your PC, complete with keyboard and mouse activity, but you must give additional permission first.

Remote Assistance also lets you transfer files between PCs so that you can install necessary driver and configuration files to repair a problem.

Because Windows is so graphically intense, Remote Assistance works best over a fast Internet connection, such as DSL or cable. But you can scale down the screen resolution and visual features to make the performance tolerable on slower DSL or dial-up connections if you're desperate.

Programs to watch out for
Microsoft claims that XP can run more apps for Windows or DOS, including games, than any prior version of Windows. This assertion actually holds true for most applications, which you can run in one of two ways. First, you can rely on XP's built-in compatibility database, which automatically configures memory, video, and other necessary parameters to allow certain known programs to run under XP. If that doesn't work, you can use the Program Compatibility Wizard to configure programs that the compatibility database doesn't know about.

Some apps and software types have known problems with XP. For example, users reported that most utility and virus-protection apps designed for DOS, Windows 95/98/Me would not run correctly under XP since their driver files differ significantly because of XP's NT-based structure.

The Norton nightmare
Norton SystemWorks users reported the most glaring example of what can happen when software vendors must rebuild products for a new operating system. SystemWorks 2001 just isn't compatible, though the company said that a Windows 2000 patch could make it work, and the first release of SystemWorks 2002 conflicted badly, causing fits and starts and even full-blown crashes. But don't give up on SystemWorks 2002 just yet. Symantec's tech support can help clean up the mess and will ship you a free, new version of the product that works very well, though differently, under XP. It's different because XP keeps a tight rein on itself and locks its system files when it's running Norton Disk Doctor. This often requires you to restart your PC so that Disk Doctor can run before the entire OS loads up. Norton SpeedDisk and other disk-defragmenting products, such as Executive Software's Diskeeper, also cannot defragment all of the files on the hard drive because of XP's system file locking.

You can address potential compatibility woes early by running Microsoft's Windows XP Upgrade Advisor, which is included on the Windows XP installation CD and can be downloaded from Microsoft's web site. The Upgrade Advisor sports an online database of applications and hardware information, checks the components of your system, and produces a no-go report if an application or piece of hardware is not currently supported by XP. The software even displays any known remedies, though these "fixes" usually just point you to the Web site of the offending product's manufacturer.

Don't rely on Microsoft alone. Check your hardware and software makers' Web sites for specific and probably more current information than that of Upgrade Advisor.

The bugs crawl in
Microsoft would have us believe that XP is the most secure operating system it's released to date. But the nine security updates the company has released since XP's launch belie the claim.

Your buffer overrunneth
In fact, one problem--buffer overrun vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)--poses such a severe threat that the FBI got involved. Microsoft says a hole in the Plug and Play software could conceivably allow a malicious hacker to take complete control of your PC. Worse, the security hole applied to every XP user--the OS ships with Universal Plug and Play turned on by default.

JVM fix and more
Additional new security patches include a fix for the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, which, if left unpatched, can let Java applets from Web sites silently reroute all browser traffic to the applet's host without the user's knowledge. Yet another patch fixes an "Unchecked buffer in the Multiple UNC Provider," a problem that allows a hacker to send a malformed data request to a PC to either run programs at will or cause the computer to restart. (Click Start > Programs and run Windows Update to access all the available patches.)

So far, the most secure aspect of Windows XP's networking lies in the built-in software firewall. Unfortunately, though, that firewall can prevent some Microsoft online services, particularly Windows Update and even XP Pro's Remote Assistance tool, from working properly. We prefer a third-party product such as ZoneAlarm or Norton Internet Security.

Interestingly, none of XP's security updates have anything to do with the once-feared raw sockets support included in XP's TCP/IP network protocol drivers. Many skeptics believed that XP's raw sockets support posed a security threat because it allows programmers to generate data transmissions from one computer and make them appear to come from a different one--a technique used in distributed denial-of-service attacks.