Should You Set Your Sights on Windows XP

Passport to .Net
If you choose to sign up for Messenger, Microsoft automatically equips you with a Passport account and its authentication, which you already have if you use Hotmail. Passport purports to let you move seamlessly into more of Microsoft's Web-based services and partners. It automatically logs you on to partner sites, such as Hotmail, MSN.com, and many more. Gosh, the whole Internet is like one big Microsoft site! The ultimate goal of Passport is to have you create a wallet that stores your credit card information, and billing and shipping addresses, much like Amazon.com's one-click purchasing.

If this all sounds too Big Brother-ish, then Windows XP is probably not the operating system for you. You don't actually have to give up much information to have a Passport though, and you don't have to put your credit card info in a Passport account either. But Passport itself plays a crucial role in Microsoft's much-discussed .Net strategy, and links to online services are all over XP. Every Windows Explorer window, for instance, includes a link for publishing its contents to the Web. Click it, and you can send files to MSN Communities or Xdrive, using Passport authentication. Plug in a digital camera, and a wizard offers to publish pictures to a Web site or send them to partner photo developers such as Kodak and Fuji.

This type of online integration is handy if you adore all destinations Microsoft, but it's stifling. For example, we prefer the ability to choose our own FTP or Web sites to upload files to instead of being forced to use Microsoft's limited choices. Open source advocates and the competition are screaming bloody murder about such Net domination.

A sense of security
Worried about hackers? You're smart, not paranoid. Automated scripts constantly probe computers on the Internet for back doors, and Windows XP is doing something about it. As a nod to security, Windows XP features a software firewall to block stealthy hack attacks on your network connections, dial-up and broadband alike. XP's Internet Connection Firewall makes your PC invisible while you're on the Net, though it won't stop hackers from sending you viruses over e-mail or through a hacked Web site. Enable the firewall at the Networking control panel for each of your possible connections. (If you have an AOL and a separate broadband connection, for example, you must turn on the firewall for both; otherwise, you'll leave one connection open-and it's not on by default.)

We tested the firewall by visiting Gibson Research's site, which tests computer ports for vulnerabilities by using ShieldsUp and a variety of other security-probing Web programs. The results were encouraging. The site detected the IP address of our test system (not unusual even with hardware firewall products), but XP also stealthed, or completely hid, all of our networking ports. By concealing these virtual back doors, XP's firewall prevented most forms of script-based hack attacks-and more power to Microsoft for providing the tool. Its blocking ability matched that of a hardware firewall on our test machine (Sohoware BroadGuard) and software firewalls from Norton and Zone Labs, although it did not keep a log of hack attempts as ZoneAlarm does. So does it replace these third-party options? No, not really, but if you don't have them installed, it's nice to have this option already in your operating system.

Hardware and software compatibility
Microsoft has admitted that Windows 2000 and NT suffered from huge hardware and software compatibility flaws. It paid for this lackadaisical attitude, too: Windows 2000 never really worked with consumer hardware and games. Thankfully, Windows XP fixes much of the problem.

The XP CD ships with built-in support for about 12,000 devices-twice as many as Windows 2000 right out of the box-with other drivers available via the System Update feature, which downloads drivers as part of the installation process. In our tests, formal and informal, XP picked up much of the hardware we threw at it without a hitch, from USB storage devices and keyboards to MP3 players. In some cases, however, we weren't so lucky. XP flagged a newer Lexmark X83 multifunction device as incompatible, so we're holding out for online updates (something Lexmark and Microsoft will have to work out among themselves).

As for software, XP promises to support 1200 legacy applications out of the box and offers its Compatibility Mode, which checks to see which version of Windows your software needs, then emulates it. Like Windows Me and 2000, Windows XP is not built on a DOS core, but you'll find a revamped DOS virtual machine for running those old 16-bit games that you should have retired by now. However, XP won't give direct access to hardware such as memory and sound cards, which is how old DOS games used to work, so you can't expect every old piece of DOS-ware to work.

But be warned: some programs prevent Windows XP from installing. If you're running deep, system-level programs such as Roxio GoBack, you'll need to uninstall them before you can proceed. In some cases, you can reinstall these programs afterwards, but this will work only if the program is compatible with XP. And you won't know that until you run Upgrade Advisor on your computer and it tells you the current status quo.