Windows XP FAQ's

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This page is designed to provide answers to frequently asked questions about Windows XP. Most of the answers are direct links to Microsoft's knowledge base.

Question: What does the XP in Windows XP stand for?

Answer: Incidentally the XP is short for eXPerience and you probably thought it stood for eXtra cash in Bill Gates Pockets (smile).

Question: What are the system requirements for Windows XP?

***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***

Answer: Systems requirements

Windows XP is not an operating for an "Old Computer". It requires a lot of power to run smoothly. Microsoft recommends a 300 MHz Pentium class Central Processing Unit (CPU), 128 Megabyte of Random Access Memory (RAM) and 1.5 Gigabyte of storage space on your hard drive just to install the base software.

To achieve optimum performance I suggest at least a 700 MHz Central Processing Unit (CPU) and while 128MB of RAM should work, 256 Megabyte of Random Access Memory (RAM) will make life much easier.

Question: Can I upgrade my existing windows to windows XP?

Answer: OS Upgrade Path

Windows 2000 and ME are the easiest upgrade paths. All hardware and software that is compatible with these two operating systems will (should) work with XP. So if you have Windows 2000 and ME installed on your current computer you should be okay.

Windows 95 and Windows 98 users will have a more difficult time installing Windows XP, mainly because these tend to be older computers, utilizing older hardware and software. Be advised that the installation may fail.

If you have Windows 3.1, Windows NT or heaven forbid, DOS don't even think about it. Buy a new computer, one with XP preinstalled.

Upgrade Advisor

This software program can be downloaded from Microsoft. The Upgrade Advisor will perform a comprehensive readiness check on your computer which will assist you in determining if Windows XP will install on your computer. Taking an ounce of prevention could save you at least $100 (upgrade version) or $199 (full install version).

Please be aware that the file is 50MB and if you do not have a high-speed Internet connection, could take quite a while to download.

Question: How good is Windows XP's firewall?

If you have a dialup connection, then it is probably good enough for you, due to their nature, dial up connections aren't easily attacked since they are connected for short periods and get new IP addresses every sign on. But with a full time internet connection, such as cable, DSL, or leased line connection, you should get a full featured firewall, such as BlackIce Defender , McAfee Firewall, Norton Firewall, or Zone Alarm 3.0. You can also get a nice easy solution by buying a router or, if you plan on networking multiple computers, a wireless router, I love mine, it really makes home networking easy, no cables and very fast connections.

Question: What's the difference between the home version and the professional version of Windows XP?

Answer: Well The home edition means what you think it does, it's more for stand alone home pc's, won't login to domains correctly, etc.

The professional is more suited for domains, such as you may have at your work environment, multi-processor support, roaming user profiles, remote desktop connections, access control, you can encrypt your files, it has support for offline files and folders, remote installation services, group policy, and multi-lingual user interface support (add-on).

Question: Does Windows XP come with a web server installed?

Answer: Home Edition does not, but you can download some free ones, professional comes with Internet Information Server 5.1.

Question: I purchased Windows XP Home edition, can I upgrade my Windows 2000 professional with it?

Answer: No, you can only upgrade no you can only upgrade from Windows 98 and Me with windows xp home edition, windows xp professional can be used to upgrade windows 2000 professional though.

Question: How do I get rid of that stupid toolbar when I hover the mouse over images on my desktop.

Answer: That would be the Internet Explorer 6 Image Toolbar, to turn this off, open IE 6 and then click tools, then internet options, on the advanced tab, un-check Enable Image Toolbar under Multimedia.

Question: How do I get rid of that dang new programs installed message from the start menu?

Answer: Well you can get rid of it permanently, at least until you change this setting back, by right clicking the start menu, then click properties then click the start menu button and then click customize, click advanced and un-check the highlight newly installed programs box.

Question: I like AOL instant messenger and don't want to use Windows Messenger, how do I remove it?

Answer: Open C:\WINDOWS\inf\sysoc.inf and change msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7 to msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7, then go to add/remove programs and you'll see the uninstall for it now.

Question: I liked the old look of windows better, can I switch it back?

Sure can, right click your desktop and click properties, then click the advanced tab, on the windows and buttons drop down select windows classic, and then click ok.

Question: I can't get my PC to boot with the CD, is there a way to create a floppy boot disk to install Windows XP?

Sure can, from Microsoft, create a bootdisk for Windows XP Professional install, you should also check out bootdisk.com they have listings for all kinds of boot disks for Windows XP, Windows 98, DOS and more.

Question: Can I network two pc's one with 98 and the other with XP? What do I need to do it?

Answer: Sure can. :)
How to gets a little more complicated. The cheapest way would be to buy two Ethernet cards, and a crossover cable for your pc's and run a peer to peer network that way. You could also buy two wireless cards for the pc's and run it peer to peer that way.

If you have a cable or DSL connection, then you could buy a wireless access point/router and two wireless cards for your pc's and be able to share your files and an internet connection. Check out Bestbuy.com for all the hardware you need to get started.

Windows XP is a lot more secure than windows 98, so you need to have an id on the XP machine for each windows 9.x machine that needs to connect to it, also, if you still have trouble connecting, make sure the windows xp firewall is not on that particular connection.

Question: I have some older programs that I can't get too work with windows XP, what can I do?

Well you can try running it in compatibility mode, in windows explorer, right click the program and click properties, then click the compatibility tab, the check the box that says run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the operating systems it needs from the drop down box and then click ok.

Question: I have more than one computer, do I have to buy a copy of Windows XP for each computer?

Answer: Yes, you have always been required to have license for each computer running a windows operating system, now Microsoft is making it harder for you to install Windows onto more than one system with WPA.

Question: All of my open copies Internet Explorer appear under one group in my taskbar, why is that and how do I stop it?

Answer: It's called grouping, in which all of the copies of the same program, in your case internet explorer, appear under one group in the taskbar. You can turn grouping off by right clicking the taskbar, then click properties and un-check the option Group Similar taskbar option.

Question: My mom and I share the same computer, she likes the resolution lower so she can read the text easier, can we have separate resolutions on the different logins?

Answer: Each user must have the same resolution, but you can adjust some of her settings to make it easier on her, in Internet Explorer, if you hold the ctrl key and move the wheel on your mouse up and down you can see the font size change in front of you. You can also set some accessibility options by going to control panel and opening Accessibility Options.

Question: How do I lock my computer in Windows XP?

Answer: Type WINKEY+L to lock your computer.

Question: Does Windows XP contain any Easter eggs?

Answer: Because they had to supply certain government agencies with software, Microsoft can't include undocumented features, including Easter eggs, in its software. As a result, you will not find any Easter eggs exist in XP, at least as of right now :).

Question: How can I find out which product key I used to activate my copy Windows XP?

Answer: Well you can't because XP converts the product key to the system's product ID, and if you expose this product ID, it opens security concerns around the product ID generation process and it's security. So make sure you keep track of all product keys you use, write them down or keep a text file if you have lots to keep track of.

Question: How do I enable Windows 2000-like file sharing and security in Windows XP workgroups? I don't see the security tab for a file or a folder

Answer: You have to change a network access setting in the local policy settings.

Now you have share permissions and file security on NTFS volumes with Windows XP. On FAT volumes, the Security menu will still remain unavailable.

Question: How do I keep Windows XP from highlighting newly installed programs?

Answer: You can do this by right-clicking the Start button, choosing properties, then customize, and then click advanced, and then un-check Highlight newly installed applications option.

Question: Windows XP doesn't have a driver for my hardware, what can I do?

Answer: You can try using the Windows 2000 driver, since it is an upgrade from Windows 2000, or if you can get online, go to the manufacturers homepage and download their latest driver from there. Before you buy any hardware for Windows XP you should check the hardware compatibility list here from Microsoft.

Question: Microsoft recommends a Pentium II 233 and 64 MB of RAM to run Windows XP, is this true?

Answer: While this is true, technically, you will not really be able to use it for very much, you should start with a Pentium III 500 MHz or above and 256 megs of ram to have a decent user experience.

Question: What happened to NetBEUI?

Answer: NetBEUI is no longer supported and Microsoft recommends using TCP/IP protocol instead, which is the default in Windows XP. But if you must have NetBEUI, you can install it, it's in D:Valueadd\msft\net\netbeui by default. You can add it by configuring a network adapter and choosing Properties, General, Install.

Links to answers about Windows XP from Microsoft

The following are links to answers to a lot of questions that are already covered on Microsoft's websites.

Microsoft How-To's

These are links to Microsoft's how to pages, such as How-to Setup Windows XP.

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