Review by carol irvin

I’ve used Windows 95, 98 and 2000. I’ve also used an OS 9 and 10 Mac. None of them matches Windows XP. It is simply the best, hands down. I even like it better for using Photoshop and Illustrator than a Mac and that statement is virtually heresy in the art world! First, it is not buggy and not crash prone. It reliably works all of the time. Windows 2000 was very good in that regard and XP is even better. 95 and 98 were terrible regarding crashes and reliability. I’m also using Windows Media Player 9 with it, which is a terrific player, and I’m even able to use all wma files (¹⁄₃ the size) rather than mp3 after using a converter. I stopped using Real Player after getting on this Player 9, which works the best with XP. Second, if I need help on something on my computer, I can have my friend in a different city, also on XP, take over my controls using the Net Meeting feature. He was able to reinstall a program for me that was giving me fits. Third, there are loads of special programs that work especially in conjunction with XP that further enhance it, such as Firegraphic 5 where you can see all your images and view them in filmstrips, slide shows and big versions. And that’s just one of many special programs that I’ve used on XP. It is also a delight to go to any website and find that whatever you can download there is compatible with XP. One thing that would really turn me off a Mac, by contrast, is the notice on many programs or features on the web that they haven’t developed a version yet for a Mac. I also like the way Windows Explorer works in XP and that it looks better than in any earlier version of Windows. As my giant file cabinet, it is very easy for me to keep everything organized in WE and the thumbnails of my jpgs, tifs, ais, htms and so forth are terrific. The task bar is much improved from 2000 and I found I could even get rid of my pop up remover program because XP makes it so easy to close multiple browser windows with one right click on the task bar on a grouped browser window button. I also get beautiful thumbnails now when I use right click. There is a wonderful XP magazine that comes from the UK (called simply Windows XP) that I would love to see Amazon have available for subscription. This magazine has a wonderful users forum online that is a great help if you need help with XP.