Windows XP Professional rocks. With the windows update tool and other security and reliability features, Microsoft has made the life of home and business professional users better.
The operating system has changed from the user interface, to the tools used to manage the computer. Its more intuitive, more stable and has integrated the best of all the previous Windows versions. In addition, it is more secure. Any vulnerabilities or problems that are found in the operating system are acted upon quickly by Microsoft, ensuring that your desktop will remain secure. For example, if a security exposure is found in the Internet connection sharing program in Windows XP, you can download a patch to protect your computer from this attack.
Security and Reliability
Microsoft made a large number of changes to ensure that Windows XP is a significantly better operating system than earlier versions, such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT Workstation, primarily, in the areas of reliability and security. For example, if the computer were to lose its Internet connection, Windows XP Professional is able to continue its operations unaffected.
Do you remember blue screens? They still exit, but in much less frequency. When we think about reliability, we need to imagine a computer running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No matter what we do, the system needs to be stable. When we think about security, we need to imagine that our personal data such as e-mail, spreadsheets and documents be protected.
A very useful feature is Windows File Protection. Windows File Protection is a new tool to prevent users from replacing or moving a critical operating system files. Windows File Protection is enabled by default. This reduces the chances of making the operating system fail. For example, if a user wants to delete a protected system file (such as a .sys or .dll) Windows File Protection protects all important files and prevents the user from completing the operation. For those download junkies, Windows File Protection also detects attempts by other programs to change or replace a critical operating system file.
To maintain a more stable system, Windows XP helps users tracks changes and restore the computer with a new tool called System Restore. In essence, the System Restore program tracks modifications to the computer settings at specific intervals of time. If for some reason your computer fails to start (such as a corrupted driver), System Restore recovers the computer to a previous state. System Restore can track changes to installations of applications, drivers and network programs. For example, if a user deletes a critical system driver and the computer doesn’t start, he could restore the computer system and programs to the its previous condition to recover the system.
Securing Updates
Keeping a computer secure requires updating and maintaining the operating system. Downloading patches and updates has always been a time consuming task that most users never performed. Hence, more than half of the Windows user community has suffered some kind of computer attack or intrusion.
Microsoft Windows Update is a new feature that automates this task. From the security standpoint, Windows Update can download security patches and updates. Users can regularly update and always get the latest updates to keep the operating system safe. Users just need to enable Windows Update, have an Internet connection and Microsoft will update the computer remotely.
To use Windows Update, normally, an icon notifies the user when new updates are available. This can be customized. Users can specify how often they want to update the computer, which updates to apply and when to download the patches from the Internet.
To enable Microsoft Windows XP automatic updates:
Click Start, select Settings and click Control Panel
Open the System icon and select the Automatic Updates Tab
If you are running Windows 2000 Professional or any older Windows version, I recommend that you take a look at Windows XP Professional. It’s a very useful tool, if you rely on your computer to perform a professional work or presentation. Once you start using it, you’ll never want to go back.
*Originally published at 2000Trainers.com
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Leonard Loro, MCSE, MCSD, ISS, MCT, CCNA, is a recognized e-Business specialist. His experience includes engaging, managing and implementing large consulting projects for government agencies and companies like Microsoft, Nissan as well as other Fortune 500’s. Leonard can be reached at Leonardo.loro@enresource.com.
