VISUAL ACCOUNTING NEWSLETTER – AUG 2004
Microsoft has just released its first major update to
Windows XP. Service Pack 2 contains a large number of new security features to
provide better protection from Hackers, Viruses and unwanted Internet Ads.
The virtual explosion of threats on the internet has
caused Microsoft to rethink their role in internet security. An improved
Firewall and Pop-Up Ad blocker are now built in to Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Some of the features they have added are also included in Norton, McAfee and other security products, but they
felt it necessary to provide this basic protection for Windows XP users.
If you already have an internet security package, you
must be careful not to configure both Windows XP and your security package to
do the same thing. Two competing firewalls, for instance, can cause you
problems accessing the internet or other computers and printers on your own
network.
If you have any specialized software other than
Microsoft products you may also want to investigate the possibility of
compatibility problems with Service Pack 2. A number of programs and web based development companies
have reported serious problems after downloading this new service pack. After
significant testing, it would appear that there are no
Libra Accounting system issues.
It should be noted that if you download this update you will
need to allocate an hour or two to the process. This assumes that you have high
speed internet availability. If your internet is still dial-up based I would
not even recommend trying this update, as it would likely take days to
download. This is the largest single update that Microsoft has ever issued. It
is about 100 megabytes and once the installation has started you may not be
able to abort without serious complications.
After
working with it for nearly three years now, I can sincerely say that Microsoft
Windows XP is probably the most reliable version of Windows thus far, at least in
terms of the number of crashes that typically occur within a year. Offsetting
this somewhat is the fact that Windows XP is more complicated and time
consuming to fix when a serious problem finally does arise. Windows XP is a
serious resource hog as well. It requires a multi-gigabyte hard drive, at least
256 mb of ram memory and central processor speeds of at least 1Ghz or more to drive it effectively.
This
is easily accommodated by any new computer that you would buy nowadays, but
upgrading older computers to Windows XP may be a bad idea. When you consider
that a new computer may cost $400 or less then the cost and aggravation of
upgrading an older computer no longer seems that worthwhile.
For
the time being I would recommend that any computer slower than 1000 MHz ( 1 GHz ) should stick with Windows 98 Second Edition. This
is by far the best bet for reliability and speed on an older computer.
Windows
2000 Professional was a solid performer as well but was not as compatible or
user friendly as Windows XP. Many companies and professionals still prefer it
however as its interface is closer to Windows 98 and Windows NT than that of
Windows XP
It
is rather surprising that we have had little word other than rumours about the
next major evolution in the Windows operating system. The fact that Microsoft
is releasing such a major Service Pack may be evidence that the next version of
Windows is still a year or two away. As each new version gets more complicated
it requires more and more development. Hopefully Microsoft will
place reliability foremost in their next revision.