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.