the enhanced user experience.
Windows XP, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows ME, was the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel. Windows XP was released worldwide for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006. It was succeeded by Windows Vista in January 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009. On April 10, 2012, Microsoft reaffirmed that extended support for Windows XP and Office 2003 would end on April 8, 2014 and suggested that administrators begin preparing to migrate to a newer OS.
The NT-based versions of Windows, which are programmed in C, C++, and assembly, are known for their improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows.[16][17] Windows XP presented a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. In an attempt to further ameliorate the "DLL hell" that plagued the past versions of Windows, improved side-by-side assembly technology in Windows XP allows side-by-side installation, registration and servicing of multiple versions of globally shared software components in full isolation.[18][19] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat illegal copying.
During Windows XP's development, the project was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skiied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.
According to web analytics data generated by Net Applications, Windows XP was the most widely used operating system until August 2012, when Windows 7 overtook it. As of August 2013, Windows XP market share is at 33.66%, having decreased almost every month since at least November 2007, the first month for which statistics are publicly available from Net Applications.
User interface :
Windows XP featured a new task-based GUI (Graphical user interface). The Start menu and taskbar were updated and many visual effects were added, including:
- A translucent blue selection rectangle in Windows Explorer
- Drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
- Task-based sidebars in Explorer windows ("common tasks")
- The ability to group the taskbar buttons of the windows of one application into one button, with a popup menu listing the window titles
- The ability to lock the taskbar to prevent accidental changes (Windows 2000 with Internet Explorer 6 installed had the ability to lock Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer toolbars, but not the taskbar)
- The highlighting of recently added programs on the Start menu
- Shadows under menus (Windows 2000 had shadows under mouse pointers, but not menus)
uxtheme.dll file that restricts the ability to use visual styles, created by the general public or the user, on Windows XP.In addition to the included Windows XP themes, there is one previously unreleased theme with a dark blue taskbar and window bars similar to Windows Vista titled "Royale Noir" available as unofficial download. Microsoft officially released a modified version of this theme as the "Zune" theme, to celebrate the launch of its Zune portable media player in November 2006. The differences are only visual with a new glassy look along with a black taskbar instead of dark blue and an orange start button instead of green. Additionally, the Media Center "Royale" theme, which was included in the Media Center editions, is also available to download for use on all Windows XP editions.
The default wallpaper, Bliss, is a photo of a landscape in the Napa Valley outside Napa, California, with rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds.
The "classic" interface from Windows 9x and 2000 can be used instead if preferred. Several third party utilities exist that provide hundreds of different visual styles.
Other features
- GDI+ graphics subsystem and improved image management and viewing in the shell
- DirectX 8.1 upgradeable to DirectX 9.0c
- A number of new features in Windows Explorer including task panes, tiles and filmstrip views, improved sorting and grouping, searching by document categories, customizable infotips, built-in CD burning, AutoPlay, Simple File Sharing and WebDAV mini-redirector.
- Improved imaging features such as Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, improved image handling and thumbnail caching in Explorer
- A number of kernel enhancements and power management improvements
- Faster start-up, (due to improved Prefetch functions) logon, logoff, hibernation and application launch sequences.
- The ability to discard a newer device driver in favor of the previous one (known as driver rollback) should a driver upgrade not produce desirable results.
- Numerous improvements to increase the system reliability such as improved System Restore, Automated System Recovery, Windows Error Reporting and driver reliability.
- A new, arguably more user-friendly interface, including the framework for developing themes for the desktop environment and richer icons with alpha transparency
- Hardware support improvements such as USB 2.0, FireWire 800, Windows Image Acquisition, Media Transfer Protocol, DualView for multi-monitors and audio improvements.
- Fast user switching, which allows users to save the current state and open applications of their desktop and allows another user to log on without losing that information
- The ClearType font rendering mechanism, which is designed to improve text readability on liquid crystal display (LCD) and similar monitors, especially laptops.
- Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop features, which allow users to connect to a computer running Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications, files, printers, and devices or request help.
- New networking features including Windows Firewall, Internet Connection Sharing integration with UPnP, NAT traversal APIs, Quality of Service features, IPv6 and Teredo tunneling, Background Intelligent Transfer Service, extended fax features, network bridging, peer to peer networking, support for most DSL modems, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) connections with auto configuration and roaming, TAPI 3.1, Bluetooth and networking over FireWire.
- New security features such as Software Restriction Policies, Credential Manager, Encrypting File System improvements, improved certificate services, smart card and PKI support. Windows XP SP2 introduced Data Execution Prevention, Windows Security Center and Attachment Manager.
- Side-by-side assemblies and registration-free COM
- Improved media features in Windows Media format runtime, Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, TV/video capture and playback technologies, Windows Media Encoder and introduction of Windows Media Center
- General improvements to international support such as more locales, languages and scripts, MUI support in Terminal Services, improved IMEs and National Language Support, Text Services Framework
- Handwriting recognition, speech recognition and digital ink support accessible through the Tablet PC Input Panel (TIP) in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Numerous improvements to system administration tools such as Windows Installer, Windows Script Host, Disk Defragmenter, Windows Task Manager, Group Policy, CHKDSK, NTBackup, Microsoft Management Console, Shadow Copy, Registry Editor, Sysprep and WMI
- Improved application compatibility and shims compared to Windows 2000
- Updated accessories and games.
- Improvements to IntelliMirror features such as Offline Files, Roaming user profiles and Folder redirection.
Service Pack 3
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, and to the public via both the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 6, 2008.
It began being automatically pushed out to Automatic Update users on July 10, 2008. A feature set overview which details new features available separately as stand-alone updates to Windows XP, as well as backported features from Windows Vista, has been posted by Microsoft. A total of 1,174 fixes have been included in SP3. Service Pack 3 can be installed on systems with Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, or 8. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are not included as part of SP3. Service Pack 3 is not available for the 64 bit version of Windows XP.
| Minimum | Recommended | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | 233 MHz | At least 300 MHz | ||||||||||
| Memory | 64 MB of RAM | At least 128 MB of RAM | ||||||||||
| Video adapter and monitor | Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution | |||||||||||
| Hard drive disk free space | 1.5 GB or higher additional 661 MB for Service Pack 1 and 1a additional 1.8 GB for Service Pack 2 and additional 900 MB for Service Pack 3 |
|||||||||||
| Optical drive | CD-ROM drive (Only to install from CD-ROM media) | |||||||||||
| Input devices | Keyboard, Microsoft Mouse or a compatible pointing device | |||||||||||
| Sound | Sound card and Speakers or headphones | |||||||||||
Size before extract :1.18MB
Size after extract :584MB
Download the file.kgb
you have to extract it with kgb archiver
Have fun :)
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