What Are the Features of Microsoft Windows XP?

Windows XP was Microsoft's successor to Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Professional, and was released on October 25, 2001. Two main editions, Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, were available.

Key Features

A more stable environment and a better user interface were both significant updates from Windows 98 and 2000. The employment of ClearType introduced smooth, anti-aliased fonts to the operating system. The ability to log on without requiring a previous user to log off was also a significant advent, as was Wifi support.

XP Professional

Windows XP Professional contains features not found in XP Home Edition, like Remote Desktop and Automated System Recovery, and is designed for businesses and power users.

Service Packs

Microsoft has released three different service packs for XP, each of which fixed security flaws and introduced various software and hardware support updates. Service Pack 1 was released in 2002, Service Pack 2 in 2004, and Service Pack 3 in 2008.

Windows Media Center Edition

Unlike Windows XP Home and Professional editions, Windows Media Center was not sold through traditional retail venues, and was usually distributed as a pre-installed operating system on new PC's.

Other Editions

XP 64-Bit Edition and XP Professional x64 Edition were both created to run on 64-bit machines.

Criticism

Windows XP gained a reputation as insecure, with exploited security flaws and subsequent efforts by Microsoft to patch the operating system making headlines.