Features new to Windows XP

src: www.stardock.com

Windows XP introduces many features not found in previous versions of Windows.

Video Features new to Windows XP

User interface and view

Graph

With the introduction of Windows XP, the only software-based subsystem C GDI was introduced to replace certain GDI functions. GDI adds 2D anti-alias graphics, textures, floating point coordinates, gradient shadows, more complex path management, bicubic filtering, intrinsic support for modern graphic file formats such as JPEG and PNG, and support for affine transformation compositions in 2D display channels. GDI uses the ARGB value to represent the color. The use of these features is evident in the Windows XP user interface (transparent desktop icon label, drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop, shadows under the menu, a translucent blue selection box in Windows Explorer, a slider dock and taskbar buttons), and features such as Microsoft Paint, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, Photo Printing Wizard , My Pictures Slideshow screensavers, and its presence in the basic graphics layer greatly simplify the implementation of vector-graphics systems such as Flash or SVG. GDI dynamic libraries can be shipped with applications and used on older versions of Windows. The total number of GDI handles per session is also upgraded in Windows XP from 16384 to 65536 (configurable through the registry).

Windows XP is shipped with DirectX 8.1 that brings major new features to DirectX Graphics in addition to DirectX Audio (DirectSound and DirectMusic), DirectPlay, DirectInput and DirectShow. Direct3D introduces programmability in the form of vertices and pixel shaders, allowing developers to write code without worrying about excessive hardware status, and fog, bump mapping and texture mapping. DirectX 9 was released in 2003, which also saw major revisions to Direct3D, DirectSound, DirectMusic and DirectShow. Direct3D 9 adds a new version of Shader High Level Language, support for floating-point texture format, Multiple Target Rendering, and texture search in the vertex shader. Windows XP can be upgraded to DirectX 9.0c (Shader Model 3.0), which is then included in Windows XP SP2.

Windows XP SP3 menambahkan Komponen Windows Imaging.

ClearType

Windows XP includes ClearType subpixel rendering, which makes the screen font smoother and easier to read on a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. Although ClearType has an effect on CRT monitors, its primary usage is for LCD/TFT-based screens (laptops, notebooks and modern 'flatscreen'). ClearType in Windows XP currently supports the structure of RGB and BGR subpixels. There are other parameters such as contrast that can be set via the powertoy ClearType Tuner provided by Microsoft as a free download of the Typography site.

Start menu

With Windows XP, the Start button has been updated to support Fitts law. To help users access a wider range of general purpose destinations more easily from one location, the Start menu is expanded into two columns; the left column focuses on user-installed apps, while the right column provides access to user documents, and system links that were previously on the desktop. Links to My Documents, My Pictures and other special folders are brought forward. My Computer and My Network Places ( Network Neighborhood in Windows 95 and 98) icons are also moved from the Desktop and into the Start menu, making it easier to access these icons when a number of applications are open. and keep the desktop clean. Additionally, this link can be configured to expand as a tiered menu. Frequently used programs are automatically displayed in the left column, newly installed programs are highlighted, and users can choose to "pin" the program to the start menu so that it can always be accessed without having to navigate the Programs folder. Default internet browser and default email program are embedded into the Start menu. Start Menu is fully customizable, links can be added or removed; the number of programs that are often used to display can be set. The All Programs menu extends like the Classic Start menu to take advantage of the entire screen but can be set to scroll the program. Users' usernames and user account images are also displayed in the Start menu.

Taskbar

The taskbar buttons for running applications and Quick Launch have also been updated for Fitt law. Locking the taskbar not only prevents it from being accidentally resized or moved but elements like the Quick launch and other DeskBands are also locked because they are not accidentally moved. The Taskbar grouping feature combines several buttons from the same application into a single button, which when clicked, a menu listing all the grouped windows and their numbers. Advanced taskbar grouping options can be configured from the registry. Users can choose to always show, always hide or hide some or all notification area icons if they are inactive for some time. A button allows the user to reveal all the icons. The Taskbar, if set to a thicker height also displays the days and dates in the notification area.

Windows Explorer

There are significant changes made to Windows Explorer in Windows XP, both visually and functionally. Microsoft focuses primarily on making Windows Explorer more discoverable and task-based, as well as adding a number of features to reflect the increasing use of computers as a "digital hub".

Duty panel

The task pane is displayed on the left side of the window instead of the traditional tree folder view when the navigation bar is turned off. It presents the user with a list of common actions and goals relevant to the current directory or the selected file. For example, when in a directory containing mostly images, a set of "Image tasks" is displayed, offering the option to display these photos as a slide show, to print them, or to go online to order prints. Instead, a folder containing music files will offer the option to play those files in the media player, or to go online to buy music.

Each folder also has "File and Folder Tasks", offering options to create new folders, share folders on the local network, publish files or folders to websites using the Web Publishing Guide , and other common tasks like copying, rename, move, and delete files or folders. File types that have identified themselves as printable also have the option listed for printing files.

Under "File and Folder Tasks" is "Other Places", which always lists the parent folder folders that are viewed and includes additional links to other common locations such as "My Computer", "Control Panel" and "My Documents" or navigable location previous. This change depends on the folder where the user is located.

Under "Other Places" is the "Details" area that provides additional information when a file or folder is selected - usually file type, file size and date changed, but depending on file type, author, image dimension, attribute, or other details. If the file type has a Small image searcher installed, the preview also appears in the "Detail" task pane. For music files, may display artist, album title, and song duration. The same information is also displayed horizontally on the status bar .

Navigation panel

The "Folders" button on the Windows Explorer toolbar switches between traditional navigation panels that contain the tree folder structure view, and task panes. Users can also close the navigation bar by clicking the Close button in the right corner as well as turning off the task pane from Folder Options.

The navigation pane has been upgraded in Windows XP to support a "simple folder view" which when turned on hides the dashed line that links folders and subfolders and makes folders navigable with one click while double-clicking in the right pane. A single click in simple folder view automatically expand the folder and clicking on another folder automatically expands that folder and tear down the previous one.

Grouping and sorting

Windows XP introduces a large number of properties metadata displayed as columns in the "Details" view of Explorer, in the New Tiles view in Explorer, on the Summary tab in the file properties, in the file tooltip and in the Explorer status bar when one file is selected. Users also get the ability to sort by whatever properties are enabled in the "Details" view. Developers can write a column handler shell extension to better define their own properties by which files can be sorted. The columns in which the ordered items are highlighted. Sorting files and folders can be in ascending order or Descending order in all views, not just Details view. To reverse the order, the user can only do the same sorting again. Sort order is also made more intuitive than in Windows 2000. For file names containing numbers Windows Explorer now tries to sort by numerical values ​​rather than simply comparing each digit number by digit for each character position in the file name. For example, a file containing "1", "2".. "10" will be intuitively sorted with "10" appearing after "9" instead of appearing between "1" and "2".

The Windows Explorer right pane has a "Show in Groups" feature that allows Explorer to separate its contents by title based on any field used to sort items. Items can be grouped by whatever details are enabled. "Show in Groups" is available in Thumbnail, Tile, Icon, and Detail view.

Search

Microsoft introduced the animation "Friends Search" in an effort to make the search more interesting and friendly; The default character is a puppy named Rover, with three other characters (Merlin the Witch, Earl the Surfer, and Courtney) are also available. These search friends are backed by Microsoft Agent technology, have a lot in common with Microsoft Office's Office Assistant, even combining "tricks" and sound effects. If the user wants, they can also turn off the animated characters completely.

The search capabilities themselves are quite similar to Windows Me and Windows 2000, with some important additions. The Indexing Service can extract Exif properties, as well as some metadata for ASF, WMV and MP3 files under Windows XP via the IPropertyStorage interface using the built-in Null Filter. Search can also be instructed to search only files that are categorically "Documents" or "Images, music and videos" (search by perceived type); This feature is very important because of how Windows determines what file types can be classified in this category. Another notable addition is that the "View in" field accepts and expands environment variables for abbreviated long path entries. Additionally, users can configure whether or not Windows XP looks for hidden systems and/or files and folders. Using Tweak UI, the search user interface can be restored to that used by Windows 2000.

Image handling in Explorer

Windows XP improves the image preview by offering a Filmstrip view that displays images in one horizontal line and a large preview of the currently selected image above it. The "Back" and "Previous" buttons facilitate navigation through images, and a pair of "Play" buttons offer 90 degrees rotation clockwise and counterclockwise. A movie strip view like any other view can be enabled per folder. This view will be available if the new "Generic" folder view is selected instead of the "Windows Classic" folder view. Aside from the Filmstrip view mode, there is a 'Thumbnail' view, which displays small images in folders and also shows images that may contain subfolders (4 by default) that are superimposed on large folder icons. The folders thumbnail view can be customized from the Customizable Customize tab of its Properties, where users can also change the folder icon and specify the template type (images, music, videos, documents) for that folder and optionally all its subfolders. The size and quality of thumbnails in the "Thumbnail" view can be customized using Tweak UI or the registry. The exif metadata stored in the image is also displayed in the Properties file - & gt; The Summary tab, in the "Details" view and in any view in the status bar. An optional Windows XP thumbnail cache is in the "Thumbs.db" file in the same folder as the image so the resulting thumbnails are faster the next time. Thumbnails can be forced to regenerate by right-clicking the image in Thumbnail or Filmstrip view and selecting "Refresh thumbnails".

AutoPlay

AutoPlay checks for newly discovered media and devices and, based on content such as images, music or video files, launches the appropriate app to play or display content. AutoPlay (not to be confused with AutoRun) was created to simplify the use of peripheral devices - MP3 players, memory cards, USB storage devices and more - by automatically starting the software necessary to access and view content on this device. AutoPlay can be upgraded by software and hardware compatible with AutoPlay. This can be configured by users to associate favorite apps with AutoPlay events and actions. This action is called AutoPlay Handlers and there are sets of Handlers associated with different types of content. New AutoPlay handlers can be added to the system when additional software is installed. Users can edit, delete, or create AutoPlay handlers using TweakUI. AutoPlay settings can be configured per-device in Windows XP from device properties.

When a user inserts an optical disk into a drive or attaches a USB camera, Windows detects arrival and starts the process of checking the device or searching for media. It looks for device properties or content on the media so that AutoPlay can present a set of meaningful options for users. When users make selections, they also have the option of making automatic selection the next time Windows sees the content or device. The types of content available vary with the type of drive selected.

Repair shell and other UI

• Windows XP introduces the notion of Perceived Types, making it easier for shell apps and extensions to register themselves with file types, even if the default program and ProgID changes are associated with it. Perceived types also make it easy for end users to search for files without specifying individual file extensions.
• The Per-user Trash Cart for NTFS volumes. In earlier versions of Windows NT, one user could see files that other users deleted located in the Recycle Bin.
• Folder options to restore the previously opened folder window at logon (restore Explorer session)
• Infotypes that can be customized on a per-file-class basis (file type) without writing shell extensions
• Windows Explorer relies on content, which attempts to detect the dominant file type in the folder and then selects the most appropriate view for the user automatically unless the user manually organizes the display.
• To prevent an application from taking over a file association already registered with a default program explicitly assigned by a user, Windows XP prevents programmatic file associations if the Open With dialog or File Types tab is used by the user to override the defaults.
• The "Tiles" view is added, which displays file icons in larger sizes (48 ÃÆ'â € "48), and places file names, descriptive types, and additional information used to sort items (usually file sizes for data files, and publisher name for the app) on the right.
• Toolbars can be locked to prevent them from being accidentally moved. This same capability is also added to the Internet Explorer toolbar.
• The "Line up icon" feature in the context menu has been replaced with the "Align to Grid" feature which, when turned on, always aligns the icon.
• For unknown/undefined types of files that inexperienced users may get confused when double-clicked, Windows XP can contact a web service that shows additional information about the file type and what program is created or can open that type of file.
• If an image named "Folder.jpg" is placed inside a folder, it will be used as a thumbnail for that folder and as Album Art for media files in Windows Media Player.
• EFS encrypted files can be displayed in alternate colors (green by default) starting with Windows XP.
• The file size and folder information is displayed in the tooltips when the mouse is moved. For folders, the size and contents of partial folders are displayed.
• When opening more than 15 files in one operation, by selecting multiple files and pressing enter, Windows XP warns users that Windows Explorer may become unresponsive, but still allow users to do so.
• Windows Explorer supports the very basic basic form of renaming items.
• Marquee-style progress bar.
• Hyperlink controls in the system provide general control.

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer

Windows XP includes the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer which is based on GDI and able to view the image formats supported by GDI, ie, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF (including animated GIF), ICO, WMF, File format EMF and TIFF. This replaces some of the Imaging functions for Windows on earlier versions of Windows.

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer integrates with Windows Explorer for functions like slide shows, email, printing, etc. And it quickly starts when a picture is double-clicked in Windows Explorer. It supports full file management from within the viewer itself, that is, right-clicking the image shows the same context menu as shown when the image is right-clicked in Windows Explorer. Images can be set as desktop wallpaper from the context menu. It supports the consecutive display of all images in the current folder and iteration through the image, that is, after viewing the last image in the directory, it again shows the first image and vice versa. By default, images smaller than the screen resolution of the user are displayed at their original size. If an image is larger than the screen resolution, it is scaled to fit the screen (Best Fit). Images can be enlarged or scaled depending on the viewing area. When this is done, the scroll bar allows to view all image areas. It has the Standard toolbar button for Delete , Print , Copy to and Open with . The Copy to button converts the image to different formats supported in GDI, which are JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF or PNG. The Print button starts a Photo Printing Wizard that allows printing images with image titles using various page layouts such as full page prints, wallet prints, contacts/indexes or fixed dimensions with images cut or rotated to fit the page. The wizard displays a preview of the pageviews that are printed with the currently assigned options. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer can also rotate the image clockwise or counterclockwise, start a slide show of all images or selected in a folder, or send it by e-mail by selecting the "Send to E-mail Receiver" option. Further options allow images to be sent full size, or in pixel dimensions: 640 x 480, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768. Using Tweak UI, the time between images during the slideshow can be adjusted.

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer recognizes the ICC V2 color profile embedded in JPG and TIFF files. GIF files are displayed with full animation, even when zoomed in. The TIFF file can be annotated using the Annotation Toolbar that appears at the bottom of the screen. Lines can be drawn on TIFF images and text added to them. The drawing area can be selected and hidden. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is also capable of viewing multi-page TIFF files. However, TIFF images with JPEG compression are not fully supported. The last button on the standard toolbar opens the image for editing; by default, in Microsoft Paint; but any editing apps can be enrolled for this button in the viewer. Windows Picture and Fax Viewer stores and remembers the position and size of windows and supports keyboard shortcuts for all its operations.

The raw image format, which is the preferred format in professional photography is not supported, however, Microsoft released an update later called RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP to view certain raw image files.

Customization customization and usability

• Windows XP includes a set of new visual styles, known by its codename, "Luna". Available in three color schemes, the interface is more task-based than the basic one included since Windows 95, with options available in the Explorer window to interact with each file. However, users can choose to fully revert to the pre-Windows XP "classic" user interface. Developers can take advantage of visual styles through the use of Comctl32.dll v6.0 in their programs.
• The Windows XP View Property allows users to save their customizations as Themes . This feature was previously part of Microsoft Plus !.
• Support icons and cursors for 24-bit color depth with 8-bit alpha channel. Microsoft contracted The Iconfactory which created more than 100 colorful icons for Microsoft to be included in Windows XP. The 10-icon resource limit has also been upgraded. For high DPI display, Windows XP supports larger cursor sizes.
• Use bullets instead of asterisks in the TextBox control password field, that is, "???" instead of "***".
• Some information, critical, and warning messages in Windows XP are displayed as balloon notifications that automatically disappear after a predetermined interval and condition, instead of displaying them as dialog boxes requiring user interaction.
• Configurable new sound events for Device Connect , Device Disconnect , Failed Connecting Tool , Print Completed , New Fax , Fax Error , System Notice , Windows Logo and Windows Logoff . Windows XP Service Pack 2 adds a voice event in Internet Explorer to Blocked pop-up windows and Information bar .
• A rich collection of live orchestra recordings for the theme tour of Windows XP music and sound system composed by composer Bill Brown.
• The ghosting window allows the user to minimize, move or close the main window even if the app is not responding.

Text Services Framework

The Text Services Framework (TSF), is a COM and API framework introduced in Windows XP that supports text input and advanced text processing. The Text Services framework is designed to offer advanced word processing and language features to applications. It supports features such as multilingual support, keyboard drivers, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, as well as spell checking and other text processing and natural language functions. It can also be downloaded for older Windows operating systems.

The Bar Language is the core user interface for the Text Services Framework. The language bar allows text services to add UI elements to the toolbar and allow these elements when the app has focus. From the Language Bar, users can select the input language, and control keyboard input, handwriting recognition and voice recognition. The language bar also provides a direct means for switching between installed languages, even when an application that does not have a TSF has focus.

Maps Features new to Windows XP

Improved performance and kernel

The Windows XP kernel is completely different from the kernel of the Windows 9x/Me operating system. Although there is an increase in the Windows 2000 kernel, there is increased scalability, stability, and great performance, although transparent for end users.

Processor support

Windows XP includes multithreading (hyperthreading) support simultaneously. Multithreading simultaneously is the ability of a processor to process more than one string of data at a time.

Memory management

Windows XP supports a larger system virtual address space --- 1.3 GB, where the contiguous virtual address space that the device driver can use is 960 MB. Windows XP Memory Manager is redesigned to consume less paged pool, allowing for more caching and greater paged pool availability for each component that needs it.

The total size of mapped-memory files in Windows 2000 is limited because the memory manager allocates the Prototype Page Table (PPTE) entry for all the pages needed to map the entire file, even if the application creates a view mapped to the file sections. In Windows XP, PTEs Prototype is allocated only for the current view, allowing the file to be mapped larger. This benefit, for example, is in the case of backing up large files on low memory systems. The 470 MB paged pool limit has been removed from the Memory Manager in Windows XP, with unmapped views dynamically reused by the memory manager depending on pool usage.

The page memory in the working sets is trimmed more efficiently for multiprocessor systems depending on how recently they are accessed. The key to clashing is reduced, because a number of unnecessary keys are used in resource synchronization (allocation and mapping of RAM via the Address Window Extension, system page table entries, unposted paging/paged pool quota, page filling commitments) are deleted. The dispatcher key controversy has been reduced and the Page Frame Number (PFN) key has been optimized for increased parallelism and granularity. Windows XP uses push keys on the event sync object if there is no contention as they support mutual and exclusive acquisitions. The push key is used to protect the Executive table entries, and in Object Manager (to protect data structures and security descriptors) and the Memory Manager (to protect keys associated with AWE). Windows XP uses a SYSENTER/SYSEXIT mechanism that requires fewer clock cycles to transition to and from user mode to kernel mode to speed up system calls.

The write protection limits of kernel pages in Windows XP are enabled on systems up to 256 MB of RAM outside of large pages enabled to improve address translation performance.

Windows XP introduces the CreateMemoryResourceNotification function that can tell the user mode process of high or low memory availability so that applications can allocate more memory or free up the required memory..

Registry

In older versions of Windows, registry sizes are limited to 80% of the paged pool size. In Windows XP, the registry is re-implemented outside the paged pool; the registry hive is the memory mapped by the Cache Manager into the system cache, eliminating the size limit of the registry. The size of the registry is now limited only by the available disk space. The nest system still has a maximum size, but has been raised from 12 MB to 200 MB, eliminating any previous version of Windows encountered because it can not boot due to large or fragmented system. The Configuration Manager has been updated to minimize the registry memory footprint and lock the conflict, reduce fragmentation and thus page faults while accessing the registry, and improve algorithms to speed up the processing of registry queries. The security cache in memory eliminates excessive security descriptors.

Debugging

Windows XP supports debugging user sessions, attaching a debugger to a non-crashing user mode program, removing process memory space using the dump command, and then releasing the debugger without stopping it. Debug can be done via the FireWire port and on the local system. Debug heap can be disabled and standard heap is used when debugging.

Vector Exclusion Handling

Windows XP introduces support for Vector Exclusion Handling. Vectored Exception Handling is made available to Windows programmers using languages ​​like C and Visual Basic. VEH does not replace Structured Exception Handling (SEH), but VEH and SEH coexist with VEH handlers that have priority over SEH handlers. Compared to SEH, VEH works more like a traditional notification callback scheme.

Applications can bypass exceptions by calling the AddVectoredExceptionHandler API to watch or handle all exceptions. Vector ribbon handlers can be chained to in linked lists and they are not tied to a stacked frame, so they can be added anywhere in the call stack unlike the SEH try/catch block.

Heap

Stack leak detection can be enabled when the exit process and debugger extension can be used to investigate the leak. Also introduced is a new performance monitoring stack counters. Windows XP introduces a new low fragmentation stack policy (disabled by default) that allocates memory of different sizes to block less than 16KB to reduce the fragmentation of the stack. The Low Fragmentation Heap can be enabled by default for all stacks using the LFH Heap Enabler utility.

I/O

There is a new API for IRP cancellation and registering file system filter calls to intercept I/O OS fast functionality. Under low memory conditions, "must be successful" calls are rejected, causing slowdown but preventing bug checks. I/O is constrained to retrieve only one memory page while increasing overall scalability.

File System

Windows XP includes NTFS 3.1, which extends Master File Table (MFT) entries with redundant MFT record numbers, useful for recovering damaged MFT files. The NTFS conversion utility, Convert.exe , supports the new/CvtArea switch so that NTFS metadata files can be written to a contiguous placeholder file, resulting in a less fragmented file system after conversion. NTFS 3.1 also supports symbolic links even though no tools or drivers are shipped with Windows XP to create symbolic links.

Windows XP introduces the ability to mount NTFS read-only volumes. There is a new API to retain the original short file name, to retrieve a list of mount points (drive letters and folder paths installed) for the specified volume, and to allow the application to create very large files quickly by setting a valid data length on files without data forced writing with zero to VDL (SetFileValidData function). For example, this function can be used to quickly create a fixed-size virtual machine hard disk. The default access control list for newly created files is read-only for the Users group and write permissions are only granted to the Administrators , System account and owner group.

Launch and launch of the app faster

The ability to boot in 30 seconds is a design goal for Windows XP, and Microsoft developers make efforts to streamline the system as much as possible; Prefetcher Logical is an important part of this; monitor what files are loaded on boot, optimize the location of these files on disk so that less time is spent waiting for the hard drive's head to move and the issue of large asynchronous I/O requests that can overlap with device detection and initialization occurring at boot. Prefetcher works by searching frequently accessed paged data which is then used by Task Scheduler to create a prefetch-instructions file in% WinDir% \ Prefetch. After the system or application boot is run, any data and code specified in the traces that are not already in memory are pre-loaded from the disk. Previous prefetching results determine which scenarios get more benefits and what should be prioritized at next boot or launch. Prefetcher also uses the same algorithm to reduce application startup time. To further reduce disk search, Disk Defragmenter is called on idle time to optimize the layout of these specific files and metadata in adjacent areas. Boot and resume operations can be tracked and analyzed using Bootvis.exe.

Logon and logoff changed

Windows XP includes the Fast Logon Optimization feature that performs logon asynchronously without waiting for the network to be fully initialized if roaming user profiles are not set. The use of cached credentials avoids delays when logged into the domain. Group Policy is applied in the background, and startup or logon scripts are run asynchronously by default.

Windows XP reconciles local user profiles and roaming using a copy of the contents of the registry. Users are no longer made waiting like in Windows 2000 until their profile is uninstalled. Windows XP keeps the cluster of registry locked with the lock open after 60 seconds so roaming profile changes can be saved back to the server. The remaining problem is that the computer can not recover the memory the profile uses until it can be unloaded. To make sure the user profile is completely reconciled correctly during logoff, Microsoft has released the User Profile Cleanup service for Windows XP, which they then include in Windows Vista.

src: blog.awok.com

Management settings and user data

Roaming user profile

Windows XP offers enhancements for usability, robustness and roaming user profile performance. There is a new Group Policy to prevent propagation of roaming user profile changes to the server, giving administrators control over user profile folders and preventing the use of roaming user profiles on certain computers. To accommodate scenarios in which the older profile overwrites the newer server profiles because of the Windows XP Quick Logon feature, Windows XP ensures in such situations that the user registry hive is copied from the server to the local profile.

Deletion of the marked profile to be deleted at next logoff does not fail for the locked profile. For workgroup computers, Windows XP no longer removes user profiles belonging to the Guest group.

Offline Files

Windows XP includes some changes to Offline File behavior. Offline Cache Client Side Files can now be encrypted with File System Encryption. Shared folders from the DFS namespace can be available offline. Additionally, roaming user profiles can be synchronized with the server even if Offline Files has flagged the server as unavailable. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (and KB811660) introduces additional functionality for Offline Files. By editing the Registry, users can suppress error messages for file types that can not be saved by Offline Files and which are excluded from sync. Offline files for users that are not on their primary computer (determined by matching current user's SID with the SID specified in the registry) can be set to clear at logoff. Offdated offline files can also be prevented from being cached for non-primary users.

Folder Redirection

Starting with Windows XP, redirected folders to the network are automatically available offline using Offline Files, although this can be optionally disabled through Group Policy.

For older Windows NT 4.0 and earlier systems with old directory structures, Windows XP allows redirecting the My Documents folder to their home directory.

src: i1-news.softpedia-static.com

Improved reliability

System Restore

In Windows XP, there are some improvements made to System Restore compared to Windows Me. System Restore uses a copy-on-write file system filter to take snapshots. In Windows XP, System Restore can be configured per volume and data storage is also stored per volume. In NTFS volumes, the Restore Point is stored using NTFS compression and protected using ACL. The Disk Cleanup handler allows removal of all but the latest Restore Points. In addition to the Registry files and system files, COM and WMI databases and IIS metabases can also be recovered. System Restore supports Group Policy. System Restore in Windows XP also works without problems with EFS encrypted files.

Automatic System Restore

Automated System Recovery is a feature that provides the ability to save and restore Windows and installed applications, system status , and the critical boot and system files from a special reserve, not the usual reinstallation. ASR consists of two components - backup and restore. Part reserves located in NTBackup support system state (Windows Registry, class registration database of COM, Active Directory and distribution of directories SYSVOL), and the volume associated with the operating system components that are required to start Windows after a restore as well as their configuration (basic or dynamic). ASR Restore section accessed by pressing F2 of Windows XP Mode Settings. Automated System Recovery can even recover programs and device drivers if they are added to the information ASR Setup disk. ASR does not restore data files.

Networks and applications Side-by-side (SxS) isolation

A common problem in earlier versions of Windows is that users often suffer from DLL hell, where more than one version of the same dynamic related (DLL) library is installed on the computer. Because software relies on DLLs, using the wrong version may result in non-functional applications, or worse. Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 solve some of these problems for native code by introducing the sharing of side-by-side components and DLL/COM redirects. This operating system enables loading of personal versions of DLLs if they are placed in the application folder by the developer, not the system directory and must be properly registered with the system.

Windows XP enhances this by introducing side-by-side assemblies for COM 2.0,.NET, COM classic, and Win32 (C Runtime, GDI, Common Controls) components. This technology stores multiple digital versions of shared DLLs that are shared in a centralized WinSxS folder and runs them on demand to the appropriate application that keeps the application isolated from each other and does not use general dependencies. The manifest and assembly version numbers are used by the OS loader to determine the correct binding of the assembly version to the application rather than registering these components globally . To achieve this, Windows XP introduces a new mode of registration of COM objects called COM Registration-free (or RegFree COM). This allows Component Object Model (COM) components to store activation metadata and CLSID ( Class ID ) for components without using the registry. In contrast, metadata and CLSID classes that are implemented in components declared in the assembly manifest (described using XML), are stored as resources in executable files or as separate files that are installed with the component. This allows multiple versions of the same components to be installed in various directories, described by their own manifest, as well as XCOPY deployment.

During application loading, the Windows loader looks for manifests. If it exists, the loader adds information from it to the activation context When the COM class factory tries to instantiate the class, the activation context is first checked to see if the implementation for the CLSID can be found. Only if the registry fails scan is scanned.

Windows Error Reporting

Windows Error Reporting collects and offers to post debugging information post-errors (memory dumps) using the internet to app developers who crash or stop responding on the user's desktop. No data sent without user consent. When the dump (or other error sign information) reaches the Microsoft server, it is analyzed and the solution is sent back to the user if available. Windows Error Reporting runs as a Windows service and can be completely disabled. Software and hardware manufacturers can access their error reports using the Microsoft Winqual program. Software and hardware manufacturers can also close loops with their customers by connecting an error signature to Windows Error Reporting Responses. This allows the distribution of solutions as well as collecting additional information from customers (such as reproducing the steps they took before the crash) and providing them with support links.

Device Driver Restore

In older versions of Windows, when users upgrade device drivers, it is possible that the new drivers are less stable, efficient or functional than the original ones. Reinstalling old drivers can be a big problem and to avoid this problem, Windows XP keeps a copy of the old driver when the new version is installed. If the new driver is having problems, the user can revert to the previous version. This feature does not work with the printer driver.

Other driver upgrades

• Windows Drive Protection blocked known problem drivers from installing or loading
• Driver Verifier introduced in Windows 2000 is a tool that replaces the default operating system subroutine with a specially developed one to capture device driver bugs. Once activated, it monitors and emphasizes drivers to detect calls or actions of illegal functions that might lead to system corruption. In Windows XP, new verification options have been added for DMA, I/O, SCSI, and deadlock detection to Driver Verifier. Driver Verifier Manager, GUI is introduced for Driver Verifier with the option to verify all unregistered drivers automatically.
• Last Known Good Configuration in Windows 2000 restores hardware configuration in the set of registry controls indicated by the LastKnownGood button instead of the default. In Windows XP, it is extended to support restoring device drivers as well from the last working configuration, if newly installed device drivers make Windows unable to boot.

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Application compatibility

When Windows XP combines consumer and enterprise versions of Windows, it is necessary to support applications developed for the popular and consumer-oriented Windows 9x platform on the Windows NT kernel. Microsoft handles this by improving compatibility with application-specific tweets and shims and by providing tools such as the Application Compatibility Toolkit (AppCompat or ACT) to allow users to apply and automate these tweaks and shims in their own applications. Users can use Compatibility Layer scripts using batch files. Windows XP Setup also includes a compatibility checker that warns users - before starting setup - from incompatible apps or device drivers or from apps that may require reinstallation.

src: blog.awok.com

Media features

Windows Media Player

Windows XP RTM includes Windows Media Player version 8 (formally called Windows Media Player for Windows XP) and Windows Media 8 codec. Windows Media Player for Windows XP introduces ID3 support for MP3, edits media information from within the Library, adds lyrics for MP3 or WMA tracks, file name adjustments when tore, new visualizations, support for HDCD, player lock capabilities in enterprise environments and DVD playback support (when the appropriate codec is installed separately). Windows XP SP2 includes Windows Media Player 9 Series with Windows Media Format Runtime 9.0, and can be upgraded to 11 versions of players and runtime formats. Windows Media Player also incorporates newer hardware support for portable devices by using the Media Transfer Protocol and the User-Mode Driver Framework Windows Portable Devices API.

Windows 7 Movie Maker

The original RTM release of Windows XP included Windows Movie Maker 1.1 which added AVI AV footage without compression from digital video sources. Windows Movie Maker 2 is a free download released in 2002, then included in Windows XP SP2. Windows Movie Maker 2 introduces many new transitions, effects, titles and credits, task panes, resizable preview panes with dimensions, enhanced export and retrieval options, AutoMovie features, saves the final video to tape and profiles WMV exports special. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 includes Windows Movie Maker 2.5 which includes DVD burning.

TV technology and video capture

Windows XP includes advances in Broadcast Architecture Driver to receive and capture analog and digital TV broadcasts complete with signal demodulation, tuning, de-multiplexing software, electronic program guide store, IP data broadcasting, etc. In addition, Windows XP Media Center Edition introduces Windows Media Center, an application for PVR recording and playback features for TV content.

Windows XP includes better FireWire (IEEE 1394) support (DVCPRO25 - 525-60 and 625-50) for digital video cameras and video audio devices. It introduces MSTape , WDM drivers for D-VHS and MPEG camcorders. Windows XP SP2 adds support for DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO100.

Video playback

DirectShow 8 introduces the Video Mixing Renderer-7 filter (VMR-7) that uses DirectDraw 7 for video rendering, replacing the Overlay Mixer . The VMR-7 can mix multiple streams and graphics with alpha mixing, allowing applications to draw text (such as closed captions) and graphics (such as channel logos or UI buttons) over the video without flickering, and support compositing to apply custom effects and transitions. VMR-7 also supports color source locking, overlay surface management, frame-jumping and improved multi-monitor support. VMR-7 features a windowless mode for applications to easily host video playback in every window and "rendering mode without rendering" for applications to access compiled images before rendering. DirectX 9 introduces the VMR-9 that uses Direct3D 9 instead of DirectDraw, which allows developers to convert video images using the Direct3D pixel shader. Windows XP SP2 introduces the YUV mixing mode in the VMR-7 and VMR-9 presenters that mix in the YUV color space to save memory bandwidth.

DirectShow 8 includes AVStream , a multimedia class driver for streaming video-only kernel and audio-video.

Other media features

• Windows Media Encoder 9 Series enables encoding of Windows Media 9-based content.
• Installing Windows Media Connect or Windows Media Player 11 adds a UPnP-based streaming media server.
• Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 includes Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition Components such as Audio Converter, CD Label Maker, Dancer and Party Mode and screensavers and themes from Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP.

src: betanews.com

Enhanced device support

Windows XP provides new and/or enhanced driver and user interface for the device compared to Windows Me and 98.

USB 2.0 support

Starting with Windows XP Service Pack 1, Enhanced USB 2.0 Host Controller Interface drivers are included. Windows XP also adds support for USB device classes such as Bluetooth, USB video device classes, imaging (silent image capture class) and Media Transfer Protocol with Windows Media Player 10.

For mass storage devices, Windows XP introduces hardware descriptor to distinguish different types of storage so that the operating system can set the appropriate standard cache writing policy. For example, for a USB device, it disables the write cache by default so that the surprise removal of this device does not cause data loss. Device Manager provides configuration settings whether to optimize the device for quick deletion or for performance.

Windows Image Acquisition

Windows XP supports TWAIN as well as a Windows Image Acquisition-based scanner. Windows Image Acquisition in Windows XP adds support for automatic document feeder scanners, scanners that are given scroll input without preview capability and multi-page TIFF creation. For WIA videos, the Snapshot filter driver is introduced which allows the still frame to be captured from the video stream. Windows XP SP1 and then supports the downloadable WIA Library v2.0 that provides access to WIA functionality through programming languages ​​and a scripting environment that supports OLE Automation.

Scanner and Camera Wizard based on Windows Image Acquisition and other common dialogs for WIA devices have been upgraded in Windows XP to display media information and metadata, rotate images as necessary, group them into subfolders, capture still images or video or video camera, crop and scan images to single or multi-page TIFF if there is a scanner. Implementation of the Image Transfer Protocol (PTP) has been updated to support all mandatory and optional commands in the PTP standard, and support the object tree that allows secondary files associated with the parent file to be grouped and transferred simultaneously. Windows Media Player 10 also adds Media Transfer Protocol to transfer media content from portable devices. So, for digital cameras, Windows XP supports taking photos using any of the WIA, PTP, USB Mass Storage Class or MTP protocols depending on what the camera manufacturer supports.

CD burning

Windows XP includes technology from Roxio that allows users to directly burn files to compact discs through Windows Explorer. Previously, end users had to install CD burning software. In Windows XP, CD and DVD-RAM (FAT32 only for DVD-RAM) burning has been directly integrated into the Windows interface. Data discs are created using the Joliet and ISO 9660 file systems and audio CDs using the Redbook standard. To prevent buffer underrun errors, Windows XP displays the full image of the file to be burned and then streams it to the burner disk. Users can burn files to CD in the same way as writing files to a floppy disk or to a hard drive via standard copy-paste or drag-and-drop methods. The burning function is also exposed as an API called Image Mastery API. Windows CD burner support Windows XP does not do disk-to-disk copy or image disks, although the API can be used programmatically to perform these tasks. The creation of audio CDs is integrated into Windows Media Player. Audio CD burned using track-at-once mode. CD-RW can be removed quickly.

API support can be added to Windows XP to burn DVDs and Blu-ray Discs on DVD and Blu-ray write-once and rewritable media by installing the Windows Feature Package for Storage that upgrades IMAPI to version 2. Note that this does not add DVD or Blu-ray burning feature to Windows Explorer but third-party applications can use the API to support DVD and Blu-ray burning.

Power management

• Support the Simple Boot Flag (SBF) specification that tells the BIOS to bypass or minimize startup checks if the Plug and Play operating system is capable.
• Wake-on-Battery support so the system has time to turn off or hibernate
• Wake-on-LAN CardBus Support
• Wake on LAN can be configured to limit wakeup packets to magic packets from the Power management tab of the NIC properties page in Device Manager.
• Dim the LCD while on battery power
• Processor power and performance controls include C-state (runs in low idle power state) and throttling
• USB selective delay feature
• A quick boot that looks real and resumes from hibernation compared to earlier versions of Windows because of cached boot cache files and directory metadata respectively and in large chunks in the most recently used way, device overlapping and network initialization, enumeration and disk classes boot driver that is initialized asynchronously. Hibernation is faster because memory pages are compressed using improved algorithms, compression overlaps with disk writing, unused memory pages freed and DMA transfers used during I/O.
• The resume is faster than standby as the algorithm used by Power Manager to tell hardware and software power status changes by sending a rewritable IRP power to maximize parallelism, critical system drivers (PCMCIA, keyboard, mouse) have been rewritten to eliminate blocking interaction, and stack of worker piles locked in memory to prevent interruption with power operation.
• Enhanced ACPI processor performance status for multi-core processors starting with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
• Internal support for processor power management technologies such as Intel SpeedStep and AMD PowerNow !.
• Powercfg.exe starts with Windows XP SP2

Support of audio hardware

• Support for audio devices based on Intel High Definition Audio specifications through Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) class drivers.
• Multichannel audio output and additional audio format playback. Volume can be set for each speaker in multichannel configuration.
• The KMixer audio sampling rate supports a maximum of 200 kHz starting with Windows XP SP1 compared to earlier versions of Windows.
• The limitation on the number of MME/WinMM device interfaces (wave, wave, midiIn, midiOut, mixer, and aux) is increased from 10 to 32.
• Hardware acceleration DirectSound capture effect This includes Acoustic Echo Cancellation for USB microphone, noise suppression and microphone support.
• The USB audio device supports GFX (Global Effects Filters).
• Sound Blaster 2.0 emulation support on NTVDM
• Windows XP sets the volume level on the wave, Audio CD and MIDI slider to 0Ã, dB attenuation. This prevents signal degradation resolution.
• Starting with Windows XP SP2, tapered audio volumes are stored in the registry for keyboards and remote control applications on screen and can be customized by third parties.
FireWire_ (IEEE_1394) _support "> FireWire Support (IEEE 1394)

Windows XP includes FireWire 800 support (1394b) starting with Service Pack 1.

As mentioned in the section above, Windows XP includes enhanced support for FireWire cameras and audio video devices. S/PDIF audio and MPEG-2 video streaming is supported in FireWire from an audio video receiver or decoder, DVD or D-VHS, speaker, or TV transmission. Windows XP supports AV/C (IEC 61883 protocol for isochronous real-time data transfer for audio-video applications Windows XP also allows non-FireWire devices to be exposed as virtual FireWire devices. Connecting memory access via 1394 bus from host to target enables debugging kernel via FireWire.

Finally, there is support for TCP/IP networks and Internet Connection Sharing via IEEE 1394 bus.

Repair hardware and other drivers

• USB block storage devices can be read-only so writing data is not possible starting with Windows XP SP2.
The
• Details Details tab in Device Manager that displays various device identification strings such as device instance IDs, hardware IDs, service names, filters, firmware revisions, mapping and power capabilities, etc.
• The Windows XP user interface for Plug and Play is modified with all messages displayed in the notification area as balloon tips.
• The read-only file and folder attributes are automatically deleted when copying files from optical media using Windows Explorer.
• Improved mouse cursor pointer.
• DualView for multi-monitor settings. DualView allows two monitors to host a Windows desktop, while being pushed from a single display adapter.
• Support for UDF 2.01 reading that can be upgraded to UDF 2.50 by installing Windows Feature Package for Storage.
• 48-bit LBA support for ATA/ATAPI disk drives starting with Windows XP SP1. and generic drivers for UltraDMA Mode 5 and 6 support
• Implement user applications directly from ROM.
• Support for the exFAT file system can be added by installing KB955704.
• Support for I/O Digital Safe host controllers and SD/1.0 compatible SD/MMC storage devices starting with Windows XP SP2 through Microsoft provided bus drivers. Later hotfixes and Windows XP SP3 include support for SDHC cards, including larger ones than 4 GB but up to 32 GB.



src: cdn.techadvisor.co.uk




System administration

Windows Script Host 5.6

Windows XP includes Windows Script Host 5.6, a major update for the WSH environment, which includes an improved object model to reduce boilerplate code, stronger security and some other improvements.

A new XML-based file format, the Windows Script File format (.WSF) has been introduced in addition to.VBS and.JS that can store in XML nodes in the same file, additional information other than script code, such as digital signature blocks, instructions or instructions runtime to import external code. The WSF scheme may include jobs that are individually wrapped by the job & lt; & gt unique; tags and packages & lt; outside & gt; mark. Tags in WSF files allow include external files, import constants from TLB, or store usage syntax in & lt; Runtime & gt; elements and display them using the new ShowUsage method, or when called by/? switch. The WSF format also supports hosting multiple WSH scripting languages, including cross-calling functions. The WshShell object now supports the read-write method 'CurrentDirectory'.

Scripts can now be digitally signed and programmatically verified using the Scripting.Signer object in the script itself, provided that a valid certificate exists on the system. Alternatively, the code mark tool of the Platform SDK, which has been extended to support WSH filetype, can be used on the command line. The VerifyFile method can be used to authenticate embedded signature validity and check scripts for modifications after signing. WSH can thus decide whether or not to execute the script after verification. Codes that are stored in a string in memory can also be signed using the Login method. The signature block is saved in the comments section of the script file for backwards compatibility with older versions of WSH.

By using the Software Restricted Policy supported in Windows XP and later, the system can also be configured to only run digitally signed scripts, thus preventing the execution of unbelievable scripts.

Local script also can

Source of the article : Wikipedia