In-Depth
Windows XP: The Most Stable Desktop OS Yet
Some quick basics about Windows XP, including reliability and recoverability.
In any discussion
of Windows 2002 we can’t ignore
the client side. At some point,
you’ll probably be in a position
to influence your company’s
decision about the upgrade of
desktop systems. So let’s cover
some quick basics about Windows
XP, particularly in the area
of reliability and recoverability.
The
Installation Mess
Windows 98, Second Edition
introduced application isolation
by allowing developers to rename
system DLLs and make them available
in a private location. This
is a great feature, but it’s
up to the programmers to implement
application isolation. Windows
XP makes this process completely
transparent by automatically
isolating applications that
are written to share system
resources. During the installation
of such applications, Windows
XP copies the shared DLLs and
other installed files to a private
location, so that the application
will believe all is well and
right in the world of Windows.
I know you’ve probably heard
it before, but this new functionality
could well spell the end of
DLL hell once and for all!
Undoing
What’s Been Done
The System Restore feature
lets administrators roll back
the operating system to a previous
system state without losing
personal data files (such as
Word documents or e-mail). System
Restore runs in the background,
looking for changes about to
be made to the OS, and takes
a snapshot of the system state
before these changes are made.
The snapshots are called Restore
Points. Restore Points are created
every 24 hours as well as when
system changes occur, such as
the installation of a program
or unsigned drivers and other
major OS changes. Users can
manually create Restore Points
as well. If the OS blows up
after installing a new application
or driver, an administrator
can use the System Restore Wizard
from either Safe Mode or Normal
Mode to roll back the system
to a stable configuration at
a previously saved restore point.
Changing
Drivers
The Device Manager in
Windows XP has a new recovery
feature called Roll Back Driver.
If the system becomes unstable
after installing a new driver,
an administrator can boot into
Safe or Normal mode and click
on the Roll Back Driver button
to revert to the previously
installed driver. To reinstall
the previous driver on the system,
Windows XP looks to the driver
rollback .INF cache to pull
the correct files. I’ve used
this option on several occasions
and it worked like a charm—I
didn’t even have to reboot the
system!
Windows XP, of
course, includes much more than
just stability improvements.
But those improvements alone
would make it worth a serious
look for any enterprise environment.
The latest word on Windows XP
availability puts it on track
for a release date toward the
end of October.
About the Author
Todd Logan, MCSE:Security, MCSA:Security, CompTIA Security+ is an independent
contractor, trainer, and technical writer. He’s a co-author of Windows
2000 Professional Exam Cram.