Transcript: Chat with Ed Bott and Carl Siechert, Co-Authors of Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out
Published: November 21, 2001
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
The chat's topic is: Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out - Chat with Author Ed Bott . Today, 1 - 2 PM Pacific Time.
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
Hi. Our Windows XP Chat will begin in about 15 minutes.
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
Welcome to today's Windows XP chat. Our host today is Ed Bott, co-author of Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out. Co-author Carl Siechert may join us today as well. Questions and comments are welcome.
Please post your questions in the input room below, and we will answer them in the reading room here above.
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Hello everyone!
I'm delighted to be here.
I've been writing about Windows for more than a decade, and I'm extremely proud of this book, which I wrote with Carl Siechert
Let's go ahead and take a question
Carl, by the way, is here in spirit, and may join us soon
Guest_EEKman says:
I have a laptop running windows XP Pro. I log onto an NT domain at work, and a LAN workgroup at home. Can I use different computer names/domains for different profiles? Rejoining the domain everyday is inconvenient and requires daily help from my admin
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
If one of the networks uses DHCP, you're probably in luck
You can assign a static IP address as a backup, and when you're away from the network that uses DHCP, you won't get an address assigned, so XP will use the backup static address
If both addresses are static or both are DHCP, then there are third-party utilities that can help.
Guest_Rick says:
Ed, what is your most and least favorite thing about XP?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Wow, there's an awful lot on both lists!
I suppose my favorite thing about Windows XP is the Remote Desktop feature in XP Pro.
It lets me access my main work machine from any location, just as if I were sitting in front of it.
My least favorite? Well, that would have to be product activation.
I understand the need for it, but it really makes life difficult for power users and IT pros
Guest_Rick says:
Will Remote Desktop ever be available to Home?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
I seriously doubt it!
That's one of the features that Microsoft hopes you'll be willing to pay extra for.
Of course, you can use Home Edition to access a Remote Desktop running on Pro.
You just can't make your Home Edition machine available for remote access.
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
Hey folks - Carl has joined us via the phone but can't get to the web page right now. His response to favorite/least favorite XP issues:
Carl Siechert says:
Most favorite: a variety of small UI enhancements that collectively make life easier. Such as taskbar grouping, notification area icon hiding, task
Least favorite: WPA
Guest_XPN4ME says:
What issues should one be aware of moving from Windows 98 to Windows XP?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
We cover this issue in depth in Chapter 2 of Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out.
The three main issues are compatibility, compatibility, and compatibility.
Fortunately, the setup program produces a compatibility report that is extremely detailed and can help you head off setup problems before you get too far into the process
Also, expect to have to pay to upgrade any sort of system utilities that were designed for Windows 98. That includes firewalls, AV software, and disk tools.
For minor software compatibility problems, Windows XP includes a very cool compatibility mode that can trick a program into thinking that it's running under Windows 98 or Windows 2000, for instance.
And for hardware problems, new drivers that are XP-compatible are coming out every day
Guest_abangg says:
Why the Home edition doesn't support Domain?
Carl Siechert says:
It does support domains in a limited way. Although you can't join a domain, you can access all domain resources. As for _why_ it doesn't better support domains, I suppose that's partially product differentiation, and partly an effort to keep it simpler.
Guest_abangg says:
Can't we use NetMeeting for Remote Desktop Ed?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
You can, but it's not as smooth and seamless as the Remote Desktop feature, where you have the same access as if you were sitting in front of the remote computer.
And with NetMeeting, you don't have full access to all desktop features. But it is better than nothing!
Guest_EEKman says:
Can you tell us more about the things that make windows xp more stable and reliable than previous versions of windows?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Sure!
For Windows 95/98/Me users, it's a huge leap to the same kernel used in Windows 2000.
That gets rid of system resource problems, which are the bane of Windows (X.
Whoops, I meant 9X!
It also provides absolute memory protection, which means a rogue application can't lock up your entire system, as it can in Windows 9X.
And Windows XP includes a greatly improved version of System Restore, which sort of works in Windows Me but is genuinely useful in XP.
Driver controls lets you have better recovery from hardware problems.
For instance, you can insist on signed drivers, and you can roll back to a previous driver if a new driver gives you problems.
Guest_Eggtimer says:
Id love to here some of the undocumented Easter eggs available in XP
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
To the best of my knowledge, there are no Easter eggs in XP, although one person that Carl and I talked to swears there is one and only one, deeply buried.
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
If so, we haven't seen it. The head of the Windows division insisted on no Easter eggs because corporate customers get very nervous about the prospect of code that even the program managers don't know about
Guest_abangg says:
I like the stability of Win 2000-Pro, is XP-Home gives the same stability?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Basically yes, but with one gotcha...
You can't upgrade directly from Windows 2000 Pro to Windows XP Home Edition.
Guest_al says:
Why does the monitor go blank for a couple of seco9nds when switching between users?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Not sure, but I would speculate that it's either a context-switching issue or a change in video modes.
As long as the switch goes properly, I wouldn't worry too much!
Guest_stevebass says:
Hey, Ed, what happens if a user formats his/her drive but only has the XP upgrade CD. Will there be a problem with installation?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
You should have no problem.
Carl Siechert says:
Steve Bass: The upgrade CD is complete...but you need a CD from a prior version to show that you're eligible for upgrade.
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
At some point during the installation, you'll be asked to insert the CD from a previous version.
Guest_abangg says:
Will the Remote Desktop works while the host computer tunneling (VPN)?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Yes, as I recall it works just great! Carl and I used this scenario several times while were researching this book.
Guest_Micronİ says:
Is there now and will there be a fully supported Speech to Text program?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
The underpinnings of speech to text support are in Windows XP
At this point you need Office XP to really take advantage of it.
Just make sure you manage your expectations.
Because it isn't even close to 100% reliable.
Also, Windows XP has text to speech capabilities, designed to make the OS usable by people with vision problems
Guest_Bim says:
How do I play a MPEG CD movie on XP?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Assuming it's using a standard codec, you can view the movie in Windows Media Player 8. If it has a nonstandard codec, you may be able to download the updated codec for WMP.
Guest_Eggtimer says:
Does XP have native DivX support? Will it ever?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
That's an interesting question.
The DivX format is actually an unauthorized hack of a legitimate Microsoft codec
You'll never see it supported in Windows Media Player, is my bet.
Guest_XPN4ME says:
What are your system (RAM, Processors, etc . . . ) recommendations for a business environment?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
I would say that RAM is the most important system resource
I wouldn't even think of using Windows XP Pro with less than 128MB, and 256MB is better.
For an ordinary business workstation, the CPU should be at least 200MHz, although that will be sluggish for any CPU-intensive task.
And of course you want at least 10GB of free disk space before installing.
Guest_al says:
Outlook Express 6 - cannot open e-mail attachments...clip is dimmed. What do I need to do to open attachments?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
I haven't seen that problem before, but I can take a guess...
Outlook Express 6 has security features that resemble those found in Outlook 2000 SP2 and Outlook 2002 (Office XP).
Prowl through the Options dialog box and find the Attachment Security settings
We cover this topic (email security) in Chapter 20 of Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out.
Of course, everyone has a copy already, right?
Guest_Eggtimer says:
Is there any Linux support available in the XP boot loader?
Carl Siechert says:
Re: Linux support in boot manager: No direct support; it's essentially unchanged from Windows 2000. It can be done with some futzing. See KB article Q171611 at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q171/6/11.ASP
Guest_Eggtimer says:
Is there a way to enable MSN Messenger File Transferring, and Netmeeting over NAT/Internet Connection Sharing?
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
Great question!
We spent many, many days researching this topic for the book.
Here's the scoop, to the best of my knowledge.
If both parties have public IP addresses, you should have no problem.
If either party is using Internet Connection Sharing, then Universal Plug and Play should take care of it.
The big problem occurs if you're using a router or residential gateway, such as the very popular Linksys models.
In those cases, you're out of luck unless/until the router maker provides a UPnP-compatible firmware upgrade.
Guest_Eggtimer says:
Does WMV really provide comparable quality audio to Mp3 at half the size (as claimed by MS?).
Host Guest_Ed_Bott says:
I'm assuming you mean Windows Media Player, WMP...
I would be as skeptical as you of the degree of improvement.
Guest_jack says:
Will the remote desktop feature work on pc's with terminal services installed?
Carl Siechert says:
Yes, I believe the existing terminal services client will work with Remote Desktop in XP. The client software for Win9x, Me, NT, 2000, and XP is on the XP CD for those who don't already have it installed.
Guest_EEKman says:
I'm running XP on a 1ghz P3 laptop with 256 meg of ram right now. Explorer.exe is taking about 37,000k of memory, my hard drive is thrashing, and performance just tanked, no programs are running, what's xp doing?
Carl Siechert says:
It's probably the indexing service. In Task Manager, look at the Processes tab to track it down. If you don't use the indexing service for searches, you might want to disable it.
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
Hey folks, we lost Ed for the moment. We're trying to get him back. Carl's still here with us on the phone.
We'll still pull questions and relay them over the phone.
We have about 15 minutes left in the chat. If you asked a question that was not answered, please post again and we will get to as many as we can.
Guest_al says:
How does system restore work?
Carl Siechert says:
It works great! XP periodically saves restore points and you can manually set restore points at any time. Restoring generally gets back everything you want. We cover it in depth in Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out: Ch 2, Installing and Configuring; and Ch 25, Recovering from a Crash
Ed Bott says::
From a qualitative point of view. It works great. From a procedural point of view, read Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, chapter 25 recovering after a computer crash. We also have all the system restore options documented in chapter 2 Installing and Configuring Windows XP.
Guest_jack says:
I tried to connect to an XP machine with a 2000 machine that has term services installed. I got an error stating that the windows logon software of the remote computer has been replaced by incompatible software
Ed Bott says::
I think you need to use the Windows XP CD to set up remote access on your windows 2000 computer. I'm not 100 percent sure. Take the Windows XP Pro CD and run it on Windows 2000
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
(Ed's answer, cont.: computer, from the welcome page choose perform additional tasks, then choose Setup remote desktop connection. At that point, it should work fine.
Guest_EEKman says:
Wow now I'm getting not enough free memory errors, what's the indexing process name? Can't see anything obvious on task manager
Carl Siechert says:
Yep, Indexing Service is not on anyone's "favorite feature" list! It's a resource hog and it's not particularly intuitive...but it does work!
Ed Bott says::
The good news is, once the entire hard disk is indexed, the impact is much less noticeable.
Guest_steve1 says:
How many system restore points can be 'saved'? How large (KB) is each restore point? Where are the restore points saved?
Carl Siechert says:
It's based on total size, not number of restore points. You can set the maximum size in System properties. We cover this in greater depth in Ch 5.
Guest_smack says:
Why is it that sometimes when I want to delete folders, it says some program is using it while I can delete all the files in that folder but I still can't delete the folder itself
Carl Siechert says:
Windows works in mysterious ways. I don't know specifically.
Guest_elderdo says:
Can DOS based games be played on XP or is DOS gone completely?
Ed Bott says::
If you are required to boot into DOS no,
otherwise yes, Great question for a newsgroup
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
We need to wrap up the chat now. Thanks for joining us today! We're sorry we couldn't get to every question.
Many of these questions and more are answered in depth in the book.
You can purchase Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out through MS Press: http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5206.asp.
Host Guide_MS_Michelle says:
We will post the transcript in the Expert Zone: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone.
For more information, you can also visit our Windows XP newsgroups: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups.mspx.
