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Windows XP the good the bad and the ugly

Default settings for sharing and security is different from Win2k/NT. By default the admin shares are there but not accesible, and security settings are hidden. To change this

Open Control Panel
Click Appearance and Themes, and then click Folder Options.
On the View tab, under Advanced settings, clear Use simple file sharing [Recommended].

Default settings for the dos prompt:

completion char (the ability to fill in a file or directory name by pressing tab) has been turned on by default (off in Win2k and NT)
Quick edit (the ability to auto select text in the dos box with your mouse) is turned off but can be turned on easily by clicking in the top left corner of the DOS box and select properties, then turn on Quick edit. The default was off in NT, on in Win2k

Default desktop settings are to show nothing. My computer and Network places can put back on by right click on the desktop, select properties, desktop tab, then click customize desktop and add back what you want.

There are two modes of logging onto XP. One is called the Welcome screen which presents you with a nice GUI screen and allows you to choose the userid you want to log on with. The other is the old NT/2000 like logon screen. If you use the Welcome screen you can use what is called fast switching. With fast switching one user can logon to the machine leaving the other users tasks running in the background so that all is as you left it when you come back! (You may need a fair bit of memory to use this feature!). If you join a domain the Welcome method is not available and thus neither is fast user switching. Also when you are in welcome mode ctrl-alt-del bring up the task manager instead of the NT/2000 style lockup windows security dialog box. To switch between logon modes Control Panel, User accounts, Change the way a user logs on.

By default the initial user id that is created as part of the install does not have a password so you need to go add it otherwise the machine simply logs onto this userid without asking which userid you want.

XP includes a remote desktop interface similar in nature to Win2K terminal server or Citrix Terminal server. It is intended to be used as remote desktop control and does not allow multi user. XP comes with a client to use the remote desktop control. This client can be installed from the XP CD on machines not running XP. This same client can be used as Win2k terminal server client. In fact it actually replaces terminal server client if it is on the machine you install it on. By the way the client shortcut to the client is put in the accessories communications folder.

The remote desktop support is better than Win2k terminal server in the following areas:

you can do high color depth
you can pass sound
you can share the drives/printers/serial ports of the client with the server

To enable these just select options from the client program before you connect.
By the way Citrix already did all of these!

There is also a web based interface to the remote desktop client. With this installed (by default this is not installed) you can connect to the machine from a Web Browser without requiring the client to be installed. To install it:

open Control Panel
Add remove
Add Windows Components
Select Internet Information Services
Select Details
Make sure remote connection is included

To connect to the machine point your browser to http://machinename/tsweb/

Traversing network directories especially on slower links can be REALLY painful in XP. XP attempts to look ahead into those directories to generate thumbnails for files and folders. This can be a REALLLY bad idea.
By default the task bar is locked and their is no quick launch bar. You can change these by right click on top of the task bar, toolbar, quick launch, or unlock taskbar.

Microsoft have changed the default security settings to something far more appropriate on the root of the boot drive!

Other good XP pages