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Windows
2000 Pro Looks Good
It may not ship until October, or even next year,
but if the latest pre-release version is an indication, Windows 2000
Professional will be a welcome upgrade on many a desktop. The
Microsoft operating system, tentatively scheduled to ship this fall,
is the first that combines the strengths of Windows NT 4.0, Windows
98, and Internet Explorer 5.0. If you're using Windows 98, Windows
2000 Professional will be a fairly easy upgrade. If you're using
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, you'll find Windows 2000's hardware
support and well-organized interface to be welcome improvements. Dying
to test it out yourself? Micron and Dell are preloading Windows 2000
Professional Beta 3 on some new PCs, or you can order it directly from
Microsoft for $60. At Long Last, an Upgrade On my test system, the upgrade option worked like a
charm, installing Windows 2000 in place of Windows 98 on a FAT32
partition. The installation program also asks whether you want to
convert the installation drive to the NTFS file system, or stay with
the existing file system. I converted successfully, but you may want
to stick with what you've got if you plan to install Windows 9x or
another operating system on the machine. Currently, only Windows NT
and 2000 can read NTFS partitions. If Windows 2000 has compatibility
trouble with your hardware or software, you'll probably hear about it
before installation even starts. After surveying the current
installation, the setup program declared that it had no drivers from
my system's Creative SoundBlaster Live Value sound system, a
forgivable oversight in a beta. Had I had the manufacturer's driver
disk handy (I didn't), Windows 2000 would have copied the driver files
immediately. The setup program also reported that the Diamond
InControl control panel, PowerQuest's DriveMapper (part of
PartitionMagic) and several other hardware-related utilities wouldn't
work either, and that I would need to upgrade them to Windows 2000
versions. At this point the program gives you the option to print out
the list and back out of the installation process. If your list of
incompatible applications is long enough, you might be better off
canceling installation, booting Windows 98, removing the incompatible
software, and attempting the upgrade again. The Changing Face of NT One of Windows 98's crowning glories is the Device
Manager page in the System Properties Control Panel applet. Windows NT
doesn't have it, making hardware configuration a game of
hide-and-seek. Now, Windows 2000 not only offers the same Device
Manager interface, it also adds a Hardware Wizard. Unfortunately,
neither the wizard nor the driver update options in Device Manager
were smart enough to go out and find a SoundBlaster Live Value driver
for me. But the ability to view and configure hardware in a central
location is a godsend. I didn't test a wide variety of applications under
Windows 2000 Professional, but the dozen or so I tried ran perfectly.
The exceptions were the hardware-related utilities flagged by the
Windows 2000 installer, and PowerQuest's Drive Image 2.0, which
doesn't run under Windows NT 4.0, either. Windows 2000 even passed the
kid test, allowing my son to play his favorite game, Myst. Guess I'd
better get that sound card driver installed. |
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