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- Passport is all over the place in Windows XP. However, you don't have to sign up for a new e-mail account if you don't want to. Just use your current e-mail address and make a Passport password for it. Since I'm not sure what Microsoft plans on doing with Passport, I just used my secret Hotmail account. You can change this any time via the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel.
- Managing file associations is a dream. Right-click on a file, locate the updated 'Open With' cascading menu (which now uses a program's default icon), then click 'Choose Program' if you wanna change how the file is opened. Plus, if you don't know what program to associate a file with, there's a nice hyperlink included in the dialog to take you to a helpful Microsoft Web page. Super easy, man.
- The desktop properties dialog is extensive, but scattered. For instance, the Themes tab is the first you see, yet you have to flip to the Appearance tab in order to change how your interface works.
- Are you the type of person who notices speed increases (and decreases)? Well, as far as file operations are concerned, this is the snappiest version of Windows I've ever used on Oogie Boogie. In Windows 2000, I'd select a few files on the desktop, delete them, and then two seconds later, their icons would disappear. When I do the same thing in XP, the removal is immediate. Likewise, it takes far less time for me to open the Recycle Bin when it's filled with items now.
- The default search "doggie" is annoying for power users; thank goodness the new TweakUI will allow you to easily switch back to the "classic" Windows 2000 search feature. I don't know if this is a bug I uncovered; when I browse for a folder when I'm doing a Search, it shows me two "My Documents" folders. They each have the same folder structure inside of them. I redirected the My Documents folder to my D drive, but that shouldn't have messed anything up.
Courtesy Scott Spanbauer
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