Contents - Published: July 2001

Contents ii
Acknowledgements iv
Introduction 1
Improvements That Help Prevent Problems 2
Application Compatibility 2
Device and Hardware Support 3
Shared DLL Support 3
Shutdown Event Tracker 4
Device Driver Resiliency Improvements 5
Windows Driver Protection 5
Device Driver Rollback 5
Installation, Update, and Repair Improvements 7
Windows Installer 7
Auto Update 7
Dynamic Update 7
Windows Update 7
Backup, Recovery, and Restore Improvements 9
Shadow Copy Integration with Backup 9
Last Known Good Configuration 9
Automated System Recovery 9
System Restore Enhancements 9
Support Improvements 12
Error Messaging and Product Support 12
Online Crash Analysis 12
Summary 13
Related Links 14
Acknowledgements
Bjorn Levidow, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Dave Morehouse, Technical Editor, Microsoft Corporation
Michael Smith, Technical Editor, S&T Onsite
Simon Zhang, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation.
Computer system reliability and availability are critical considerations for businesses today. When Microsoft released the Windows® 2000 Professional operating system, it brought a new level of reliability to desktop computing. Windows XP Professional is built on the proven code base of Windows 2000, which features a 32-bit computing architecture, and a fully protected memory model. Windows XP offers several enhancements that make it the most reliable version of Windows yet.
Improvements That Help Prevent Problems
Windows XP features several enhancements that prevent problems from occurring with your system—thus averting downtime, and allowing you to maximize your productivity.
Application Compatibility
Whenever an operating system upgrade is announced, application compatibility becomes a pressing concern. Windows XP represents the convergence of the consumer line of Microsoft operating systems (Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium) and the business line of Microsoft operating systems (Windows NT, Windows 2000), and as such, the new operating system offers extensive compatibility with third-party applications for both home and business users.
Windows XP is compatible with almost all of the top 1000 applications that ran under Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, and almost every application that ran under Windows 2000, with the exception of anti-virus programs, system utilities, and backup applications (for which, in most cases, updates will be available from their manufacturers when Windows XP is released).
For applications originally designed for earlier versions of Windows that do not work on Windows XP, users can take advantage of compatibility modes, a new feature included with Windows XP. This works by emulating the environment of most earlier versions of Windows. If an older application does not run as designed under Windows XP, users can easily choose to run it under a specific compatibility mode by using the Program Compatibility Wizard, shown below in Figure 1.
F igure 1. Program Compatibility Wizard.
Application fixes included in Windows XP help resolve application compatibility problems, such as those that occur when applications incorrectly detect the operating system version or when they reference memory after it has been freed. Fixes are invoked automatically by the operating system to make otherwise incompatible applications function; no user intervention is required.
In addition, as new applications appear or new fixes become available, application updates can be downloaded automatically from the Windows Update Web site using the Automatic Update feature (introduced with Windows Me). (For more information on Windows Update, see below.)
Note: For more information about application compatibility technologies in Windows XP, see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/howitworks/appcompat/default.asp.
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