Features new to Windows XP
Use of these features is apparent in Windows XP's user interface (transparent desktop icon labels, drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop, shadows under menus, translucent blue selection rectangle in Windows Explorer, sliding task panes and taskbar buttons), and several of its applications such as Microsoft Paint, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, Photo Printing Wizard, My Pictures Slideshow screensaver, and their presence in the basic graphics layer greatly simplifies implementations of vector-graphics systems such as Flash or SVG.
Windows XP includes ClearType subpixel rendering, which makes onscreen fonts smoother and more readable on liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens.
There are other parameters such as contrast that can be set via a ClearType Tuner powertoy that Microsoft makes available as a free download from its Typography website.
The Start menu is fully customizable, links can be added or removed; the number of frequently used programs to display can be set.
Microsoft focused especially on making Windows Explorer more discoverable and task-based, as well as adding a number of features to reflect the growing use of a computer as a "digital hub".
The Indexing Service can extract Exif properties, as well as some metadata for ASF, WMV and MP3 files under Windows XP via the IPropertyStorage interface using built-in Null Filter.
When a user inserts an optical disc into a drive or attaches a USB camera, Windows detects the arrival and starts a process of examining the device or searching the medium.
Windows XP uses push locks on the event synchronization object if there is no contention as they support shared and exclusive acquisition.
[38] There are new APIs for IRP cancellation and registering file system filter callbacks to intercept the OS fast I/O functions.
The prefetcher works by tracing frequently accessed paged data which is then used by the Task Scheduler to create a prefetch-instructions file at %WinDir%\Prefetch.
The Backup portion located in NTBackup backs up the system state (Windows Registry, COM+ class registration database, Active Directory and the SYSVOL directory share), and the volumes associated with operating system components required to start Windows after restore as well as their configuration (basic or dynamic).
[49] Automated System Recovery can even restore programs and device drivers if they are added to the ASR Setup information disk.
[52] Windows Error Reporting collects and offers to send post-error debug information (a memory dump) using the internet to the developer of an application that crashes or stops responding on a user's desktop.
This allows distributing solutions as well as collecting extra information from customers (such as reproducing the steps they took before the crash) and providing them with support links.
Windows Movie Maker 2 introduced numerous new transitions, effects, titles and credits, a task pane, resizable preview window with dimensions, improved capture and export options, an AutoMovie feature, saving the final video back to tape and custom WMV export profiles.
Beginning with Windows XP Service Pack 1, generic USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Interface drivers are installed.
[73] To prevent buffer underrun errors, Windows XP premasters a complete image of files to be burnt and then streams it to the disc burner.
[85] As mentioned in the above section, Windows XP includes improved support for FireWire cameras and audio video devices.
[92] When the WSH automation server loads, an instance of the WshRemote object is created but the script runs only after calling the Execute method.
[92] WSH 5.6 introduces the Exec method for the WshShell object to execute command-line console applications and has access to the standard I/O streams (StdIn, StdOut, and StdErr) of the spawned process.
[92] Windows XP includes a ScriptPW.Password COM automation object, implemented in the scriptpw.dll file which can be used to mask sensitive information like passwords from command line scripts.
Windows Installer 2.0 brought major improvements such as installation and management of side by side and CLR assemblies, sandboxing MSI custom actions, improved event logging and hiding sensitive information in log files, per-user program isolation, digital signatures, improved patching (more robust patch conflict resolution and reduced unnecessary unversioned file copying and source prompts), Terminal Server support and integration with System Restore and Software Restriction Policies.
[130] In Windows XP, Internet Connection Sharing is integrated with UPnP, allowing remote discovery and control of the ICS host.
If a network application begins to consume more bandwidth, BITS decreases its transfer rate to preserve the user's interactive experience, except for Foreground priority downloads.
The authority is identified by a secure hash of an associated public key, or by a place-holder (the number zero) if the peer name is "unsecured".
This newer client works as a system service at the network-redirector level (immediately above the file-system), allowing WebDAV shares to be assigned to a drive letter and used by any software, even through firewalls and NATs.
The redirector also allows WebDAV shares to be addressed via UNC paths (e.g. http://host/path/ is converted to \\host\path\) for compatibility with Windows filesystem APIs.
[178][179] By default, Windows Firewall performs stateful packet filtering of inbound solicited or unsolicited traffic on all types of network interfaces (LAN/WLAN, PPPoE, VPN, or dial-up connections).
Like Internet Connection Sharing, the firewall has a location-aware policy, meaning it can be disabled in a corporate domain but enabled for a private home network.
Security log capabilities are included, which can record IP addresses and other data relating to connections originating from the home or office network or the Internet.
