XP Media Center

Sometimes when seeking the correct driver or piece of software, the operating system is requested. The Windows choices will include XP Home and XP Pro, but rarely XP Media Center. Is my XP Media Center considered Home or Pro? Thanks.

NGX, AKA KeepOnTruckin

 

Go with the Pro. Media Center is basically XP Pro with a few alterations.

 

I have Media Center edition also. Can't figure out if it really a better version of XP Pro or a dumbed down version.

Is it a stable version of xp?

 

*cough*lastxp*cough*

 

My desktop PC, which I've had since the end of 2005, is a Media Center Edition 2002, SP2. My laptop, purchased in June/08, is XP Pro. I find both to be quite stable. The MCE has a few things the Pro doesn't, related to media stuff, such as watching movies. I think you can also record from TV with the MCE, which you can't with the Pro. The MCE computer even came with a remote, which I've never used. I also don't use it with the TV. I've watched DVD movies on the desktop, using its DVD drive but I actually preferred the Winvideo program running while I did so. I briefly tried the MCE software and didn't like it. The MCE has Windows software to convert audio files as well, which the Pro doesn't have. I really don't use the 'MCE' features, though. I ordered this desktop online and it was listed as 'Windows XP'. I didn't conciously choose a Media Center Edition per se, didn't know there was such a thing. There were other features the computer as a whole had that I was looking for.

The pro laptop had the big .NET 3.5 Framework SP 1 (at 248 Mb) listed as a 'high priority' update last week, whereas the MCE desktop did not. Can't figure that one out.

The laptop is more stable than the desktop and the desktop does tend to get bogged down and slower by the end of the day. However, I think that's due to other issues besides it being a MCE as opposed to Pro. The MCE is older, it has a lot more running in the background. I've been thinking it could maybe use more RAM.

Just my random thoughts. The MCE would probably require and use more resources than the Pro.

Yes, Arvald, I know XP is on the way out. I'm hoping to skip Vista and our next computers will be Windows 7. Provided 7 is well-behaved, that is.

 

Something else which I think is worth mentioning is that if you're thinking of using ZoneAlarm products, it is said on their user support forums that MCE is not supported. I did use ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.5 for nearly 2 years on my MCE desktop and it seemed to be fine. Others on the forum also reported successfully using ZA products on their MCE computers. I removed ZASS last year using their complicated procedure, which involved registry editing. Not long ago, I ran the removal tool they now offer, as I was going to install another firewall, and the removal tool not only crashed relentlessly, but littered my root directory with empty debris files. I'm not sure what exactly went wrong there, or if it was even related to issues with Media Center Edition, but I do know if I can't use the removal tool, I can't use that software. Others may have a different experience with it.

 

ZA seemed to have problems for me with MCE, so I'm running Comodo. Any thoughts on Comodo?

And Yes, I know XP is on the way out, but if I had a choice between XP and Vista.....