Windows XP was released on the 24th of August in 2001. It was probably one of the most interesting products from Microsoft since Windows 95 was released. It’s been eighteen years since Windows XP was released and it still has a lot of fan following. This article is about Windows XP ISO and how to Download Windows XP ISO for free.
Download: Windows XP Home Edition ISO
File Size
589MB (32-bit)
560MB (64-bit)
Language
English
Developer
Microsoft Inc.
Alternate Link: Windows XP Professional SP3 ISO
Early Days of Windows XP
Windows XP was released in the year 2001 but its development started way back in the late 1990s when it was called Neptune. Neptune was an OS that was created on the basis of the famous Windows NT kernel. Neptune was only being made so that it would fulfill the needs of the common consumers and not for experts in a specific field. Along with the Neptune operating system, there was an updated version of the Windows 2000 operating system in the works which was meant to be used by businessmen.
But in the month of January of the same year, both the Neptune and the Windows 2000 update were dropped and instead a new Operating System came into existence. It was initially named Whistler which was a codename for the popular Windows XP operating system which was the first Windows operating system that was not based on the Microsoft Disk Operating System.
New Features in Windows XP ISO
Windows XP came with a boatload of features that were not seen in the previous versions of Windows. Some of the major updates were in the fields of User Interface, Networking, and other core features of the operating system.
User Interface
In Windows, the applications which are written do not have direct access to the graphics related hardware such as the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit), instead, Windows operating systems have a GDI, which is an abbreviation for Graphics Device Interface. When Windows XP was made, they replaced the original GDI with a Graphics Device Interface which was to be coded with the C++ language only and it was called the GDI+ system.
With the introduction of the GDI+ subsystem, the text and other images on the screen looked a lot better due to anti-aliasing which is the smoothening of the jagged corners in text and other graphics. It also brought about a lot more changes such as Gradient shading, a more sophisticated version of path management.
Due to these graphics implementations, the developers were able to take the graphics and visual feel of the operating system to a new level. They introduced icon labels that were transparent on the desktop. The menus had shadows under them which made it look more realistically floating above the rest of the screen. And since the GDI+ could be used by anyone, many third-party applications surfaced which were more graphically capable than before. Due to this, the developers increased the maximum number of Graphical Device Interface handles per session from the previous value of a mere 16384 to a whopping 65536 GDI handles per session in Windows XP.
Infrastructure
To reduce the loading time of software on Windows XP, the developers included a ram management service which was called Prefetch. Prefetch made the startup of Windows and the opening of software faster by caching the required files that are required by a specific software into a cache in the Random Access Memory (RAM) of the computer. This reduced the number of disk reads which made the applications run faster on Windows XP when compared to previous versions of Windows.
In Windows XP, the option of reverting the updates of any driver installed for any hardware component was given to the users. This was helpful if any driver software was installed improperly then it could be reverted back to its original state.
Windows XP also came with a copy protection system which was included with Windows XP as well as Windows Server 2003 which was the Windows XP meant for running on the server-side. With the new product activation system, each license of Windows had a unique ID which was unique to each computer as it was generated based on the hardware of the computer. This unique ID was then to be sent to Microsoft through the internet or by placing a telephone call on a Windows activation hotline.
If one did not send the unique ID of their system and activate their copy of windows within a period of thirty days, windows would not work anymore. Also, to prevent the usage of windows on more than one machine, Windows scanned the hardware of the computer and if there was a significant change in hardware detected then Windows would be required to be activated again.
Navigation
In Windows XP, the start menu was revamped to a sleeker version which displayed information in a better manner. The start menu featured a dual column design in which the installed programs were displayed. Along with the installed programs, the most used apps were displayed in the front and the users could also pin certain applications to the Start menu for easy access to their favorite apps.
The taskbar received a visual uplift with better graphics which looked better than the previous versions of windows which featured a plain taskbar. Along with the visual uplift, the taskbar on Windows XP had many new features like the grouping of the windows opened by the same application into a single tab. The individual windows could then be accessed by hovering the mouse pointer over the collapsed tab of windows and each instance of the app was shown.
The notification area of the taskbar could now hide the inactive and unused notification by default into a collapsed bubble of unused notifications. This made the notification area on the taskbar neater with space for more notifications to be displayed.
For navigating through files, the Windows Explorer also received a few major updates. A dynamic sidebar was added to the Windows Explorer which contained tasks based on the type of folder opened. For example, if the folder contained music files, then tasks related to playing music and the burning of music to CDs were displayed on the sidebar.
Specifications Required For Installing Windows XP ISO
As Windows XP was released a while back, in 2001, the hardware requirement is quite low when compared to today’s computers. Nevertheless, here are the specifications required for installing Windows XP on your computer.
To install the Home Edition of Windows XP, you need to have the following minimum requirements:-
- A Pentium 233 megahertz processor or a faster processor. It is recommended to have a minimum of 300 megahertz processor for smooth operation.
- At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
- At least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk
- CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
- Keyboard and a Microsoft Mouse or some other compatible pointing device
- Video adapter and monitor with Super VGA of a resolution of 800×600 or a higher resolution
- Sound card
- Speakers or headphones
How to Download Windows XP ISO for free
You can download Windows XP ISO for free from our website. To download and install Windows XP ISO on your computer, follow these steps:-
- First, Download Windows XP ISO file.
- You can now use a pen drive or burn the ISO file to a disk using software like Power ISO.
- Boot into the USB drive or the CD/DVD
- Now follow the steps to successfully install Windows XP on your computer.
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Windows XP ISO: Windows XP free download (32 & 64 bit)
Windows XP was released on the 24th of August in 2001. It was probably one of the most interesting products from Microsoft since Windows 95 was released. It’s been eighteen years since Windows XP was released and it still has a lot of fan following. This article is about Windows XP ISO and how to Download Windows XP ISO for free.
