Windows XP Pro SP3 Activated

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001,^[5] it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base.^[6] The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience",^[7] highlighting the enhanced user experience.^[8]

Windows XP, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows ME, was the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel. Windows XP was released worldwide for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006.^[9] It was succeeded by Windows Vista in January 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009.^[10]^[11] On April 10, 2012, Microsoft reaffirmed that extended support for Windows XP and Office 2003 would end on April 8, 2014 and suggested that administrators begin preparing to migrate to a newer OS.^[12]^[13]^[14]

The NT-based versions of Windows, which are programmed in C, C++, and assembly,^[15] are known for their improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows.^[16]^[17] Windows XP presented a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. In an attempt to further ameliorate the "DLL hell" that plagued the past versions of Windows, improved side-by-side assembly technology in Windows XP allows side-by-side installation, registration and servicing of multiple versions of globally shared software components in full isolation.^[18]^[19] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat illegal copying.

During Windows XP's development, the project was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skiied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.^[20]

According to web analytics data generated by Net Applications, Windows XP was the most widely used operating system until August 2012, when Windows 7 overtook it.^[21] As of August 2013, Windows XP market share is at 33.66%, having decreased almost every month since at least November 2007, the first month for which statistics are publicly available from Net Applications.^[22]

Windows XP featured a new task-based GUI (Graphical user interface). The Start menu and taskbar were updated and many visual effects were added, including:

A translucent blue selection rectangle in Windows Explorer
Drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
Task-based sidebars in Explorer windows ("common tasks")
The ability to group the taskbar buttons of the windows of one application into one button, with a popup menu listing the window titles
The ability to lock the taskbar to prevent accidental changes (Windows 2000 with Internet Explorer 6 installed had the ability to lock Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer toolbars, but not the taskbar)
The highlighting of recently added programs on the Start menu
Shadows under menus (Windows 2000 had shadows under mouse pointers, but not menus)

Windows XP analyzes the performance impact of visual effects and uses this to determine whether to enable them, so as to prevent the new functionality from consuming excessive additional processing overhead. Users can further customize these settings.^[23] Some effects, such as alpha compositing (transparency and fading), are handled entirely by many newer video cards. However, if the video card is not capable of hardware alpha blending, performance can be substantially degraded, and Microsoft recommends the feature should be turned off manually.^[24] Windows XP added the ability for Windows to use "Visual Styles" to change the appearance of the user interface. However, visual styles must be cryptographically signed by Microsoft to run. Luna is the name of the new visual style that is provided with Windows XP, and is enabled by default for machines with more than 64 MiB of RAM. Luna refers only to one particular visual style, not to all of the new user interface features of Windows XP as a whole. Some users "patch" the uxtheme.dll file that restricts the ability to use visual styles, created by the general public or the user, on Windows XP.^[25]

In addition to the included Windows XP themes, there is one previously unreleased theme with a dark blue taskbar and window bars similar to Windows Vista titled "Royale Noir" available as unofficial download.^[26] Microsoft officially released a modified version of this theme as the "Zune" theme, to celebrate the launch of its Zune portable media player in November 2006. The differences are only visual with a new glassy look along with a black taskbar instead of dark blue and an orange start button instead of green.^[27] Additionally, the Media Center "Royale" theme, which was included in the Media Center editions, is also available to download for use on all Windows XP editions.^[28]

The default wallpaper, Bliss, is a photo of a landscape in the Napa Valley outside Napa, California,^[29] with rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds.

The "classic" interface from Windows 9x and 2000 can be used instead if preferred. Several third party utilities exist that provide hundreds of different visual styles.

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