Plus edition for XP contains a few minuses

11/22/2001

Maker: Microsoft Corp.

Rating: 1 star

System requirements: 500 MHz, 128MB RAM, 300MB hard disk space

Suggested price: $39.95

At this price, a user should expect more from Plus for Windows XP than a collection of forgettable add-ons – trite desktop themes, lame three-dimensional screen savers, lackluster games, and audio enhancements of dubious quality.

For what Microsoft is charging for the new XP operating system ($99 for the Home upgrade; $199 for the full version), this software package should have been thrown in for free.

But Microsoft has made a ton of cash with its Plus editions for Windows 95 and 98, both of which introduced inspired programming. VirusScan in Plus 98, for example, was a useful feature. This package dupes consumers into thinking they're getting more of the same, but they're not.

The system requirements seem designed to force users to upgrade hardware, even if their 2-year-old PCs are stout enough to run the XP operating system.

Longtime Windows users have seen the available desktop themes – Nature, Space and Leonardo da Vinci – before. The only new one is Aquarium, an underwater motif. In fact, better stuff is available on the Net at little or no cost.

MyPictures is the best of the new screen savers, but it's nothing outstanding. It simply trolls through the My Pictures directory to display saved photographs in a slide show.

In the games category, you get a reasonably entertaining contest called HyperBowl. The two others, Russian Squares and Labyrinth, are yawners.

The package also includes Windows Media Player skins and a converter to make MP3 files into the Windows Media Audio format, which saves space in storage but does little more. It also includes programming that allows users with microphones to control their media player by voice. If you like shouting at your computer, you'll love that one.

Doug Bedell