I didn't actually want XP when I got it cause of all the nightmare stories I heard, but barring 1 or 2 minor hiccups (me playing with things I shouldn't) it's definitely the best MS system I've used, I've not tried win2k pro, a friend recently bought a new pc with WinME & sorry but it was a total lemon, you look at it crossed eyed and it crashed, needless to say it went back and was replaced with an XP system. plus the spying stuff is really easy to switch off. Rob