Is Windows 2000 pretty much the same as xp, my Son found a computer in a garage he was cleaning out for the owner and he gave it to him, all that is missing is a mouse, don't even know what Computer name is (Dell or what ever) but I was going to have him bring it over for me to look at to see if it needs something, I was going to look at the control panel and see what hardware it may have, the guy that owned it died and Kids are having things cleaned up to sell house, he really just want the computer to play games like Lords of the Realm and games like that he does not go on line (no connection) but I can get any major updates for him and put on CD, just wanted to know if it was like xp or maybe windows 98?

Windows 2000 is NT5, XP is NT5.1. So yes under the hood the code base is very similar, the appearance is more like Windows ME.

Good, I had Windows Me so should be able to look around comfortably, I hope.

Quoted from this Labmice Windows XP FAQ: Question: What are the differences between Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional? Answer: Not much. Microsoft has added a host of new features to both versions of Windows XP, but nothing that appears to be absolutely compelling for business users. One of the new features called "Fast User Switching" allows to to run two separate logged in sessions at once. This allows a user to do everyday work such as e-mail using a non-privileged user account, and then run an Administrative session at the same time without rebooting or resorting to the "Run As" command. This also allows you to quickly log onto any users workstation and make administrative changes without logging them off. The remote assistance feature of XP can also help reduce support costs by allowing your Help Desk staff to interact with a user's PC over the network. XP's built in ZIP compression support can also save your company a lot of money in licensing fees if you are currently using a third party utility such as WinZIP i_Xp/VistaUser

"he really just want the computer to play games" How did you guys miss this? Your kid will NOT BE PLEASED WITH WINDOWS 2000. A number of games are not supported on that platform. The hardware is also older as is the video so he won't be getting the game play/resolution he will be expecting. You will not be able to apply your 9x/ME experience to W2K. They are very very different in this regard. Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

I don't think he will notice, he is use to playing games on my computer which I just have a NVIDA GE Force 6200A-LE and is only a AMD 2800, 2.1 GHZ and 4 years old, I really just wanted to know how to maneuver around in that operating system, cause that is the only one I have never used or had, but I was going to check out the hardware to make sure in the control panel there were no red or yellow flags and check out the MB, he is just use to turning on the computer and playing, if there are any upgrades needed he can buy something to upgrade it, like a video card, but will be sure to check and make sure it will be compatible with Win 2000. Sure do appreciate all this information.

I would recommend you check the games he want to run if if they run on w2k. Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search