Stories by: Scott Spanbauer

Microsoft's first service pack update to Windows XP - sporting dozens of security and bug fixes, additional driver support, and interface changes, plus one minor change to the Windows XP activation feature - is scheduled to be available for download now.

Should I get it?" That's what everyone wants to now about Windows XP. We won't keep you in suspense: for most Windows 98 and Windows Me users whose systems can handle it, the answer is yes.

Though still whistling, Microsoft's next desktop operating system is finally stepping out of the dark with last week's release of Whistler Beta 1 to a limited group of developers and hardware vendors.

Has the multimedia bug bitten you? Do you linger over those iMac commercials promising easy-to-produce home movies? Do your digital audio files outnumber your CDs, or at least your cassettes? And do you even know where your old-fashioned film camera is?

Microsoft's latest browser has been out for a few months now - long enough for the irritating interface glitches, security flaws, bugs and incompatibilities with other applications to manifest themselves fully. The good news: IE 5 is more stable than IE 4.0 was at the same stage in its development. The bad news: IE 5 is buggy. Fortunately, you can fix or work around most of the problems.

Microsoft announced yesterday that it plans to release a package of Windows 98 fixes and enhancements to beta testers by the end of this month. Product Manager Kim Akers says the final version of Windows 98 Service Pack 1 will be posted on the company's Windows Update Web site in early 1999.