Introduction

Businesses have a substantial need for their employees to be able to move flexibly around the network from site to site, as well as work from home and travel to external locations. Organizations need their employees to remain productive while they travel. They meet this need by providing employees with a computer and some means of connecting to the corporate network from any location. It was with this need in mind that Windows XP Professional was built with full support for roaming users.

The features that Windows XP Professional computers use to support a traveling user are

• User profiles The storage of desktop settings for a specific user

• Multiple languages The ability to use different languages and character sets

• Multiple locations The capacity to switch between geographic regions

• Windows Installer packages A standardized method to install applications

This chapter reviews each of these features, including how to configure and manage them.