Another happy XP Pro user here...hands down the most stable M$ OS I've ever run.
Used to crash 98se several times a freakin day. The dreaded bsod...hated that os...
Built this machine almost 2 years ago...raid drives...tons of ram...very juicy. Still fast and rock solid stable
Auto updates OS and NIS/AV. Runs the M$ spyware scanner nightly. Backs up a mirror image to an external usb hd twice a day.
Hell folks...obviously we rely on these machines for our bread and butter. You've gotta keep your stuff up to date...locked down...and backed up. Once you get the systems in place...it's not hard to keep up with at all
With this configuration...I've yet to have a significant spyware/virus/trojan problem...knock on wood...lol.
Worst problem I've had was when Spybot S&D ran amok a few weeks ago. Damn thing updated...then started spiking core temperatures running cpu utilization to 100%. Stripped that sucker out...went to the M$ spyware scanner...problem solved