Windows XP For Dummies

About This Book......Page 16
How to Use This Book......Page 17
And What about You?......Page 18
How This Book Is Organized......Page 19
Icons Used in This Book......Page 20
Where to Go from Here......Page 21
Bare-Bones Windows XP Stuff......Page 23
What Are Windows and Windows XP?......Page 25
What Does Windows Do?......Page 26
How Does Windows XP Affect My Older Programs?......Page 29
Should I Bother Using Windows XP?......Page 30
Bracing Yourself (And Your Computer) for Windows XP......Page 31
The Computer......Page 32
The Microprocessor (CPU)......Page 34
Disks and Disk Drives......Page 35
The Mouse and That Double-Click Stuff......Page 40
Video Cards and Monitors......Page 44
Keyboards......Page 46
Modems and the Internet......Page 50
Printers......Page 52
Sound Cards (Making Barfing Noises)......Page 53
Ports......Page 54
Parts Required by Windows XP......Page 56
Activation......Page 60
Backing Up a Disk......Page 62
Clicking......Page 63
Defaults (And the Any Key)......Page 64
Desktop (And Changing Its Background)......Page 65
Dragging and Dropping......Page 66
Drivers......Page 67
Files......Page 68
Graphical User Interfaces......Page 69
Hardware and Software......Page 70
The Internet......Page 71
Kilobytes, Megabytes, and So On......Page 72
Memory......Page 74
The Mouse......Page 75
Networks......Page 76
Plug and Play......Page 77
Quitting or Exiting......Page 78
Save Command......Page 79
Save As Command......Page 80
Shortcuts......Page 81
The Windows......Page 82
The World Wide Web......Page 83
Making Windows XP Do Something......Page 84
Starting Windows XP......Page 86
Logging On to Windows XP......Page 87
Pull-Down Menus......Page 93
Printing Your Work......Page 97
Saving Your Work......Page 98
Logging Off of Windows XP......Page 99
Field Guide to Buttons, Bars, Boxes, Folders, and Files......Page 101
A Typical Window......Page 102
Bars......Page 103
The Button Family......Page 109
Filling Out Bothersome Forms in Dialog Boxes......Page 114
Just Tell Me How to Open a File!......Page 120
Hey! When Do I Click, and When Do I Double-Click?......Page 123
When Do I Use the Left Mouse Button, and When Do I Use the Right One?......Page 124
Moving a Window to the Top of the Pile......Page 126
Moving a Window from Here to There......Page 127
Making a Window Bigger or Smaller......Page 128
Making a Window Fill the Whole Screen......Page 130
Finding Lost Windows on the Desktop......Page 132
Finding Lost Files, Folders, Music, Photos, Videos, People, or Computers......Page 137
That “Cut and Paste” Stuff (Moving Around Words, Pictures, and Sounds)......Page 145
Examining the Cut and Paste Concept (And Copy, Too)......Page 146
Highlighting the Important Stuff......Page 147
Cutting, Copying, or Deleting What You Highlighted......Page 149
Pasting Information into Another Window......Page 152
Leaving Scraps on the Desktop Deliberately......Page 153
Sharing It All on the Network......Page 155
Fiddling with User Accounts......Page 156
Skip the Rest of This Unless You Have or Want a Network......Page 163
How Do I Create My Own Computer Network?......Page 170
Letting the Network Setup Wizard Set Up Your Network......Page 174
Using Windows XP Applications......Page 177
Your Desktop, Start Button, and Taskbar (And......Page 179
Rolling Objects along the Windows XP Desktop......Page 180
The Way-Cool Taskbar......Page 190
Controlling the Printer......Page 197
The Start Button’s Reason to Live......Page 199
The Start Menu’s Free Programs......Page 205
My Version of Windows XP Doesn’t Have the Right Freebie Programs!......Page 215
That Scary My Computer Program......Page 217
Why Is the My Computer Program So Frightening?......Page 218
Getting the Lowdown on Folders......Page 221
Peering into Your Drives and Folders......Page 222
Loading a Program or File......Page 226
Deleting and Undeleting Files, Folders, and Icons......Page 227
Copying or Moving a File, Folder, or Icon......Page 230
Selecting More Than One File or Folder......Page 233
Renaming a File, Folder, or Icon......Page 234
Using Legal Folder Names and Filenames......Page 235
Copying a Complete Floppy Disk......Page 236
Creating a Folder......Page 237
Seeing More Information about Files and Folders......Page 239
What’s That Windows Explorer Thing?......Page 242
How Do I Make the Network Work?......Page 244
Making My Computer and Windows Explorer List Missing Files......Page 246
Formatting a Disk......Page 247
Cruising the Web, Sending E- Mail, and Using Newsgroups......Page 249
What’s the Difference between the Internet, the World Wide Web, and a Web Browser?......Page 250
Who Can Use the Internet and World Wide Web?......Page 251
What’s an ISP, and Do I Need One?......Page 252
What Do I Need to Access the World Wide Web?......Page 254
Setting Up Your Internet Account with the Internet Connection Wizard......Page 255
What is a Web Browser?......Page 259
How Do I Navigate the Web with Internet Explorer?......Page 261
But How Do I Do This?......Page 267
Managing E-mail with Outlook Express......Page 271
Understanding Media Player......Page 285
Using Media Guide to Find Videos, Music, and Movie Trailers on the Internet......Page 288
Finding and Playing Internet Radio Stations......Page 291
Finding Media on Your Computer and Putting It into the Media Library......Page 294
Creating Playlists......Page 295
Playing CDs......Page 296
Playing DVDs......Page 298
Playing MP3s and WMAs......Page 299
Creating WMAs or MP3s......Page 300
Storing Files in Your My Music and Shared Music Folders......Page 303
Playing Videos......Page 305
Moving Music or Video to an MP3 Player or Pocket PC......Page 306
Burning Your Own CDs......Page 309
Adding Skins to Media Player......Page 311
Fixing Media Player Muckups......Page 312
Bizarre Multimedia Words......Page 314
Help!......Page 317
Customizing Windows XP (Fiddling with the Control Panel)......Page 319
Finding the Right Control Panel Option......Page 320
Appearance and Themes......Page 328
Add or Remove Programs......Page 339
Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices......Page 342
Performance and Maintenance......Page 343
Printers and Other Hardware......Page 347
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options......Page 354
The Case of the Broken Window......Page 356
Restoring Calm with System Restore......Page 357
My Mouse Doesn’t Work Right......Page 358
Making Older Programs Run under Windows XP......Page 359
It Says I Need to Be an Administrator!......Page 360
Keeping Windows Up-to-Date......Page 361
I’m Supposed to Install a New Driver......Page 362
His Version of Windows XP Has More Programs Than Mine!......Page 363
My Computer Is Frozen Up Solid......Page 364
The Printer Isn’t Working Right......Page 365
My Double-Clicks Are Now Single Clicks!......Page 366
Figuring Out Those Annoying Pop-Up Messages......Page 367
AutoComplete......Page 368
Click Here to Activate Now......Page 369
Error Connecting To . . .......Page 370
Found New Hardware......Page 371
Hiding Your Inactive Notification Icons......Page 372
Missing Shortcut......Page 373
New Programs Installed......Page 374
Open With . . .......Page 375
Rename......Page 377
Stay Current with Automatic Updates......Page 378
There Are Unused Icons on Your Desktop......Page 379
When You Send Information to the Internet......Page 380
You Have Files Waiting to Be Written to the CD......Page 381
Get Me Some Help, and Fast!......Page 382
Consulting a Program’s Built-In Computer Guru......Page 387
Using Windows Help and Support Center......Page 390
The Part of Tens......Page 394
Way Cool Folders......Page 396
Remote Assistance......Page 398
Files and Settings Transfer Wizard......Page 399
Increased Stability......Page 400
Built-in Firewall against Internet Hackers......Page 401
Making Windows XP Run Like Your Old Version of Windows......Page 402
How Do I Change the Volume?......Page 404
What Version of Windows Do I Have?......Page 405
My Bar Full of Buttons Just Fell Off!......Page 406
The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing!......Page 407
My Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work......Page 408
It Won’t Let Me Do Something Unless I’m An Administrator!......Page 409
Ten (Or So) Windows XP Icons and What They Do......Page 411
How Do I Remember All the Stuff I Can Do to a File?......Page 415
Should I Upgrade to the Windows XP Home or Professional Version?......Page 417
How Do I Add a Picture of My Face to My User Account?......Page 418
Why Can’t Windows XP Play My DVDs?......Page 419
How Do I Get Rid of the Welcome Screen?......Page 420
How Can I See Previews of My Pictures?......Page 421
What Will I Miss If I Don’t Use the Internet with Windows XP?......Page 422
Glossary......Page 424