WINDOWS XP FOR BEGINNERS
ABOUT THIS BOOKL HOW TO USE THIS BOOKL AND WHAT ABOUT YOU?L HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZEDL PART I: BARE-BONES WINDOWS XP STUFFL PART II: MAKING WINDOWS XP DO SOMETHINGL PART III: USING WINDOWS XP APPLICATIONS (AND SURFING THE WEB)L PART IV: HELP!L PART V: THE PART OF TENSL ICONS USED IN THIS BOOKL WHERE TO GO FROM HEREL PART I: BARE-BONES WINDOWS XP STUFF CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS WINDOWS XP? WHAT ARE WINDOWS AND WINDOWS XP?L WHAT DOES WINDOWS DO?L HOW DOES WINDOWS XP AFFECT MY OLDER PROGRAMS?L SHOULD I BOTHER USING WINDOWS XP?L BRACING YOURSELF (AND YOUR COMPUTER) FOR WINDOWS XPL CHAPTER 2: IGNORE THIS CHAPTER ON COMPUTER PARTS THE COMPUTERL THE MICROPROCESSOR (CPU)L DISKS AND DISK DRIVESL FLOPPY DISKSL COMPACT DISCS (CD-ROM DRIVE STUFF)L DVD DISCSL IOMEGA DRIVESL HARD DISKSL WHAT DOES WRITE-PROTECTED MEAN?L THE MOUSE AND THAT DOUBLE-CLICK STUFFL VIDEO CARDS AND MONITORSL KEYBOARDSL GROUPS OF KEYSL MORE KEY PRINCIPLESL MODEMS AND THE INTERNETL PRINTERSL NETWORKSL SOUND CARDS (MAKING BARFING NOISES)L PORTSL PARTS REQUIRED BY WINDOWS XPL CHAPTER 3: WINDOWS XP STUFF EVERYBODY THINKS YOU ALREADY KNOW ACTIVATIONL BACKING UP A DISKL CLICKINGL THE CURSORL DEFAULTS (AND THE ANY KEY)L DESKTOP (AND CHANGING ITS BACKGROUND)L DOUBLE-CLICKINGL DRAGGING AND DROPPINGL DRIVERSL FILESL FOLDERS (DIRECTORIES)L GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACESL HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREL ICONSL THE INTERNETL KILOBYTES, MEGABYTES, AND SO ONL LOADING, RUNNING, EXECUTING, AND LAUNCHINGL MEMORYL THE MOUSEL POINTERS/ARROWSL PLUG AND PLAYL QUITTING OR EXITINGL SAVE COMMANDL SAVE AS COMMANDL SCANDISKL SHORTCUTSL TEMP FILESL THE WINDOWSL THE WORLD WIDE WEBL PART II: MAKING WINDOWS XP DO SOMETHING CHAPTER 4: STARTING WINDOWS XP LOGGING ON TO WINDOWS XPL IT WANTS ME TO ENTER A PASSWORD!L STARTING YOUR FAVORITE PROGRAM WITH THE START BUTTONL PULL-DOWN MENUSL LOADING A FILEL PUTTING TWO PROGRAMS ON-SCREEN SIMULTANEOUSLYL PRINTING YOUR WORKL SAVING YOUR WORKL LOGGING OFF OF WINDOWS XPL CHAPTER 5: FIELD GUIDE TO BUTTONS, BARS, BOXES, FOLDERS, AND FILES A TYPICAL WINDOWL BARSL MOVING WINDOWS WITH THE TITLE BARL BOSSING AROUND WINDOWS WITH THE MENU BARL MOVING INSIDE YOUR WINDOW WITH THE SCROLL BARL SWITCHING WINDOWS WITH THE TASKBARL BORDERSL THE BUTTON FAMILYL SENDING COMMANDS WITH COMMAND BUTTONSL CHOOSING BETWEEN OPTION BUTTONSL CHANGING A WINDOW’S SIZE WITH MINIMIZE AND MAXIMIZE BUTTONSL THE USELESS CONTROL-MENU BUTTONL FILLING OUT BOTHERSOME FORMS IN DIALOG BOXESL TYPING INTO TEXT BOXESL CHOOSING OPTIONS FROM LIST BOXESL DROP-DOWN LIST BOXESL CHECK BOXESL SLIDING CONTROLSL JUST TELL ME HOW TO OPEN A FILE!L HEY! WHEN DO I CLICK, AND WHEN DO I DOUBLE-CLICK?L WHEN DO I USE THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON, AND WHEN DO I USE THE RIGHT ONE?L CHAPTER 6: MOVING WINDOWS AROUND MOVING A WINDOW TO THE TOP OF THE PILEL MOVING A WINDOW FROM HERE TO THEREL MAKING A WINDOW BIGGER OR SMALLERL MAKING A WINDOW FILL THE WHOLE SCREENL CHAPTER 7: I CAN’T FIND IT! FINDING LOST WINDOWS ON THE DESKTOPL PLUCKING A LOST WINDOW FROM THE TASK MANAGERL TILING AND CASCADING WINDOWS (THE “DEAL ALL THE WINDOWS IN FRONT OF ME” APPROACH)L FINDING LOST FILES, FOLDERS, MUSIC, PHOTOS, VIDEOS, PEOPLE, OR COMPUTERSL FINDING ANY LOST FILES OR FOLDERSL FINDING LOST PICTURES, MUSIC, OR VIDEOL FINDING LOST DOCUMENTSL FINDING COMPUTERS OR PEOPLEL SEARCHING THE INTERNETL CHAPTER 8: THAT “CUT AND PASTE” STUFF (MOVING AROUND WORDS, PICTURES, AND SOUNDS) EXAMINING THE CUT AND PASTE CONCEPT (AND COPY, TOO)L HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANT STUFFL CUTTING, COPYING, OR DELETING WHAT YOU HIGHLIGHTEDL CUTTING THE INFORMATIONL COPYING THE INFORMATIONL DELETING THE INFORMATIONL FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT CUTTING, COPYING, AND DELETINGL PASTING INFORMATION INTO ANOTHER WINDOWL LEAVING SCRAPS ON THE DESKTOP DELIBERATELYL CHAPTER 9: SHARING IT ALL ON THE NETWORK FIDDLING WITH USER ACCOUNTSL CHANGING A USER ACCOUNT’S PICTUREL SWITCHING QUICKLY BETWEEN USERSL CREATING, DELETING, OR CHANGING A USER ACCOUNTL SKIP THE REST OF THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE OR WANT A NETWORKL CAN I GET IN TROUBLE FOR LOOKING INTO THE WRONG COMPUTER?L HOW DO I ACCESS OTHER NETWORKED COMPUTERS?L SHARING YOUR OWN COMPUTER’S STUFF WITH THE NETWORKL SHARING A PRINTER ON THE NETWORKL HOW DO I CREATE MY OWN COMPUTER NETWORK?L BUYING A NETWORK’S PARTSL INSTALLING THE NETWORK’S PARTSL LETTING THE NETWORK SETUP WIZARD SET UP YOUR NETWORKL PART III: USING WINDOWS XP APPLICATIONS CHAPTER 10: YOUR DESKTOP, START BUTTON, AND TASKBAR (AND FREE PROGRAMS) ROLLING OBJECTS ALONG THE WINDOWS XP DESKTOPL ARRANGING ICONS ON THE DESKTOPL USING THE RECYCLE BINL MAKING A SHORTCUTL UH, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SHORTCUT AND THE ACTUAL PROGRAM?L SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS XPL THE WAY-COOL TASKBARL SHRINKING WINDOWS TO THE TASKBAR AND RETRIEVING THEML CLICKING THE TASKBAR’S SENSITIVE AREASL CUSTOMIZING THE TASKBARL CONTROLLING THE PRINTERL THE START BUTTON’S REASON TO LIVEL STARTING A PROGRAM FROM THE START BUTTONL ADDING A PROGRAM’S ICON TO THE START MENUL MAKING WINDOWS START PROGRAMS AUTOMATICALLYL THE START MENU’S FREE PROGRAMSL THE START MENU’S FIRST-TIER PROGRAMSL THE START MENU’S ALL PROGRAMS AREAL MY VERSION OF WINDOWS XP DOESN’T HAVE THE RIGHT FREEBIE PROGRAMS!L CHAPTER 11: THAT SCARY MY COMPUTER PROGRAM WHY IS THE MY COMPUTER PROGRAM SO FRIGHTENING?L GETTING THE LOWDOWN ON FOLDERSL PEERING INTO YOUR DRIVES AND FOLDERSL SEEING THE FILES ON A DISK DRIVEL SEEING WHAT’S INSIDE FOLDERSL LOADING A PROGRAM OR FILEL DELETING AND UNDELETING FILES, FOLDERS, AND ICONSL GETTING RID OF A FILE OR FOLDERL HOW TO UNDELETE A FILEL COPYING OR MOVING A FILE, FOLDER, OR ICONL SELECTING MORE THAN ONE FILE OR FOLDERL RENAMING A FILE, FOLDER, OR ICONL USING LEGAL FOLDER NAMES AND FILENAMESL COPYING A COMPLETE FLOPPY DISKL CREATING A FOLDERL SEEING MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FILES AND FOLDERSL WHAT’S THAT WINDOWS EXPLORER THING?L HOW DO I MAKE THE NETWORK WORK?L MAKING MY COMPUTER AND WINDOWS EXPLORER LIST MISSING FILESL FORMATTING A DISKL CHAPTER 12: CRUISING THE WEB, SENDING E-MAIL, AND USING NEWSGROUPS WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE INTERNET, THE WORLD WIDE WEB, AND A WEB BROWSER?L WHO CAN USE THE INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB?L WHAT’S AN ISP, AND DO I NEED ONE?L WHAT DO I NEED TO ACCESS THE WORLD WIDE WEB?L SETTING UP YOUR INTERNET ACCOUNT WITH THE INTERNET CONNECTION WIZARDL WHAT IS A WEB BROWSER?L HOW DO I NAVIGATE THE WEB WITH INTERNET EXPLORER?L WHAT’S A HOME PAGE?L HOW DO I MOVE FROM WEB PAGE TO WEB PAGE?L HOW CAN I REVISIT MY FAVORITE PLACES?L WHAT’S AN INDEX OR SEARCH ENGINE?L BUT HOW DO I DO THIS?L I CAN’T GET IT TO INSTALL!L HOW DO I INSTALL THE FIREWALL?L I KEEP GETTING BUSY SIGNALS!L THE WEB PAGE SAYS IT NEEDS [INSERT NAME OF WEIRD PLUG-IN THING HERE]!L HOW DO I COPY A PICTURE FROM THE INTERNET?L LITTLE BOXES KEEP POPPING UP ON THE WEB PAGES!L MANAGING E-MAIL WITH OUTLOOK EXPRESSL SETTING UP OUTLOOK EXPRESS 6 0 TO SEND AND RECEIVE E-MAILL GETTING READY TO SEND E-MAILL COMPOSING A LETTERL READING A RECEIVED LETTERL WHAT DOES THE NEWS AREA DO?L FINDING AND READING A NEWSGROUPL CHAPTER 13: SOUND! MOVIES! MEDIA PLAYER! UNDERSTANDING MEDIA PLAYERL USING MEDIA GUIDE TO FIND VIDEOS, MUSIC, AND MOVIE TRAILERS ON THE INTERNETL FINDING AND PLAYING INTERNET RADIO STATIONSL FINDING MEDIA ON YOUR COMPUTER AND PUTTING IT INTO THE MEDIA LIBRARYL CREATING PLAYLISTSL PLAYING CDSL PLAYING DVDSL PLAYING MP3S AND WMASL CREATING WMAS OR MP3SL STORING FILES IN YOUR MY MUSIC AND SHARED MUSIC FOLDERSL PLAYING VIDEOSL MOVING MUSIC OR VIDEO TO AN MP3 PLAYER OR POCKET PCL BURNING YOUR OWN CDSL ADDING SKINS TO MEDIA PLAYERL FIXING MEDIA PLAYER MUCKUPSL IT JUST DOESN’T WORK!L DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO HUGE?L BIZARRE MULTIMEDIA WORDSL PART IV: HELP! CHAPTER 14: CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS XP (FIDDLING WITH THE CONTROL PANEL) FINDING THE RIGHT CONTROL PANEL OPTIONL APPEARANCE AND THEMESL CHANGING THE DISPLAY’S BACKGROUND, SCREEN SAVER, AND RESOLUTIONL MAKING WINDOWS DISPLAY FOLDERS DIFFERENTLYL ADJUSTING YOUR TASKBAR AND START MENUL VIEWING YOUR COMPUTER’S FONTSL NETWORK AND INTERNET CONNECTIONSL ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMSL REMOVING PROGRAMSL INSTALLING A NEW PROGRAML ADDING OR REMOVING WINDOWS COMPONENTSL SOUNDS, SPEECH, AND AUDIO DEVICESL CHANGING WINDOWS’ VOLUME AND PLAYING WITH ITS SOUNDSL LETTING WINDOWS TALK TO YOUL PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCEL SEEING INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR COMPUTERL TURNING ON OR OFF VISUAL EFFECTSL FREEING UP SPACE ON YOUR HARD DISKL REARRANGING YOUR HARD DISK TO SPEED IT UP (DEFRAGMENTING)L OTHER PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE ICONSL PRINTERS AND OTHER HARDWAREL ADDING NEW HARDWAREL FIDDLING WITH PRINTERS AND FAXESL GAME CONTROLLERSL SCANNERS AND CAMERASL MAKING WINDOWS XP RECOGNIZE YOUR DOUBLE-CLICKL PHONE AND MODEM OPTIONSL USER ACCOUNTSL DATE, TIME, LANGUAGE, AND REGIONAL OPTIONSL REGIONAL AND LANGUAGE OPTIONSL SETTING THE COMPUTER’S DATE AND TIMEL CHAPTER 15: THE CASE OF THE BROKEN WINDOW RESTORING CALM WITH SYSTEM RESTOREL MY MOUSE DOESN’T WORK RIGHTL MAKING OLDER PROGRAMS RUN UNDER WINDOWS XPL IT SAYS I NEED TO BE AN ADMINISTRATOR!L I’M STUCK IN MENU LANDL KEEPING WINDOWS UP-TO-DATEL ALL MY DESKTOP ICONS VANISHEDL I’M SUPPOSED TO INSTALL A NEW DRIVERL HIS VERSION OF WINDOWS XP HAS MORE PROGRAMS THAN MINE!L I CLICKED THE WRONG BUTTON (BUT HAVEN’T LIFTED MY FINGER YET)L MY COMPUTER IS FROZEN UP SOLIDL THE PRINTER ISN’T WORKING RIGHTL MY DOUBLE-CLICKS ARE NOW SINGLE CLICKS!L CHAPTER 16: FIGURING OUT THOSE ANNOYING POP-UP MESSAGES ACCESS IS DENIEDL AUTOCOMPLETEL CLICK HERE TO ACTIVATE NOWL CONNECT TO L ERROR CONNECTING TO L FILE NAME WARNINGL FOUND NEW HARDWAREL HIDING YOUR INACTIVE NOTIFICATION ICONSL IF YOU REMOVE THIS FILE, YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO RUN THIS PROGRAML MISSING SHORTCUTL NEW PROGRAMS INSTALLEDL NEW UPDATES ARE READY TO INSTALLL OPEN WITH L PRIVACY ALERT — SAVING COOKIESL RENAMEL SAFE TO REMOVE HARDWAREL STAY CURRENT WITH AUTOMATIC UPDATESL THERE ARE UNUSED ICONS ON YOUR DESKTOPL WHEN YOU SEND INFORMATION TO THE INTERNETL YOU HAVE FILES WAITING TO BE WRITTEN TO THE CDL CHAPTER 17: HELP ON THE WINDOWS XP HELP SYSTEM GET ME SOME HELP, AND FAST!L PRESS F1L CLICK THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON ON THE CONFUSING PARTL CHOOSE HELP FROM THE MAIN MENUL SENDING IN THE TROUBLESHOOTERSL SEARCH — LETTING WINDOWS DO THE WORKL CONSULTING A PROGRAM’S BUILT-IN COMPUTER GURUL FINDING HELP FOR YOUR EXACT PROBLEML USING WINDOWS HELP AND SUPPORT CENTERL PART V: THE PART OF TENS CHAPTER 18: TEN EXCITING NEW WINDOWS XP FEATURES WAY COOL FOLDERSL REMOTE ASSISTANCEL BURNING (WRITING INFORMATION ONTO) CDSL FILES AND SETTINGS TRANSFER WIZARDL INCREASED STABILITYL BUILT-IN FIREWALL AGAINST INTERNET HACKERSL AUTOMATICALLY SETS CLOCKL WINDOWS XP MUST BE ACTIVATEDL MAKING WINDOWS XP RUN LIKE YOUR OLD VERSION OF WINDOWSL CHAPTER 19: TEN AGGRAVATING THINGS ABOUT WINDOWS XP (AND HOW TO FIX THEM) HOW DO I CHANGE THE VOLUME?L WHAT VERSION OF WINDOWS DO I HAVE?L I WANT TO CLICK INSTEAD OF DOUBLE-CLICK (OR VICE VERSA)!L MY BAR FULL OF BUTTONS JUST FELL OFF!L KEEPING TRACK OF ALL THOSE WINDOWS IS TOO HARDL THE TASKBAR KEEPS DISAPPEARING!L MY PRINT SCREEN KEY DOESN’T WORKL LINING UP TWO WINDOWS ON THE SCREEN IS TOO HARDL THE FOLDER LISTS THE WRONG STUFF ON MY FLOPPY DISKL IT WON’T LET ME DO SOMETHING UNLESS I’M AN ADMINISTRATOR!L CHAPTER 20: TEN (OR SO) WINDOWS XP ICONS AND WHAT THEY DO CHAPTER 21: TEN MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED WINDOWS QUESTIONS HOW DO I REMEMBER ALL THE STUFF I CAN DO TO A FILE?L SHOULD I UPGRADE TO THE WINDOWS XP HOME OR PROFESSIONAL VERSION?L HOW DO I ADD A PICTURE OF MY FACE TO MY USER ACCOUNT?L WHY CAN’T WINDOWS XP PLAY MY DVDS?L WHY CAN’T WINDOWS XP CREATE MP3 FILES?L HOW DO I GET RID OF THE WELCOME SCREEN?L HOW CAN I SEE PREVIEWS OF MY PICTURES?L HOW CAN I MAKE ALL MY WEB PAGES OPEN IN A FULL-SCREEN WINDOW?L WHAT WILL I MISS IF I DON’T USE THE INTERNET WITH WINDOWS XP?L