Chapter 1. Getting Started with Windows XP

Windows XP is easily the most stable, most powerful, and most seamless operating system ever to come from Microsoft. Whether or not that's saying something depends on how much time you've personally spent with Windows 95 or DOS.

Do you get a sinking feeling every time you're about to install new software on your computer? Do you get tired of having to turn off all the bells and whistles integrated into a new product just to make it usable? Does your day-to-day experience with Windows make you want to chuck the whole system out the window? Have you calmly accepted the fact that your new operating system will most likely contain more bugs than improvements?

Why fight it? Why not simply join the masses and slip into the mind-numbing abyss of acquiescence, feeling powerless whenever computers don't work as seamlessly as promised by those who market them?

Because you know there's a better way. You know there's more to Windows XP than what's mentioned in the documentation, such as it is, and in Microsoft's press clippings. And you know you're not alone.