Chapter 4. Navigating XP Media Center s 10-Foot Interface

Chapter 4. Navigating XP Media Center's "10- Foot " Interface

In This Chapter

  • Understanding Media Center's "10-foot experience"

  • Learning how to use the Media Center remote control

  • Switching from the Media Center interface to the XP desktop, and back

  • Customizing Media Center's "10-foot experience"

What makes the Media Center interface different from the typical desktop PC experience? It stems from the "eHome" development team at Microsoft going back to the drawing board and deciding what computing would be like if we did it 10 feet away from the computer screen, as opposed to the usual 2 feet. The result was Media Center's so-called "10-foot experience," which allows you to trade in your conventional PC input devices ”the mouse and keyboard ”for a remote control. Even if you've been using Windows-based personal computers for years , you'll find that the Media Center interface is distinctly different from any off-the-shelf computer you've ever used before.

This 10-foot user interface ” essentially a shell running on top of the Microsoft XP Professional operating system ”gets rid of all the extraneous folders and files and provides you with a clean, well-lighted place to kick back and enjoy the lighter side of computing, namely, digital entertainment.

But although this PC may seem like it just wants to have fun, its serious side (the "2-foot experience") is only a click away. In this chapter we'll get familiar with your Media PC's multiple personalities, and how to control them using keyboard, mouse, and remote control.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows XP Media Center
Absolute Beginners Guide to Windows XP Media Center
ISBN: 0789730030
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 159
Authors: Steve Kovsky

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