Introduction

If you are new to Windows XP or to Windows in general, this is the book for you. In easy-to-understand language and with step-by-step explanations, this book covers all the key tasks for using Windows XP, including work-related tasks as well as fun things such as playing digital music, working with pictures, playing games, and more.

Windows is an operating system. You don't need to know the hows and whys of an operating system. You just need to know there is one. The operating system is like the behind-the-scenes manager who takes care of all the basic computing tasks such as saving your work, printing a document, starting a program, and so on.

Therefore, you only need to learn how to perform these basic actions once. That is, once you learn how to print, you follow the same basic steps to print in all Windows programs. Once you learn how to start a program, you can start any program. Once you learn how to move or resize a window, you can perform this action for any window.

You'll find that learning how to use Windows is the same thing as learning how to use your computer.