About This Book

Despite the many improvements in Windows over the years , one feature hasn't improved one iotaMicrosoft's documentation. Windows XP includes no printed guidebook at all. To learn about the thousands of pieces of software that make up this operating system, you're expected to read the online help screens.

Unfortunately, as you'll quickly discover, these help screens are tersely written, offer very little technical depth, and lack examples and illustrations. You can't even mark your place, underline, or read them in the bathroom. In Windows XP, many of the help screens are actually on Microsoft's Web site; you can't see them without an Internet connection. If you're unable to figure out how to connect to the Internet in the first place you're out of luck.

Not only that, the help screens don't exactly give you an objective evaluation of the system's features. They don't tell you how well something works, or if it's even the right feature for what you're trying to do. Engineers often add technically sophisticated features to a program because they can , not because you need them. You, however, shouldn't waste your time learning features that don't help you get your work done.

The purpose of this book, then, is to serve as the startup manual that should have accompanied Windows XP. In these pages, you'll find step-by-step instructions for using every Windows feature you need to hit the ground running with your PC.

Windows XP for Starters: The Missing Manual is the ideal first book for newcomers to the PC game as well as advanced beginners who want to learn more. If you're a seasoned Windows jockey, on the other hand, you may want to check out Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual or Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual , both of which are comprehensive guides to all the features of Windows XP, from basic to advanced.

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Note: This book is based on Window XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly) and Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly). Those books are truly complete references for the Windows operating system, covering every feature, including geeky stuff like network domains, NTFS permissions, and other things you'll probably never encounteror even want to. But if you get really deep into Windows XP and want to learn more, either Windows XP Missing Manual can be your trusted guide.

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About the Outline

This book is divided into five parts , each containing several chapters:

• Part 1, The Windows XP Desktop , covers everything you see on the screen when you turn on a Windows XP computer: icons, windows, menus, scroll bars, the Recycle Bin, shortcuts, the Start menu, shortcut menus , and so on.

• Part 2, The Components of Windows XP , is dedicated to the proposition that an operating system is little more than a launch pad for programs . Chapter 5 describes how to work with applications in Windowslaunch them, switch among them, swap data between them, use them to create and open files, and so on.

• Part 3, Windows Online , covers the special Internet- related features of Windows, including the wizards that set up your Internet account, Outlook Express (for email), and Internet Explorer 6 (for Web browsing).

• Part 4, Beyond the Basics , is all about plugging printers and other gadgets into your PC, setting system-wide preferences with the Control Panel, and getting online help.

• Part 5, Life on the Network , honors the millions of households and offices that now contain more than one PC. If you work at home or in a small office, these chapters show you how to build your own network; if you work in a corporation where some highly paid professional network geek is on hand to do the troubleshooting, you won't need to read these chapters.

About These Arrows

Throughout this book, and throughout the Missing Manual series, you'll find sentences like this: "Open the Start My Computer Local Disk (C:) Windows folder." Thats shorthand for a much longer instruction that directs you to open three nested icons in sequence, like this: "Click the Start menu to open it. Click My Computer in the Start menu. Inside the My Computer window is a disk icon labeled Local Disk (C:); double-click it to open it. Inside that window is yet another icon called Windows. Double-click to open it, too."

Similarly, this kind of arrow shorthand helps to simplify the business of choosing commands in menus, as shown in Figure I-1

Figure I-1. In this book, arrow notations help to simplify folder and menu instructions. For example, "Choose Start All Programs Accessories Notepad is a more compact way of saying, "Click the Start button. When the Start menu opens, click All Programs; without clicking, now slide to the right onto the Accessories submenu; in that submenu, click Notepad."