Windows Xp

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ISBN: 9780596006198 | 0596006195
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 10/1/2004

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Hundreds of problems and solutions, power tips, cool tricks, and workarounds are presented in this insightful and amusing book from Missing Manuals creator David Pogue. Windows XP Hints gives readers useful hints for everything from the desktop to Office programs to the registry, and includes documented (but little-known) tips as well as undocumented tricks. The book moves beyond mere productivity and explores what's possible with Windows XP. Intermediate XP aficionados will find valuable tips to control and enjoy their OS, rather than be controlled. Because each hint is offered as an individual item that's not dependent on other hints, readers are free to browse, discover, and pilot their own path through the book.

The Missing Credits

Introduction

xix

Getting Started

(26)

Startup and Shutdown

(11)

Instant Startup

(1)

Instant Startup for Laptops

(1)

Nixing the Startup Screen

(1)

Changing the Startup Screen

(2)

Good Housekeeping for Speedier Startups

(1)

Killing the Error Messenger

(1)

Customizing Your Startup Process

(1)

Automating Reboots and Shutdowns

(2)

Speedier Shutdown Times

(1)

Other Software that Can Control Startups and Shutdowns

(1)

Controlling Your Monitor and Sounds

(8)

Insta-Mute

(1)

The Silence of the Modem

(1)

Personalizing Your PC's Sounds

(3)

Building Sound Themes

(1)

Visual Reminders

(1)

Adding Sounds to Microsoft Office

(1)

More Screen Real Estate with Virtual Desktops

(1)

Expand Your Screen Real Estate with Two Monitors

(2)

Individual Windows Tricks

(2)

Previewing Windows Before Switching to Them

(1)

Manage Groups of Open Windows

(1)

User Accounts and Logons

(5)

Using Your Own Picture for Your User Account

(1)

Fast User Switching

(1)

Create a Random Password

(1)

Create a Password Reset Disk

(1)

Set Disk Quotas for Users

(2)

The Desktop and Interface

(30)

Desktop Makeover

(10)

The Easiest Way to Customize Your Desktop

(1)

Changing the Standard Desktop Icons

(1)

Cleaning Your Desktop Automatically

(1)

Adding a Run Icon to Your Desktop

(1)

Rearranging Your Desktop Icons

(2)

Slapping Your Favorite Web Page on Your Desktop

(2)

Special Effects for the Windows Desktop

(2)

The Start Menu

(5)

Making the Start Menu Jump to Attention

(1)

Switching to the Classic Start Menu

(1)

Tweaking the Start Menu

(1)

Customizing the Most Frequently Used Programs List

(2)

More Advanced Start Menu Tricks

(1)

Organizing the All Programs Menu

(1)

The Taskbar

(4)

Launching Web Pages from the Taskbar

(1)

Adding Files, Folders, and Disks to the Taskbar

(1)

Hiding Icons on the Bottom of Your Screen

(2)

The Quick Launch Bar

(1)

The Control Panel

(5)

Accessing the Control Panel Faster

(1)

Cleaning up the Control Panel

(3)

Bypassing the Control Panel with Keyboard Shortcuts

(1)

Recategorizing Control Panel Applets

(1)

Icons and Themes

(6)

Turning Your Photos into a Screen Saver

(1)

Using Themes To Dress Up Your PC

(2)

Creating Your Own Theme

(3)

Windows Explorer and Searching

(30)

The Windows Explorer Interface

(6)

Opening Explorer with a Keyboard Shortcut

(1)

Speeding Up Windows Explorer with Keyboard Shortcuts

(1)

Showing the Full File Path in Explorer

(1)

Customizing Windows Explorer Toolbars

(2)

Alternatives to Windows Explorer

(1)

Working with Files and Folders

(11)

Instantly Jumping to a File or Folder

(1)

Copying and Moving Files Faster

(1)

Customizing the File Details Displayed in Explorer

(1)

Adding Images to Your Folders

(1)

Showing File Name Extensions

(1)

Renaming Groups of Files in One Fell Swoop

(2)

Displaying Hidden and System Files and Folders

(1)

Changing Where Windows Stores Documents

(1)

Making it Easier to Open Files

(2)

Setting the Program Used to Open a File Type

(1)

Displaying Cascading Folders on the Start Menu

(1)

Compressing Files and Folders

(6)

Getting Extra Disk Space by Using NTFS Compression

(2)

Getting Extra Space by Using Zip Folders

(2)

Using WinZip for More Compression Features

(1)

Automatically Compressing and Emailing a Photo

(1)

Searching Your Computer

(7)

Customizing Windows XP's Basic Search Tools

(2)

Finding Music and Picture Files

(2)

Saving a Search for Future Reference

(1)

Using the Indexing Service to Speed Up Searches

(2)

Built-In Utilities

(20)

Better Backups

(6)

Installing the Backup Program in Windows XP Home Edition

(1)

Backing Up Your Goods

(4)

Better Backup Programs

(1)

Notepad and Clipboard

(5)

Inserting a Time and Date Stamp with Notepad

(1)

Creating Headers and Footers with Notepad

(1)

Better Notepads

(1)

Viewing the Contents of Your Clipboard

(1)

A Better Clipboard

(1)

Other Built-In Utilities

(9)

The Fax Program

(2)

A Better Calculator

100

(1)

Opening Graphics Documents in Paint

101

(1)

Inserting Special Characters

101

(2)

Shortcuts to Open Windows XP Applications and Utilities

103

(4)

Microsoft Office

107

(22)

General Office Advice

107

(3)

Killing Clippy

107

(1)

Turning Off the Office Clipboard

108

(1)

Finding Files Faster

108

(2)

Microsoft Word

110

(6)

Using Invisible Ink

111

(1)

Inserting Special Characters

111

(1)

Creating Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts

112

(1)

Turning Word into Your Personal Translator

113

(2)

Inserting Your Digital Signature into Word Documents

115

(1)

Using the Word Count Toolbar

115

(1)

Excel

116

(5)

Automatically Importing Data from the Web

116

(2)

Creating a Watermark

118

(2)

Speeding Up Excel with Keyboard Shortcuts

120

(1)

Quickly Add New Data to a Chart

121

(1)

PowerPoint

121

(2)

Saving Fonts with Your Presentation

121

(2)

Copying Your PowerPoint Settings to Another Computer

123

(1)

Putting Your Presentations on a Diet

123

(1)

Access

123

(2)

The Express Route to Creating Tables

123

(1)

The Database Diet

124

(1)

Hiding Top Secret Tables

125

(1)

FrontPage

125

(4)

Flowing Text Around a Picture

125

(1)

Watermarks

126

(1)

Creating an Online Photo Gallery

127

(2)

The Internet

129

(38)

Internet Speed Tricks

129

(4)

Faster Surfing I

129

(1)

Faster Surfing II

130

(1)

Caching Up

131

(2)

Speeding Up Downloads

133

(1)

Pop-Ups and Cookies

133

(9)

Software that Stops Pop-Ups

134

(1)

Alternative Browsers that Stop Pop-Ups

134

(1)

Shooting the Windows Messenger

135

(2)

Crumbling Cookies

137

(2)

Custom Cookie Settings

139

(1)

Share Your Cookies

140

(1)

Examining and Deleting Cookies

141

(1)

Managing Cookies with Add-On Software

142

(1)

Keeping Advertisers Away from Your Cookies

142

(1)

Firewalls

142

(7)

A Basic Firewall

142

(2)

How to Bypass XP's Firewall

144

(2)

A Better Firewall: ZoneAlarm

146

(1)

Testing Your Security with Shield's Up

147

(2)

Online Safety You May Not Have Considered

149

(6)

Controlling Your Internet Security Levels

149

(2)

Beware of AutoComplete

151

(1)

Don't Let the Web Bugs Bite

152

(1)

Protecting Yourself Against Spyware

152

(1)

Protecting a Public Wireless Connection

153

(1)

Surfing Anonymously

154

(1)

Evaluating and Troubleshooting

155

(3)

Peering into Your Internet Connection

155

(2)

Your Real Internet Connection Speed

157

(1)

Diagnosing a Broken Internet Connection

157

(1)

Windows Messenger

158

(4)

Are You Using Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger?

158

(1)

Protecting Your Privacy in Windows Messenger

159

(1)

Split Your Personality with Windows Messenger

160

(1)

Yes, You Can Skin Messenger

161

(1)

Turning Off Messenger's Tabs

161

(1)

Save a Messaging Session to a Text File

162

(1)

Windows Messenger Add-Ons

162

(1)

Other Instant Messengers

162

(5)

Downloading Other Instant Messengers

162

(2)

Turn Off the AIM Today Window

164

(1)

Stopping Online Harassment in AIM

164

(1)

Sending Text Messages with Yahoo! Messenger

164

(1)

Spicing up Yahoo! Messenger

165

(1)

ICQ on the Desktop

165

(1)

ICQ Shortcut Keys

165

(1)

Protecting Yourself Against Instant Messaging Dangers

165

(2)

Web Browsers

167

(36)

Smarter Surfing

167

(11)

Address Shortcuts

167

(1)

Getting the Big Picture

168

(1)

Making Web Fonts Easier to Read

169

(1)

Opening a New Web Page in Its Own Window

170

(1)

Keyboard Shortcuts

170

(2)

Filling Out Forms Faster

172

(1)

Revisiting History

172

(1)

Printing a Wide Web Page

173

(1)

Saving Web Pages on Your PC

174

(2)

Saving Web Pages with SurfSaver

176

(1)

Saving Frequently Updated Web Pages Automatically

176

(2)

Searching the Web from Internet Explorer

178

(5)

The Google Toolbar

178

(1)

The Google Deskbar (Not just for Internet Explorer)

179

(1)

Searching from the Address Bar

180

(3)

Managing Your Favorites

183

(3)

Finding Favorites Fast

183

(1)

Organizing Favorites from A to Z

183

(1)

Copying Favorites to Another Computer

184

(1)

Creating Favorite Files and Folders

185

(1)

Cache Flow

186

(2)

Customizing the Cache

186

(1)

Viewing Your Cache

187

(1)

Cleaning Out Your Cache

188

(1)

Customizing Internet Explorer

188

(5)

Browser Windows the Size You Want

188

(1)

Rolling Your Own Toolbar

189

(1)

Changing the Toolbar Background

190

(1)

Changing Internet Explorer's Title Bar

191

(1)

Changing Internet Explorer's Logo

191

(2)

Alternative Browsers

193

(10)

A Google Toolbar for Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox

195

(1)

Speeding Up Netscape with Keyboard Shortcuts

195

(1)

Dressing Up Netscape with Themes

196

(1)

Filling in the Blanks with Netscape

197

(1)

Adding Firefox Features

198

(1)

Mozilla Firefox Shortcuts

198

(1)

Rewinding Your Opera Session

199

(1)

Waving the Opera Wand

199

(1)

Speeding Up Opera with Keyboard Shortcuts

200

(1)

Nota Bene Opera

200

(3)

203

(34)

Sending and Receiving Email

203

(5)

Email in a Hurry

204

(1)

Blind Carbon Copies

205

(1)

Checking Mail on Your Schedule

205

(1)

Allowing Time for Second Thoughts

205

(1)

Cleaning Up Email Conversations

206

(1)

Revealing Message Headers

207

(1)

Sign-Offs

208

(7)

Customized Signatures

208

(3)

Fancy Signatures

211

(1)

Using Digital Business Cards

212

(3)

Slamming Spam

215

(4)

Hiding Your Email Address from Spammers

215

(1)

Built-In Spam-Fighting Tools

216

(2)

Third-Party Spam-Killers

218

(1)

Organizing and Handling Mail

219

(8)

Adding New Contacts in Two Seconds

219

(1)

Marking Messages Unread

220

(1)

Clearing Clutter

220

(1)

Taking Control of Mail Overload

221

(4)

Opening Blocked File Attachments

225

(2)

Getting Email to Play Nicely with Windows

227

(2)

Killing the ``Unread Messages'' Notice

227

(1)

Killing the Windows Messenger

228

(1)

Contacting Windows Messenger Buddies

228

(1)

Relocating Outlook on Your Taskbar

228

(1)

Outlook-Only Tips

229

(4)

Opening Outlook in Separate Windows

229

(1)

Deleting Outlook Items Lickety-Split

229

(1)

Removing Outlook's Memorized Addresses

230

(1)

Backing Up Outlook

230

(1)

Sharing Outlook on Two Computers

231

(1)

Using Outlook to Keep Up with the News

232

(1)

Just for Outlook Express

233

(2)

Killing the Outlook Express Startup Screen

233

(1)

Renaming the Outlook Express Window

234

(1)

Backing Up Outlook Express

234

(1)

Beyond Outlook: Other Email Software

235

(2)

Eudora

236

(1)

Thunderbird

236

(1)

IncrediMail

236

(1)

Networking

237

(20)

Wireless Networking

237

(7)

Zero Configuration WiFi Services

238

(1)

Connecting to Wireless Networks

238

(2)

Finding Hotspots Before You Travel

240

(2)

Protecting Your Wireless Network with WEP

242

(1)

Unplugging the Unplugged Icon

243

(1)

Home Networking

244

(7)

Desktop Shortcuts for Your Network Resources

245

(1)

Finding Another Computer on the Network

245

(1)

Stop Searching for Network Resources

245

(1)

Speeding Up My Network Places and Network Browsing

245

(1)

A Faster Path to Computers on Your Network

246

(1)

Coaxing Your Network Card to Run Its Fastest

247

(1)

Optimizing Your Router

247

(1)

Sharing Files on a Network

248

(2)

Chatting on Your Network with WinChat

250

(1)

Troubleshooting Network Problems

251

(6)

Moving Your Laptop from One Network to Another

251

(1)

Finding Your Network Information

252

(2)

The Network Diagnostics Tool

254

(1)

Repairing a Broken Network Connection

254

(3)

Hardware

257

(18)

Hardware Troubleshooting

257

(6)

Getting Help from the Device Manager

257

(2)

Resolving Conflicts

259

(2)

Driver Magic

261

(2)

Laptop Tricks

263

(3)

Extending Your Laptop's Battery Life

263

(2)

Helping a Fussy Laptop Enter Standby

265

(1)

Removing a Useless Warning

265

(1)

Printers and Printing

266

(3)

Printing Font Samples

266

(1)

Receiving a Message when Your Print Job Is Done

267

(1)

On-the-Road Printing Strategies

268

(1)

Of Mice and Keyboards

269

(6)

Customizing Your Mouse Settings

269

(3)

Stopping Erratic Mouse Behavior

272

(1)

An Easier-to-See Insertion Point

272

(1)

The Onscreen Keyboard

273

(2)

System Speedups

275

(14)

Managing Your Memory

275

(9)

DOS Swap

276

(1)

Eliminating Needless Visual Effects

276

(1)

Services You Don't Need

277

(2)

Putting Services on Permanent Leave

279

(1)

Removing Programs that Run at Startup

280

(1)

Fancy Memory Trick I

281

(1)

Fancy Memory Trick II

282

(1)

Deciding You Need More Memory

283

(1)

Processor Tricks

284

(5)

CPU-Draining Programs You Don't Need

284

(1)

Focusing Your CPU's Attention

285

(2)

A Souped-Up Alternative to Task Manager

287

(2)

Security

289

(14)

Securing Your System

289

(9)

Microsoft's Baseline Security Adviser

289

(2)

Windows Update

291

(1)

Manually Checking for Updates

292

(1)

Checking for Viruses

293

(2)

Stripping Personal Information from Your Documents

295

(1)

Preventing Word from Stealing Your Files

296

(1)

Hard-to-Crack Passwords

296

(1)

Safe Travels with a Laptop

297

(1)

Encryption for Windows XP Pro

298

(5)

Protecting Your Data by Encrypting Files and Folders

299

(2)

Changing the Color of Encrypted Files and Folders

301

(1)

A Final Security Measure

301

(2)

Crash Recovery

303

(8)

Creating a Restore Point

303

(1)

Restoring Your System

304

(1)

Limiting the Size of System Restore's Files

304

(1)

Deleting Old Restore Points

305

(1)

Changing System Restore's Backup Schedule

306

(1)

Getting System Restore to Ignore Certain Folders

307

(1)

Safe Mode

308

(3)

Windows Media Player

311

(14)

Finding the Menu Bar

312

(1)

Listening to Music

312

(6)

The MP3 Factor

312

(1)

The Graphic Equalizer

313

(1)

3D WOW Sound

314

(1)

Improving CD Playback Sound

315

(1)

Groovy Visual Displays

316

(1)

Skinning Windows Media Player

316

(2)

Recording, Mixing, and Copying Music

318

(4)

Turning Off Copy Protection

318

(1)

Mixing Smoother CDs

319

(1)

Preventing Skips When You Burn CDs

319

(2)

Saving Internet Radio Streams

321

(1)

Video

322

(2)

Watching International DVDs

323

(1)

Keyboard Shortcuts

324

(1)

The Registry

325

(14)

The Registry Editor

328

(4)

An Important Registry Precaution

332

(1)

Editing the Registry with Reg Files

333

(2)

Protecting the Registry

335

(1)

Creating a Registry Favorites List

336

(1)

Printing the Registry

337

(2)

Appendix: Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts

339

(4)

Index

343

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Windows Xp

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials