Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual

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Microsoft Windows XP is the latest and, technically speaking, the best version of the most-used software in the world. If you recently bought a new PC, Windows XP probably came preinstalled. If you already own a computer (running Windows 98, 2000, or Me, for example), you can buy Windows XP separately to upgrade your machine (see Appendix A).

No matter how you get it on your PC, however, you'll be spending a lot of time with Windows XP. It's your computer's face; it's the first thing that greets you when you turn on your machine, and the last thing you see before it blinks off.

Windows is an operating system, the software that controls your computer. It's designed to serve you in several ways:

It's a launching bay. At its heart, Windows is a home base, a remote-control clicker that lets you call up the various software programs (applications) you use to do work or kill time. When you get right down to it, applications are the real reason you bought a PC.

Windows XP is a well-stocked software pantry unto itself; for example, it comes with such basic programs as a Web browser, email program, a simple word processor, and calculator. Windows XP comes with eleven games, too, several of which you can play live against other people on the Internet. (Chapter 7 covers all of these freebie programs.)

If you were stranded on a desert island, the built-in Windows XP programs could suffice for everyday operations. But if you're like most people, sooner or later, you'll buy and install more software. That's one of the luxuries of using Windows: You can choose from a staggering number of add-on programs. Whether you're a left-handed beekeeper or a German-speaking nun, some company somewhere is selling Windows software designed just for you, its target audience.
It's a file cabinet. Every application on your machine, as well as every document you create, is represented on the screen by an

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Windows is an operating system, the software that controls your computer. It's designed to serve you in several ways:

It's a launching bay. At its heart, Windows is a home base, a remote-control clicker that lets you call up the various software programs (applications) you use to do work or kill time. When you get right down to it, applications are the real reason you bought a PC.

Windows XP is a well-stocked software pantry unto itself; for example, it comes with such basic programs as a Web browser, email program, a simple word processor, and calculator. Windows XP comes with eleven games, too, several of which you can play live against other people on the Internet. (Chapter 7 covers all of these freebie programs.)

If you were stranded on a desert island, the built-in Windows XP programs could suffice for everyday operations. But if you're like most people, sooner or later, you'll buy and install more software. That's one of the luxuries of using Windows: You can choose from a staggering number of add-on programs. Whether you're a left-handed beekeeper or a German-speaking nun, some company somewhere is selling Windows software designed just for you, its target audience.
It's a file cabinet. Every application on your machine, as well as every document you create, is represented on the screen by an icon (see Figure 1-1). You can organize these icons into little onscreen file folders. You can make backups (safety copies) by dragging file icons onto a floppy disk or blank CD, or send them to people by email. You can also trash icons you no longer need by dragging them onto the Recycle Bin icon.

Figure 1-1: Your Windows world revolves around icons, the tiny pictures that represent your programs, documents, and various Windows components. From left to right: the icons for your computer itself, a word processing document, a digital photo (a JPEG document), a word processor

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To get the most out of Windows with the least frustration, it helps to become familiar with the following concepts and terms. You'll encounter these words and phrases over and over again—in the built-in Windows help, in computer magazines, and in this book.

One of the most important features of Windows isn't on the screen—it's under your hand. The standard mouse has two mouse buttons. You use the left one to click buttons, highlight text, and drag things around on the screen.

When you click the right button, however, a shortcut menu appears on the screen, like the ones shown in Figure 1-2. Get into the habit of right-clicking things—icons, folders, disks, text in your word processor, buttons on your menu bar, pictures on a Web page, and so on. The commands that appear on the shortcut menu will make you much more productive and lead you to discover handy functions you never knew existed.

Figure 1-2: Shortcut menus (sometimes called context menus) sometimes list commands that aren't in the menus at the top of the window. Here, for example, are the commands that appear when you right-click a folder (left) and some highlighted text in a word processor (right). Once the shortcut menu has appeared, left-click the command you want.

This is a big deal: Microsoft's own research suggests that nearly 75% of Windows users don't use the right mouse button, and therefore miss hundreds of timesaving shortcuts. Part of the rationale behind Windows XP's redesign is putting these functions out in the open. Even so, many more shortcuts remain hidden under your right mouse button.

Microsoft doesn't discriminate against left-handers…much. You can swap the functions of the right and left mouse buttons easily enough.

In the Control Panel window (Section 9.1), open the Mouse icon. When the Mouse Properties dialog box opens, click the Buttons tab, and turn on the "Switch primary and secondary buttons" option. Then click OK. Windows now assumes that you want to use the

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Windows XP is the most dramatic Windows overhaul since the introduction of Windows 95. As noted in the Introduction, Microsoft's goal in creating XP was gigantic: It wanted to merge its home line (the friendly but cranky Windows 95, 98, and Me) with its corporate line (the unattractive but rock-solid Windows NT and 2000) into a single, unified operating system that offers the best of both.

But this flowing of two streams into a single mighty river is only the beginning. Some of the following features will seem new only if you're used to Windows 2000, and others only if you're coming from, say, Windows Me. The rest of this section is an overview of the other goodies Windows XP offers.

The biggest news in Windows XP is that it's based on Windows 2000. Its features, including protected memory (if one program crashes, it isn't allowed to poison the well of memory that other programs use) and strong network security features, give you vastly improved stability. In fact, it's possible to go for weeks without having to restart a crashed PC (as opposed to days or, well, minutes with Windows Me). That's not to say that individual programs don't still bomb now and then—they do—but they no longer take down your whole computer.

Here's what else Microsoft has done to make your PC more stable:

System File Protection. Before Windows XP (and Me), the installer for some new piece of software might have replaced some important Windows file with an older version, resulting in instability or crashes. When an installer tries to do that in Windows XP, it gets the door slammed in its face.

Of course, if its installer is unable to replace the component it wants to replace, your new software might not run. However, thanks to System File Protection, you'll at least be no worse off than before you performed the installation.

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Despite all of the improvements, Windows XP doesn't come without its share of controversy. Let us count the ways in which the new operating system has raised eyebrows and hackles.

Windows XP marks the first time Microsoft has ever copy-protected Windows, meaning you can't install Windows XP on more than one PC from the same CD. If you have a desktop PC as well as a laptop, you have to buy Windows XP twice (Microsoft will give you only a 10% discount on the second copy). If you make the attempt, the second PC refuses to operate after 30 days.

How does it know that you're being naughty? When you first install Windows XP, the operating system inspects ten crucial components inside your PC: the hard drive, motherboard, video card, memory, and so on. All this information is transmitted, along with the 25-character serial number on the back of your Windows XP CD, to Microsoft's database via your Internet account. The process takes about two seconds, and involves little more than clicking an OK button. You have just activated Windows XP.

If you don't have an Internet connection, activation is a much more grueling procedure. You have to call a toll-free number, read a 50-digit identification number to the Microsoft agent, and then type a 42-digit confirmation number into your software. Do whatever it takes to avoid having to endure this fingertip-numbing ritual.

Later, if you try to install the same copy of Windows XP onto a different computer, Windows XP will check in with Microsoft and discover that the new machine's components aren't the same. It will conclude that you have tried to install the same copy of the operating system onto a different machine—and it will lock you out.

This aspect of Windows XP has frightened or enraged many a computer fan. In truth, though, it isn't quite as bad as it seems. Here's why:

If you buy a new PC with Windows XP already installed, you don't have to activate anything; it's already been done.

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When you turn on a Windows XP computer for the first time, you may think that you're simply seeing the traditional Windows startup process as redesigned by a West Coast graphic designer.

Yes, it starts up slightly faster—that's one of the most heavily advertised new features of Windows XP—but otherwise, turning on a PC shows little more than a newfangled version of the progress bar you may know and love from earlier editions of Windows.

If it's a new computer, you may also receive a big hello from the company that sold it to you.

Then, if you've just performed a clean installation of Windows XP (see Appendix A), or if it's a brand-new PC, you may now be treated to a series of blue "Welcome to Microsoft Windows" setup screens. This Setup Wizard guides you through setting up an Internet account, activating your copy of Windows (Section A-3), setting up accounts for different people who will be sharing this computer (Chapter 16), and so on. Appendix A has a complete description of this process.

After that basic startup business is taken care of, however, you may be in for a series of surprises.

What happens next depends on whether you're the PC's sole proprietor or share it with other people in an office, school, or household.

The desktop icons that once provided quick access to important locations on your PC—My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer—have been swept away by the digital broom of Microsoft's clean-freak XP designers.

You can still get to these locations; they're listed in your Start menu now. On one hand, you can now open these folders and programs without having to hide whatever windows are covering up your desktop. On the other hand, opening them now requires two mouse clicks (including one to open the Start menu)—an egregious expenditure of caloric effort.

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What happens next depends on whether you're the PC's sole proprietor or share it with other people in an office, school, or household.

The desktop icons that once provided quick access to important locations on your PC—My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer—have been swept away by the digital broom of Microsoft's clean-freak XP designers.

You can still get to these locations; they're listed in your Start menu now. On one hand, you can now open these folders and programs without having to hide whatever windows are covering up your desktop. On the other hand, opening them now requires two mouse clicks (including one to open the Start menu)—an egregious expenditure of caloric effort.

If you miss the old arrangement, it's easy enough to put these icons back on the desktop. To do so, right-click the desktop. From the shortcut menu, choose Properties.

Now the Display Properties dialog box appears. Click the Desktop tab. Below the list of backgrounds, click the Customize Desktop button. As shown here, awaiting your summons are checkboxes for the usual desktop icons: My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer. Turn on the ones you'd like to install onto the desktop, putting checkmarks in the appropriate boxes, and then click OK twice. Your old favorite icons are now back where they once belonged.

If it's a new PC, or your own PC, no big deal. You arrive at the Windows XP desktop.
If it's a shared PC, you may encounter the Welcome dialog box, shown in Figure 2-1. Click your name in the list, type your password if you're asked for it, and click the little right-pointing arrow button (or press Enter). You arrive at the desktop.

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Once you're past the heart-pounding excitement of the new startup logo and the Setup Wizard, you reach the digital vista shown in Figure 2-2. That's right, it's the Windows desktop, now graced by a pastoral sunny hillside that should look familiar to anyone who has ever watched Teletubbies.

Figure 2-2: A brand new Windows XP computer screen looks like this. Everything you'll ever do on the computer will begin with a click on one of these three elements: a desktop icon, the Start button, or the taskbar, which is described in Chapter 3. (The Start menu, now in a new, improved two-column format, lists every significant command and software component on your PC.) Some people enjoy the newly streamlined Windows XP desktop. Others deliberately place additional icons on the desktop—favorite programs and documents—for quicker access. Let your personality be your guide.

On a fresh installation of Windows XP, you may be surprised to discover that Microsoft has gone cleanliness-crazy. A brand-new installation of Windows XP on a new computer presents an absolutely spotless desktop, utterly icon-free except for the Recycle Bin. Even the familiar My Computer, My Documents, and My Network Places icons seem to be missing. (If you've upgraded from an older version of Windows, you'll still see your old icons on the desktop. Furthermore, the company who sold you your PC may have stocked the desktop with a few of its own icons—but you get the point.)

Those former desktop icons are now in your Start menu, which appears when you click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen (Figure 2-2). The following pages cover the Start menu in detail.

Windows XP is composed of 40 million lines of computer code, scattered across your hard drive in thousands of files. The vast majority of them are support files, there for behind-the-scenes use by Windows and your applications. They're not for you. They may as well bear a sticker saying, "No user serviceable parts inside."

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This command is at the heart of Windows XP's accounts feature, in which each person who uses this PC gets to see his own desktop picture, email account, files, and so on (see Chapter 16). If you don't use that feature—if you're the only one who uses the computer—you can safely ignore this option forever.

Choosing this command may present either of two dialog boxes, depending on whether or not you have turned on the Windows XP feature called Fast User Switching.

Switch User/Log Off. If you see the dialog box shown at the top of Figure 2-4, then Fast User Switching is turned on (as it is on any fresh installation of Windows XP Home Edition). It's among the most useful new features in Windows XP, since it lets somebody else log on to the computer, opening up his own world of documents, email, desktop picture, and so on. Meanwhile,—whatever you had up and running remains open behind the scenes. After the interloper is finished, you can log on again to find all of your open programs and documents exactly where you left them on the screen.

Figure 2-4: Top: If Fast User Switching is turned on, this is what you see when you choose Start→Log Off. No matter which button you click, you return to the Welcome screen. The only difference is that clicking Switch User leaves all of your programs open and in memory, and Log Off takes a few moments to close them. Bottom: If Fast User Switching isn't turned on, the traditional Log Off dialog box appears when you choose Start→Log Off. If you click Log Off again, Windows quits your programs and then takes you to the Welcome screen once again.

Could someone explain why the Turn Off Computer command is in a menu called Start?

The Name-the-Button committee at Microsoft probably thought that you'd interpret

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This menu item is more powerful than its name implies. Choosing it opens a dialog box that offers several variations on "off" (see Figure 2-5).

Stand By puts your computer to "sleep." This special state of PC consciousness reduces the amount of electricity the computer uses. The machine remains in suspended animation until you use the mouse or keyboard.

How the PC sleeps depends on its power-saving features. Usually, the hard drive stops spinning and the screen goes dark. Whatever programs or documents you were working on remain in memory.

If you're using a laptop and working on battery power, the Standby mode is a real boon. When the flight attendant hands over your microwaved chicken teriyaki, you can take a food break without closing all your programs or shutting down the computer. And best of all, Standby mode consumes only the barest trickle of battery power.

Use the Standby option when you want to put your computer to sleep on cue. It's worth noting, however, that you can set the computer to go into standby automatically whenever you haven't used the mouse or keyboard for a while. You can even make it so that the computer won't wake up again unless you type in a certain password. Page 271 has the details on these extra features.
Turn Off quits all open programs (or, in some cases, prompts you to do so), offers you the opportunity to save any unsaved documents, and then exits Windows. Most modern PCs then turn off automatically.

If your older model requires you to manually press the power button, you must wait until a message appears on the screen telling you that it's safe to turn off the computer (which may take more than a few seconds).

You don't have to open the Start menu to turn off the computer. Just press the power button. (If that makes the PC sleep or

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For most people, the Start→All Programs command is the most important function of the Start menu. It's the master list of every program on your computer. (The installer for any new program generally installs its own name in this menu; see Figure 2-6.) You can jump directly to your word processor, calendar, or favorite game, for example, just by choosing its name from the Start→All Programs menu.

Figure 2-6: The Start→All Programs menu may list the actual application (such as Microsoft Word) that you can click to launch the program. But it may also list a program group, a submenu that lists everything in a particular application folder. Some software programs install a folder on the All Programs menu, like the Office Tools folder shown here, that contains commands for launching the software, uninstalling the software, running specific utilities, opening the help files, and so on. If you have Service Pack 1 (page 182), by the way, the top of your All Programs list shows an additional, telltale item: Set Program Access and Defaults. It's a shortcut to the panel that lets you (or the Justice Department) hide Microsoft's Internet programs.

When the Start menu is open, you can open the All Programs menu in a number of ways: by clicking the All Programs menu, by pointing to it and keeping the mouse still for a moment, or by pressing the P and then the right-arrow keys on your keyboard.

Speaking of keyboard fanaticism: Once the programs list is open, you can also choose anything in it without involving the mouse. Just type the first letter of a program's name—or press the up and down arrow keys—to highlight the name of the program you want. Then press Enter to seal the deal.

Clearly, the graphic designers were on vacation the day Microsoft came up with this one. The All Programs menu appears

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Use the Run menu item to get to a command line, as shown in Figure 2-8. A command line is a text-based method of performing a task. You type a command, click OK, and something happens as a result.

Figure 2-8: Top: The last Run command you entered appears automatically in the Open text box. You can use the drop-down list to see a list of commands you've previously entered. Bottom: The Run command knows the names of all of your folders and also remembers the last few commands you typed here. As you go, you're shown the best match for the characters you're typing. When the name of the folder you're trying to open appears in the list, click it to avoid having to type the rest of the entry.

Working at the command line is becoming a lost art in the world of Windows, because most people prefer to issue commands by choosing from menus using the mouse. However, some old-timers still love the command line, and even mouse-lovers encounter situations where a typed command is the only way to do something.

If you're an old-time PC veteran, your head probably teems with neat Run commands you've picked up over the years. If you're new to this idea, however, here are a few of the useful and timesaving functions you can perform with the Run dialog box:

As noted later in this discussion, one of the most important Start menu commands is the All Programs menu, where you'll find the name of almost every application on your computer. You can open these programs one at a time by typing its program file name in the Open text box and then pressing Enter. That's an extremely useful shortcut for both pros and novices alike, because it's frequently faster to launch a program this way than to use the Start→All Programs menu.

Unfortunately, the program file name isn't the same as its plain-English name; it's a cryptic, abbreviated version. For example, if you want to open Microsoft Word, you must type

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The humble Search command looks no more special than anything else on the Start menu. In Windows XP, however, it's a newly revised powerhouse that's far more complex to navigate. You'll probably use it often.

The Search function can quickly find all kinds of computerish things: file and folder icons, computers on your network, Web sites, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Microsoft is at it again, adding cutesy cartoon characters to its software. Fortunately, the Search program works just as well without the dog as with it.

If you'd just as soon not have little Rover eyeing you with his little anthropomorphic 3-D eyes while you do your searching, it's easy enough to get rid of him. Click directly on the animated character to open up the panel illustrated here.

Click "Turn off the animated character" to get rid of the dog. (You must still sit through one final animation while it saunters away.)

On the other hand, if this kind of thing seems to make computers less intimidating for you, click "Choose a different animated character" instead. You'll find that Microsoft has provided not just one, but several provocative little characters that can occupy the bottom of your Search panel—a wizard, some yuppie woman in a flying car, and a surfboard kid whose face appears to be made of a banana. Click Next until you see the one you want, and then click OK.

Finally, if you do decide to tolerate Microsoft's animation attempts, don't miss the "Do a trick" link that appears when you click the animated character.

If you save your files exclusively into the My Documents folder (Section 2.14), you'll have little need to use the Search function to locate your files. You'll always know where they are: right there in that folder.

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Choosing Start→Help and Support opens the new, improved Windows Help and Support Center window, which is described in Chapter 5.

Once again, speed fans have an alternative to using the mouse—just press the F1 key to open the Help window.

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This extremely important command opens an extremely important window: the Control Panel, which houses two dozen programs you'll use to change almost every important setting on your PC. It's so important, in fact, that it gets a chapter of its own (Chapter 9).

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In previous versions of Windows, a My Network Places icon used to appear on everybody's desktop. Of course, for the millions of nonnetworked PC users in their home offices and bedrooms, it never made much sense. In Windows XP Home Edition, in fact, My Network Places appears only when your PC joins a network—and then only in the Start menu. (You can also put its icon on the desktop yourself, as described on Section 2.1.)

In any case, once it's there, choosing this command opens the My Network Places window, which displays icons for the disks and folders other people on the office network have made available for rummaging. (Much more on this topic in Chapter 18.)

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The My Computer command is the trunk lid, the doorway to every single shred of software on your machine. When you choose this command, a window opens to reveal icons that represent each disk drive in your machine, as shown in Figure 2-19. (Note to power users: Technically, My Computer displays a different icon for each hard drive partition.)

Figure 2-19: Top: The My Computer window is divided into at least three sections. At the top, you see what amounts to the My Documents folders for each person who has an account on this PC (Chapter 16). Then comes a list of hard drives, followed by removable disk drives. This computer has one floppy drive, two hard drives (or one partitioned hard drive—see Appendix A), and one CD-ROM drive. (If there's a disk in the CD-ROM drive, you get to see its name, not just its drive letter.) Bottom: When you select a disk icon by clicking it, the Details pane on the left side of the window displays its capacity and amount of free space.

For example, by double-clicking your hard drive icon and then the various folders on it, you can eventually see the icons for every single file and folder on your computer. (The My Computer icon no longer appears on the desktop—unless you put it there, as described on Section 2.1.)

You don't have to live with "My This, My That" as the names of the important Windows folders. You can rename them extremely easily, as described on Section 2.15.3.

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Clearly, Microsoft imagined that most of its Windows XP customers would be multimedia mavens, decked out with digital cameras and MP3 music players. To hammer home the point, it has stocked your My Documents folder with My Pictures and My Music folders to store digital photos and music files, respectively.

If you do indeed have a digital camera or MP3 player, you'll probably find that whatever software came with it automatically dumps your photos into, and sucks your music files out of, these folders (if, of course, they're Windows XP–compatible). You'll find much more on this topic in Chapter 8.

If you don't feel the need to stare at these folder names in your Start menu day after day, it's easy enough to get rid of them. Right-click the Start menu; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties. In the dialog box, click the Customize button, then click the Advanced tab. Now scroll down in the Start menu items list until you see My Music or My Pictures. Click "Don't display this item," and then click OK.

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Actually, you probably don't see the My Recent Documents menu command in your Start menu. It's something you have to turn on, using the techniques described in the box below.

Still, the My Recent Documents feature can be useful. It adds, to your Start menu, a submenu list of the last fifteen documents you've opened. Using a list of recent documents can save you time when you want to reopen something you've worked on recently, but you're not in the mood to burrow through folders to find its icon.

Some of the commands that populated the Start menus of previous Windows versions no longer appear in the home version of Windows XP. That's by design, of course: Microsoft is trying to make its new operating system look less overwhelming to the newcomer.

But if you miss some of the old folders—My Network Places and My Recent Documents, for example—it's easy enough to put them back. Over time, having them right in your Start menu can save you quite a bit of burrowing.

Right-click the Start menu. From the shortcut menu, choose Properties. Now the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears. Click the Customize button, and then the Advanced tab.

In the scrolling list, you'll find a checkbox that makes My Network Places appear in the Start menu. Windows 2000 veterans may also want to turn on "Display as Connect to menu" under Network Connections, so that you have a handy pop-up menu of network connections in your Start menu. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the list, you'll also see an option that adds System Administrative Tools to your All Programs menu and even to your Start menu. (You can read about these technical utilities in Chapter 15.)

At the bottom of the dialog box, turn on "List my most recently opened documents" to add the My Recent Documents command to your Start menu. Click OK twice to return to the desktop and try out your changes.

Note, however, that:

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This command opens up your My Documents folder, which, until Windows XP, appeared as an icon on your desktop. It's designed to hold the data files you and your programs create.

Of course, you're welcome to file your documents anywhere on the hard drive, but most programs propose the My Documents folder as the target location for newly created documents.

Sticking with that principle makes a lot of sense for three reasons. First, it makes navigation easy. You never have to wonder where you filed some document, since all your stuff is sitting right there in the My Documents folder. Second, this arrangement makes backing up easy, in that you can drag the entire My Documents folder right onto a Zip disk or blank CD.

Whenever you log on, Windows XP provides a My Documents folder just for you. (It actually sits in the My Computer→Local Disk (C:)→Documents and Settings→)[Your Name] folder.)

This feature can be confusing if you're not expecting it. For example, if you stop by the computer after somebody else has logged on, none of your stuff is where you expect to find it—specifically, in the My Documents folder. That's because the computer no longer opens your documents folder when you choose Start→My Documents.

If this happens to you, check the name that appears at the top of the Start menu. It identifies who's currently logged on—and whose documents are showing up in the My Documents window.

Third, remember that Windows XP has been designed from the ground up for computer sharing. It's ideal for any situation where different family members, students, or workers share the same PC. Each person who uses the computer will turn on the machine to find her own separate, secure set of files, folders, desktop pictures, Web bookmarks, preference settings—and My Documents folder. (Much more about this feature in Chapter 16.)

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As millions of Windows users have demonstrated, it's perfectly possible to live a long and happy life without ever tampering with the Start menu. For many people, the idea of making it look or work differently comes dangerously close to nerd territory. (It's true that listing your favorite files there gives you quicker access to them—but it's even easier to use the Quick Launch toolbar, as described on Section 3.5.1.)

Still, knowing how to manipulate the Start menu listings may come in handy someday, and provides an interesting glimpse into the way Windows works.

Thanks to the User Accounts feature described in Chapter 16, any changes you make to the Start menu apply only to you. Each person with an account on this PC has an independent, customized Start menu. When you sign onto the machine using your name and password, Windows XP loads your customized Start menu.

Microsoft offers a fascinating set of customization options for the Start menu. It's hard to tell whether these options were selected by a scientific usability study or by a dartboard, but you're likely to find something that suits you.

To view and change the basic options, right-click the Start menu; choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Now the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box opens, as seen in Figure 2-20.

Figure 2-20: Top: The only task you can perform on this first screen is to turn off the new, Windows XP double-column Start menu design to return to the older, single-column Classic Start menu design of Windows versions gone by. The good stuff awaits when you click the Customize button. Bottom: Here's the General tab of the Customize Start Menu dialog box. (The Clear List button refers to the lower-left section of the Start menu, which lists the programs you use most often. Click Clear List if you don't want to risk your supervisor coming by while you're up for coffee, and noticing that your most recently used programs are Tetris Max, Myst III, Tomb Raider, and Quake.)

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Windows got its name from the rectangles on the screen—the windows—where every computer activity takes place. You look at a Web page in a window, type into a window, read email in a window, and look at the contents of a folder in a window—sometimes all at once. But as you create more files, stash them in more folders, and launch more programs, it's easy to wind up paralyzed before a screen awash with cluttered, overlapping rectangles.

Fortunately, Windows is crawling with icons, buttons, and other inventions to help you keep these windows under control.

There are two categories of windows in Windows:

Desktop windows. These windows, sometimes called Windows Explorer windows, include the windows that open when you double-click a disk or folder icon. This is where you organize your files and programs.
Application windows. These are the windows where you do your work—in Word or Internet Explorer, for example.

Nonetheless, all windows have certain components in common (see Figure 3-1).

Title bar. This top strip displays the name of the window. Drag it like a handle when you want to move the window on the screen.
Minimize button. Click this box to temporarily hide a window, shrinking it down into the form of a button on your taskbar (Section 3.4). You can open it again by clicking that button. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then N.
Maximize button. Click this button to enlarge the window so that it fills the screen, gluing its edges to the screen borders. At this point, the maximize button turns into a restore down button (whose icon shows two overlapping rectangles), which you can click to return the window to its previous size.

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There are two categories of windows in Windows:

Desktop windows. These windows, sometimes called Windows Explorer windows, include the windows that open when you double-click a disk or folder icon. This is where you organize your files and programs.
Application windows. These are the windows where you do your work—in Word or Internet Explorer, for example.

Nonetheless, all windows have certain components in common (see Figure 3-1).

Title bar. This top strip displays the name of the window. Drag it like a handle when you want to move the window on the screen.
Minimize button. Click this box to temporarily hide a window, shrinking it down into the form of a button on your taskbar (Section 3.4). You can open it again by clicking that button. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then N.
Maximize button. Click this button to enlarge the window so that it fills the screen, gluing its edges to the screen borders. At this point, the maximize button turns into a restore down button (whose icon shows two overlapping rectangles), which you can click to return the window to its previous size. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then X.

You can also maximize or restore a window by double-clicking its title bar.
Close button. Click the X button to close the window. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+F4.
Menu bar. Click a menu title (such as File or Edit) to open a menu, which reveals a list of commands available for that menu in this window.

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Windows' windows look just fine straight from the factory; all the edges are straight, and the text is perfectly legible. Still, if you're going to stare at this computer screen for half of your waking hours, you may as well investigate some of the ways these windows can be enhanced for better looks and greater efficiency. As it turns out, there's no end to the tweaks Microsoft lets you perform.

You can view the files and folders in a desktop window in any of several ways: as small icons, jumbo icons, a tidy list, and so on. Each window remembers its own view settings.

To change the view of a particular open window, choose one of these commands from its View menu (or from the little

icon on the toolbar): Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, or Details. Figure 3-5 illustrates each of these options.

Figure 3-5: The new Filmstrip view (top left) creates a slide show right in the folder window. Thumbnails view (top right) is also good for photos—or anyone who would like a larger target for clicking each icon. (Tip: If you press Shift as you switch to Thumbnails view, you hide the file names. Do it again to bring the names back.) In the new Tiles view (middle left), your icons appear at standard size, sorted alphabetically into vertical columns—with name and file details just to the right. Icons view sorts the icons horizontally in rows, displaying only their names. The List view (lower left) packs, by far, the most files into the space of a window. Details view (lower right) is the same as List view, except for the additional columns of information that reveal the size, icon type, and the date and time the object was last modified. (This view, a familiar one to Mac fans, is growing in popularity.)

Some of these views are new in Windows XP. Filmstrip view, for example, is a home run for anyone with a digital camera or scanner. It turns the folder window into a slide show machine, complete with Next and Previous buttons beneath an enlarged picture, as well as buttons that rotate the image on the screen. (You get this view automatically when you open your My Pictures folder.)

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On the day it's born, every Windows XP desktop window has a standard toolbar across the top (see Figure 3-9). A toolbar is simply a strip of one-click buttons like Back, Forward, Search, and so on.

Figure 3-9: Top: The three basic toolbars that you can summon independently for any desktop window—and also in Internet Explorer. Bottom: By dragging the vertical left-side handle of a toolbar, you can make the displays more compact by placing two or more bars on the same row. You can even drag one directly up into the menu bar, as shown here, to save additional vertical space.

But by choosing View→Toolbars, or right-clicking a blank spot on a toolbar and pointing to Toolbars on the shortcut menu, you can add or hide whichever toolbars you like, on a window-by-window basis. Three different toolbars are available from the View menu: Standard Buttons, Address Bar, and Links.

As anyone in the U.S. Justice Department could probably tell you, the Internet Explorer Web browser is deeply embedded in Windows itself. These window toolbars are perfect examples: They appear not only in desktop windows but also in Internet Explorer when you're browsing the Web. In fact, you'll probably find them even more useful when you're browsing the Web than when browsing your desktop folders.

This toolbar helps you navigate your desktop (or the Web). The desktop version contains buttons like these:

Back, Forward. On the Web, these buttons let you return to Web pages you've just seen. At the desktop, they display the contents of a disk or folder you've just seen. If you're using one-window-at-a-time mode (see "Uni-Window vs. Multi-Window" on Section 3.2.3), these buttons are your sole means of getting around as you burrow through your folders.

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The permanent blue stripe across the bottom of your screen is the taskbar, one of the most prominent and important elements of the Windows interface (see Figure 3-11).

Figure 3-11: When you see nothing but microscopic icons, point without clicking to view an identifying tooltip.

The taskbar has several segments, each dedicated to an important function. Its right end, the notification area, contains little status icons that display the time, whether or not you're online, whether or not your laptop's plugged in, and so on. The main portion of the taskbar, of course, helps you keep your open windows and programs under control. You can even dress up your taskbar with additional little segments called toolbars, as described in the following pages.

This section covers each of these features in turn.

In Windows XP, Microsoft has chosen a new name for the area formerly known as the tray (the group of tiny icons at the right end of the taskbar): the notification area. (Why use one syllable when eight will do?)

The purpose is much the same: to give you quick access to little status indicators and pop-up menus that control various functions of your PC. Many a software installer inserts its own little icon into this area: fax software, virus software, palmtop synchronization software, and so on.

To figure out what an icon represents, point to it without clicking so that a tooltip balloon appears. To access the controls that accompany it, try both left-clicking and right-clicking the tiny icon. Often, each click produces a different pop-up menu filled with useful controls.

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