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Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition Tips & Tools for Customizing and Optimizing Your OS

By Preston Gralla
Second Edition February 2005
Pages: 572
Series: Hacks
ISBN 10: 0-596-00918-6 | ISBN 13: 9780596009182
(Average of 2 Customer Reviews)

Book description

Completely revised and updated, this smart collection of insider tips and tricks covers the XP operating system from start to finish, including all the new features that come with Service Pack 2 (SP2). You'll also find timesaving hacks for security, file distribution, digital media, web browsing, and more. An ideal all-in-one resource for XP beginners, as well as more experienced power users.
Full Description

A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition covers the XP operating system from start to finish. Among the multitude of topics addressed, this must-have resource includes extensive coverage of hot-button issues such as:

security
web browsing
controlling the control panel
removing uninstallable XP components
pop-up ads

You'll also find timesaving hacks for file distribution; digital media, such as iTunes; and high-visibility web software, services, and exploits that have emerged since the book's last edition. Each hack in the book can be read easily in just a few minutes, saving countless hours of searching for the right answer. Now completely revised and updated to cover Service Pack 2 (SP2), the second edition of this bestseller carefully breaks down the new features that come with SP2, including IE pop-up blocker, Windows Firewall, and the new wireless client. Written by Preston Gralla, the compact and affordable Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition provides direct, hands-on solutions that can be applied to the challenges facing XP beginners, as well as the more experienced power user. Each year, Windows XP is pre-installed on 90 million PCs worldwide, making it the world's most popular operating system.

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Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon

Featured customer reviews

3 tries 1 success, December 18 2006

Rating:

Submitted by knama [Respond | View]

Well I bought the book and started very eagerly in
speeding up the startup and shutdown.
That gave some speedup, o.k.

Trying hack #7 did not work - ther is no key or value named "DontDisplayLastUserName". Adding it and forcing the last user name to be selecte on startup failed.

Trying hack #28 to extend the context menue failed too. Because the system did not find the Cmd.exe or got puzzled with the L parameter.
But the menue text showed up correctly.

So for now I take a rest on those kind of hacks.

Just about all you need, April 16 2005

Rating:

Submitted by smitty_one_each [Respond | View]

Quite a good collection of tips.
For file management, do consider Emacs, which is both free, has a powerful mode called dired, and some great Windows-specific tools you can find on The Emacs Wiki
One area that kept it from being a 5 for me was a lack of discussion of Administrator vs. Limited accounts.
There are some other resources, such as Nonadmin, but this book seems like it should advise a little more in this regard.

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Media reviews "Preston Gralla's Windows XP Hacks: Tips & Tools for Optimizing Your OS appears in its second updated edition to cover SP 2, revealing both wireless hacks and Firefox, MSN desktop search and more. Everything from encryption to using email is covered."
--Diane Donovan, Donovan's Bookshelf, MBR Bookwatch, May 2005

"There are literally thousands of applications designed to improve Windows XP. No doubt, they all mean well. Preston Gralla has provided a noble attempt at pulling together some of the best around."
--Robert Pritchett, MacCompanion, May 2005

"Windows XP Hacks, Second Edition from O’Reilly is your right hand man when it comes to changing a few things about the way Windows XP works. Through thirteen chapters, Preston Gralla, the author, holds your hand as you go through changing everything from the startup screen to the hardware on your system. There has been no dark space of the operating system left un-tweaked, and by the end of reading the book you should at least have a better understanding of what you can do to make Windows XP work better for you."
--Mitch Keeler, Lockergnome.com, April 2005

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