Fixing Windows XP Annoyances

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You can rearrange the furniture in your office, put your favorite tchotchkes on the shelves, and prune your plants any way you like. So why can't you customize Windows to your heart's content?

In fact, Windows XP is surprisingly pliable. This is fortunate, because one of the best ways to deal with many Windows annoyances is to tweak, customize, or otherwise hack the operating system to eradicate them.

THE ANNOYANCE: When I scroll a folder in Windows Explorer or a web page in Internet Explorer, it acts "sticky," as though it needs oiling. I presume oiling my monitor is out of the question, but there's got to be a way to make scrolling snappier.

THE FIX: Microsoft calls this behavior "smooth scrolling," and fortunately, you can turn it off. For this, you'll need a Microsoft program called TweakUI (free, http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx). Click the Explorer category on the left side of the window (Figure 1-1), and on the right side, uncheck the "Enable smooth scrolling" box. Click Apply when you're done.

To turn off smooth scrolling in web pages, in Internet Explorer select Tools → Internet Options, and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the Browsing section, uncheck the "Use smooth scrolling" box, and click OK.

Figure 1-1: Turn off smooth scrolling to make scrolling windows more responsive.

THE ANNOYANCE: The text on my screen is blurry. Do I need glasses?

THE FIX: If the manufacturer's logo on your monitor is also blurry, glasses might be a good idea. Otherwise, there are two things that can cause blurry text in Windows XP.

If everything on your screen is blurry, as opposed to just the text, your display may be set to the wrong resolution. If you have a flat-panel LCD monitor, it has a

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I scroll a folder in Windows Explorer or a web page in Internet Explorer, it acts "sticky," as though it needs oiling. I presume oiling my monitor is out of the question, but there's got to be a way to make scrolling snappier.

THE FIX: Microsoft calls this behavior "smooth scrolling," and fortunately, you can turn it off. For this, you'll need a Microsoft program called TweakUI (free, http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx). Click the Explorer category on the left side of the window (Figure 1-1), and on the right side, uncheck the "Enable smooth scrolling" box. Click Apply when you're done.

To turn off smooth scrolling in web pages, in Internet Explorer select Tools → Internet Options, and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the Browsing section, uncheck the "Use smooth scrolling" box, and click OK.

Figure 1-1: Turn off smooth scrolling to make scrolling windows more responsive.

THE ANNOYANCE: The text on my screen is blurry. Do I need glasses?

THE FIX: If the manufacturer's logo on your monitor is also blurry, glasses might be a good idea. Otherwise, there are two things that can cause blurry text in Windows XP.

If everything on your screen is blurry, as opposed to just the text, your display may be set to the wrong resolution. If you have a flat-panel LCD monitor, it has a native resolution, which matches the number of the monitor's physical pixels. If your monitor's native resolution is 1024x768, for instance, and Windows is set to 800x600, your screen will have to interpolate that lower resolution, and the display will appear blurry. To fix the problem, right-click an empty area of your desktop, click Properties, and then click the Settings tab. Slide the "Screen resolution" slider until the numbers match your screen's native resolution, and then click OK. (See the next annoyance if this setting makes icons and text too small.)

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THE ANNOYANCE: I usually have a lot of application windows open, and it's a pain to have to shove windows out of the way to get to a file on the desktop.

THE FIX: There are a bunch of ways to get to your desktop in a flash. First, hold the Windows logo key (which we'll call Winkey, just to be cute) and press D to quickly minimize all open windows. Press Winkey-D again to restore them. Do this many times to give yourself a headache.

But what if your keyboard havey no Winkey? No problemo; just click the Show Desktop button on the Quick Launch toolbar (the little row of tiny buttons on the far left of your Taskbar). Give the button another click to restore the windows.

Want to free up some Taskbar real estate? Eliminate the Quick Launch toolbar buttons you don't use by right-clicking each one and selecting Delete. To really save space, you can banish all the buttons except Show Desktop, and place the shrunken Quick Launch toolbar next to the Windows System Tray on the far right, as shown in Figure 1-7.

Figure 1-7: Use this handy button to show the Windows desktop without minimizing all your windows.

If you can't move or resize the Quick Launch toolbar, right-click an empty area in the Taskbar and deselect the "Lock the Taskbar" option. When you have things the way you like them, turn "Lock the Taskbar" back on.

If you don't see the Quick Launch toolbar, right-click an empty area on your Taskbar, and go to Toolbars → Quick Launch. And if the Quick Launch toolbar is missing its Show Desktop button? See the "Make a Show Desktop Button" sidebar for instructions on how to add one.

If these tricks don't do it for you, right-click an empty area of the Taskbar, and select "Show the Desktop." It'll look like all your windows have been minimized, but they're just hidden; to bring them back, repeat the procedure but select Show Open Windows instead.

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THE ANNOYANCE: How do I change the name and icon at the top of the Start menu? I don't like being called "AJAX70761."

The name you choose is your username, which is particularly important if you share files with others on your network (Chapter 5) or if you type your username to log into your computer. See the "Welcome Screen" section later in this chapter for more login tips.

THE FIX: Don't take it personally; Windows doesn't really care what you're called. You can choose a new name pretty easily by opening the User Accounts control panel. Choose your account from the list in the lower part of this window, and then click "Change my name."

While you're here, click "Change my picture" to choose a new icon to appear at the top of your Start menu (unless you're using the "Classic" Start menu) and on the Welcome screen. Note that your choices aren't limited to the generic icons Windows shows you; click "Browse for more pictures" to choose any .bmp, .jpg, or .png file on your system.

THE ANNOYANCE: There's too much junk in the Start menu. How can I strip out the clutter so I can more easily find the programs I need?

THE FIX: There are three "zones" in the Windows XP–style Start menu (Figure 1-9), and following typical Microsoft logic, each one works in a completely different way.

Figure 1-9: Items in each of the Start menu zones get removed and customized in different ways.

The two items at the top of the left column (above the line) are fixed entries devoted to opening your web browser and email program. To change or hide these entries, right-click the Start button, select Properties, click the Start Menu tab, and click Customize. On the General tab, change the settings in the Show on Start Menu section.

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I switch between programs using Alt-Tab, it's hard to tell which window is which. The icons alone don't provide enough information, and the Alt-Tab window is too small to show the entire title of each window.

THE FIX: There are two ways to customize the Alt-Tab window. The first requires Creative Element Power Tools, available at http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/. Open the Creative Element Power Tools Control Panel, click the button next to "Change the size of the Alt-TAB window," and stretch the box to customize the size (Figure 1-14).

Figure 1-14: You can change the size of the Alt-Tab window to make room for more icons and longer window captions.

If you want more than a larger Alt-Tab window, try Microsoft's free Alt-Tab Replacement PowerToy, available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx. Once installed, it shows a preview of each window (Figure 1-15), rather than just the icon.

You can switch between multiple documents in the same application in a similar fashion, by pressing Ctrl-Tab or Ctrl-F6. Some applications (such as Word) show documents in separate windows, so they appear individually in the Alt-Tab sequence. Of course, this can be changed, too; in Word, for instance, select Tools → Options, and, on the View tab, uncheck the "Windows in Taskbar" box.

Figure 1-15: Replace the Alt-Tab window with this free PowerToy to see previews of open windows.

THE ANNOYANCE: At some point during the day, Windows starts adding little arrows to my Taskbar buttons and "grouping" my programs. Instead of being able to activate a window by clicking once, I now have to click two or three times to get the window I want (Figure 1-16). Make it stop!

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THE ANNOYANCE: Certain programs never seem to open successfully. If I double-click a JPG file, for instance, my image viewer never launches—I see its icon in the Taskbar, but that's it. Clicking the icon doesn't do anything; the only thing that has any effect is right-clicking it and selecting Close to make it go away.

THE FIX: Although it may seem that the program has crashed, it's probably opening off-screen. Most programs can remember their last position and size, but few are smart enough to realize that they can't be seen. To find out if an application has opened off-screen, click its Taskbar icon so that it appears pushed in, and then press Alt-Space. If a little menu appears, use the cursor keys to select Move, and then press Enter. At this point, a gray rectangle should appear somewhere on your screen; use your cursor keys to move the rectangle so that it's roughly centered on the desktop, and then press Enter. With any luck, the missing window should magically appear.

If you don't see the menu, minimize all open windows and see if there's a dialog box for the program hiding behind them (in which case, you can click OK or whatever to make it go away). If there's no dialog box, uninstall and then reinstall the program. Still no luck? Contact the manufacturer of the misbehaving application for help.

Underneath the purring Windows interface is a wellhidden facility called DDE (short for Dynamic Data Exchange) that allows applications to communicate with one another. DDE frequently comes into play when you double-click documents in Windows Explorer, in an open folder window, or on the desktop. If the application associated with a document is not running, Explorer launches the application and the document simultaneously. But if the application is already running, Explorer merely sends a DDE message to the application, instructing it to open the document on its own. This should ensure that only one copy (instance) of a program is open at any given time.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I'm sick of the Welcome screen. Why can't I go straight to Windows when I turn on my computer?

THE FIX: You can—if you're the only one using your computer. First, select a password, if you haven't done so already. Open the User Accounts control panel, choose your account from the list, click "Create a password," and then type the password you'd like to use. (Don't worry; you won't have to type it every time.)

Next, go to Start → Run, type control userpasswords2, and click OK. In this different User Accounts window, shown in Figure 1-20, uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box. When prompted, type your username and password (twice), and click OK. Thereafter, you won't have to log in manually again, and the Welcome screen will be banished.

Figure 1-20: Use the Alternate User Accounts window to make it so you don't have to log in every time you turn on your computer.

THE ANNOYANCE: The Welcome screen is telling me I have unread mail. How does it know? And, besides, it's wrong—nobody ever emails me. How do I get rid of this?

THE FIX: Sorry to hear that. Try joining some discussion groups or something, or if you like, I can add your address to some spam lists!

Regardless, the "unread messages" display only works if you're using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to read your email. If you're not using either of these programs, you'll need to edit the Registry to fix the problem. Go to Start → Run, type regedit, and click OK. In the Registry Editor window, expand the branches on the left side to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail.

Then, on the right side, double-click the MessageExpiryDays value; if it's not there, go to Edit → New → DWORD Value, and type MessageExpiryDays

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In designing Windows Explorer, Microsoft tried to strike a balance between useful and simple, and the result is a program that is often neither.

Explorer has a tendency to hide useful information, such as filename extensions and folder sizes, while cluttering windows with pointless links and unnecessary wizards. Sure, you can fix some of these shortcomings by changing settings in dozens of different dialog boxes, but most problems must be resolved with the help of add-on programs or obscure Registry hacks.

Looking at a single folder, and want to know where it is on your system? You'll have to go to View → Folder Options, choose the View tab, and turn on the "Display the full path in the title bar" option. Want the same information in a File → Open dialog box? Sorry, you'll need to purchase an add-on program for that.

Simple features that were present in DOS 20 years ago are still absent from Explorer, such as the ability to rename multiple files at once with wildcards or print out a list of files. You'll need add-on programs for these tasks, too.

The good news is that Windows Explorer is an entirely modular and extremely flexible application and will happily accept your hacks, add-ons, and fixes with aplomb (most of the time). Just think of Explorer as a starting point rather than a finished product, and you'll eventually get the kind of file management you want.

THE ANNOYANCE: Windows Explorer used to have dotted lines connecting the folders in the folder tree. How can I show these lines in Windows XP?

THE FIX: In Windows Explorer, go to Tools → Folder Options, click the View tab, and uncheck the "Display simple folder view in Explorer's Folders list" box. Click OK, and the folder lines will reappear in Windows Explorer, as shown in Figure 2-1.

Windows Explorer is typically seen in its two-pane format, with a folder tree on the left and the contents of the currently selected folder on the right. With the "simple folder view" option enabled, Windows Explorer automatically expands a folder branch when you highlight a folder to show all the folders contained therein. Disable this option, and you'll have to click the little plus signs [+] or double-click the folder names to expand branches

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THE ANNOYANCE: Windows Explorer used to have dotted lines connecting the folders in the folder tree. How can I show these lines in Windows XP?

THE FIX: In Windows Explorer, go to Tools → Folder Options, click the View tab, and uncheck the "Display simple folder view in Explorer's Folders list" box. Click OK, and the folder lines will reappear in Windows Explorer, as shown in Figure 2-1.

Windows Explorer is typically seen in its two-pane format, with a folder tree on the left and the contents of the currently selected folder on the right. With the "simple folder view" option enabled, Windows Explorer automatically expands a folder branch when you highlight a folder to show all the folders contained therein. Disable this option, and you'll have to click the little plus signs [+] or double-click the folder names to expand branches.

Figure 2-1: Lines in the folder tree help show relationships between folders.

THE ANNOYANCE: I like the Details view because it shows all the information about my files at once, but I hate having to go to View → Details every time, only to have Windows Explorer forget my preference when I switch folders.

THE FIX: Windows Explorer won't change the default view settings unless you ask it to. Start by customizing a folder view: select the Details view (or whatever view you like), and choose a sort order by clicking the column headers or by going to View → Arrange Icons by. You can even go to View → Choose Details—or right-click a column heading—to choose which columns appear in the Details view. (See "Sort Photos Chronologically" in Chapter 3 for a nifty way to use one of the extra Details columns here.)

When you're done customizing, go to Tools → Folder Options, choose the View tab, and click the "Apply to All Folders" button. Check the "Remember each folder's view settings" box, and click OK.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I'm looking at a list of files, and I see several files with the same name. I can't tell my love letters from my hate mail!

THE FIX: By default, Windows Explorer hides file extensions, the part of the filename after the last dot. For instance, a Microsoft Word file called Hi Grandma.doc will just appear as Hi Grandma in Windows Explorer. Naturally, this makes it indistinguishable from Hi Grandma.jpg (except, of course, for the tiny file icon). To make it easier to distinguish one file from another, open Windows Explorer, go to Tools → Folder Options, choose the View tab (see Figure 2-12), uncheck the "Hide extensions for known file types" box, and click OK.

Figure 2-12: Use Folder Options to show filename extensions so you can more easily work with your documents.

THE ANNOYANCE: I like to double-click files to open them, as opposed to opening them from within an application. But sometimes when I double-click a file, the wrong program opens. How do I fix this?

THE FIX: Right-click the file you'd like to open, select Properties, and click the Change button to choose a new default program for that type of file. If you don't see the program you want in the list, click the Browse button to locate the application's executable (.exe) file on your hard disk. Click OK in both boxes to confirm your choice.

The Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, the program that appears when you open image files, is a special case and usually won't release its hold on its file types, even when you choose a new default program. See "Down with the Picture and Fax Viewer!" in Chapter 3 for the fix.

This doesn't mean you're stuck with a single program to open all files of a certain type, though; you can use the File Types window to assign several programs to each file type, and choose between them on the fly. In Explorer, go to Tools → Folder Options, choose the File Types tab, and then select the file type from the list. You can sort the list by Extension or description (File Type) by clicking the respective column headers. For instance, to customize the associations for JPG image files, click the Extension header, and highlight JPG in the first column. Click the Advanced button (or click Restore and then Advanced) to display the Edit File Type window shown in Figure 2-13.

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THE ANNOYANCE: The folders listed in the gray bar along the left side of most File → Open and File → Save As dialog boxes aren't terribly useful. Can I put my own folders in there?

THE FIX: Absolutely, but as you've undoubtedly figured out, you can't do it from within the file dialogs themselves (except in Microsoft Office applications, as discussed later in this fix).

If you have Windows XP Professional or Media Center Edition, open the Group Policy Editor (go to Start → Run and type gpedit.msc). On the left, navigate to User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer\Common Open File Dialog, and then in the right pane, double-click the "Items displayed in Places Bar" entry (see Figure 2-16). Select the Enabled option, and in the five Item fields, type the full path of each folder you'd like to appear in your Places bar. (If you want to save some typing, see "Copy a Folder Path to the Clipboard" for a shortcut.)

Figure 2-16: Use the Group Policy Editor to customize the Places bar in file dialogs.

Click OK when you're done. Your custom Places bar will appear in the file dialogs in most of your applications right away, although you'll need to restart any running applications to get them to recognize your changes. The big exception is Microsoft Office applications, which use nonstandard dialogs.

Microsoft saw the need to allow users to customize the Places bar, but only made it easy in Microsoft Office applications (Versions 2002 and later). In the File → Open or File → Save As dialog boxes, highlight any folder in the listing, click the Tools button, and then select "Add to My Places" to add it to the end of the list. To remove a folder from the bar, right-click it and select Remove. (If you want to rearrange the folders and the Move Up and Move Down menu items are grayed out, you must remove and re-add folders until they're in the order you want.)

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I'm viewing a folder in Windows Explorer and I press Ctrl-F or F3 to search for something in that folder, the folder tree is replaced with a Search pane (see Figure 2-18). I want my tree back!

THE FIX: There are a bunch of ways to get to the Search tool in Windows, but few are as convenient as starting a search based in the current folder with Ctrl-F. Of course, it's decidedly inconvenient when you lose your current view every time you start a search this way. And what's worse is that there's no way to get the folder tree back without a lot of clicking (pressing Ctrl-F again doesn't do it); you have to go to View → Explorer Bar → Folders (or press the Folders button if the toolbar is visible, as discussed in "Get Back the Folder Tree") to show it again.

The workaround is to open Search in a new window by right-clicking a folder in Windows Explorer and selecting Search; it's not as quick as Ctrl-F or F3, but it does the trick.

To force Windows Explorer to open a new window every time you press Ctrl-F or F3, you'll need Creative Element Power Tools, available at http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/. Once you've installed the software, open the Creative Element Power Tools Control Panel and turn on the "Fix the Windows Search tool" option.

Figure 2-18: Start a search, and the folder tree disappears!

THE ANNOYANCE: Every time I open the Search tool, I'm asked "What do you want to search for?" and then I have to pick from a list. Is my Photoshop file a "picture" or is it a "document"? These unnecessary steps drive me crazy. How can I go right to the Search window?

THE FIX: To skip this menu in the future and go straight to the "All files and folders" Search tool (see Figure 2-19), return to the "What do you want to search for?" page and click "Change preferences." Click "Change files and folders search behavior," and select Advanced. Explorer will remember your preference, and you won't have to deal with the menu again unless you want to.

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In the old days, video problems meant using a butter knife to pry a tape out of your VCR. But in our modern Windows XP era, video hassles result from the complex interplay among player software, hardware (and its drivers), a baffling assortment of codecs, and Microsoft's DirectX extensions. And of course, there's also sound to consider, plus television piped through your PC (via the Media Center Edition of Windows XP), as well as managing digital photos and burning CDs and DVDs. I'll tackle these and other media annoyances in this chapter.

THE ANNOYANCE: When I try to open a video clip in Windows Media Player, it says it can't play the file. Not surprisingly, the More Information button doesn't provide any useful information.

THE FIX: Chances are you don't have the required codec installed on your system. A codec (which stands for compressor/decompressor) is software responsible for storing data in a video file and subsequently extracting it; in order to play any given video, you must use the same codec that was used to create the video in the first place, regardless of the player application you're using.

To figure out what codec was used, you'll need a program such as GSpot (free, http://www.headbands.com/gspot/) or AVIcodec (free, http://avicodec.duby.info). Just drag and drop the video file onto GSpot or AVIcodec, and the program will display the file's codec. (If it doesn't, the file is probably corrupted, or was encoded with a nonstandard scheme.) Armed with the name or four-digit 4CC code of the codec (shown in Figure 3-1), surf over to http://www.fourcc.org/fcccodec.htm and download your codec from the list. If the 4CC code isn't there, a quick Google search should turn up some useful leads.

Figure 3-1: Use GSpot to find the codec necessary to play a given video clip.

Of course, Windows Media Player might have trouble playing a video because there's something wrong with the video file. First, make sure your video file is complete; if you downloaded it from the Web, download it again. (If it's an incomplete download, see the next annoyance for a workaround.) If you can't get a better version of the file (and it's an MPEG video), you may be able to fix it with the MPEG Header Corrector (free,

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I try to open a video clip in Windows Media Player, it says it can't play the file. Not surprisingly, the More Information button doesn't provide any useful information.

THE FIX: Chances are you don't have the required codec installed on your system. A codec (which stands for compressor/decompressor) is software responsible for storing data in a video file and subsequently extracting it; in order to play any given video, you must use the same codec that was used to create the video in the first place, regardless of the player application you're using.

To figure out what codec was used, you'll need a program such as GSpot (free, http://www.headbands.com/gspot/) or AVIcodec (free, http://avicodec.duby.info). Just drag and drop the video file onto GSpot or AVIcodec, and the program will display the file's codec. (If it doesn't, the file is probably corrupted, or was encoded with a nonstandard scheme.) Armed with the name or four-digit 4CC code of the codec (shown in Figure 3-1), surf over to http://www.fourcc.org/fcccodec.htm and download your codec from the list. If the 4CC code isn't there, a quick Google search should turn up some useful leads.

Figure 3-1: Use GSpot to find the codec necessary to play a given video clip.

Of course, Windows Media Player might have trouble playing a video because there's something wrong with the video file. First, make sure your video file is complete; if you downloaded it from the Web, download it again. (If it's an incomplete download, see the next annoyance for a workaround.) If you can't get a better version of the file (and it's an MPEG video), you may be able to fix it with the MPEG Header Corrector (free, http://www.vcdhelp.us/html/tutmpegheadercorrector.html).

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THE ANNOYANCE: I installed some dictation software and connected a microphone, but I'm not capturing any sound. I know my family is sick of my incessant griping, but I thought my computer liked me!

THE FIX: Open the Windows Volume Control (double-click the speaker icon in the Windows System Tray or go to Start → Run and type sndvol32), and select Options → Properties. If more than one device is listed in the "Mixer device" drop-down list, either select the one that corresponds to the one your microphone is connected to, or connect your microphone to the device selected here. Next, select the Recording option, and place checkmarks next to all of the items in the "Show the following volume controls" list immediately below. Click OK when you're done.

When you return to the main window, now titled Recording Control, place a checkmark in the Select box in the Microphone column (Figure 3-11), and then move the Volume slider so that it's somewhere in the middle.

Figure 3-11: If your microphone doesn't appear to be working, make sure it's the active recording input.

For best results with voice-dictation software, use a USB microphone/headset instead of the conventional setup that plugs directly into your sound card. Not only will the quality and clarity improve, but you'll bypass troublesome sound card drivers.

If your dictation software lets you choose the recording source, make sure you select the same device you picked in the Windows Volume Control. Still no sound? Run the calibration utility that came with your dictation software to ensure that the recording volume is set correctly. If all else fails, replace the microphone.

THE ANNOYANCE: I can't hear any sound coming from my speakers. All I can hear now are the voices in my head.

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I double-click image files, they open in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. I'd rather have them open in Photoshop or another, more capable image program, but changing the settings in Windows Explorer's File Types window doesn't seem to have any effect.

THE FIX: Annoying, isn't it? Microsoft included this rudimentary image viewer in Windows XP, and took steps to ensure that it couldn't easily be disabled.

To turn off the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer for good, open the Registry Editor (go to Start → Run and type regedit), and expand the branches to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers. Delete the ShellImagePreview key, and close the Registry Editor when you're done; the change will take effect immediately.

If you want to use another image viewer without mucking around in your Registry, there are ways to open images other than double-clicking. For instance, you can drag and drop an image file onto the window of any viewer to open it, or right-click an image file and select Open to use an alternate viewer. (Select Open With, and, if need be, Choose Program if your favorite program doesn't appear in the right-click list.)

THE ANNOYANCE: Whenever I print photos on any color printer, they don't match what I see onscreen.

THE FIX: This is a common problem, and one, unfortunately, without a clear-cut, foolproof solution. The problem is that your monitor, printer, scanner, and digital camera all handle color a little differently. It's up to you to calibrate Windows so that all of these devices can communicate without botching your color photos too badly.

First, you'll need to gamma-correct your monitor, which ensures that its brightness and color balance settings are optimized for your setup. Many high-end monitors have gamma adjustment features, but barring that, you can use the free QuickGamma utility (Figure 3-20), available at

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THE ANNOYANCE: I'd like to hook up my Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) machine to a TV so I can watch broadcasts, recordings, and even DVDs on the big screen. But when I try this, all I see is black. Does my PC have something against Bruce Campbell movies?

THE FIX: It's nothing personal, and it's probably easy to fix.

When you connect a TV to your computer, you should see your entire desktop, Start menu and all. If you see nothing at all, your PC's TV-out port may be disabled. If you're using a laptop, you may have to press a special keystroke combination to "activate" the TV-out and external VGA ports. On some Dell laptops, for instance, hold the Fn key while pressing F8 to switch between the internal display, the external display, and both; consult your computer's documentation for details. Press these keys repeatedly until you see a picture.

If you see a picture for everything except the video, you have a video overlay problem. See "Shed Light on Blank Videos," earlier in this chapter, for a number of workarounds.

Naturally, make sure you're using the right cable. Your PC's TV-out port might use a standard S-Video plug, or it might require a proprietary connector (at extra cost, of course). If your computer lacks a TV-out port, you'll need to get an adapter cable that can connect the PC's external VGA port to your TV. If your TV has a VGA port, you can make the link with a standard VGA cable. If not, you can get a VGA-to-RCA or VGA-to-S-Video adapter cheaply from eBay or conveniently from your local electronics store.

THE ANNOYANCE: Windows MCE is really pretty, but I only have the plain (non-MCE) version of Windows XP. How can I copy MCE's spiffy look and feel?

THE FIX: Get the Royale Windows XP theme from http://www.microsoft.com/nz/windowsxp/downloads/bliss/newbliss.mspx. As a special treat for you Windows users in New Zealand, you can get special Kiwi versions of the Bliss background wallpaper from

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THE ANNOYANCE: I've heard that Windows XP comes with built-in support for CD burning, but I can't make heads or tails of it. How do I make CDs without purchasing expensive add-on software?

THE FIX: Windows XP does indeed include rudimentary support for CD and DVD burners. To get started, in Windows Explorer, right-click your burner's drive icon, select Properties, choose the Recording tab, check the "Enable CD recording on this drive" box, and click OK. Insert a blank disc in your burner, and a dialog box should pop up and ask you what you want to do with the disc. Choose one of the options here, or click Cancel to banish XP's cumbersome wizard.

To make a data disc, open Windows Explorer and drag the files onto your burner's drive icon. You can create folders, rearrange or rename the files, and even delete things from the disc; nothing is permanent until you burn the disc. When you're done adding data, right-click the drive icon (or the "Files Ready to be Written to the CD" note above the file listing, if it's there), and select "Write these files to CD" (Figure 3-24).

Figure 3-24: Use Windows Explorer to create basic data discs.

Likewise, you can create audio CDs (as well as data CDs containing music files, such as MP3s) using the latest Windows Media Player. Open WMP and click the Library tab. In the tree on the left, right-click the My Playlists folder, and select New. Drag and drop any music files (or tracks from the All Music folder in your library) into this window, and rearrange them in the desired order. When you're done, click the Start Burn button at the bottom right (and confirm that you want to save the new playlist, if you haven't done so already).

If you want more flexibility, or just a more streamlined interface, spend the bucks for a third-party application such as Roxio Easy Media Creator ($99.95, http://www.roxio.com

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The Web makes our world simultaneously bigger and smaller. It's hard to imagine computing without a connection to the Internet, but it's also hard to forget all the annoyances that come along for the ride, such as pop-ups, spam, and droves of incomprehensible error messages.

Having access to the Internet opens your PC to a host of technological dangers; sometimes it's the dangers themselves that cause problems, while other times it's the programs designed to protect your PC (such as firewall software) that end up doing more harm than good. The fixes in this chapter will help you streamline your Internet experience without needlessly compromising your security.

For networking and wireless annoyances related to connecting to the Internet, see Chapter 5. For help with web-based audio and video, see Chapter 3.

THE ANNOYANCE: I've heard that Internet Explorer is riddled with security holes. Has Microsoft fixed these problems? If not, why not?

THE FIX: Over the years, Microsoft has fixed dozens of security holes in Internet Explorer, and if you've been using XP's Windows Update feature regularly, you already have these patches installed. But the larger issue is IE's underlying design—and its cozy connection with the underlying operating system—which permits any web site to install software on your PC. At first, web site designers used this capability sparingly, mostly to install widgets and small helper programs to add trivial features to their pages. But it didn't take long for unscrupulous hackers and greedy corporate executives to learn how to exploit Internet Explorer's open nature, which is why we now have spyware, adware, browser hijackers, pop-ups, and other nasty surprises. Despite these problems, Microsoft has too much corporate strategy tied up in this design to change it now, which leaves you with two choices: hobble Internet Explorer by turning off the most dangerous features, or use a safer alternative such as Mozilla Firefox (more on that later).

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THE ANNOYANCE: I've heard that Internet Explorer is riddled with security holes. Has Microsoft fixed these problems? If not, why not?

THE FIX: Over the years, Microsoft has fixed dozens of security holes in Internet Explorer, and if you've been using XP's Windows Update feature regularly, you already have these patches installed. But the larger issue is IE's underlying design—and its cozy connection with the underlying operating system—which permits any web site to install software on your PC. At first, web site designers used this capability sparingly, mostly to install widgets and small helper programs to add trivial features to their pages. But it didn't take long for unscrupulous hackers and greedy corporate executives to learn how to exploit Internet Explorer's open nature, which is why we now have spyware, adware, browser hijackers, pop-ups, and other nasty surprises. Despite these problems, Microsoft has too much corporate strategy tied up in this design to change it now, which leaves you with two choices: hobble Internet Explorer by turning off the most dangerous features, or use a safer alternative such as Mozilla Firefox (more on that later).

If you want to stick with Internet Explorer for now, you can take steps to make it safer. Open the Windows Control Panel and open Internet Options (or, in IE, go to Tools → Internet Options). Choose the Security tab, select the Internet icon at the top, and then click the Custom Level button to display the Security Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1: Use the Security Settings window to turn off some of the more dangerous Internet Explorer features.

Next, go down the list and set each of the options as shown in Table 4-1. Depending on which edition of Windows XP you have and whether or not the latest service pack is installed, some of these options may be different or missing.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I use Eudora to read my email, but Outlook appears at the top of my Start menu. Can I put Eudora here instead, or does Microsoft want me to switch to Outlook?

THE FIX: Well, yes, Microsoft does want you to switch to Outlook. And they want you to use Word and Internet Explorer, rather than WordPerfect and Firefox. If they had their way, you'd be brushing your teeth with Microsoft Toothpaste. The good news is that you can have it your way; Sinatra would be proud.

To change the program that appears in your Start menu, right-click the Start button, select Properties, and choose the Start Menu tab. Make sure the "Start menu" option is selected, click the Customize button, and choose the General tab. Pick the desired program from the drop-down Email list in the "Show on Start Menu" section (see Figure 4-15), and click OK. (You can also remove the entry entirely by clearing the checkbox next to "E-mail.")

But the Start menu entry is only a small piece of the puzzle. What's particularly important is the default email program—the program that opens automatically when you click a mailto: link in a web page or email a file from within another application. To make your favorite email program the default, open the Internet Options control panel, click the Programs tab, and choose your program from the drop-down Email list. If you don't see your favorite email program here, see the "Add or Remove Email Clients" sidebar.

Figure 4-15: Choose your favorite email program to appear in the Start menu.

THE ANNOYANCE: I downloaded my email this morning. Of the 873 messages in my inbox, only 4 were actually for me (my thinning hair and waning sex drive notwithstanding). Where are the other 869 messages coming from, and how do I stop them?

THE FIX: There is no perfect solution to the spam problem. Either you live with some junk mail in your inbox, or you employ a spam filter that occasionally deletes valid messages. Fortunately, a handful of steps can reduce your exposure to spam.

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A network connects two or more computers, allowing users to exchange files, collaborate on projects, share printers, share an Internet connection, and more. All you need to set up a network is a broadband connection (for the Internet part), one or two hundred dollars' worth of equipment, and a little patience. But wait… it gets better. You don't even have to rip apart the walls to lay cable. If you're ready to cut the proverbial cord, you can build a wireless network (or expand your existing wired setup with wireless technology) and surf the Internet from your back porch.

That's the good news. The bad news is that while setting up home networks isn't too difficult, you'll likely face a whole slew of annoyances as you attempt to share your Internet connection, printers, drives, and folders. Of course, you'll also need to tackle knotty logon, password, and security issues with your network. Ready? Let's dig in….

THE ANNOYANCE: I want to set up a home network, but I can't figure out what I need to make it work. I thought Gosford Park was confusing, but this is ridiculous!

THE FIX: Well, to start with you need at least two computers, and a way to connect them. If you're assembling a wired Ethernet network, you're in luck: almost every PC manufactured after 1998 or so has a built-in Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC). (Many newer PCs—and nearly all laptops produced after 2003—also include wireless cards.)

For the most part, network cables have gone the way of the dinosaur, because of the convenience offered by wireless networking. But cables still offer a fast, hassle-free connection that's susceptible to neither interference (see "Increase Range and Improve Reception") nor intruders (see "Surf Safely at the Coffee Shop"). If you decide to go the cable route, you'll need category-5 patch cables to connect each PC to your router. (If you're setting up a wireless network, you'll also need one of these cables to connect the wireless router to your DSL or cable modem, as discussed later in this chapter.) Or, for a quick-and-dirty two-PC network without a router, a single category-5

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THE ANNOYANCE: I want to set up a home network, but I can't figure out what I need to make it work. I thought Gosford Park was confusing, but this is ridiculous!

THE FIX: Well, to start with you need at least two computers, and a way to connect them. If you're assembling a wired Ethernet network, you're in luck: almost every PC manufactured after 1998 or so has a built-in Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC). (Many newer PCs—and nearly all laptops produced after 2003—also include wireless cards.)

For the most part, network cables have gone the way of the dinosaur, because of the convenience offered by wireless networking. But cables still offer a fast, hassle-free connection that's susceptible to neither interference (see "Increase Range and Improve Reception") nor intruders (see "Surf Safely at the Coffee Shop"). If you decide to go the cable route, you'll need category-5 patch cables to connect each PC to your router. (If you're setting up a wireless network, you'll also need one of these cables to connect the wireless router to your DSL or cable modem, as discussed later in this chapter.) Or, for a quick-and-dirty two-PC network without a router, a single category-5 crossover cable will do in a pinch.

Of course, you'll also need a router, which serves as a hub for the aforementioned cables. (If you want to connect any computers wirelessly, you'll need to get a wireless router that includes a built-in access point.) Routers let you share an Internet connection among any number of computers, and even offer protection from the outside world by way of a built-in firewall (for more on firewalls, see "Set Up a Wireless Network").

After you've properly installed the drivers for your network adapters (wireless or otherwise), Windows should do the rest without much help from you—but unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. (If you run into trouble installing the network adapters or other hardware, turn to Chapter 6.)

You can fix most simple configuration problems by completing the cumbersome Network Setup Wizard on all PCs in your network. Open the Network Connections control panel, and click the "Set up a home or small office network" link on the left side. (Or, if you don't see the Network Tasks pane, double-click the Network Setup Wizard icon.) Click the Next button on the first few pages, and then answer the questions as follows:

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THE ANNOYANCE: I just signed up for a broadband Internet connection in my home. Everything seems to be plugged in correctly, but I can't get to any web sites.

THE FIX: Modern broadband connections are pretty simple, until they stop working. Most of the time, the solution involves nothing more than unplugging your cable or DSL modem (and router, if you have one), leaving the devices unplugged for at least two full minutes, and then plugging them back in. If that doesn't work, you'll have to do a little digging.

If you don't yet have a router, consider getting one as part of the solution to this problem. As described in "Set Up a Wireless Network," routers offer better firewall protection than Windows can; they also take care of a lot of the problems that commonly plague broadband connections, such as finicky dialers.

Examine your DSL or cable modem's port lights, which will tell you whether or not a particular service is working. One should be lit (green, usually) when your PC is connected, and another should be lit when your broadband is connected. These lights typically flash to indicate that data is being transferred. If they're off, or perhaps red or orange, something is wrong with your modem or your connection, and no amount of wrangling in Windows will fix it. To see if your modem is to blame, reset it (see your modem's documentation for details) and try again; replace your modem if it won't respond even after a reset. If your modem checks out, your connection might be down; give your ISP an hour or two to bring your service back up, and contact them if it takes any longer.

If you're still using the software that came with your router, see "Get Rid of Third-Party Dialers" for an alternative that may work.

Whether you use a router, XP's own Point-to-Point over Ethernet (PPPoE) dialer, or your ISP's dialing software to connect, the way your dialer behaves when you try to connect should tell you what's wrong. If it tells you that your login is incorrect, either your username or your password is wrong. The most common mistake involves the username, which often resembles an email address (e.g.,

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