If you have one of the earlier Media Center
machines, you should be able to launch the video
by selecting My Videos from the Media Center
main menu. Use your directional buttons to scroll
down to Shared Video, then select the Sample
Videos folder and choose the thumbnail for the file
“mcintro.” If the file isn’t there, try the following:
1. Close Media Center and select My Computer
from the Windows XP Start menu.
2. Click on the Search button and select the
“All files and folders” option under the
heading “What do you want to search for?”
3. Type the word
mcintro, and click on search.
4. Right click on the listing for mcintro.wmv, and choose Extract. Browse to the My
Videos folder and select Extract.
5. Launch Media Center and return to the My Videos menu.
6. Select the video from the My Videos folder, and enjoy!
More Orientation Tools and Options
Now you’ve gotten a brief look at what’s in store for you with your Media Center enter-
tainment features. If you’re also new to the core Windows XP Professional operating
system that Media Center is based on, you may want to take advantage of some of the
other informative orientation materials Microsoft has included on your system.
Take the Windows XP Guided Tour
The Windows XP guided tour includes audio and animations to graphically present
the major features of the operating system. The tour is broken down into the following
sections:
■ Best for Business
■ Safe and Easy Personal Computing
■ Unlock the World of Digital Media
■ The Connected Home and Office
■ Windows XP Basics
The easiest way to reach the animated slideshow (which uses Macromedia Flash tech-
nology) is by clicking on Start and then Help and Support, using your mouse, or by
pressing the F1 key on your keyboard (make sure that you are on the Windows XP
desktop when you do it—not in an application such as Media Center).
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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER
tip
As a general rule, wher-
ever you see a button on
the Media Center menu, you
can activate it by highlighting
it with the remote control or
mouse so that the button
turns green, and then you
can either press OK on the remote
or click once with your mouse.