Fixing Windows XP Annoyances

Chapter 6. Setup and Hardware

Installing and setting up an operating system is akin to dental surgery (without anesthesia), sitting in traffic on a hot day (without A/C), or cleaning the cat litter box (without—never mind). Surprisingly, and to Microsoft’s credit, Windows XP’s installation and hardware detection procedures are a lot better than those of previous versions of Windows. However, they’re a long way from being effortless.

Hassling with Microsoft’s registration system, dealing with restore CDs, sorting out drivers, and worse are still unenviable tasks, but once you know how to deal with these annoyances you can make Windows run more smoothly…at least, until the next version of the operating system comes out!

SET UP

Boot with the Windows CD

THE ANNOYANCE: My PC got hit with a pretty nasty virus, and the damage was so severe that I had to wipe my hard disk clean (see “Wipe Your Hard Disk Clean”). Now I’m trying to reinstall Windows, but my PC won’t boot off the CD. How else can I install this thing?

THE FIX: Normally, you’re supposed to install (or reinstall) Windows from within Windows. With Windows running, pop the CD into your drive, and Setup should start automatically. This is the method of choice if you’re upgrading to a newer version of Windows or simply reinstalling your existing version to fix some problems, since Setup is able to preserve your settings (desktop icons, colors, etc.), as well as installed applications and data.

Note

On some modern PCs, you can press ...