Windows XP Power Hound. Teach Yourself New Tricks (e-book) Gliwice

Windows XP can be a great tool, but it is all too easy to trip over Windows XP's annoying traits more often than you leverage its productivity. Windows XP power-users troll online resources, documentation, and the expertise (or lucky finds) of friends for valuable tips and tricks--a keyboard shortcut here, an undocumented double-click there--to eliminate annoyances, save time, and take control of their Windows XP. But what if there was an easier way?This new book presents literally hundreds of problems and solutions, amazing power tips, cool tricks, and clever workarounds in one clearly organized, easy to use, and portable resource. Truly insightful and amusing, Windows XP Power Hound gives Windows XP users practical hints for everything from the desktop to Office programs to the registry, and includes documented (but little-known) tips as well as previously undocumented tricks. Windows XP Power Hound moves far beyond mere productivity and explores what's possible with Windows XP--including cool things you probably never thought of doing.An understanding of Windows XP basics will get the job done. But discovering the most useful I didn't know that! tips and shortcuts will make using Windows XP a far richer and less frustrating experience. The practical, concise format of Windows XP Power Hound makes it easy to dip into for a quick tip from time to time; the warm, jargon-free tone makes it easy to read cover to cover.Anyone who wants to smooth out Windows XP's speed bumps and get some serious speed to accelerate through the bottlenecks will find that even a handful of these useful, to-the-point tips will make Windows XP Power Hound worth its weight in chocolate. Spis treści: Windows XP Power Hound SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with OReilly The Missing Credits About the Author About the Creative Team Acknowledgments The Missing Manual Series Introduction How This Book Works A Special Note: The Registry Some Experience Required About These Arrows About MissingManuals.com 1. Getting Started 1.1. Startup and Shutdown 1.1.1. Instant Startup 1.1.2. Instant Startup for Laptops 1.1.3. Nixing the Startup Screen 1.1.4. Changing the Startup Screen 1.1.5. Good Housekeeping for Speedier Startups 1.1.6. Killing the Error Messenger 1.1.7. Customizing Your Startup Process 1.1.8. Automating Reboots and Shutdowns 1.1.9. Speedier Shutdown Times 1.1.10. Other Software that Can Control Startups and Shutdowns 1.2. Controlling Your Monitor and Sounds 1.2.1. Insta-Mute 1.2.2. The Silence of the Modem 1.2.3. Personalizing Your PCs Sounds 1.2.4. Building Sound Themes 1.2.5. Visual Reminders 1.2.6. Adding Sounds to Microsoft Office 1.2.7. More Screen Real Estate with Virtual Desktops 1.2.8. Expand Your Screen Real Estate with Two Monitors 1.3. Individual Windows Tricks 1.3.1. Previewing Windows Before Switching to Them 1.3.2. Manage Groups of Open Windows 1.4. User Accounts and Logons 1.4.1. Using Your Own Picture for Your User Account 1.4.2. Fast User Switching 1.4.3. Create a Random Password 1.4.4. Create a Password Reset Disk 1.4.5. Set Disk Quotas for Users 1.4.5.1. Setting quotas that apply to everyone 1.4.5.2. Setting quotas individually 2. The Desktop and Interface 2.1. Desktop Makeover 2.1.1. The Easiest Way to Customize Your Desktop 2.1.2. Changing the Standard Desktop Icons 2.1.3. Cleaning Your Desktop Automatically 2.1.4. Adding a Run Icon to Your Desktop 2.1.5. Rearranging Your Desktop Icons 2.1.6. Slapping Your Favorite Web Page on Your Desktop 2.1.7. Special Effects for the Windows Desktop 2.2. The Start Menu 2.2.1. Making the Start Menu Jump to Attention 2.2.2. Switching to the Classic Start Menu 2.2.3. Tweaking the Start Menu 2.2.4. Customizing the Most Frequently Used Programs List 2.2.5. More Advanced Start Menu Tricks 2.2.6. Organizing the All Programs Menu 2.3. The Taskbar 2.3.1. Launching Web Pages from the Taskbar 2.3.2. Adding Files, Folders, and Disks to the Taskbar 2.3.3. Hiding Icons on the Bottom of Your Screen 2.3.4. The Quick Launch Bar 2.4. The Control Panel 2.4.1. Accessing the Control Panel Faster 2.4.2. Cleaning up the Control Panel 2.4.3. Bypassing the Control Panel with Keyboard Shortcuts 2.4.4. Recategorizing Control Panel Applets 2.5. Icons and Themes 2.5.1. Turning Your Photos into a Screen Saver 2.5.2. Using Themes To Dress Up Your PC 2.5.2.1. Where to find more themes 2.5.3. Creating Your Own Theme 3. Windows Explorer and Searching 3.1. The Windows Explorer Interface 3.1.1. Opening Explorer with a Keyboard Shortcut 3.1.2. Speeding Up Windows Explorer with Keyboard Shortcuts 3.1.3. Showing the Full File Path in Explorer 3.1.4. Customizing Windows Explorer Toolbars 3.1.5. Alternatives to Windows Explorer 3.1.5.1. PowerDesk 3.1.5.2. Turbo Browser 3.1.5.3. Total Commander 3.2. Working with Files and Folders 3.2.1. Instantly Jumping to a File or Folder 3.2.2. Copying and Moving Files Faster 3.2.3. Customizing the File Details Displayed in Explorer 3.2.4. Adding Images to Your Folders 3.2.5. Showing File Name Extensions 3.2.6. Renaming Groups of Files in One Fell Swoop 3.2.7. Displaying Hidden and System Files and Folders 3.2.8. Changing Where Windows Stores Documents 3.2.9. Making it Easier to Open Files 3.2.10. Setting the Program Used to Open a File Type 3.2.11. Displaying Cascading Folders on the Start Menu 3.3. Compressing Files and Folders 3.3.1. Getting Extra Disk Space by Using NTFS Compression 3.3.1.1. Compressing a folder 3.3.1.2. Compressing an entire drive 3.3.2. Getting Extra Space by Using Zip Folders 3.3.3. Using WinZip for More Compression Features 3.3.4. Automatically Compressing and Emailing a Photo 3.4. Searching Your Computer 3.4.1. Customizing Windows XP's Basic Search Tools 3.4.1.1. Four ways to launch Search Companion 3.4.1.2. Selecting or deleting an animated helpmate 3.4.1.3. Types of searches 3.4.1.4. Advanced search 3.4.2. Finding Music and Picture Files 3.4.2.1. Searching for metadata 3.4.3. Saving a Search for Future Reference 3.4.4. Using the Indexing Service to Speed Up Searches 3.4.4.1. Turning on the Indexing Service 3.4.4.2. Turning off the Indexing Service 4. Built-In Utilities 4.1. Better Backups 4.1.1. Installing the Backup Program in Windows XP Home Edition 4.1.2. Backing Up Your Goods 4.1.2.1. Restoring your backup 4.1.3. Better Backup Programs 4.1.3.1. Backup Plus 4.1.3.2. InfoStash 4.2. Notepad and Clipboard 4.2.1. Inserting a Time and Date Stamp with Notepad 4.2.2. Creating Headers and Footers with Notepad 4.2.3. Better Notepads 4.2.3.1. NoteTab Light 4.2.3.2. EditPlus 4.2.4. Viewing the Contents of Your Clipboard 4.2.5. A Better Clipboard 4.3. Other Built-In Utilities 4.3.1. The Fax Program 4.3.2. A Better Calculator 4.3.3. Opening Graphics Documents in Paint 4.3.4. Inserting Special Characters 4.3.5. Shortcuts to Open Windows XP Applications and Utilities 5. Microsoft Office 5.1. General Office Advice 5.1.1. Killing Clippy 5.1.2. Turning Off the Office Clipboard 5.1.3. Finding Files Faster 5.2. Microsoft Word 5.2.1. Using Invisible Ink 5.2.2. Inserting Special Characters 5.2.3. Creating Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts 5.2.4. Turning Word into Your Personal Translator 5.2.4.1. Translating a word or phrase 5.2.4.2. Translating a document 5.2.5. Inserting Your Digital Signature into Word Documents 5.2.6. Using the Word Count Toolbar 5.3. Excel 5.3.1. Automatically Importing Data from the Web 5.3.2. Creating a Watermark 5.3.3. Speeding Up Excel with Keyboard Shortcuts 5.3.4. Quickly Add New Data to a Chart 5.4. PowerPoint 5.4.1. Saving Fonts with Your Presentation 5.4.2. Copying Your PowerPoint Settings to Another Computer 5.4.3. Putting Your Presentations on a Diet 5.5. Access 5.5.1. The Express Route to Creating Tables 5.5.2. The Database Diet 5.5.3. Hiding Top Secret Tables 5.6. FrontPage 5.6.1. Flowing Text Around a Picture 5.6.2. Watermarks 5.6.3. Creating an Online Photo Gallery 6. The Internet 6.1. Internet Speed Tricks 6.1.1. Faster Surfing I 6.1.2. Faster Surfing II 6.1.3. Caching Up 6.1.4. Speeding Up Downloads 6.2. Pop-Ups and Cookies 6.2.1. Software that Stops Pop-Ups 6.2.2. Alternative Browsers that Stop Pop-Ups 6.2.3. Shooting the Windows Messenger 6.2.4. Crumbling Cookies 6.2.5. Custom Cookie Settings 6.2.6. Share Your Cookies 6.2.7. Examining and Deleting Cookies 6.2.8. Managing Cookies with Add-On Software 6.2.9. Keeping Advertisers Away from Your Cookies 6.3. Firewalls 6.3.1. A Basic Firewall 6.3.2. How to Bypass XP's Firewall 6.3.3. A Better Firewall: ZoneAlarm 6.3.4. Testing Your Security with Shield's Up 6.4. Online Safety You May Not Have Considered 6.4.1. Controlling Your Internet Security Levels 6.4.1.1. Adjusting the security level of each zone 6.4.2. Beware of AutoComplete 6.4.3. Don't Let the Web Bugs Bite 6.4.4. Protecting Yourself Against Spyware 6.4.5. Protecting a Public Wireless Connection 6.4.6. Surfing Anonymously 6.5. Evaluating and Troubleshooting 6.5.1. Peering into Your Internet Connection 6.5.2. Your Real Internet Connection Speed 6.5.3. Diagnosing a Broken Internet Connection 6.6. Windows Messenger 6.6.1. Are You Using Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger? 6.6.2. Protecting Your Privacy in Windows Messenger 6.6.2.1. Blocking others from knowing you're online 6.6.2.2. Protecting your password 6.6.2.3. Hiding your phone number and real name 6.6.3. Split Your Personality with Windows Messenger 6.6.4. Yes, You Can Skin Messenger 6.6.5. Turning Off Messenger's Tabs 6.6.6. Save a Messaging Session to a Text File 6.6.7. Windows Messenger Add-Ons 6.7. Other Instant Messengers 6.7.1. Downloading Other Instant Messengers 6.7.2. Turn Off the AIM Today Window 6.7.3. Stopping Online Harassment in AIM 6.7.4. Sending Text Messages with Yahoo! Messenger 6.7.5. Spicing up Yahoo! Messenger 6.7.6. ICQ on the Desktop 6.7.7. ICQ Shortcut Keys 6.7.8. Protecting Yourself Against Instant Messaging Dangers 7. Web Browsers 7.1. Smarter Surfing 7.1.1. Address Shortcuts 7.1.2. Getting the Big Picture 7.1.3. Making Web Fonts Easier to Read 7.1.4. Opening a New Web Page in Its Own Window 7.1.5. Keyboard Shortcuts 7.1.6. Filling Out Forms Faster 7.1.7. Revisiting History 7.1.8. Printing a Wide Web Page 7.1.9. Saving Web Pages on Your PC 7.1.10. Saving Web Pages with SurfSaver 7.1.11. Saving Frequently Updated Web Pages Automatically 7.2. Searching the Web from Internet Explorer 7.2.1. The Google Toolbar 7.2.2. The Google Deskbar (Not just for Internet Explorer) 7.2.3. Searching from the Address Bar 7.3. Managing Your Favorites 7.3.1. Finding Favorites Fast 7.3.2. Organizing Favorites from A to Z 7.3.3. Copying Favorites to Another Computer 7.3.4. Creating Favorite Files and Folders 7.4. Cache Flow 7.4.1. Customizing the Cache 7.4.2. Viewing Your Cache 7.4.3. Cleaning Out Your Cache 7.5. Customizing Internet Explorer 7.5.1. Browser Windows the Size You Want 7.5.2. Rolling Your Own Toolbar 7.5.3. Changing the Toolbar Background 7.5.4. Changing Internet Explorer's Title Bar 7.5.5. Changing Internet Explorer's Logo 7.6. Alternative Browsers 7.6.1. Mozilla vs. Netscape 7.6.1.1. Firefox 7.6.1.2. Opera 7.6.2. A Google Toolbar for Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox 7.6.3. Speeding Up Netscape with Keyboard Shortcuts 7.6.4. Dressing Up Netscape with Themes 7.6.5. Filling in the Blanks with Netscape 7.6.6. Adding Firefox Features 7.6.7. Mozilla Firefox Shortcuts 7.6.8. Rewinding Your Opera Session 7.6.9. Waving the Opera Wand 7.6.10. Speeding Up Opera with Keyboard Shortcuts 7.6.11. Nota Bene Opera 8. Email 8.1. Sending and Receiving Email 8.1.1. Email in a Hurry 8.1.2. Blind Carbon Copies 8.1.3. Checking Mail on Your Schedule 8.1.3.1. Outlook 8.1.3.2. Outlook Express 8.1.4. Allowing Time for Second Thoughts 8.1.5. Cleaning Up Email Conversations 8.1.6. Revealing Message Headers 8.2. Sign-Offs 8.2.1. Customized Signatures 8.2.1.1. Setting up and using a signature in Outlook 8.2.1.2. Setting up and using a signature in Outlook Express 8.2.2. Fancy Signatures 8.2.3. Using Digital Business Cards 8.2.3.1. Creating and sending vCards with Outlook 8.2.3.2. Sending vCards with Outlook Express 8.3. Slamming Spam 8.3.1. Hiding Your Email Address from Spammers 8.3.2. Built-In Spam-Fighting Tools 8.3.2.1. Spiking spam with Outlook 8.3.2.2. Canning spam with Outlook 2003 8.3.2.3. Canning spam with Outlook Express 8.3.3. Third-Party Spam-Killers 8.4. Organizing and Handling Mail 8.4.1. Adding New Contacts in Two Seconds 8.4.2. Marking Messages Unread 8.4.3. Clearing Clutter 8.4.4. Taking Control of Mail Overload 8.4.4.1. Creating rules in Outlook 8.4.4.2. Creating rules with Outlook Express 8.4.5. Opening Blocked File Attachments 8.4.5.1. Opening attachments with Outlook 8.4.5.2. Blocked attachments and Outlook Express 8.5. Getting Email to Play Nicely with Windows 8.5.1. Killing the "Unread Messages" Notice 8.5.2. Killing the Windows Messenger 8.5.3. Contacting Windows Messenger Buddies 8.5.4. Relocating Outlook on Your Taskbar 8.6. Outlook-Only Tips 8.6.1. Opening Outlook in Separate Windows 8.6.2. Deleting Outlook Items Lickety-Split 8.6.3. Removing Outlook's Memorized Addresses 8.6.4. Backing Up Outlook 8.6.5. Sharing Outlook on Two Computers 8.6.6. Using Outlook to Keep Up with the News 8.7. Just for Outlook Express 8.7.1. Killing the Outlook Express Startup Screen 8.7.2. Renaming the Outlook Express Window 8.7.3. Backing Up Outlook Express 8.8. Beyond Outlook: Other Email Software 8.8.1. Eudora 8.8.2. Thunderbird 8.8.3. IncrediMail 9. Networking 9.1. Wireless Networking 9.1.1. Zero Configuration WiFi Services 9.1.2. Connecting to Wireless Networks 9.1.3. Finding Hotspots Before You Travel 9.1.4. Protecting Your Wireless Network with WEP 9.1.5. Unplugging the Unplugged Icon 9.2. Home Networking 9.2.1. Desktop Shortcuts for Your Network Resources 9.2.2. Finding Another Computer on the Network 9.2.3. Stop Searching for Network Resources 9.2.4. Speeding Up My Network Places and Network Browsing 9.2.5. A Faster Path to Computers on Your Network 9.2.6. Coaxing Your Network Card to Run Its Fastest 9.2.7. Optimizing Your Router 9.2.7.1. Keeping your connection alive 9.2.7.2. Changing your router's password 9.2.8. Sharing Files on a Network 9.2.9. Chatting on Your Network with WinChat 9.3. Troubleshooting Network Problems 9.3.1. Moving Your Laptop from One Network to Another 9.3.2. Finding Your Network Information 9.3.3. The Network Diagnostics Tool 9.3.4. Repairing a Broken Network Connection 10. Hardware 10.1. Hardware Troubleshooting 10.1.1. Getting Help from the Device Manager 10.1.2. Resolving Conflicts 10.1.3. Driver Magic 10.1.3.1. Update a driver 10.1.3.2. Roll back a driver 10.1.3.3. Uninstall a driver 10.2. Laptop Tricks 10.2.1. Extending Your Laptop's Battery Life 10.2.2. Helping a Fussy Laptop Enter Standby 10.2.3. Removing a Useless Warning 10.3. Printers and Printing 10.3.1. Printing Font Samples 10.3.2. Receiving a Message when Your Print Job Is Done 10.3.3. On-the-Road Printing Strategies 10.3.3.1. Kinko's 10.3.3.2. Print workaround: fax it 10.3.3.3. Create a print queue 10.4. Of Mice and Keyboards 10.4.1. Customizing Your Mouse Settings 10.4.1.1. TweakUI PowerToy 10.4.2. Stopping Erratic Mouse Behavior 10.4.3. An Easier-to-See Insertion Point 10.4.4. The Onscreen Keyboard 11. System Speedups 11.1. Managing Your Memory 11.1.1. DOS Swap 11.1.2. Eliminating Needless Visual Effects 11.1.3. Services You Don't Need 11.1.4. Putting Services on Permanent Leave 11.1.5. Removing Programs that Run at Startup 11.1.6. Fancy Memory Trick I 11.1.7. Fancy Memory Trick II 11.1.8. Deciding You Need More Memory 11.2. Processor Tricks 11.2.1. CPU-Draining Programs You Don't Need 11.2.2. Focusing Your CPU's Attention 11.2.3. A Souped-Up Alternative to Task Manager 12. Security 12.1. Securing Your System 12.1.1. Microsoft's Baseline Security Adviser 12.1.2. Windows Update 12.1.3. Manually Checking for Updates 12.1.4. Checking for Viruses 12.1.5. Stripping Personal Information from Your Documents 12.1.6. Preventing Word from Stealing Your Files 12.1.7. Hard-to-Crack Passwords 12.1.8. Safe Travels with a Laptop 12.2. Encryption for Windows XP Pro 12.2.1. Protecting Your Data by Encrypting Files and Folders 12.2.2. Changing the Color of Encrypted Files and Folders 12.2.3. A Final Security Measure 13. Crash Recovery 13.1. Creating a Restore Point 13.1.1. Restoring Your System 13.1.2. Limiting the Size of System Restore's Files 13.1.3. Deleting Old Restore Points 13.1.4. Changing System Restore's Backup Schedule 13.1.5. Getting System Restore to Ignore Certain Folders 13.1.6. Safe Mode 14. Windows Media Player 14.1. Finding the Menu Bar 14.2. Listening to Music 14.2.1. The MP3 Factor 14.2.2. The Graphic Equalizer 14.2.3. 3D WOW Sound 14.2.4. Improving CD Playback Sound 14.2.5. Groovy Visual Displays 14.2.6. Skinning Windows Media Player 14.3. Recording, Mixing, and Copying Music 14.3.1. Turning Off Copy Protection 14.3.2. Mixing Smoother CDs 14.3.3. Preventing Skips When You Burn CDs 14.3.3.1. Look to the source 14.3.3.2. Change your burning method 14.3.4. Saving Internet Radio Streams 14.4. Video 14.4.1. Watching International DVDs 14.5. Keyboard Shortcuts 15. The Registry 15.1. The five registry hives 15.1.1. Keys and values 15.1.2. The Registry Editor 15.1.2.1. Editing keys and values 15.1.2.2. Adding keys and values 15.1.2.3. Deleting keys and values 15.1.3. An Important Registry Precaution 15.1.4. Editing the Registry with .Reg Files 15.1.5. Protecting the Registry 15.1.6. Creating a Registry Favorites List 15.1.7. Printing the Registry A. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts Index About the Author Colophon SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with OReilly O autorze: Preston Gralla jest autorem ponad 30 książek dotyczących internetu i komputerów. Był założycielem i pierwszym redaktorem naczelnym czasopisma PC Week, a także redaktorem magazynu PC Computing. Był również redaktorem naczelnym serwisów ZDNet i CNET. Preston jest autorem artykułów dotyczących informatyki i komputerów w różnych gazetach i czasopismach. Za swoje artykuły i pracę redakcyjną był wielokrotnie nagradzany. Otrzymał między innymi nagrodę stowarzyszenia Computer Press Association za najlepszą publikację dotyczącą komputerów. Jako znany ekspert, Preston wielokrotnie występuje w programach radiowych i telewizyjnych. Obecnie jest redaktorem serwisu internetowego WindowsDevCenter.com