01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page i PC Magazine® Windows® XP Solutions Neil Randall 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page vi 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page i PC Magazine® Windows® XP Solutions Neil Randall 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page ii PC Magazine®Windows®XP Solutions Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 0-7645-6773-X Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/QV/QU/QU/IN No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-Mail: [email protected]. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 200403163 Trademarks:Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. PC Magazine and the PC Magazine logo are registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings, Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. Windows XP is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page iii Credits EXECUTIVE EDITOR PROJECT COORDINATOR Chris Webb Erin Smith DEVELOPMENT EDITOR GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS James H. Russell Beth Brooks Sean Decker PRODUCTION EDITOR Joyce Haughey Pamela Hanley Jennifer Heleine LeAndra Hosier COPY EDITOR Michael Kruzil Nancy Kruse-Hannigan Lynsey Osborn Julie Trippetti EDITORIAL MANAGER Mary Beth Wakefield QUALITY CONTROL TECHNICIANS Susan Moritz VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE Carl William Pierce GROUP PUBLISHER Dwight Ramsey Richard Swadley BOOK DESIGNER VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Kathie S. Schnorr Robert Ipsen PROOFREADING AND INDEXING VICE PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Publication Services Joseph B. Wikert EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mary Bednarek About the Author Neil Randall has been writing about computers for twenty years, beginning with the Commodore 64 and moving through every type of PC and every operating system available since then. He has published hundreds of articles, columns, and reviews in numerous magazines during that time, and he is currently a Contributing Editor for PC Magazine. He has published eight books on computer topics including the effective use of Internet technologies and resources, publishing Web sites, and the history of the Internet. He is a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where he teaches multimedia applications, interface analysis and design, and digital design. 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page iv For Katherine L. Nickel, who fought and finally won. 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page v Acknowledgments Thanks first to Mark Pope at Ziff Davis Media, who started the process, and to Chris Webb and James Russell at Wiley, who made it happen. Chris and James, your encouragement and patience are greatly appreciated. Thanks also to the many people at Microsoft responsible for Windows XP, an operating system that really has solved many of the ghosts of Windows past. This book relies entirely on what has become Windows XP’s proven longevity. Thanks also to my friends and colleagues at the University of Waterloo, for their support and even occasional interest. Neither was actually expected. Without question, though, my primary thanks go to my wife Heather, who for three months has put up with a husband living in the basement, emerging only to make coffee and tea and occasion- ally to watch West Wing and Buffy reruns in a complete mockery of the concept of quality time. In every conceivable way, I wrote this book for her. Neil Randall December 2003 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page vi 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page vii Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Part I Designing the Interface YouWant Chapter 1 Giving Windows a Facelift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Chapter 2 Taking Control of Your Taskbar, Start Menu, and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Chapter 3 Changing Your Interface from the Control Panel . . . 57 Chapter 4 Taking Even Greater Control of Your Interface . . . . . 79 Part II Installing and Removing Hardware and Software Chapter 5 Installing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Chapter 6 Removing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Chapter 7 Installing Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Chapter 8 Hardware Configuration, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Part III Who Owns What? Working with Users, Permissions, and Policies Chapter 9 Adding Users and Groups to Your System . . . . . . . 153 Chapter 10 Controlling User Access with Permissions . . . . . . . 169 Chapter 11 Locating and Migrating User Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Chapter 12 Configuring Group Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Part IV Avoiding Disaster Chapter 13 Backing Up Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Chapter 14 Securing Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Chapter 15 Windows Update: Letting Microsoft Protect Windows XP for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Chapter 16 Recovering from Windows XP Problems . . . . . . . . . 253 01 56773X FM.qxd 3/17/04 3:54 PM Page viii viii Contents at a Glance Part V Letting Windows’ Hair Down: The Creative and Entertaining Side of Windows XP Chapter 17 Imaging Central: Working with Digital Cameras and Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Chapter 18 Watching, Capturing, Converting, and Encoding Video Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Chapter 19 Unleashing Your Inner Spielberg: Making Videos . . . 297 Chapter 20 Playing, Ripping, and Recording Music . . . . . . . . . 317 Part VI Taming the Internet Chapter 21 Solving Your Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Chapter 22 Putting the Internet to Work for You . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Chapter 23 Tailoring Internet Explorer 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Chapter 24 Controlling Windows from Afar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Part VII Networking Your Home or Business Chapter 25 Planning Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 Chapter 26 Connecting Your PCs in a Small Workgroup . . . . . . 397 Chapter 27 Using Windows XP as an Internet Server . . . . . . . . 409 Part VIII Appendixes Appendix A Installing Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Appendix B Reinstalling Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445