—Havelock Ellis

Do you have a love-hate relationship with your computer? That is, do you hate turning the thing on in the morning and love turning it off at night? If so, it may help to know that you're not alone. Many otherwise-brave souls are overcome by The Fear at the very prospect of sitting down in front of their cranky machines.

Why all the angst? I think there are two reasons. First, computers are nowhere near as easy to use as they should be. Seemingly simple tasks such as composing a memo or printing a file too often turn into heart-stopping, gray-hair-producing, adventures.

The second reason is that the people who are charged with explaining the mysteries of computers often don't help matters much. They're usually either gee-whiz cheerleaders infatuated with the technology, or overly earnest types lacking that all-important sixth sense: a sense of humor. (These are the people who put the "doze" in "Windows.")

In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98, my goal is to overcome both problems. I hope to show you that there are ways to tame the computing beast and thus mollify your machine into doing your bidding. With "just the facts ma'am" explanations, simple step-by-step instructions, and lots of useful examples, you'll see that getting your Windows work done doesn't have to cost you your sanity.

I also aim to prove that "Windows" and "fun" are not mutually exclusive concepts (as hard as that may be to believe). To that end, with most tasks I offer a casual, lighthearted approach and studiously avoid taking any of this malarkey too seriously. If you're looking for a book that enjoys having a little fun at Windows 98's expense, you've come to the right place.

Some of the Book's Fabulous Features

To make the instructions easier to read, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98 uses the following conventions:

• Text that you type, items you select, and text that you see on your screen appear in bold.

• As you'll see, Windows 98 uses quite a few keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts almost invariably require you to hold down one key and press another. For example, one shortcut you may use a lot requires you to hold down the Ctrl key, press the Esc key, and then release Ctrl. To avoid writing out a mouthful like that over and over, we needed an easier way to express these key combinations (a sort of "shortcut shorthand," if you will). So key combinations appear with a plus sign (+) in the middle, as in Ctrl+Esc.

• The names of dialog box controls appear in a special font like this: Select the Create from File option button and then click the Display As Icon check box.

Also, look for the following features that point out important information:

Check This Out You'll find these "Check This Out" sidebars scattered throughout the book. I use them to highlight important notes, tips, warnings, and other tidbits that will help further your Windows education.

Techno Talk This book generally shuns long-winded technical explanations because they tend to be, well, boring. However, in cases where a bit of in-depth know-how is too interesting to pass up, I'll plop the text inside one of these "Techno Talk" boxes. This stuff won't help you get your work done any quicker, but it will arm you with a few choice geekisms that will impress the heck out of people at parties.

Cross Reference This "Cross-Reference" box points you to other parts of the book that contain related info. To learn more about this element, please see "Some of the Book's Fabulous Features," page xviii.

New to Windows 98 Windows 98 isn't radically different than Windows 95, but there are still tons of shiny, new features for you to gawk at. This icon points out those new features.

What's New in this Edition?

I wrote the original edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows way back in 1993, and the book has gone through various incarnations since then as the Windows world marched steadily on. The response from readers and reviewers alike has been nothing short of overwhelming, and the book has been an unqualified success in the marketplace, too. Hundreds of thousands of regular Joes and Josephines have used this book to make the leap from complete Windows idiot to competent Windows user.

But after five years and I-don-t-know-how-many-editions, I decided to mess with success and completely rewrite the book from the ground up for Windows 98. That's right: it ain't broke, but I'm fixin' it anyway! Why? Because as an author I'm committed to giving you the best possible introduction to Windows. I'm confident that this edition's fresh, new approach will make Windows even easier to learn. You'll also find that my coverage of Windows is more complete than in previous editions, so you should find answers to more of your questions. And, finally, this is the Windows 98 edition of the book, so you'll find coverage of all the new bells and whistles.

The Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due Department

Like Winnie-the-Pooh, "My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places." Unlike Winnie-the-Pooh, however, I have editors to put the letters back where they belong. Near the front of the book, you'll see a page that runs through the roster of folks who had a hand in getting this book from vapor to paper. I extend my warmest thanks to all of them for a job well done.

While I'm in back-slapping mode, I'd also like to fire off a few kudos to the people I worked with directly. Great gobs of gratefulness go to Senior Vice President of Publishing and all-around MCP Big Kahuna Richard Swadley, Associate Publisher—Operating Systems Dean Miller, Acquisitions Editor Jill Byus, Development Editors Melanie Palaisa and Lorna Gentry, Production Editors Karen Walsh and Susan Moore, Copy Editor Gail Burlakoff, and Technical Editor Christy Gleeson.

I'd also like to thank my friends and family for being, well, friendly and familiar. And, of course, no acknowledgments section would be complete without acknowledging all the welcome feedback that I've received from my readers over the years. Keep those cards and letters coming! (If you're wired, you can send e-cards and e-letters to my e-mail address: paul@mcfedries.com.)

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