Never let a computer know you're in a hurry.

—Anonymous

The world's gardeners have told us for years that if you want to keep your plants healthy and happy, then you should talk to them in a kindly, soothing voice. The world's gardeners are, I suspect, an eccentric bunch, but who can argue with their success?

Certainly not me, so perhaps that's why I've taken to talking to my computer using the same gentle, comforting tones. "Now, my good fellow, I have a very important deadline tomorrow, oh yes, and I just need you to be a good boy and not crash between now and then. Okey-doke?" (This is made much easier by the fact that I work at home.)

I think that, subconsciously, I view my computer as though it's the electronic equivalent of some deranged lunatic who'll snap at the least provocation. Or perhaps I see it as more of a fragile, high-strung, Southern belle type, a digital Blanche DuBois who is depending on the kindness of a stranger (that is to say, me) to keep it together.

Of course what's really happening here is that years of using various incarnations of Windows have made me certifiably paranoid. I've simply come to expect that Windows will do something weird or toss me some semi-comprehensible message that will have me scratching my head for hours. So even though it has been well over ten years since Windows 3.0 was foisted upon an unsuspecting world, Windows remains both devilishly difficult and fiendishly fickle. Windows can, in other words, make any of us feel, temporarily, like a complete idiot.

That, in the end, is why I wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows XP, Second Edition. My goal here is to help you and Windows XP get along. If you aren't a computer wizard (and don't even want to be one), this book is for you; if you have a job to do—a job that includes working with Windows XP—and you just want to get it done as quickly and painlessly as possible, this book is for you; if you don't want to learn about Windows XP using absurdly serious, put-a-crease-in-your-brow-and-we'll-begin tutorials, this book is for you.

No experience with Windows XP? No problem. In fact, this book doesn't assume you have any previous experience with any version of Windows. I begin each topic at the beginning and build your knowledge from there. So even if you've never used a computer before, this book will get you through those crucial (and scary) early stages.

No time? No problem. With The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows XP, Second Edition, you get just the facts you need—not everything there is to know. This means I avoid long-winded discussions of boring, technical details. Instead, you get all the information in short, easy-to-digest chunks that you can quickly skim through to find just the tidbits you need.

How This Book Is Organized

With Windows, anything can happen (and often does). So my best advice as you cross over into Windows XP territory is to expect (you guessed it) the unexpected. However, the last thing you need is to be thrown a few curve balls by the book that's supposed to be your trusted guide in this newfound land. So, to get you better prepared for the journey to come, let's bone up on some of the flora and fauna you'll be seeing along the way.

First, the itinerary. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows XP, Second Edition is organized into five reasonably sensible sections. To help you locate what you need fast, here's a summary of what you'll find in each section.

Part 1: "Windows XP Everywhere: A Few Things You Need to Know." The lucky six chapters that open the book are designed to help you get your Windows XP travels off on the right foot. New Windows users will want to start with Chapter 1, which gives you a tour of the Windows XP screen and offers some mouse and keyboard basics. From there, you learn about controlling programs (Chapter 2), working with windows (Chapter 3), dealing with documents (Chapter 4), working with files and folders (Chapter 5), and installing and uninstalling programs and devices (Chapter 6).

Part 2: "Windows XP at Home." Using a computer at home, we tend more toward the fun end of the computer spectrum. (Yes, there is a fun end.) With that in mind, I structured Part 2 to cover some of the more fun features that can be found in Windows XP. This includes working with pictures (Chapter 7); using scanners and digital cameras (Chapter 8); and working with music, videos, and other multimedia (Chapter 9). For good measure, I also show you an easy way to share your computer with other family members (Chapter 10).

Part 3: "Windows XP at Work." This part is short but sweet (assuming that using Windows at work could be described as "sweet," that is). The four chapters in Part 3 cover workaday tasks such as using Windows XP's writing programs (Chapter 11), sending and receiving faxes (Chapter 12), using Windows XP's notebook computer features (Chapter 13), and setting up a network (Chapter 14).

Part 4: "Windows XP on the Internet." There are plenty of days when it seems that our computers are just one giant communications terminal. Electronic communication in all its forms is a huge part of our daily lives, and Part 4 devotes no less than six chapters to Windows XP Internet and communications goodies. You'll learn step-by-step how to get connected to the Internet (Chapter 15), how to surf the World Wide Web with Internet Explorer (Chapters 16 and 17), how to exchange Internet e-mail with Outlook Express (Chapters 18 and 19), and how to keep you and your computer safe while online (Chapter 20).

Part 5: "Windows XP at the Shop: Customizing, Maintaining, and Troubleshooting." Like people living in row houses who paint their doors and windowpanes to stand out from the crowd, most Windows' users like to personalize their computing experience by adjusting the screen colors, changing the background, and performing other individualistic tweaks. The first two chapters in Part 5 show you how to perform these customizations in Windows XP. You'll learn how to customize the desktop (Chapter 21) and the Start menu and taskbar (Chapter 22).

Thanks to higher-quality parts and improved manufacturing, modern computers are fairly reliable and will often run for years without so much as an electronic hiccup. However, that doesn't mean some disaster[md]be it a nasty computer virus, an ill-timed power failure, or some other spawn of Murphy's Law[md]can't strike at any time. The other three chapters in Part 5 can help you to prepare for problems. You'll get a step-by-step plan for maintaining your system (Chapter 23), basic strategies for solving problems (Chapter 24), and tips for troubleshooting common Windows problems (Chapter 25).

Some Things to Help Out Along the Way

In a book such as this, I believe that it's not only important what you say, but also how you say it. So I've gone to great lengths to present the info in easy-to-digest tidbits that can be absorbed quickly. I've also liberally sprinkled the book with features that I hope will make it easier for you to understand what's going in. Here's a rundown:

• Stuff that you have to type will appear in a monospaced font, like that.

• Menus, commands, and dialog box controls that you have to select, as well as keys you have to press, appear in a bold font.

• Whenever I tell you to select a menu command, I separate the various menu and command names with commas. For example, instead of saying "click the Start button, then click All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer," I just say this: "select Start, All Programs, Internet Explorer."

• Many Windows XP commands have equivalent keyboard shortcuts, and most of them involve holding down one key while you press another key. For example, in most Windows programs, you save your work by holding down the Ctrl key, pressing the S key, and then releasing Ctrl. I'm way too lazy to write all that out each time, so I'll just plop a plus sign (+) in-between the two keys, like so: Ctrl+S.

I've also populated each chapter with several different kinds of sidebars, (some appear in the middle of the page and others appear in the margin):