The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it.

—Pablo Picasso

When it comes to movies, "sequel" is a synonym for "so bad, it hurts." Yes some worthy sequels have been made, but for every Godfather II there are a hundred Weekend at Bernie's II. Luckily, however, Redmond, WA (the home of Microsoft) is a long way from Hollywood, CA, so sequels about Windows make sense. After all, Windows 98 is a cranky, complex beast that can't be fully understood in one sitting.

This book, then, is the sequel to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98. The idea behind The Complete Idiot's Guide to More Windows 98 is simple: to give you more coverage of more features. Why more? After all, didn't you learn everything you needed to know about Windows in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98? Well, to paraphrase Picasso, the more Windows techniques you have, the less you have to worry about Windows itself. The techniques I'll show you in this book will make your Windows work both more powerful and more efficient. What you'll find then is that Windows fades into the background, and you'll be able to devote all your precious time and energy into getting your work (or play) done.

What kinds of techniques am I talking about? Here's a sampling:

• Tweaking Windows for maximum performance.

• Working faster and smarter with a few simple Start menu and taskbar customizations.

• Boosting your productivity with easy file and folder techniques.

• Getting the most out of your online sessions by learning about Internet Explorer's most powerful features.

• Taking the pain out of dealing with DOS.

• Creating better documents by sharing data between two Windows programs.

• Preventing Windows crashes (and recovering from them if they happen).

• Simple and safe ways to work with the Registry.

• Taking the mystery out of networking and the Dial-Up Networking accessory.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to More Windows 98 teaches you all this and, well, more. Does that make this a "For Eggheads Only" book? Not at all. The approach I use is the same as in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98: You get just the facts and info you need to know, presented in a lighthearted, poke-fun-at-Windows-at-every-opportunity way.

What You Should Know

This book assumes not only that you've read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98, but that you made it through those Windows wars and are ready to continue the battle. So I can get to the good stuff quicker, I assume you have all the basic knowledge required to survive in the Windows wilderness. Specifically, I assume you know how to

• Work your mouse and keyboard

• Use the Start menu and taskbar

• Manipulate windows

• Deal with pull-down menus and dialog boxes

• Create, save, open, and print documents

• Use standard Windows tools such as WordPad and Paint

• Set up and establish an Internet connection

The Complete Idiot's Guide to More Windows 98 is designed more as a reference book than as a "how-to" that you're supposed to read cover-to-cover. Most of the chapters are self-contained, so you can leap around and just read whatever catches your fancy. If a topic requires knowledge of some tidbit discussed earlier, I'll point out the relevant chapter so you can get the info you need.

Here's a summary of how the book is laid out:

Part 1—More Miscellaneous (but Useful) Windows 98 Tricks and Techniques

The first part of the book presents a hodgepodge of sometimes fun, sometimes interesting, but always useful, Windows techniques. You'll learn how to take control of the Windows 98 startup, how to get the most out of files and folders, how to share data between applications, how to make DOS and Windows live together in harmony, how to install and use Microsoft Plus! 98, and more.

Part 2—"Just So" Windows: More Customization Tomfoolery

Although I took you through a ton of customization techniques in the first book, Windows 98 is really a two-ton truck that's loaded with features that positively beg to be tweaked. The chapters in Part 2 take you through that second ton. You learn how to customize Web integration, the Active Desktop, the Start menu and taskbar, color schemes, sound schemes, the keyboard and joystick, and Windows 98's international settings. I also provide not one, but two chapters on the all-important (and all-powerful) Registry.

Part 3—More Online Fun: Communications and the Internet

The five chapters in Part 3 help you to not only get online, but also to be more productive while you're there. I show you the ins and outs of your modem, how to use Internet Explorer's most powerful features, and how to customize the email capabilities of Outlook Express. I also show you how use Microsoft Chat and Personal Web Server.

Part 4—Swifter, Higher, Stronger: More Windows 98 System Tools

The chapters in Part 4 continue the coverage of the long list of Windows 98 system tools from where it left off in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 98. Chapter 17, "From Slowpoke to Speed Demon: Making Windows Fly," shows you a number of techniques for eking out every ounce of Windows 98 performance. Chapter 18, "A Windows Lifeline: The Emergency Boot Disk," shows you how to create a boot disk that will get you out of trouble should Windows go weird on you. And Chapter 19, "For the Nerd In You: Higher-End System Tools," runs through the rest of the system tools, from the System Information utility to the Task Scheduler.

Part 5—Hardware Hootenanny: More Device Advice

Part 5 consists of only two chapters, but they're power-packed chapters, for sure. Chapter 20, "Using Device Manager to Take Control of Your Hardware," unveils some of the mysteries behind your computer's hardware, and shows you how to work with that hardware from within the friendly confines of Windows 98. Chapter 21, "Graphics Gadgetry: Working with Video Cards and Monitors," shows you how to get the most out of your system's graphics hardware.

Part 6—More Networking Know-How

The last three chapters of the book discuss various aspects of Windows 98 networking. I show you how to set up your machine for networking, access networking resources, share your resources with the network, send email over the network, and use Dial-Up Networking to access the network from remote locales.

Appendixes

The book closes with three appendixes. Appendix A presents a glossary of Windows and computer terms; Appendix B runs through a few useful Windows 98 Web sites; and Appendix C lists the complete Windows 98 ANSI character set.

Some of the Book's Fabulous Features

The Complete Idiot's Guide to More Windows 98 is designed to make your computing life easier. To that end, the book uses the following conventions:

• Text that you type, items that 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.

The Standing Ovation Department

Yikes, another book! This volume brings my book brood up to an even two dozen (not counting collaborations with other authors), and that double dirty dozen has sold well over a million copies worldwide. However, I wouldn't have sold anywhere near that number if it wasn't for the unmatched competence and unparalleled professionalism of the good folks at Que. Not only that, but everyone at Que is just so darned nice to work with. (I'm sure it has something to do with that fine Indiana air.)

So, as usual, there lots of people to thank, including Publisher Dean Miller, Executive Editor Chris Will, Development Editor Kate Welsh, Production Editor Katie Purdum, Copy Editors Christina Smith and Sara Bosin, and Technical Editor Coletta Witherspoon. Kudos to all of you for another outstanding effort.

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