Want to make my blood boil? Just tell me that someday, in the not-too-distant future, my refrigerator will include a computer that alerts me when I'm low on milk. Just tell me that someday my microwave oven will feature a computer that "senses" what's inside and cooks it accordingly. Just tell me that someday my car will include a computer that lets it repair itself by "downloading" some kind of software off the Internet.

The crazy thing is that there are scientists and engineers actually working on these kinds of pie-in-the-sky ideas. Don't these eggheads know that our regular computers are still too hard to use and are still too unreliable? Why can't they work on fixing that?

So, want to make my heart sing? Just tell me that someday, in the not-too-distant future, Microsoft will release a version of Windows that's truly simple to use; a version of Windows that doesn't make everyday tasks as easy as herding cats; a version of Windows that doesn't crash if you happen to breathe out through both nostrils at once; a version of Windows that, in other words, doesn't make otherwise-smart people—people who know how much milk they have in the fridge—feel like complete idiots.

Until that day comes, we have to content ourselves with trying to live with the Windows we have. And that's why I wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows Millennium Edition. My aim is to show you that although Windows Millennium can be downright ornery at times, anyone with the regular complement of gray matter can soothe the savage Windows beast.

This book shuns anything and everything about Windows Millennium that is hopelessly technical. If it has a "For Geeks Only" label on it, I walk right on by it. Instead, this book concentrates only on those Windows tasks that you're likely to use most often. I present Windows concepts in clear, jargon-free language, and I teach you how to use Windows' features in a simple, step-by-step fashion.

After reading this book, you will not by any stretch of the imagination be a Windows expert. That's a good thing because I've talked to many a Windows expert in my day, and they are almost always dishwater-dull. What you will have, instead, is the competence to handle any day-to-day Windows task, and the confidence to tackle any other Windows chore that comes your way.

The Parts Department: What's in the Book

You don't need to read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows Millennium Edition cover-to-cover, although by all means you're free to do so. Instead, most of the book's chapters are self-contained, so you can usually just dive in and start learning. (In those sections that require some background, I've put in pointers back to the relevant material.) However, if you're just starting out with Windows, you'll get the most out of this book if you tackle Chapters 2 through 6 first to gain some basic know-how.

Just so you know what to expect, here are some quickie summaries of the major sections of the book:

Part 1: Getting Comfy with Windows Millennium

The half dozen chapters that open the book are designed to help you get your Windows Millennium travels off on the right foot. Chapter 1, "The New ME: What's New in Windows Millennium Edition," runs through what's noteworthily new in Windows Millennium. New Windows users will want to start with Chapter 2, "The Shallow End of the Pool: Some Windows Basics," which gives you a tour of the Windows Millennium screen and offers some mouse and keyboard basics. From there, you learn about controlling programs (Chapter 3, "Making Your Programs Do What You Want Them to Do"), working with windows (Chapter 4, "Your 20-Minute Window Workout"), dealing with documents (Chapter 5, "Saving, Opening, Printing and Other Document Lore"), and fiddling with files and folders (Chapter 6, "Using My Computer to Fiddle with Files and Folders").

Part 2: Jumping On the Internet Bandwagon

We live in an Internet-obsessed world, so it's no surprise that Windows Millennium includes a lot of features for the would-be-wired. It's also no surprise that Part 2 is the largest section in the book, comprising no less than seven chapters that take you through the basic Net gizmos in Windows Millennium. You learn step-by-step how to get connected (Chapter 7, "Getting Yourself Online"); how to surf the World Wide Web with Internet Explorer (Chapters 8, "It's a Small Web After All: Using Internet Explorer," and 9, "The Savvy Surfer: More Internet Explorer Fun"); how to exchange Internet email with Outlook Express (Chapters 10, "Sending and Receiving Email Missives," and 11, "More Email Bonding: Extending Outlook Express"); how to participate in newsgroups (Chapter 12, "Spreadin' the News: Participating in Newsgroup Conversations"); and how to send instant messages and make Internet-based "phone calls" (Chapter 13, "Real-Time Conversations: Instant Messages, Net Phone Calls, and Chat").

Part 3: Making It Work: Useful Windows Millennium Chores

This section of the book covers a hodgepodge of topics that will help you get the most out of your Windows Millennium investment. The first two chapters concentrate on some of the various freebie programs that are part of the Windows Millennium. I discuss Notepad (a text editor) and WordPad (a word processor) in Chapter 14, "From Word Amateur to Word Pro: Windows' Writing Programs"; I show you how to wield Paint (a drawing and painting program) and work with scanners and digital cameras in Chapter 15, "Image Is Everything: Windows Millennium's Graphics Tools"; I run through Windows Millennium's multimedia features in Chapter 16, "The Sights and Sounds of Windows Millennium Multimedia"; and I tell you all about Windows Millennium's notebook computer gadgets in Chapter 17, "Windows Millennium and Your Notebook Computer."

Part 4: "A Style of One's Own": Customizing Windows Millennium

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 four chapters in Part 4 show you how to perform these customizations in Windows Millennium. You learn how to customize the desktop (Chapter 18, "Refurbishing the Desktop"), the Start menu and taskbar (Chapter 19, "Remodeling the Start Menu and Taskbar"), and the My Computer program (Chapter 20, "Renovating My Computer"). I also show you how to install (and uninstall) software and hardware (Chapter 21, "Installing and Uninstalling Programs and Devices").

Part 5: When Good Data Goes Bad: Millennium Maintenance and Repair

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—be it a nasty computer virus, an ill-timed power failure, or some other spawn of Murphy's Law—can't strike at any time. The two chapters in Part 5 can help you to prepare for problems. You get the goods on using Windows Millennium's collection of system maintenance tools (Chapter 22, "Smooth System Sailing: Wielding the System Tools") and on backing up your precious-as-gold data (Chapter 23, "Getting a Good Night's Sleep: Backing Up Your Precious Data").

Part 6: Networking with Windows Millennium

The final part of the book takes you into the mysterious and arcane world of networking. However, you'll see that for the small networks that Windows Millennium is ideally suited for, networking doesn't have to be an esoteric pursuit. On the contrary, I even take the fairly radical step of actually showing you how to put together your own small network (Chapter 24, "Using Windows Millennium to Set Up a Small Network"). From there, you learn how to use the Windows Millennium networking features (Chapter 25, "Using Windows Millennium's Networking Features") and how to dial up your network from remote locations (Chapter 26, "Remote Network Connections with Dial-Up Networking").

A Field Guide to This Book's Features

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 Programs, and then click Internet Explorer," I just say this: "select Start, Programs, Internet Explorer."

• Many Windows Millennium 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):
  

  

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