Windows XP Power Hound

Windows XP is now the most widely used operating system. It offers many advantages and improvements over previous versions of Windows, including much greater stability and greater (potential) security. But it's a complex program, filled with under-used features and powerful tricks and shortcuts that few people take the time to probe. One of the first useful things I learned about XP is that there are often multiple ways of doing the same thing.

The second was that it really is worth while exploring the context menus. And the third, which goes along with it, is that you should get used to right-clicking anything you want to learn more about. Preston Gralla explains all this in his latest publication from the 'Missing Manuals' series. It's amazing just how much control you've got over the desktop in terms of colours, themes, wallpaper, and icons.



He tells you how to customise the desktop; how to change settings to suit your work style; and how to add visual alerts and reminders which will flash on screen when something is finished This is for beginners to intermediate level users. If you need to learn XP from the start, you might try WindowsXP: The Missing Manual from the same series. That too is a guide to the program's secret tools and settings.

The hidden options within Windows Explorer enable you to locate and organise files more efficiently on your hard disk. Only recently I discovered a simple but really useful way of displaying files. Choose View/Details - but then add 'View in groups'. The display is alphabetical, but letter groups are separated by horizontal rules which makes files much easier to find. Try it, and you'll see what I mean.

Discussing built-in utilities, he explains the multiple types of backup that are available - though a full system restore is only available in XP Professional. He recommends the ultra-useful Clipmate, which I have been using constantly since the day I downloaded it.

A chapter on the Microsoft Office suite reveals some neat tricks - such as Word's ability to use 'invisible ink'. When would you want to do that? If you have a document to which you have added your comments you would rather other people didn't see, select 'hidden text'. When the document is printed, your comments do not appear.

He goes through web browsers, email programs, security settings, networks, crash recovery, and media players in the same way - showing you how to find hidden features and tweak the settings for maximum performance. Finally comes the Registry - the black box of MS Windows. Editing your Registry settings is not for the faint-hearted, because there is no undoing mistakes. But he shows how it can be done by using a clever backup routine and editing separately.

This is a Christmas pudding of a guidance manual - packed so tight with goodies you need to take it one small helping at a time. I particularly liked the way he shows you how to download and take advantage of software add-ons, some of which even Microsoft itself supplies - as in its free Power Tools TweakUI program.