Windows XP Annoyances

Take no notice of 'annoyances' in the title. This is about how to get the best from Windows XP, and how to explore its hidden features. It's for people who want to get under the bonnet of Windows XP - now the operating system most likely to be installed on any new PC. If you're used to an earlier version of Windows such as Win95 or 98, XP is simpler and more stable, and it has lots more features.

But a lot of the older menu items are not so easy to find in the new streamlined interface. David Karp starts off with basic file management, shortcuts, and how to use skins to customise the desktop. He leaves out the general introduction to XP (available in the program's own Help files) and gets straight down to configuring the new operating system for best effect.




You can easily customise the XP desktop to make it look like your old operating system or something different than the XP default. You can customise the START menu and even change the colours and the logos. As a new XP user I found it solved problems almost from the first page - such as how to force XP to remember your preferences for viewing files and folders, and how to switch off the SEARCH puppy - which, like Mr Paperclip, is fairly annoying.

Next comes the scary business of editing the Registry, which he explains in plain enough terms for those brave enough to try it. There's even a crash course in using DOS, should you wish to return to the dubious pleasures of the command line interface.

A lot of the re-setting recommendations he makes are done using TweakUI - available from Microsoft or from the book's own web site at www.annoyances.org.

There are plenty of suggestions for improving the performance of XP, how to remove unwanted items from the system tray (bottom right) and beyond control of the appearance of what's on screen, there's plenty of advice on maximising system performance, such as how to increase the amount of free space on your hard disk.

There's also a chapter giving advice on the hardware components of a PC and how they can be chosen to maximise performance. This also includes guidance on troubleshooting error messages - in other words, how to get out of trouble. I found this very useful, just as I did the pages on how to deal with anti-virus software.

This is another excellent technical reference manual from O'Reilly. My partner claims it's the ugliest book cover image she's ever seen, and wanted me to finish reading it as soon as possible. But I found I was learning something useful on nearly every page. It's also very good value for money.