Windows
®
XP
Timesaving
Techniques
™
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2ND EDITION
by Woody Leonhard
Author of Windows® XP All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies®
with Justin Leonhard

Windows
®
XP
Timesaving
Techniques
™
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2ND EDITION
by Woody Leonhard
Author of Windows® XP All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies®
with Justin Leonhard
Windows
®
XP Timesaving Techniques

TIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004116452
ISBN: 0-7645-7883-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2V/QU/QR/QV/IN
About the Authors
Woody Leonhard: Curmudgeon, critic, and perennial “Windows Victim,” Woody Leonhard
runs a fiercely independent Web site devoted to delivering the truth about Windows and
Office, whether Microsoft likes it or not. With up-to-the-nanosecond news, observations,
tips and help,
AskWoody.com has become the premiere source of unbiased information for
people who actually use the products.
In the past decade, Woody has written more than two dozen books, drawing an unprece-
dented six Computer Press Association awards and two American Business Press awards.

Denny Hager, Stephanie D. Jumper, Melanee Prendergast,
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Copy Editor: Rebecca Senninger
Technical Editor: Lee Musick
Editorial Manager: Leah P. Cameron
Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle
Media Development Supervisor: Richard Graves
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (
www.the5thwave.com)
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online regis-
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Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the
following:
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director
Composition Services

Technique 15: Tricking Out the Taskbar 140
Technique 16: Launching Your Most-Used
Programs Quickly 147
Technique 17: Making Programs Run Your
Way 153
Technique 18: Using Built-In Keyboard
Shortcuts 158
Technique 19: Making Your Own Keyboard
Shortcuts 163
Technique 20: Exploring Effectively 175
Technique 21: Finding the Files You Want
Fast 189
Technique 22: Listing Files Quickly 199
Part IV: Making the Most of Internet
and E-Mail 209
Technique 23: Customizing Internet Explorer 211
Technique 24: Saving Time with Google 229
Technique 25: Locating and Sharing Files
on the Internet 239
Technique 26: Keeping Messenger in Line 246
Technique 27: Polyglot IMing with Trillian 254
Technique 28: Streamlining Outlook Express 258
Technique 29: Zapping Junk Mail 268
Technique 30: Protecting Your Kids 277
Part V: Optimizing Your Musical
Entertainment 281
Technique 31: Using Windows Media Player 283
Technique 32: No-Nonsense Music Gathering 289
Technique 33: Buying Music on the Web 296
Technique 34: Tuning In the Radio 299

Technique 70: Speeding Up Scanning for
Squishable Files 539
Technique 71: Using Program Compatibility
Modes 542
Technique 72: Fast, Easy, and Safe Online
Shopping 547
Index 555
Part VI: Having Fun and Saving Time
with Visual Media 309
Technique 37: Taking Snapshots with a
Webcam 311
Technique 38: Recording Video with a
Webcam 315
Technique 39: Editing Your Home Movies 319
Technique 40: Managing Pictures from a
Digital Camera 326
Technique 41: Doing More with Your Pics 333
Technique 42: Decreasing Picture Download
Times 341
Technique 43: Printing and Posting Pictures 345
Technique 44: Using a Scanner Effectively 350
Part VII: Ensuring Peak Network
Performance 355
Technique 45: Installing a Small Network 357
Technique 46: Securing Your Wireless
Network 367
Technique 47: Adding and Configuring
a New User 371
Technique 48: Sharing Drives and Folders 383
Part VIII: Fast Security Techniques 391

Choosing storage media for transferring
your files 22
Transferring files and settings on a clean install 22
Breezing through a transfer 23
Technique 2: Running the Activation
Gauntlet 25
Understanding Activation, Registration,
and Passport 25
Activating Windows XP the Right Way 26
Understanding your activation options 26
Installing an old copy of Windows XP
on a new computer 27
Registering for Fun and Profit 28
Signing Up for Passport (And Hotmail) 28
Staying on Top of Privacy Issues 30
Technique 3: Retrieving Your Product Key 31
Unlocking the Secrets of the Windows XP
Product Key 32
Locating the Key 32
Reconstructing the Product Key 33
Verifying Your Product Key 33
Technique 4: Installing a Legal Copy of
Windows XP over a Bootleg 36
Nailing Pirate Product Keys 36
Updating Your Key the Easy Way 38
Toughing It Out the Hard Way 39
Part II: Making Windows Lean and
Clean 41
Technique 5: Making Windows Work
Faster 43

Technique 13: Streamlining the Start
Menu 113
Navigating the Start Menu 114
Pinning and Unpinning 114
Unpinning Internet Explorer and Outlook
from the Start menu 114
Pinning what you like to the Start menu 116
Creating more room for pinned items 117
Reining In the All Programs Submenu 118
Where All Programs comes from 118
Rearranging the All Programs submenu 120
Cascading to Save Time 122
Technique 14: Building a Power Desktop 126
Desktop Brevity: The Soul of Wit 127
Cleaning up old icons 127
Exploring unused desktop shortcuts 128
Aligning icons 129
Moving icons so you have more room on the
desktop 130
Adding Other Icons — Maybe 131
Avoiding Active Content 131
Trimming the New Right-Click Menu 132
Generating One-Click E-Mail 134
Setting up the e-mail 134
Improving one-click e-mail 135
Starting Multiple Programs at Once 136
Arranging Multiple Windows Side-by-Side 138
Technique 15: Tricking Out the Taskbar 140
Customizing the Taskbar 140
Grouping Windows 142

Technique 11: Keeping Programs from
Starting Automatically 94
Recognizing You Have a Problem 94
Finding and Eliminating Auto-Starting Programs 95
Preventing New Auto-Starters 100
Technique 12: Removing and Reinstalling
Programs 102
Removing Programs Thoroughly 102
Updating the Add or Remove Programs List 105
Cleaning Up before a Reinstall 105
Adding Windows Components 106
Using Non-Microsoft Replacements 107
Nixing Windows Messenger (And Other Hidden
Programs) 109
Table of Contents
xi
Making Room for More Programs on the Quick
Launch Toolbar 149
Auto-Hiding the Taskbar 149
Changing Quick Launch Screen Tips 149
Opening Documents Quickly 151
Opening Web Pages Quickly 151
Adding a Blank E-Mail Message to the Quick
Launch Toolbar 152
Creating New, Template-Based Documents
Quickly 152
Technique 17: Making Programs Run Your
Way 153
Running a Program when Windows Starts 153
Allowing Other Users to Run Your Programs 154

Setting Folders’ Behavior 184
Copying Files Quickly 185
Changing Filename Associations 186
Renaming Files En Masse 187
Customizing the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes 188
Technique 21: Finding the Files You Want
Fast 189
Speeding Up Searches 190
Starting with advanced searches 190
Nixing the mutt 191
Engaging Your Brain Before the Search 191
Running a Simple Advanced Search 192
Searching for Contents and Metadata 193
Employing Wildcards 194
Saving and Reusing Searches 195
Finding Files That Got Lost 195
First, don’t panic 196
Second, get determined 196
Advanced Searching with Copernic 197
Technique 22: Listing Files Quickly 199
Getting Started by Fixing a Windows Bug 200
Showing Directory Listings 201
Writing a program to show directory listings 202
Adding the program to the right-click menu 203
Listing Files by Filename Extension 204
Printing a File List Automatically 206
Getting Rid of Listing Entries 208
Part IV: Making the Most of
Internet and E-Mail 209
Technique 23: Customizing Internet

Lurking in Web Beacons 271
Crawling and trawling 272
Unsubscribing — Not! 273
Fighting Back 273
Taking spam action 273
Biting the phishers 274
Filtering out junk e-mail 274
Technique 30: Protecting Your Kids 277
Evaluating Parental Control Software 277
Going Beyond Parental Control Software 279
Settling on a Workable Plan 279
Part V: Optimizing Your Musical
Entertainment 281
Technique 31: Using Windows Media
Player 283
Installing WMP 10 283
Tweaking WMP 285
Running WMP 286
Controlling WMP from the keyboard 288
Finding Uncommon Methods for Common Tasks 218
Using important IE keyboard shortcuts 218
Unhijacking the Back button 218
Creating custom shortcuts from the Address
bar 219
Controlling Favorites — Directly 221
Keeping IE under Control 222
Removing “saved” passwords and user
names 222
Untrusting trusted publishers 224
Checking for add-ons and parasites 225

Table of Contents
xiii
Technique 32: No-Nonsense Music
Gathering 289
Adding Music to the Media Library 289
Making WMP search for music on your hard
drive 289
Adding new songs to the Library 290
Ripping CDs You Own 291
Ripping ethics 291
Choosing a file format and sampling rate 292
Ripping A to Z 293
Technique 33: Buying Music on the Web 296
What’s Going On Here? 296
Sorting through the Stores 297
So It “Plays for Sure”? 298
Technique 34: Tuning In the Radio 299
Tuning In a Station 299
Technique 35: Creating Your Own
Music CDs 302
Choosing the Type of CD to Burn 302
Picking Songs to Go on the CD 303
Burning the CD or DVD 304
Dealing with Hard Drive Space Issues 305
Technique 36: Transferring Music to MP3
Players 306
Choosing an MP3 Player 306
Copying Files to an MP3 Player 307
Keeping Backups 308
Part VI: Having Fun and Saving

Recovering Deleted Pictures on Your Camera 338
Technique 42: Decreasing Picture
Download Times 341
Understanding Digital Pic File Sizes 341
Changing the Resolution of Pictures 343
Technique 43: Printing and Posting
Pictures 345
Using the Photo Printing Wizard 345
Posting Pics on the Web 348
Technique 44: Using a Scanner Effectively 350
Getting Your Scanner to Work 350
Producing Quality Scans 351
Windows XP Timesaving Techniques For Dummies, 2nd Edition
xiv
Part VIII: Fast Security Techniques 391
Technique 49: Protecting Your PC from
Viruses While You Sleep 393
Understanding Viruses 393
Dissecting a virus 394
Discerning whether your PC’s infected 396
What to do next 397
Protecting Yourself — Quickly 398
Avoiding Hoaxes 399
Technique 50: Plugging and Unplugging
Windows Firewall 401
Coping with Windows Firewall 402
Changing Firewall Settings 404
Constructing a Firewall Lockdown Icon 406
Technique 51: Building a Better Firewall 409
Understanding Firewalls 409

Running the Network Setup Wizard 360
Checking the Pieces 363
Understanding Addresses 364
IP addresses on the Internet 364
IP addresses on your local network 364
Assigning local IP addresses 365
Technique 46: Securing Your Wireless
Network 367
Running the Wireless Network Setup Wizard 367
Making Manual Changes 369
Technique 47: Adding and Configuring a
New User 371
Grasping User Accounts 371
Recognizing account types 372
Working with account types 373
Increasing security with passwords 374
Using simple, common-sense protection 375
Creating a New Account 376
Modifying an Account 377
Using the Hidden Administrator Account 379
Hobbling the Guest Account 380
Technique 48: Sharing Drives and Folders 383
Keeping File Sharing Simple 383
Using the Four Levels of Protection 385
Making a folder Private 387
Making a folder Administrators Here Only 388
Making a folder or drive Read Only on the
Network 388
Making a folder or drive Wide Open 389
Table of Contents

Technique 58: Updating Drivers Safely 458
Understanding Drivers 458
Choosing Your Drivers Wisely 459
Reasons (Some good, some bad) for
changing drivers 459
Evaluating driver reliability 460
Updating a Driver 462
Rolling Back a Bad Driver 463
Technique 59: Running Periodic
Maintenance 466
Making Your Maintenance Shopping List 466
Weekly Cleaning 467
Vacuuming strategies 467
Dusting tips 467
Cleaning screens 468
Ungunking the mouse 468
Checking the floppy drive 469
Monthly Cleaning 469
Fixing Components As Needed 470
Cleaning CDs 470
Recovering from spilled coffee or soda 470
Pulling out a stuck diskette 471
Pulling out a stuck CD 472
Technique 60: Making Backups — Fast 473
Understanding XP Home’s Backup Limitations 473
Automated System Recovery 474
What to do about backup limitations 474
Manually installing the backup program 474
Creating a Backup 475
Scheduling Backups 478

Scanning for Squishers 539
Speeding Up the Scan 540
Technique 71: Using Program
Compatibility Modes 542
Scanning for Program Compatibility 542
Setting Compatibility Modes 545
Installing the Retro Way 546
Technique 72: Fast, Easy, and Safe Online
Shopping 547
Searching Reliable E-Tailers 547
Paying It Safe 549
Choosing a payment method 549
Getting what you pay for 549
Using reputable Web sites 550
Handling credit card fraud 551
Keeping private information private 552
Complaining Effectively 553
Mastering eBay 553
Index 555
Part X: Fast (Nearly Painless)
Disaster Recovery 493
Technique 63: Getting Your PC to Boot
When It Doesn’t Want To 495
Running the System File Checker 496
Falling Back to Safe Mode 497
Using Safe Mode of your own volition 498
Using System Restore in Safe Mode 500
Using Help and Support in Safe Mode 501
Using smart techniques to keep the system
running at minimal levels 501

along with it.
Blecch.
Whatever happened to the old-fashioned notion that PCs are supposed to
save time, not waste it by the bushelful? What can average people do to
make Windows work for them, not against them?
That’s where this book comes in. This book isn’t limited to dry “click
this, press that” tips: Windows XP Timesaving Techniques For Dummies
goes outside the traditional computer box to solve real-world problems
that Windows XP users encounter every day.
About This Book
Microsoft says that Windows XP contains 50,000,000 lines of program-
ming code. 400,000,000 PCs run Windows. Half of them use Windows XP,
and roughly half of them run Service Pack 2. Heaven only knows how
many people have used Windows. Nobody — absolutely nobody —
understands more than a tiny part of Windows XP. Yet everybody —
everybody outside of an ashram, anyway — has to come to grips with it.
Not an easy task, eh?
Windows XP Timesaving Techniques For Dummies concentrates on high-
payoff techniques that save you time. These techniques make Windows
work faster, more reliably, and more like the way you work, day in and
day out. Use these techniques to spend less time spluttering and futzing
with your machine.
Introduction
2
You should assume that I’m not going to waste your
time. I don’t dillydally around, explaining why you
may want to do something. Everything here has a
common theme: Use these techniques to save time.
What’s in This Book
To save you time, I organized this book into

Foolish Assumptions
I assume that you know how to use a computer and
you can navigate Windows XP without fretting or
asking a lot of questions. In fact, that’s the first way
this book saves you time: I don’t cover old ground.
I assume that you’re not scared to get under the
hood, monkey around, and make changes to
Windows XP — especially if those changes are going
to make your computing life easier, more productive,
and more hassle free in the long run.
I assume you’re using Windows XP, and most of the
techniques in this book apply to any version, partic-
ularly if you’ve installed Service Pack 2 or later (the
security and wireless networking techniques assume
that you use SP2). There are a few exceptions —
some techniques apply only to Windows XP Home
Edition or only Windows XP Professional Edition.
When a given technique only applies to a specific
version of Windows XP, I’ll be sure to give you some
advanced warning. But you should be aware of the
fact that a great schism is lurking here. Some people
think that there’s a big difference between Windows
XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional
Edition, but the greatest gulf is the difference
between running a peer-to-peer network (what
Microsoft calls a workgroup) and a client-server net-
work (a domain in Microsoft parlance).
When there’s a difference in Windows XP between
the way it acts in a peer-to-peer setting and the way
it acts on a Big Corporate Network, I usually stick

Here you can decide which desktop settings really
make a difference and which ones don’t. I also show
you how to train Windows to respond to your needs.
You find out how to transfer your old settings to a
new PC, activate Passport without divulging your
personal information, set up (or avoid) ClearType,
“brand” your laptop computer to deter theft and
identify you as its owner if it somehow gets lost,
make your PC turn itself off when you shut down
Windows, and how to switch users in the blink of
an eye.
Part III: Convincing Windows to Work Your Way
You discover how to launch your most frequently
used programs quickly — both on the Windows
taskbar and by using hot keys, including hot keys
that you build yourself.
I also show you how to take good care of your data.
Discover quick file management techniques, such as
renaming a group of files en masse, finding files
quickly and effectively (and getting rid of Rover the
Search Companion in the bargain), printing a list of
files in a folder with a click, and much more.
Part IV: Making the Most of Internet and E-Mail
Take back control of the World Wide Timesink. You
can find out about configuring and customizing
Internet Explorer (including zapping pop-up, pop-
over, and pop-under ads for good), controlling cook-
ies to reduce spam, taking control of Windows/MSN
Messenger so everybody and their brothers don’t
bother you when you’re online, and keeping Outlook

problem.
Part X: Fast (Nearly Painless) Disaster Recovery
Has Windows gone to Hades in a handbasket?
Again? Here are the tricks you need to try in down-
to-earth language. Find out how to survive (and per-
manently stop) the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.
Find out how to get your PC to boot when it doesn’t
want to, restore your system to its pre-calamitous
condition, and recover lost passwords. It ain’t pretty,
but sometimes you have to take the Windows bull by
the horns.
Part XI: The Scary (Or Fun!) Stuff
Most of the techniques in the first ten parts are
pretty straightforward. In Part XI, I take you deep
into the belly of Windows XP. Find out how to make
changes to the Registry without getting burned, and
go through three of my favorite Registry tweaks that
aren’t covered by Microsoft’s programs. I also show
you how to use Program Compatibility Mode when
you absolutely, positively have to get an old program
to work.
Conventions Used in This Book
I try to keep the typographical conventions to a
minimum:
ߜ The first time a buzzword or concept appears in
text, I italicize it and define it immediately so that
you can easily find it again if you need to re-read
the definition.
ߜ When you see an arrow (➪) in text, it means you
should click, click, click to success. For example,

Part IX: Keeping Your PC Alive
An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of painful
cures. Here you can discover how to run periodic
maintenance automatically while you’re off lounging
somewhere (or meeting some insane deadline). I
show you how to decide how much maintenance is
enough and how to determine when to run mainte-
nance checks so that your workflow isn’t affected.
Where to Go from Here
5
Programs” means you should click Start, then
click Control Panel, and then click Add or
Remove Programs. Rocket science.
ߜ When I want you to type something, I put the let-
ters in bold. For example: Type myfirstfilename1.
doc to name your new file.
ߜ I set off Web addresses and e-mail IDs in mono-
space. For example, my e-mail address is
[email protected] (true fact), and my Web
page is at
www.AskWoody.com (another true
fact).
ߜ All filenames, paths, and just about anything you
see on-screen are shown in monospace font, as
well. For example, this bad boy, found in the
Windows Registry, is set off like this:
HKEY_
LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows NT\Current Version\WinLogons
ߜ I always, absolutely, adamantly include the file-

icon. You can browse through any chapter and
hit the very highest points by jumping from
Tip to Tip.
Achtung! ¡Cuidado! Anyplace you see a
Warning icon, you can be sure that I’ve been
burnt — badly — in the past. Mind your fin-
gers. These are really, really mean suckers.
Where to Go from Here
If you want your voice to be heard, you can contact
the publisher of the For Dummies books by clicking
the Contact Us
link on the publisher’s Web site at
www.dummies.com or by sending snail mail to Wiley
Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard,
Indianapolis, IN 46256.
You can contact Woody or Justin at
woody@Ask
Woody.com
. I can’t answer all the questions I get —
man, there ain’t enough hours in the day! — but I
take some of the best and post them on
AskWoody.com frequently.
Speaking of AskWoody.com, drop by! I bet you’ll be
pleasantly surprised by the straight story, and cov-
erage of important news items that you can’t find
anywhere else.
Confused about where to go next? Well, you can flip
the page. Or you can flip a coin. Or you could hire a
hundred monkeys and have them sit down at a hun-
dred PCs and see how long it takes them to come up