www.it-ebooks.info
by Greg Harvey
Windows
®
XP
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
QUICK REFERENCE
2ND EDITION
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by Greg Harvey
Windows
®
XP
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
QUICK REFERENCE
2ND EDITION
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www.it-ebooks.info
Windows
®
XP For Dummies
®
Quick Reference, 2
nd

TION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT
ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PRO-
FESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL
PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE
FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS
REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER
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MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004112333
ISBN: 0-7645-7464-7
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2O/QW/RQ/QU/IN
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About the Author
Greg Harvey, the author of more than 50 computer books, has
had a long career of teaching business people the use of IBM PC,
Windows, and Macintosh software application programs. From
1983 to 1988, he conducted hands-on computer software training
for corporate business users with a variety of training companies
(including his own, PC Teach). From 1988 to 1992, he taught univer-

Dan Gookin, whose vision, sardonic wit, and (sometimes) good
humor produced DOS For Dummies, the “Mother” of all For Dummies
books. Thanks for the inspiration and the book that made it all
possible, Dan.
Greg Harvey
Point Reyes Station, California
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration
form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and
Media Development
Project Editor: Christine Berman
Acquisitions Editor: Tiffany Franklin
Copy Editor: Christine Berman
Technical Editor: Kerwin McKenzie
Editorial Manager: Carol Sheehan
Media Development Supervisor:
Richard Graves
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth
Production
Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis
Layout and Graphics: Andrea Dahl,
Lauren Goddard, Jacque Roth,
Julie Trippetti
Proofreaders: Laura Albert,
John Greenough, TECHBOOKS
Production Services

Taskbar Table BP-6
The Basics: Opening and Closing Windows BP-7
The Basics: Creating New Folders BP-10
The Basics: Deleting Folders and Files BP-11
The Basics: Copying or Moving Folders and Files BP-13
The Basics: Exiting Windows BP-15
What You Can Do: Setting Up a Desktop Made
to Order BP-16
What You Can Do: Saving Music with
Windows Media Player BP-18
What You Can Do: Producing Movies with
Windows Movie Maker BP-20
Part I: Doing Everyday Stuff 1
Adding or Removing Programs 2
Putting programs on your computer 2
Adding Windows Components 3
Taking programs off your computer 4
Setting default Windows applications 5
Arranging and Sizing Icons in a Window 6
Browsing Drives, Folders, and Files on the Computer 7
My Documents 7
My Pictures 8
Making slideshows 9
Printing pictures 10
My Music 12
My Videos 12
My eBooks 13
My Computer 14
Using the Folders Explorer bar 16
Mapping network drives 18

Moving and Resizing Windows 46
Naming Files and Folders 49
Long filenames 50
File icons 50
Things you do with files 51
Renaming files and folders 51
Opening Files and Folders 52
Playing Music, Video, and Movies 53
Windows Media Player 53
Audio CD-ROMs 56
Radio stations 59
Copying audio files and making CDs 60
Copying music to your hard drive 60
Creating playlists 62
Recording audio CDs 63
Video files 65
DVDs 66
Portable device 67
Printing 68
Managing the print queue 69
Installing a new printer 70
Searching for Files and Folders 73
Searching for computers, people, and Web sites 75
Searching for pictures, music, or video 76
Selecting Commands on Menus 77
Pull-down menus 78
Shortcut menus 79
x Windows XP For Dummies Quick Reference, 2nd Edition
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Adding Web Favorites 110
Opening Favorites 112
Offline Favorites 112
Organizing Favorites 114
Synchronizing offline Favorites 116
Browsing with Internet Explorer 117
Connecting to the Internet 118
Launching Internet Explorer 118
Navigating the Web 119
Address AutoComplete 120
Saving Web graphics 120
Saving Web pages 121
Saving Desktop items 122
Printing Web pages 123
Working offline 124
Browsing with MSN Explorer 126
Table of Contents xi
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Searching the Web 130
Searching from the Explorer Bar 130
Autosearching from the Address Bar 132
Sending and Receiving E-Mail 132
Composing and sending messages 133
Adding recipients to the Address Book 136
Reading e-mail 138
Organizing e-mail 141
Deleting e-mail 142
Instant Messaging 143
Adding contacts 144

Part IV: The Windows Control Panel 171
About the Control Panel 172
Accessibility Options 173
Add or Remove Programs 174
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Appearance and Themes 175
Folder Options 176
Display 176
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options 178
Network and Internet Connections 179
Performance and Maintenance 180
Printers and Other Hardware 182
Security Center 183
Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices 183
User Accounts 184
Glossary: Techie Talk 187
Index 191
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xiv Windows XP For Dummies Quick Reference, 2nd Edition
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Part IIThe Big Picture: Windows XP
Windows XP
T
his part gives you an overview of Windows XP by presenting
some of the most common elements and introducing you to the

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The Big Picture: Windows XP
BP-2
What You See: The Windows Desktop
The Windows desktop is the place from which you start and end your Windows
work sessions. In the main area of the desktop, you see the background graphic,
the Recycle Bin icon, plus icons for the shortcuts to your favorite programs and
Desktop
icons
Start button
Quick Launch Toolbar: See Part I
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BP-3
The Big Picture: Windows XP
folders and any Web items that you’ve downloaded. At the bottom of the desktop,
you see the Windows taskbar with its Start button, Quick Launch toolbar, and
Notification area. For more information on what you can do with these compo-
nents, check out the appropriate Quick Reference entry in other parts of the book.
Desktop Item:
See Part II
Notification area
Background graphic
Mini Media Player: See Part I
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The Big Picture: Windows XP
BP-4
What You See: My Documents

boxes or drop-down lists (boxes). Other controls include radio buttons (of
which you can select only one in a group) and check boxes (of which you can
select all or none in a group).
All dialog boxes offer some sort of command buttons for putting your choices
into effect (usually in the form of an OK button) or opting out of any new
choices (in the form of Cancel). The simplest of the dialog boxes (called alert
dialog boxes) contain only command buttons (such as OK) that you use to
acknowledge the message (often cryptic) that Windows has given you.
Many dialog boxes don’t allow you to ignore them. This means that you must
put them away before you can go back to work doing whatever you were
doing. The easiest way to get rid of a dialog box (without putting into effect
any changes you’ve made) is to press the Esc key.
For more on using dialog boxes in Windows XP, see the section “Dialog boxes”
in Part I.
Preview
Drop-down list
Radio buttons
Command buttons
Command buttons
Text box
Radio buttons
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The Big Picture: Windows XP
BP-6
Taskbar Table
The Windows taskbar is far and away the most important toolbar that you’ll
encounter. The Windows taskbar remains present even when the rest of the
Windows desktop is completely hidden by any full-size windows that you have
open.

Launch Outlook Open Outlook Express Part II
Express so that you can send
or receive e-mail
Windows Start Windows Media Part I
Media Player Player to play both local
and streaming audio and
video files
Minimized Clicking a minimized Part I
window window on the taskbar
opens the window back
up to its previous size
The Basics: Opening and Closing Windows
You can launch programs, open folders and files, or launch a shortcut from
within a window or the Windows desktop by any of the following methods:
ߜ Double-click the program, folder, file, or shortcut icon.
ߜ Right-click the icon and then choose Open on its shortcut menu.
ߜ Click the icon to select it and then press the Enter key.
For more on opening files and folders in Windows XP, see the section “Opening
Files and Folders” in Part I.
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The Big Picture: Windows XP
BP-8
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