Windows XP in a Nutshell

Tim O'Reilly is founder and president of O'Reilly & Associates, publisher of the X Window System series and the popular Nutshell Handbooks on UNIX. Tim has had a hand in writing or editing many of the books published by O'Reilly & Associates. He is also the author of a book about science-fiction writer Frank Herbert. Tim's long-term vision for the company is to create a vehicle where creative people can support themselves by exploring interesting ideas. Tim graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1975 with a B.A. in classics. Troy Mott is an associate editor for O'Reilly & Associates. He has played an integral role in managing many Windows books through the publishing process, from conception to release. He has degrees in English from California Polytechnic University and Sonoma State University. He is also a freelance writer for a Santa Rosa-based finance company and enjoys writing fiction in his spare time. David A. Karp, a graduate from the University of California at Berkeley in mechanical engineering, is a specialist in user-interface design and computer-based training. He currently consults on Internet technology, web site production, and software engineering. He has written for a number of magazines, most recently for Windows Sources. He created the Windows95 Annoyances web site, the catalyst for this book. David initiated the web site as an early beta tester of Windows95, and by the time the product was released, the site was widely cited as one of the best technical resources on the Web. Noted recognition includes PC Computing magazine, Yahoo! Computing, Windows Magazine, and the San Francisco Examiner.

Part I The big picture: the lay of the land, the big picture, what's new in Windows XP, Windows XP Home and professional editions, Windows update; using Windows XP - the desktop, point and click operations, starting up applications, styles and consequences of styles, Windows and menus, keyboard accelerators, common controls, files, folders, and disks, the command line, online help, shutting down. Part II Alphabetical reference; the user interface; Windows XP applications and tools - using the command prompt, alphabetical reference to Windows components; task and setting index; the command prompt - using the command line, command prompt choices, wildcards, pipes, and redirection, alphabetical reference to DOS commands. Part III Advanced topics: networking - networking terminology, general procedures; the registry, what's in the registry, adding and deleting registry keys and values, organization of the registry, hives, backing up the registry, exporting and importing registry, data with patches, ten cool things you can do in your registry; the Windows script host - what is WSH?, additional resources, executing scripts, creating a script, VBScript, object model, Wscript object, shell object, registry routines, shortcuts, popup, network object, network printer-related functions, fileSystem object, textStream object, object browser, database example, messaging MS-DOS batch files. Part IV Appendices: installing Windows XP; migrating to Windows XP; keyboard shortcuts; power toys and TweakUI; keyboard equivalents for symbols and international characters; common filename extensions; services.