NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, September 2003
Windows XP Guides Review
by John Weigle, Editor, The Outer Edge
Channel Islands PC Users Group, Oxnard, CA
jweigle@vcnet.com
(click to email author)


OK, a lot of people switched to Windows XP before I did, but none of you reviewed any of the books available on the latest Microsoft operating system. I assume I’m not the last person in the club to make the change, however, so here’s a look at the four books I read to learn about the XP operating system.

If you’ve used any version of Windows beyond 3.1 you don’t have to read four books to master it. You might not even have to read any, but I didn’t want to tackle a new system without anything to fall back on except the onscreen Help system, so I asked Toby Scott what he’d recommend. His first choice was “Windows XP Home Edition, The Missing Manual,” and his second, if I remember right, was “Windows XP Annoyances” by David A. Karp. I got them both. Because Paul McFedries wrote the best book I read on Windows 98, my previous operating system, I bought his “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Windows XP,” and because I enjoyed Woody Leonhard’s book on Office 97, I bought his “Windows XP All- in-One Desk Reference for Dummies.”

Like several other people I’ve talked to in the club, I prefer a written manual to the online help provided by most programs. I don’t like to read long passages on a computer screen, and I can make notes inside a book, or on a sheet of paper I keep inside it, to guide me back to especially interesting or helpful points. And if I can’t figure out how the author listed what I’m looking for in the index, I have the added clues of a table of contents and the variety of illustrations and subheads as I thumb through the book.

As you might expect, each of the books takes a different approach to the subject and emphasizes different points, although all the books cover the basics of XP.

Pogue’s “The Missing Manual,” one in a series of such books on different programs, is the best overall book. It steps you through all the XP features and even includes an appendix on “Windows XP, Menu by Menu.”

Pogue calls XP a great improvement over previous versions of Windows, but adds, “Despite the many improvements in Windows over the years, one feature hasn’t improved a bit: Microsoft’s documentation. In fact, with Windows XP, you get no printed user guide at all. To learn about the thousands of pieces of software that make up this operating system, you’re expected to read the online help screen.”

“Unfortunately,” he continues, “as you’ll quickly discover, these help screens are tersely written, offer very little technical depth, and lack examples and illustrations. You can’t even mark your place, underline, or read them in the bathroom. In Windows XP, many of the help screens are actually on Microsoft’s Web site; you can’t see them without an Internet connection. Too bad if you’re on a plane somewhere with your laptop.”

The book is written for all levels of users. The main part of the book is written for what Pogue calls “advanced-beginner or intermediate PC users.” But sidebars called Up To Speed help brand new users, and other sidebars called Power Users’ Clinic help more advanced users with special tips, tricks and shortcuts.

Karp explains why he wrote “Windows XP Annoyances” this way:

“…By labeling something a bug, we are placing the burden of resolving the problem on Microsoft, and waiting for Microsoft developers to fix a bug that they consider to be a feature can definitely be considered a lost cause.

“However if we lump together the crash-a-day tendency of Windows, the irritating little animations, the clutter on the desktop, the lack of decent documentation and the fact that performance rarely meets expectations, and call them annoyances, we assume the burden of solving our own problems. This is a valuable attitude to adopt; it motivates us to learn more about the operating system so that we can work more efficiently. And, more importantly, it gives us the power to resolve the problems we encounter, so that we can get through the day with some degree of sanity.”

Earlier books in the Annoyances series have included software to help make the changes the author suggests, but this one does not. Instead, it directs readers to the author’s Web site for the latest versions of software he recommends and leaves the opportunity to add new software issued after the book was printed.

Readers of the Annoyances series should know going in that the books often recommend editing the Windows Registry. If this is something you’re afraid to even think about, you might want to pass on the series. On the other hand, a number of programs, including Microsoft’s own Power Toys collection, which includes Tweak UI, let you change registry settings without opening the registry, so the faint of heart can tackle some of the suggestions. Common sense, and Karp, suggest that you should back up the registry before playing with it, and Karp explains ways to handle that, even though the files that make up the registry can’t be accessed while Windows is running.

For those of you who truly enjoy learning all you can learn about your computer, he discusses VBScript, which lets you write the equivalent of the old DOS batch files for Windows.

Karp offers lots of helpful hints, such as this one on home networks: “Use a different color cable for each computer to make troubleshooting easier.”

He also has a section on “Closing Back Doors in Windows XP” because, as he puts it, “Unfortunately, Windows is not configured for optimal security by default.” The section discusses file sharing, Universal Plug-and-Play, Remote Desktop, passwords, firewalls and scanning for open ports.

And if you like the classic start menu better than the XP versions, Karp tells you how to change it back.

Karp also includes instructions on installing XP on a machine you already have and using the Windows Recovery Console, along with an alphabetical list of all XP settings (from “Accessibility, additional settings for Web pages” to “Windows XP Style for screen elements”). It fills almost 34 pages, which gives you an idea of how many things you can do in XP. Another appendix helps translate error messages.

This is a book for the technically inclined reader who wants more details about the innards of Windows and how to tweak it than it is for the average user .

Anyone who has read any of Woody Leonhard’s books or articles knows he has no hesitancy about making his points strongly and clearly, and he does this in “Windows XP All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies,” which covers Windows XP Basics, Customization, The Internet, Internet Explorer, America Online, Microsoft Network, Hardware, Multimedia and Home Networking.

One of Leonhard’s biggest complaints about all versions of Windows is that by default they don’t show file extensions in Windows Explorer. In fact, this is one of the items listed on a pullout page under the topic “Three Fatal Flaws.” He explains the problem this way: “Windows XP hides a key piece of information from you that can help you identify and avoid viruses. The next time you use Windows XP, take a few seconds and make it show you ‘file name extensions’ — the little piece at the end of each file’s name, usually three characters long (for example, doc or exe or bat), that dictates how Windows treats the file.”

The other fatal flaws are Windows’ insistence that you give it all kinds of personal information to register, use Windows Messenger or .NET Passport and MSN (don’t do it or lie, he advises), and the lack of a built-in antivirus protection (get an antivirus program, he says, then keep it up to date and use it regularly). Each of the nine books has its own index, and an overall index covers all nine books.

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Windows XP” covers both the Home and Professional editions (with a few exceptions, the differences aren’t that great), and has lots of illustrations, sidebars and an appendix of Windows jargon. The jargon is also defined as it comes up in the book. Other helpful breakout items are Windows Wisdom, which add helpful hints to the regular text, and Look Out!, which emphasize dangers or problems you might have dealing with the subject being discussed.

The book includes a reference card of keyboard shortcuts and another on navigating the new XP Control Panel.

McFedries also includes a chapter on Refurbishing the Desktop, which covers how to change desktop wallpaper and patterns, changing colors and fonts, adding icons and Web items and changing screen resolution and colors.

As is usually the case, both the Idiot’s Guide and Dummies books are excellent general introductions to their subjects.

Details of the books:

  • Windows XP All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, by Woody Leonhard, Hungry Minds, New York, N.Y., 2002. Related Web site: http://www.woodyswatch.com/
  • Windows XP Annoyances, by David A. Karp, O’Reilly & Associates Inc., Sebastopol, Calif., 2003. Associated Web site: http://www.annoyances.org

  • The Complete Idiot’s Guide Windows XP, by Paul McFedries, Pearson Education Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., 2002. Related Web site: http://www.mcfedries.com/

  • Windows XP Home Edition, The Missing Manual, by David Pogue, Pogue Press and O’Reilly & Associates Inc., Sebastopol, Calif., 2002.

    There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this review as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given the author. This review is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer user Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member.

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