PC Magazine Windows XP Solutions

554 Pages·2006·17.95 MB·English

by  Neil Randall

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PC Magazine®
Windows® XP Solutions
Second Edition
Neil Randall
01_747521 ffirs.qxd 9/30/05 8:32 PM Page i
PC Magazine®
Windows® XP Solutions
Second Edition
Neil Randall
01_747521 ffirs.qxd 9/30/05 8:32 PM Page ii
PC Magazine®Windows®XP Solutions, 2nd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74752-9
ISBN-10: 0-471-74752-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2B/RZ/RQ/QV/IN
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Randall, Neil.
PC Magazine Windows XP solutions / Neil Randall. — 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74752-9 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-471-74752-1 (pbk.)
1. Microsoft Windows (Computer file) 2. Operating systems (Computers) I. Title.
QA76.76.O63R362 2005
005.4’46--dc22
2005023677
Trademarks:Wiley and related trade dress are registered trademarks of Wiley Publishing, Inc., in the United States and other countries, and
may not be used without written permission. PC Magazine and the PC Magazine logo are registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing
Holdings, Inc. Used under license. Windows XP is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and /or other
countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or
vendor mentioned in this book.
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Credits
EXECUTIVE EDITOR VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE GROUP
Chris Webb PUBLISHER
Richard Swadley
SENIOR DEVELOPMENT EDITOR
Jodi Jensen VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER
Joseph B. Wikert
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Mark Justice Hinton PROJECT COORDINATOR
Ryan Steffen
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Felicia Robinson GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS
Denny Hager
COPY EDITOR Jennifer Heleine
Foxxe Editorial Services Amanda Spagnuolo
Ron Terry
EDITORIAL MANAGER
Mary Beth Wakefield QUALITY CONTROL TECHNICIANS
Leeann Harney
PRODUCTION MANAGER Jessica Kramer
Tim Tate Carl William Pierce
Charles Spencer
BOOK DESIGNER
Kathie Rickard PROOFREADING AND INDEXING
TECHBOOKS Production Services
About the Author
Neil Randall has been writing about computers for twenty years, beginning with the Commodore
and moving through every type of PC and every operating system available since then. He has pub-
lished hundreds of articles, columns, and reviews in numerous magazines during that time, and he
is currently a Contributing Editor for PC Magazine. He has published eight books on computer top-
ics, including the effective use of Internet technologies and resources, publishing Web sites, and the
history of the Internet. He is a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where he teaches
multimedia applications, interface analysis and design, and digital design.
01_747521 ffirs.qxd 9/30/05 8:32 PM Page iv
For Heather, whose endurance can only inspire.
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Contents at a Glance
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
PartI Securing Windows XP
Chapter 1 Windows XP Service Pack 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 Protecting XP Against Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 3 Dealing with Spyware and Adware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
PartII Avoiding Disaster
Chapter 4 Backing Up Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 5 Windows Update: Letting Microsoft Protect
Windows XP for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 6 Recovering from Windows XP Problems . . . . . . . . . . 79
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
PartIII Taming the Internet
Chapter 7 Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 8 Putting the Internet to Work for You . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter 9 Tailoring Internet Explorer 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Chapter 10 Controlling Windows from Afar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
PartIV Letting Windows’ Hair Down: The Creative and Entertaining
Side of Windows XP
Chapter 11 Imaging Central: Working with Digital Cameras
and Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 12 Working with Video Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Chapter 13 Unleashing Your Inner Spielberg: Making
Videos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter 14 Playing, Ripping, and Recording Music . . . . . . . . . 209
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
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vi Contents at a Glance
PartV Changing the Interface
Chapter 15 Giving Windows a Facelift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Chapter 16 Taking Control of Your Start Menu, Taskbar,
and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Chapter 17 Changing Your Interface from the Control Panel. . . 289
Chapter 18 Taking Even Greater Control of Your Interface . . . . 311
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
PartVI Installing and Removing Software and Hardware
Chapter 19 Installing Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Chapter 20 Removing Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Chapter 21 Installing Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Chapter 22 Hardware Configuration, Maintenance, and
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Chapter 23 Speeding Up Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
PartVII Who Owns What: Setting Up Users, Permissions, and Policies
Chapter 24 Adding Users and Groups to Your System . . . . . . . 395
Chapter 25 Controlling User Access with Permissions . . . . . . . 411
Chapter 26 Locating and Migrating User Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Chapter 27 Configuring Group Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
PartVIII Networking Your Home or Business
Chapter 28 Planning Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Chapter 29 Connecting Your PCs in a Small Workgroup . . . . . . 465
Chapter 30 Using Windows XP as an Internet Server . . . . . . . . 475
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
PartIX Appendixes
Appendix A Installing Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Appendix B Reinstalling Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I Securing Windows XP
Chapter 1 Windows XP Service Pack 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Getting and Installing Service Pack 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Before the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Installation Itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What SP2 Brings to the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Improved Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Improved Web and Email Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Other Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Using the Windows Security Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Automatic Updates, Virus Protection, and Manage
Security Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 2 Protecting XP against Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Understanding Viruses, Worms, and Trojans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Virus Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Viruses Keep Getting Smarter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
How a Virus Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Using Antivirus Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Scanning from the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Getting Started with Norton AntiVirus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Norton AntiVirus Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Configuring Antivirus Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 3 Dealing with Spyware and Adware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
What Are Spyware and Adware? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Working with Spyware/Adware Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Dedicated versus Bundled Anti-Spyware Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Getting Rid of Old KaZaA the Manual Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
What Kazaa Installs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
How to Get Rid of Kazaa and All Its Buddies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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viii Contents
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Antivirus Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Anti-Spyware Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Firewall Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Testing Your Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Part II Avoiding Disaster
Chapter 4 Backing Up Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Backup Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
A Guide to Backup Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Floppy Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Compact Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Digital Video Discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Separate Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
USB Thumb Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Tape Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Network Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Third-Party Backup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Copying Files Manually and Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Using the Backup Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using the Recycle Bin as a Backup Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Recycle Bin as Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Using the Recycle Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 5 Windows Update: Letting Microsoft Protect
Windows XP for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Using Windows Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Exploring Privacy Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Scanning for Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Selecting Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Setting Up Automatic Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Understanding Security Patches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Understanding Service Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 6 Recovering from Windows XP Problems . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using System Restore to Avoid Headaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Restoring to an Earlier Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Configuring System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Safe Mode and Other Startup Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Accessing the Startup Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Safe Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Safe Mode with Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Safe Mode with Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Enable Boot Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90