In an ideal world, an operating system would do its work in the background while you did your work in the foreground. In our world, however, operating systems constantly get in the way, and Windows XP is no exception. There hasn't been such a dramatic change in Windows computing since the introduction of Windows 95. Windows XP contains dozens of important new features designed to make your work easier, including improved performance, but also introduces numerous quirks and unaccountable behaviors that are guaranteed to increase your level of perplexity and frustration. O'Reilly's popular series for troubleshooting Windows comes to the rescue with Windows XP Annoyances. This book is not designed to complain or criticize, but to acknowledge the problems and shortcomings of the operating system in order to overcome them. Complete with a collection of tools and techniques, this book allows users to improve their experience with Windows XP and establish control of the machine--rather than the other way around. Based on the author's popular Windows Annoyances web site (http://www.annoyances.org), Windows XP Annoyances offers solutions, tips, workarounds and warnings that enable you to both customize and troubleshoot Windows, including:

• Understanding the Windows Registry, including the use of the Registry Editor and advanced topics such as finding the right Registry Keys and restoring a corrupted registry

• Customizing the interface beyond Microsoft's intentions, including many undocumented tweaks

• Mastering Windows built-in networking capabilities, including advanced technologies such as Internet Connection Sharing, Remote Desktop sharing, and virtual private networking

• Repairing Windows XP now that the DOS safety net is gone

As author David Karp says, "The more you know about a tool you use--specifically, Microsoft Windows XP--the better your day-to-day experience with it will be." Windows XP Annoyances is the intermediate and advanced Windows user's best resource for turning Windows into the user-friendly, customizable interface it was meant to be.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 29 Ratings

Lots of great tips all in one place - 2006-12-03
Reviewer Rating:
Why buy a book on Windows XP with VISTA coming soon? Unless forced to, I am sticking with XP and not going to VISTA. After several years of use, I finally have XP working the way I want. I have spent many hours tweaking my system for improved security and efficiency. Even so, this book which I bought in November 2006 has hundreds of tips I would not have discovered on my own. Nearly all of the tips are useful to the power user. The advice is solid and much easier to access than the Windows Knowledge Base or even searching the net. Plus the book is not biased by the MS party line. The book should be titled "How to get the most out of Windows XP". Based on my experience, this book is definitely a best-buy recommendation.

While I am ranting, I should add that I bought this book after the napster cat appeared in my version of Windows Media Player. It was either there all along, and I never noticed it, or it showed up after one of the ubiquitous MS updates. I am a business user and not interested in outline content stores. In fact, the cat is embarassing to me when I use media player in presentations. I resent the fact that MS would build this commercialism into Media Player without an easy option to eliminate it for those of us who do not wish to be solicited. I also resent the fact that MS uses OS updates to change my settings in favor of their own products.

Fixing Windows XP Annoyances - 2007-09-30
Reviewer Rating:
Purchasing this book was a mistake. I expected something similar to
"Windows 98 Annoyances" by the same author. There was no chapter on the Registry, and little or no information about the Registry.

Why does XP need so much fixing? - 2008-02-08
Reviewer Rating:
There are many things about Windows "professional" that isn't. It has puppy dogs and talking paper clips. All files gravitate towards "My Documents" and "My Pictures" and often the only way to get to "My Engineering Files" is to click first the desktop icon, then "My Computer" icon, then the drive letter... I want the operating system to get out of my way and let me work. And yet Windows is notorious for putting all sorts of settings in obscure locations that are the last place you might look for them. Hence there are so many utilities for configuring your system the way you want it. Unfortunately, these utilities just do it without telling you how it is done.
This book directly addresses most of these annoying features and explains how (and why) to fix them. In so doing it provides a great deal of insight into the MS mentality. There are of course other annoyances not covered in the book, but I now have a much better idea where to look for them.

extremely useful - 2008-08-31
Reviewer Rating:
I do think this book is one you need after you have learned how to compute. I found it very useful and informative even after 10 years of computing. I'm only about one quarter thru the book but have done a lot of their suggestions and found them to be very useful. Worth buying.

Not the clearest sometimes, but... - 2008-02-15
Reviewer Rating:
While some of the content wasn't easy to implement, I got quite a bit of use out of it. I tend to go back to it from time to time, even.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Operating Systems

Sub-Categories:
Operating Systems > Windows XP
Windows XP > Reference
Windows XP > Troubleshooting/Performance Tuning