Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional: Special Edition - Softcover

Cowart, Robert; Knittel, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0789732807 ISBN 13: 9780789732804

Publisher: Que Pub, 2004

Synopsis

This updated edition covers all of the updates to Windows XP since it was released, including Service Packs 1 and 2, and Reloaded. From-the-trenches advice on upgrading to Windows XP Pro - including detailed rollout advice for IT managers. Plan and manage deployment of Windows easily and efficiently - whether you're upgrading just a handful of computers, or an entire corporation! Includes hands-on coverage of installing, configuring and surviving on a Windows XP-based network. We not only show you how to set up Windows networking features, we show you how to install and set up basic networking hardware.Sharing files with other platforms, such as Novell Netware, Unix and Linux, Macintosh and other Windows flavors.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Cowart has written more than 40 books on computer programming and applications, with more than a dozen on Windows. His titles include Windows NT Unleashed, Mastering Windows (3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, and Me), Windows NT Server Administrator's Bible, Windows NT Server 4.0: No Experience Required, and Special Edition Using Windows 2000 Professional. Several of his books have been bestsellers in their categories, and have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has written on a wide range of computer-related topics for such magazines as PC Week, PC World, PC Magazine, PC Tech Journal, Mac World, and Microsoft Systems Journal. He has taught programming classes at the University of California Extension in San Francisco and has appeared as a special guest on the PBS TV series Computer Chronicles, CNN's Headline News, TechTV's The Screen Savers, and ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He is president and co-founder of Brainsville.com, a company specializing in the production of multimedia training courses. Robert resides in Berkeley, California.

In his spare time, he is involved in the music world, presenting chamber-music concerts, and playing classical piano. He also is a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Brian Knittel has been a software developer for more than 25 years. After doing graduate work in medical imaging technologies, he began a career as an independent consultant. An eclectic mix of clients have led to long-term projects in medical documentation, workflow management, real-time industrial system control, and most importantly, over 15 years of real-world experience with MS-DOS, Windows, and computer networking in the business world. Previously, he wrote Windows XP Under the Hood: Hardcore Scripting and Command Line Power, co-authored Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and contributed to several of Bob Cowart's other Windows books. Brian lives in Albany, California, halfway between the tidal wave zone and the earthquake fault. He spends his free time restoring antique computers (check out http://www.ibm1130.org) and trying to perfect his wood-fired pizza recipes.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

In this introduction

• Welcome
• Why This Book?
• How Our Book Is Organized
• What's on the CD?
• Conventions Used in This Book

Welcome

Thank you for purchasing or considering the purchase of Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Third Edition. It's amazing the changes that nearly 20 years can bring to a computer product such as Windows. When we wrote our first Windows book back in the mid-'80s, our publisher didn't even think the book would sell well enough to print more than 5,000 copies. Microsoft stock wasn't even a blip on most investors' radar screens. Boy, were they wrong! Who could have imagined that a little more than a decade later, anyone who hoped to get hired for even a temp job in a small office would need to know how to use Microsoft Windows, Office, and a PC. Eighteen or so Windows books later, we're still finding new and exciting stuff to tell our readers.

Some people (including the U.S. Department of Justice) claim Microsoft's predominance on the PC operating system arena was won unethically through monopolistic practices. Whether or not this is true (we try, almost successfully, to stay out of the politics in this book), we believe that Windows has earned its position today through reasons other than having a stranglehold on the market. Consider that Windows NT 3.1 had 5 million lines of code. Windows XP weighs in with more than 30 million. This represents a lot of work, by anyone's accounting. Who could have imagined in 1985 that any decent operating system a decade and half later must have support for so many technologies that didn't even exist at the time: CD-ROM, DVD, CD-R and CD-RW, Internet and intranet, MP3, MPEG, DV, USB, FireWire, APM, ACPI, RAID, UPS, PPOE, 802.11g, Bluetooth, fault tolerance, disk encryption and compression...? The list goes on. And could we have imagined that a Microsoft Certified System Engineer certificate (MCSE) could prove as lucrative as a medical or law degree?

Although rarely on the bleeding edge of technology, and often taking the role of the dictator, Bill Gates has at least been benevolent from the users' point of view. In 1981, when we were building our first computers, the operating system (CP/M) had to be modified in assembly language and recompiled, and hardware parts had to be soldered together to make almost any new addition (such as a video display terminal) work. Virtually nothing was standardized, with the end result being that computers remained out of reach for average folks.

Together, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM changed all that. Today, you can purchase a computer, printer, scanner, Zip drive, keyboard, modem, monitor, and video card over the Internet, plug them in, and install Windows, and they'll probably work together. The creation and adoption (and sometimes forcing) of hardware and software standards that have made the PC a household appliance the world over can largely be credited to Microsoft, like it or not. The unifying glue of this PC revolution has been Windows.

Yes, we all love to hate Windows, but it's here to stay. Linux is on the rise, but for most of us, at least for some time, Windows and Windows applications are "where it's at." And Windows XP ushers in truly significant changes to the landscape. That's why we were excited to write this book.

This book covers Windows XP as well as the latest upgrade to XP, which is called SP2, or Service Pack 2. Service Pack 2 adds significant new security features to Windows XP and its accessory programs such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.

Why This Book?

We all know this book will make an effective doorstop in a few years. You probably have a few already. (We've even written a few!) If you think it contains more information than you need, just remember how helpful a good reference can be when you need it at the 11th hour. And we all know that computer technology changes so fast that it's sometimes easier just to blink and ignore a phase than to study up on it. Windows XP definitely is a significant upgrade in Windows technology—one you're going to need to understand. Microsoft has folded all of its operating systems into the Windows XP product line, so rest assured it will be around for some time.

On the surface, Windows XP might provide much of the same functionality as Windows 98 and Windows Me, but it's a completely different animal, and the differences are more than skin deep. From the way users sign on, to the new Start menu, to its day-to-day management tools, XP bears little resemblance to its predecessors. Don't let that worry you: In all ways, it's superior to any operating system Microsoft has ever produced.

Is Windows XP so easy to use that books are unnecessary? Unfortunately, no. True, as with other releases of Windows, online help is available. As has been the case ever since Windows 95, however, no printed documentation is available (to save Microsoft the cost), and the Help files are written by the Microsoft cronies. You won't find criticisms, complaints, workarounds, or talk of third-party programs there, let alone explanations of why you have to do things a certain way. For that, you need this book!

You might know that Windows XP comes in two versions: Home Edition and Professional. Other publishers have produced single volumes to cover both operating systems, but we think that will only end up confusing readers. Instead, we've produced two books, because we wanted you to have a book that addresses your specific needs. This book covers Windows XP Professional's more advanced management and networking features, and, while it anticipates that some home users will choose the Professional version, it also addresses the business and/or power user. Still, we assume you probably are not an engineer, and we'll do our best to speak in plain English and not snow you with unexplained jargon.

In this book's many pages, we focus not just on the gee-whiz side of the technology, but why you should care, what you can get from it, and what you can forget about. The lead author on this book has previously written 15 books about Windows, all in plain English (several bestsellers), designed for everyone from rank beginners to full-on system administrators deploying NT Server domains. The co-author has designed software and networks for more than 25 years. We work with and write about various versions of Windows year in and year out. We have a clear understanding of what confuses users and system administrators about installing, configuring, or using Windows, as well as (we hope) how to best convey the solutions to our readers.

This book is now in its third edition, and builds on the experience we gained over the years since XP's initial release. We spent many months adding coverage of new Windows features, testing Windows XP service pack betas through numerous builds, participating in the Microsoft beta newsgroups, documenting and working through bugs, and installing and reinstalling Windows XP on a variety of networks and computers. The result is what you hold in your hands.

While writing this book, we tried to stay vigilant of four cardinal rules:

• Keep it practical.

• Keep it accurate.

• Keep it concise.

• Keep it interesting, and even crack a joke or two.

We believe that you will find this to be the best book available on Windows XP Professional for the intermediate to advanced user. While writing it, we targeted an audience ranging from the power user at home or the office to the support guru in a major corporation. Whether you use a Windows XP PC or support others who do, we firmly believe this book will address your questions and needs.

We're also willing to tell you what we don't cover. No book can do it all. As the title implies, this book is about Windows XP Professional. We don't cover setting up the various Windows Server operating systems called Windows Server 2003, Advanced Serv...

Edition details

• Publisher: Que Pub
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0789732807
• ISBN 13: 9780789732804
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 1402