Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows XP in 24 Hours

By Greg Perry

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Wake Up with Windows XP
  • Hour 1. Taking a Bird's-Eye Look at Windows XP
  • Hour 2. Getting Started with Windows XP
  • Hour 3. Managing the Windows XP Interface
    • A Quick Taskbar and Start Button Review
    • Moving the Taskbar
    • The Taskbar Menu
    • Managing Multiple Windows with the Taskbar
    • Sizing the Taskbar
    • Starting Programs with the Start Menu
    • Using the Run Command
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • Part II: Morning Windows Desktop Exploration
  • Hour 4. Working with the My Computer Window
  • Hour 5. Navigating Files with Windows Explorer
  • Hour 6. Calling for Help
  • Hour 7. Improving Your Windows Desktop Experience
  • Part III: Early Afternoon Windows Exploration
  • Hour 8. Installing Programs with Windows XP
  • Hour 9. Finding Files, Folders, and Friends
  • Hour 10. Using the Desktop Accessories
  • Part IV: Late Afternoon Internet Integration
  • Hour 11. Surfing the Web with Internet Explorer
  • Hour 12. Tying Windows into the Web
  • Hour 13. Networking with Windows XP
  • Hour 14. Managing E-mail and Newsgroups with Outlook Express
  • Part V: An Evening with Advanced Windows
  • Hour 15. Exploring Your Hardware Interface
  • Hour 16. Understanding Printing and Fonts
  • Hour 17. Using Windows on the Road
  • Hour 18. Giving Windows XP a Tune-Up
  • Hour 19. Managing Your Hard Drives
  • Hour 20. Tinkering with the Advanced System Tools
  • Part VI: Having Fun at Nighttime
  • Hour 21. Using Media Player
  • Hour 22. Picturing Windows XP Graphics
  • Hour 23. Making Movies with Windows XP
  • Hour 24. Advanced Windows XP Tips
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Differences Between the Windows Home and Professional Edition
  • Appendix B. Glossary
  • Appendix C. Answers to Quizzes

A Quick Taskbar and Start Button Review

In the previous hour's lesson, you used the Start menu to shut down your computer properly. Clicking the taskbar's Start button produces the Start menu.

The Start menu does all these things and more:

• It makes itself available to you no matter what else you are doing in Windows XP.
• It displays a list of programs and windows on your system using the Start menu's cascading system.
• It provides easy access to recently-used data documents that you can view or edit.
• It provides a search engine that navigates through all your files looking for the one you need.
• It activates the Windows XP help engine, which provides online help for working within Windows XP.

The next few sections explain how you can customize the taskbar and its associated Start menu so that the Start menu acts and looks the way you expect.

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