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
  • 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
    • Activate Your Desktop
    • Synchronizing Your Web Page Desktop
    • Active Content
    • SOS—Save Our Screens!
    • Paint Windows XP
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • 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

Activate Your Desktop

Windows XP includes an active desktop feature that allows you to place Web page content directly on your desktop. The Web page acts like part of your wallpaper. The Active Desktop is Windows XP's way of more seamlessly integrating your Windows desktop into the online Internet world.

Web pages are the result of their underlying language, HTML, which defines the colors, pictures, embedded applets (small programs that activate Web pages by using yet another language called Java), and information that appears on those pages. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.

HTML documents end with the .html filename extension and use a Web page icon in Windows Explorer views. Some document names still follow the pre-Windows 95 filename limitations that require a maximum 3-letter extension; therefore, some HTML documents end with a filename extension of .htm.

Previous versions of Windows required that you specify that you want to use an active desktop before you stored live Internet content on your desktop. With Windows XP, you simply have to select a Web page to place on your desktop and Windows XP puts it there; the active desktop is always available.

You can learn about the active desktop by following along with this To Do item.

To Do: Working with the Windows Desktop

1. Right-click over your Windows wallpaper to display the pop-up menu.
2. Select Properties and click the Desktop tab. The Display Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 7.1. (As with most of Windows, you can access the Display Properties dialog box from other locations, such as from the Control Panel's Appearance and Themes category.) The Desktop page enables you to set up a wallpaper file. You can select one of the supplied wallpaper files by scrolling and selecting from the list box.
   

   Figure 7.1 You can control your desktop's settings from the Display Properties dialog box.

3. If you've stored a Web page on your disk, you can click the Browse button to search for any HTML file to use as your wallpaper. When you locate the HTML file you want as your wallpaper, click the Open button to select the file. The file and its pathname now appear in the Wallpaper list for subsequent selections.
4. Instead of a stored Web page, you can place an online Web page on your desktop. Click the Customize Desktop button to display the Desktop Items dialog box.
5. Click the Web tab and select from the list of Web pages in the list (initially, your default home page will be listed) or click New to type a new Web page address. When you click OK to close each of the open dialog boxes, the Web page will be part of your desktop, such as the one in Figure 7.2.

You can resize and move the desktop Web page (assuming you did not choose the option labeled Lock Desktop Items when you placed the Web page on your desktop). As Figure 7.2 shows, the Web page will not show with a title bar that includes the Minimize, Maximize, Restore, or Close buttons. However, if you point to the top of the Web page, Windows XP will add the title bar and the buttons so that you can move, resize, and close the Web page when you want to do so.

Figure 7.2 You can set wallpaper to any HTML or graphics file.

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