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
  • Part III: Early Afternoon Windows Exploration
  • Hour 8. Installing Programs with Windows XP
    • Using the Add or Remove Programs Window
    • Customizing Windows XP
    • Installed Applications
    • Uninstallation Procedures
    • A Last Resort
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • 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

Using the Add or Remove Programs Window

Before Windows, you could add a program to your computer simply by copying a file from the disk you purchased to your hard disk. To remove the program, you only had to delete the file. Things got messier with Windows, however, because Windows expected a lot from application programs. Programs are no longer simple to add or remove unless you familiarize yourself with the proper techniques.

The Windows Control Panel contains an entry that you'll frequently visit to manage the programs on your PC. This icon is labeled Add or Remove Programs. When you open this icon, the tabbed dialog box shown in Figure 8.1 appears. Depending on the number of your PC's installed applications, you'll probably see different applications listed in the lower half of your PC's Add or Remove Programs window.

To the left of the dialog box contains an Add New Programs button that you can click to install new software. Surprisingly, you'll rarely, if ever, use this button when installing Windows XP programs because most programs install automatically, as explained later in this hour. The dialog box's lower half contains a list of many application programs on your PC. Not every program on your PC will appear in the list. The list contains programs that you can uninstall from your system. If you uninstall using the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, you can be assured that the application will completely disappear.

Figure 8.1 You manage your installed programs from the Add or Remove Programs dialog box.

If you make a system backup before uninstalling an application, you can safely remove the file and then keep the backup handy until you're convinced that the system is stable. Again, it's often simpler just to keep the file in question when the uninstallation program prompts you about it. These orphaned files often make for heated discussions among the PC community—and rightly so. Windows and uninstallation routines should be written so that they work together more accurately without requiring the user to make such ambiguous file-deletion decisions.

Sometimes you'll rerun an application program's installation routine to change installation settings. The Add or Remove Programs window contains a button labeled Change or Remove Programs that many applications utilize to let you change program options or remove the program altogether.

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