The XP Files: Windows' Hidden Tools for Secure Sharing, Communication, and Collaboration [Paperback]

Guy Hart-Davis (Conductor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2002

Microsoft hopes to entice buyers with a number of new features planned for Windows XP. An image clipboard, for instance, lets XP users collect photos or video on a sidebar to make it easier to clip and edit them. CD burning will be much easier. Notebooks equipped with 802.11b wireless connections will be allowed to roam. The OS also functions much more efficiently than Windows 2000...Boot-up time is three to four times faster...In tests, Microsoft has found that 80 percent of notebooks can run through the shutdown/resume cycle in five seconds, while 70 percent recover in three seconds. The new Messenger tool (not yet available as a separate download) lards serious conferencing tools on top of the regular, typed chat windows. Messenger adds two-way audio and video, application sharing (in which your chat buddy views and controls programs on your PC), and whiteboarding (the ability to share freehand drawings and other graphics). Messenger even integrates with Remote Assistance, a feature that lets you yield control of your system to a friend (with enough password protection and time limitations to allay any fear of hacking). Windows Messenger shares contact lists and a back-end network with MSN Messenger, but it doesn't work with Microsoft's existing conferencing software, NetMeeting. --CNET

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

XP's Best-Kept Secrets--Revealed!

During the past decade, Microsoft has created the some of the best Internet communication programs in the world and has installed them on every Windows computer--free, but mostly hidden. Until now, only a few knowledgeable computer users knew how to exploit the potential of these programs--and understood the threats posed by the programs that Microsoft encouraged people to use. Now you're about to become one of the power users who knows how to harness the power of Microsoft's powerful Internet tools: NetMeeting, Windows Messenger, Outlook Express with Hotmail, HyperTerminal, and Phone Dialer. By reading this book, you'll learn to:

• Chat with dozens of people at a time--securely--without any possibility of eavesdroppers
• Share any photo, document, or program with friends or family anywhere
• Save hundreds of dollars a month on phone bills! Talk with voice and video to as many as 6 people at once--anywhere in the world
• Send live video feeds from your computer to your friends and family
• Exchange MP3 files, or any file, with any other Internet user--securely
• Protect your computer and Internet connection from human predators, viruses, and worms
• Set up and manage as many personal e-mail accounts as you need--and protect each against spam and undesirable e-mailers
• Create whiteboard drawings that scores of other users can see, change, and comment on--simultaneously
• Choose the best Internet connection for your needs, and share it with your household
• Understand the threat that Microsoft's .NET Passport and associated technologies pose to your privacy and security--and defeat it

About the Author

Guy Hart-Davis (Richmond, UK), the former associate publisher in charge of Sybex's certification group, is now a freelance author living in his native England. Guy is the author or co-author of 20 computer books, as well as a contributor to numerous others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia; 1st edition (March 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072224010
• ISBN-13: 978-0072224016
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm now writing a free e-mail newsletter called The Useful Geek (website above).

I'm updating my iPod book to cover the latest features, the latest iPods... and the iPhone when it arrives

I'm also writing a book called Do-It-Yourself PC Upgrade Projects, which shows you 24 ways to get more out of your computer -- without buying a new computer. (Or not yet...)

Happy reading -- and computing!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One outstanding book, March 6, 2003

By 

"webmastervj" (Morgan City, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The XP Files: Windows' Hidden Tools for Secure Sharing, Communication, and Collaboration (Paperback)

I recently picked this book up along with Guy's Mastering Windows XP Home Edition, and between the two of them I've got all the tips and tricks anyone could ask for on XP! GREAT coverage of videoconferencing and Windows Messenger, and broadband as well.

If you need to share a cable or DSL connection (and watch your privacy as well), you'll find everything you need here. I hadn't been able to connect to some services with ICF until I got this book, so it paid for itself right there.

My highest recommendation!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you use Windows XP, then you can't do better, July 8, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The XP Files: Windows' Hidden Tools for Secure Sharing, Communication, and Collaboration (Paperback)

Windows XP's amazing abilities are revealed by Guy Hart-Davis in The XP Files: Windows' Hidden Tools for Secure Sharing, Communication, and Collaboration. The XP Files reveals just how to best master and implement the full range of powerful, secure (and hidden) Internet communication tools within XP. Included are a wealth of "user friendly" tips on how to securely exchange music, video, or any type of file, conference via video or voice, make free calls to anyone in the world, and protect users' privacy. If you use Windows XP, then you can't do better than to have The XP Files within arm's reach at all times! 336 pages.