Windows XP Annoyances by David A. Karp

Microsoft Windows XP may be the latest in a popular family of operating systems, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. However, the designers of Windows XP have built enough flexibility into their product and provided users with a sufficiently large toolkit to overcome most shortcomings. In Windows XP Annoyances David Karp reveals his ideas about how to use Windows XP most effectively, for maximum fun and productivity and as little aggravation as possible. If you're comfortable working with Windows XP (or any of its recent predecessors) but find certain aspects of it, well, annoying, you'll find this book to your liking. Karp guides his readers through potentially risky procedures, such as editing the Registry and adjusting hardware device drivers, with skill and precision.

The author's tone is to the point and professional without being dry, without any of the phony, forced humor that appears in a lot of operating-system books. Though he inexplicably ignores the Windows XP Power Toys–some very handy utilities you can get from Microsoft's Web site–he does a great job of handling important questions. Case in point, the important issue of which files can be deleted to free up disk space, and which you shouldn't touch even though they look like pointless garbage. Similarly useful attention goes to the question of which background processes can be safely halted, and which are important. There's fine coverage of scripting with the Windows Script Host (WSH), as well. –David Wall