[Phoenix-pm] [Fwd: Windows XP Annoyances Needed for New Book]

[Douglas E. Miles]

-------- Original Message --------

Dear User Group Leader:

It's the Mother of all Annoyances: Windows. Specifically, Windows XP. So
naturally, we're doing a book called "Windows XP Annoyances" and we'd like
your help!

We're looking for your gripes, complaints, hassles, and other frustrations
with Microsoft's favorite OS. Billions of people use Windows, and we want
to help them...and your help would be much appreciated. We'll be covering
XP in all its flavors (including XP with Service Packs 1 and 2, Windows
Media Center Edition), and in all its settings,(from standalone PCs to
running on a WiFi network).

If any members of your group have annoyances they'd like to see solved,
have them email marsee at oreilly.com with "Windows XP Annoyances" in the
subject line. Just have them note which version of XP they're using (with
SP1? SP2! Windows Media Center Edition?)

As thanks for sharing, we'll make sure to get copies of "Windows XP
Annoyances" sent to your group shortly after publication.

--Marsee


***

An example of an Annoyance:

Lock Numbers Out, Arrow Keys In

THE ANNOYANCE: I use the keys on the number keypad for navigation, never
for numbers. I'm tired of clicking NumLock to turn the function off.

THE FIX: You can turn it off in your PC's CMOS Setup program, but there
are two quicker, easier ways to do it:

*For a permanent fix, edit the Registry (once you've backed it up). From
the Start menu, click Run, type regedit, press Enter, and navigate your
way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard.
Double-click InitialKeyboardIndicators in the right pane, and change the
value to 2. Close RegEdit.

*If you don't want to fiddle with the Registry--or if you want a handy way
to toggle NumLock on and off--use the numlock.vbs script. You can drag and
drop a copy of the file into your Start Menu's Startup Group (hold down
the Ctrl key while you drag it) to turn NumLock off when your system
boots, and drag a copy to your desktop so you can toggle NumLock back on.
Grab a copy from http://www.oreilly.com/pcannoyances.