14. Hardware
by L.J. Zacker, Craig Zacker, David Pogue
Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition
- Windows XP Pro Edition: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition
- What the Reviewers Said
- The Missing Credits
- Introduction
- I. The Windows XP Desktop
- 1. The Desktop and Start Menu
- Logging In
- The Elements of the XP Desktop
- The Start Menu
- Start→Log Off
- Start→Shut Down (Turn Off Computer)
- Start→All Programs
- Start→Run
- Start→Search
- Start→Help and Support
- Start→Control Panel
- Start→Set Program Access and Defaults
- Start→My Network Places
- Start→My Computer
- Start→My Music, My Pictures
- Start→My Recent Documents
- Start→My Documents
- Customizing the Start Menu
- 2. Windows, Folders, and the Taskbar
- 3. Organizing Your Stuff
- 4. Getting Help
- 1. The Desktop and Start Menu
- II. The Components of Windows XP
- 5. Programs and Documents
- 6. The Freebie Software
- The Windows XP Accessories
- Windows XP Games
- Everything Else
- 7. Pictures, Sound, and Movies
- 8. The Control Panel
- Category View: The Big XP Change
- Accessibility Options
- Add Hardware
- Add or Remove Programs
- Administrative Tools
- Automatic Updates
- Bluetooth Devices
- Date and Time
- Display
- Folder Options
- Fonts
- Game Controllers
- Internet Options
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Network Connections
- Network Setup Wizard
- Phone and Modem Options
- Power Options
- Printers and Faxes
- Regional and Language Options
- Scanners and Cameras
- Scheduled Tasks
- Security Center
- Sounds and Audio Devices
- Speech
- System
- Taskbar and Start Menu
- User Accounts
- Windows Firewall
- Wireless Network Setup Wizard
- III. Windows Online
- 9. Hooking Up to the Internet
- 10. Security, Firewalls, and Service Pack 2
- 11. Web, Chat, and Videoconferencing
- Internet Explorer
- Windows Messenger
- 12. Outlook Express 6
- IV. Plugging into Windows XP
- 13. Printing, Fonts, and Faxing
- 14. Hardware
- 15. Joining, Compressing, and Encrypting Disks
- 16. Maintenance, Backups, and Troubleshooting
- V. Life on the Network
- 17. Accounts, Permissions, and Logging On
- Introducing User Accounts
- Windows XP: The OS With Two Faces
- Local Accounts on a Workstation
- Local Accounts on a Domain Computer
- Local Users and Groups
- Setting Up the Logon Process
- Logging On
- Profiles
- NTFS Permissions: Protecting Your Stuff
- 18. Setting Up a Workgroup Network
- 19. Introducing Network Domains
- 20. Sharing Network Files
- 21. Three Ways to Dial In from the Road
- 17. Accounts, Permissions, and Logging On
- VI. Appendixes
- A. Installing Windows XP Pro
- B. Windows XP, Menu by Menu
- C. Fun with the Registry
- Index
- Colophon
A PC contains several pounds of wires, slots, cards, and chips—enough hardware to open a TruValue store. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about making all of your PC’s preinstalled components work together. In theory, at least, the PC maker did that part for you. (Unless you built the machine yourself, that is; in that case, best of luck.)
But adding new gear to your computer is another story. Hard drives, cameras, printers, scanners, network adapter cards, video cards, keyboards, monitors, game controllers, palmtop synchronization cradles, and other accessories can all make life worth living for the power user. When you introduce a new piece of equipment to the PC, you must hook it up and install its driver, the software that lets a new gadget talk to the rest of the PC.
UP TO SPEEDAbout Drivers
When a software program wants to communicate with your gear, Windows is the mediator. For example, when your word processor needs the printer, it says, “Yo, printer! Print this document, will ya?” Windows intercepts the message and gives the printer very specific instructions about printing, ejecting pages, making text bold, and so on. It speaks to the printer in “Printerese,” a language it learns by consulting the printer’s software driver.
Other hardware components work similarly, including sound cards, network interface cards (NICs), modems, scanners, and so on. All of them require specifically formatted instructions and driver software.
Fortunately, Microsoft has taken much of the headache out of such installation rituals by its invention of Plug and Play. This chapter guides you through using this feature—and counsels you on what to do when Plug and Play doesn’t work.
Note
Chapter 13 contains additional hardware-installation details specific to printers.
Remember that Windows XP is based on Windows 2000. It’s compatible with many more pieces of add-on equipment than Windows 2000 is, but nowhere near as broadly compatible as previous “home” versions of Windows (like Windows 98 and Windows Me). For anybody who’s switching to Windows XP from an earlier version, discovering that a piece of equipment becomes flaky or nonfunctional is par for the course.
If you’d like to eliminate every glitch and every shred of troubleshooting inconvenience, limit your add-on gear to products on Microsoft’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), which appears at http://www.microsoft.com/hcl. Each item on this list has been tested and certified to work flawlessly with Windows XP.
Now, this list doesn’t include everything that works with Windows XP. Hundreds of products that work just fine with Windows XP don’t appear on the list (perhaps be-cause they haven’t been submitted for Microsoft’s certification process). If you have some cherished piece of gear that you’re reluctant to replace and that doesn’t appear on the compatibility list, try it out with Windows XP before giving up hope.
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