• If nobody else has activated that 25-character code from the CD case, or if the 25-character code has been activated with that specific Installation ID (which means you activated this particular copy of Windows XP from the same PC twice), Microsoft sends back a 42- character Confirmation ID. Both the Installation ID and the Confirmation ID are stored on your PC.

• If that 25-character code has already been used on a different PC, though, you get a polite message on your machine saying, According to our records, the number of times that you can activate Windows with this product key has been exceeded. Please enter a different product key, and then click Retry. You’re given further instructions for contacting Microsoft, if you feel the need.

3. Every time Windows XP starts, it recalculates the 25-character code that’s based on the various serial numbers inside your PC. If the code matches the one that’s stored on your PC, and the Confirmation ID is good, Windows takes off.

4. On the other hand, if the recalculated 25-character code doesn’t match your original code, pandemonium breaks loose. Your hard drives start spinning at twice their normal speed, your keyboard gets short-circuited with your PC’s power supply, and the local constabulary receives an urgent fax from Redmond with a preapproved no-knock search warrant. Okay, okay. I’m exaggerating a little bit. Here’s what really happens:

• If Windows decides that you’ve only made a few changes to your PC replaced a hard drive, say, or even changed the motherboard it lets you start Windows anyway.

• On the other hand, if Windows determines that you’ve made too many changes, it refuses to start and insists that you contact Microsoft for a new Confirmation ID.

That starts the activation cycle all over again. If you bought your PC with Windows XP preinstalled, it was activated before you ever got it. If you bought and installed Windows XP yourself, though, the activation time clock takes over. From the day you install Windows XP, you have 30 days to activate it. Windows tries to get you to activate it while you’re installing. Failing that, it continues to remind you, relentlessly, as the 30 days tick away. Reinstalling Windows XP won’t bypass the activation requirement. Activating via the Internet makes the whole process of generating, sending, and receiving ID codes invisible: All you know is that the process worked, and you can continue to use the software you bought. If you activate by telephone, though, you have to be sitting at your computer with your Windows XP installation CD handy. You get to read a bunch of numbers to the rep on the other end of the phone line, and she reads a bunch of numbers back to you so that you can type them into the WPA Wizard. Surprisingly, Windows XP still works a little bit, even after the activation period has expired, and even though it won’t start. For example, a modem attached to a PC that hasn’t been activated can still dial out, if it’s set up for Internet Connection Sharing.

As the Activation Wizard screens emphasize, activation is not the same as registration. When you activate Windows XP, your computer sends Microsoft a 50-character Installation ID and nothing else. When you register Windows XP, you send Microsoft your name, address, telephone number, and any other information that the screens can extract from you. Activation is a given: You have to activate Windows XP or it dies. Registration, on the other hand, is entirely optional and basically useless for Dummies everywhere. (What? You think Microsoft wants your mailing address to send you a product recall? A birthday card? Sheesh.) You have no reason in the world to register Windows XP. Don’t do it. Big companies with big bucks don’t have to put up with Windows Product Activation. (One guess why.) Any company that buys Windows XP via a site license that is, buys many copies at a time gets a special version that doesn’t require activation. If you hear rumors on the Internet about a pirate version of Windows XP that magically bypasses Windows Product Activation, chances are very good that it’s a corporate copy.

What if the Wheels Fall Off?

So what should you do if Windows XP dies?  -  If you got Windows XP bundled with a new PC, scream bloody murder at the vendor who sold you the bleeping thing. Don’t put up with any talk like “It’s a software problem; Microsoft is at fault.” If you bought Windows XP with a new PC, the company that sold you the machine has full responsibility for making it work right.  -  If you upgraded from Windows 98 or SE to Windows XP, you can always uninstall Windows XP and go back to your old operating system, as unpalatable as that may seem.  -  If you upgraded from Windows NT 4 or 2000 and you didn’t go through a clean install, try that. You don’t have much to lose, eh?  -  If you’ve done a clean install and Windows XP still falls over and plays dead, man, you have my sympathies. Check with your hardware manufacturer and make sure you have the latest BIOS version installed. (Make sure you get an instruction book; changing the BIOS is remarkably easy, if you follow the instructions.) Hit the newsgroups online, or drop by the WOPR Lounge, www.wopr.com/lounge, to see if anybody there can lend a hand. If all else fails, admit defeat, and reinstall your old operating system.

Again, life’s too short. Finding Your Way around Windows XP As soon as you log onto the computer, you’re greeted with an enormous expanse of near-nothingness, cleverly painted with a pretty picture of a wheat field. Or is it Bill Gate’s front yard? (Or if you bought a new PC with Windows XP preinstalled, you might see the PC manufacturer’s logo on the screen.) In any case, you need to be well acquainted with the different parts of Windows XP before you can become a Windows Wiz. This article introduces you to Windows XP and gives you the lay of the land. It explains how to handle the mouse, what dialog boxes are, and what files and folders are. You also get a brief introduction to the many programs that are available by clicking the Start button. The Desktop Your Windows destiny, such as it is, unfolds on the computer’s screen. The screen that Windows shows you every time you start is called the desktop, although it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the top of a real desk. (Just try putting a pencil on it.) The first time you start Windows, your desktop. Although the number and appearance of objects scattered on your computer monitor varies depending on who sold you the computer and what was included when you bought it, chances are pretty good that you have only a few pictures they’re called icons sitting on the desktop. In For one thing, you’re bound to have a handful of icons sitting around. If you bought a new computer with Windows XP installed, chances are good that the manufacturer sold some desktop real estate to a software company or an Internet Service Provider. (Oh yeah, the AOLs and Nortons of the world compensate the Dells and Compaqs for services rendered. Don’t you ever doubt it.) If you see an icon you don’t like, right-click on it and choose Delete from the menu that appears. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The terminology stinks: The Windows desktop doesn’t look anything like your desktop. Mine, neither. And calling those little pictures “icons” seems a bit, uh, iconoclastic, given that real icons rate as exquisite objets d’art, rendered in paint on wood. The price of progress, I guess.When you get past the verdant fields rolling across your screen, the rest of the desktop isn’t very inspiring, although plenty of surprises await as you begin clicking: 

-  Windows taskbar: Runs all along the bottom of the screen, keeps you posted on what your computer is doing which computer programs are running, where you’re visiting on the Internet, and almost anything else that requires your attention.

 -  Notification area: Also known to techies as the system tray. This area sits on top of the taskbar on the right side and tells you the time, but it also lets you know what Windows is doing behind the scenes. For example, if you’re using a modem to connect to the Internet, little modem lights down here reassure you that the connection hasn’t frozen. At least, that’s the theory. Other tiny icons in the notification area may control your speaker volume or tell you if you’re logged on to Windows Messenger.

 -  Start button: Located in the lower left of the desktop. This button gives you access to everything your computer can do. Click it and you see the Start menu menu being geekspeak for a list of things that you can click. Look for all the details in the “Starting with the Start Button” section, later in this article. The Windows desktop looks simple enough, but don’t fool yourself: Underneath that calm exterior sits the most sophisticated computer program ever created. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into creating the illusion of simplicity something to remember the next time you feel like kicking your computer and screaming at the Windows gods. Mousing Your computer’s mouse serves as the primary way of interacting with Windows, but you already knew that. You can click on the left mouse button or the right mouse button, or you can roll the wheel down the middle (if you have one), and the mouse will do different things, depending on where you click or roll. But you already knew that, too. You can interchange the action of the left and right mouse buttons that is, you can tell Windows XP that it should treat the left mouse button as if it were the right button, and the right button as if it were the left. The swap comes in handy for some left-handers, but most southpaws I know (including my son) prefer to keep the buttons as-is, simply because it’s easier to use other people’s computers if your fingers are trained for the “normal” setting. To switch left and right mouse buttons, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start -> Control Panel -> Printers and Other Hardware -> Mouse.

2. Click the Buttons tab.

3. Select the check box (click the check box to place a check mark in it) called Switch Primary and Secondary Buttons.

4. Click OK. Making the mouse behave Here are a few important rodent things you may not know:

 -  To move an item on the Windows desktop a process called dragging click the left button, move the mouse, and then release the button. On laptops with a touch pad, you can tie your fingers up in knots trying to replicate the click-move-release shuck ’n’ jive. Chances are good that the touch pad recognizes a swift tap as the beginning of a drag. Check the documentation and practice a bit. Windows has a feature called ClickLock that can come in handy if you have trouble holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse at the same time a common problem for laptop users who have fewer than three hands. When Windows uses ClickLock, you hold down the mouse button for a while (you can tell Windows exactly how long) and Windows “locks” the mouse button. To turn on ClickLock:

1. Choose Start -> Control Panel -> Printers and Other Hardware -> Mouse.

2. On the Buttons tab, select the check box called Turn on ClickLock.

3. Immediately click the Settings button and adjust the length of time you need to hold down the mouse button for ClickLock to kick in.

Note that you can test the ClickLock time length setting by clicking next to Settings for ClickLock and dragging the box around.

 -  You can roll over items on the desktop too quickly! When you’re spelunking around Windows XP trying to get a feel for what’s happening, go slowly. The word for it is hovering that’s when you let the mouse pointer kind of sit in one place for a spell. You’ll be surprised at how often Windows flashes information on the screen in response to hovering.

 -  Although almost everyone catches on to single-clicking, given a few tries, many people have trouble with double-clicking at first, and here’s the reason why: Windows ain’t that smart. If you click twice, Windows has to figure out if you wanted to make two single-clicks or one doubleclick and that’s surprisingly difficult. Windows watches as you click. You have to click twice, quickly, without moving the mouse in between clicks, for Windows to identify the two clicks as a double-click. If you have trouble getting Windows to recognize your double-clicks, you’re probably moving the mouse just a bit too far between the clicks for a double-click to “take.” If you have consistent problems with Windows recognizing your doubleclicks, try adjusting the double-click speed:

1. Choose Start -> Control Panel -> Printers and Other Hardware -> Mouse.

2. Click the Buttons tab.

3. Double-click the folder on the right side, as a test to see how much leeway Windows gives you.

4. Adjust the Double-click Speed slider as needed to suit your leisurely lifestyle. Inside the computer, programmers measure the movement of mice in units called mickeys. Nope, I’m not making this up. Move your mouse a short distance and it has traveled a few mickeys. Move it to Anaheim, and it’s put on a lot of mickeys.