Windows XP hacks

Category: Books
Reading time: 3 minutes


100 insider tricks and tools

By Preston Grallawinxphksger.gif
German translation by Dorothea Heymann-Reder
1st edition March 2004; Language: German
ISBN-3 89721-367-2
Pages 430
EUR 28.00


With Windows XP, the PC has become even more Mac-like: more graphics, more stability and more fun.
That may be all well and good for most Windows users, but power users usually want something more: They want to look behind the scenes and gain control of their operating system.
But that doesn't mean you have to use the crowbar.
With Windows XP Hacks you can look under the surface of Windows XP and learn about hidden commands and controls as well as little-known tricks and tools.
In this book, you'll find clever, time-saving, and useful hacks for almost every feature in Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition.

The hacks cover the following topics, among others:

  • Accelerate the startup process
  • Remove stubborn XP components
  • Surf anonymously
  • Speed ​​up file downloads
  • Tune the registry
  • Change DNS settings
  • Resolve network problems
  • Improve XP utilities
  • Use graphics and multimedia functions efficiently
  • Ban spam, cookies and popups
  • Increase system performance
  • Build firewalls and tune proxy servers


The series of hacks by O ?? reilly does not use the term hacker in the sense of criminal crackers, but of real freaks who have fun figuring out solutions to tricky problems and thereby uncovering helpful tools and shortcuts.

Here you can find a couple of sample chapters to get a taste of.

Hack # 21 Generate Folders or Lists of Files for Printing or Editing

Hack # 33 Stop Popups, Spyware, and Web Bugs

Hack # 42 War Driving for Wireless Access

Hack # 63 Get rid of the junk emails

Hack # 68 Don't be afraid to register

Hack # 80 Remove Unruly Applications and Uninstall Entries


The book is divided into 12 chapters

  1. Start up and shut down
  2. The user interface
  3. windows explorer
  4. The web
  5. Network
  6. e-mail
  7. The registration
  8. Utilities from XP
  9. Applications
  10. Graphics and multimedia
  11. system performance
  12. Hardware



And finally ...

The book Windows Xp Hacks (100 Insider Tricks & Tools) is written with a loose hand and contains many good tips.
However, the tips speak more to the power user iL (waiting).
Because the real power user has already used many tips somehow.
But this one will also find what you are looking for and it's fun to browse through.
For the less savvy, it offers well-described instructions on how to tune and customize Windows XP.

Windows XP hacks at Amazon.de