The book by a famous American author describes the Windows XP operating system environment and the principles of its operation, and provides a comparative analysis of Windows XP with previous versions of the Windows operating system. Issues of using and modifying the new interface are considered in order to gain direct access to all functions of Windows XP; options for connecting to computer networks are discussed. Several sections are devoted to working with the registry and configuration files, multimedia functions and various system services, as well as methods for solving problems with software and hardware. Particular attention is paid to ensuring the security of the operating system. The publication is addressed to users and network administrators who want to actively use the capabilities of the Windows XP operating system (including undocumented ones).