• Set Up Your System
• Family Settings (Xbox LIVE)
• Connectivity Video
• Join Xbox LIVE

How to Use the Xbox Guide

The Xbox Guide button in the center of your Xbox 360 controller puts the Xbox 360 experience literally at your fingertips. Press the Xbox Guide button to power up your Xbox 360 console right from your seat, then turn off your console hours later by pressing and holding the button for three seconds and confirming your selection.

When the console is on, the Xbox Guide button is your doorway to the Xbox Guide, a convenient, ever-ready launch pad to your gamer profile and gamer community.

The Xbox Guide gives you instant access to your friends list, messaging options, achievements, personal settings, and media playback either during a game or when you're just kicking back and listening to music.

The six key areas of the Xbox Guide are:

1. Gamer profile: Displays your gamertag, gamer picture, and Xbox LIVE status (for Xbox LIVE members) or achievements (for offline players). Select your mini gamer card to manage the gamer profile area of the Xbox Guide, whose options include View Games, Edit Profile, View Rep, Game Defaults, Account Management, and Auto Sign-In.
   
   For more information, see Your Gamer Profile.
2. Community: Active only for signed-in Xbox LIVE members, the community area lets you send and receive messages, check out your friends list, and view the gamertags of the last 50 people you've played.
3. Chat and IM: Active only for Xbox LIVE members, this area lets you initiate one-on-one voice and video chat with another player and have text conversations over Windows Live Messenger on Xbox LIVE.
4. Personal Settings: Includes options for:
   • Online Status Set how you appear to other players while you're online.
   • Voice Set mute, volume, and output for in-game voice and private chat.
   • Vibration Enable or disable game-dependent vibration in your controller.
   • Notifications Select preferred system notifications, visual and/or aural.
   • Themes Personalize the look and feel of your Xbox Dashboard with custom colors and game-related artwork.
   • Active Downloads View your currently active downloads.
   • Shut Down Turn off the console.
5. Select Music: If you'd rather listen to your favorite MP3 or WMA music files than the music created for your current game, substitute new music and set a listening level (relative to the game's sound effects) from this area.
6. Xbox 360 Game Banner: The function of this area is determined by the game you're playing. A given game may display an image, a tip of the day, or other game-specific details you might want to see during the game.

The Xbox Guide is like an automated attendant, notifying you when your friends are online, when a friend has extended a game request, and when you've received a message or an invitation to chat.

Just want to focus on your game or movie? Select Notifications and tell the Xbox Guide not to intrude. It's all up to you.