Dan Gookin Teaches Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Author Teaches)

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Dan Gookin Microsoft

®

Teaches

Wındows Me ®

Millennium Edition

201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46290

Dan Gookin Teaches Microsoft® Windows® Me

Associate Publisher

Copyright  2001 by Not Another Writer, Inc.

Acquisitions Editor

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Stephanie J. McComb

International Standard Book Number: 0-7897-2480-4 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-106991 Printed in the United States of America First Printing: December 2000 03

02

01

00

4

3

2

1

Greg Wiegand

Development Editor Nicholas J. Goetz Managing Editor Thomas F. Hayes Project Editor Tonya Simpson Copy Editors Geneil Breeze Cheri Clark Krista Hansing Linda Seifert Indexer

Trademarks

Chris Barrick

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Que Corporation cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Proofreaders

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Kyle Bryant

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Warning and Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information provided is on an “as is” basis. The author and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

Jeanne Clark Juli Cook Technical Editor

Team Coordinator Sharry Lee Gregory Interior Designer Ruth Lewis Cover Designer Anne Jones Production Brandon Allen Cheryl Lynch

Contents at a Glance Part I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Part II 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Part III 16 17 18 19 Part IV 20 21 22 23 24 25

Windows Orientation and Review 7

26

Windows On and Off 11 Running Your Programs 21 Saving Your Stuff 33 Opening Documents 45 The Printing Chapter 59 Digging Through Your Computer 69 Your Internet Orientation Chapter 85 Help Me! 99

27 28 29

Working in Windows

109

Lurking and Working on the Desktop 113 Ode to the Start Thing 127 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff 141 Doing Several Things at a Time 153 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste 161 Installing and Removing Software 173 Adding More of Windows 183 Printing and Faxing

30 31 32 33 34 35 Part VI 36 37 38 39

191

Printing and Such 193 Printing Things on the Screen 207 Hello, Printers Folder! 217 Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing) 233 Disks, Folders, and Files

Part V

237

Disk Drive 101 239 All About Hard Drives 247 Removable Disks and Drives 263 Exploring Folders 277 Organizing Folders 287 File Fun 303

40 41 42 43 44 45 Part VII 46 47 48

Using the Send To Command 323 Essence of a File 331 Hunting Down Files 341 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling 351 Planet Internet

Internet Explorer Orientation and Review 363 Internet Explorer and Beyond 373 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty 383 More Fun with Outlook Express 395 The AOL Chapter 407 Even More Internet Madness 415 The Tweak Master

425

The Control Panel 427 A New Face on the Interface 439 Messing with the Start Thing 451 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity 461 A View to a Folder 473 Tweaking Your Monitor 481 Sound Advice 491 Fun with Fonts 499 Messing mit der Mouse 509 Installing New Hardware 513 Problem Solving

519

Tools to Help You 521 Hardware Troubleshooting Irksome Things 539 Appendix

A

361

547

Using This Book’s Web Page 547 Index 549

531

Table of Contents I Windows Orientation and Review 1 Windows On and Off

4 Opening Documents

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Computers 11 ”I Don’t Have Any Power Strips or Nuthin’—All My Stuff Plugs Right into the Wall” 12 ”I’m Smart, and I Bought a Power Strip” 12 ”I Spent the Big Bucks, and I Have a UPS” 13 The Startup Sequence, or “Messages from Beyond” 14 Log In, Mystery Guest 15 The Desktop 15

Printing an Envelope

Using the Documents Menu 3 Saving Your Stuff

33

Hello, Save Dialog Box The Save Tutorial Save It Again, Sam

31

59

62 63

Basic My Computer 70 Setting Things Up Just So Getting Disk Information Seeing What Lurks on a Disk Drive 74 Opening a Folder 75

What Is and Is Not Important in a Program’s Window 26

30

59

6 Digging Through Your Computer

21

26

Exploring Files, Folders, and Whatnot 77 Starting Windows Explorer 77 Locating a Specific File with Windows Explorer 79 Opening a Folder in Another Window 83

37

Saving the Same File with a New Name 38

Saving a File in a New Place

85

What You Need in Order to Get on the Internet 85

34

Saving a File As Another Type

69

71 73

7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter 33

50

Opening Files Without the Open Dialog Box 53 Using the Documents Menu 53 Finding a Document to Open 55 Using the Recent File List 56

Printing Several Copies

Browsing the Submenus for the Calculator Program 24

Quitting a Program

Browsing for a File 49 The Search for Tips 49 A Faster Way (the Look In List)

Printing a Something-or-Other

21

The Toying-with-a-Window Tutorial

Opening a File of a Strange and Alien Type 47

5 The Printing Chapter

Escaping from Windows 16 Putting Your PC to Sleep (Stand By) 17 Starting Over (Resetting, or the “Warm Boot”) 18 Shutting Down 19

Starting Any Old Program

46

Opening a File You Once Knew

11

2 Running Your Programs

45

39 42

Configuring Your PC for the Internet 86 Checking to See Whether Your PC Has a Modem 87 Finding an ISP 88 Running the Internet Connection Wizard 89

Confirming That Everything Is Okee-Doke 91 Configuring for AOL 92

10 Ode to the Start Thing

Connecting to the Internet 94 Letting Windows Dial Up the Internet for You 94 Connecting to AOL and Eventually the Internet 97 Checking Out the Rest of the Internet 98 8 Help Me!

99

Windows Wants to Help You 100 The Exciting, New Windows Help System 100 The Up-and-Up on “Assisted Support” 102 Other, Older Help Systems 103

II Working in Windows 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop 113 114

Some Handy Things to Have on the Desktop 116 Placing a Program Icon on the Desktop 116 Copying a Program from the Start Thing Menu to the Desktop 118 Doing the Drag-and-Drop with Documents 119 Putting a Document Shortcut on the Desktop 120 Putting a Project Folder Shortcut on the Desktop 122 Creating a Project Folder on the Desktop 123 Lining Up Icons on the Desktop 124 Deleting an Icon from the Desktop

Adding Something to the Start Thing Menu 128 The Official Way to Add Something 128 The Sneaky Way to Add a Program to the Start Thing 131 Messing with the Start Thing 134 Moving a Program Around on the Start Thing Menu 134 Renaming a Menu Item 134 Removing a Program from the Start Thing 135 Editing the Start Thing Menu with Windows Explorer 136 Making a New Submenu 137 Moving or Rearranging Menus 139 Some Special Start Thing Places 139

Getting Help Just About Anywhere 105 The Help Key on Your Keyboard 105 General Help from the Menu 105 The ? Button Help 106 Point-and-Shoot Help 107

What Belongs on the Desktop?

127

124

11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff

141

The Handy Quick Launch Bar 141 My Quick Launch Bar Is Missing! 142 A Bigger, Better Quick Launch Bar 143 Making a Longer Quick Launch Bar 144 Running a Program from the Quick Launch Bar 145 A Quick Review of What Windows Puts on the Quick Launch Bar 145 Adding a New Program to the Quick Launch Bar 146 Removing a Program from the Quick Launch Bar 148 Other Ways to Start a Program 149 Use Shortcuts on the Desktop 149 Use the Documents Menu 149 Use the Run Command 149 12 Doing Several Things at a Time

153

The Multitasking Demonstration Switching Between Programs

156

Arranging Program Windows

158

154

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition 13 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste

17 Printing Things on the Screen

161

A Basic Cut-and-Paste Review 161 ”It Won’t Paste!” 163 Peeking at the Clipboard 165

Printing a Window and Only the Window 209 166

14 Installing and Removing Software

173

Printing a List of Files in a Folder Can Be Done 211 18 Hello, Printers Folder!

Adding a New Program to Your PC 173 Installation Overview 174 Using the Add/Remove Programs Icon in the Control Panel 175 Installing Something You Downloaded from the Internet 177 Removing a Program 179 The Absolutely 100% Wrong Way to Uninstall a Program 179 The Proper Way to Uninstall 179 The Best Way to Uninstall 181 183

217

Introducing Your Printers Folder 218 Changing a Printer’s Name 219 Picking Your Favorite Printer 220 Checking the Print Queue 221 Canceling a Print Job 224 Installing a New Printer for Your Favorite PC 225 Adding a Printer Connected Right to Your PC 225 Adding a Network Printer 229 19 Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing) 233 The Overview of How Computer Faxing Works 234

Adding Something Windows Forgot 183 Removing a Piece of Windows

208

Printing a Snapshot of the Desktop

The Copy-Drag and the Cut-Drag Dragging and Copying with WordPad 166 Dragging to the Desktop 169

15 Adding More of Windows

207

Receiving a Fax 185

Using the Online Windows Update

235

Using the Internet to Send a Fax

235

187 IV Disks, Folders, and Files

III Printing and Faxing 16 Printing and Such

20 Disk Drive 101 193

Disk Drive Names and Letters

The Tao of Printing 194 Where Everything Lives 195 Previews of Coming Printing Attractions 195 Printing Pages Individually or in Groups 197 Changing Orientation 199 Changing Paper Size 201 Choosing Some Other Printer

vi

239

203

Drives A Through Z

240

240

Basic Disk Drive Icon Identification A Different View of Things

242

243

Giving Your Disk a Name or Changing Its Old Name 244

Contents 21 All About Hard Drives

247

Checking Your Hard Drive 248 Cleaning That Hard Drive 248 Time for a Disk Tune-Up 252 Fixing Your Hard Drive 254 Scheduling Disk Maintenance for When You’re Not There 258 260

Some Backup Advice

22 Removable Disks and Drives

263

CD-ROM and DVD Drives 267 Disks In and Out 268 Automatically Running Your Disks 269 Playing a Music CD on Your Computer 272 Playing a Movie 273 274

277

Exploring Your Folders 277 Going to a Specific Folder 279 Finding a Folder When You Know Its Name 282 Unlacing a Pathname 24 Organizing Folders

285

287

Summoning a New Folder into Existence 288 Renaming a Folder Moving a Folder

303

Ten Thousand Ways to Copy a File 304 Basic File Copying 304 Copy and Paste 306 Copying by Ctrl+Dragging 307 Duplicating a File 308 Making a File Shortcut 309 The Copy Warning 310 The Grand Total 311 Moving a File Hither and Thither 311 Move to Where? 311 Moving a File Can Be a Drag 312 Moving a File with Cut-and-Paste 312 314

Giving a File a New Name

Changing Your Removable Disk’s Drive Letter 276 23 Exploring Folders

Using Compressed (Okay, Zip File) Folders 298 Creating a Compressed Folder 298 Files in a Compressed Folder 300 Some Compressed Folder Tricks 300 Deleting a Compressed Folder 302 25 File Fun

The Original, Steadfast Floppy Drive 264 Finding Your Floppy Drive 264 Formatting a Floppy Disk 266

Zip Drives

296

Making a Folder Shortcut

291 292

Zapping a Folder to Kingdom Come 294

Crowd Control (Working with Groups of Files) 316 Selecting a Ragtag Group of Files with Ctrl+Click 316 Calf-Ropin’ Files 317 Selecting a Line of Files with Shift+Click 318 Selecting the Whole Dang Doodle 319 Unselecting Selected Files 320 26 Using the Send To Command Hello, Send To Menu

323

323

Using the Send To Menu

324

Adding Your Own Command to the Send To Menu 325 Tweaking Commands in the Send To Menu 328

vii

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition 27 Essence of a File

331

V Planet Internet

What Is That File? 331 Identifying Icons 332 Opening a Known Icon to See What’s Inside 335 The Fun Play Menu Option 335 Checking a File’s Properties 336 The Exciting World of File Types and Filename Extensions 338 28 Hunting Down Files

341

Hello, Search Command!

341

Finding a File When You Know Part of Its Name 346 Finding a File When You Know What’s In It 347 348

Finding Files Created In, Oh, Just the Past Few Days or So 349 29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling 351 Killing Off a File or Two 352 Deleting a File 352 Deleting Files En Masse 353 Seriously Deleting a File 354 Undeleting a File

Hello, Web! 364 ”Oh, Give Me a Home Page…” Browsing the World Wide Web

356

Managing the Recycle Bin 357 Tweaking the Recycle Bin 357 Turning Off the Delete Warning 359 Emptying the Recycle Bin 359

367

372

372

31 Internet Explorer and Beyond 373 Your Favorite Web Things 373 Viewing the Favorites Menu 374 Adding to Favorites (Dropping Bookmarks) 375 Organizing Your List-o-Favorites 377 Organizing in the Folders Panel 379 Removing Unwanted Bookmarks 379 Oh, Those Places You’ve Been! 380 Visiting Something from Way, Way Back 380 Controlling the History List 381 Activating the Desktop

382

32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty

383

Outlook Express, In and Out 384 Viewing the Inbox 385 Replying to a Message 387 Forwarding a Message to Someone Else 389 Deleting a Message 389 Moving the Message to Another Folder 390 Composing a New Email Message Quitting Outlook Express

viii

365

Finding Stuff on the Web 369 Places to Find Web Places 369 Searching Newsgroups 371 Finding Your Car Keys or Glasses Quitting IE

Finding a File When You Know Its Name 343

Finding Files of a Certain Type

30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review 363

393

391

Contents 33 More Fun with Outlook Express

395

VI The Tweak Master

Working with the Address Book 395 Adding a Name Manually 396 Creating a Nickname 398 Summoning a Contact 398

36 The Control Panel

Fancy Formatting Your New Messages 400 All About Email Attachments (Sending Files with Your Email) 402 Sending an Email Attachment 402 Receiving an Email Attachment 403 Dealing with Unknown Attachments 404 Additional OE Options 34 The AOL Chapter

405

407

37 A New Face on the Interface

Changing the Main Icons

414

35 Even More Internet Madness

Using a Desktop Theme 415

Downloading Stuff from the Internet 415 Grabbing a Page from the Web Saving an Image 417 Grabbing Software 419 Playing Online Games

Some Quick Tinky-Dinks to Get Out of the Way 430 Adjusting the Date and Time 430 They’re Not Joysticks—They’re Scientific Instruments! 433 Making Keyboard Adjustments 434 One PC, Many Humans 437

New Colors, Fonts, and Stuff

413

Signing Off on AOL

Wherefore Art Thou, Control Panel? 428

Basic Start Thing 416

424

444

447 448

38 Messing with the Start Thing

422

Online Shopping: Boon or Curse?

439

A New Background to Match Your Mood 440 Using a Desktop Pattern as Wallpaper 441 Using a Graphic Image as Wallpaper 443

Getting into AOL 408 Checking Your Mail 408 Sending a New Message 411 Attaching a File 412 Visiting the Web

427

451

451

What Stays, What Goes 453 Displaying or Hiding Various Options 454 Expanding Things 455 The Old Scrolling Menu Trick Cleaning the System Tray

456

457

39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity 461 Wrestling with the Taskbar 462 Bye-Bye, Taskbar 462 Permitting More Play 464 Changing the Taskbar’s Size 465 Moving the Taskbar 466 Restoring a Lost Taskbar 467 Adding More Toolbars 468 Arranging the Toolbars 470 Floating a Toolbar 471

ix

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition 40 A View to a Folder

473

44 Messing mit der Mouse 509

Tweaking a Folder’s Appearance 473 Slapping on a Folder Template 474 Choosing a Background Image 475 Entering a Comment 476 Viewing the Results 476 Changing the Settings 477 Undoing Your Custom Folder 478 Setting Other, Various Folder Options 478 41 Tweaking Your Monitor

481 481

The Screen Needs Saving 484 Selecting a Screen Saver 485 Password-Protecting Your Screen Saver 487

492

499 501

513 514 515

521 522

Using the Miraculous Tools Menu 523 System Restore 523 The Registry Checker 525 What the Heck Is a Skip Driver? 526 The System Configuration Utility 526 Virus Scanning

528

Creating an Emergency Boot Disk 47 Hardware Troubleshooting

Running a Troubleshooter 502

Safe Mode

Adding a New Font to Your Font Folder 502 Killing Off an Under-used Font

504

Snipping Out Characters with the Character Map Program 506

x

513

531

The Device Manager 531 Reviewing Some Devices 532 Checking for Errors 534 Replacing a Driver 535

499

Previewing All Your Fonts

The Software Setup 514 Everything Works Right It Didn’t Go As Planned

Your Home Plate for Help

Adjusting Just How LOUD It Gets 494 Changing the Master Volume 495 Changing the Volume for Individual Sound Devices 496

A Font Sneak Peek

45 Installing New Hardware

46 Tools to Help You

488

Adding Sound to the Point of Annoyance 492 Toward a More Cacophonous PC Using a Sound Scheme 493

Hello, Fonts Folder!

512

VII Problem Solving

42 Sound Advice 491

43 Fun with Fonts

A Left-Handed Mouse?

Adding Hardware to Your PC

Changing Screen Size and Colors

Sleep, Monitor, Sleep…

Making the Pointer Easier to See 509 Making the Mouse Easier to Locate 510 Making a Bigger Mouse Pointer 511

538

536

529

Contents 48 Irksome Things

539

General Advice 540 Don’t Reinstall Windows 540 Never Upgrade Your Operating System 541 Reset! 541 541

Your System Is Running Slowly

”I Changed My Screen (Somehow), and Now I Can’t See or Get at Anything” 542 Oops! Floppy in the Drive

542

ScanDisk Rears Its Ugly Head Finding a Lost Window

542

543

”I Can’t Drag Items in a Window!” Closing a Dead Program

544

544

Appendix A Using This Book’s Web Page 547 Getting to the Web Page Using the Keywords

547

548

xi

Acknowledgments I’d like to rethank everyone from this book’s first Windows 98 edition: Grace, Becky, Katie, Craig, and all the other people at Pearson Education. Also thanks again to Angie for recruiting me! Thanks for Paul McFedries, who had the final Winny Me disk years before I got mine and answered questions that even Microsoft didn’t know the answers to! Thanks to Stephanie, Nick, Tonya, Krista, Linda, Cheri, Geneil, and Juli. Special thanks and appreciation to my wife-unit, Sandy, for all the support, enthusiasm, and feedback, without which this book would be less than it is. Thank you, Matt, for being my agent and, yeah, like that. Finally, thanks to all the readers who have provided me with valued feedback. I’ve taken all your suggestions and ideas for improvement and have incorporated them into this latest edition. Keep it up!

Tell Us What You Think! As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way. As an associate publisher for Que, I welcome your comments. You can fax, email, or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books stronger. Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book, and that due to the high volume of mail I receive, I might not be able to reply to every message. When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author as well as your name and phone or fax number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book. Fax:

317-581-4666

Email:

[email protected]

Mail:

Associate Publisher Que 201 West 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 USA

Introduction Good morning, student! Welcome to Dan Gookin Teaches Windows Millennium Edition, a book designed to infuse you with knowledge about your computer and its operating system, Windows Millennium Edition, also known as Windows Me. Through a very sneaky and entertaining process, this book teaches you how to become a clever and insightful computer user. After you discover how Windows works, you’ll quickly find yourself boldly doing amazing things with your PC—all on your own. It’s painless and it’s fun. Are you ready for the next step?

About This Book This book shows you how to use your own brain to make sense of Windows Me. If you’ve been using other books, references, and the online help to struggle through Windows, you’ll find this book’s lessons and real-life examples a welcome and beneficial relief. It’s a tutorial. It’s a training guide. It’s entertaining and educational. In the chapters and lessons in this book, you’ll learn about Windows not from vague, out-of-context references, but rather from useful, real-life examples. Each chapter contains several tutorials that show you how Windows works. Eventually you’ll be able to anticipate what Windows does and place yourself firmly in the driver’s seat. If you’ve been stuck in computer kindergarten, welcome to the next level! I believe you’ll find this text an enjoyable relief.

Organization There are seven major parts to this book: Part I, “Windows Orientation and Review” Part II, “Working in Windows” Part III, “Printing and Faxing” Part IV, “Disks, Folders, and Files” Part V, “Planet Internet” Part VI, “The Tweak Master” Part VII, “Problem Solving”

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Part I offers a gentle introduction to Windows—a brush-up and quick review. It’s designed for those new to Windows Me who might need some extra help. Parts II through VII bring up the pace a bit. It’s not rocket science—it’s just that I assume that you, like I, appreciate it when a book understands when you “get it.” Those chapters don’t tell you how to click a mouse over and over again, and they assume that you, as a smart person, eventually understand how Windows works. (If you’re new to this idea, then I believe that you’ll enjoy the approach.) Each part contains chapters on a specific subject related to the part title. For example, printing is covered in Part III, the Internet is covered in Part V, and so on.

Where to Start You can start reading any chapter in any part at any time in any order. The book is cross-referenced so that you can read related information in any order you like. Most folks will probably read the book from front to back. No problem there. It’s important that once you start a chapter, you should work all the way through it. Many of the lessons in each chapter build upon each other. Also, some of the files created in Part I are used throughout the rest of the book.

Conventions When you’re asked to do something in a tutorial, it appears in an action-step that looks like this: ◊ Close the My Documents window. This is a directive for you to do something. Here, you’re told to close a window on the screen. Note that you’re told to do something but not how it’s done. Part I tells you how; the other parts of this book merely tell you what to do without the boring details (although occasionally there are details, primarily to show you alternative ways to do things). The following action-step tells you to choose the Save As command from the File menu: ◊ Choose File➡Save As. The ➡ symbol indicates a menu item, command, or submenu. When you see a directive with underlined letters, as shown here, you can press the Alt key with that underlined letter as a shortcut: Alt+F in File, for example.

2

Introduction If you’re required to type something, it will look like this: ◊ Type My Computer into the Address box. The plain text My Computer is what you type. If the typing command is explained in the main text, the stuff that you type appears in boldface type, as in “Type My Icon File and press the Enter key.” Be sure to read everything. In fact, it’s a good idea to review all the steps beforehand so that you’ll know where the tutorial is headed.

Gotta Have Icons This book uses the following icons to flag certain items in the text:

The fabulous Tip icon flags a shortcut or handy tidbit of information worthy of note. Unlike other authors, I do not overuse this icon. When you see the tip icon, you can be sure that what’s mentioned nearby is truly a handy tip.

You’ll see the Watch Out icon next to something that you should stand up and pay attention to. It’s a warning—an alert to be on your toes.

The Important Point icon flags something to remember or a note of interest that affects more than what you think it would.

3

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition

I can’t help it. Once in a while I lapse into nerd talk or have to give some speech on the historical significance of, say, a red hard drive light verses a green hard drive light. I thought I’d be nice and flag those items for you with a Yawn icon.

Peppered through the book are various words of wisdom that I’ve passed on to my readers via email. I’ve culled through the list and included many of the most popular ones in special sidebars flagged by the “Dan Says” icon. These are pearls of wisdom from your author!

And a Web Page There’s a lot of information that I really wanted to write about, but unfortunately I did not have room here in the book to put it. Also, some information is esoteric. For example, Windows Me is big on home networking—yawn. Excuse me. So, I’ve taken quite a bit of the information originally targeted for this book and have placed it on a companion Web page: http://www.wambooli.com/help/WinnyMe/

The Web page lists bonus and supplemental material to this book. It also has a special keyword text box that you can use to get at special bonus material. Appendix A, “Using This Book’s Web Page,” contains more information about how all that works.

Assumptions, Silly and Sensible It’s hard to write a computer book, let alone teach something, without making a few assumptions. Up front, it’s assumed that you’re using a computer running Windows Me. You might have purchased a new PC with Windows Me already installed, or you might have upgraded from an earlier version of Windows. Whatever. Windows Me is on your computer now.

4

Introduction This book does not cover installing Windows Me. This book does not cover any other Windows add-on programs, tools, or utilities. It doesn’t cover using Windows Me to create home movies (you need a video camera, which alone would add 30 pages to this book). It doesn’t cover using a scanner or a digital camera, or any other topic tangential to using the basic computer. I do assume that your computer has a CD-ROM or DVD drive, a sound card, a modem, and Internet access. Most of this stuff is standard equipment on any computer sold in the past several years. Internet access is optional, although Windows Me does assume that you have Internet access. (Don’t blame me, blame Microsoft.) This book assumes that you understand some basic Windows concepts. This book respects you for that. You know how to use your software. You know how a window works. You know what a mouse is, and you know how to use it to point and click and drag and choose menu items. Finally, this book assumes that you’re willing to learn. Windows is not that hard. You merely must be taught how to think like Windows. This book does a good job of that, transforming even the meekest computer user into someone who can truly get the most from a computer and its operating system.

About Me, Gentle Author Hello! I’m Dan. Please remove the instruction card from the seat in front of you and read along as I go over the safety features of this book…. Wait! No, I’m not a flight attendant. I couldn’t be! I don’t really believe that oxygen will be flowing despite the noninflating bag. I want an inflatable bag, dammit! I’m itching to tamper with the smoke detector in the lavatory. I want to sit in the exit row so that, in case of an emergency evacuation, I can determine who gets to live. And I believe that there’s no such thing as a “water landing.” Even if there were, I’m not going to bother to grab my seat cushion and use it as a flotation device. No, I write books, thank you. I again thank Pearson Ed. for doing an author-driven computer book series. I thank them for the freedom to pick and choose what to write about and how to write it. Believe me, such flexibility is sheer heaven for a computer book author. And I’m more than happy to have updated that book here, as Dan Gookin Teaches Windows Millennium Edition. My idea was simple: Lots of users are beyond the beginner level. They crave more and better information. They want to learn and grow. Presently no book on the market is written to let you learn or show you how to think for yourself. So, rather than have you buy something less, I wrote this book to help lift you to the next level.

5

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Finally, I’m open to answering any questions you may have about Windows or this book. My email address is listed here. I personally answer every email question that I get, although I admit that I’m not a genius and cannot help everyone. Or, if you feel like just writing to say “Hi!”, I answer those letters as well. Have fun! Dan Gookin, 2000 [email protected]

6

Part I

Windows Orientation and Review Chapters in This Part 1

Windows On and Off Yes, there is a proper way to turn your computer on and off.

2

Running Your Programs How to get started doing something, because getting work done is why you have a computer.

3

Saving Your Stuff Basic file-saving techniques.

4

Opening Documents Hunting down documents that you create by using the popular Open dialog box.

5

The Printing Chapter Basic printing techniques ignored by other books but carefully explained here.

6

Digging Through Your Computer An introduction to basic disk and file calisthenics.

7

Your Internet Orientation Chapter How to configure your system for the Internet or AOL.

8

Help Me! How to get assistance from Windows, which might or might not give you the answer you’re looking for.

Part I

Visual Topic Reference A.

A B

Desktop. My Computer; access to your disk drives and files (Chapter 6).

C

My Documents, where your creations are stored (Chapter 6).

D

Get on the Internet (Chapter 7).

E

Start Thing, used to start programs and other things (Chapter 2).

F 7

Quick Launch bar.

H 9

Taskbar, for switching programs. System tray. Shortcut icons on the desktop.

Part I

Visual Topic Reference B.

A B

Start menu (Chapter 2).

C D

Get help (Chapter 8).

E

Open recent documents (Chapter 2).

F

Main Programs menu (Chapter 2).

7 H I

Submenus.

J K L M N

Sub-submenu.

O P

Quit Windows (Chapter 1).

Change or tweak Windows.

Programs to run. Show More; click to display less commonly used menu items.

Calculator (Chapter 2). Notepad. Paint (Chapter 5). Windows Explorer (Chapter 6). WordPad (Chapter 3). More Show More buttons.

Chapter 1

1 111111

Windows On and Off

Questions Answered and Thoughts Inspired

> > >

Different ways to start a computer Important parts of the desktop How and when to turn off a computer

With all the buttons you could imagine on a computer, only one turns the thing on and off. Oh, if only it were that simple. The truth is that turning a computer on, and knowing when and how to turn it off, is a big deal. That’s what is covered here, in the first chapter of this book.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Computers Although your computer is friendly, don’t try to woo it with love poems or flowers. To truly turn the thing on, you have to supply it with electricity. You can turn on a computer and all its peripherals in three ways. Choosing the way you turn it all on depends on whether you have a power strip, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), or neither.


”I Don’t Have Any Power Strips or Nuthin’—All My Stuff Plugs Right into the Wall” To turn on your computer when everything just plugs into the wall, heed these steps: ◊ Turn on everything except the main computer box. ◊ Turn on the main computer box. Always turn on the computer box (the console) last. That way, it recognizes all the goodies plugged into it. ● Most computer devices have a pushbutton On-Off switch. It’s labeled with the line-and-circle hieroglyph shown in the margin. ● The On-Off switch on some computers is labeled with a crescent moon.

”I’m Smart, and I Bought a Power Strip” I can almost guarantee that your computer room lacks the number of wall sockets you need in order to plug in the various parts of your computer system. To make things easier, buy a power strip. ◊ Plug everything into a power strip. The power strip has several sockets into which you plug the various parts of your computer system. Plug the power strip into the wall socket, and you’re set. ◊ Turn on your computer by turning on the power strip. I know that I said (in the preceding section) to turn on the computer box last; turning everything on at one time, however, works just as well. ● Try to get a power strip that has line filtering or noise suppression. If the power strip offers spike or surge protection, that’s even better. This feature ensures that the electricity flowing into your computer is clean and prevents the electricity from harming any of the computer’s electronic components.

12

I recommend the Kensington SmartSockets power strips. The sockets are arranged in such a way that the bulky transformers (on the ends of most computer plugs) don’t get in the way of each other. Also, the sockets are color coded and come with corresponding color stickers so that you can easily identify what plugs into what.

Chapter 1 Windows On and Off

”I Spent the Big Bucks, and I Have a UPS” The acronym UPS in this book stands for uninterruptible power supply, not the name of the shipping company. A UPS is a special type of power strip, one that continues to give your computer juice even when the power is out. If you have a UPS (and I recommend that you do), do the following: ◊ Plug the monitor and computer into the UPS. ◊ Plug everything else into a power strip. You don’t have to plug everything into the UPS. You want primarily to keep the monitor and console (the computer box) alive during a power outage. Everything else—especially printing—can wait until the power comes back on. To turn your computer on with a UPS, do the following: ◊ Turn on the power strip. ◊ Turn on the monitor and computer. Again, you want to turn on the computer last so that it “sees” everything connected to it. There’s no need to turn on the UPS; leave it on all the time to ensure that it’s internal batteries are always fully charged. If you have a UPS and the power goes out, save your work immediately! Then shut down Windows as described at the end of this chapter. Do not try to continue working, because the UPS battery eventually drains—and it usually drains much faster than the manufacturer claims. ● Most computer and office supply stores sell UPSs. If not, you can order one through many of the Internet computer dealers, such as www.warehouse.com and www.zones.com. ● A typical UPS has two sockets: one for your monitor and the other for the computer box.

If your UPS has extra sockets, you can also plug in an external modem, which prevents you from being disconnected if a power outage strikes while you’re online.

Do not plug in a laser printer to a UPS. Laser printers draw down too much power to justify that action. Besides, you can always print when the power comes back on.

● If you pay more for your UPS, you’ll get more sockets. Be aware, however, that some of the sockets might not be battery backed up. Some may be only surge-suppressing sockets, for example.

13


Table 1.1

To UPS or Not to UPS, Here Are Some Suggestions

Plug into a UPS Reason

Don’t Plug into a UPS

Computer

Laser Printer

Monitor External modem External drive(s)

Keeps everything working; first priority Lets you see what’s going on Keeps you online during brief power burps Lets you access drives for saving before shutdown

Other printers

Draws too much power; printing can wait Printing can wait

Scanner

Scanning can wait

Speakers

No need to hear the computer scream when the power is off The primary monitor is all you need to shut down

Second monitor Phone cord

Reason

Prevents power spikes from entering the computer via the phone line

The Startup Sequence, or “Messages from Beyond” As your computer starts up, you’re assaulted with a series of messages onscreen. First, you see some text messages, and then you hear a beep, and then Windows itself flashes its graphical glory. ◊ Sit back and watch. When Windows is done loading, you either see the desktop or are asked to log on. ● If you see a message about a “non-system disk” or some such nonsense, it means that you’ve left a floppy disk in your PC’s drive A. Remove the disk, press the Enter key, and continue staring at your PC. ● Other messages might appear during the startup process. If they concern you, see Chapter 48, “Irksome Things,” for information about startup troubleshooting procedures.

14


Log In, Mystery Guest Sometimes, when Windows starts up, it needs to know who you are. Windows begs you for a name and a password, which were probably set up when you first used Windows. You log in (or log on—I don’t know the difference) in the logon dialog box, as shown in Figure 1.1. ◊ If you see the logon dialog box, type your password. ◊ Click OK to start using Windows. Figure 1.1 The logon dialog box.

A B C D

Who you are. Type your password here. Start using Windows. Start using Windows.

● If you don’t see the logon box, you don’t need to log on! ● If you’re on a networked computer and you type an incorrect password, Windows displays a secondary logon dialog box. If you type an improper password again, just forgo typing passwords and click the Cancel button to start using Windows. So much for security. (If you’re into security, Microsoft wants you to use Windows 2000.)

There is a way to never have to log in to Windows Millennium. If you would rather skip over logging in, you can disable the logon dialog box permanently. Visit www.wambooli.com/help/ Windows/logon/ for the details.

The Desktop Figure 1.2 shows the main Windows screen, the desktop. Several important goodies are flagged for your viewing pleasure. The desktop is considered the main level at which you use Windows. Just about everything you can see or do on your computer can be visited from the desktop.

15


Figure 1.2 The desktop.

A

Wallpaper (or background pattern).

B C D E F G H I J K L

Icons. My Computer. Recycle Bin. My Documents folder. A folder. Start Thing. Taskbar. Button on the taskbar. Quick launch bar. System tray. Mouse pointer.

Other items on the desktop are discussed in various spots throughout this book. Use the index or table of contents to find something you’re curious about. You have much to be curious about in Windows.

Escaping from Windows

Be sure that you find the Start button, which I call the Start Thing. It’s the key to doing just about everything in Windows.

The Start Thing lives on the taskbar, You have no real way to just quit Windows. which is another important doohickey. Because Windows is your computer’s operating system, quitting Windows is the same thing as turning off your computer. You can do it in one of several ways, depending mostly on what you plan to do after you’re done using your computer.

Never just turn off your PC! 16


Be sure that you always follow the proper steps to quit programs, quit Windows, and turn off your computer. You can shut down Windows in several ways, and you can find all the methods in one place— the Shut Down Windows dialog box, as shown in Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3 The Shut Down Windows dialog box.

A B C D E

Ahhh-chooo! Choose a shutdown option. The Restart option is displayed. Go for it. Return to Windows.

The following sections tell you more about the options in the Shut Down Windows dialog box, such as how and when to use them.

Putting Your PC to Sleep (Stand By) Most PCs have capability to “sleep.” That is, they can go into a special low-power mode in which, technically, they’re still on, although all the computer’s electronics are, well, sleeping. Sleeping is not the same as turning off the computer, because although it looks off, it’s still very much on. As an alternative to having the computer sleep, consider turning off the monitor or putting just the monitor into sleep mode instead of the entire computer. This is covered in Chapter 41, “Tweaking Your Monitor.”

I don’t ever recommend choosing the Stand By option. I’ve received too many emails from readers who’ve put their PCs to sleep only to find out that sleep turns into a coma. The only way to regain control over the PC is to turn it off and on again. Because of this, I believe you’re better off never using sleep or Stand By mode.

● If your computer doesn’t seem to have trouble going to sleep or waking up, fine! Use that option from the Shut Down Windows dialog box. But if it suddenly doesn’t work right, or the option disappears, remember that you were warned.

17

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● A killer giveaway that your PC can sleep is the “moon” button on the computer box. Pressing that key also puts the computer to sleep—and wakes the system up after it has been asleep. ● To awaken your computer from a sleep, wiggle the mouse or press the Enter key on the keyboard. If this doesn’t work, the computer is in a coma and you’ll have to turn it off, wait about 10 seconds, and then turn it on again to regain control. ● If the off switch appears to be broken while the computer is in sleep mode, unplug the computer from the wall (or UPS if applicable). This is a desperate act to be sure, but is often necessary when sleep mode screws up.

Starting Over (Resetting, or the “Warm Boot”) Windows must be restarted more often than you think. You have to restart it after adding programs or new software to help Windows work with your hardware, or when your computer starts acting screwy and (honestly) you have no other way to get it to pay attention. To restart or reset your computer, follow these steps: ◊ Pop up the Start Thing menu. ◊ Choose the Shut Down command. The Shut Down Windows dialog box appears (refer to Figure 1.3). ◊ Choose the Restart item from the drop-down list. ◊ Click OK. Windows shuts down, closing open programs and windows. If you have any unsaved documents open, Windows asks you to save them. If you have any DOS programs or games running, Windows stops and asks you to close them properly. Then you have to repeat the preceding steps all over again. After shutting everything down, Windows starts your computer up again, just as though you have turned it on for the first time.

Resetting can sometimes fix strange bugs. For example, if you lose the mouse pointer or the desktop starts acting weird, resetting can fix the problem.

● Resetting is often necessary when you install new hardware or software. The computer tells you to reset or does it on its own. ● Resetting is also known as a warm boot.

18

Chapter 1 Windows On and Off ● Turning the computer off, waiting, and then turning it on again is called a cold boot. To fix some problems, you might need to do that rather than reset.

Shutting Down To turn off your computer, follow these steps: ◊ Bring up the Start Thing menu. ◊ Choose the Shut Down command. The Shut Down Windows dialog box appears. ◊ Choose the Shut Down item from the drop-down list. ◊ Click OK. As with resetting, Windows asks you to save any unsaved documents; if you have DOS programs open, the shutdown operation stops and you’re asked to quit your DOS programs.

Never reset your computer by pressing the Reset button on the computer box. Always try the Shut Down Windows command first. Only if you cannot move the mouse and your situation seems hopeless should you resort to punching the computer’s Reset button. Otherwise, you might lose information or damage important files.

Eventually you’ll see the screen that says It’s now safe to turn off this computer. So…turn the computer off! Or, in some cases, you might not see a message and the computer might just shut itself off. Well, good for the computer!

Dear Dan: I can’t get my computer to properly shut down. It will sit at the Windows bye-bye screen and say that it’s shutting down but it won’t. What could be wrong?! Dan Says: Any number of things. Sometimes computers just “hang,” so you need to press the Reset button or turn the computer off, wait, and then turn it on again to regain control. This is why the Reset button is there, but make sure you wait for the computer before resorting to using the button. Also, if you have to turn the computer off, wait a few moments before turning it on again. Note that when you restart the computer after improperly shutting it down, Windows will run the ScanDisk program. This is perfectly normal and a good thing. Don’t think of it as a punishment!

19

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Turn off your computer. Switch off the power. Turn off all your computer goodies. If you have a power strip, turn it off to turn everything off at one time. If you have a UPS, you can just turn off the monitor and the computer box. It’s a good idea to keep the UPS turned on so that its battery doesn’t discharge.

Be patient. Sometimes it takes a while for Windows to shut down, say two or three minutes.

◊ You’re done. Now walk away. Do something physical. Enjoy the nice weather. Breathe fresh air. Look up and see the pretty sky. ● Only when you see the message It’s now safe to turn off your computer should you turn off your PC. ● Some computers might turn themselves off automatically. With these computers, you never see the It’s now safe to turn off your computer message because the computer is already turned off. That’s okay.

20

Chapter 2

Running Your Programs


> > > >

Starting programs painlessly Toying with a window Quitting your programs Using a handy way to get at recently saved stuff

Windows is not the reason you use your computer. Really, who wants Windows? No, you bought your computer to do certain tasks, for which you also bought programs. It’s those programs you want to use when your computer is on. This chapter shows you how that can happen.

Starting Any Old Program Most programs you run are on the Programs menu, off the main Start Thing menu. Fishing a program out of that menu is how you start using just about any program you run in Windows.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the Start button to bring up the Start Thing menu. Figure 2.1 shows you what’s important and what’s not. Figure 2.1 The Start Thing menu.

A

Programs sometimes appear here.

B

See the submenu for programs.

C D E

Recently opened documents.

F G H I

Change settings and stuff. Find files or programs or lost keys. Get help, sometimes. A boring way to run programs. Options for leaving. More items may appear here; see Chapter 38.

◊ Choose Programs. Point the mouse at Programs, near the top of the menu. You don’t have to click the mouse—just point. A submenu appears! Figure 2.2 shows what’s up with the submenu.

Figure 2.2 A submenu.

A B C D E

The Programs submenu. A sub-submenu. Programs. Show More arrows. Additional, “hidden” items.

22

Chapter 2 Running Your Programs ◊ Look for your program. There are two types of things on a submenu. The first items are additional submenus, if any (see Figure 2.2. The second are the programs themselves. If the program you want to run is right there on the Programs submenu, click the program’s name to start it. If you don’t see your program right away, you have two choices. First, you can click the Show More arrows at the bottom of the menu. This displays additional programs and submenus that are not often used. (It’s one of Windows “personalization” features.) Figure 2.3 shows additional programs and submenus in the Programs menu. The lessoften-used items appear in a lighter shade of gray. This doesn’t mean anything other than that those items aren’t used very often; you can choose one just as you’d choose any other program or submenu. Figure 2.3 All the menu items appear when you click the Show More arrows.

A B C D

Recently used submenu. Hidden or less-often-used submenus. Recently used programs. Less-often-used programs.

If you still don’t see your program, you’ll have to fish through the submenus. Fortunately, most of the submenus are named descriptively. After you choose a program to run, the Start Thing menu and its submenus vanish like the waiter in a restaurant after he has taken your order. Eventually your program appears on the desktop in its own window. ● Most of your favorite programs should be on the main Programs menu. If not, you can move them there by editing the Start Thing menu. Chapter 10, “Ode to the Start Thing,” tells you how.

23

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If you don’t like the hidden programs, submenus, or the Show More buttons, you can tell Windows to show everything all the time (like it did with Windows 95/96 This is explained in Chapter 38 as well. ● The hidden menu items automatically show themselves if you tarry at a menu.

Be careful with the mouse! Those submenus are slippery; any subtle mouse movement causes them to flit in and out.

● If you don’t see your program right away, look for it on one of the submenus. ● Press the Esc key to back up to the preceding submenu.

“I’ll have the Number Four with the hidden chow mein.”

Browsing the Submenus for the Calculator Program Suppose that you want to start the Calculator program. You bought some stock this morning and it’s up 7/16 points! How much money have you made just sitting there watching CNBC? Impress your friends with this important financial data using the power of your computer! ◊ Pop up the Start Thing menu. ◊ Choose Programs. ◊ Choose Accessories. The Accessories submenu appears, showing even more submenus and programs. One of them is the Calculator—but if you don’t see it there (and, trust me, it’s there), click the Show More arrows and you’ll see it. ◊ Choose Calculator. Click Calculator with your mouse. The Calculator program starts and displays itself onscreen, as shown in Figure 2.4.

24

Chapter 2 Running Your Programs Figure 2.4 The Calculator.

A B C D E F G

Control menu. Title bar. Minimize button. Maximize button. Close button. Menu bar. Calculator window.

Now suppose you bought 125 shares of stock this morning. It’s up 7/16, so the first step is to figure out how what 7/16 really means. ◊ Enter 7. Use the mouse to click the 7 button. ◊ Click /. The / is the division symbol (the ÷ thing doesn’t appear on your keyboard).

If the Calculator on your screen looks different from the one in the figure, choose View➡Standard from the menu.

◊ Enter 16. Use the mouse to click on the 1 button and then the 6 button. ◊ Click =. The Calculator reports that 7/16 equals .4375, but because you have 125 shares, you have to multiply .4375 by 125 to see how much money you’ve made. (Don’t worry about understanding this nonsense; just nod your head knowingly and continue.) ◊ Click *. The * is the multiplication symbol. On a computer keyboard, X represents the letter X, not the multiplication symbol.

To find out how much money the stock is worth, you need to know its closing price, which is published in the next day’s paper, or you can find it on the Internet at Yahoo! or various other sites. Multiply the closing price by the number of shares you own to calculate how much your stock is worth.

25

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Enter 125. That’s for the 125 shares of stock. If 125 shares of stock went up 7/16 in price (and that’s 7/16ths of a dollar), how much money did you make? ◊ Click =. The Calculator displays 54.6875 as the result, which means the stock made you almost $55 today. See? It’s easy to make money on the stock market! Keep the Calculator onscreen for the rest of this chapter. ● You can also enter numbers into the Calculator by typing them from your keyboard.

What Is and Is Not Important in a Program’s Window Figure 2.5 describes the basic parts of any Windows program. All programs appear in a similar window, which means that after you figure out how one window works, you can work them all. ● Title bar—Use the title bar to drag the window to a new position on the desktop. ● Close button—Click this button to close the window. ● Menu bar—The program’s commands are listed here. Click on a menu title to display the commands. ● Window contents—The bulk of the program. In a word processor, that’s where you type. In a graphics program, it’s where you draw. ◊ Move the Calculator window around. Remember that you point the mouse at the Calculator window’s title bar, and then drag the window to another spot onscreen. The window follows the mouse around like a homesick puppy. Release the mouse to keep the window in its new position. In Windows, you can have lots of windows open at a time. Often you move a window to see what’s under it.

The Toying-with-a-Window Tutorial You can’t do much with the Calculator program; its window is of a fixed size, and its contents are just buttons. A more typical program is Notepad, the wee li’l text editor in Windows.

26

Chapter 2 Running Your Programs Start Notepad by obeying these steps: ◊ Pop up the Start Thing menu. ◊ Choose Programs➡Accessories➡Notepad. (Again, if you don’t find Notepad on the Accessories menu, click the Show More arrows and it will be there.) The Notepad window appears onscreen, as shown in Figure 2.5. Any text you type appears where the insertion pointer is blinking.

Figure 2.5 The Notepad window.

A B C D

Insertion pointer. Horizontal scrollbar. Vertical scrollbar. Drag here to resize the window.

E

Drag here to move the window.

F G

Minimize button. Maximize (and restore) button.

◊ Type Today was a boon day on the market. I made $ (ending with the dollar sign, no period). Use your keyboard to type the text Today was a boon day on the market. I made $. Don’t type a period at the end of the sentence. Just type the $ and I’ll show you a clever way to finish the sentence in a moment. Now you have to resize the Notepad window to a tiny box. ◊ Point the mouse at the lower-right corner of the window. ◊ Drag up and to the left. When you’re done, the window should be about the same size as shown in Figure 2.6.

27

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Had there been more text, the scrollbars would be available to let you scroll up or down or left or right to see more text. Figure 2.6 Resizing a window.

A B C

Start here and drag to… …here. Untitled means that the file has not yet been saved.

◊ Click the Maximize button. This step makes the window fill the screen. You should run most applications maximized because that method gives you more room to see what you’re doing. ◊ Click the Restore button. The window resumes its previous size and location. Now you’re going to minimize the window. ◊ Click the Minimize button. This shrinks the window to a button on the taskbar. Notepad is now tucked away, out of view. You didn’t quit it. The program is still “running,” and your text is still intact. You’ll visit the program again in just a few steps.

28

Chapter 2 Running Your Programs

You don’t really have to quit a program until you’re done with it. With the Notepad out of the way, you should now see the Calculator. ◊ Choose Edit from the Calculator’s menu. ◊ Click the mouse on the word Copy.

The Restore button is available only when a window is maximized.

The value stored in the Calculator (54.6875 is copied to the Windows Clipboard. (The Clipboard is a special place in memory where information is kept. From the Clipboard, information can be pasted into another program or back into the same program.) Yes, this is a basic copy and paste. From the Clipboard you can paste the copied value into Notepad. ◊ Restore Notepad by clicking its button on the taskbar. The Notepad window resumes its size and position onscreen. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste from the menu. This step pastes in the value 54.6875, which you just copied from the Calculator. ◊ Press the Backspace key three times. You’re erasing the 875 part of the number, which is culturally confusing to most Americans. ◊ Type 9! I am a financial genius!. ◊ Press the Enter key. This completes your little note. Although you can’t see all that you’ve typed, you can drag the bottom (horizontal) scrollbar with the mouse to view all the text. ◊ Drag the bottom scrollbar left and right. A better solution is to do this: ◊ Choose Edit➡Word Wrap.

29

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Word wrap resizes all the text to match the width of Notepad’s window. Now everything’s tidy. It’s time to save your work so that you have a copy of it to admire later. ◊ Choose File➡Save As. The Save As dialog box appears. The text in the File Name input box is highlighted. It says Untitled, so you need to name your document something else. ◊ Type Today’s Profit in the File Name box. ◊ Press Enter. This step saves your text to disk and ends the tutorial.

Use the Minimize button when you want a program out of the way but you don’t want to quit. You can use the taskbar to switch between any number of programs you’re using at one time.

● After the file has been saved, you see its name, Today’s Profit, appear on the window’s title bar. ● More information about the Save As dialog box is given in Chapter 3, “Saving Your Stuff.” ● For more information on the Clipboard, see Chapter 13, “Sharing with Cut-andPaste.” ● Files saved to disk can be opened later for editing, printing, or whatever.

Quitting a Program There’s more than one way to kill off a Windows program.… Actually, there are two common ways: the Close button and the File➡Exit command. The most consistent way to quit any program is to click the Close button, the little X, in the upper-right corner of just about every window. That thing works every time. Close the Calculator window now with these steps: ◊ Switch to the Calculator window. If you can see the window on the desktop, click the mouse on the window. That action brings the window up front and ready for action, if it’s not already. If you cannot see the Calculator window, click the Calculator button on the taskbar.

30

Chapter 2 Running Your Programs ◊ Click the Close button. Floop! The window goes away. Now close Notepad with these steps: ◊ Switch to the Notepad window. ◊ Choose File➡Exit. The File➡Exit command closes most major applications. (It doesn’t close everything, however; the Calculator program doesn’t have a File menu.) Had you not saved your work in the preceding section, a warning dialog box would appear, prompting you to save. Otherwise, the Notepad window vanishes from the screen. You’re done.

Using the Documents Menu Suppose that after finishing this chapter’s tutorial, you realize that you want to add another line to the Today’s Profit file. Like all files you’ve recently created or modified, that file appears on the Documents menu. Here’s how to get back to it really quickly: ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Documents➡Today’s Profit. (It might appear as Today’s Profit.txt in the menu. It’s the same file.) The Notepad program starts again, this time with the Today’s Profit file loaded and ready for editing.

You can use the Documents menu to instantly access any file you’ve been working on recently. This technique is a great way to start your Windows day if you’re immersed in some huge project.

◊ Work on your document. Or, if you don’t have anything to add, follow the next step. ◊ Close Notepad. Now you’re really done. ● The Documents menu holds the last 15 files you’ve opened. ● Some programs do not put their files on the Documents menu. When that happens or whenever you can’t find a document on the menu, you have to start the program from the Start Thing menu and then open the document the oldfashioned way, which is covered in Chapter 4, “Opening Documents.”

31

Chapter 3

Saving Your Stuff


> > > > >

Basic file saving Using the Save As dialog box Saving with a different name Saving files as a different type Making a new folder for your stuff

Some dialog boxes you see all the time when you’re using Windows. No, I’m not talking about the error messages. These common dialog boxes are associated with the common things you do in any program: opening documents, printing, saving your stuff, and so on. The most important of the lot is the Save As dialog box, which you should be using all the time to save your stuff. This chapter covers its basic operation.

Hello, Save Dialog Box Always save your stuff. Well, except for silly stuff, which you don’t have to save. Considering that less and less time is available to create silly stuff, however, you probably create useful documents and such with your computer. And you want to keep them. To do that, you need to save.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● With a computer, saving is a central part of the creative process. ● You save documents as files on disk. That way, you can access the document later for reviewing, editing, or whatever. ● You save stuff with the File➡Save command. ● The Ctrl+S key combination usually also saves stuff. ● Many programs sport a Save button, which you can click to save your stuff.

The Save Tutorial Writing is the main thing most people do with a computer. In Windows, you probably use a full-horsepower word processor, something like Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. Windows comes with a low-horsepower word processor called WordPad. ◊ Open WordPad.

Always save your stuff. Most people save only when they think that something is worth saving. Wrong! Save every few minutes or so; you never know when a computer will up and die or little Jesse will trip over the power strip.

From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories➡WordPad. (You may have to click on the Show More buttons to see WordPad; refer to Chapter 2, “Running Your Programs.”) The WordPad window appears onscreen, as shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 WordPad.

A

Document means that nothing has been saved.

B

Toolbar, with buttons for New, Open, Save, Print, and other commands.

C

Format bar (formatting commands).

D E F

Ruler. Document window. Resize the window so that you see the right margin on the ruler.

34

Chapter 3 Saving Your Stuff ◊ Type some prose. There’s no point in trying the Save command unless you have something worthy of saving. If you’re dry, type this text: It’s not as tough as it was in the early days. Back then, just getting from point A to point B involved lots of planning, provisions, supplies and a huge effort for all involved. But now, thanks to teleportation, taking a trip is as easy as plunking a coin into a vending machine. This is a wonderful scientific advancement—a boon to mankind. Alas, it’s opened the door for many a prank. Beaming someone into or out of a shower is illegal in several states. And you need a zoo license to beam large animals anywhere. Still, it’s surprising there are no laws against beaming hornet’s nests. Give it time. You don’t have to type all that—you can type something you made up yourself. Just make sure that you type something in the document window. ◊ Choose File➡Save As. The Save As dialog box appears. Windows uses several subtly different types of Save As dialog boxes. Each of them has the same basic features, but some are more fancy than others. You can use Figure 3.2 to help you sort things out; the Save As dialog box that WordPad uses is the first one.

Figure 3.2 Save As dialog box variations.

A

Choose another folder or disk drive from here.

B

The folder in which you’re saving this document.

C

The contents of the current folder.

D E F G H I J

Your file’s name. The type of file you’re saving. Go “up” one directory. Create a new folder. Set the way icons are viewed. Click to save. Popular file saving places.

35

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Your duty in the Save As dialog box (no matter which one appears) is to assign your document a name and a storage place on disk. ◊ Find a folder for your document. The Save As dialog box is showing you the My Documents folder, which is where WordPad likes to save its documents—unless told otherwise. That’s fine for this tutorial. For other projects, you undoubtedly want to save your stuff elsewhere, in a specific folder. If you see another folder listed by the Save In drop-down list, choose My Documents from the list instead.

Folders help you stay organized. ◊ Find Document in the File Name input box. In the File Name input box, you type your file’s name. Right now it says Document. That’s the name WordPad gives all its unsaved documents. (The Notepad and Paint programs use Untitled instead.) You need to give your document its own name—hopefully, something more clever and descriptive than Document. ◊ Type Teleportation in the File Name box. The name Document is highlighted, so your text replaces it. If Document is not highlighted, press Alt+N. That keyboard shortcut focuses the attention of Windows on the File Name input box. If you make a typing mistake, press the Backspace key to back up and erase. ◊ Click the Save button with the mouse. Or you can just press the Enter key. This step saves the document to disk. ◊ Notice the file’s name on the title bar. That’s your clue that the file has been saved. Keep WordPad and this document open for the remaining tutorials in this chapter. ● After you save your document, you can continue working and saving, print, open or create another document, or quit the program. ● Continue to save your document as you work on it. The next section tells you how.

36

Chapter 3 Saving Your Stuff ● Older Windows programs might use a similar Save As dialog box, one that lacks the Save In column of goodies on the left side. Don’t freak out if you encounter such an antique.

Filenames Good, Bad, and Ugly Windows allows you to name your files just about anything. You can use numbers, letters, spaces, and a smattering of symbols to creatively endow your document (or graphics image or whatever) with a proper name. Even so, the best filenames are short and descriptive. Here are some good filenames: Report 5-99 Cancellation notice Umberto’s - restaurant review (yuck) More useless charts for the meeting Personal Filenames can be in upper- or lowercase, start with a number or letter, and be as long as 255 characters (although shorter is better). You can use just about any symbol on the keyboard for a filename, although you cannot use the following characters: “ > * ? / : \ | < If you try to use one of these characters, Windows does not let you save the file; either you see an error message telling you what’s wrong or Windows just becomes stubborn and doesn’t save the file without telling you what you’ve done wrong.

Save It Again, Sam Get used to saving a document over and over. I save about every 10 minutes or so. That way, if anything bad happens, I have a recent copy of my work saved to disk. Saving again is easy; Windows gives you several options for saving your stuff as you go: ◊ Choose File➡Save to save your document again. Or ◊ Press the Ctrl+S key combination. Or ◊ Click the Save button on the toolbar.

37


Save all the time! Save! Save! Save! ◊ Return to your WordPad document. As you continue the tutorial from the preceding section, you’ll see that the Teleportation document needs a new paragraph. You have nothing to write this time; you just split the existing paragraph in two. ◊ Position the insertion pointer at the start of the third sentence. Click the mouse after the word machine and the period. The cursor should be blinking at the beginning of the space before the fourth sentence. ◊ Press the Delete key. This action deletes the space between the two sentences. ◊ Press the Enter key. This action creates a new paragraph, starting with “This is a wonderful.…” ◊ Press Ctrl+S to save. The changes in your document are saved to disk. ● You don’t have to rename the document when you save again; Windows saves your changes to the document already on disk. ● Had you not already saved the document, the Save As dialog box would appear. Because you’ve already given the document a name, however, the Save As command is not necessary.

Saving the Same File with a New Name Some people save a document by using the same name over and over. Others feel compelled to save a document in drafts. For example, they might save a first gothrough as First Draft or DOC01; the second draft, as Second Draft or DOC02; and so on. Doing so is easy: ◊ Choose File➡Save As. The Save As dialog box appears, which allows you to resave any document to disk with a new name. Figure 3.3 shows what the Save As dialog box should look like.

38

Chapter 3 Saving Your Stuff Figure 3.3 Saving a document with a new name.

A

Other WordPad documents are listed here.

B

Here is the file as it’s already saved on disk.

C D

Type the new name here.

E

Highlighted text can be edited. Click here to save with the new name.

If you’re following the WordPad tutorial, you’ll see the file’s current name, Teleportation, in the Save As dialog box. ◊ Type a new filename. Use the name Beam Me Up. ◊ Click Save. The document is saved to disk under a new name. Now two documents are on disk: The first is the original draft, Teleportation, and the second is a copy or second draft, Beam Me Up.

You can either type over the original name or edit the text in the File Name text box. For example, to change Chapter 1 into Chapter 1A, press the End key and type the A. Or if you want to change Chapter 1 to Chap1, just use the arrow keys and Delete.

Saving a File As Another Type Different programs create different types of files. WordPad saves files in the Microsoft Word 6.0 file format, unless you tell it otherwise. However, suppose that you’re exchanging files with someone using AppleWorks on a Macintosh. You have to save your document in a common file format, something both WordPad and the other guy’s program can digest. Most Windows applications enable you to save a document as another file type. You can use the Save As dialog box to change the format to something else.

39

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Continue this chapter’s WordPad tutorial: ◊ Summon the Save As dialog box again. Choose File➡Save As from the menu. You’re trying to save the file “as” something else; choosing File➡Save at this point would merely resave the current document, Beam Me Up. ◊ Drop down the Save As Type list. You see the smattering of file formats WordPad allows you to use for saving documents, as shown in Figure 3.4. Figure 3.4 File types for WordPad.

A

Select the format for saving the file.

B

Standard format for all WordPad documents.

C

A text format with formatting information included.

D E F G

Plain text. Plain text (again). A format no one uses. This window shows only those files matching the file type listed.

Suppose that someone on the Internet wants you to send him a copy of your file, but as a text message: ◊ Choose Text Document. Word for Windows 6.0 is replaced by Text Document in the Save As dialog box. In the Text Document file format, WordPad saves only your document’s text; no formatting information (bold, italics, justification, colored text) is saved. ◊ Click Save. A warning dialog box appears, explaining that the document will overwrite the one you already have on disk. Whoops! Better change the name. ◊ Click No.

40

Chapter 3 Saving Your Stuff

It’s always a good idea to enter a new filename when you change the file type. ◊ Type My Story as the filename. ◊ Click Save. More warnings! This time you’re told that saving a text file removes all formatting. That’s what you want, so: ◊ Click Yes. The file is saved to disk as text only, which just about any computer anywhere in the world can digest. Notice that the text appears in the WordPad window as one or two long lines. That’s okay; text files are unformatted, which means that they lack right margins. ◊ Close WordPad. Choose File➡Exit from the menu. ● The only time you need to save a file in a specific format is when you’re directed to do so, either by a manual, unconscious compulsion, or under other circumstances, such as when you share a file with another person. This situation happens most often with graphics programs. For example, most scanning software saves files in the TIFF file format, yet you should save the images in the GIF file format if you plan to email them to a friend. ● The file format, or type, normally used by a program is referred to as the native, or default, format. For WordPad, it’s the Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0 file format. ● The Microsoft Word format is also known as the “doc” file format.

Unicode format is used in some countries that have specialized alphabets, such as the Kanji alphabet in Japan.

● The RTF file format is very common. It’s a plain-text format, which means that any computer can read those files, and the RTF document retains formatting information. If you want to exchange files with someone who uses another type of word processor, RTF format is the best one to choose.

41

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Text formats save files as text only; letters, numbers, and other characters are saved, but no formatting information is saved. ● Honestly, I can’t tell any difference between Text format and MS-DOS format. I just choose Text format.

Saving a File in a New Place A typical PC has tens of thousands of files stored on it. Some of those files are yours. Although finding them can be a challenge, Windows sets itself up with folders in which you can, fortunately, save the things dear to you. (All this stuff is covered in Part IV of this book.) Normally, Windows stores your documents, without specifying otherwise, in a folder called My Documents. Makes sense. After working awhile, you might notice that the My Documents folder becomes a crowded place. To cut down on the clutter, you should start saving your documents elsewhere, in new folders for specific projects, for example. All this can be done in any Save As dialog box. On your way home from the sushi bar, suppose an idea hits you for a flying car. You rush home to jot down your thoughts: ◊ Fire up WordPad. ◊ Write down your thoughts. Or just type a few random sentences because this section is a tutorial and there’s no sense in wasting time being creative here (though if you really do have some keen flying-car ideas, feel free to send them my way). ◊ Choose File➡Save As.

Notice that the New Folder name is highlighted, which is your clue that it can be edited. In fact, anything you type now becomes the name of the new folder. That’s always a good idea because New Folder isn’t very descriptive (aside from the obvious).

The Save As dialog box appears, allowing you to save your stuff. Because this project is a big one—gonna include text documents, graphics, calculations, and grant proposals—it’s best that you save all that stuff in a new folder. No point in cluttering the My Documents folder with something really good. ◊ Click the Create New Folder button.

A new folder appears in the Save As dialog box’s window (see Figure 3.5). The new folder is named New Folder. That’s like naming your dog Dog, but I won’t dwell on that.

42

Chapter 3 Saving Your Stuff Figure 3.5 Saving a file in a new folder.

A B C D E

New Folder appears here. Change the name to something more descriptive. Other folders. Search for other places to save your document. Go “up” one folder.

◊ Give the folder a new name, such as Flying Car. Type Flying Car to replace the text New Folder as the new folder’s name. If you make a mistake, press the Backspace key to back up and erase. Press the Enter key when you’re done to lock in the change. The folder now has the name Flying Car. ◊ Open the Flying Car folder. The Save As dialog box displays the folder’s contents. Now you’re ready to save your file in the new spot. ◊ Type Thoughts 8-01 for the filename. Press Alt+N to switch the focus to the File Name text box, or press the Tab key. Type the name for your document: Thoughts, which is descriptive, and 8-01 for the date. Note that a hyphen is used for the date because the / character is verboten. ◊ Click Save. The file is saved in a new folder on disk. ◊ Quit WordPad Time to take a stand-up-and-stretch break. ● It’s a wonderful idea to put related files in the same folder. ● Part IV of this book discusses folders and file organization in great depth. ● The rules for naming folders are the same as those for naming files. See the sidebar “Filenames Good, Bad, and Ugly,” earlier in this chapter. ● You can use other buttons and controls in the Save As dialog box to save your document anywhere on your computer, on any hard drive, on a network computer, or on the desktop.(a)14

43

Chapter 4

Opening Documents


> > > > > >

Working the Open dialog box tutorial Opening a file of another type Using the Open dialog box to browse Using the Document menu Opening icons Cheating with the recent file list

When you save a document or file to disk, Windows carefully lays it out, giving the file a name and a pretty icon by which you can remember it. When you want to use the file again—to review, edit, modify, print, or whatever—you open it. This action loads the file from disk back into your program for reviewing, editing, modifying, printing, or whatevering. ● Open, retrieving from a disk, is the opposite of save, placing on a disk. Close is the opposite of open, and squander is the opposite of save, but try to avoid falling into the illogical maze of computer semantics.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Really geeky trivia: The original Microsoft Word program (for DOS) used the command Transfer File Load to open a document on disk. Microsoft has come a long way.

Opening a File You Once Knew As long as you’re careful to save your stuff to disk, you can get at it again.

Another term for opening a document on disk is loading. Although no Load command exists, you might see the word used in computer manuals and nerdy books.

(The files mentioned in this chapter were created in the tutorials from Chapter 3, “Saving Your Stuff.”) ◊ Fire up WordPad. ◊ Choose File➡Open. The Open dialog box appears, as shown at the top of Figure 4.1. Windows also uses a second type of Open dialog box, shown at the bottom of Figure 4.1. Both do the same thing. Figure 4.1 The Open dialog box.

A B

The current folder. Contents of the current folder.

C

Double-click any file to quickly open it.

D

You would be crazy to type a filename here.

E

Types of files to display or open.

F

Click to open the highlighted file.

46

Chapter 4 Opening Documents WordPad automatically chooses the My Documents folder, displaying in the Open dialog box any WordPad files that might exist in that folder. ◊ Select the file you want to open. For example, click the Teleportation document. Click that document’s name once with the mouse. It becomes highlighted, ready for action. Use the scrollbar to see more documents if they don’t all fit in the Open dialog box’s window.

The document might appear as Teleportation.doc in the Open dialog box. That extra “.doc” part is the filename extension. It’s an archaic holdover from the days of DOS and it shouldn’t confuse you. Chapter 27, “Essence of a File,” covers how to hide the extension in Windows.

◊ Click Open. The document appears in WordPad, ready for review, editing, printing or whatevering. There, you’ve opened a document! Ta-da! Living proof that Windows really does save your stuff to disk. ● Notice that opening a document requires less thinking than saving one. ● The common keyboard shortcut for opening files is Ctrl+O. This keystroke works in most Windows applications—but not all of them. ● A better shortcut is to click the Open button on the toolbar, if one is available.

Opening a File of a Strange and Alien Type Suppose that you have this text file you just need to open in WordPad. (Work with me here.) Although WordPad can easily open a text file, you have to use the Open dialog box to find a file of that type. Here’s how you do that: ◊ Summon the Open dialog box in WordPad. ◊ Choose Text Documents (*.txt) from the Files of Type drop-down list. The Open dialog box displays only text files, as shown in Figure 4.2. ◊ Find the file you want to open. Suppose that you find the file named Tom Sawyer that was shown in Figure 4.2. (I downloaded that file from the Internet, which is covered in Chapter 35, “Even More Internet Madness.” For this example, just use any text file you can find in the dialog box.)

47

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 4.2 Opening files of a specific type.

A

Text Documents is the chosen file type.

B

Only text documents are displayed.

◊ Double-click the document to open it. Double-clicking the filename is quicker than clicking the file once to select it and then clicking the Open button. And the text document appears in WordPad, ready for…whatever! ◊ Close WordPad. Unless you modify the text document, WordPad won’t ask you to save it before you quit. So don’t worry when you quit a program and it does not ask you to save. Everything is already saved.

Most Windows programs remember which file type has been opened and automatically save the file again as that type. If you want to save the file as another type (for example, to save a text document as a WordPad document), remember to choose that type from the Save As dialog box.

● Windows keeps some informative text files in the C:\Windows folder, although nothing as interesting as the Tom Sawyer file. ● Not every program can read every file format. If the format you want isn’t listed in the Files of Type drop-down list, you either are out of luck or must use some other application to read the file. ● The WordPad format bar and ruler don’t appear when you edit or create plaintext documents. You can, however, see those items if you choose them from the View menu. ● The Notepad program is the standard program used in Windows to create, edit, view, and print text files. ● You can convert a text file into a WordPad file by using File➡Save As and choosing Word for Windows 6.0 from the Save as Type drop-down list.

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Chapter 4 Opening Documents

Browsing for a File You can use the Open dialog box to visit various disk drives or folders anywhere on your computer—or even on network computers. This process is known as browsing. The Browse dialog box is, in fact, essentially the same as the Open dialog box, except that the Browse dialog box is used to find program files.

The Search for Tips Microsoft includes a file named TIPS with every version of Windows Me it sells. The file is in the Windows folder on your computer’s drive C. Here’s how you can read that file by using WordPad: ◊ Start WordPad. ◊ Choose File➡Open. The Open dialog box appears. ◊ Choose Text Documents (*.txt) from the Files of Type list. ◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. The contents of the My Computer folder are displayed in the Open dialog box. ◊ Open drive C. No matter what its name, drive C has (C:) after it. On most PCs, it’s the second item in the list (see Figure 4.3). Figure 4.3 Finding drive C.

A

The contents of My Computer.

B C D

Here is drive C.

E

Only text documents are displayed.

DVD or CD-ROM drive. Additional hard drives or other drives would be displayed here as well.

Open drive C by double-clicking its icon. ◊ Open the Windows folder. Lots of files are in the Windows folder. Use the scrollbar to view the files lurking off to the right.

49

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Open the TIPS document. Eventually, you should find the TIPS document (which might appear as TIPS.TXT). Doubleclick to open it. ◊ Read the tips. Some are useful, some are strange, some might raise your eyebrows. ◊ Close WordPad when you’re done. ● Opening any folder in the Open dialog box displays the contents of that folder.

A faster way to find the file is just to type TIPS in the File Name text box. That method is fast because you know the name of the file and it’s easy to type. Most of the time, finding the file in the Open dialog box’s window is simpler.

● To see the contents of the preceding (“parent”) folder, click the Up One Level button.

A Faster Way (the Look In List) Using the Open dialog box to find a document is called browsing. Browsing is okay for finding something when you don’t know where it is. However, when you know exactly where a file is, you’re better off using the Look In list. As an example, Windows stores a bunch of graphics files in its own Windows folder. Here’s how you can peruse them:

Not all the tips are for everyone. Some are for advanced Windows users or people with specific hardware. Everything listed in there, in fact, should be in a manual—if Microsoft ever decides to print one again.

◊ Open Paint. You can find the Windows painting program off the Start Thing menu, by choosing Programs➡Accessories➡Paint. (Remember to click the Show More button to find Paint if it’s not immediately shown in the Accessories menu.) ◊ Maximize Paint. Click the Maximize button in the window’s upper-right corner. It’s easier to see the images when Paint bursts out to full-screen size. ◊ Choose File➡Open. The Open dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4.4. Unlike WordPad, Paint’s first location for displaying files is not the My Documents folder but rather the My Pictures folder. Also, Paint displays the information in the Open dialog box using the Thumbnail view.

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Chapter 4 Opening Documents

Figure 4.4 The Thumbnail view in the Open dialog box.

A

Paint automatically looks in the My Pictures folder.

B

Picture previews in the thumbnail view.

C

Choose All Files here to show all picture files.

D

You can resize the Open dialog box by dragging here.

E

Scrollbars to help you see things.

F

View menu to choose a different view.

G

Point the mouse at an image to glean more information.

◊ Choose All Files from the Files of Type drop-down list. This displays a smattering of sample images included in the My Pictures folder. Use the scrollbars to view the previews; if you point the mouse at an image, Windows displays the image type (JPEG, GIF, or Bitmap) and the file’s size. Actually, any Open dialog box can show you files in the Thumbnail view. The secret is the View menu, located in the dialog box’s upper-right corner. ◊ Choose Large Icons from the View menu. Click the View menu’s button to display the menu, and then choose the first item, Large Icons. This makes the Open dialog box appear the way you’re used to seeing it. ◊ Choose Thumbnails from the View menu. And now you’re back to Thumbnail view, which is great when you’re browsing for images, which is what you’re about to do. ◊ Choose drive C from the Look In list. Click the down arrow on the Look In drop-down list to display its contents (see Figure 4.5). Choose drive C: from that list. You’ll notice that the Open dialog box switches back to the List view, displaying the icons as it did when you used the Open dialog box in WordPad. This is normal; the Thumbnail view is special to the My Pictures folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 4.5 Using the Look In dropdown list.

A B C

Click here to see the list. Drive C, where the Windows folder is located. Other, “main” folders, disk drives, and stuff appear here.

◊ Open the Windows folder. Double-click the Windows folder icon in the Open dialog box. Lo, the Open dialog box displays a whole lotta files. Time to hone: ◊ Choose All Picture Files from the Files of Type drop-down list. Remember that Paint is showing you “All Files” presently, which is what you chose, but not what you want now. Hone, baby, hone! ◊ Choose Thumbnails from the View menu. You want to see what you’re getting before you get it.

You might want to adjust the size of the Open dialog box to display a full five columns of thumbnails across. Drag the dialog box’s lower-right corner to the right to accomplish this.

You have to use the scrollbar to see the files; lots of subfolders are in the Windows folder. Eventually you’ll see the graphics files listed and thumbnailed. ◊ Open the Clouds file. Find Clouds in the list, and double-click its icon to open the file. You see one of the Windows desktop wallpaper images, the one with white clouds against a blue sky— which is normal if you live on Planet Earth. ◊ Quit Paint. Close the Paint program’s window or choose File➡Exit from the menu. ● Using the Look In drop-down list is faster when you know exactly where a file is located.

52

Chapter 4 Opening Documents ● Only major items appear in the Look In drop-down list: disk drives, the desktop, the My Documents folder, Network Neighborhood, and any folders on the desktop. ● One of the best times to use the Look In drop-down list is when you’re in some folder deep, deep, deep down in your hard drive somewhere. It saves you from having to click the Up button a zillion times.

Opening Files Without the Open Dialog Box The Open dialog box isn’t the only way to open a file or document in Windows. In fact, if you haven’t yet started your program, a faster way to get at your work is to open a document icon instead. This method works because Windows remembers which icons belong to which programs. Opening the icon is the same as starting the program and opening that file for editing. Now, opening a document icon isn’t always the fastest or most convenient way to get at your documents. It can be, though. The following sections detail some shortcuts that few people bother to remember. (The following examples assume that you’ve been working through the tutorials in this and the preceding chapters.)

Don’t mess with anything in the Windows folder. It’s okay to open the graphics files there for a look-see, but don’t modify the graphics files unless you save them elsewhere on the hard drive, such as in the My Pictures folder.

Using the Documents Menu If you’re like me, you can’t finish your work in one sitting. I’m too much of a fidgeter to get stuff done that quickly. Fortunately, Windows keeps track of the last several documents you’ve been messing with. Getting back to them is a snap, thanks to the Documents menu. For example, to reopen the TIPS file mentioned earlier in this chapter, follow these steps: ◊ Choose the Documents menu from the Start Thing. ◊ Choose TIPS from the Documents menu. The Notepad program starts and automatically loads the document. At this point, you could busy yourself with work, if you were doing something other than working this tutorial.

53

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Close Notepad. ◊ Choose the Beam Me Up document from the Start Thing’s Documents menu. Ta-da! There it is in WordPad, ready for you to edit. (There is a possibility that Microsoft Word or another word processor here may open the document. Those programs take priority over WordPad when you’re opening “doc” files.) ◊ Close WordPad.

TIPS is loaded into Notepad because Notepad is the program Windows uses for plain text documents. To open TIPS in WordPad, you have to start WordPad and then use the File➡Open command to find and open TIPS.

Or close your word processor, if it opened instead. What about the Clouds file? ◊ Choose the Clouds document from the Start Thing’s Documents menu. You might assume that Paint would start here, but instead the Windows Image Preview program is run, displaying the image on the screen. Bummer. ◊ Close Image Preview. What to do, what to do? Suppose you really want to re-edit the Clouds file but apparently you can’t do so from the Documents menu. Or can you? ◊ Choose Documents from the Start Thing menu again. ◊ Right-click the Clouds document. This time, click the Clouds document using the right mouse button (right-click.) A handy submenu appears, as shown in Figure 4.6. ◊ Choose Open With➡Paint This opens the Clouds document using the Paint program, not Image Preview. Now you’re ready to fix, print, or: ◊ Quit Paint. The tutorial is over. ● The Documents menu remembers only the last 15 documents you’ve opened. ● Some older Windows and DOS programs do not put recently opened files on the Documents menu.

54

Chapter 4 Opening Documents Figure 4.6 Choosing how to run a Paint program.

A B C D E

Documents menu. Shortcuts to My Documents and My Pictures folders. Right-click on the filename. Choose Open With to open the file using a specific application. Choose Paint.

Finding a Document to Open Opening documents in Windows is the same as starting a program and then opening that document in the program. This method is a timesaver: ◊ Open the My Documents folder on the desktop. ◊ Find the Beam Me Up icon.

It’s okay to use the right-click/Open With trick with graphics documents, but be wary of using it with anything else!

You created this file in Chapter 3 by using WordPad. ◊ Open the Beam Me Up icon. Double-click the icon to open it. WordPad (or Microsoft Word) will start up, automatically opening the file and displaying it for review or editing. ◊ Choose File➡Exit to quit. ◊ Close the My Documents window.

55

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Click the X (close) button in the window’s upper-right corner, or choose File➡Close to close the window.

Using the Recent File List Most programs (the better ones, at least) keep track of the last several documents you’ve worked on. Reopening a file is as easy as choosing it from a list. ◊ Open WordPad. ◊ Drop down the File menu. You’ll see a list of commands, and near the bottom of the list you’ll see items 1 through 4—the files you’ve most recently opened or saved (see Figure 4.7).

Whenever I work on a project, I create a new folder and then paste on the desktop a shortcut to that folder. (Chapter 9, “Lurking and Working on the Desktop,” explains how it’s done.) Opening that folder displays a window full of the files I’m working on. Starting anything that way is a cinch; I just double-click whatever icon to open the file and get busy.

Figure 4.7 The recent file list.

A B

File menu. The last four files opened or saved in WordPad.

◊ Choose Teleportation from the list. The Teleportation file is opened for editing. No Open dialog box needed, no browsing or hunting for a file.

56

Chapter 4 Opening Documents ◊ Close WordPad. Thus endeth the tutorial. ● A program’s recent file list remembers the last four things you opened in that program, unlike the Start Thing’s Documents menu, which remembers whatever you opened in any program.

Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, allow you to set the number of items you want on the recent file list. In Word, choose Tools➡Options, click the General tab, and use the Recently Used File List entries box.

Dear Dan: I’ve deleted some files I no longer need, but I notice they still appear in the File menu in the recent file list. How can I get rid of them? Dan Says: You can’t readily get rid of them. There’s a technical way to do it, but beyond that you’ll have to live with the items until you’ve opened enough other documents to bump the older ones off the list.

57

Chapter 5

The Printing Chapter


> > >

Printing in any old Windows program Making more than one copy Doing an envelope in Windows

The computer supposedly ushered in the era of the paperless office. With everything on the screen, no one would really have a reason to print anything. Of course, this prediction was wildly wrong. (I still keep a notepad, card file, and calculator by my PC, proving at least to myself that the era of the traditional office isn’t quite over.) Everyone needs to print, and every application—even those that do 3D animations— has the capability to print. In Windows, all this printing is easy because the basic Print dialog box doesn’t change from program to program. This chapter shows you the basics of the Print dialog box, plus a few other printing tricks. It’s everything you need for the paperless office of the future.

Printing a Something-or-Other Printing is almost as important as saving. Well, not really. Saving should be done all the time. Printing should be done only when you have something worthy to print. This philosophy is new for most people. (I have an old computer buddy who still prints rough drafts of his papers.)

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The following tutorial drags you through the basic printing process using the Paint program that comes with Windows. ◊ Start Paint. (Refer to Chapter 2, “Running Your Programs,” if you need a refresher on how to run a program.) The Paint program’s window appears, as shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1 The Paint program.

A B C D E

Selection tools. Eraser and Fill tools. Color grabber and Magnifier tools. Other drawing tools. Current foreground color.

F

Current background color.

G H

Color palette. Draw the image here.

◊ Create a silly picture. Figure 5.1 shows an extremely frightening dinosaur drawn by my 6-year-old son, Jonah. Please—PLEASE!—do not be alarmed. On your own, use the pencil or paintbrush tool to create something crude or interesting in Paint. Have fun.

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Chapter 5 The Printing Chapter Color images print on a noncolor printer but, of course, not in color. ◊ Save the silly picture. Give it the name Silly Picture in the Save As dialog box. Now you’re ready to print. ◊ Make sure that your printer is turned on and ready to print. Turn on your printer if it’s not on already. Ensure that it has an adequate stock of paper and that it has enough printing ink or toner. (The printer warns you if it’s low.)

If you have a color printer, use some colors in your drawing. Choose colors from the color palette at the bottom of the Paint program’s window. Click to select the foreground color; rightclick to select the background color.

◊ Choose File➡Print. The standard Print dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 5.2. Although some programs might use a subtly different Print dialog box, the general theme is the same.

Figure 5.2 The Print dialog box.

A B

Click here to print. Random information to ignore.

C

You can choose other printers from here.

D

Tell Windows which pages to print.

E

Tell Windows how many copies to print.

F

Change your printer settings.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The Print dialog box has way too much information in it. The settings are handy when you need them, but right now you don’t. ◊ Click OK. A “now printing” dialog box appears, although it might vanish too quickly for you to read it. The printer whirs to life, sucks up a sheet of paper, and prints your masterpiece. You’re done, but keep the Silly Picture document and Paint available for the next section’s tutorial. ● The Print dialog box keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+P. ● If your application has a Print button on the toolbar, you can click it to instantly print your document; the Print dialog box is not displayed. ● No, the Paint program does not have a Print button on its toolbar. ● I leave my printers on all the time. The newer printers have special power-saving modes that allow you to leave them turned on without wasting a bunch of electricity.

Printing Several Copies Your masterpiece is just too brilliant not to share. Now that you have your own copy, why not make two more to send to your mom and best friend? Continue from the preceding section’s tutorial: ◊ Press Ctrl+P. The Print dialog box appears. ◊ Set the number of copies to 2. Find the Copies area in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. Type 2 in the Number of Copies box. You want to print two copies. ◊ Click OK. Two more copies of the silly picture emerge from the printer, suitable for framing. ◊ Quit Paint.

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Generally speaking, print one copy first just to confirm that everything looks okay. When you’re satisfied, print your multiples as described in this section. That way, you won’t freak when you notice the printer spewing out 120 Christmas letters with your spouse’s name misspelled.

Chapter 5 The Printing Chapter Now that you have your wonderful artwork ready for distribution, you need to print an envelope in which to send it. The next section tells you the magic secret. ● You don’t have to use the Print dialog box to print multiple copies. Heck, most of the time I forget about that option! Instead, just choose the Print command again to print a second copy. No biggie. ● Oh, by the way: The subject of stopping a printer run amok is covered in Chapter 18, “Hello, Printers Folder!”

Printing an Envelope Back in the mid 1980s, when computer printers were coming into their prime, the following was a common statement: “Now the only thing you need a typewriter for is addressing envelopes.” Things have, fortunately, changed. Lots of envelope-printing programs are available, as well as envelope-printing features in most major word processors. Also, most printers have an envelope slot or feeder. Together, these features make the process of printing envelopes a snap. The following tutorial is really about changing the paper size and orientation for a printer, although it does show you how to print a simple envelope by using WordPad. ◊ Start WordPad. The WordPad window appears onscreen, blank and beckoning for something to be written. ◊ Type an address. For example, use my publisher’s address: Pearson Education 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290-1097 Or you can type your own or any other address. Don’t worry about formatting or type size; just enter three lines of text, as just shown. ◊ Choose File➡Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box appears (see Figure 5.3). Although this dialog box doesn’t seem like a printer dialog box, it has a great deal to do with where and how text is printed on the page.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 5.3 The Page Setup dialog box.

A

Preview of what the printed page will look like, kinda.

B C D E

Choose paper size here. Print tall (normal). Print wide (sideways). Set the margins from the edge of the paper.

You must configure WordPad to print the address on an envelope. Choose Envelope #10 4 1/8 × 9 1/2 in from the Size drop-down list. The #10 envelope is the most common size used in the United States. The preview changes to look like an envelope, although it’s pointing the wrong way. ◊ Choose Landscape. Ahhh. Better. The address is still not in the right spot, though. ◊ Enter 3 for the Left margin. ◊ Enter 1.75 for the Top margin. The new margin values set the address more toward the spot where the people at the post office want to see it. ◊ Click OK. Now WordPad knows that you’re printing an envelope. The preview window in the Page Setup dialog box doesn’t really show you what you’re about to print, however. To see that, you have to use the Print Preview command. ◊ Click the Print Preview button. Figure 5.4 shows what you might see. Although the envelope is close to being finished, the text needs formatting so that it looks a little less shabby.

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Chapter 5 The Printing Chapter

Figure 5.4 The Print Preview window.

A B C D

Click here if it’s okay to print. How your document should look when it’s printed. Margin lines. Click here to return to WordPad for editing.

◊ Click Close. Back in WordPad, adjust the size and style of your text. ◊ Choose Edit➡Select All. All the text in your document (well, the address) is selected. ◊ Choose 14 from the Font Size drop-down list. Bigger. ◊ Select the first line of text. Drag the mouse over the text to select it. ◊ Make it bold. Click the Bold button on the formatting toolbar or press Ctrl+B. ◊ Click the Print Preview button. Now it should look much better—ready for printing. ◊ Make sure that you have an envelope handy. Although this step seems rather obvious, if you don’t have an envelope ready for printing, your printer might sit (and sit and sit), waiting for one to be inserted.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Locate the spot where the envelope feeds into your printer. The envelope should have a specific place to sit. You might have to open the front cover on some printers to find the envelope slot or feed tray. ◊ Note how the envelope sits in the tray. You can stick an envelope into your printer in one of eight ways: four sides of the envelope times up and down. ◊ Stick the envelope into the tray. ◊ Click the Print button. The Print dialog box appears. ◊ Click OK. Some printers might print your envelope right away, all neat and nice, as you expected. Some printers might require you to press the On-line, Select, or Go button to print the envelope.

Most printers have a little picture on them that tells you how to stick the envelope into the slot or tray. The envelope’s top flap goes in either up or down and left or right. If the little picture shows the envelope’s flap as a dashed line, it means to insert the envelope face up; otherwise, put the envelope in face down.

Some printers might not print the envelope correctly at all. If the printer didn’t grab the envelope, or printed on a sheet of paper instead, then you haven’t yet found the spot where your printer eats envelopes; refer to the printer’s documentation for the right location. If the address prints fine but on the wrong side of the envelope or in the wrong orientation, try printing it again. This time, however, put the envelope into the printer in a different way: right side up or whichever orientation fixes the problem. If the address is printed in the wrong spot on the envelope, adjust the margins from the Page Setup dialog box. If the address is printed up-and-down on a left-and-right envelope (or vice versa), try sticking the envelope into the printer in the other direction. Finally, if the envelope just doesn’t print correctly, accept the fact that your printer can’t print envelopes. (This statement is not a cop-out on my part: Some printers just can’t print well on envelopes. You’ve done your best; your printer just isn’t up to the task.) ◊ Save your file. This step is optional, of course. You don’t have to save the document; however, if you plan to print envelopes this way, this step can come in handy. Name the document Envelopes.

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Chapter 5 The Printing Chapter Whenever you want to print an envelope, open the Envelopes document, type the proper address, and print the envelope. You’re set. ◊ Close WordPad. ● Most applications that have a Print command also have a Page Setup command. Sometimes Page Setup is available as a button in the Print dialog box. ● If the Page Setup command isn’t available, you can select the paper size by clicking the Properties button in the Print dialog box.

After you get the envelope orientation down, tape the proper envelopeinserting instructions on your printer. For example, write “Envelopes go in face down, flap to the right.” All my printers have instructions such as these.

● It helps to use the File➡Print Preview command before you print your document to see how it will look—especially if you’re messing with page sizes and margins. ● Another way to print envelopes is to print mailing labels first and then peel and stick the labels on the envelope. Most major word processors have the capability to print mailing labels. Or, if you want a specific mailing-label printing program (which is always better), I recommend Avery Label Pro.6

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Chapter 6

Digging Through Your Computer


> > > > > >

Browsing around with My Computer Reading your computer’s disk storage statistics Visiting folders on the disk drives Using Windows Explorer Previewing the contents of a graphics file Opening a project window

The amount of information (files, programs, folders, documents, and all that) stored on your computer is massive. One of the main jobs of Windows is to ensure that all this information is easily available and stays organized. The My Computer icon on the desktop handles that role. This chapter tells you how that program works. ● My Computer is Your Computer. It’s represented on your desktop by an icon that shows you some basic goodies stored inside your computer. ● You use My Computer whenever you need to work with files or folders. It’s an organizational tool. ● No, you don’t have to organize your files and folders. Then again, you don’t have to clean your house or take a bath, either.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Gallant organizes his hard drive; Goofus does not. ● My Computer is really a way to get at the Windows Explorer program, which is the main file organizing program in Windows.

Basic My Computer My Computer lives as an icon on the desktop, right there with the Recycle Bin, My Documents, and other standard desktop icons. ◊ Open My Computer. Double-click the My Computer icon to open it, displaying the hard drives your computer has and some special folders. Figure 6.1 shows the details.

Figure 6.1 Stuff in My Computer.

A B C

Standard buttons.

D E F G H I

Status bar.

Address bar. My Computer contents window.

Floppy drive. Main hard drive (C:). DVD or CD-ROM drive. Control Panel folder. Links to other popular folders.

The contents of your My Computer window are probably different from what you see in Figure 6.1. For example, you might have both a C: and D: hard drive, whereas only one hard drive (drive C:) is listed in Figure 6.1. You might also have a Zip drive, or maybe a second CD-ROM drive. Every PC is different. ● The Control Panel folder you see in My Computer can also be found on the Start Thing menu in the Settings submenu. ● The information displayed on the left side of the window changes as you select items inside the window. More on that in a second. ● The Address bar is similar to the Look In drop-down list in the Open and Save As dialog boxes. In addition to using the Address bar to peek at a certain disk

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer drive or network computer, however, you can type a Web-page address in it. (Read more about this subject in Chapter 7, “Your Internet Orientation Chapter.”)

Setting Things Up Just So Rather than saying, “This is the way Windows wants you to do things,” you have several options for the way things appear in the My Computer window. That sounds great, but it can be confusing. For example, the My Computer window (the same one shown in Figure 6.1) also can look as shown in Figure 6.2.

Microsoft just can’t make up its mind when it comes to designing Windows. Figure 6.2 Another view of My Computer.

A B C D E

Missing toolbars! Oh no! Contents shown in Details style. Item description or type. Total storage space on the disk. Space available.

It’s nice that Microsoft gives you those options. Still, I’ve found that some ways to view the contents of My Computer are better than others. To configure your system to match the way mine works, which is the way I figure works best and which is shown throughout this book, follow these steps: ◊ In the My Computer windows, choose View➡Large Icons from the menu. It helps, in addition to using large icons, to view the window contents as a Web page and to display the standard buttons, Address bar, and status bar. You choose most of these items from the View menu; viewing as a Web page is done through the Tools menu.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If an item is already selected, it has a check mark or black dot by it; selecting the item again removes it from the screen. Accordingly, do not select an item if a check mark is already there. If it has no check mark, however, choose the item. ◊ Check to see whether Standard Buttons is chosen on the View➡Toolbars submenu. ◊ Check to see whether Address Bar is chosen on the View➡Toolbars submenu. ◊ Check to see whether Status Bar is chosen on the View menu. ◊ Adjust the window’s size so that the Views button is visible on the Standard Button bar. Drag the window’s right edge to the right until you can see the Views button (refer to Figure 6.1). You might also want to do this if any scrollbars appear in the window; resize the window to make it large enough that scrollbars are not needed. ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options to display the Folder Options dialog box. The Folder Options dialog box appears. ◊ Ensure that Enable Web Content in Folders is selected (from the Web View area). This is what displays the fancy graphics and information on the left side of the window. ◊ Ensure that Open Each Folder in the Same Window is selected. ◊ Ensure that Double-Click to Open an Item (Single-Click to Select) is also selected. With each of these items selected, your My Computer window will behave exactly as mine does throughout this book.

Selecting the View➡Arrange Icons➡ By Drive Letter command always rearranges the icons in the window to match whatever size you’ve resized the window. (It works with any window in My Computer.)

◊ Click OK. One final thing: ◊ Choose View➡Arrange Icons➡By Drive Letter. The window should now look more or less like Figure 6.1. You can always change these options later as you become more comfortable (or uncomfortable) with them. From now on, though, your My Computer window will behave the same way as described in this chapter and most of this book.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer ● Generally speaking, the View menu in any Windows program controls what you see in the window. If you ever miss any toolbars or buttons, check the View menu and you’ll be able to turn them on again. ● The toolbars can be rearranged, stacked on top of each other, or laid out side-byside. Refer to Chapter 39, “Toolbars from Beyond Infinity,” for more information.

Getting Disk Information An advantage of setting up My Computer as described in the preceding section is that you can get lots of information about an icon just by clicking it. ◊ Click (once) on the C: drive icon. The icon has (C:) after its name, if it has a name. (Chapter 20, “Disk Drive 101,” covers disk drives and their names.) What you see looks sort of like what’s shown in Figure 6.3 (you may have to change the window’s size). Windows displays useful information about the disk drive.

Figure 6.3 Information about your drive C.

A B C

The disk’s name. Drive letter. Type of disk (local, network, removable, or CD-ROM, for example).

D

Total disk capacity (4 gigabytes, for example).

E F G

Used disk space. Available disk space. Handy pie chart of disk use (not actual size).

◊ Click (once) on the Control Panel folder. Windows displays on the left side of the window some information about that folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition You can click any item in the window, and Windows displays information about what it is or how it works. It might not all make sense to you, although it’s certainly much more obvious than a silly little icon with a terse description.

Seeing What Lurks on a Disk Drive To view the contents of a disk drive, you must open it. ◊ Double-click drive C. With drive C open you can see which files and folders live there. First you should notice that the left side of the window displays information about drive C. Locate the blue underlined text Hide the Contents of This Drive. ◊ Click on Hide the Contents of This Drive. Whoops! Everything goes away. Various folders in Windows display information on the left side of the My Computer window, telling you what you can do next. In this case, you can unhide the contents of drive C: ◊ Click on View the Entire Contents of This Drive. On drive C you find a score or so of files and folders, as shown in Figure 6.4. The files and folders you see aren’t exactly the same, of course, as those shown in Figure 6.4. Figure 6.4 Files and folders lurking on drive C.

A B C

You’re looking at the contents of drive C. Folders on drive C. Hey! Here’s the My Documents folder (again).

D

The special Program Files folder, where programs live.

E

The holy Windows folder, what Windows itself calls home.

F

Files are represented as different icons.

G H

Text file icon. This file is selected; it’s been clicked on once and it appears highlighted.

I

Information about the selected file.

J

The status bar shows additional information.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer ◊ Click on an icon to select it. Information about that icon appears on the left side of the window. Listed are the icon’s name, what it is (File Folder, Text Document, System File, LOG File, and so on), and its date, size, and attributes. It’s interesting trivia but stuff that’s not apparent or obvious from just looking at the icon.

The first folder on any hard drive— what you see when you open a disk drive in My Computer—is called the root folder, or often the root directory.

◊ Unselect the icon. To unselect the icon, click in the My Computer window, but don’t click an icon. Notice how the status bar (at the bottom of the window) displays information about the files and folders. The total number of objects (files and folders) is displayed. Because the “hidden” files are basically programs and other files you shouldn’t mess with, they’re not displayed in the window. The size value shown on the status bar (in the center area) tells you the total size of all the files in the window. The value does not include the size of the files in any folders that are displayed. ◊ Click the Up button. This step takes you “up” one level in My Computer, back to the main window.

Opening a Folder Folders open just like disk drives do: To open a folder, you double-click it. The contents of that folder then appear in the My Computer window. ◊ Open drive C. ◊ Open the My Documents folder. The contents of the My Documents folder are displayed in the window. Figure 6.5 shows the contents of My Documents on my PC. Suppose that you want to return to the My Computer window. Although you could click the Up button a few times, it’s faster to use the Address drop-down list: ◊ Choose My Computer from the Address drop-down list. The contents of My Computer are displayed again in the window. To go back to the My Documents folder, you could open drive C and then the My Documents folder again—but there is a faster way: ◊ Click the Back button. The Back button returns you to the previously viewed folder, which is My Documents.

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Figure 6.5 The contents of the My Documents folder.

A

Contents of the My Documents folder.

B C

More folders!

D E F G

Files created or saved in the folder. Graphics document. Text document. WordPad or Microsoft Word document. Web page document.

The Back button is different from the Up button. Up takes you to the parent folder (the next highest folder toward My Computer). Back takes you to the previously viewed folder, no matter where it’s located. ◊ Close the My Computer window. The tutorial is over—time to ruminate. ● Other popular folders are also listed on the left side of the My Computer window: My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, and other links about which you’ll learn later in this book.

The easiest way to get to a main folder—a disk drive, My Computer, or even My Documents—is to choose that folder from the Address dropdown list.

● If you click the down-pointing triangle to the right of the Back button, a list of recently visited folders appears. Choose any folder from that list to display its contents.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer

Bonus Trick for Those with Time to Spare Now that you’ve worked your way through My Computer in one-window mode, try it again with multiple windows. Return to the section “Setting Things Up Just So,” earlier in this chapter, and this time visit the Folder Options dialog box to configure My Computer so that the Open Each Folder in Its Own Window option is chosen rather than Open Each Folder in the Same Window. When you rework the tutorial, notice that opening a disk drive or folder displays a new window. Also, the Up button behaves differently, moving you to the parent window without closing the current window. The only thing that works the same is the Address bar. When you’re done you’ll have many windows open onscreen. Be sure to close any leftovers after you complete the last tutorial. Now make a decision for yourself after reworking the tutorial: Which mode works better? Personally, I prefer the one-window approach because it’s neater, although you can set up Windows to your personal tastes, any way you want.

Exploring Files, Folders, and Whatnot The My Computer icon provides an easy way for you to cruise through your computer’s disk system, viewing files, locating programs, or whatever. When you become used to the way Windows stores files on disk, however, you probably will use Windows Explorer instead. No, Windows Explorer is not Internet Explorer. It’s Windows Explorer, which is yet another way to view files on your computer, especially if you know exactly where they are.

Starting Windows Explorer You can start Windows Explorer in one of several ways. (In fact there are too many ways, but that’s just the Microsoft way of doing things.)

If you know the exact name of a folder—its pathname—you can type it on the Address bar. Although it’s an utterly nerdy thing to do, of course, some programs might require you to display the contents of a specific folder. If you read “Go to the C:\Windows\Fonts folder,” you know that you can type c:\ windows\fonts on the Address bar to immediately visit that folder. If you do type a folder’s pathname on the Address bar, notice that Windows likes to guess at what you’re typing and even finishes typing it for you automatically.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ From the Start Thing menu choose Programs➡Accessories➡Windows Explorer. It’s there; if you don’t see it in the Accessories menu, click the Show More arrows. Eventually the Windows Explorer fills the screen, as shown in Figure 6.6.

Figure 6.6 Windows Explorer.

A B C D E

Folders list. Show/Hide Folders list. The tree-structure thing. You also can close the Folders list by clicking here. Drag the window here to make it larger so that the fun graphics show up.

Windows Explorer works exactly like the My Computer window: You open folders, access disk drives, move up, move back, and work with files (which is covered later in this book). The only difference is the addition of the Folders list on the left side of the window, which you can use to view disk drives and folders in what I call a tree-structure thing. But even that is temporary: ◊ Click the Folders button. It’s gone! In fact, with the Folders list gone, the screen looks exactly like a My Computer window. ◊ Click the Folders button to summon the list again. Back to normal. ◊ Close the Windows Explorer window. There are many other ways to fire up Windows Explorer: ◊ Right-click My Computer. A shortcut menu is displayed.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer ◊ Choose Explore. The Windows Explorer window appears, as shown in Figure 6.6. If you don’t see the fancy My Computer graphics, drag the right edge of the window to the right, making the window wider so that those graphics show up. ◊ Close the window. You don’t even need to use the shortcut menu if you don’t want to: ◊ Open My Computer. ◊ Click the Folders button. Ta-da! It’s Windows Explorer! You can click the Folders button in any My Computer or Windows Explorer window to switch between one format and the other. It’s handy. ◊ Close any windows you might have open. ● Windows Explorer is the same as My Computer, but with the addition of the Folders list.

You can also start Windows Explorer from the Start Thing’s Run command. Type the word EXPLORER into the Run dialog box, and then click OK.

● You can also start Windows Explorer by pressing the Win+E key combination, where Win is the Windows key on your keyboard. (It can be found between the Ctrl and Alt keys, with a little Windows flag icon on top.) ● You can also start Windows Explorer by right-clicking the Start button and choosing Explore from the pop-up menu. (This technique is the shortcut for editing items on the Start Thing menu, as described in Chapter 10, “Ode to the Start Thing.”) ● Your computer might have a Windows Explorer shortcut icon on the desktop. Opening that icon also starts Windows Explorer.

Locating a Specific File with Windows Explorer An advantage Windows Explorer has over My Computer is that it lets you see how disk drives and folders are arranged in an overview style. That way, you can quickly dig deeply into folders on your hard drive, especially if you know right where they are. ◊ Press Win+E. Use the Windows key on your keyboard and the E key (for Explorer, get it) to start Windows Explorer. (If your keyboard lacks a Windows key, try one of the other techniques described in the preceding section.)

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the plus sign (+) by drive C. Clicking a plus sign in the Folders list opens a branch of the tree-structure thing. For drive C, it displays all folders available on that drive. Note that the contents of the right side of the window have not changed. ◊ Click the + by the Program Files folder. This step opens the Program Files folder, displaying additional folders—lots of them. The + by the Program Files folder changes into a – (minus), which means that the folder is open. ◊ Click the Accessories folder. Selecting the folder displays its contents on the right side of the window, similar to what you see in Figure 6.7. Also, notice how the little folder icon next to Accessories is now open. Cute.

Figure 6.7 The contents of the Accessories folder.

A

You’re looking in My Computer.

B C

You’re looking on drive C.

D E F G

You’re looking in the Program Files folder. The folder you’re looking at. The Paint program; doubleclick to run. WordPad; double-click to run. Drag here to enlarge the Folders list, if necessary.

At any time, you can access files, open folders, or run programs from the right side of the Windows Explorer window. Remember that Explorer works just like My Computer does and that anything you can do in one you can do in the other. The only difference—and the advantage—is that you see the tree-structure thing.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer ◊ Click the minus sign (–) by drive C. (You might have to scroll the Folders list up a bit to see drive C.) Clicking the minus sign by the drive C icon closes the tree-structure thing for that drive. The contents part of the window displays the root folder on drive C. Now visit the My Documents folder: ◊ Choose My Documents from the tree-structure thing. The contents of that folder are displayed on the right side of the window. ◊ Click the + by My Documents to display its folders. ◊ Choose the My Pictures folder. The contents of the My Pictures folder are shown on the right side of the window. Because this is a special window, it contains some special, interesting items. ◊ Maximize the window. It’s best to look at these things full-screen. Use Figure 6.8 to help you find nifty stuff.

Figure 6.8 Viewing the special My Pictures folder.

A B C D E F G H I J K

Thumbnail view. Images. Selected image. Information about selected image. Image preview. Zoom In/Zoom Out buttons. Run Image Preview program to display image. Print Image. Rotate The Picture dropdown menu. Folder list. Start the slideshow!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Select an image. Click on any of the sample images provided with Windows, or use the Silly Picture icon you created in an earlier lesson. Click once to select.

Recognize Your Folder Icons in the My Pictures Window When files appear in the Thumbnails view, as shown in Figure 6.8, folders appear looking very similar to other thumbnails. This is not an image file! No, it’s just a folder, how they appear in the My Pictures window or any time you choose View➡Thumbnails from the menu. Double-click to open the folder, just as you would any folder anywhere in Windows.

You should see a preview of that image below the image’s information, similar to the one shown in Figure 6.8. This preview is something special for image files and other selected types of files in Windows; don’t be disappointed if not everything shows a preview as graphics images do. Now for some fun. ◊ Click the slideshow link. Windows displays each and every image in the folder, one after the other. It’s a great way to view all the images in a folder. ◊ Press the Esc key to cancel the slideshow. Keep the Windows Explorer window open for the next section’s tutorials. ● Clicking a plus sign opens a folder “branch” in the tree-structure thing. ● Clicking a minus sign closes a folder branch. ● Selecting a folder from the tree-structure thing displays the contents of that folder on the right side of the window. ● You can still open folders by double-clicking their icons on the right side of the window—although that’s a great deal of clicking when you can just use the treestructure thing instead.

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Chapter 6 Digging Through Your Computer ● The image preview area appears only when you customize a folder, basically directing Windows to make that item appear. Refer to Chapter 22, “Removable Disks and Drives,” for more information. ● If you’re curious about the Image Preview program, slideshows and all that, visit this book’s Web page and enter IP as the keyword. (See Appendix A, “Using This Book’s Web Page,” for more information.)

Opening a Folder in Another Window Whenever I’m working on a large project, I like to keep a window for the project’s folder open and available. Browsing through My Computer as covered in this chapter just isn’t fast enough for me. For browsing it’s fine, although Windows has a better way to keep a window open if necessary. Continue from the preceding tutorial (assuming that you’re looking at the contents of the My Pictures folder in Windows Explorer): ◊ Click the Up button. This moves you to the My Documents folder. ◊ Right-click the Flying Car folder. You created this folder in Chapter 3, “Saving Your Stuff.” Point the mouse at the folder and click the right mouse button—the button you normally don’t press. A shortcut menu appears. ◊ Choose Open. A new window appears. It’s a My Computer window (no Folder list), and it displays the contents of the Flying Car folder. (Better check over your shoulder to ensure that enemy agents aren’t spying on the flying-car details this very moment!) Because you’re not working on the flying-car plans right now, put that folder’s window away by minimizing it.

This method is how I typically work in Windows. If I were writing the Great American Novel, for example, I would keep that folder available on the desktop so that I could access the files there. It’s not a “you must do this” type of order. No, it’s merely a suggestion for how to organize yourself while you work.

◊ Click the Flying Car button on the taskbar. This step minimizes the window, keeping it out of the way for now.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Exit Windows Explorer. Close the My Documents window by clicking the X button in the upper-right corner. You can close the Flying Car window as well: ◊ Right-click the Flying Car button on the taskbar. A pop-up menu appears. (Actually, it’s the window’s Control menu, which is accessed by clicking the window’s Control icon on the left side of the title bar. Same menu.) ◊ Choose Close. There. You closed the window without even opening it, lest that information fall into enemy hands.

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Chapter 7

Your Internet Orientation Chapter YouYourr


> > > > > >

Understanding basic Internet setup information Knowing what to look for in an Internet service provider (ISP) Using the Internet Connection Wizard Connecting to the Internet Connecting to AOL Disconnecting from the Internet

Oh, succumb to the hype. Join the Internet! It’s the future. This is, after all, the communications age. (The “information age” ended with a hard-drive crash in 1993.) This chapter is your Internet orientation. It covers background and setup and gives you a brief peek into the Internet to get you started.

What You Need in Order to Get on the Internet The Internet is not a computer, nor is it software. No, the Internet consists of thousands and thousands of computers all over the world. These computers send, receive, and store information. The draw of the Internet is all that information, which you can access instantly. Oh, and there’s online shopping too. More on that later in the book.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition You need five things to do the Internet: ✓ A computer—You should already have one. ✓ A modem—Your computer must scream across the phone lines at the Internet. Modems make that happen. The faster, the better. ✓ Special Internet software—You should already have this item; it’s called Windows Millennium. No other software is needed. (If it is, you can use Windows’s own software to grab even more software from the Internet. Neat-o.) ✓ An Internet service provider (ISP)—An ISP is a company that gives you access to the Internet. It supplies you with the phone number your computer calls to connect with the Internet. ✓ Money—Unless you have access through your business or school, you pay for using the Internet. The cost varies from “free” (which means you’re stuck viewing a lot of advertisements) on up to several hundred a month. It all depends on which services you’re getting. The average cost is $20 a month, more or less. Of these five items, you probably need only two: the ISP and the money. Finding an ISP is easy. The money you’ll have to find on your own. ● Setting up your computer to connect with the Internet isn’t as tortuous as it was in the early days. Thanks to the Internet Connection Wizard, Windows makes it easy. ● Chances are that your PC is already configured to use the Internet; Windows asks you to set things up when it’s first installed. ● You can also get on the Internet using an online service, such as America Online (AOL), Prodigy Internet, or many of the other Internet alternatives. A special Online Services folder on the desktop helps you get started with these services. ● Or maybe you were snookered into signing up for Internet service if you bought one of those “free” computers. Better use it then; you’re paying for it! ● ISP is one of many Internet acronyms. It stands for Internet service provider, the outfit your computer calls to connect you to the Internet.

Configuring Your PC for the Internet You have a computer, and you have Windows Me. Now you have to confirm that your PC has a modem, and then you have to find an ISP and configure Windows to connect to that ISP. If you believe that your PC is already configured for the Internet, skip to the section “Confirming That Everything Is Okee-Doke,” later in this chapter.

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Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter

Checking to See Whether Your PC Has a Modem A modem is not standard equipment on any computer, although nearly every PC sold today comes with a modem already installed. If you’re unsure, you can use one of two ways to see whether your PC has a modem installed. ◊ Look ‘round back, behind your PC. ◊ Locate the two phone jacks in the expansion-slot area. If your computer has an internal modem installed, the computer has two phone jacks (plugs) on its backside. One of the plugs might even have a phone cord attached and plugged into the wall. If so, you’re set. The second way to tell (without looking behind your PC) is by using the Control Panel: ◊ Open the Control Panel. From the Start Thing menu, choose Settings➡Control Panel. The Control Panel is covered in Part VI, “The Tweak Master,” but for now you need to find the Modems icon. If you don’t see it, click the link that says view all Control Panel options. The Modems icon should then appear. ◊ Open the Modems icon. The Modems Properties dialog box is displayed (see Figure 7.1). If you don’t see any modems listed, your PC doesn’t have a modem. Figure 7.1 The Modems Properties dialog box.

A

Any modems you have are listed here.

B

My PC’s U.S. Robotics modem is ready for action.

C

Click here if you add an external modem.

D

OK!

If you see a modem there, you’re set. Make sure that a phone cable is attached to your PC and connected to the phone plug in the wall. ◊ Close the Modems Properties dialog box. ◊ Close the Control Panel.

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If you don’t have a modem, buy one! Finding an ISP Although the Windows Internet Connection Wizard can find an ISP for you, chances are that it doesn’t list all providers that are available in your local area. For example, my hometown (population 30,000) has nine ISPs. (Nine!) None of them is listed when I use the Internet Connection Wizard to find an ISP. My advice is to first search the Yellow Pages or ask at a local computer store or Radio Shack for a list of ISPs. Then shop for the best deal. Find an ISP that offers the most service for the best price. The following items are a must: ✓ A personal email account ✓ Access to the Web ✓ Newsgroups ✓ Telephone support (so that you can get help) ✓ Lots of available phone lines (most ISPs have hundreds) ✓ A setup or “getting started” booklet The following items are also good to have: ✓ Web space (for creating your own Web pages) ✓ Classes that teach you how to use the Internet ✓ Unlimited access Remember, you do have a choice when it comes to getting an ISP. Find a friendly one! Avoid impersonal, national ISPs whose names begin with the letter V. Find the best price. Above all, find people you can deal with. If the folks who work there seem rushed or rude or self-absorbed, or you can’t reach them any other way than via email, take your business elsewhere. ● I prefer an ISP that offers a “getting started” booklet. ● Free classes are very nice.

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Try to sign up for a flat, monthly rate. That way, you can switch providers if the first one doesn’t meet your needs and not be bound by a yearlong (or longer) contract.

Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter ● Unlimited access means that you can call at any time of the day and on any day of the week. It also can include unlimited connect time. ● Try to avoid ISPs that charge by the minute or hour or that limit your access to 20 hours (or whatever) per month. ● If you cannot find an ISP in your area, check around where you live. For example, a nearby town or large city might have an ISP that offers access through numbers local to your area or even toll-free numbers. ● If you still can’t find an ISP or detest paying long-distance charges, you need to use an online service, such as AOL.

Running the Internet Connection Wizard The Internet Connection Wizard configures Windows and your modem to talk with the Internet. You do not need to complete these steps if you plan on using AOL as your ISP. Skip on to the section “Configuring for AOL” for more information. To run the Internet Connection Wizard, you need some tidbits of information. Your ISP should provide you with most, if not all, of the following tidbits: ✓ The phone number your computer needs to connect to the Internet ✓ Your Internet logon name ✓ Your Internet password ✓ Your email address (if it’s different from your Internet logon name) ✓ Your email password (if it’s different from your Internet password) ✓ The type of email server (POP3 or IMAP) ✓ The name of the incoming and outgoing (SMTP) email server (or servers) ✓ The name of the news (NNTP) server ✓ Your news-server logon name and password ✓ The Internet Directory Service (LDAP) name, logon, and password (very optional)

Lots of weird names, numbers, and acronyms are involved in setting up a connection to the Internet. You have to do this setup only once, so there’s no point in stumbling over those things now. Just swallow, nod, and smile big as you work your way through this process. Type the names and numbers when the Internet Connection Wizard asks for them.

Those last two items, the news server and Internet Directory Service information, are totally optional and not required for a basic Internet setup. If you’re confused by them, or don’t have the information, leave them blank for now.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition You might need other information too, all of which you should keep in a handy place. ◊ Choose Programs➡Accessories➡Communications➡Internet Connection Wizard. The Wizard appears, as shown in Figure 7.2. Figure 7.2 The Internet Connection Wizard.

A B C

Sign up for a new account. Choose if you already have an ISP and all the information ready to go. Continue using the wizard.

If you’ve already selected an ISP, choose the middle option. The first option has Microsoft try to find you an ISP, which I’ve found tedious, inaccurate, and frustrating. So as long as you’re following my advice, choosing the second item and then working the wizard will do you just fine. Here are some words of wisdom and advice: ● Click the Next button after making choices and filling in options requested by the Wizard.

Your Internet username and password might be different from your email username and password. Sometimes they’re the same. Review the information your ISP gives you.

● Pay attention to the “should you dial your area code” questions. If you need to dial an area code for a local call, ensure that the Wizard knows about it. ● Keep the box checked only if you have to dial the country and area code to connect. If you’ve followed my instructions, you should have a local ISP and not have to dial an area code.

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Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter ● For the connection name, use the name of your ISP, such as Imbris, CompuTech, CTS, or whatever they call themselves. The name you type is used whenever you connect to the Internet. For example, Windows says, “Do you want to disconnect from CTS?” If you name your ISP connection “Life Support,” Windows says, “Do you want to disconnect from Life Support?” ● Click the Finish button when you’re done. ● If you ever have to change any information, just run the Internet Connection Wizard again. For example, I recently added another news (NNTP) server by running the wizard again and skipping over the parts I didn’t need to change.

You can access from several places in Windows the information you enter in the wizard: the Settings➡Dial-Up Networking folder from the Start Thing, which contains connection information; the Internet Options icon in the Control Panel, which contains information about your Internet accounts and connection; and the Modems icon in the Control Panel, which contains general modem information. See the Index to find these items if you ever have to review your Internet settings.

Confirming That Everything Is Okee-Doke Your computer gives you a good, telltale sign that the Internet Connection Wizard has done its job and you’re ready to visit the world electronically: ◊ From the Start Thing choose Settings➡Dial-Up Networking. ◊ Select your connection icon. Click the icon once to select it, as shown in Figure 7.3. Information about your Internet connection is shown on the left side of the window. If you don’t see a connection icon (refer to Figure 7.3), you either will connect to the Internet in some other or odd way or you will have to run the Internet Connection Wizard to set things up. (I assume in this book that you connect to the Internet through a modem, which is done through the Dial-Up Networking folder.)

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Figure 7.3 The connection icon is ready to dial up Mr. Internet.

A B C D E F G

Dial-Up Networking folder. Connection icon. Your modem. The phone number to dial. Make a new connection here. Click here to connect. Open here to connect, too.

Configuring for AOL Most configurations of Windows come with a folder on the desktop called Online Services. In it you’ll find shortcuts for adding an Internet connection to your system using one of the major online services, such as AOL. ◊ Open the Online Services folder. What you see should look as shown in Figure 7.4. If the desktop doesn’t have an Online Services folder, you’ll have to contact one of the online services for a free installation disk. Figure 7.4 Contents of the Online Services folder.

A B

The Online Services folder.

C

Other online services that kowtowed to Microsoft and got their icons listed in this folder.

D

Online services that refused to kowtow and, therefore, are not listed here.

The Sign-Up-With-AOL shortcut icon.

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Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter To sign up for AOL, or to configure your new Windows Me computer for AOL, you must open the AOL icon and run through its signup workout. ◊ Open the America Online icon. Remember, follow through here only if you want AOL service on your computer. It costs money! Some people don’t like it! I’m not recommending it! I’m only showing the AOLwanting reader how it’s done. Thank you.

If you don’t plan to use any of the online services, you’re free to remove the Online Services folder from the desktop. Refer to Chapter 29, ”Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling,” for information on deleting stuff.

◊ Work through the AOL Setup program. Follow the instructions on the screen, which will connect you to AOL and eventually set you up with an account. Or if you already have an account, the program will activate AOL service on your computer for you. You might be asked to insert the original Windows CD, so keep it handy! Also be wary that you might be asked to restart your computer after installing the AOL software. That’s okay; tell the AOL Setup program it’s okay and it will restart your computer for you. It might also start running after restarting, in order to finish installation. Be patient. Eventually you’ll be connected to AOL and finish up installation all nice and tidy. You can stay and play on AOL, or just quit: ◊ Choose File➡Exit. This closes the AOL window and also disconnects you from their massive computers, rumored to be located in Ohio. ● You can close the Online Services window if you’ve left it open from earlier in this section. In fact, you can delete that folder now that AOL is installed on your computer. ● AOL should have installed a shortcut icon on the desktop, maybe an icon on the Quick Launch bar (see Chapter 11, “Other Ways to Start Your Stuff”), and an icon on the Start Thing menu, under Programs➡America Online.

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Browsing the Web in AOL Dear Dan: I have AOL. Does that mean I have a Web browser, or do I still need one? What is a “browser” anyway? Dan Says: A browser is a special program used to view information on the World Wide Web. AOL comes with a browser you can use to view Web pages. Part V, “Planet Internet,” has more information.

Connecting to the Internet Telecommunications was once the most difficult hurdle to clear when using a computer. Not any more! Accessing the Internet is very, very easy thanks to Windows itself as well as online services such as AOL. If you have more than one ISP, or both an ISP and AOL, you should visit this book’s Web page and enter the ISPBattle keyword for more information.

Letting Windows Dial Up the Internet for You Connecting to the Internet in Windows is easy: Just run an Internet program or type an Internet address in an Address box. Cinchy. ◊ Open the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop. The Connect To dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 7.5. Type your logon ID and password, if necessary. Putting a check mark by the Connect Automatically option means that Windows connects to the Internet whenever you or some program requests online information. This option is a good one and not as devious as it sounds. Windows never dials up the Internet without your knowledge; a Connect To dialog box always appears. ◊ Click Connect.

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Putting a check mark by the Save Password option means that you don’t have to type your password every time you connect to the Internet. It also means, unfortunately, that anyone who has access to your computer can log on to the Internet and pretend that he’s you. Better be careful with this one.

Windows attempts to connect to your ISP and the Internet. If successful, you see the online thing on the system tray on the taskbar (see Figure 7.6). If Windows cannot connect, it redials a few times before giving up. Just try again later.

Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter Figure 7.5 The Connect To dialog box.

A

Name of your ISP (a list appears if you more than one).

B C

Your username.

D

Make sure that this box is checked.

E

Click here to avoid this dialog box the next time you connect.

F G H

Connect to the Internet.

Your password (hidden by asterisks).

Ignore. Use your Internet software, but do not connect (can also be the Cancel button).

Figure 7.6 The online thing on the taskbar.

A B C D

Volume control. Other doohickeys. Online thing (double-click to access). Time for my nap.

Now you’re on the Internet, probably viewing the MSN home page on the World Wide Web. Boy, I bet they paid a lot of money to Microsoft to be given that status. (Well, perhaps not.) ◊ Close the Internet Explorer window. You might see a dialog box now, asking whether you want to disconnect or close your connection. Don’t click Yes! In real life, you probably do, but this time click No or Stay Connected. I want to show you how to use the online thing on the taskbar:

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Double-click the online thing on the taskbar. The Connected to Your ISP dialog box appears, full of trivia, as shown in Figure 7.7.

Figure 7.7 Disconnecting from the Internet.

A

The modem is talking at 46,000bps (a good day).

B C D

I’ve been online for 6 minutes.

E F

Trivia! Click to rid yourself of the dialog box and stay online. Click to disconnect. More trivia!

◊ Click Disconnect. You’re offline, no longer connected to the Internet. ◊ Click OK. You’re also okay. ● Remember that your Internet logon ID and password might be different from other logon names and passwords you use in Windows and on the Net.

Keep an eye out for the online thing on the taskbar. If it’s there, your computer is connected to the Internet. If that’s not what you want, follow the preceding steps to disconnect.

● The Save Password option in the Dial-up Connection dialog box might not be available if you’re using a laptop PC or any computer used by more than one person. ● You also can connect to the Internet by opening the ISP’s icon in the Dial-up Networking folder. The only advantage here is if you have several ISPs and want to connect to one in particular.

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If you want to use Internet software but don’t want to go online (to read old email, for example), choose the Work Offline command from the program’s File menu. That action prevents you from being connected (theoretically).

Chapter 7 Your Internet Orientation Chapter

Connecting to AOL and Eventually the Internet The best, and traditional, way to connect to AOL is to find and open the AOL icon on your desktop. ◊ Open the AOL icon. AOL might ask for your screen name and password, as shown in Figure 7.8.

Figure 7.8 Connecting to AOL.

A

Choose or enter your name here.

B C

Type your password. Click to connect to AOL.

◊ Enter your screen name, password, or both. AOL lets you have up to seven different screen names (with version 5.0), one for every member of the family. ◊ Click the Sign On button. AOL goes through its multistep process of finding the modem, dialing, connecting, and on and on. Eventually you’ll hear the “You’ve Got Mail!” guy (if you have mail, I mean, if people like you enough to send you email). Otherwise, you’ll have to wade through the ads and eventually get to AOL. Enough AOL for now!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Choose File➡Exit to log off and quit AOL. This disconnects you from the Internet and AOL and hangs up the modem all at once. ● Using the Internet is not really the same thing as using AOL. That’s because AOL is a system unto itself. You can access the Internet through AOL. But otherwise AOL offers up its own set of services and features not available to regular Internet users. ● My AOL account name is Dang6755, but if you really need to send me email, please use [email protected] instead. Thanks.

Checking Out the Rest of the Internet People perform primarily two activities on the Internet: read email and browse Web pages. That’s not the limit of what you can do, although it’s why most people wander on the Net.

Some people live only for email. In Windows, you can read and compose email in the Microsoft Outlook Express program. You can browse the Web by using the Internet Explorer program, although you can also browse from any My Computer window or use the desktop as a Web browser. (Heck, if the mouse had a tiny video screen, Microsoft would let you browse with it too.) More details about Outlook Express and Internet Explorer are provided in Part V of this book, which goes into detail about the Internet and all the fun you can have there. For AOL users, everything is pretty much handled in the AOL program itself. That’s where you’ll read and compose your email, browse the Web if you’re so inclined, or do various AOL-like things. ● You can use programs other than Outlook Express and Internet Explorer to do your Internet duties. Alas, with AOL, you’re stuck using AOL itself for all your online activities. ● You can use Outlook Express to read newsgroups also. ● Windows comes with software you can use to create your own Web page on the Internet, which is covered in Part V. ● The only software Windows does not come with is Internet chat software. Or does it? I’m not sure. Better check Part V.

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Chapter 8

Help Me!


> > > > > > > >

Getting help for Windows Understanding the Help system Getting “assisted help” online Understanding the older type of Help system Using the F1 key Finding help on the menu Using the ? button in a dialog box Learning the joys of point-and-shoot help

Believe it or not, Windows can be quite helpful. Computer programs are notoriously cryptic and confusing and, well, rude. You should appreciate any form of help, even if it’s vague. And pointless. And written by a foreigner. Or a robot. Uh.… This chapter discusses the Windows Help system, which you can turn to in times of woe. The help that’s offered isn’t as good as the soothing voice of a friend or as appropriate as the wisdom of a computer guru, but it’s better than nothing.


Windows Wants to Help You Windows no longer comes with a manual. Instead, what’s left of the manual is now found inside a program I call the Windows Help system. It’s not only a program but also a complete set of rules and methods for getting assistance during your times of woe and frustration.

The Exciting, New Windows Help System Unfurl thy worried brow, gentle reader. Windows is eager to help you in a friendly way. Better than the dreadful manual, happier than a boring list of commands, it’s the totally new (well, for Windows Me at least), Help system. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Help. Lo, the Help and Support window appears, as shown in Figure 8.1. This is where you’re supposed to get your Windows questions asked and (cross your fingers) answered.

Figure 8.1 The Windows Help system.

A

Search for a subject, topic, or keyword.

B

Page back and forth through the help screens.

C

Return to the main help screen.

D

Display the index of all topics.

E

Use the online help forums.

F

Learn about various features.

G

General topics and new Windows Me features.

H I

Troubleshooting aids.

J

Repetition of items elsewhere on this page. A list of topics you’ve recently researched.

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Chapter 8 Help Me! If you’re used to the old Windows way of giving help, this newer, Windows Me Help system may strike you as a refreshing change. Although the help itself is still, well, the manual, the presentation is pleasantly different. Now suppose that you’ve grown annoyed with the sound the computer makes every time it starts: ◊ Type sounds in the Search box. ◊ Click Go. A new screen appears with a long, long list of just about everything Windows does that’s related to sounds. ◊ Click the Assigning sounds to Program Events link. The right side of the Help system window shows you the information you need to know. If you click the Sounds and Multimedia Properties link, the Sounds Properties dialog box appears, where you can change the sound (which is the solution you’re looking for, by the way). ◊ Click the green underlined word event. Unlike blue underlined text, which links you to other windows or programs, green underlined text offers a pop-up definition window. In this case, it explains what the word event refers to. ◊ Click the mouse in the pop-up window to remove the window from the screen. Another way to search is by using the index. ◊ Click Index. The Index item is located between Home and Assisted support near the top of the window. If you haven’t yet used the Windows Help system, you see the Preparing to Use Index for the First Time dialog box. A magic pencil writes secret messages in a book. The complete index lists all the Help system words Windows feels are important. This is nice because often you don’t know the word you’re looking for but can find similar ones listed in the index. How about some truly useful information: ◊ Type shortcut keys in the Type in the Keyword to Find text box. You probably won’t have to type all of shortcut keys; Windows finds that entry quickly. Below it you’ll see various topics related to shortcut keys: accessibility, desktop, and so on.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click general. ◊ Click the Display button. A list of topics is displayed. ◊ Choose Using shortcut keys in Windows. ◊ Click Display. Hmmm. That’s an interesting list worth saving. Why not print it? ◊ Click the Print button. ◊ Click OK in the Print dialog box. There you have a nice, printed list of all Windows unique, bizarre, and ugly keyboard shortcuts. Well, not all of them.… ◊ Click on Windows Explorer in the index list. ◊ Click Display. More useful keyboard shortcuts! Print this one too.

Print all the shortcut key lists. The combinations are just too bizarre to memorize. ◊ Close the Help and Support window. ● You can also get Windows help by pressing the F1 key whenever you see the desktop or when you’re using My Computer or Windows Explorer.

The Up-and-Up on “Assisted Support”

Help is just a program like any other on your computer. You should remember to close its window when you’re done reading the Help information.

One of the most intriguing items in the Help system (Figure 8.1) is the Assisted Support. Cleverly named, it implies that maybe there’s a way to get hold of a real human being for some nifty, cozy, one-on-one support. Ah…wouldn’t that be nice? Well, the cold hard reality is that Assisted Support is just another way to redirect you to the Internet, where you can be thrown into an online gripe forum like a fish into a boiling kettle, or fling a desperate email off to Microsoft, where one of the legions of microminions might or might not sate your quest for relief.

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Chapter 8 Help Me! ◊ Choose Help from the Start Thing. ◊ Click the Assisted Support link. Another screen appears listing various avenues of support. There are email options, forums, and message boards. If you click one, the Help system becomes a miniversion of the Internet Explorer Web browser, connecting you to the Internet first to register you as a happy Microsoft Help customer (or somesuch) and second to allow you the opportunity to peep out your complaint. Is there ever a real person? No. Well, not immediately. If you do sign up, follow the links and fill in the required information to get help. Eventually someone might get back to you. ◊ Close the Help and Support window. This also logs you off the Internet, in case you were concerned about being on too long. ● The Check Status link on the Assisted Support page is used to see how any of your requests are coming along.

Be aware that some of the options you’re presented with are attempts to get you to sign up for online service. This is not required of you. You do not have to pay Microsoft or any online service anything in order to use Windows.

● Because Assisted Support is a new, as-yet-untried feature of Windows as this book goes to press, I will provide updated information on this book’s Web page as needed. For example, there might be links in the future that connect you to your dealer or computer manufacturer for help. I’ll cover that on the Web site, plus any other changes, if and when they happen. ● As this book goes to press, it’s been 8 weeks and I still have not received my “assisted” reply to a basic Windows help question. Oh well.

Other, Older Help Systems Some Windows applications use an older form of Help system, not as fancy or showy as the one described above. ◊ Run the Calculator. (Refer to Chapter 2, “Running Your Programs,” for instructions on starting the Calculator.) ◊ Choose Help➡Help Topics. Another sort of help window appears, as shown in Figure 8.2. This is more of an online manual type of help window, with the manual itself in the Contents tab, but with an index and search options to help you quickly locate information.

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Figure 8.2 An older type of help window.

A

Contents, where you can open chapters and read “the manual.”

B

An index of all keywords and topics.

C D

Search for keywords. Type in a keyword to search the index.

E F

The index itself.

G H

Information is displayed here!

Click to display the information.

Options menu; click to display goodies, including Print.

◊ Click Performing Calculations. That “chapter” opens to reveal a list of topics. ◊ Click Perform a simple calculation. That manual page appears in the right side of the window. Okay. Enough help for now. ◊ Close the Calculator Help window. ◊ Close the Calculator. You’ll find several of the Windows miniprograms (“applets”) and other, older Windows programs use this Help system instead of the fancier Help system. Don’t let it throw you. ● The Options button is used to display a handy menu. For example, if you want to print the helpful information, click Options, then choose Print from the menu.

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Chapter 8 Help Me!

Getting Help Just About Anywhere All Windows programs offer some type of help. Although the quality of help varies, the methods for getting help are fairly consistent.

The Help Key on Your Keyboard The best way to get help anywhere is to press the F1 key, which displays information about whatever you happen to be doing in Windows, as shown in the example in this section. ◊ Start WordPad. Wait until the WordPad screen is staring you in the face. ◊ Press the F1 key. The WordPad Help system is displayed. ◊ Close the Help window. Keep WordPad open for the next few sections in this chapter.

General Help from the Menu Most Windows applications have a Help menu, the last menu on the right. (Sometimes the Help menu is off to the far right, away from the other items on the menu bar.) ◊ Choose Help from the menu. The Help menu drops down, as shown in Figure 8.3. Figure 8.3 The Help menu in WordPad.

A B C

Help menu. Same as pressing F1; displays the Help system. Displays trivia about WordPad.

Some programs have an extensive array of items in the Help system. Figure 8.4 shows the Help menu for Microsoft Word.

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Figure 8.4 The Microsoft Word Help menu.

A

Displays Office Assistant help, where you can type a question.

B

Normal Help system–style help.

C D

Point-and-shoot help. Help you can visit on the Internet.

E

Help for WordPerfect users who have just switched to Word.

F

Trivia.

The last item on the Help menu is usually About, which displays information about the program—although it’s next to useless. In my opinion, the About dialog box should explain exactly what a program does. For example, the About dialog box for WordPad should say something along the lines of “This program is a little word processor no one ever uses.” ◊ Close the menu. Press the Esc key twice to close the WordPad Help menu. Keep WordPad open for the next section’s tutorial.

The ? Button Help In some dialog boxes, you can get help by clicking the ? button in the upper-right corner of the dialog box. WordPad has this type of feature. ◊ Choose Format➡Font. The Font dialog box appears. ◊ Click the ? button. The cursor changes to a pointer/question mark. Now you can point at any item in the dialog box to get a description or helpful information. ◊ Click in the Sample area. A pop-up window appears, giving you more information.

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Chapter 8 Help Me! ◊ Click the mouse in the pop-up window to make the window go away. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Font dialog box. Keep WordPad open for the next and final installment in this exciting help tutorial.

Point-and-Shoot Help The final type of help you encounter in Windows is what I call “point and shoot,” although sometimes you don’t have to shoot. ◊ Point the mouse at the Save button on the WordPad toolbar. Just point the mouse—don’t click. Eventually the word Save appears. That’s what I call point-and-shoot help (official name: ToolTip). It’s available for most toolbar buttons or just about any tiny icon. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s worth a try. ◊ Point the mouse at the time on the taskbar. Just point the mouse, and eventually the full date and time are displayed. You’ll have to hold the mouse still long enough for the date and time to pop up. ◊ Quit WordPad. Another type of point-and-shoot help is available in some of the more sophisticated programs, such as Microsoft Word. You can press the Shift+F1 key combination to get the mouse pointer/question mark. Then you can click any item in the window to get help. A similar point-and-shoot option on the Help menu exists. Named “What’s This,” it lets you right-click the mouse on any item in the window to display a pop-up description. Not everything offers help, of course. If you click something and don’t see a message or you see a “No help available” message, either it’s not worth worrying about or it’s something Windows is, frankly, clueless about.

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Part II

Working in Windows

Chapters in This Part 9

Lurking and Working on the Desktop Getting the most from your “home plate.”

10 Ode to the Start Thing Discover what’s necessary and what’s not, and how to customize the Start Thing to be your very own.

11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff Introducing the Quick Launch toolbar for those tasks that you want to start right away.

12 Doing Several Things at a Time The art of multitasking, plus using the taskbar.

13 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste How to get information hither, thither, and yon.

14 Installing and Removing Software How to add and eventually remove your programs—the safe way.

15 Adding More of Windows How to add and remove bits and pieces of Windows itself!

Part II


A B

The Desktop. Shortcut icons pasted on the desktop (Chapter 9).

C

Arrange icons on the desktop (Chapter 9).

D

The Start Thing (Chapter 10).

E

The Quick Launch bar (Chapter 11).

F

Click once on these program icons to start them up.

7

Scrap copied to the desktop (Chapter 13).

Part II

Visual Topic Reference B.

A

Do several things at once (Chapter 12).

B

Copy between programs (Chapter 13).

C

Run programs (Chapter 11).

D

Update Windows on the Internet (Chapter 15).

Chapter 9

Lurking and Working on the Desktop


> > > > > >

Determining which icons should live on the desktop Putting a favorite program icon on the desktop Dragging and dropping on the desktop Putting a document shortcut on the desktop Adding folders to the desktop Arranging the desktop

If Windows had a face, it would be the desktop. And, boy, could that face use some makeup.… Almost everything you do in Windows starts at the desktop, which is like the Windows “lobby.” There are many things to put on the desktop, some of which can be handy as you wander through Windows. This chapter offers the lowdown on what’s up with the desktop. ● Actually, you can apply makeup to the desktop. Chapter 37, “A New Face on the Interface,” shows you how. ● Because the desktop is also a place to store stuff, it ties in to the disk-file-folder scheme of things. Part IV of this book expands on all that.


What Belongs on the Desktop? The desktop is the first thing you see when Windows has finished starting and you’re ready to work. The desktop is also your home base; after any Windows program quits, Windows closes the program’s window and displays the desktop again.

The desktop is a starting place. Obviously, the desktop makes an ideal place to put icons you commonly use. It’s true that you can start every program you have from the Start Thing menu. By putting an icon on the desktop, however, you have a quick shortcut to just about any program or even documents. ● A shortcut is a way to reference an icon, program, or folder elsewhere on your computer. This subject is covered in Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders.” For now, know that it’s safe to remove a shortcut because doing so doesn’t delete the main program; it deletes only the shortcut reference. Microsoft has already placed a few icons on the desktop for you. Figure 9.1 shows a basic Windows setup you might find on a new computer or one with Windows Me freshly installed. Table 9.1 tells you what these icons do.

Figure 9.1 The desktop.

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Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop

Table 9.1 Icon

Items Microsoft Sticks on the Desktop for You What It Does Provides access to your disk drives and files as well as other important aspects of your computer. You cannot delete this icon from the desktop. Grants you access to other computers on the network. You cannot delete this icon from the desktop. (Used to be called the Network Neighborhood.) A shortcut icon (although it doesn’t look that way) to your My Documents folder. A keeper. Another shortcut icon; it starts Internet Explorer, which lets you browse the World Wide Web. Keep this one. The system trash can, where files are deleted (thrown away). You cannot delete this icon from the desktop. A cheesy ad for the Microsoft online service. It should be in the Online Services folder, but you-know-who has a lot of pull. Okay to delete. A program only one guy in Montana uses. Okay to delete. Provides sign-up information for America Online (AOL), CompuServe, Prodigy, and others. Okay to delete, unless you want to sign up. A shortcut to the Windows Explorer program used to navigate the wilds of your computer’s disk drives. A handy thing to have, but it can be deleted. A shortcut to an email program. You can delete this because it’s also found on the Quick Launch bar (see Chapter 11, “Other Ways to Start Your Stuff”). A shortcut to the command line or “DOS prompt.” Definitely okay to delete. The program that view videos and plays sounds, but it’s okay to delete because a copy also exists on the Quick Launch bar.

● Although Windows will let you delete the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop, the icon isn’t really a shortcut. Therefore it’s probably best not to mess with it. ● Aside from the icons you cannot delete, what you put on the desktop is up to you.

You cannot delete My Computer, My Network Places, or the Recycle Bin icons.

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Some Handy Things to Have on the Desktop As you would suspect, Windows doesn’t automatically come with the handiest things you need placed on the desktop. Eventually you’ll place your own favorite icons on the desktop for quick access. This section shows you the best way to put an icon on the desktop. I’ll also give you suggestions about what to put there.

Placing a Program Icon on the Desktop Any program you start at least once a month probably should have a place on the desktop. Why? Because it’s just much handier to start up things from the desktop than from the Start Thing menu. Heck, I know people who have their desktops filled with icons. Maybe that’s going overboard, but you get the idea. One handy item to have on the desktop is WordPad, the li’l Windows word processor: ◊ Open My Computer. ◊ Open drive C, then the Program Files folder. If you don’t see anything displayed, click the link that says View the Entire Contents of this Folder. ◊ Open the Accessories folder. The Accessories folder is home to the WordPad program. You should see in the window the icon labeled WORDPAD.

Dragging any icon to the desktop creates a shortcut to the original icon. Dragging does not copy the entire program.

◊ Drag the WordPad icon to the desktop. Figure 9.2 shows you the details. Releasing the mouse button creates a shortcut—a kind of tiny copy, or alias—to the real WordPad program. ◊ Press the F2 key. The F2 key is the Rename command for any highlighted icon. You, like me, probably hate the name “Shortcut to WordPad.” Changing it to just “WordPad” eliminates the redundancy. (The tiny arrow on the icon indicates that it’s a shortcut already.) ◊ Type WordPad and press Enter. Now you have on the desktop a shortcut to the WordPad program. Starting WordPad is a cinch: ◊ Open WordPad. Double-click the WordPad icon on the desktop to start WordPad—no more Start Thing menu required.

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Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop Write something if you’re inspired; otherwise: ◊ Close WordPad. ◊ Close the Accessories window.

Figure 9.2 Dragging an icon to the desktop.

A

Drag the WordPad program icon from here…

B C

…to here.

D

The shortcut flag for shortcut icons. The desktop.

● For more information about shortcuts, see Chapter 25. ● Windows might not rename an icon on the desktop as Shortcut To. If so, you’re lucky. ● See Chapter 24 for information about the F2 Rename command.

You might want to move the icon over to the right side of the desktop. That way, you can have a My Computer or Windows Explorer window open and still see your program icon on the desktop. You see in the next section how this technique can be handy.

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Copying a Program from the Start Thing Menu to the Desktop Rather than swim through My Computer looking for program icons to paste on the desktop, you can just steal them from the Start Thing menu. Although this technique is sneaky, it works: ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories. ◊ Press and hold the Ctrl (Control) key. ◊ Drag the Calculator item, or other desired program, from the submenu to the desktop. ◊ Release the Ctrl key. Holding down the Ctrl key while you drag forces Windows to copy an icon. Because you’re copying to the desktop, however, a shortcut icon will be created.

If Windows doesn’t let you drag the icon around on the desktop, you might have the Auto Arrange option set: Right-click the desktop and choose Arrange Icons➡Auto Arrange from the menu to remove the check mark and allow your icons to move freely about the desktop.

If you don’t press the Ctrl key, the icon is moved from the Start Thing menu to the desktop. Figure 9.3 describes this process. Figure 9.3 Stealing a program from the Start Thing menu.

A

Find a program on the Start Thing menu.

B C

The Calculator is selected.

D

Dragging and dropping the Calculator icon on the desktop while pressing the Ctrl key. The shortcut icon is placed wherever you release the mouse.

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Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop Use the preceding technique to place your favorite programs on the desktop. Here are some files you might find handy to keep there: Notepad—Although WordPad is a good mini-word-processor, sometimes you might just need a text editor. Better put Notepad on the desktop with WordPad. Paint—I must have several thousand dollars worth of graphics programs, but Paint is one icon that always finds its way to my desktop. It’s just handy, especially for dragging and dropping various graphics files.

You don’t need to rename the shortcut icon in this case; the icon carries the same name it had originally on the Start Thing menu. The only difference is that, rather than having to wade through various menus and submenus, you can now start the Calculator directly from the desktop.

Backup program—Although I don’t run my backup program all the time, having its icon on the desktop reminds me that I need to back up my hard drive. Soon. Microsoft Works—If your computer came with Works and Works is what you use, then having a shortcut icon on the desktop makes using Works all the more handy.

Doing the Drag-and-Drop with Documents

Another quick way to start any program is to use the Quick Launch bar, which is covered in Chapter 11. Unlike the desktop, however, the Quick Launch bar has room for only so many icons. You can fill the desktop to your heart’s content.

One handy reason to have a smattering of program icons on the desktop is to practice drag-and-drop. ◊ Open the My Documents folder. ◊ Position the folder’s window so that you can see the Notepad shortcut on the desktop. Somewhere there you should find the Today’s Profit text document you created back in Chapter 2, “Running Your Programs.” ◊ Drag the Today’s Profit document to the Notepad icon on the desktop. The Notepad icon will appear highlighted, meaning that you’ve hit the target.

119

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Release the mouse button. The document “drops” into Notepad, which opens and displays the document. ◊ Close Notepad. ◊ Close the My Documents window. You can drag and drop a whole plateful of documents into most applications. In many instances, this technique is kind of silly; dragging a WordPad document to the WordPad icon takes more time than just opening the document (which opens WordPad). Sometimes, however, you need to drag and drop something. For example, dragging a document to the WinZIP program begins the process of creating a new archive. Or, you might want to drag to the Microsoft Imaging program an image that would otherwise open in another program.

I wanna drag an icon back to the Start Thing! Dear Dan: I followed your instructions, but I accidentally moved a program from the Start menu onto the desktop. Is there anyway I can move it back? Dan Says: Sure. It almost works the same in reverse: Drag the shortcut icon on the desktop (and don’t press the Ctrl key this time), over to the Start button. The Start Thing pops up! Use the mouse to drag the icon back to the submenu where it belongs. You’ll see a long “insertion bar,” which shows where the icon will be placed when you let go of the mouse. Then release the mouse button to place the icon back on the Start Thing.

Putting a Document Shortcut on the Desktop In addition to placing programs on the desktop, you might consider placing special data files there. For example, my Rolodex database file lives on my desktop, where I can always get to it in a hurry. The following tutorial shows you how to place a document icon on the desktop, using the Envelopes document you created in Part I of this book: ◊ Open the My Documents folder. Locate the Envelopes document you created in Chapter 7, “Your Internet Orientation Chapter.”

120

Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop ◊ Drag the Envelopes document to the desktop. Nothing is wrong with moving or even creating a file on the desktop. However, I prefer to have shortcuts rather than the original files on the desktop. (That’s just me; you can do whatever you want. Remember that this is a tutorial.) ◊ Press Ctrl+Z.

When you drag the Envelopes document, you’re moving it from the My Documents folder to the desktop. Notice how the icon lacks the little swooshy arrow in the lower-left corner?

The Ctrl+Z key combination is the Windows undo key. In this example, it undoes the last file command you made, moving the Envelopes icon from My Documents to the desktop. If you look on the screen, you’ll see Envelopes back in the My Documents folder. ◊ Right-drag the Envelopes icon to the desktop. When you right-drag, you drag an icon by using the right mouse button rather than the left. When you release the mouse button, a pop-up menu appears, as shown in Figure 9.4. Right-dragging always displays a pop-up menu, giving you a choice for copying an icon.

Figure 9.4 The pop-up menu after a right-drag.

A B

Drag from here… …to here, using the right mouse button.

C

A pop-up menu appears when you right-drag.

D

Choose to make a copy of the file.

E F

Choose to move the file.

G

Choose to make a shortcut (which is what you want). “Oops! I don’t want to do anything!”

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. Plop! A shortcut to the Envelopes document is placed on the desktop. It’s handy for whenever you need to print a quick envelope. That filename stinks! ◊ Press F2. ◊ Type Create an Envelope and press Enter. It’s a more descriptive name than “Shortcut to Envelopes,” don’t you think? ◊ Close the My Documents window. ● Placing a shortcut on the desktop keeps the original file wherever it was on your hard drive. For example, if the Envelopes document is saved in a folder full of related files—stuff you want to keep together— then creating a shortcut on the desktop makes more sense than moving the file away from its friends.

The right mouse button is the one you don’t normally press. For all righthanded people, who normally click the mouse’s left button, the right button is the right button. If you have your mouse configured for your left hand, however, a right-click involves the left button. Confused? Don’t sweat it.

● Shortcuts don’t take up the same amount of space as a copy of the original file. For example, the size of the Envelopes document is close to 5KB. (Click the Envelopes icon in the My Documents window, and read the size on the left side of the window.) The size of the shortcut copy, however, is only about 300 bytes—90 percent smaller. Shortcuts save disk space.

Putting a Project Folder Shortcut on the Desktop I organize my personal projects by placing them in folders under the main My Documents folder. In fact, I often have folders within folders for various projects, depending on how organized I’m feeling at the moment. Having a shortcut to one of these folders on the desktop—especially one buried down deep—is entirely handy. The following tutorial uses the Flying Car folder you created in Chapter 3, “Saving Your Stuff.” ◊ Open the My Documents folder. ◊ Right-drag the Flying Car folder to the desktop. ◊ Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. There it is! Rename it, if you’re so inclined.

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Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop ◊ Close the My Documents window. To quickly get at the project, just open the shortcut icon on the desktop. That action displays the project window, easy as pie. (This technique is the way I start my own Windows day.) From there, you can open any document and get right to work.

Creating a Project Folder on the Desktop Project folders are a great idea. If you want, you can create a project folder right on the desktop. This task isn’t a criminal act, and it doesn’t waste space. It’s just that the folder is right there on the desktop as opposed to being in My Documents or elsewhere on your hard drive. ◊ Right-click the desktop. The desktop’s shortcut menu appears, as shown in Figure 9.5.

Figure 9.5 The desktop’s shortcut menu.

A

Right-click the desktop to see this menu.

B

Various commands covered elsewhere in this book.

C

Create a new something-orother.

D E F

New something-or-others. Make a new folder. No one really uses these.

◊ Choose New➡Folder. ◊ Type Take Over Wall Street and press Enter. You have no need to press F2 to rename the folder. Windows most likely knows that New Folder is a stupid name, and you’ll undoubtedly want to change it to something more descriptive of its contents.

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Lining Up Icons on the Desktop I keep my folders on the upper-right edge of the desktop, program shortcuts in the lower-right corner, and what Windows originally put on the desktop over on the left. Over time, you’ll learn to like desktop icons in a certain place. Until then, you can move them around on the desktop however you want. ◊ Drag your new icons to a proper place on the desktop. The positioning of icons is up to you. You can follow my example or create your own. Or you can change your mind later. ◊ Right-click the desktop. ◊ Choose Line Up Icons. Windows arranges your icons, lining them up to a predefined grid. This process keeps things neat if you’re a neatnik and hate to see one icon jostled out of line.

The pop-up menu has other commands you probably don’t want to mess with. Anything on the Arrange Icons submenu lines up the desktop’s icons in an orderly manner, from top to bottom and from left to right.

If you’re having trouble moving the icons on the desktop, the Auto Arrange option has probably been set. Right-click the desktop and choose Arrange Icons➡Auto Arrange to remove the check mark by that item.

Deleting an Icon from the Desktop

Deleting a shortcut does not delete the original file. In fact, you probably didn’t really want to delete Notepad.

It’s your computer. If you see on the desktop an icon you figure you’ll never use, delete it. You can do it in one of two ways. First, for most of the icons you create and for all shortcuts, drag the icon to the Recycle Bin: ◊ Drag the Take Over Wall Street folder to the Recycle Bin. You might see a dialog box asking you to confirm the deletion. If so, click Yes. Second, you can press the Delete key. ◊ Click the Notepad shortcut icon once to select it. ◊ Press the Delete key on your keyboard. You might be asked to confirm. If so, click Yes.

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Chapter 9 Lurking and Working on the Desktop ◊ Press Ctrl+Z. Notepad is back. Although it might not be in the same spot onscreen (look around for it), it’s back. Move the Notepad icon back to where you want it if Windows restored it to another location. Then choose Line Up Icons from the desktop’s pop-up menu to straighten things out. You can delete some of the Microsoft icons, although you’ll see a nasty warning: ◊ Drag the “MSN” icon to the Recycle Bin. Perhaps the nastiest dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 9.6. Figure 9.6 Nasty warning dialog box!

The notion of this message is twofold: First, Microsoft wants you to feel a pang of guilt if you delete the icon, even though you’ll probably never sign up for the service. Second, it’s true: If you delete the icon, you cannot get it back. Ponder for a moment.

A

The file will be destroyed utterly!

B C D

Double warnings. Destroy! Chicken out.

Do not delete the Microsoft Network if you’ve signed up for it as part of your computer purchase agreement.

◊ Click Yes. Seriously, using the Internet with an ISP, as described in Chapter 7, beats the pants off using the Microsoft Network. Gadzooks! You can also delete the My Briefcase folder because, honestly, no one uses it. Well, one guy emailed me to say that he uses it. Okay. So one guy uses it. If you need to coordinate files between a laptop and desktop PC, programs are out there that do the job better. Plus all folder windows now have the Tools➡Synchronize command that works a heck of lot better.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Refer to Chapter 29, “Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling,” for more information about using the Recycle Bin. You usually can restore later anything you delete to the Recycle Bin. Some icons, however (Internet Explorer and MSN for example), cannot be recovered. That’s when Windows gives you the nasty warning that was shown in Figure 9.6.

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Chapter 10

Ode to the Start Thing


> > > > >

Adding programs to the Start Thing menu Dragging and dropping on the Start Thing menu Editing the Start Thing menu Exploring the Start Thing menu Creating submenus

The Start Thing menu is where you should put all the programs you can run on your computer. All of them. That way, you can start any program you want to start by using the handy Start Thing menu. You don’t have to find the program, fish through windows, or guess where it is. Every program on your PC should be on the Start Thing menu. Another important point: The Start Thing is yours. Customize it the way you want by putting the programs you use right there, where they’re handy. You can move stuff you never use to some other part of the menu, out of your way. This chapter is all about the Start Thing, telling you how to put programs on its Programs submenu and how to organize everything.


Adding Something to the Start Thing Menu Programs are added to the Start Thing menu as you install them. This process happens automatically: You install Microsoft Office, and it places a bunch of icons on the menu. You’re done. Unfortunately, not everything gets put on the Start Thing menu. Windows has, therefore, ways to add programs to the menu manually. The first way, the “official way,” is demonstrated in this section. The unofficial, drag-and-drop method, is covered later in this chapter.

The Official Way to Add Something I call this method the “official” way because it’s deliberate and slow and in no way sneaky. The following tutorial adds the WINVER program to the Start Thing menu. WINVER is a silly, little program that displays the Windows version number. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Settings➡Taskbar & Start Menu. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears. ◊ Click the Advanced tab. It looks like Figure 10.1.

Figure 10.1 The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

A B

The Advanced tab. Click to add a new program to the Start Thing menu.

C

Click to display a list of files, where you can click to remove one.

D

Opens a Windows Explorer window to help edit the Start menu.

E

Sorts the items in all the menus, so submenus come first and everything is listed in alphabetical order.

F

Clears all history lists, Documents menu, and other potentially embarrassing lists Windows keeps.

G

A fun place to tweak the Start menu (see Chapter 38).

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Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing ◊ Click the Add button. The Create Shortcut dialog box appears. (It’s boring so I won’t show a figure here.) ◊ Click the Browse button. Use the Browse/Open dialog box to find your program on the disk. For this example, the WINVER program is stored in the Windows folder on drive C:. ◊ Open drive C: (if it’s not open already).

Shortcuts? All the items on the Start Thing menu are shortcuts, or aliases, for the real programs that live elsewhere on the computer’s disk drives. That way, deleting or moving the shortcut on the menu does not alter the original program.

◊ Open the Windows folder. ◊ Select the WINVER program. You have to scroll down the window to find the program; it’s on the far right. (The programs are listed in alphabetical order.) ◊ Click Open. Clicking the Open button puts the text C:\WINDOWS\WINVER.EXE in the Command Line box. You could have typed it yourself, had you known the exact filename and location. (Like anyone would.…) ◊ Click Next. Now you get to pick where on the menu the program lives. Figure 10.2 shows you how to work the dialog box. ◊ Select System Tools. Locate the System Tools folder on the list (in Programs\Accessories) and click once to select it. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Type Windows Version in the box.

You can name programs anything, although keeping the names short keeps the menus narrow and easy to read. (You can even change a name later so that Microsoft Word becomes just Word.)

This is the name you want to appear on the menu. Without asking, Windows uses the program name, WINVER, which is dorky. Windows Version is much more descriptive.

129


Figure 10.2 Choose a menu for your program.

A B

Menus on the Start menu. Scroll down to see more menus.

C

Click a menu name to select it; that’s where the new program will go.

D

Menus are essentially special folders.

E

Click here to create a new submenu on the highlighted menu.

F G

Keep rollin’ along. Perhaps the ugliest and most pointless graphic I’ve ever seen.

◊ Click Finish. ◊ Click OK to close the Taskbar Properties dialog box. You’re done. To make sure that everything turned out okay, check the Start Thing menu. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools. You might have to click the Show More button to see the System Tools submenu display. There you’ll see the Windows Version program you’ve just added. ◊ Choose Windows Version. Ah! The program runs. Impressive, no? ◊ Click OK. ● You’re using Windows Millennium Edition, or “Me,” though I call it Winny Me. This confirms that you’ve bought the right book. Whew!

130

You can also add documents to the Start Thing. In the Open/Browse dialog box, choose All Files from the Files of Type drop-down list. Then locate the document you want to add.

Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing ● To add a folder to the Start Thing, visit this book’s Web page and type in AddFolder as the keyword.

The Sneaky Way to Add a Program to the Start Thing Oh, there’s nothing sneaky about the following techniques you can use to add something to the Start Thing. It’s just that with the “official” Add button, everything else seems a little devious—even though I believe you’ll find these tricks quicker than using the Add button. The secret? It’s your old friend drag-and-drop, which can be used to add just about anything to the Start Thing. It works like this: 1. Find a program by using My Computer, Windows Explorer, or the Search command. 2. Drag the program’s icon to the Start menu. 3. Drop the program’s icon on the proper submenu. The following tutorial adds the old Windows File Manager to the Start Thing’s Accessories menu. The first step is to find the old File Manager program, which is named WINFILE. To find that file, use the Windows Search command.

The Search command can locate any file on disk, as long as you know any little tidbit about the file. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Search➡For Files or Folders. A special version of the Windows Explorer window appears, this time geared to search for long lost files. Figure 10.3 explains everything. ◊ Type winfile in the Named box. The name of the program you want to find is WINFILE. Not very romantic. As long as everything else in the window looks like Figure 10.3, you’re okay. Make sure that Local Hard Drives is chosen from the Look In drop-down list, and you’re all okay. ◊ Click Search Now.

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Figure 10.3 Finding a program for the Start Thing.

A

A typical Windows Explorer window.

B

But wait! The Search button is pressed! It’s a Search window!

C

Type the program name here.

D

These options are explained in Chapter 28.

E F

Find that file! Any results are displayed here.

The results of the search are displayed in the right part of the window. On my screen, Windows has found four WINFILE-like files. The one that’s a program has Application listed in the Type column. (Choose View➡Details if you don’t see the columns displayed.) Now that you’ve found the file, put it on the Start Thing menu. And, by the way, you could have found the file by opening any My Computer or Windows Explorer window and browsing until you found something. By using the Search command (and knowing the filename in advance), I just saved you some time. It doesn’t matter where on the Start Thing menu you put the icon. It’s usually best to put the programs you use most often directly on the main Programs menu for easy access. Any other programs can go anywhere else you want. No rules apply here; the Start Thing is yours to mess with. For this tutorial, put the WINFILE program on the Programs➡Accessories menu. ◊ Drag the Winfile application icon to the Start Thing (do not release the mouse button yet!). The Start Thing pops up. (Although you might have to wait a few moments for it to pop up, it eventually does.)

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Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing ◊ Continue dragging to the Programs➡Accessories menu. As you drag the icon through the menus, a horizontal insertion bar appears on the menus. It shows you where the icon will be added to the menu when you release the mouse button. Keep holding down the mouse button! ◊ Continue dragging until the WINFILE icon is near the bottom of the Accessories submenu. Figure 10.4 explains things.

Figure 10.4 Dragging a new item onto the Start Thing menu.

A

The insertion bar shows where the menu item will be dropped.

B

Point the mouse at a menu item to open that menu.

C

Release the mouse button to drop the new menu item here.

◊ Release the mouse button to drop the icon on the menu. You’ll see Shortcut to WINFILE on the menu. Don’t worry! I’ll show you how to change the name later in this chapter. ◊ Choose Start➡Programs➡Accessories➡Shortcut to WINFILE. The old Windows File Manager starts. Ho-hum. ◊ Close the File Manager window. ◊ Close the Search Results window. ● You can add any program to the Start Thing menu by dragging its icon from the Find window or from any My Computer or Windows Explorer window. ● Remember that you can also add documents and folders to the Start menu using this technique.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● You can even create new submenus for your programs. A tutorial for that task appears later in this chapter. ● Dragging an item to the Start Thing menu always creates a shortcut. It does not “move” the entire program to the menu.

Messing with the Start Thing You already have a handy tool for messing with the Start Thing. It’s your computer’s mouse. By using it, you can drag menus and menu items around, place them in a new position, or drag them off the menu completely. Although this technique is cinchy and makes a great deal of sense, it can be sloppy. Be careful!

Moving a Program Around on the Start Thing Menu Just as you can drag a program to the Start Thing menu, you can drag menu items from the menu to someplace else. Suppose that the Shortcut to WINFILE menu item (added in the preceding section) would work better for you if it were on the main Programs menu. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories. This action displays the Accessories submenu. ◊ Drag the Shortcut to WINFILE item from the Accessories submenu to the Programs menu. An insertion bar appears wherever you drag the menu item, as shown in Figure 10.4. ◊ Drop the Shortcut to WINFILE item on the Programs menu, somewhere near the bottom. By releasing the mouse button, you place the item on the menu.

Renaming a Menu Item To rename a menu item, right-click that item and choose Rename from the pop-up menu that appears. ◊ Open the Start Thing’s Programs menu. ◊ Right-click the Shortcut to WINFILE.EXE item. This is the item you want to change. A pop-up menu appears, as shown in Figure 10.5.

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Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing Figure 10.5 Dragging a new item onto the Start Thing menu.

A

Right-click a menu item to see the pop-up menu.

B C D

The pop-up menu.

E F G H

Runs the program. Cut to move this menu item elsewhere. Copy to make a duplicate. Delete the menu item. Rename the menu item. Reorder this menu alphabetically.

◊ Choose Rename. A nifty Rename dialog box appears, which is ironic because this is the only way old WINFILE let you rename an icon. ◊ Type in the name Old File Manager. ◊ Click OK. Now it looks better than the crummy “shortcut to” thing I’m starting to get sick of.

Removing a Program from the Start Thing It’s your Start Thing menu. If you see an item you never use, delete it! This action doesn’t delete the program, although it sure cleans up the Start Thing menu, by paring it to be efficient. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs. ◊ Right-click the Old File Manager item. There’s the pop-up menu, shown back in Figure 10.4. ◊ Choose Delete. A warning dialog box might appear. Click Yes to trash the menu item. It’s gone!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● You can also delete an item from the Start Thing menu by dragging it to the Recycle Bin. Unfortunately, because the Start Thing usually covers the Recycle Bin, you cannot see it to drag the icon. ● Deleting an item from the Start Thing menu deletes only the shortcut to that item; the program still exists on your hard drive and can always be added to the Start Thing again later. ● Many applications install “readme” files on the Start Thing menu. You definitely can remove these files after you’ve read them.

Editing the Start Thing Menu with Windows Explorer The drag-and-drop method of menu organization (demonstrated earlier in this chapter) can get out of hand. Especially if you’re moving a menu item from one submenu to another, it’s just too easy to slip up and get frustrated. For that reason, I recommend using the Windows Explorer for major Start Thing updates or overhauls.

I also recommend removing any Uninstall commands from the Start Thing menu. For example, one slip of the mouse can run the Uninstall command, which means that you have to reinstall your program from scratch.

Shhhh! The Start Thing is really a folder on your hard drive. The items are shortcut icons, and the submenus are folders inside folders. If you’re handy with folders and icons, you might prefer the Windows Explorer method of working with the Start Thing.

Exploring the Start Thing is also the only way to create a new submenu. ◊ Right-click the Start button. ◊ Choose Explore from the menu.

Using the Explorer to manipulate folders and icons is covered in detail in Part IV of this book.

A Windows Explorer window appears, with the Start Thing’s folder and submenus splayed out for easy file editing, as shown in Figure 10.6. Keep the Explorer window open for the next few sections in this chapter.

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Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing

Figure 10.6 Exploring the Start Thing.

A

The Start menu exists as the Start Menu folder inside the Windows folder on drive C.

B

Submenus are actually folders.

C D

The Programs submenu. Choosing a folder displays its contents on the right side of the window.

E

Items on top of the Start Thing.

F

You can drag this divider left or right to see more of the tree-structure thing.

Making a New Submenu Because submenus are folders and vice versa, to make a new submenu on the Start Thing, you just create a new folder. ◊ Open the Programs submenu/folder. Click the Programs icon on the left side of the Explorer window to display its contents on the right side of the window. You should see a bunch of submenus and folders listed and some program items and shortcuts. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Folder. The New Folder icon appears on the right side of the window, ready for you to christen it with a decent name. ◊ Type DOS Applications and press Enter. Press the Backspace key to back up if you make a typing mistake. You’ve created the DOS Applications submenu. Prove that it exists: ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡DOS Applications. The new menu is “empty” because no program items are there. But it lives!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click in the Programs window. This action makes the Start Thing menu go away if it’s still open all over the desktop, and it returns the focus to the Explorer window for the next few steps. ◊ Scroll up to locate the COMMAND folder. COMMAND is a folder within the Windows folder. You can find it by scrolling up the Folders list on the left side of the Window. ◊ Select the COMMAND folder. Selecting the folder (clicking it once) displays its contents on the right side of the window. ◊ Select the EDIT program. The EDIT icon is the DOS text editor program, which you’ll probably never use, but keep in mind that this is a tutorial. ◊ Choose Edit➡Copy. ◊ Scroll the Folders list side of the window back down to the Start Menu folder. ◊ Click the DOS Applications folder. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste Shortcut. A Shortcut to MS-DOS Editor icon appears. Yeah! ◊ Press F2 to rename the shortcut. ◊ Edit the name to read MS-DOS Editor. ◊ Press Enter.

Windows typically places new submenus at the bottom of the list. This is tacky, but you can change it either by dragging the submenu to a new position, or by right-clicking the submenu and choosing Sort by Name from the pop-up menu.

Prove it worthy: ◊ From the Start menu, choose Programs➡DOS Applications➡MS-DOS Editor. The MS-DOS Editor appears in a window onscreen. (DOS programs run in their own, text-based window.) ◊ Press Alt+F and then X to quit the MS-DOS Editor. This step quits the Editor and closes the MS-DOS window. So much for that. You might use the Editor once or twice but—let’s face it—it’s primitive. Keep the Explorer window open for the next section’s tutorial.

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Chapter 10 Ode to the Start Thing

Moving or Rearranging Menus Rearranging the menus and submenus on the Start Thing works just like rearranging folders anywhere on your computer’s hard drive. Because of this, refer to Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders,” which covers the topic of moving folders. The rules and methods are the same for the menus on the Start Thing, so there’s no point in repeating all that stuff here.

Some Special Start Thing Places There are two special types of folder/menus on the Start Thing worth mentioning. The first is the top-o-the-menu, and the second is the special StartUp menu. Top goes first. After you’ve used Windows for a while, you’ll see that quite a few programs like to stick icons at the top of the Start Thing menu. How’s that? Simple! Continuing from the previous section’s tutorial: ◊ Click the Start Menu folder in the Folders list. The contents of the Start Menu folder equal the items you see at the top of the Start Thing itself. There you’ll find the Programs folder and maybe other menu items, as shown in Figure 10.6. To add an item there, copy it. To remove an item there, drag it to another menu or simply delete it. There are no rules about the top-o-the-menu; some programs assert themselves there, some don’t care. I do recommend keeping the Windows Update icon there because this book and other documentation refer to it as being in that spot. The second special folder is named StartUp. That folder contains programs that automatically start every time you start Windows. This folder might already have a few programs in it, which start up every time you turn on your computer or reset windows. ◊ Click the StartUp folder/menu. Its contents appear on the right side of the Explorer window. The programs you see there, if any, automatically start when Windows does. Hmmm. Sounds handy! For example, if you always start your Windows day by running Outlook Express to check your email, put a shortcut to that program in the StartUp folder. Likewise, if you don’t want a program to start automatically, remove it from the StartUp folder. ◊ Close the StartUp (Explorer) window. If you want to know more about how Windows starts programs found on the Start Thing menu, refer to this book’s Web page (www.wambooli.com/help/WinnyMe) and type StartUp as the keyword.

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Chapter 11

Other Ways to Start Your Stuff


> > > >

Using the Quick Launch bar Adding a program shortcut to the Quick Launch bar Editing the Quick Launch bar Using the Run command

The Start Thing should contain every program on your computer, placed right on the menu for easy access. Some programs you run more than others, though. Because Microsoft can’t make up its mind about how to start programs in Windows, you can start up your stuff by using ways other than the Start Thing. Quick ways. Fast ways. Easy ways. Like using the Quick Launch bar.

The Handy Quick Launch Bar Like the seedy parts of a big city downtown, Windows has lots of bars. Prime among them is the taskbar, that gray strip that lines the bottom of the desktop like a windowsill. In addition to the Start button and system tray, the taskbar also sports other bars, prime among them the Quick Launch bar. Figure 11.1 helps you identify things.


Figure 11.1 Important things on the taskbar.

A B C D E F G H I J K L

Start Thing button. Quick Launch bar. Show More arrows; there’s more items on the Quick Launch bar. Taskbar. System tray. Internet Explorer. Outlook Express. View the desktop. Channels. Windows Media Player. Button on the taskbar. The “handle”; grab to resize or move, right-click for a pop-up menu.

● Pay special attention to the “handle” part of the taskbar and Quick Launch bar. You can do special things with it, which I’ll show you later. ● There are actually four toolbars you can add to the taskbar: the Quick Launch bar, the Address bar, the Links bar, and the Desktop bar. ● Chapter 39, “Toolbars from Beyond Infinity,” covers all the toolbars in depth.

My Quick Launch Bar Is Missing! Windows Me automatically configures itself to show the Quick Launch bar along with the taskbar, as shown in Figure 11.1. If you cannot see the Quick Launch bar, follow these steps to make it appear: ◊ Right-click the taskbar to display the taskbar pop-up menu.

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You can always right-click the taskbar on its handle. Refer to Figure 11.1 to see exactly where the handle is.

Chapter 11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff Right-click a blank part of the taskbar, not a button. If you can’t manage that, right-click the time in the system tray. Although that action displays a different menu (with one extra option), it gets you where you need to go. Right-clicking the taskbar displays a pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 11.2.

Figure 11.2 The taskbar’s pop-up menu.

A

Right-click here to see the menu.

B C D

Toolbars submenu. Various different toolbars. A check mark here means that the Quick Launch bar is visible.

◊ Choose Toolbars➡Quick Launch if that item does not already have a check mark by it. The Quick Launch bar shows up. To hide the Quick Launch bar, just repeat the preceding steps and remove the check mark. My advice, however, is to keep the guy visible because he is so very handy.

A Bigger, Better Quick Launch Bar Yes, the Quick Launch bar is probably too tiny on your screen. The following steps show you how to make it larger and how to reposition it for better access. ◊ Right-click the Quick Launch bar’s handle. The handle is that vertical “bump” on the left side of the toolbar (see Figure 11.3). Right-clicking the handle displays a pop-up menu, as shown in the figure. ◊ Choose View➡Large (if a check mark isn’t next to Large already). Hey boy! Nice, fat icons. They’re the same size as other icons on the desktop, which means (depending on your screen setup) that you might not see any noticeable difference. If you do see a difference, notice that the taskbar is now twice as high as before. (Changing the size of the icons on the Quick Launch bar does not change the size of buttons on the taskbar, however.)

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Figure 11.3 The Quick Launch bar’s pop-up menu.

A B

Right-click here. Closes (removes) the Quick Launch bar.

C

Standard taskbar pop-up menu items.

D

Displays the text Quick Launch on the Quick Launch bar.

E

Opens folder containing the Quick Launch bar shortcut items.

F

Updates the Quick Launch bar after editing.

G H

Displays text by each icon. Sets icon size.

Making a Longer Quick Launch Bar My preference is to have only about six or seven items on the Quick Launch bar—the handiest items are icons for programs I use all the time: Internet Explorer, email, Word, and so on. But I don’t put too many buttons on the Quick Launch bar because it tends to get too long. Microsoft’s solution for too many buttons and a too-short Quick Launch bar is to use the common Show More arrows, as shown in Figure 11.1. Alas, you cannot lengthen the Quick Launch bar itself, but you can shorten the taskbar: ◊ Grab the taskbar’s handle. It’s the “bump” on the left side of the taskbar, between the taskbar and the Quick Launch bar. ◊ Drag the taskbar’s handle right (or left) until all the Quick Launch bar icons are visible. You can experiment sliding the handle left and right. Don’t waste too much time though.

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Chapter 11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff Chapter 39 has more information on rearranging toolbars.

Running a Program from the Quick Launch Bar Running a program from the Quick Launch bar is cinchy—one of the few times that happens in Windows. Click a program icon on the Quick Launch bar to run that program. Click only once! If you click twice (which is what you normally do), you may start two copies of the program.

If you start messing with the Quick Launch bar handle, however, you might end up with the taskbar and Quick Launch bar all discombobulated. Just use the grabber to carefully drag either the taskbar or the Quick Launch bar back to wherever you want it.

◊ Click the Windows Media Player icon on the Quick Launch bar. You might even be blessed with the Windows Media Player serenading you to some tune complete with psychedelic Radio Shack-like graphics. Groovy. ◊ Click the desktop button on the Quick Launch bar. The desktop button quickly displays the desktop for you, shrinking any open programs or windows to an icon on the taskbar. It’s a handy way to redisplay the desktop if you need to access something there. ◊ Click the Windows Media Player button on the taskbar. This redisplays that window. ◊ Close the Windows Media Player. Wasn’t that handy? Imagine how easy it would be to start your top five favorite programs if they were on the Quick Launch bar…. Hmmm.

A Quick Review of What Windows Puts on the Quick Launch Bar As it comes with Windows Me, the Quick Launch toolbar has five buttons on it: ● Click this button if you want to start the Internet Explorer program. A keeper, in my opinion. ● Click this button if you want to start Outlook Express, the Internet email program. Another keeper. ● Click this button if you want to view the desktop and hide all open programs and windows. Definitely keep this one.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Click this button if you want to start the Internet Explorer program and visit the Channels Web page. I usually delete this one. ● Click this button to start the Windows Media Player program. I delete this one, too. I noticed that AOL stuck its own icon on the Quick Launch bar after I set it up as well. That makes for six icons on my Quick Launch bar, which is a good number. But three of those icons I don’t plan on using, so I’ll delete them. This is covered later in this chapter.

Adding a New Program to the Quick Launch Bar My theory goes like this: Place the programs you run every day on the Quick Launch bar. Place programs you might run often on the desktop. And place everything else on the Start Thing menu. But that’s just my theory. If you want to have quick access to a program, stick its icon on the Quick Launch bar. For example: Microsoft Word, Excel, a game, and whatever else you use all the time. In my opinion, putting too many things there defeats the purpose and turns the Quick Launch bar into a copy of the desktop or Start Thing menu. The following tutorial puts the Spider Solitaire game on the Quick Launch bar, though you can put any of your favorite games there (including the addictive FreeCell): ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Games. You might need to click the Show More arrows to get at the Games menu. This action displays the Games submenu, on which you find the shortcut to Spider Solitaire. ◊ Press and hold down the Ctrl key. You’re about do to a Control+drag, which means that you drag the mouse while holding down the control key (Ctrl) on the keyboard. ◊ Drag the Spider Solitaire menu item from the Start Thing menu to the Quick Launch bar. Notice the + (plus sign) attached to the mouse pointer as you drag the icon (see Figure 11.4)? It’s your sign that the icon is being copied and not moved; a Ctrl+drag is a copy operation. As you point the mouse at the Quick Launch bar, you’ll see an insertion pointer, showing you exactly where the new icon will appear on the Quick Launch bar, as shown in Figure 11.4.

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Chapter 11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff Figure 11.4 Copying a menu item to the Quick Launch bar.

A

Drag any menu item from here down to the Quick Launch bar.

B

Ctrl+drag from here to move Spider Solitaire down.

C D

The insertion bar.

E

The + means that you’re copying the icon (and the Ctrl key is down). The taskbar’s handle; used to resize the taskbar.

◊ Release the mouse button. A copy of the Spider Solitaire game icon is dropped on the Quick Launch bar. ◊ Release the Ctrl key. ◊ Click the mouse on the desktop to hide the Start Thing menu. The Start Thing menu doesn’t disappear after you drop the icon on the Quick Launch bar; clicking the mouse on the desktop makes the menu go away. Look at the Quick Launch bar! Your icon lives there, easily and quickly accessible. ● Play Spider Solitaire—if you dare! It’s addicting. Hint: Press M to see where to play next. ● You might have to change the size of the taskbar to show all the buttons. Refer to the section, “Making a Longer Quick Launch Bar,” earlier in this chapter for the instructions. ● Pressing the Ctrl (Control) key while dragging with the mouse copies an icon from one place to another. It’s known as a Ctrl+drag. ● You can add any icon to the Quick Launch bar by dragging and dropping it. And you can drag it from any window, not just the Start Thing. ● You can move any icon on the Quick Launch bar by dragging it right or left.

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Removing a Program from the Quick Launch Bar You can kill off icons from the Quick Launch bar in several cruel and unusual ways. The most obvious is the drag-and-drop to the Recycle Bin: ◊ Click the Show Desktop icon. This hides any windows you have open, shrinking them down to buttons on the taskbar. The Recycle Bin icon is now in plain sight.

Any shortcut icon pasted onto the Quick Launch bar’s window becomes part of the Quick Launch bar. (As with the Start Thing menu, paste only shortcuts to the bar.)

◊ Drag the Spider Solitaire icon from the Quick Launch bar to the Recycle Bin on the desktop. If a warning dialog box appears, click Yes to trash the icon. Remember that you’re not deleting any program here; you’re simply removing a shortcut icon. Want the Spider Solitaire game back? ◊ Press Ctrl+Z. The universal Windows Undo command undoes the deletion!

The icon was deleted yet saved! Seriously, feel free to delete icons on the Quick Launch bar. Delete those programs you don’t use often to keep the Quick Launch bar narrow and neat. On my system, I deleted the Channels, Media Player, and AOL icons from the Quick Launch bar. ● You also can delete an icon by rightclicking it and choosing the Delete command from the pop-up menu.

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I’d advise against removing the Show Desktop icon. It’s not a real program and can be tough to get back again.

Chapter 11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff

Other Ways to Start a Program You should use the Start Thing menu for every program on your computer. The Quick Launch bar should be used for the things you use every day. What about other icons?

Use Shortcuts on the Desktop If you don’t feel like junking up the Quick Launch bar, consider making shortcut icons on the desktop instead. In fact, my personal desktop is littered with the icons of just about every major program I own. My desktop also contains shortcuts to project folders and even some shortcuts to documents I use frequently. Refer to Chapter 9, “Lurking and Working on the Desktop,” for more information about putting shortcut icons on the desktop.

Use the Documents Menu A second way to quickly start a program is to use the Documents menu on the Start Thing. The Documents menu contains the previous 15 documents you’ve opened. Choosing a document from this menu instantly loads the document into whichever program created it.

Use the Run Command Also lurking on the Start Thing menu is the Run command. This command is not a handy, graphical way to run a program. No, it’s intended for typing a program’s name. Crude. Primitive. Yet effective. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Run. The Run dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 11.5, reminding many people of what the old days under DOS were like. The idea is to type the name of the program you want to run—frequently an installation or setup program. Normally you’re told exactly what to type in this dialog box. (There goes the mystery!) ◊ Type “c:\windows\media\Debussy’s Claire de Lune”. Type the text exactly as shown here, including the double quotes. Those are backslashes, not forward slashes. Double-check to see that everything you’ve typed is kosher. ◊ Click OK.

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Figure 11.5 The Run dialog box.

A

Program name goes here (previously run programs may appear).

B

Click to see previously typed program names (a whole list!).

C

Browse the hard drive for a program.

D

Run that program!

Ahh-ooo-gah! Oops. A warning dialog box points out that the program cannot be found. I made that happen on purpose because I wanted to show you the nasty warning you’ll see when you innocently forget to type something or make a common typo. That’s why Windows was created: Typos and innocent mistakes drove DOS users mad. ◊ Click OK to close the warning dialog box. Back in the Run dialog box, you have to edit the command so that Windows knows what to do with it. ◊ Press the End key. ◊ Press the Backspace key. The insertion pointer moves to the end of your command. ◊ Type .rmi”. Type a period and then rmi” (replacing Lune” with Lune.rmi”). ◊ Press Enter. If you see the warning dialog box again (this time not on purpose), recheck your typing. Here’s the full command you have to type: “c:\windows\media\Debussy’s Claire de Lune.rmi”

If everything goes okay, you should be softening the end of a weary day with a relaxing tune. Ahhh…! ◊ Close the Media Player window to stop the song.

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Chapter 11 Other Ways to Start Your Stuff Or just let the song run out and close the window when the song is over. The music runs for about four minutes. ● You must type program names exactly when you use the Run dialog box. ● Claire de Lune is not a program—it’s a MIDI document. When you run it, Windows automatically loads the Media Player and plays the song for you. ● Don’t fret if your computer doesn’t have the Claire de Lune file. Chapter 28, “Hunting Down Files,” discusses how to use the Find command to locate many other MIDI music documents on your computer.

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Chapter 12

Doing Several Things at a Time


> > > >

How to use more than one program at a time How to switch programs with the taskbar How to switch programs with Alt+Tab How to arrange windows on the desktop

I watched an infomercial once where this guy actually made money while he slept. In fact, during the half-hour the infomercial ran, he made something like $12,000 in accrued interest. Amazing—not really the money part, but that the guy could do two things at one time. Now you too can do two things at one time (three, if you take the guy’s real estate advice). Windows blesses you with the ability to run several programs at the same time. It’s called multitasking, and it really can save you time—if you know how it works, which is this chapter’s topic. ● Don’t close when you don’t have to! ● Don’t quit when you don’t have to! ● Don’t fall into the easy-money-in-real-estate trap!


The Multitasking Demonstration The idea behind multitasking isn’t that you can use two or more programs at one time. You can’t! Because you have only one head and one set of hands, you can work only one program at a time. The idea behind multitasking is that you don’t have to quit one program to use another. You keep them all running and then switch between them. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs·Accessories➡System Tools➡System Monitor. The System Monitor is a silly, little program that shows how hard your computer is working (see Figure 12.1). It graphs various aspects of your computer—microprocessor usage and memory usage, for example—which is interesting to watch but trivial because it’s nothing bad or worth remembering. The only reason I’m using it here is to show how your computer can do more than one thing at a time.

Figure 12.1 The System Monitor.

A

Use the Add button to add a new item to display.

B

The Remove button lets you remove an item from the display.

C D E F G

Line chart mode. Bar chart mode. Number chart mode. Trivia. More trivia.

◊ Make sure that the Kernel Processor Usage and Memory Manager: Allocated Memory items are visible. If the items aren’t visible (as shown in Figure 12.1), choose Edit➡Add Item from the menu. In the Add Item dialog box, click Kernel, Processor Usage (%), and then click OK. Then repeat these steps and, in the Add Item dialog box, click Memory Manager, Allocated Memory, and then OK.

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Chapter 12 Doing Several Things at a Time Other items visible in the System Monitor are okay to add; I just want you to see something happening in the window during this demonstration. ◊ Start WordPad. See? You have no reason to quit the other program; just start whatever you want to work on next.

Don’t quit a program until you’re doggone done with it. ◊ Resize the WordPad window so that you can see the System Monitor window. Figure 12.2 shows what I’m getting at. You can position the WordPad window anywhere on the desktop; just make sure that you can still see the System Monitor in the background.

Figure 12.2 Two programs are multitasking.

A

System Monitor is working in the background.

B

WordPad is the foreground window.

C

The System Monitor button on the taskbar.

D

The WordPad button on the taskbar.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Keep both WordPad and System Monitor open for the next few sections. ● The program you’re working on is in the foreground. ● Programs you have open are running in the background. It’s a back-burner type of thing: Programs in the background continue to run just like a pot of soup on a stove’s back burner continues to cook. ● Not every program runs in the background. Most programs require your input; when you switch that type of program to the background, it just sits and waits for you.

Switching Between Programs Running two programs simultaneously is easy. Switching between them is easy too, after you learn the tricks: ● Bring any window to the foreground by clicking it. ● Click a window’s taskbar button to bring the window to the foreground. ● Press the Alt+Tab key combination to switch windows. To bring any window to the foreground, click it with the mouse. ◊ Click on the System Monitor window. This step brings that window to the foreground. WordPad moves to the background. ◊ Click on the WordPad window. Now you’re back in WordPad. ◊ Type some text in the WordPad window. Type this line: System Monitor Report. At 12:40 PM, my System Monitor has shown the following:

◊ Click the System Monitor button on the taskbar. ◊ Press Alt+Print Screen. Pressing the Alt+Print Screen key combination takes a snapshot of the foreground window. (You would press Print Screen by itself to take a snapshot of the entire screen, as described in Chapter 17, “Printing Things on the Screen.”) ◊ Click the WordPad button on the taskbar. ◊ Press Ctrl+V. The graphics image is pasted into the WordPad window. (Ctrl+V is the shortcut for the Paste command.)

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Chapter 12 Doing Several Things at a Time ◊ Maximize WordPad. Here’s a shortcut: Double-click the title bar to maximize the window. Scroll up and down to see the entire image if you need to. Most of the time you run your programs maximized, which is best. However, you cannot point-and-click at a window to bring it to the foreground. You have two options: Either use the program’s button on the taskbar, or:

The Alt+Tab key combination switches you to the previously viewed window.

◊ Press Alt+Tab. The System Monitor window is now up front. ◊ Press and hold the Alt key. ◊ Tap the Tab key. You should see the Alt+Tab task window, as shown in Figure 12.3. Keep that Alt key held down! Figure 12.3 The Alt+Tab task window.

A

This box highlights the program you’re switching to.

B

Pressing Tab highlights the next box.

C D

WordPad. Other programs that are running.

◊ Tap the Tab key again. Keep that Alt key held down! Notice that the highlight box moves to the next program in the list. Every time you press the Tab key, you select another program to run. ◊ Press the Tab key until the WordPad icon is highlighted. ◊ Release the Alt key. You’re back in WordPad.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Keep WordPad and the System Monitor open for the following section’s tutorials. ● To switch to another program, simply click that program’s window or the program’s button on the taskbar. ● Pressing Alt+Tab returns you to the preceding window or program you were viewing. ● Pressing Alt+Tab while holding down the Alt key displays the task window, from which you can choose a program. Press Tab to choose an icon; release the Alt key to switch to that window. ● The Alt+Tab key combination works best when two or more programs or windows are open. ● Yes, Alt+Tab even switches to a program that has been minimized to a button on the taskbar.

Arranging Program Windows I recommend that you run all your programs maximized. Unfortunately, you’ll lose a little interactivity with the other windows on the screen. Even with a small monitor, overlapping windows have advantages. Arranging windows is a job given to the taskbar—specifically, the taskbar’s shortcut menu. ◊ Right-click a blank part of the taskbar. If you cannot find a blank part of the taskbar, right-click the current time in the system tray. The taskbar’s shortcut menu appears, as shown in Figure 12.4. Figure 12.4 The taskbar’s shortcut menu.

A

Right-click here to see the pop-up menu.

B C

Or you can right-click the time.

D

Arrange windows tiled from top to bottom.

E

Arrange windows tiled from left to right.

F

Shrink everything to a button on the taskbar.

Arrange open windows in a cascade pattern.

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Chapter 12 Doing Several Things at a Time ◊ Choose Minimize All Windows. Bloop! There’s the desktop. ◊ Open the My Documents window. You can find the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Restore the System Monitor window. Click the System Monitor button on the taskbar. ◊ Right-click the taskbar and choose Tile Windows Horizontally. Each window is displayed above the other. I find this arrangement highly useful for comparing two similar documents. Notice that the WordPad window didn’t get in the way. Only open windows are affected by the window-arranging commands. ◊ Restore the WordPad window. ◊ Right-click the taskbar and choose Tile Windows Horizontally. That method doesn’t really work, does it? Unless you have a large monitor with tiny windows, it’s not useful. ◊ Right-click the taskbar and choose Tile Windows Vertically. Better. Not many people use three windows at a time, however. Try this: ◊ Right-click the taskbar and choose Cascade Windows. Each window is visible, if only by its title bar. ◊ Minimize the System Monitor. ◊ Right-click the taskbar and choose Tile Windows Vertically. Now you can get a good view of two windows side-by-side; if you need the third window, click its button on the taskbar.

You don’t really need to see all open windows at one time. When you’re working between two programs, however, minimize all other windows and arrange the two windows by choosing Tile Windows Vertically from the taskbar’s pop-up menu.

◊ Close all windows.

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You don’t need to save the document you created in WordPad; click No when asked. ● Why mess with windows this way? Because you can run more than one program at a time. ● Only visible windows are affected by the commands on the taskbar’s pop-up menu. Windows shrunk to buttons on the taskbar are not affected.

Chapter 13

Sharing with Cut-and-Paste


> > > > >

Understanding cut, copy, and paste Refusing to paste Viewing cut or copied stuff in the Clipboard Dragging to copy or cut Dragging to the desktop

Copying, cutting, and pasting should be old hat to you. You have, in addition to the kindergarten stuff, other ways to put information from one program into another program. This chapter covers the lot.

A Basic Cut-and-Paste Review Most productivity applications (programs that do stuff) enable you to cut and paste. Everything about cut-and-paste is kept on the basic Edit menu, as shown in Figure 13.1.


Figure 13.1 Basic cut-and-paste on the Edit menu.

A

Standard Cut, Copy, and Paste commands, along with Undo.

B

The Edit menu contains other, non-cut-and-paste commands.

C

Standard shortcut keys for Cut, Copy, and Paste in all Windows programs.

All these commands should be basic stuff for you, reviewed in Table 13.1. Oh—often included with the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands are Undo and Delete.

Table 13.1

Basic Commands on the Edit Menu

Command

Shortcut Key

What It Does

Cut

Ctrl+X

Copy Paste Undo Delete

Ctrl+C Ctrl+V Ctrl+Z Del

Cuts the selected item, deleting it but also copying it to the Clipboard Copies selected item to the Clipboard Copies item from the Clipboard to your document Undoes your last edit or command Deletes selected item

● The selected item can be text or a graphics image. ● To select text, drag the mouse over the part you want selected. ● To select graphics, click the image or use a selection tool to rope off the part you want. ● Selected things are highlighted on the screen. ● You can copy, cut, and paste within a document, across two documents, or between documents in separate programs.

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”It Won’t Paste!” Cutting and copying are easy: You select the text or graphic you want to cut or copy and then cut it or copy it. You’re done! Pasting can be a pain, though, primarily because many people forget this kindergarten admonition: You cannot paste text into programs that do not accept text, nor can you paste graphics into a text-only document. (This topic is discussed in the following section.) ◊ Start Notepad. ◊ Type some text in Notepad. Type this line: Here is what a red square looks like:

Press Enter two times to end the line. Notice that you’re typing red square, not Red Square. One is for Russians, and the other is a basic shape-and-color learning tool for 4-year-olds. Know the difference. ◊ Start Paint. ◊ Draw a red square. Figure 13.2 shows you how.

Figure 13.2 Drawing a red square in Paint.

A

Right-click here to choose a red fill color.

B

Click here to choose a black line color.

C

Click here to choose the rectangle tool.

D

Click here to choose a filled rectangle.

E F G

Drag from here… …to here. The selection tool.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Select the red square. Use the selection tool to drag a rectangle around the square. ◊ Press Ctrl+C. The square is copied to the Clipboard. ◊ Switch back to Notepad. You can press Atl+Tab or just click the Notepad button on the toolbar. ◊ Press Ctrl+V to paste. Uh. Nothing happens, right?

If it won’t paste, it won’t paste! Don’t keep pressing Ctrl+V and assume that the computer will change its mind. Ensure that you can paste. Check the Edit menu: ◊ Drop down the Edit menu. The Paste option is unavailable, right? The reason is that Notepad is a text-only application. It cannot accept graphics. You cannot paste the red square—a graphic—into a text-only application. It doesn’t work the other way, either: ◊ Select the text in Notepad. Drag the mouse over the text Here is what a red square looks like: to select it. ◊ Press Ctrl+C. The Copy command’s shortcut key is Ctrl+C. ◊ Switch back to Paint. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste. The Paste command is dimmed; it’s unavailable. Why? Because Paint is a graphics program. You cannot paste text into it. Keep both Paint and Notepad open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Don’t worry about knowing in advance which programs don’t let you paste text or graphics. You’ll know when you try to paste and nothing gets pasted.

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Chapter 13 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste ● Quite a few advanced graphics programs don’t let you paste graphics or text— unless the graphics or text were created in that program. ● The bottom line: If the Paste menu option is dimmed, you cannot paste, no matter how dern sure you are. That’s just life in Windows.

Peeking at the Clipboard Everything cut or copied in Windows is stored in the Clipboard. There it sits until something else is copied or cut.

You can view the contents of the Clipboard, but only if you install the Clipboard Viewer program. This program normally is not installed with Windows. Instead, you must add it yourself. To continue, see Chapter 15, “Adding More of Windows,” to read how to add the Clipboard Viewer.

◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡Clipboard Viewer. As usual, click the Show More buttons if anything appears missing. The Clipboard Viewer appears. If you’ve been following along with this chapter’s tutorial, the viewer should look somewhat like Figure 13.3.

Figure 13.3 The Clipboard Viewer.

A B

Previously copied or cut item. The text copied from Notepad.

◊ Switch back to the Paint program. It helps if you can position the Paint program’s window so that you can still see the Clipboard Viewer.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Select the red square again (if you need to). ◊ Choose Edit➡Copy. Lo, the red square appears in the Clipboard Viewer window. Although you still can’t paste the square into Notepad, the red square is available for pasting into any graphics-happy program.

The Clipboard Viewer proves that the Windows Clipboard is capable of holding only one item at a time. Many people forget this fact as they cut and paste.

Keep Notepad, Paint, and the Clipboard Viewer open for the following tutorial.

The Copy-Drag and the Cut-Drag Copying and cutting are done much more easily by dragging with the mouse as opposed to using menu or keyboard commands. Here are a few general rules: ● Dragging a selected item is a cut-andpaste (move) operation. ● Dragging a selected item with the Ctrl key pressed is a copy-and-paste operation.

You can use the Display menu in the Clipboard Viewer to show how cut or copied items look in different programs. It might explain why something copied from one application might look different when it’s pasted into another.

Not every program has drag-and-drop capabilities. Of all the freebies that come with Windows, WordPad is one of the few that enable you to copy-drag or cut-drag.

Dragging and Copying with WordPad WordPad lets you copy and cut text within a document by using only your mouse and maybe the Ctrl key: ◊ Start WordPad. ◊ Switch back to Notepad. Click the Notepad button on the taskbar. ◊ Choose Edit➡Select All. ◊ Choose Edit➡Cut. All the text in the Notepad document has been selected and cut.

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Chapter 13 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste ◊ Close the Notepad window. If you’re asked to save the document, choose No. Better check to make sure that the text was properly cut and saved in the Clipboard: ◊ Switch to the Clipboard Viewer. Yup. (Normally you would never need to do this step; Windows is very good about not losing anything that’s copied. I’m just running a tutorial here.)

You have to be careful here; if you click too soon after selecting the text, you’ll deselect the text and have to start over.

◊ Switch to WordPad. ◊ Press Ctrl+V. Now the text is in WordPad. ◊ Select the words red square. Drag the mouse over the words red square to select them. ◊ Drag the selected text down (but don’t release the mouse button!). Point the mouse at the text, and then drag. Figure 13.4 details what you should see.

Figure 13.4 Dragging text within WordPad.

A B C D

Selected text. Start the drag here. This mouse pointer means that you’re moving something. A + (plus sign) appears here if you’re copying (a Ctrl+drag).

◊ Press and release the Ctrl key (and keep the mouse button held down). A plus sign (+) appears along with the mouse pointer. When you press the Ctrl key, the drag operation becomes a copy, not a move.

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The + by the mouse pointer means that you’re copying (pressing the Ctrl key). ◊ Keep the Ctrl key held down, and drag the text down two lines. ◊ Release the mouse button and then the Ctrl key. The text red square is copied on the third line in WordPad. ◊ Switch to the Clipboard Viewer. The text does not appear because a copy-drag or move-drag operation within the same document doesn’t involve the Clipboard. In fact, you should still see in the Clipboard the original text you copied from Notepad. ◊ Close the Clipboard Viewer window. You’re finished with it for now. ◊ From the taskbar’s shortcut menu, choose Tile Windows Vertically. This command is covered in Chapter 12, “Doing Several Things at a Time.” Both WordPad and Paint should be positioned side-by-side on your screen. ◊ Switch to Paint. ◊ Select the red square. ◊ Press Ctrl+C. ◊ Switch to WordPad. ◊ Press Ctrl+V. The red square appears in WordPad. Why? Because WordPad allows graphics to be pasted along with text. The graphic appears with handles on it—eight total: one each on the corners and sides of the square. You can use the handles to resize the square, or you can drag the thing up or down in the document—just like you dragged text earlier. If the text you copy-dragged (red square) was selected, the graphic you just pasted replaced the selected text. ◊ Close Paint. You do not need to save the red square. Keep WordPad open.

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Dragging to the Desktop WordPad is receptive to copying text and graphics in addition to dragging around text and graphics. In fact, you can drag items from the WordPad window and store them on the desktop. ◊ Drag the red square to the desktop. Figure 13.5 shows how to drag an item of text or a graphics image from WordPad to the desktop.

Figure 13.5 Dragging to the desktop.

A

The graphic is selected in WordPad.

B C D

Drag from here… …to here. The plus sign always appears when you drag to the desktop; all drags to the desktop are copies.

The item copied to the desktop appears under the name Scrap. That name is dumb. It’s like naming all your files File or something. If you want, press the F2 key to rename the Scrap icon something more logical. ◊ Press the F2 key and rename the Scrap icon Red square graphic. Type the new name, and press Enter to lock in the name change.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the WordPad window to reactivate it. ◊ Choose Edit➡Select All. ◊ Press the Delete key. You now have a clean slate to work on. ◊ Drag the red-square graphic scrap back into WordPad. There’s the graphic again. Notice that this technique is an automatic copy-drag; any scrap you drag in from the desktop is copied into the document. Unfortunately, you probably have little need for a red-square graphic (unless you work for the Red Square restaurant). You can replace it with something more interesting, such as your name and address, which you can use at the end of a letter: ◊ Press the Delete key to delete the red-square graphic in WordPad. ◊ Type your name and address, as shown in this example: Julius Caesar 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S. Las Vegas, NV 89109

◊ Select your name and address. Drag the mouse over the text to select it. ◊ Drag it to the desktop. Aha! A different name. Text items from WordPad are given more detailed names than Scrap. The name is still confusing, though. ◊ Press F2 and rename the Scrap icon My Address. Now you have a useful item on the desktop. Whenever you’re writing a letter in WordPad (or Microsoft Word or WordPerfect), you can sign it off by dragging the My Address scrap into the document. No more typing! ◊ Close WordPad. No need to save the document, so choose No if you’re asked.

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Here’s a big clue about whether a program accepts drag-and-drop information from other programs: If the application has an Insert➡Object command, you can drag and drop to it. (The Insert➡Object command has to do with OLE, Object Linking and Embedding, which is an advanced form of cut-and-paste that people seldom use.)

Chapter 13 Sharing with Cut-and-Paste ◊ Delete the red-square graphic icon if you want. Oh, you can keep the red-square graphic scrap if it means something to you. No point in messing up the desktop with it, though. Keep the My Address icon; you’ll probably use it a lot. ● Not every application enables you to drag to the desktop, nor can you drag stuff into any application. WordPad is one of the few programs that come with Windows that lets you do that (Notepad and Paint do not). All Microsoft Office programs, and many other major applications, let you drag and drop to the desktop. ● If you drag the My Address icon into Notepad, it looks kind of disgusting. (What you’re seeing is the Scrap file data format, which WordPad understands and Notepad does not.) ● Dragging to and from the desktop works best if you do not maximize your program windows.

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Chapter 14

Installing and Removing Software


> > > > >

Installing programs in Windows Using the Control Panel to install programs Installing programs the old-fashioned way Removing old, cruddy programs Using third-party uninstall programs

Windows is only your PC’s operating system; it’s not the solution to all your computer problems. (Maybe it’s the source, but I digress.) To get your work done, you use applications—real programs, not like WordPad or Paint. The process of copying those programs to your PC’s hard drive is installation. This chapter covers software installation in addition to the process of removing software when you no longer need it.

Adding a New Program to Your PC Software comes in boxes, shrink-wrapped all neat and tidy for you at the software store. Inside the box are a number of interesting and not-so-interesting items: ✓ The disk (or disks) containing the software ✓ The manual or a “getting started” guide

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ✓ A registration card ✓ Bonus stuff you can toss out The most important item is the disk on which the software lives. Your installation task is to copy the files from that disk to your PC’s hard drive. A special Install or Setup program does that for you, making sure that everything is done just so. ● The disk is most likely a CD-ROM, although some programs still come on floppy disks. ● Computer manuals are terrible, for the most part. They’re also slim to nonexistent in many packages. Don’t fret: You can find most of the documentation in the Help system (refer to Chapter 8, “Help Me!”). ● You’ll probably end up buying a book about the software to supplement any information that comes in the box. ● Sending in the registration card is optional. For some programs, you have to send it in to receive your “free” support. Most of the time, sending in the card just puts you on a junk-mail list. ● You can also register many applications over the Internet. Or you print the information, and then you can fax it if you want. ● Me? I never turn in registration cards. I get enough junk mail already. No matter how much a company promises, I’ve never received information about an update or next edition to any software package I’ve ever registered. (Microsoft doesn’t like it when I write that, but it’s true.) ● Sometimes you’re required to register to activate the product. In those cases, sadly, you must register. Oh, well. ● The ”bonus stuff” you get often includes offers for add-on products, subscriptions to magazines, offers to join AOL, or some other way to waste your money. Sift through the offers lightly.

Installation Overview I can’t tell you exactly what happens during the installation process for every single program out there. The process generally goes like this: 1. You stick the CD in your CD-ROM drive. 2. Windows recognizes the new software and asks whether you want to install it. 3. You run the installation program, which is usually a wizard that asks you a bunch of questions: You’re asked how you want to install the program, choose options, and type your name, for example.

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Chapter 14 Installing and Removing Software 4. Files are copied to your hard drive. 5. Optionally, you might have to restart your PC. 6. You start using the program. 7. You get frustrated because you can’t work the program. 8. You try reading the manual or buy a book. 9. You finally understand the program and start using it. The following bullets highlight some exceptions to the preceding steps, plus some tips and pointers I’ve given people through the years. ● Often you’re asked to disable any antivirus programs you have running. This is done because some antivirus programs refuse to let new programs install themselves. In this instance, however, it’s okay. Look for the antivirus program’s icon in the system tray and right-click. Look for a Disable or Quit command in the pop-up menu. Or refer to the antivirus program’s documentation for specific disabling instructions.

It’s generally a good idea to quit all other programs before you start an installation. Doing so isn’t a must—it’s just that the installation program might restart your computer and, if you haven’t saved a document that’s open in another window, that slows things up.

● If the Install or Setup program doesn’t start automatically when you insert the CD or if you’re installing from floppy disks, you have to use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel. This subject is covered in the next section. ● The Install or Setup program generally offers you choices, with one option suggested. Take the suggested option. Change something only if you really know what it’s all about. ● Restart when the computer asks you to restart. ● After the installation, put the CD or other disks back in the box and store the box in a safe place. If you keep all the goodies in the box that came with the program, you can find them more easily later. ● If the program comes with a tutorial or workbook, do the exercises.

Using the Add/Remove Programs Icon in the Control Panel You stuck the disc in the CD-ROM drive. Nothing. You stuck the floppy disk into drive A. Nothing. Yet you know that the program has to install somehow.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Time to try the Add/Remove Programs icon: ◊ Quit all your Windows programs. ◊ Close all open windows. ◊ Make sure that your installation disk is in the floppy or CD-ROM drive. It would be nice if the computer could grow arms, open your software, insert the disk, and then install everything, but—alas—that won’t happen. ◊ Open the Control Panel. ◊ Open the Add/Remove Programs icon. The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 14.1. Figure 14.1 The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.

A

Click here to have Windows look for your Install or Setup program.

B

List of previously installed programs.

◊ Click the Install button. A wizard appears. Oh, joy. ◊ Click Next. Windows looks on drive A and then on your CD-ROM drive for a setup or installation program. If Windows finds a program, you see its complex DOS pathname displayed in the Command Line for Installation Program input box. If that looks good, you’re done— with this part, at least. If no program is found, either nothing is available to install or Windows just failed again and is making you feel guilty. See the following section.

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Chapter 14 Installing and Removing Software ◊ Click the Finish button to install the program (if any). Or click Cancel to rid yourself of the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box. At this point, your installation program takes over. Pay attention. Heed the advice I so lovingly gave you in the “Installation Overview” section, earlier in this chapter.

Installing Something You Downloaded from the Internet Tons of software, most of it free, is handily available on the Internet for anyone and everyone to download and use. While Chapter 30, “Internet Explorer Orientation and Review,” covers downloading from the Internet, this chapter covers the second step, which is installing the software you download. The first step to install a program you download from the Internet is to find the program. I download everything into a Download folder nestled inside the My Documents folder (which you’ll read about in Chapter 30). ◊ Open the file you downloaded. If you’re lucky, the file is a self-extracting archive, which means it will unzip itself and run a Setup program all automatically. Great! You’re on your way. If the program is not a self-extracting archive, then your Zip file utility (WinZip) will run, allowing you to view the file archive and continue installing the program.

It really helps to have a Zip archive file utility to help you deal with the Zip files you’ll often download from the Internet. My favorite is WinZip, available from www.winzip.com. You can also use the Compressed Folders tool, though it’s not as good as WinZip; see Chapter 15, “Adding More of Windows.”

Look for an Install button, as shown in Figure 14.2. It appears if the archive you opened contains a SETUP or INSTALL program. ◊ Click the Install button, if available. Another dialog box appears, telling you what’s about to happen. ◊ Click OK. The archived files are extracted from the Zip file and the software is installed.

If you don’t have a Zip utility installed (and remember that one doesn’t come with Windows), then opening the Zip file archive results in a display of the dreaded Open With dialog box! Oh no! Click the Cancel button, then go out and get yourself a Zip utility.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If an Install button doesn’t appear, the archive that you’ve downloaded might not be a program that requires installation. In that case, merely extract the files into their own new folder, properly named, and be on your way.

Figure 14.2 Installing a Zip file archive using WinZip.

A B C D E

The archive name. Files in the archive. Actual file size. Compressed size. Click to install this program.

Another reason might be that the archive contains a nonstandard installation program, such as one named GO.EXE instead of SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE. In that case, follow these steps: ◊ Extract all the files to a temporary folder. Click the Extract button and choose the temporary folder. I have a folder named Sto in the My Documents folder specifically for this purpose. ◊ Close WinZip after extracting the files. ◊ Open the temporary folder. ◊ Run the proper Setup program. Or if there is a README file, open it to see what to do next. ◊ When you’re done installing, delete the files from the temporary folder. This is basic disk cleanup; you’ve installed the program, so the files from the archive—and the archive itself—can safely be removed from your computer. Refer to Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders,” for information on deleting files.

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Removing a Program It’s a good idea to remove programs you don’t use. Why? Because doing so frees up disk space. Programs consume disk storage. I had on my hard drive a 28MB monster of a program I used maybe once or twice and then never touched. Removing it gave me back all that disk space. Uninstalling a program isn’t fatal. As long as you still have the original disks, CD-ROM, or Zip file archive you can always reinstall the program later if you need it. If you don’t use the program, however, there’s no point in keeping it around.

Never uninstall a program by removing its icon. You should never delete any icon or any file you personally did not create. Besides, long gone are the days when a computer program consisted of just one file. The typical program now consists of several dozen files located all over your hard drive.

The Absolutely 100% Wrong Way to Uninstall a Program I’m not telling you never to uninstall software. Obviously, if you don’t use the software (like all that junk the dealer put on your hard drive), feel free to get rid of it. Make sure that you uninstall it, though; do not just delete the files, icons, and folders. Another thing people goof up: Removing a program’s menu item from the Start Thing does not remove the entire program from your hard drive. Likewise, removing a shortcut from the desktop or Quick Launch bar doesn’t kill off the program. Use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel, or run the proper Uninstall program.

Never delete program files. Always uninstall them. The Proper Way to Uninstall Just about any program you’ve installed can also be removed by using the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs icon. Although some exceptions exist, most of the main Windows applications you install can be plucked right out in nearly the same manner they were installed. ◊ Open the Control Panel. ◊ Open the Add/Remove Programs icon.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box is displayed, which you’ve already seen in Figure 14.1. Figure 14.3, however, details the bottom half of the box, which is all about removing programs. Figure 14.3 The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.

A

The bottom half of the window deals with removing programs.

B

A list of programs that are installed.

C

Use the scrollbar to see more programs.

D

Select a program, and then click this button to remove it.

If your program doesn’t appear on the list, you have to use a third-party removal program. The one I recommend is covered in the following section. ◊ Select the program you want to uninstall. If you want, you can choose the Delete Windows Millennium uninstall information item, which appears if you’ve upgraded to Windows Me from another operating system.

Not every program you’ve installed appears on the list. In fact, the list might even include programs you’ve already removed.

◊ Click Add/Remove. What happens next depends on which program you’ve chosen. What Windows does is run the program’s Uninstall program or the Setup program with an Uninstall option. The next screen you’ll see is probably your application’s uninstall program, not Windows itself. ◊ Continue working through whatever steps are necessary to uninstall the program. Again, these steps vary depending on the software.

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Chapter 14 Installing and Removing Software If you’re asked to restart your computer, do so. ● You also can use the Add/Remove button to add or remove individual components of a program. For example, you can add or remove programs from Microsoft Office by using the preceding steps. If you never use Excel, for example, you can remove it and leave the rest of Office intact. ● If some rogue program cannot be uninstalled—and you’ve tried everything— consider using the System Restore utility, which is covered in Chapter 46, “Tools to Help You.” ● You can edit the list of programs in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box if you like. This is only for the bold, so the information is stored on this book’s Web site. Use the keyword ByeBye.

The Best Way to Uninstall

You don’t have to use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel if you don’t want to. Many applications install a Remove or Uninstall icon when they’re first set up. You can open that icon and run the Uninstall program manually if you want.

CleanSweep works best if you use the Install Monitor. If you don’t, CleanSweep can guess about uninstalling programs, although it might not get the entire program off your hard drive. For that reason, I recommend buying and installing CleanSweep before you install any other software on your PC.

When I uninstall programs, I do so with Norton CleanSweep. It’s not a part of Windows (so don’t go looking for it on your hard drive). No, CleanSweep is a third-party utility from the folks who make the Norton Utilities. You have to buy it. Although you can get other uninstall utilities for Windows, all of which I’m sure work great, Norton CleanSweep is the only one with which I’m familiar. CleanSweep has two parts: the Install Monitor and the CleanSweep program.

The Install Monitor tracks programs as they’re installed. It checks every little jot and tittle the installation program makes or changes in your system, keeping track of everything. All that information is saved on your hard drive. If you ever need to uninstall a program, you run the main CleanSweep utility. It finds all the pieces of any installed program (especially those that the Install Monitor tracks) and then saves the program in a special backup file. That way, if something doesn’t work right, you can un-uninstall the program to get your computer working properly. Otherwise, you just delete the backup file after awhile, and you’re done.

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Chapter 15

Adding More of Windows


> > >

Adding a new Windows component Removing a Windows component Updating Windows from the Internet

Windows is its own galaxy of programs. At its center is the operating system that controls your computer. Many other programs are in its immediate orbit—some of them useful, some interesting, some an utter waste of time. Quite a few of those little programs are installed with Windows. Some of the programs are not. If you want to install the other programs, this chapter tells you how. If you want to remove some of the Windows galaxy of programs, this chapter tells you how to do that too.

Adding Something Windows Forgot Windows Me doesn’t install all of itself on your computer. A few programs are always left on the CD. Most of the time, you don’t need those programs. Occasionally, however, you might encounter a situation in which you need to add such-and-such a program from the CD. It’s what I call “adding the rest of Windows.”

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition For example, you might need the Clipboard Viewer program, which is covered in Chapter 13, “Sharing with Cut and Paste.” Another, more useful thing to add, especially if you don’t yet have a Zip file utility like WinZip, is the Compressed Folders tool that comes with Windows. The following tutorial details how to add that program, although you can follow along to add just about any component Windows forgot: ◊ Insert your Windows Me CD into your PC’s CD-ROM drive. If you see (and hear!) the Windows Me startup banner, just close that window. ◊ Start the Control Panel. ◊ Open the Add/Remove Programs icon. ◊ Click the Windows Setup tab. You’ll see a list of Windows components arranged by category, as shown in Figure 15.1. Figure 15.1 Adding Windows components.

A B

List of component categories.

C

A shaded check mark means that some items from that category have not been chosen.

D

Scroll down to see more categories.

E

Click here to view individual items in a category.

A check mark means that all items from that category have already been chosen.

◊ Scroll down and select the System Tools category. Or, if you are adding some other component, you can select its category. ◊ Click Details. The System Tools dialog box appears. ◊ Click in the box next to Compressed Folders. This step puts a check mark in the box.

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It’s entirely possible to browse the different categories, checking to see what you have (or have not) installed. Click the Details button, as described in the following step, to see which programs live in each category.

Chapter 15 Adding More of Windows If a check mark is already in the box, you have nothing else to do; the Compressed Folders tool is already installed on your system. ◊ Click OK to close the System Tools dialog box. ◊ Click OK to close the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box. The program is then copied to your hard drive from the Windows CD, which should already be in your computer’s CD-ROM drive. ◊ Click Yes if you’re asked to restart the computer. Don’t forget to close the Control Panel window (if necessary), after the computer restarts. Now you can go nuts, if you want, and install every dang-doodle part of Windows on your PC. ● Refer to Chapter 23, “Exploring Folders,” for more information on using the Compressed Folders tool with Zip files. ● Installing all, or at least more, of Windows uses more disk space. ● Many of the programs that aren’t installed are intended for special situations, such as using Windows in a bilingual setting or configuring your PC for easy access by disabled people. If you won’t use those programs, there’s no sense in junking up your PC with them. ● Some programs aren’t on the list. For example, I cannot manually install the DVD player, even though my PC has a DVD drive. Unfortunately, it’s a DVD drive that Windows does not recognize, so I have to use another DVD player.

Removing a Piece of Windows Removing a piece of Windows is actually quite easy: If you find yourself not using a part of Windows, you can easily remove that program from your PC’s hard drive and save yourself oodles of space. Well, maybe not oodles. To get an idea of how much space each part of Windows uses, look at the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box: ◊ Start the Control Panel. ◊ Open the Add/Remove Programs icon. ◊ Click the Windows Setup tab. On the right side of the scrolling window, you see a list of file sizes in megabytes (refer to Figure 15.1). For example, on my screen, the Desktop Themes item sucks down a whopping 31.1 megabytes of disk space. Jeez! My first PC’s hard drive held only 20 megabytes. Just as you can add a component, you can also remove a component. Why? Primarily to save disk space. If you’re wishy-washy, there’s no sense in removing anything.

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Those Windows themes and sound schemes sure take up a bunch of disk space. To remove a program component, click in its box to remove the check mark. Or you can select the component, click Details, and pluck out individual pieces. ◊ Choose System Tools. Scroll down to find that item, and click once to select it. ◊ Click Details. Two items in my list that I figure I’ll never use are Net Watcher and WinPopup. I’ve no idea what Net Watcher is, but you can find out: ◊ Click Net Watcher. View the Description part of the dialog box to see what it does. Okay. ◊ Click WinPopup. View its description as well. ◊ Click in the box by an item to remove the check mark. See the new Space Freed Up item in the window? That item tells you how much disk space will be freed when you click OK. ◊ Click OK. Nothing is deleted yet, so feel free to browse other components and delete things you might not need. If you don’t know what you do not need, don’t delete anything! My advice is to use Windows for a while and then review the component list again later. If you haven’t used a program on the list, remove it. Watch the Space Freed Up entry increase in size as you pluck out more unwanted stuff.

You can always reinstall any of the Windows components you delete; a copy of every program is on the Windows CD-ROM.

When you’re finally ready to commit, click OK or Cancel to bail out. If you click Cancel, close the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box and the Control Panel. If you click OK, you’ll probably be asked to restart your computer. Do so. ● Net Watcher or WinPopup might not be installed on your computer if you haven’t set it up for networking.

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Chapter 15 Adding More of Windows ● I was once a big fan of WinPopup but have since switched to using the Post-it Notes software available from 3M. ● If you should happen to run out of disk storage space, removing some of the Windows programs can help. Another tip is to remove the “Delete Windows Millennium uninstall information” program, which is covered in Chapter 14, “Installing and Removing Software.” Also see Chapter 21, “All About Hard Drives,” to read about several things you can do to free up disk space.

Using the Online Windows Update In addition to the copy of Windows that comes on the Windows CD-ROM, you also can update Windows through the Microsoft Windows Update Web site. Do it this way not so much to add new programs as to tune and tweak Windows Me to perform better with your PC. ◊ From the Start menu, choose Windows Update. If you cannot locate the icon on the Start Thing, type WUPDMGR.EXE into the Run command’s dialog box. (See Chapter 11, “Other Ways to Start Your Stuff,” for more information on the Run command.) The Windows Update program connects you with the Internet. The Internet Explorer Web browser starts up, taking you to the update page out there in cyberspace. The Windows Update Web page looks something like Figure 15.2.

Figure 15.2 The Microsoft Windows Update Web page.

A

The content and layout of this Web page change over time.

B

Click here for a menu of product updates.

C

Click here for online help (more-or-less).

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the Product Updates item. The Product Updates item is a link on the Web page, shown in Figure 15.2. Clicking Product Updates displays a menu of additional items for updating Windows. It also might prompt a program to be sent from the Microsoft computer on the Internet to your computer. ◊ If you see the Security Warning dialog box, click Yes. Your computer might need a special online program in order to work with the Microsoft update program. Clicking Yes sends the program from Microsoft to you. In a few moments, you’ll see a list of items suggested for your computer. Figure 15.3 shows an example.

Figure 15.3 The result of what Microsoft finds lacking on your Windows system.

A

Various files and programs Microsoft “suggests.”

B

Click here to read more information.

C

Click here if you choose to download the file.

D E

The file’s size.

F

Approximate amount of time it would take to send the file to your computer. Click here to download the files you’ve checked.

Scroll through the suggestions.

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Chapter 15 Adding More of Windows

Carefully pay attention to the file size and download time. I won’t have you download anything for a tutorial, because downloading takes time. Anyway, scroll through the list and browse for anything you might want or need. If you find something, click the Read This First link for more information. To select something, put a check mark in the box by that item. You can select more than one thing.

Definitely download the critical updates, if any. Choose from that category all the files that apply to your system.

To continue, click the Download button. A multistep download checklist appears. Review the items on the list. Click the Start Download button, and follow whatever additional instructions, dialog boxes or prompts are displayed. Eventually Microsoft starts sending you the file, at which time you can sit back and watch, or browse elsewhere on the Internet to pass the time. Eventually, it’s done! Don’t forget to close the Microsoft Windows Update window and disconnect from the Internet.

If you want to print the information displayed on the screen, click the Print button on the Internet Explorer toolbar or choose File➡Print if you cannot see either the toolbar or the button. I recommend printing the information, especially if detailed instructions are involved with the program setup.

● Refer to Chapter 7, “Your Internet Orientation Chapter,” and Part V, “Planet Internet,” for more information about the Internet. ● You might be required to register your copy of Windows before you can use the Windows Update service. If so, you’ll be prompted to register when you try to use the service.

Check the Windows Update page at least once every few months to see whether any new files or updates are available for your PC and Windows.

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Part III

Printing and Faxing

Chapters in This Part 16 Printing and Such How to use your printer and the Print dialog box.

17 Printing Things on the Screen Secret techniques for printing a copy of the screen, a window, and a list of files in a folder.

18 Hello, Printers Folder! Adding, removing, and tweaking your printers.

19 Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing) Windows no longer comes with faxing software, so this chapter provides a brief overview of how faxing would work using a third-party faxing program.

Part III


A

The Print Screen key takes a snapshot of the desktop (Chapter 17).

B

Alt+Print Screen takes a snapshot of a window (Chapter 17).

C

The Printers folder (Chapter 18).

D

Add a new printer (Chapter 18).

E

The default printer (Chapter 18).

F

The Print dialog box (Chapter 16).

7

Choose another printer (Chapter 16).

H

Print a range of pages (Chapter 16).

Chapter 16

Printing and Such


> > > > >

Using Page Preview Printing one page at a time Printing left and right rather than up and down Printing on different-sized sheets of paper Using another printer (if you have one)

A computer without a printer is like a house without a front porch. My real estate guy said that a front porch on a house is like a smile. So, in a roundabout way, I suppose that a computer with a printer must be smiling. Although I wouldn’t normally write an entire chapter—let alone an entire part of a book—about printing, I get lots of email messages and questions about printing. Fortunately, in Windows, the printing process works exactly the same in every program. After you get the procedure down pat, printing should be a snap.


The Tao of Printing I suppose that printing is A Big Deal because it involves two different pieces of hardware: a computer and a printer. It also involves paper. Normally, because you print on standard typing or photocopier paper, printing isn’t a big deal. If you ever have to change anything, however—paper size, orientation, margins, whatever—printing becomes a pain. That’s what this section tries to help you avoid. To work the tutorials in this section, you have to create or open a document in WordPad: ◊ Open WordPad. The document you create should be several pages long. Unless you have a head full of random thoughts you want to type right now, you’re probably better off opening a document that’s already on disk—something you can play with. ◊ Choose File➡Open if you would rather not type three pages of text now. The Open dialog box appears. ◊ Use the Look In list to find drive C. ◊ Open the Windows folder. ◊ Choose Text Documents (*.txt) from the Files of Type drop-down list. Scroll to the left, and you should find a whole gaggle of text files stored in the Windows folder. If you have the FAQ file, open it. It has lots of good information in it. Otherwise, choose the GENERAL file or any other file that’s more than two or three pages long (about six screens full). ◊ Choose a file from the list, and then click Open to open it. You now have something to print for the next several sections’ tutorials. ◊ Ensure that your printer is on and ready to print. You’re ready to go. ● Using the FAQ file is a good idea for this tutorial. If you know of another large file you can open in WordPad, do so. ● WordPad doesn’t do page numbers. If you need page numbers, Microsoft wants you to buy a “real” word processor, preferably their Microsoft Word product.

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Chapter 16 Printing and Such

Where Everything Lives All Windows programs print from the File menu. It typically has three printingrelated commands, as shown in Figure 16.1.

Figure 16.1 Printing commands.

A B

Displays the Print dialog box. Keyboard shortcut for the Print dialog box.

C

See how the printed document looks before it’s printed.

D

Set paper, margin, and orientation options.

E

The Print button prints without displaying the Print dialog box.

F

Print Preview button.

All the commands in Table 16.1 are on the File menu in most Windows programs (some programs might not have all of them).

Table 16.1

Commands on the File Menu

Command

Shortcut

What It Does

Print Print Preview Page Setup

Ctrl+P None None

Displays the Print dialog box Shows the document as it will look when it’s printed Sets margins, paper size, and other printing options

Previews of Coming Printing Attractions The Print Preview command is badly underused. Although the screen might show you fonts and layout and such, only the Print Preview command shows you what the whole page looks like. Using this command saves time over printing sample copies.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Choose File➡Print Preview. The Print Preview window appears, as shown in Figure 16.2. (If the margins appear screwy, then it’s probably a hold-over from when you printed an envelope in Chapter 5. I’ll show you how to fix that in a moment.)

Figure 16.2 The Print Preview window.

A

Your document as it will look when it’s printed.

B C

Margins. Click to close this window and print.

D

Click to see the next or preceding page.

E F G

View two pages at a time.

H I

Zoom in or out. Click the mouse pointer to zoom in. Return to your document. Number of the page you’re viewing.

Subtle differences exist in the way various programs display the Print Preview window. For the most part, the key elements shown in Figure 16.2 are always there. ◊ Click the Close button. The Print Preview window is banished, and you return to WordPad. ● You can also click the Print Preview button on the toolbar to see a document preview. ● Some applications let you edit text in the Print Preview window. In most applications, however, the Print Preview window is a look-only thing.

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Printing Pages Individually or in Groups The FAQ document, like many documents you’ll work with, is several pages long. At times you probably don’t need to print all the pages in a document. For example, if the printer chews up page 3, rather than reprint your whole document, just print page 3: ◊ Choose File➡Print. The Print dialog box appears, beautifully illustrated in Figure 16.3. Figure 16.3 The Print dialog box.

A B

Page range area. Print the whole dangdoodle document.

C

Print one or several pages.

D

Print only text you’ve selected.

◊ Click the Pages button. You want to tell Windows to print only page 3. At first glance, the Pages button looks like it prints a range of pages, from 1 to whatever. You can use this item to print only one page, however. ◊ Type 3 in the From box. ◊ Type 3 in the To box. Printing from page 3 to page 3 prints only page 3. ◊ Click OK to print. Voom, voom, voom. Page 3 slides out of the printer. Two things you probably didn’t see: First, a dialog box said, “Now printing such-andsuch a document on such-and-such a printer.” Second, a little printer guy was (or maybe still is) in the system tray area of the taskbar. That guy appears only when you’re printing, and he gives you access to the printer window. Unfortunately, he disappears after the document is printed (and sometimes before).

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The printer window is discussed later in this chapter. ◊ Inspect what you printed. Ensure that the proper page was printed, although you have no real way to tell in this tutorial because the pages aren’t numbered. (That’s why WordPad is free; when you pay money for a word processor, you get automatic page numbering.) ◊ Select the first seven lines of text in the document.

You can use the Print Preview command to see how long your WordPad document is. Just choose File➡Print Preview and continue clicking the Next Page button until you get to the last page. The page number appears in the lower-left corner of the window.

Use the mouse to select the first seven lines of text. In the FAQ document, that includes all the information up through the copyright notice. ◊ Press Ctrl+P to summon the Print dialog box. ◊ Click Selection. ◊ Click OK. Only the document’s first seven lines—the selected text—are printed. Keep WordPad open for the next section’s tutorial. ● The Pages range can include any page number, from the first page to the last. ◊ Printing selected text is one way to print part of a document that is either less than a page or some non-page-size amount, such as a page-and-a-half.

Printing a Range of Pages in Microsoft Word Microsoft Word (and possibly other programs) has a different method for printing a range of pages. Instead of the Pages item having a From and To box, it has just a text box. You can type the range of pages you want by using a hyphen: 2-5 prints pages 2 through 5 9-10 prints pages 9 and 10 You can print individual pages by specifying each one, separated by a comma: 3 prints page 3 3,5,7 prints pages 3, 5, and 7

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Or you can combine the methods to print a document in all sorts of pieces: 1,5,9-12 to print pages 1 and 5 and pages 9 through 12. Why this step is different, I’ll never know. It’s the only really weird exception (I haven’t seen how WordPerfect does it in the current version). Excel and other Microsoft programs tend to stick with the standard Print dialog box, more or less. Whatever the case, just watch out for any oddities you might encounter.

Changing Orientation Does orientation refer to how the paper is oriented (up-and-down versus left-andright), or does it refer to how the words appear on the paper? Mankind might never know. You can at least take a guess after working this tutorial. Continue to use WordPad from the preceding section as you print the first page of your document in landscape orientation.

Landscape orientation is “longways,” or left to right. Portrait orientation is up and down, like you normally print. ◊ Choose File➡Print. Hey! There’s no orientation option in the Print dialog box. Dang! Well, there might be. It depends on the program. Some programs put the orientation item in the Print dialog box; most don’t. WordPad doesn’t. In fact, the pageorientation option shouldn’t even be in the Print dialog box. Why? Because it’s not a printing operation—it’s a formatting operation. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Print dialog box. ◊ Choose File➡Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box pops up, as shown in Figure 16.4. ◊ Choose Landscape.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 16.4 The Page Setup dialog box.

A

A preview of what the printed document layout will look like.

B C D E

Margins. Choose the paper size here. Orientation is chosen here. Set margins here.

Notice how the preview at the top of the dialog box changes? It reflects how a typical page in your document will be printed. Hey! In fact, those margins look dorky. Better change them all to one inch: ◊ Enter 1 in the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom input boxes. A nifty shortcut for this step is to double-click in the Left input box first: Type 1 and press the Tab key; type 1 in the Right box and press the Tab key; type 1 in the Top box and press the Tab key; and then type 1 in the Bottom box. Notice how your changes affect the preview. ◊ Click OK.

Don’t worry about changing the paper in your printer! It’s the printer that prints in landscape mode. You don’t need to do a thing!

Back in WordPad it’s hard to tell that landscape printing mode is active; the screen looks just about the same. However, because you adjusted your margins, you should notice that the ruler in WordPad is much longer now. That’s always a good hint. (Choose View➡Ruler to show the ruler if it’s not currently visible.) Now you’re ready to print: ◊ Choose File➡Print. You want to print only one page, the first page. ◊ Choose Pages. ◊ Type 1 in the From box.

200

Chapter 16 Printing and Such ◊ Type 1 in the To box. ◊ Click OK. The document comes out of the printer in landscape orientation. The margins aren’t affected if you’re printing a text document, like a FAQ; unlike a word processing document, the text document is “hardformatted.” Keep WordPad open for the next section’s tutorial.

Your printer can print only so close to the edge of the paper. On most laser printers, it’s a half-inch from the edge of the paper. Do not set your margins any wider than that, or else your text will not print.

● The changes you make in the Page Setup dialog box affect the entire document, not just one page. ● If I’m printing on three-hole punched paper (to put in a binder), I always set the left margin to 2 1/2 inches. That leaves enough room for the binding or the punched holes. ● Some ink jet printers have a larger top margin than bottom. ● Landscape mode works best for things in a left-to-right display; for example, well—a landscape! On a computer, most often you print things such as spreadsheets and charts in landscape mode. In fact, I use the Print Preview command in Excel all the time to see whether I can save a page of paper by printing in landscape mode.

Changing Paper Size Switching to a different-sized sheet of paper isn’t something you do often. In fact, it depends more on your printer than on anything the Print dialog box can do for you. Most printers have the capability to accept any size sheet of paper that fits. For example, the printer tray on most laser printers can accommodate either American letter paper (8.5 by 11 inches) or European A4 paper (8.27 by 11.69 inches). For other sizes, however, you need another paper cartridge or some type of expensive adapter. Ink jet and other types of printers might allow you to manually feed different-sized sheets of paper. Still, they have limits, which depend mostly on the Print dialog box. Writing a tutorial for this subject is rough because I have no idea what type of paper cartridge you have available. Still, I can show you where the decisions for paper size are made.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Assuming that you’re still in WordPad: ◊ Choose File➡Print. ◊ Click the Properties button. The printer’s properties dialog box appears, which is different for every printer on the market. The one you see in Figure 16.5 is for my Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 870C. ◊ Click the Paper panel to bring it forward (if it isn’t already). The Paper panel is where you choose various options for the paper in your printer.

Figure 16.5 The Paper panel in the Printer Properties dialog box.

A B C D E

The Paper panel. Choose the paper size here (it might be a drop-down list in some dialog boxes). Choose the orientation. Other options (vary from printer to printer). The paper source is important if you have other paper cartridges.

Note the paper-orientation area. It does the same job as the paper-orientation area in the Page Setup dialog box. Changes you make there are reflected here and vice versa. The list of paper sizes you see are particular to your printer. For example, one of my printers comes with a cartridge for printing on tabloidsize paper (twice as wide as letter-size paper). Many paper sizes obviously don’t have their own cartridge. When you choose one, you have to select Manual Feed from the Paper Source list. Your printer then sits and waits for you to feed it the proper paper.

202

If your printer has a separate cartridge for printing on legal paper, be sure, when you choose legal-size paper, to also choose the proper cartridge from the Paper Source list. Your printer will then expect you to switch cartridges when you print, if the proper cartridge isn’t already in place.

Chapter 16 Printing and Such ◊ Click Cancel to close the printer properties dialog box. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Print dialog box. ◊ Quit WordPad. The tutorial ends! ● The paper options in the printer properties dialog box are duplicated in the Page Setup dialog box. A change made in either place is reflected in the other dialog box. ● Do not forget to change the paper source! If you’re printing on a postcard, you’ll probably want to use manual feed.

Some programs have advanced options for setting the paper size. For example, in the Microsoft Word Page Setup dialog box, you can specify an exact paper size. This process is ideal for printing invitations or other items of a weird size. As long as the paper fits in your printer’s manual feeder, you can print. Trial and error is usually necessary, of course, to get everything looking right.

Choosing Some Other Printer If your PC is blessed with more than one printer or you have access to printers on the network, Windows lets you make a snap decision about where to print your document. Normally, all the stuff you print goes to your PC’s favorite printer (referred to by the ugly term default printer). That you should be familiar with. If you have another printer, however, you can print on it too. The following tutorial assumes that you have more than one printer installed for your PC: ◊ Open WordPad. ◊ Type Hello alien printer!. Okay, it won’t win a Hugo Award. If you feel more creative, however, or have something you really want to print, type it or open that document instead. I’m just running a tutorial here.

Make sure that what you choose is a printer and not some special printerutility program. For example, in Figure 16.6, HiJaak Print Capture is a program designed to save a printed file as a graphics image. I have no idea what the Rendering Subsystem printer is, so I just don’t choose it.

◊ Choose File➡Print. The Print dialog box appears. Notice the Name drop-down list. From that list you can choose the other printer on which to print:

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Drop down the Name list. Press Alt+N and then Alt+↓ (the down-arrow key) or click the down-arrow next to the list. You’ll see all the printers available to your computer. Figure 16.6 shows what’s available on my PC. ◊ Choose another printer.

Windows remembers which printer you chose. If you print in WordPad again, the document will print on the last printer you chose.

Choose the printer by clicking its name on the list.

Figure 16.6 Choosing another printer.

A B C D

Click here to see the list. This computer’s favorite printer is chosen automatically. Other printers. This printer is the only other one; the rest are special programs.

I can’t tell you which printer to choose because I don’t have your computer. Just choose any printer. In Figure 16.6, I chose the Canon printer. ◊ Click OK to print. The document is printed on the alien printer. If it’s a network printer, you might have to lug your corpulent self over to the printer to retrieve your document. ◊ Choose File➡Print. Lo, the alien printer is still selected. It stays selected until you do one of two things: Choose another printer and print something or quit that program.

It’s always a good idea to check which printer you’re using before you print.

204

Chapter 16 Printing and Such After you quit a program in which you’ve changed printers, Windows forgets about the other printer and continues to use your favorite printer. Prove it: ◊ Close the Print dialog box. Click Cancel to complete that step. ◊ Close WordPad. You don’t have to save the silly document if you don’t want to. ◊ Start WordPad.

The color printer in my office is “up for grabs” on the network. That way, if someone else (my wife or sometimes my son) wants to print a document in color, all she has to do is switch over to that color printer. Sharing a fancy printer in that way gives everyone access to its fancy features.

◊ Choose File➡Print. Ahhh. The universe is in balance. The favorite printer has been restored. ◊ Click Cancel. ◊ Close WordPad. Ommmm.… ● Refer to Chapter 18, “Hello, Printers Folder!” for information about installing more printers. ● Setting one printer as your favorite is also covered in Chapter 18. ● The Hugo Award is the most prestigious honor in science fiction literature.

Big tip: See how important your printer name is? Figure 16.6 shows some strange names. Giving your printer a good, descriptive name helps you choose it from a list of otherwise cryptic, hieroglyphic names. See the section “Changing a Printer’s Name” in Chapter 18 if you’ve named your printer poorly.

● Choosing a fax “printer” is how you send faxes in Windows. Windows Me no longer has a fax program (which is good because the old Microsoft Fax was a lousy program). A fax program probably came with your modem, and you can use it to send faxes. See Chapter 19, “Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing).”

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Chapter 17

Printing Things on the Screen


> > > >

Printing an image of the desktop Saving the desktop image Using Alt+Print Screen to print a window Printing a list of files

Ever stare at your keyboard, mulling over the possibilities for some of the more bizarre names? SysRq? Scroll Lock? Break? (Why is it Break and not Brake?) Then there’s the Print Screen key. Fear not the Print Screen key! In Windows the Print Screen key has nothing to do with your printer. Well, not directly. This chapter shows you how to use the Print Screen key to take a snapshot of the desktop or a window. Also covered is the mysterious method for printing a list of files in a folder. ● Before Windows was DOS. In DOS the Print Screen key did send a copy of the text screen to the printer. ● The SysRq (System Request) key has no function in Windows. (SysRq shares a key cap with the Print Screen key.) ● The Scroll Lock key is used mainly in spreadsheets to switch between cursor and screen control, whatever that means.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● The Break key has no function in Windows, although in DOS, Ctrl+Break was used to halt a DOS program run amok.

Printing a Snapshot of the Desktop The Print Screen button doesn’t print the screen, although it does copy to the Clipboard an image of the screen. From there you can paste whatever’s onscreen into any program that accepts graphics—even save it to disk or print it to get a permanent copy of your desktop. It doesn’t matter what you have onscreen; Print Screen takes a picture of it. ◊ Press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. Nothing happens! Actually, the Print Screen key has taken a snapshot of the desktop, saving it in the Windows Clipboard. ◊ Start the Paint program. ◊ Maximize Paint. ◊ Press Ctrl+V to paste the desktop image. If you see a warning dialog box explaining that the image in the Clipboard is larger than the bitmap, click Yes. The desktop picture appears in the Paint program’s document window. You can scroll down or left to see the full thing. It should all be there. If you want to print, I recommend changing the image size; your desktop is probably twice as wide as your printer can print. ◊ Choose Image➡Stretch/Skew. The Stretch and Skew dialog box appears. Because you want to shrink your image by half, change the horizontal and vertical size to 50 percent (the top boxes): ◊ Type 50 in the Horizontal% text box. ◊ Type 50 in the Vertical% text box. Ensure that you’ve typed the values in the right boxes. ◊ Click OK. Well.… Although the image is smaller, it might not be what you were expecting. I think it’s okay because you just want a picture of where things are and, unfortunately, shrinking an image in Paint doesn’t retain a lot of detail.

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Chapter 17 Printing Things on the Screen If you’re fussy, press Ctrl+Z to undo the resizing. Then go back to the Stretch and Skew dialog box and choose 75 rather than 50—and remember that your entire image still might not fit on a piece of paper. ◊ Choose File➡Print. Make sure that your printer is on and ready to print. ◊ Click OK. (You might not be pleased with the results. Keep in mind that Paint isn’t the world’s best graphics program.) You can also save the desktop image. You probably don’t want to keep the small version, however. ◊ Press Ctrl+V. Yes, this merely repastes the original image back into Paint. This is a handy trick to remember, but it doesn’t work if you’re copying and pasting a lot of stuff. ◊ Choose File➡Save As. The Save As dialog box appears. It should be set to show the My Documents folder. If not, browse to that folder.

I save an image of the desktop on all my Windows computers. (I usually minimize all the windows first, though.) The reason is that once upon a time Windows randomly reorganized my desktop for me. It hasn’t happened in awhile, although if it does happen again or if one of the kids decides to rearrange my desktop, I have the Desktop Map file to help me arrange things to the way they were.

◊ Type Desktop Map in the File Name box. ◊ Click Save. ◊ Quit Paint.

Printing a Window and Only the Window The Print Screen key has two modes of operation. The first, in which you press Print Screen by itself, was demonstrated in the preceding section. That’s full-screen mode. The second mode is top-window mode, which copies to the Clipboard the image of only the top window. ◊ Double-click the time on the system tray. The system tray is on the taskbar and displays a hoard of tiny icons plus the current time. Double-clicking the time opens the Date/Time Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 17.1.

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Figure 17.1 The Date/Time Properties dialog box.

A

Current month/change the current month.

B

Current year/change the current year.

C

Current calendar day/change the day.

Suppose that you work for a boss who demands to know what time you stop using your computer. Show him in style: ◊ Press Alt+Print Screen. The Alt+Print Screen key combination captures only the topmost onscreen window, saving it as an image in the Clipboard. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Date/Time Properties window. Now you get to write your memo to the bully boss: ◊ Start WordPad. ◊ Maximize WordPad. ◊ Type Here is when I quit work today:. ◊ Press the Enter key twice. ◊ Press Ctrl+V to paste in the graphics image. You’ll see an image of the Date/Time Properties dialog box pasted into the window. There! That’ll show him! Figure 17.2 shows what I see on my screen. ◊ Click the Print button on the toolbar. The image prints instantly; when you click the Print button on the toolbar, you don’t see the Print dialog box. If you don’t see the toolbar, choose View➡Toolbar from the WordPad menu.

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Chapter 17 Printing Things on the Screen

Figure 17.2 A letter to the boss.

A B C

Text you typed. Pasted graphics image taken by pressing Alt+Print Screen. Click here to print this page.

◊ Close WordPad. You can choose whether to save the file at this point. If it’s meaningful to you, save it. (I didn’t!)

Printing a List of Files in a Folder Can Be Done Notice that pressing Alt+Print Screen captures only the visible part of a window. To prove it, try this test: ◊ Open My Computer. ◊ Open drive C. ◊ Open the Windows folder. Click the link View the Entire Contents of This Folder (on the left side of the window) if no files are displayed when you open the Windows folder. The Windows folder contains a galaxy of files and folders, but does Alt+Print Screen show you the entire list?

I could have created every image in this book by using Alt+Print Screen. In fact, I’ve written books in which all the images were captured by a combination of Alt+Print Screen or just the Print Screen key alone. For this book, however, the publisher wanted all full-screen “screen shots,” so I used only the Print Screen key.

◊ Press Alt+Print Screen. The top window is captured, saved as an image in the Clipboard.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Start Paint. ◊ Press Ctrl+V to paste the image. If you’re told that the image is larger than the bitmap (or something), click Yes. Gander at the image. Use the scrollbars if you have to. Notice that only the window was captured. Some 300 (or so) files are in the Windows folder. I’ll tell you right now: There is no way in Windows to get a picture of all of them. Sure, you can scroll down the window a chunk at a time and press Alt+Print Screen to paste into Paint and print. That kind of drudgery, however, is exactly what the computer is supposed to prevent. Oy.

Windows has no solution to printing a list of files in a directory. You can cheat, however. Prepare to cheat! Whenever you want to print a list of files in a folder, you have to “cheat” and use DOS. The list of files might be necessary in order to compare files between two computers, print a summary of files required for a project, or do other types of record keeping. (I suppose that it’s not something you’ll do all the time, which is probably why no File➡Print command is available—although that’s a lame reason.) Rather than go to a DOS window to print the file list, you can use this shortcut: ◊ Close Paint. You do not have to save the file; click No. ◊ Use the Address bar to browse to the My Documents folder. A smattering of files, but not too many, should be in that folder. (If you see more than 50, browse on your own to another folder that has 50 or fewer files in it.) To print the list of files, you have to use DOS—not the DOS prompt itself (although that method works), but rather an ingenious DOS command. See? Even though DOS is dead, it still does some things that beat the pants off Windows. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Shortcut. The Create Shortcut dialog box appears.

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Chapter 17 Printing Things on the Screen ◊ In the Command line text box, type command /c dir /o > prn. You type this line: command /c dir /o > prn

That’s command, a space, slash C, a space, dir, a space, slash O (the letter O), a space, a greater-than symbol, a space, and prn. Those are all forward slashes; the / character is found on the ? key on your keyboard. Make sure that the command looks exactly like it does in the preceding step. (That mandatory exactness is what frustrated so many people when they used DOS.) ◊ Click Next. ◊ Type Print a List of Files. The name of the shortcut icon is Print a List of Files. ◊ Click Finish. The icon appears in your My Documents window, as shown in Figure 17.3. Figure 17.3 The new Print a List of Files icon.

A

Standard MS-DOS shortcut icon.

B

Other files in the My Documents folder.

C

It’s always nighttime at http://www.msn.com.

Don’t try out the icon yet! ◊ Right-click the Print a List of Files icon. ◊ Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The Print a List of Files Properties dialog box appears. ◊ Click the Program tab to bring that panel forward. You have to do a few things before you run the program, just to ensure that everything is working properly: ◊ Erase any text in the Working box. It probably says C:\Windows there now. Delete it! If you don’t, the program prints only the files in the C:\Windows directory—not what you want. ◊ Put a check mark by Close on Exit (if one isn’t there already).

A quick way to delete the text is to double-click in the text box and press the Delete key.

Them be all the modifications you need. ◊ Click OK. The Print a List of Files Properties dialog box disappears. You’re ready to test this procedure. Make sure that your printer is online and ready to print. ◊ Open the Print a List of Files icon. Blipvert! You might see a DOS window appear and then quickly disappear, or you might not. The list of files in the My Documents folder prints on your printer. You might have to press the Online or Select button first and then press Form Feed to eject the page. On some printers you might have to press a Menu button and choose Eject or Form Feed from the menu. (See your printer’s manual or refer to an office computer geek for help.)

Some printers won’t print the list right away; you must press the Form Feed or Eject button.

Soon you have a crisp list of files in your eager hands. You might be baffled because the list looks something like this: Volume in drive C has no label Volume Serial Number is 036B-1104 Directory of C:\My Documents . .. MYMUSI~1

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01-20-99 01-20-99 06-01-00

9:53a . 9:53a .. 2:19p My Music

Chapter 17 Printing Things on the Screen MYPICT~1 05-02-00 5:13p IMAGEE~1 05-25-00 12:23p JOB01 TXT 692 06-21-00 11:04p TODAY’~1 TXT 77 06-27-00 12:58p TELEPO~1 DOC 5,120 07-02-00 8:51p BEAMME~1 DOC 5,120 07-02-00 8:52p MYSTOR~1 TXT 606 07-02-00 8:56p ENVELO~1 DOC 4,608 07-03-00 5:17p FLYING~1 07-02-00 8:57p TOMSAW~1 TXT 13,368 07-03-00 1:27p YAHOO’~1 HTM 10,558 08-01-98 2:59p DALAIL~1 TXT 1,823 04-07-00 10:43a DECLAR~1 DOC 14,336 05-26-98 11:52a HALFLI~1 TXT 606 06-02-99 12:17p METROP~1 JPG 12,153 07-15-97 10:23p OFFICI~1 GIF 10,968 07-31-98 11:01p ALLMYF~1 DOC 31,744 08-06-98 12:58p IMAGEP~1 TXT 168 07-08-00 12:15p TELEPO~1 TXT 1,214 07-14-00 2:30p NEWFOL~1 07-14-00 2:32p SPIDER SAV 468 07-15-00 9:02p TEST ZIP 16 07-16-00 10:24p DOWNLO~1 07-16-00 11:10p MARTHA DOC 455,168 07-17-00 12:10a PRINTA~1 PIF 967 07-17-00 1:15p 20 file(s) 569,780 bytes 8 dir(s) 2,886.00 MB free

My Pictures Image Expert Images JOB01.TXT Today’s Profit.txt Teleportation.doc Beam Me Up.doc My Story.txt Envelopes.doc Flying Car Tom Sawyer.txt Yahoo’s Home Page.htm Dalai Lama.txt Declaration of Independence.doc half life cheats.txt metropolis.jpg officialpenguin.gif All My Fonts.doc Image Preivew Data.txt Teleportation.u.txt New Folder spider.sav test.zip Downloads martha.doc Print a List of Files.pif

DOS displays the files, icons, and folders all in plain text. Everything is in a column: ● First—Describes the file’s DOS name, which is cryptic ● Second—Displays the file’s type as a three-letter extension ● Third—Displays

to flag directories or folders

● Fourth—Displays the file’s size in bytes ● Fifth—Displays the file’s date ● Sixth—Displays the file’s time ● Last—Displays the file’s long name—the name given to the icon or folder Granted, this process is cryptic, although it’s one of the few ways to see a list of all files in a folder. Compare them to what you see in the window. ◊ Close the My Documents window. Or you can leave the window open, if you plan to tinker. ● To print a list of files for another folder, you have to copy the Print a List of Files shortcut to that folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If the file list output is too long and cryptic for you, edit the DOS command. Right-click the Print a List of Files icon, choose Properties, and, on the Program panel, type the following line for the Cmd Line: command /c dir /o/b > prn

The new command (which is which is often all you need.

DIR /O/B)

displays a list of only long filenames,

● You can always use DOS to print a list of files in a folder. Of course, I don’t elaborate on that subject here.

How Does the DOS Command Work? Here’s how the DOS command that’s used to print a list of files works: command /c—This part of the command runs the MS-DOS prompt program, although the /C option tells DOS to run only the following command and then quit. dir /o—The DIR command displays a list of files, and the /O option sorts the files in alphabetical order. > prn—This cryptogram sends the DOS command’s output to the printer rather than to the screen. It does not spew the page from the printer when it’s done, which is why you have to press the Form Feed button.

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Chapter 18

Hello, Printers Folder!


> > > > > > >

Viewing the printers in your Printers folder Naming a printer Choosing a default printer Viewing and changing the printer queue Deleting a document in the queue Installing a printer Installing a network printer

You might think that the printer lives outside your computer, sitting by your desk. Physically that’s true. To Windows, however, your printer lives in the Printers folder. It’s one of those special folders that lives in Windows, showing you information about your printer and such. This chapter takes you on a cheap, one-day tour of the place where Windows thinks your printer lives.


Introducing Your Printers Folder The Printers folder is one of the magic folders you can find all over Windows. The best way to get there is from the Start Thing: ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Settings➡Printers. Lo, the Printers folder appears, which looks something like Figure 18.1, except that it shows your computer’s printers and not mine.

Figure 18.1 The Printers folder.

A B C

Hey! That’s good information. This isn’t good information. Run this thing when you add a new printer.

D

This computer’s default printer, which is the one I use.

E

The wee li’l default check mark, telling me that this printer is my favorite.

F G

Other printers I can use. The network hose indicates a network printer.

Keep the Printers folder open for the next few sections. ● Every printer attached to your computer, and printers you use on your network, appear in this window. ● Other icons appear in the window. If you have a fax modem, for example, you should see an icon for it in the window as well. Faxing is like printing (see Chapter 19, “Sending a Fax [Which Is Like Printing]”). ● The window says to right-click a printer to get more information. Wrong! If you right-click the printer, you see a shortcut menu. If you choose the Properties command from the shortcut menu, however, you can see more information (don’t expect informative information, though; it’s more like raw data). ● You also can find the Printers folder in the Control Panel. ● No matter how you get there, all Printers folders are the same.

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Chapter 18 Hello, Printers Folder!

Changing a Printer’s Name Naming a printer is important, but only if you have more than one printer or are sharing the printer on a network. After all, if you’re the only one using your computer, you can name your printer Wandnolstalpian and no one will care. If you have more than one printer or are sharing your printer on a network, you probably want something more descriptive than Wandnolstalpian. Maybe “Color InkJet” or “Laser Printer with Business Letterhead” would be better? Hmmm? Changing a printer name in the Printers folder works in the same way as renaming any icon in Windows: ◊ Click the printer icon once to select it. If you have more than one printer showing, choose the default (favorite) printer. Look for the black circle with the check mark in it to find your favorite printer (refer to Figure 18.1). ◊ Press the F2 key. F2 is the Rename command shortcut. I find it easier to use than the other ways of getting at the Rename command, primarily because your fingers are already on the keyboard to retype the new name. ◊ Type Honey Bun. You can press the Backspace key to back up and erase or press the arrow keys to edit the text. ◊ Press Enter to lock in the new name. There—you’ve renamed your printer as Honey Bun, which is utterly nondescriptive. On your own, repeat the preceding steps and restore your printer to its original name—or something more descriptive, now that you have the chance. ● Changing the printer’s name in no way affects the printer’s performance or other statistics. It’s just a name. ● The other ways to rename a file after selecting it (other than pressing the F2 key) are to choose File➡Rename from the menu or choose the Rename command from the icon’s shortcut menu. ● A printer name is originally assigned when you install your printer. (Windows recommends using the printer’s factory name. Gross.) Installing a printer is covered near the end of this chapter.

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Picking Your Favorite Printer Most PCs come with only one printer port, but not every printer is a printer-port printer any more. No, there are USB printers and you can have dozens of them connected to a single computer. And then there are printers on the network. More and more printers! Any printer installed on your computer is “up for grabs” any time you want to print. But of the entire lot, one printer must be selected as your favorite, the one your computer will use unless you tell it otherwise.

I call it your “favorite printer,” although Windows uses the ugly term “default printer.” Yuck. You can make any printer in the Printers folder the default. You might have only one printer, but if you have more, it’s a snap to make another printer the favorite, er, default. Suppose that your PC is hooked up to a color printer but for printing your novel you decide to use the faster laser printer: ◊ Right-click the icon of the printer you want to make your favorite. For example, I could right-click the HP LaserJet 5P you saw back in Figure 18.1. Right-clicking the printer icon displays a shortcut menu. ◊ Choose Set as Default. The tiny check mark icon moves from your current favorite over to the new one (Figure 18.1 shows the check mark). Now Windows uses the new default printer as your favorite.

Remember that you can always switch printers on the fly in the Print dialog box. See the section “Choosing Some Other Printer,” in Chapter 16, “Printing and Such.”

● Oh, and you can always switch back to another printer whenever you want. ● Eventually new PCs won’t come with a printer port at all; everything will be USB. So if you plan on investing in a new printer, consider a USB model.

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Checking the Print Queue Let me put the print queue in perspective: About 15 years ago, whenever you printed anything, you had to wait on your computer. Whether you were printing a single page or the equivalent of War and Peace, you could not use your computer until all the printing was done. Why? Because computers and printers back then were slow. Welcome to today. Printers are fast. Not only that—Windows doesn’t wait for the printer to finish printing before it lets you do something else. Instead of drawing all the computer’s attention, the document to be printed sits in a sort of doctor’s waiting room until the printer is ready. That sort of waiting room is called the print queue. ◊ Open your default (favorite) printer. In other words, while in the Printers folder, double-click your printer’s icon to open it. A window is displayed, similar to the one shown in Figure 18.2. Figure 18.2 A printer’s window, where the queue lives.

A B C D E

Printer’s name. Documents waiting to be printed are listed here, in the queue. Document’s name goes here. Is it printing, waiting—what? The computer that “owns” the document, or the user’s name, might appear here.

F

The number of pages of the document that are already printed goes here.

G

The time the Print command was given for the document.

H

To see this information, make sure that a check mark is next to the View➡Status Bar option on the menu.

If you have just printed something, you see that document listed in the printer’s window. If you have just printed a bunch of documents, you see them all listed in the window as they wait to print. If your printer is shared on a network, you might even see documents from others waiting to print.

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As long as your document is in the queue, it will print. If a printer error occurs, Windows lets you know. The following experiment might or might not work, depending on the speed of your printer: ◊ Open Paint. ◊ Choose File➡Open. ◊ Look in the C:\Windows folder. Choose drive C from the Look In list, and then open the Windows folder. ◊ Open the Forest file, FOREST.BMP. You might have to scroll right to find it. The Forest file is simply a graphics image of a bunch of pine leaves, or “needles,” as my wife calls them. I’m using a graphics image here because most printers take awhile to print it and you can see the image waiting in the queue.

Sometimes, looking at the queue comes in handy. For example, you might send some huge document full of graphics to print and wonder why it’s not printing yet. Fine: Check the printer’s window, and look at the queue. The document might just be waiting. (Waiting for what, who knows?) At least the queue tells you that the Print command was successful.

◊ Choose File➡Print. ◊ Click OK. ◊ Switch back to your printer’s window. Pressing the Alt+Tab key combination should accomplish this step right quick. What you should see is the file waiting to be printed, which looks something like Figure 18.3. You might not catch your printer plugging away. In fact, some printers are too fast and you might never see anything in the queue. ◊ Close Paint. Switch back to the Paint window by pressing Alt+Tab, and then close that window. In addition to just looking at the queue, you can do other things to the documents waiting to be printed. You can cancel a print job in the queue, which is covered in the next section. You can also move a print job, dragging it up in the list to print it ahead of other jobs. Again, this trick works only if you’re printing a number of documents and can see them in the window.

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Figure 18.3 Lo, a document in the queue.

A B

The document being printed.

C

Each document is called a print “job.”

The word Printing here means that the document is, well, printing.

Figure 18.4 shows a buncha jobs sitting in the queue, waiting to be printed. If you want one of them to be printed before the others are printed, just drag it up in the list and drop it near the top. I’ve done it only a few times in my life—once as I was printing several long chapters with lots of graphics and I needed a short, little letter to be printed quickly.

Figure 18.4 Moving a print job.

A

A ton of documents waiting to be printed (must be some sort of emergency).

B

Current document (the one that’s printing).

C

Other documents are printed in this order.

D

Last document that will be printed.

E

Drag any of these files up or down the list to drop them in their new printing position.

◊ Close your printer’s window. ◊ Close the Printers window. No sense in wasting eyeball molecules staring at an empty queue. ● A queue (pronounced “Q”) is a line. In England, they call a line a queue (which is actually more proper than line). Millions of Brits queue up to see Star Wars, for example.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● The name of the publisher of this book was adopted from the term print queue, although the extra ue was dropped to prevent Americans from calling the outfit “Q-E Publishing.” ● Sometimes don’t you just feel like going nuts and typing queueueueueueue?

Canceling a Print Job Sometimes, if you’re very quick, you can cancel what would seem to be “uncancelable.” Although it seems as though choosing File➡Print is a final act, it’s not! You can stop a print job in several ways. Suppose that because you think your computer is broken, you press Ctrl+P several dozen times. Then you look at the printer’s window and see several dozen copies of the same document lined up in the queue. When that happens, follow these harried steps: ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Settings➡Printers. ◊ Right-click your default printer’s icon. A shortcut menu appears. Hurry! ◊ Choose Purge Print Documents. Bloop! They’re gone. All documents are removed from the queue and disappear from the window. Even though the documents are gone, don’t be upset if your printer continues printing. Like a computer, a printer has memory. It might have stored the last few documents in memory and is printing them now. ◊ Close the Printers window. Stopping your printer is another step; it’s different for every printer. With a dot-matrix or ink printer, just turn it off. You might have to manually remove or reset the paper feed before turning on the printer again. With a laser printer, you might or might not be able to cancel. If your printer has a Reset button, that method works: Press the Online button to take the printer offline, and then press the Reset button. If that’s not possible on your printer, you’ll have to refer to its manual for detailed instructions about resetting the printer or canceling something looming in the printer.

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Installing a New Printer for Your Favorite PC You can add a printer to your computer system in two ways, neither of which involves a shotgun or animal sacrifices: You can give your computer its own printer and connect it directly to the PC’s rump. Or you can use a computer on the network, if you have a computer network. The following two sections describe the details for both methods. Good luck!

Adding a Printer Connected Right to Your PC Adding a printer to your computer is about 20 percent physical and 90 percent mental. The physical part: This part might have already been done. If your printer is set up, plugged in, and ready to go, skip down a few paragraphs to read about the mental part. ◊ Set the printer somewhere near your computer. The standard PC printer cable can be as long as 15 feet; USB printers have a cable limit of about 10 feet. Even so, you’ll want to keep the printer within arm’s reach. Unpack the printer or lure someone else into doing it for you. Remember that printers have lots of tape and plastic thingamabobs inside. An instruction sheet, often titled Getting Started, should tell you what to remove and where. Follow the setup instructions in the printer’s manual. They will tell you what to plug in where and in which order to plug things in. Sometimes the computer should be off. Sometimes it should be on. The instructions will let you know. ◊ Stock the printer with paper. Buy the right kind of paper for your printer. Do not buy typing or bond paper. For a laser printer, get photocopier paper. Buy it cheap, by the case. Thicker, better papers are available for more money, but avoid getting paper too thick for the laser printer to chew. For an ink or color printer, you have lots of paper choices, from standard photocopier paper to special papers that hold the ink better—even photographic-quality paper. As usual, you pay much more for the better stuff. (I just paid $15 for 10 sheets of highquality photo paper.) Dot-matrix printers can use fanfold paper, which comes in various thicknesses. This type of printer is the only one that still prints multipart forms—in case that’s what your business needs.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Turn on the printer. Ta-da! The mental part: Concentrate on the printer. “You will work. You will work.” Okay. Enough mental conditioning. With the printer plugged in, turned on, and stocked with paper, you’re ready to tell Windows about it. This process should be exciting, especially if it’s a color printer and someone else paid for it. ◊ Put your Windows CD-ROM into your PC’s CD-ROM drive. Because Windows has to copy the printer’s files from the CD-ROM to your PC’s hard drive, you might as well have the disk ready to go. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Settings➡Printers. The Printers dialog box is displayed. ◊ Open the Add Printer icon. The Add Printer Wizard starts. Unlike adding other hardware on your computer, adding a printer does not involve Plug and Play. In the future, Windows might be able to recognize and install a printer the second you plug it in. Today, however, you have to tell Windows all about your printer manually, er, mentally: ◊ Click Next. Local printer and network printer are confusing terms. Obviously any printer in your office is local, and all printers can be used on a network. ◊ Choose Local Printer. The printer you’re adding is connected directly to your PC. I would have called it Open This Computer’s Printer, but I’m too dumb to work for Microsoft. ◊ Click Next. You might briefly see a window describing how Windows is building database driver “whatever” information. Okay. Fine. Wait it out. Eventually the Add Printer Wizard displays a list of manufacturers and printers known to Windows, as shown in Figure 18.5. ◊ Select your printer’s manufacturer from the list on the left. For example, I’m using a Canon Bubble Jet printer, which is made by, surprisingly enough, Canon. Clicking the manufacturer’s name displays a list of printer makes and models on the list on the right.

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Figure 18.5 Choose a printer from this window.

A

Find your printer’s manufacturer on this list.

B

Choose the printer model name and number from this list.

C

Click here if your printer doesn’t appear or if it came with its own disk.

◊ Select your printer’s make and model from the list on the right. You should find this name and number on your printer somewhere. It’s really obvious. For example, I have five printers in my office, and each one has its name and number on it, right up front: ✓ Canon Bubble Jet BJC-70 ✓ Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 870Cse ✓ Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4V

If your printer name and number aren’t listed, your printer probably came with one or more floppy disks or a CD. Put the floppy disk or CD into the proper drive, and click the Have Disk button. Click OK in the Install From Disk dialog box to continue.

✓ Epson Stylus Color 900 ✓ Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Pay attention to the numbers and names. A definite difference exists, for example, between my LaserJet 4 and LaserJet 4V. Windows needs to know that difference. ◊ Click Next. Windows needs to know how the printer is attached to your computer. It’s probably guessing LPT1 onscreen, which is how most printers are attached to PCs. Only if you know otherwise should you choose anything else. ◊ Click Next. You can give your printer a new name or not, as shown in Figure 18.6. I always name my printers, so I typed Color Bubble in the box. It’s more descriptive and fun than Canon Bubble Jet BJC-70 (which I got on sale, by the way).

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Figure 18.6 Give your printer a name.

A

Your printer’s ugly manufacturer’s name.

B

Click here if you want to use this printer all the time.

C

Click here if you plan to use another printer as your main printer.

◊ Click Yes to make this printer your main printer (if Yes isn’t chosen already). This step is an issue only if you have more than one printer connected to your PC. It’s not a big issue because you can change favorite printers at any time, a subject that was covered earlier in this chapter, in the section “Picking Your Favorite Printer.”

The name in the Printer Name text box is the name that appears in the Windows Printers folder as well as in all the Print dialog boxes in every program.

◊ Click Next. Printing a test page is a good idea. It confirms that you’ve done everything correctly, and, well, it’s fun. ◊ Choose Yes (recommended). ◊ Click Finish. Files are copied from the Windows CD-ROM to your PC’s hard drive. The test page is printed, and a dialog box is displayed, asking you whether the page looks, well, okay. ◊ Click Yes if the page looks, well, okay. If you click No, meaning that the page wasn’t printed or looks bad, Windows runs the Printer Troubleshooter for you, which helps nail down exactly what went wrong.

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Adding a Network Printer With a network in your office, adding a printer involves no physical effort. Essentially you steal, uh, I mean borrow a printer that’s already installed on another computer. No disks. No cables. Just a computer on the network is all you need. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Settings➡Printers. The Printers dialog box is displayed. ◊ Open the Add Printer icon. The Add Printer Wizard starts up. Yadda-yadda.

Many printers have adjustments that can be made to improve the print quality or fine-tune other aspects of the printer. For example, the Canon Bubble Jet BJC-70 requires a color cartridge to be in place before it can print in color. Your color printer might be the same, so don’t think that anything’s wrong if it doesn’t print in color.

◊ Click Next. ◊ Choose Network Printer. ◊ Click Next. In the next panel, choose the computer whose printer you’ll be using. Figure 18.7 explains.

Figure 18.7 Locate the printer on the network.

A

Click here to find the printer on the network.

B

No one I know personally can remember the full pathname to a network printer.

C

Choose only if you use MSDOS programs from which you’ll be printing, such as the old WordPerfect or dBASE.

D

If you choose this option, you cannot print from any MS-DOS programs on the network printer.

E

Graphic that entices you to use the network printer.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the Browse button. The Browse for Printer dialog box displays computers on your network that have printers up for grabs. Figure 18.8 explains things.

Figure 18.8 The Browse for Printer dialog box.

A

You might have to browse here to find network printers.

B

Only computers that are sharing printers are listed here.

C D E

Computer. Printer. Printers directly connected to a network would appear here, somewhere.

◊ Select the printer you want to use. Open a computer in the list by clicking its plus sign. That step displays any network printers available for that computer. Some printers are connected directly to the network, and they appear on the list right there with the computers. Click the icon of the printer you want to use. ◊ Click OK. You return to the Add Printer Wizard with your printer’s complex and uninteresting pathname displayed in the Network Path or Queue Name text box. ◊ Click Next. Give the printer a name, if you want. It’s not necessary; the name that appears in the Printer Name text box is the one the sharing computer uses. ◊ If this printer is your only one, choose Yes. At the bottom of the Add Printer Wizard dialog box, you’re asked whether you want to use the network printer as your default printer (or the printer on which everything is printed unless you specify otherwise). If this printer is your only one, the answer is Yes.

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Chapter 18 Hello, Printers Folder! An example of when you would choose No would be if you added a specialty printer, one that was available only on your network (for example, a color printer or highspeed printer). In that instance, you might want to use another printer as the default instead. ◊ Click Next. You want to print a test page, just to make sure that the network is operating properly, so choose Yes (Recommended). ◊ Click Finish. Windows busily copies the necessary printer files from the network to your computer. Wocka-wocka-wocka. If you see the Version Conflict dialog box, choose Yes to keep any current files on your computer; try not to overwrite files on your PC with older files elsewhere on the network. Windows displays a dialog box asking you whether the test page was printed correctly. ◊ Go grab the test page. If it looks okay, click Yes. You’re in business. If the document doesn’t print or looks ugly (ugly as in “utterly wrong”), click No to run the Printer Troubleshooter. ● After adding the printer, the printer’s icon appears in the Printer folder window. ● The default printer (the one your computer uses unless you say otherwise) has a check mark next to it. (That’s a check mark, not the Nike swoosh thing.) ● Note that all network printers have plumbing; pipes below the printer indicate that it’s on the network (either that, or it’s a hydraulic printer).

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Chapter 19

Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing)


> > >

Sending a fax with your PC Receiving a fax Using the Internet to send a fax

Think about it: A fax machine is really a printer. It’s not a printer connected to your PC, however. Instead, you must use the phone lines to call up the remote fax machine and then scream in the proper pitch to have that fax machine print. If you think of a fax machine in those terms, you can easily understand how to fax using your computer. Alas, Windows no longer comes with its own fax program. This is actually a blessed relief; for years I’ve been writing about Microsoft’s lousy fax program (which changed with each new version of Windows), and for years I’ve been telling my readers to use something else. Now you have to. But don’t worry, this chapter still offers an overview of faxing from your computer. ● To send or receive a fax, your PC must have a fax modem installed. Almost all modems sold today have the capability to send and receive faxes. ● Your modem must also have faxing software, or you can buy a third-party solution such as WinFax Pro from Symantec. ● You can also fax using the Internet, which is covered briefly in this chapter.


The Overview of How Computer Faxing Works I’ll be honest: I have a real fax machine. I use it to send and receive faxes because, well, I understand how it works. I rarely use the computer to fax things, even though sometimes it’s more convenient than printing and faxing; with the computer, faxing is printing.

Faxing works just like printing. To fax a document, follow these general steps: 1. Compose the document you want to fax. 2. Choose File➡Print and select your fax modem or fax program as your printer. 3. Enter information about to whom you want to send the fax, choose a cover page, and perform other tasks. 4. Send (“print”) the fax. The only major difference between faxing and printing is the selection of the fax modem or fax software from the Print dialog box. Step 3 involves filling in the phone number to where the fax will be sent, if the fax program has a database of names, choosing a contact name. Optionally, you can compose a cover page, which will be sent before the fax is sent. You also can schedule a time to send the fax, though you’ll probably want the fax to be sent immediately in most cases.

Remember that you must go out and purchase a faxing program to use on your computer, preferably one that’s compatible with Windows Me. Older fax programs that used to come with Windows will not work with Windows Me. Trust me.

With some sophisticated faxing software you can broadcast the fax, sending it to several recipients at once. ● No, you cannot send the fax to yourself, unless you have a separate fax machine on another phone line. ● Even though being able to send faxes from your computer is nifty, a real fax machine might still come in handy. For example, a fax machine is good for sending things such as signed contracts, purchase orders, and other stuff you would have to retype or scan before faxing—which would be a hassle.

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Chapter 19 Sending a Fax (Which Is Like Printing)

Receiving a Fax To have your computer step up to the modem plate and wait for a fax pitch, you have to ensure that your faxing software is set to receive. In that mode, the faxing software monitors the phone line, checking for incoming calls. When something does ring in, the fax modem picks up the line and the fax software takes over, interpreting the incoming fax and eventually storing it on your computer. Then you sit and wait for a fax call to come in. By the way, it’s good to have a dedicated phone line for incoming faxes.

A-ha! A fax is coming in! At this point your fax software should take over and receive the incoming fax. The image is stored as a graphics file on disk—not a text file. Some advanced faxing software might have the capability to interpret the image as plain text, but for the most part what you get is a large picture of the incoming fax. You can store, print, or delete the incoming fax images as you please. Your computer might play a tone or sound, indicating that a fax has been received.

Using the Internet to Send a Fax If you look up faxing in the Windows Me Help system, it suggests that you might want to check out one of the many Internet faxing Web pages. Apparently you can send email to various addresses and, either for free or for a sign-up fee, a computer will magically convert your email to a fax. Now, I’ve never tried this myself, but supposedly it works. Just use Yahoo! or any Web search engine to locate an email faxing Web site and give it a shot. If I ever stumble across anything I can recommend, I’ll mention it on this book’s Web page (www.wambooli.com/help/WinnyMe/0).

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Part IV

Disks, Folders, and Files Chapters in This Part 20 Disk Drive 101 Basic information on disk drives, names, and letters.

21 All About Hard Drives Tools to keep your hard drive healthy and happy.

22 Removable Disks and Drives Working with floppy disks, CD-ROM drives, and other removable disk drives.

23 Exploring Folders Working through the folder tree with Windows Explorer.

24 Organizing Folders How to organize your folders.

25 File Fun Basic file manipulation: copying, moving, renaming, and the like.

26 Using the Send To Command Not only using Send To, but customizing the menu as well.

27 Essence of a File How to tell what’s in a file by looking at its icon; also file association.

28 Hunting Down Files Finding files even when you know only what the file smells like.

29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling Removing unwanted files and getting them back again. Also, customizing the Recycle Bin.

Part IV


A

Work with these guys (Chapter 20).

B

Maintain your hard drives (Chapter 21).

C

Format a floppy disk (Chapter 22).

D

Use your CD-ROM drive (Chapter 22).

E

Make folders work for you (Chapter 23).

F

Manipulate files (Chapter 24).

7

Use the Send To command (Chapter 25).

H

Discover what this icon means (Chapter 26).

I

Find lost files (Chapter 27).

J

Empty the trash (Chapter 28).

Chapter 20

Disk Drive 101


> > > >

Understanding disk drives, letters, and names R ecognizing disk icons Getting a different look at your disk drives Changing your disk’s name

If a computer had only one type of long-term storage, no one would ever have to mess with disk drive names, letters, and types. Things just aren’t that easy, though. Your PC most likely has several types of long-term storage devices—called disk drives. You probably have a floppy drive, one or more hard drives, a CD-ROM or DVD drive, and maybe even a Zip drive. Your computer needs to know the difference between these types of drives, and so do you. That’s why this chapter is your basic disk drive orientation chapter, “Disk Drive 101.” ● Long-term, or permanent, storage is what your disk drives provide. ● Short-term, or temporary, storage is provided by your PC’s memory, or RAM. ● You need both types of storage: short-term for creating or working on your stuff and long-term for saving your stuff for later.


Disk Drive Names and Letters The disk drives inside your computer are named after famous letters of the alphabet, from A to Z. You can also give your drives their own names, called volume labels. The “volume” is the disk, and the “label” is its name. Even so, Windows and your software still refer to the drive by its letter, not by any volume label. ● A volume label is another name for a disk, a name you can give the disk and change at any time. ● Yeah, I hate the term volume label too, but I live with it. ● You cannot change the drive letter assigned to a disk. Well, you can’t change it much. (More on that in Chapter 22, “Removable Disks and Drives.”)

Drives A Through Z Ever wonder why letters are assigned to disk drives? I don’t. I’m just happy that they don’t have strange names. With everything else in the computer biz named after a famous random number, be thankful that you have only letters of the alphabet to deal with when you’re using disk drives. One letter per drive is enough for me, thanks. ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. My Computer lists all the disk drives on your PC. Figure 20.1 shows my test computer’s disk drives, which are similar to what you see but not exactly the same.

Figure 20.1 Disk drives on your computer.

A B C

Floppy drive A. Disk’s name. Disk’s drive letter, in parentheses.

D

Hard drive C, the first (main) hard drive.

E F

CD-ROM drive.

G

Additional hard drives, CDs, and removable drives would appear here. The ubiquitous Control Panel.

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Chapter 20 Disk Drive 101 Drive A. The first floppy drive on your PC is called drive A. For most PCs now sold, drive A is a 3 1/2-inch floppy drive capable of using 1.44MB floppy disks. Occasionally you might find a computer that uses the LS-120 or “SuperDisk” as drive A. (More on that in Chapter 22.) Drive B. Where is drive B? Most PCs are sold without a drive B, although it would be a second floppy disk if you had one. Back in the old days (about 1982), having two floppy disks was the cat’s pajamas. That was before hard drives were standard on a PC.

You cannot open drive A unless you have a floppy disk in the drive. Not only that, but the floppy disk must also be formatted. More on this subject in Chapter 22.

Drive C. The first hard drive on your PC is called drive C. This holds true whether or not you have a drive B. Note in Figure 20.1 that the hard drive has a letter and a name. The name is optional, and you can change it, which I’ll show you how to do in a few paragraphs. Drives D and up. If you have any additional hard drives, they’re given letters D and up. For example, one computer I own has hard drives D through F. It’s similar to having extra closet space: The more hard drives you have, the more room that’s available for storing your stuff. CD-ROM or DVD drive. Your PC most likely has a CD-ROM or DVD drive. That drive is typically given the next available drive letter after the last hard drive. On most systems, the CD-ROM/DVD is drive D, although it could also be drive E or even F, G, and up. You can even change the letter to something more suitable, which is explained in Chapter 22. Removable drive. If you have any removable disk drives, they also appear in the My Computer window along with their drive names and letters. You might find one, none, or several of the following: Zip drive. The Zip drive is an option on many computers. It’s basically a superduper floppy drive capable of storing 100 or 250 megabytes on a single disk. Jaz drive. The Zip drive’s big brother, the Jaz drive can store one or two gigabytes of information on a single disk. That’s a great deal of storage space. Magneto-optical (MO) drive. This type of hybrid CD-ROM disk/floppy disk stores from 130 to more than 600 megabytes of information. It’s used primarily by graphic-artist-types to hold their huge graphic-artist-type files. This type of removable drive (Zip, Jaz, MO, or whatever else) is given a letter after your last hard drive or CD-ROM drive.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The sequence of disk drive letters following your last hard drive varies. The next letter could represent a Zip drive or CD-ROM drive or whatever. The order depends on which drives Windows recognizes first when it starts up. Network drive. Not shown in Figure 20.1 but visible on many systems is a network drive. This type of drive represents disk storage on other computers elsewhere on the network. ● You can add more hard drives to your PC, if you want. In fact, most PCs have room for a second hard drive. Adding one is a great way to get more storage space. ● Special drives, such as Zip drives, usually have their own special icons. ● The icon shown for the CD-ROM drive varies. If you have a Music CD, for example, a special Audio CD-ROM icon appears. DVDs also have their own unique icons. ● No special icon shows the difference between a DVD and CD-ROM drive—at least not right now.

Dear Dan: My one and only hard drive is down to 672MB out of 2GB used. I’m new at this, and my friend says that all is well and don’t worry about it. Others tell me something is wrong, that I should have more space left on the hard drive. What do you think? Dan says: Not to worry. Windows actually has a program called Low Disk Notification that appears if your disk storage gets too low. When you see such a notice, then it’s time to consider buying a second, larger hard drive. That’s really the best solution.

Basic Disk Drive Icon Identification Table 20.1 describes some of the icon types lurking in the main My Computer window, along with what they might represent.

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Chapter 20 Disk Drive 101

Table 20.1 Icon

Icons in the My Computer Window

Represents A 3 1/2-inch floppy drive, either drive A or drive B. A 5 1/4-inch floppy drive, most likely drive B. Some computers keep this older drive format handy to remain compatible with older systems. Your typical hard drive, drive C (and drives D, E, and up, depending on your PC). A CD-ROM or DVD drive (both use the same icon). The drive letter that’s assigned depends on your PC. Some PCs might have more than one, in which case multiple icons appear in the My Computer window. Replaces the CD-ROM or DVD icon (see preceding entry) when you insert an audio CD in the drive. You can play the CD (see Chapter 22), thus turning your $1,000 computer into a $200 boom box.

A Different View of Things If you’re puzzled by the contents of the My Computer window, you can change your view: ◊ Adjust the My Computer window so that you can see the Views button. Drag the window’s right side to the right until the Views button comes into view. (Choose View➡Toolbars➡Standard Buttons if you cannot see the buttons in the My Computer window.) ◊ Click the down-pointing triangle by the Views button. A drop-down menu appears. ◊ Choose Small Icons.

For the first time ever Microsoft does not allow RAM drives (superfast memory disks) to be used in Windows. It’s sad to see my old friend finally go. Sniff, sniff.

Right now you’re looking at Small Icons view. I suppose that if you had several hundred hard drives, this view would be a good way to see things. ◊ Choose List from the Views button menu. I use List view primarily for wrangling files, which is covered in Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders.”

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Choose Details from the Views button menu. Aha! Details view looks like List view but adds a description after each disk drive (and after the folders). Figure 20.2 shows what you might see. Figure 20.2 The Details view of your PC’s hard drives.

A B C D E F

Disk drives are listed here. Type of disk drive. Total storage space. Amount of space available. Because no disk is in the drive, a value is not displayed here. A CD or DVD disk always has zero bytes available.

◊ Choose Large Icons from the Views button menu. The window returns to the way it looked originally. ● Using the Views➡Details command is an excellent way to see which types of disks you have and how much storage is available. ● You can also directly select the view by right-clicking in the window and choosing the View submenu from the pop-up menu that appears.

Giving Your Disk a Name or Changing Its Old Name All disks on your system have a drive letter. That’s what’s important. What’s not important is the disk’s name—the volume label thing. You can add a name, change a name, or remove a name. It doesn’t matter. The name appears in only a few places, and your software doesn’t care whether you name a disk.

244

Chapter 20 Disk Drive 101 ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop (if it’s not open already). The main window shows all the disk drives on your computer. On my screen (refer to Figure 20.1), my hard disk C is named Local Disk. Dumb. On another computer I own, drive C is named Micron, probably because I bought the computer from Micron Electronics, although I remain suspicious. ◊ Right-click drive C. A pop-up menu appears. ◊ Choose Properties. The disk’s Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 20.3. Various tidbits of information are displayed, along with a text box showing the disk’s name.

Figure 20.3 Drive C’s Properties dialog box.

A

The General tab displays random statistics.

B C D E

Disk drive icon.

F

Type a new name here. Information, la-di-da. This topic is covered in Chapter 21. Click here when you’re done.

A-ha! It’s a text box. You can change the name. ◊ Type a new name in the Label box. Typing a new name erases the old name. Or you can edit the existing name to something more personal (for example, Micron becomes Mike Ron).

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If you erase the name, Windows gives the disk the label Local Disk, which is dumb. If you want the disk to appear not to have a name, type a single underline character into the Label text box. What can you name a disk? Just about anything. You can type only up to 11 characters, letters, numbers, and spaces. You cannot, however, use only spaces to name the disk, which used to work with older versions of Windows but won’t work any more. Press Backspace to back up and erase if you make a mistake. ◊ Click OK to assign the new name. The new name appears whenever you reference the disk. However, the disk still retains its original drive letter. ◊ Close the My Computer window. Thus endeth the tutorial. ● You cannot change the name of a CD-ROM or other write-protected disk. ● You must have a floppy disk in your floppy drive to assign the drive a name. Ditto for a Zip drive; put the disk in the drive before you right-click its icon. ● You can always go back and change the disk’s label later. It’s really no big deal.

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Chapter 21

All About Hard Drives


> > > > >

Using Disk Cleanup to free up disk space Using the Defragmenter to tune up your disk Using ScanDisk to fix your hard drive Scheduling your disk maintenance chores Backing up (advice only)

Your hard drive should be very important to you—dear, in fact. All your data is stored there. All your programs. Your power supply can fry, the memory can pop and sizzle, the microprocessor can mess up math problems, and your monitor can melt, but your data survives on the hard drive. You should use every tool at your disposal to keep that data safe and happy. That’s what this chapter tells you how to do. ● Personally, I find hard drives impressive: They spin at thousands of RPMs, hold billions of bytes of data, and can generally operate for five years or more without losing information. Wow. ● Lightning can strike your computer deaf, dumb, and blind, but as long as your data survives on the hard drive, you can get everything back. ● My first computer book (with my name on it) was about hard drives: Hard Disk Management with MS-DOS and PC-DOS, published in 1986. Hard drives and I, we go way back.


Checking Your Hard Drive Windows comes with an assortment of tools to help you manage your hard drive, and to ensure that it’s always in tip-top shape. Running these programs every so often is a regular part of using your computer, just like changing the oil is a regular part of using a car.

You do change your car’s oil every so often, don’t you? Never mind. This section serves as an introduction to the various hard disk tools Windows provides. Later in this chapter, in the section “Scheduling Disk Maintenance for When You’re Not There,” you’ll learn how you can automate these chores so that it’s not so much of a pain in the butt to do them.

Cleaning That Hard Drive Junky files accumulate on a hard drive like chocolate adheres to a 4-year-old’s face. Even the most fastidious disk manager can always find rogue files sucking up valuable disk space. The last thing you need to do is wantonly delete files to clean up disk space. Never do that, in fact. Delete only files you created yourself. Never delete program files (uninstall them instead). Other files? For them, use the Disk Cleanup program: ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. ◊ Right-click drive C. ◊ Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. In the drive C Properties window, you’ll see various and sundry information about the hard drive. Blah, blah, blah. Refer to Figure 20.3 if you need to know what’s what. ◊ Click Disk Cleanup. Windows takes a few moments to examine your disk drives. (Whistle aimlessly here.) Finally, the Disk Cleanup for Drive C dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 21.1.

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Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives

Figure 21.1 The Disk Cleanup dialog box.

A

Potential space you can clean up on this drive.

B C

Select an item here, and… …see a description of it down here.

D

Put a check mark in this box to clean up the suggested item.

E

Amount of space each item uses.

F

Options for removing your software (refer to Chapter 14), parts of Windows (refer to Chapter 15 ), and information kept by the System Restore utility (refer to Chapter 46).

G

Don’t bother viewing the files; there’s nothing you can do.

To decide whether to delete a file, read its description. ◊ Choose Temporary Files. Just click that item; you don’t have to put a check mark in the box just yet. Read the description in the Description area. See? Temporary files are created in order to be destroyed. Why do they accumulate? Who knows? ◊ Choose Temporary Internet Files. Read the description. Uh-huh. ◊ Choose Downloaded Program Files. ◊ Click View Files. You’ll see a list of program files Internet Explorer has grabbed from out yon. As long as all of them are flagged as Installed, you have nothing to worry about and can delete them. If one file is flagged otherwise, though, don’t choose this option. ◊ Close the Explorer Window.

249

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Notice that the Disk Cleanup program has already flagged Temporary Internet Files and Downloaded Program Files for removal. That’s fine. ◊ Choose other files to delete. My advice? Click everything. Put a check mark in all the little boxes: ✓ Temporary Internet Files—This is the infamous “cache” you might have heard about. Internet Explorer keeps a copy of all the images and most Web page text you view, which can consume a lot of space. Free it up! ✓ Downloaded Program Files—A misleading name, these are actually programs downloaded by Windows or Internet Explorer for itself. Some are Java programs, for example. These are not the programs you can download (covered in Chapter 35, “Even More Internet Madness”). ✓ Recycle Bin—The Recycle Bin is emptied, removing any files there and preventing them from being undeleted. (See Chapter 29, “Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling,” for more information about the Recycle Bin.) ✓ Temporary Files—These can go, no problem. ✓ Delete Windows uninstall information—If this item appears, you can remove it. However, if you’ve been using Windows Me for less than two months, I’d keep this item around. (The information is necessary in case one of your applications is incompatible with Windows Me. Otherwise, you can delete the information.) ✓ Temporary PC Health files—A collection of backup files Windows keeps, which you have no control over. If you’ve been experiencing problems lately, I’d leave this one unchecked—especially if it’s not consuming that much storage space. ✓ Other Types of Files—Select the other types of files, and view the description or list of files. If in doubt, you don’t have to remove them. Just keep in mind how much disk space they’re using. ◊ Click the box to put a check mark by the files you want to zap. ◊ Click OK. Windows warns you: “Are you sure you want to delete files?” Of course you are! This process is disk cleanup! Those nasty files are sucking up precious bytes that your real programs and data crave! ◊ Boldly click Yes. Disk Cleanup removes the files. You might see a tiny dialog box indicating Windows’ progress. Then it disappears.

250

Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives ◊ Click Cancel to close the Drive C Properties dialog box. Keep the My Computer window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● If you want to clean up another hard drive, right-click the drive and choose Properties from its shortcut menu. Click the Disk Cleanup button, and you’re on your way. ● You should run the Disk Cleanup program at least once a month. ● Not every drive has stuff on it to clean. ● You can clean any hard drive or removable disk, such as a Zip drive, by using Disk Cleanup. You cannot clean CD-ROM drives; they’re read-only. You cannot clean drives on other people’s computers on a network. ● If you click the View Files button in the Cleanup window, an Explorer window appears listing all the files scheduled for execution. Yet, even if you could tell what was in the files, you would have no way to rescue one file from the lot, for example. All you can do is look. (Honestly, everything in the folder can go, and it saves you disk space.) ● Removing program files is covered in Chapter 14, “Installing and Removing Software.” ● Removing tidbits of Windows is covered in Chapter 15, “Adding More of Windows.” (Don’t let the chapter title fool you.) ● You can also run the Disk Cleanup program from the Start Thing: Choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡Disk Cleanup. Select a disk to clean from the drop-down Drives list. Click OK.

Dear Dan: Will running Disk Cleanup also remove all those Internet cookies from my hard drive? Should I go in and manually delete them? What would be wrong with that? Dan Says: Alas, Disk Cleanup does not remove cookies, which I feel you don’t need to delete anyway. Cookies are actually small files, though they do occupy space. If you’re eager to delete them, I would go to the C:\Windows\Cookies folder and view the files in the Details mode. Click the top of the Modified column to sort the cookies by date, then select and delete any cookie over one month old. I’m not saying this is the best way or how Microsoft would have you do it, but it works for me.

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Time for a Disk Tune-Up The disk tune-up program is officially called Disk Defragmenter. Yuck. What a horrid term. Although I prefer “tune-up,” I have to use “defragmenter” because that’s what Windows uses. I can live with that. If you want a tired, old explanation of why defragmentation is necessary, read the sidebar, “A Tired, Old Explanation of Why Defragmentation Is Necessary,” later in this chapter. Otherwise, just know that it’s something you should do every so often to improve hard drive performance. ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop (if it’s not open already). ◊ Right-click drive C. ◊ Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. ◊ Click the Tools tab to bring that panel forward. You’ll see two or maybe more tools listed, along with buttons to quickly access them. You want the Defragmentation one, which runs the Disk Defragmenter program. Notice how each item in the Tools panel specifies the date that you last performed that disk maintenance job. Shame on you if any value is longer than a month. Double-dog shame if it says, “Windows was unable to determine when you last…” Egad!

Before you start: Note that this operation can take as long as one hour to complete, depending on how fragmented your hard drive is.

◊ Click Defragment Now. Windows goes at it. Although you can just sit there and watch, the Defragmenting Drive C dialog box is boring. ◊ Click Show Details. What you’ll see is a graphical “map” of files stored on your hard drive. Looks like a map of The City from Hell, right? You’ll see a row of squares turn green, flash, turn red, flash, and then reappear. That’s Windows moving files around, positioning them in a more logical and efficient manner on the disk.

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Yes, you can do other things while the defragmenting operation is going on. Doing so, however, slows down the defragmentation process. It’s best just to sit and watch. For a real show, you can click the Show Details button.

Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives ◊ Click Legend. A pop-up window appears telling you what each colored square represents. Read the legend. Then view the action onscreen to see how Windows is optimizing things. ◊ Click Close when you’re done looking at the Defrag Legend. Doh-de-doh. Wait. Wait. Wait.

Try not to use your computer while the Defragmentation program is running. If you do, it stops and takes even longer to complete. Just sit back and wait. Or go outside.

Sometimes your drive defrags faster than other times. It depends on how recently you’ve run the Defragmenter and how many new files you’ve added to your hard drive. Eventually you’ll see a dialog box telling you that you’re done. ◊ Click Yes to quit Disk Defragmenter. You’re done. You can leave the Drive C Properties dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial. Otherwise, click Cancel to close the Drive C Properties dialog box and close the My Computer window. ● To defragment any hard drive, right-click that drive, choose Properties from the shortcut menu, and continue as just described. ● You should run the Disk Defragmenter at least once a week or so. ● If no files need to be defragmented or you have a relatively new computer, you can still run Defragmenter. Although it doesn’t take as long as it does on older, more fragmented hard drives, it still works. ● Occasionally the defragmenter might stop or suddenly end with an error message about it or Windows being busy. Don’t fret. This is just Microsoft’s way of telling you it can’t write a decent defragmentation utility. My advice: Go out and buy Norton Utilities, which has in its bag-o-tricks a nifty defragmenter that doesn’t fuss or bog down. ● You can also run the Disk Tune-up program from the Start Thing: choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡Disk Defragmenter. Select from the dropdown list a disk to clean. Click OK.

A Tired, Old Explanation of Why Defragmentation Is Necessary Suppose that you’re going on a trip and you’re packing your suitcase. You’re almost done. The only thing left to pack is your son’s teddy bear. But there just isn’t room.

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continued On one side of the suitcase is a tiny space, and you still have room in one of the outside pockets. To make the most of your suitcase space, you tear off the teddy bear’s head. You put the body in the suitcase and the head in the outside pocket. What you’ve done is maximize the space by splitting Teddy in two. On a computer you would say that Teddy was fragmented. That’s what Windows does when it tries to make the most of your disk storage space. If a large file doesn’t fit in one piece on the disk, Windows tears it up into tiny fragments and stores them where they fit. You won’t notice that your files have been fragmented. When you go to load or open a file, Windows will reassemble it for you into one piece—just like you would sew Teddy back together for your son. However, keeping track of all the pieces—the fragments—leads to overhead, which slows things down. By running the Disk Defragmenter tool you’re putting the fragmented files back together, which makes Windows access them more efficiently. In some cases, defragmenting a badly fragmented drive noticeably improves disk performance.

Fixing Your Hard Drive In addition to other hard drive maladies is the category of file foul-ups. As long as you follow the advice in this book, you should never encounter any file weirdness. If you do, however, you’ll have to fix those files, or at least have Windows discover what they are before they drive you nuts. To fix files, run the ScanDisk program: ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. (Do this step only if the My Computer window isn’t already open.) ◊ Right-click drive C. ◊ Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. This step displays the Drive C Properties dialog box if it isn’t displayed already.

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Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives ◊ Click the Tools tab to ensure that that panel is brought forward. ◊ Click Check Now. ScanDisk fires itself up (see Figure 21.2).

Figure 21.2 ScanDisk.

A

Select the drive (or drives) you want to scan.

B

You can Shift+click to select more than one drive.

C

Choose Standard for a quick test.

D

Thorough scans take longer but can find more potential problems.

E

The Options button is for the Thorough test.

F

Put a check mark here.

Drive C should have already been chosen from the list. If you want to scan other hard drives on your system, Shift+click them in the list. ScanDisk examines each drive you Shift+click. ◊ Choose Standard if it’s not chosen already. The Standard test does a quick check of your system. It’s good enough for now. The Thorough test checks every molecule of information on your hard drive, which takes awhile to run. You can rerun this tutorial after you’re done and run the Thorough test. ◊ Click to put a check mark by Automatically Fix Errors. You don’t want to be bothered if an error is detected. After all, ScanDisk knows better how to handle it than you do.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition To make sure that ScanDisk is set properly, especially if you’re using it for the first time, see the following sidebar, “Setting ‘Advanced’ ScanDisk Options.” If you’ve already done that, you have no reason to do it again here.

Setting “Advanced” ScanDisk Options The Advanced button in ScanDisk doesn’t contain complex or overwhelming options. Some choices there make ScanDisk easier to live with.

◊ Click Advanced in ScanDisk to see the ScanDisk Advanced Options dialog box. The ScanDisk Advanced Options dialog box has several areas and lots of options to wade through. This sidebar has the options I feel are worth setting. If an item isn’t listed, it doesn’t matter either way.

◊ Set Display Summary to Always. You want to confirm that ScanDisk did its job.

◊ Set Lost File Fragments to Free. If you don’t do this, your hard drive will fill with files named FILE????.CHK, where the question marks are replaced by numbers. Those files are useless, and if you check the Free option, you’ll never see them anyway.

◊ Set Cross-Linked Files to Delete. A cross-linked file is hopelessly damaged and should be deleted. Not deleting it is frustrating. In fact, if this type of error happens frequently on your hard drive, get the Norton Utilities program, which fixes cross-linked files better than ScanDisk anyway. All the other check mark items can be selected. (If you’re curious about an item, use the mouse to click the question mark in the upper-right corner of the dialog box, and then click one of those items for an explanation of what it does.)

◊ Click OK to close the ScanDisk Advanced Options dialog box. ScanDisk remembers these settings so that you do not have to return to this dialog box and reset things again later.

◊ Click Start. ScanDisk checks your folders. ScanDisk checks the File Allocation Tables (FATs). It checks the folders again. ScanDisk checks the File Allocation Tables again.

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Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives It checks the folders for a third time. It looks for lost fragments, tidbits, and magnetic morsels of mayhem. If an error is found, it is repaired automatically. You’ve chosen all the proper options here and aren’t bothered by ScanDisk as it busily fixes things. Finally, a summary is displayed, as shown in Figure 21.3. Figure 21.3 The ScanDisk summary.

A

ScanDisk reports that it found and fixed errors. Did you notice? Not if you set the options properly.

B C

Summary of trivial information. Don’t fret over bad sectors. If Windows finds them, it flags them and doesn’t mess with them. That’s a good thing (although having too many bad sectors is a bad thing).

◊ Click Close to close the Results dialog box. You can scan more disks if you want (if you didn’t select all the hard drives when you started). If not, you’re done. ◊ Click Close to close the ScanDisk window. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Drive C Properties dialog box. ◊ Close the My Computer window. Your disk is up to snuff. ● You should run ScanDisk at least once a week. ● ScanDisk is not magic. Some people used to run CHKDSK as if they were incanting a spell. It doesn’t work that way. If something is wrong, ScanDisk fixes it. If nothing is wrong, ScanDisk tells you so. ● ScanDisk produces a log file recording everything it did to your hard drive. The file, named SCANDISK.LOG, is kept in the root folder of drive C. If you open drive C in Windows Explorer, drag the SCANDISK.LOG file to the WordPad shortcut icon on your desktop for viewing. (See Chapter 9, “Lurking and Working on the Desktop,” for more information about having WordPad on the desktop.)

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If you have any trouble using ScanDisk, don’t fret! The Norton Utilities has a better disk scanning and fixing program you can use. I highly recommend it, especially if you experience disk trouble or just plain can’t stand ScanDisk. ● ScanDisk can also be run from the Start Thing: Choose Programs➡Accessories➡ System Tools➡ScanDisk. Select one or more drives to scan. Click Start.

ScanDisk is a descendant of the old CHKDSK (Check-Disk) program in DOS. ScanDisk replaced CHKDSK in MS-DOS Version 6.0, and it has been a Windows program since Windows 95.

Scheduling Disk Maintenance for When You’re Not There The programs covered so far in this chapter— Clean Up, Defrag, and ScanDisk—aren’t a major pain to run. Of course, you might forget to run them every so often. After all, you bought your computer to do work, not to be a hard disk maintenance operator. And hey, aren’t computers supposed to make life easier? Say hello to the Maintenance Wizard. This program automatically schedules routine disk operations. It’s a timesaver.

The Thorough test ScanDisk does checks every cluster on your hard drive. Although this process takes time, it’s a good test to perform every so often. Just start it when you know that you’ll be away from your computer for a few minutes.

◊ From the Start Thing, choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡Maintenance Wizard. The Maintenance Wizard appears. ◊ Choose Express. The Express option sets everything the way you need. (The Custom option doesn’t do anything other than what is automatically chosen for you with the Express setting.) ◊ Click Next. Choose a time that you want regular disk maintenance to occur. You’ll want to pick a time when you’re not doing anything else. That’s best. The computer must be turned on for this program to work. If you’re used to turning off your computer when you’re done working (which I advise against in Chapter 1 anyway), these tasks will never get done. ◊ Choose Nights - Midnight to 3:00 AM. That should work for everyone, I hope. If not, pick something else.

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Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives ◊ Click Next. The final screen lists the tasks your computer will perform. Figure 21.4 explains what the little icons mean. You’ve already run all these programs if you’ve gone straight through this chapter’s tutorials. Figure 21.4 The final Maintenance Wizard screen.

A B C

Disk Defragmenter. ScanDisk. Disk Cleanup.

You do not need to put a check mark by When I Click Finish if you’ve already done the tutorials in this chapter. ◊ Click Finish. The disk maintenance tasks are scheduled. You need not do a thing. ● Shhh! The Maintenance Wizard places certain disk tools into a program named Task Scheduler. That way, the tools run at specific times. You can examine or adjust in the Scheduled Tasks window what the Maintenance Wizard has done. ● The scheduled tasks take place even if your computer “goes to sleep” at night. If not, you can configure the tasks to wake the computer up; this subject is covered in Chapter 44. ● You also can use the Task Scheduler to adjust the time a task starts. For example, I’m usually up between midnight and 3:00 a.m., so I have my tasks start at 4:00 a.m. (Making this change is covered in Chapter 44.) ● You can confirm that the disk Maintenance Wizard has done its job. In a few days, open the Drive C Properties dialog box. Click the Tools tab to see that panel. Review the number of days that have passed since the drive was last checked for errors or defragmented. With the wizard doing its job, the number of days should always be small.

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Some Backup Advice I’m not gonna fool you: No one backs up his or her computer. We should, but we don’t. Only in a business situation have I ever seen backups performed, and that’s because of various management threats and promised bonus checks. I won’t go into why people don’t back up, and I won’t bother telling you how important having a safety copy of your data is. Although you would agree with me, you still wouldn’t back up your computer, so I won’t waste time in this section carefully explaining how to do it. Instead of the gory details, I offer you the following set of bullet points. This list has information you can use if you decide to back up, and it fulfills my contractual obligation to write about it. I’ll start with what type of backup drive or disks you need: ● The best way to back up is to get a tape backup drive. The tape drive comes with its own backup software. Use that software rather than the Windows Backup program to back up your computer. ● The best type of tape backup is a DAT tape drive. It’s expensive, though, so I recommend instead anything that uses Travan tapes. They hold several gigabytes of stuff and the Travan-compatible tape drives are reasonably priced. ● You can backup to a CD-R or CD-RW disk, but it will take several disks to backup your entire computer. Ditto for DVD-RAM disks, though you’ll need fewer of them (but they’re more expensive). ● Zip disks can be used for backing up specific files or folders, but they’re not economical for a complete hard drive backup; for the cost of all the Zip disks you’ll have to buy you can instead buy a decent tape backup drive. ● If your computer has a USB or FireWire port, get a USB or FireWire backup drive. The actual process of backup should be a regular one. You’ll use whichever program came with the backup device you purchased. (Windows Me no longer comes with backup software, though you might see a Backup command on a disk drive’s shortcut menu. If so, then it’s probably an older version of Backup from a previous edition of Windows.) ● Back up all the information on all of your hard drives at least once a month. This is known as a full backup. ● Backing up only those files that have been changed, added, or modified since the last backup is called an incremental backup. Do this at least once a day if your data is valuable to you; do it once a week if not.

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Chapter 21 All About Hard Drives ● Use at least three tapes to back up. Label them A, B, and C. Do a full backup to tape A. Put tape A in a fire safe or other place for safekeeping. Use the backup software to erase tape B. Perform incremental backups to tape B. Then do a full backup on tape B and store it away. Erase tape C and start the process over again. Rotate through each tape to ensure that you always have at least two full backups handy. ● If anything nasty happens to your data, use the Backup program’s Restore option to get the files on your backup tapes back to the hard drive. ● Failure to back up cost me three months’ worth of work once. A hard drive crashed during a half-second power outage. My preceding backup (I’m glad I had one) was three months old. Although I restored from it, I’ve never been able to recover that three months’ worth of missing data.

The best backup programs have special Emergency Boot Disks that help you get your tape drive going and let you restore all your data.

● Generally, the only people who religiously back up are those who’ve lost an entire hard drive full of important files.

Where Is the Disk Compression? Windows Me does not come with disk compression software. Yeah! This is great news! I’ve always been against disk compression and it’s nice to see Microsoft has finally pulled such a horrid and backward program from Windows repertoire. Yippee! What was disk compression? Never mind! It was a nightmare from the final days of DOS. A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist any more! If you don’t have disk compression, don’t worry—you never will. The only way you’ll ever see disk compression is if you’ve compressed your hard drive using a previous version of Windows. In that case, Windows Me will support the compressed drive, but you can no longer compress new drives. Thank goodness.

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Chapter 22

Removable Disks and Drives


> > > > > > > >

Using your floppy drive Formatting a floppy disk Inserting and removing CDs or DVDs Autoplaying your CD or DVD drive Playing a music CD Playing a movie Using a Zip drive Changing a disk drive letter

In addition to the hard disk, several other types of disks are used to store stuff on your computer: floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, Zip, Jaz, MO—collect them all! Seriously, each different disk has its own special purpose. This chapter clues you in to using each type of disk in the best manner possible. ● The disk is the device that goes into the drive: A floppy disk goes into a floppy drive; a CD goes into a CD-ROM drive; a DVD or CD goes into a DVD drive; and other types of disks go into their own drives.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● The hard disk is permanently fixed inside the hard drive; that disk cannot be removed. The terms hard disk and hard drive are interchangeable for most people. ● Only the most popular types of removable disks and drives are covered in this chapter.

The Original, Steadfast Floppy Drive All PCs have at least one floppy drive. That’s how the original IBM PC was sold in 1981, with one 5 1/4-inch floppy drive. Me? I had a PC with two floppy drives. I was king of the world. Woo! Woo! For the longest time, all computer software came on floppy disks. If you bought WordPerfect 4.1, you got a box with a real manual and four floppy disks. You could even run your entire computer—DOS and WordPerfect—from one floppy disk. Although it wasn’t easy, it was possible. Floppy disks are still used to install software, although most programs now come on CDs. You can use floppy disks to transport files between two computers—as long as the files aren’t bigger than 1.4MB. Although a floppy disk might seem unimportant, it really does have some handy uses. For most PCs, in fact, a floppy disk is the only way to get information from that PC to another computer. ● Although floppy disks are handy for moving files between computers, I don’t recommend them as a place to store any files that you want to keep permanently. Instead, use the hard drive or a CD-R drive for permanent storage. ● The first IBM PC also had an option for a cassette tape to be used as file storage. I actually used one back in 1984. I think I’m the only person who did.

Finding Your Floppy Drive Your PC should have a slot right up front for the floppy disk. In Windows, the floppy drive is listed in My Computer with all your other disk drives. ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. Your floppy drive appears on the list along with other drives in your system and the fancy folders, similar to what’s shown in Figure 22.1 (it shows my computer, not yours). Double-click the drive’s icon to open it. Ahh-oo-gah! Not only is the drive not accessible, but it’s also not ready. Whoa.

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives Figure 22.1 Drives in My Computer.

A B C

Floppy drive A. Other disk drives in your system. You can also choose drive A from the Address drop-down list.

◊ Open your floppy drive A. Don’t worry—it happens all the time. You can’t use the drive unless it has a disk in it. ◊ Stick a floppy disk in drive A. Ahhh! Now it works. The computer reads the information from drive A, and soon the contents of that disk are displayed onscreen.

You can access drive A only if you’ve put a disk in it.

◊ Close the My Computer window. ◊ Remove the disk from drive A. Most disk drives have a punch button that you press to eject the disk. Unlike CDROMs and other drives, all floppy disks must be ejected manually. (The LS-120 disks, however, must be ejected similar to a CD or a Zip disk.) ◊ The disk in drive A also must be formatted before you can use it. Formatting is covered in the following section.

Dear Dan: I really enjoy your style of writing. I’ve looked but can’t find directions on how to copy a file such as a letter to a floppy. I expected to find that in Chapter 22 in the discussion on floppies, but I didn’t. What am I missing? Dan Sez: Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders,” is all about copying files. There you’ll find instructions for copying any file, and all you need to do is choose drive A as the place to put the new copy.

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Formatting a Floppy Disk All floppy disks must be formatted. Most of the time, you buy them that way, in the box. Some supercheap floppy disks are not preformatted, however, and you have to do it yourself. Formatting a floppy disk is a quick way to erase all the information on that disk. ◊ Stick a floppy disk in drive A. Make sure that it’s either a new disk or an old disk that doesn’t contain any necessary data. (The process of formatting erases a disk’s data.) Even if you have only preformatted disks, use one for this tutorial. ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. ◊ Right-click drive A. A pop-up shortcut menu appears. ◊ Choose Format. The Format dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 22.2. Generally, all the options that you need are preselected for you. Figure 22.2 The Format dialog box.

A

The disk’s size is shown here. Don’t mess with it.

B C D

Reformat a disk.

E

Format a new disk. You can type a disk label here. Start the format process.

◊ Click Start. Windows formats the disk. It takes a couple of seconds or so. If any problems occur, Windows displays a dialog box telling you about the problem. Notice that most disks are quick formatted. A quick format is quick because the disk is already formatted; Windows is basically just erasing the old disk’s contents. A full format, on the other hand, takes longer because every part of the disk must be formatted. If the disk cannot be quick formatted, you see a warning dialog box. Click OK and choose Full from the Format dialog box. Try again.

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives After a successful format, a summary screen is displayed, full of trivia. Whatever. ◊ Click Close. The Format dialog box stays open onscreen, just in case you want to format another disk. ◊ Remove the floppy disk from the drive.

If Windows cannot format the disk, a dialog box appears. Oh well—click OK and throw that disk away. I’m serious! It’s trash. Try another disk.

If you want to format another disk, stick it in drive A and click the Start button again. Otherwise, you’re done. ◊ Click Close to close the Format dialog box. ◊ Close the My Computer window. ● Here’s the best advice I can give: Buy all your floppy disks preformatted. ● Windows Me no longer lets you make a bootable floppy disk using the Format command (or even using the SYS command in DOS). You can make an emergency boot disk only out of a floppy disk, which is covered in Chapter 46, “Tools to Help You.”

CD-ROM and DVD Drives Once a swanky multimedia gadget, a CD-ROM or DVD drive is now required equipment on all PCs. The CD-ROM came along first, but it’s slowly being replaced by the higher-capacity DVD drive. They both work the same way, storing information that can be accessed just like information on a hard drive. The bonus here is that you can remove and insert new discs as you do with a floppy drive. Very handy. You’re probably quite adept at using your CD-ROM drive. Even so, I thought I’d toss in a few pointers in this section. Some stuff you might know; some might be new tricks for you: ● Almost all new software comes on a CD. ● I have yet to see any software that comes on a DVD disk, so if all your PC has is a CD-ROM drive, you’re still okay. ● DVD drives might also be called DVD-ROM drives. Whatever. ● DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disk. ● All DVD drives can read CDs, no problem. CD-ROM drives, however, cannot read DVD disks.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Visually, CD and DVD drives look and operate the same. However, the DVD drive will have the DVD logo on it. Ditto for the DVD disks—they typically have a DVD logo on them, which identifies them as DVD-only disks. ● You cannot write to a CD-ROM drive. The ROM part stands for Read-Only Memory, which cannot be changed. The same goes for DVDs. ● Some CD-ROM and DVD drives do have writing capability. CD-R or CD-RW drives can create CDs, and DVD-RAM drives can create DVD disks. Needless to say, these drives cost more than getting the plain old CD-ROM or DVD.

Disks In and Out Unlike the floppy drive, you can have Windows eject your CD or DVD disk for you. ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. ◊ Right-click your CD-ROM drive icon. The same icon appears, whether it’s a CD-ROM or a DVD drive. Unlike a floppy disk, it doesn’t matter whether anything is in the drive. Right-clicking the drive’s icon displays a pop-up shortcut menu. ◊ Choose Eject. Your drive spews out the disk. Some disks slide out in a tray; others might just pop out like the drive is sticking out its tongue. To put the disc into the drive, you need to do one of two things, depending on which type of drive you have:

Some older CD-ROM drives used a CD caddy to hold the disc inside the drive. In that case, ejecting the disc spits out the caddy, which you must open to remove the disc. To stick the disc into the drive, you must place it in the caddy and then stick the caddy into the drive.

✓ Tray types of drives—Put the disc in the tray. Gently nudge the tray into the computer just a tiny bit. The mechanism should take over and slide the tray into the computer the rest of the way. You also can press a little button to insert the disc; it’s the same button used to eject the disc (although it’s hard to get to on some PCs when the tray is out).

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives ✓ Trayless or “slot” drives—This type works like the single-play CD player in many cars. You just stick the disc into a slit in the computer. The drive “grabs” the disk and pulls it in the rest of the way. You use an Eject button to spew the disk back out. ◊ Close the My Computer window. ● You can also eject a CD by pushing the Eject button on the CD-ROM or DVD drive.

After you insert the CD, Windows might “autoplay” it. If a window opens or a program starts, feel free to close it for now.

● Remember that the tray type of drive slides open, which requires room on your desktop. Try not to block the tray or prevent it from opening when it needs to.

Automatically Running Your Disks Windows has the ability to automatically play a CD or DVD when the disc is inserted. If it’s a music CD, you start hearing music. For data disks, you see a startup screen. For DVDs, the movie starts. This process is known as autoplaying. You can tell Windows whether you want it to autoplay. Why? Because it can be disruptive to change CDs and have Windows pop up some annoying startup banner. You can disable autoplay as a permanent or one-time thing. For a one-time thing, press the Shift key while you insert a disk. That disables autoplay. Don’t release the Shift key too quickly, or else the darn thing plays. Gads!

Pressing the Shift key while inserting a CD or DVD disk prevents autoplay. To tell Windows to permanently disable autoplay for all CDs that you insert (data, music, whatever), follow these steps: ◊ Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop. ◊ Choose Properties. ◊ Click the Device Manager tab. The Device Manager panel appears, as shown in Figure 22.3.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 22.3 The Device Manager panel in the System Properties dialog box.

A

Click here to open your CD-ROM type.

B

Click once to select your CD-ROM type.

C

Other hardware devices in your computer. It’s best not to mess with them.

D

Click the Properties button here.

◊ Open the CD-ROM type by clicking the “+” next to CDROM on the list. Note that Windows calls it a CD-ROM drive, even if it’s a DVD. Don’t let that fool you; Windows is just being dumb. ◊ Click your CD-ROM or DVD drive to select it. Your CD-ROM appears in the tree-structure thing below the main CDROM title. Mine is a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1202. Normally I wouldn’t know that, but that’s what it says onscreen (and in Figure 22.3). ◊ Click Properties. Your drive’s Properties dialog box appears. ◊ Click the Settings tab to bring that panel forward. The Settings panel shows its face, which you can also see in Figure 22.4. ◊ Remove the check mark by Auto Insert Notification. There. Now CDs or DVDs will no longer interrupt you while you’re working. Or, if you’d rather that they did interrupt you (for example, because your kids rely on the autoplay feature to start up their Elmo game), leave this setting alone. ◊ Click OK to close your CD-ROM’s Properties dialog box.

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives Figure 22.4 The Settings panel for your CD-ROM.

A

Remove this check mark to disable autoplay.

B

Don’t mess with anything else.

C

In this area, you set the CD-ROM’s drive letter.

◊ Click Close to close the System Properties dialog box. If you’ve made a change, Windows urges you to reset your computer. Click Yes to reset. When your system restarts, autoplay will be disabled. Insert a few CDs, just to be sure. ● I don’t know why they call it Auto Insert Notification rather than Autoplay in the dialog box.

Lots of weird things are in the System Properties dialog box. Try not to mess with something that you don’t understand.

● Not every CD has autoplay capability. Music CDs do. A data CD has autoplay only if it has a file named AUTORUN.INF in its root folder. ● If you grow weary of not having CDs autoplay, repeat the steps in this section to put the check mark beside Auto Insert Notification again in the CD-ROM drive’s Properties dialog box. ● I keep autoplay on and use the Shift key a lot.

You can manually autorun a data CD, even when you’ve turned off autorun, by right-clicking the CD-ROM icon in the My Computer window and choosing the AutoPlay command. This command works whether or not you’ve turned off Auto Insert Notification.

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Playing a Music CD on Your Computer Playing a music CD is an easy task: ◊ Put the music CD in your CD-ROM or DVD drive. Refer to the section “CDs In and Out,” earlier in this chapter, for information about removing any CD already in the drive and inserting your music CD. Yes, this will work even on a DVD drive. If you have autoplay turned on (that is, if you didn’t disable it in the preceding section), the CD just starts playing. Great! If you don’t have autoplay turned on, right-click the CD-ROM icon after you insert the music and choose Play from the pop-up menu. The Windows Media Player handles the role of playing the music for you. Its window might look like Figure 22.5, although it can be changed to look like just about anything.

Figure 22.5 The CD player.

A B C D E F G H I J

Play/Pause. Stop. Volume control. Previous Track, Reverse, Fast Forward, and Next Track buttons. Progress slider. Choose a track to play from here. Visualization buttons. It’s like, wow, man. Shuffle the tracks. Change the look of the entire program (“Skin Chooser”).

K

Connect to the Internet— I think not!

L

Click this if you get lost.

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives You can use the buttons in the Media Player window to control how the CD plays, just as you use similar buttons on your boom box. Other buttons do other strange things as well. It’s best to point the mouse at a button to see the pop-up bubble help before you go a-clickin’ on things with which you’re unfamiliar. Listen for a while, playing with the Visualization buttons to amuse yourself. ◊ Quit the Media Player when you’re done by closing its window. ● The Media Player does not need to be visible for it to run. You can minimize it as a button on the taskbar if you want to work while you listen. ● Don’t forget to check out the Media Player’s menu items for common (and sane) access to its functions. This helps if you get totally confused by the Media Player’s potentially strange outward appearance. ● The Skin Chooser button is a lot of fun to play with. ● Keep in mind that some options in the Media Player pertain to the Internet. Choosing those options causes your PC to connect to the Internet. Pay attention!

Playing a Movie Playing a DVD movie works just like playing a musical CD: ◊ Put the DVD video in your DVD drive. Alas, Windows doesn’t recognize my DVD, so the Windows DVD Player isn’t displayed when I insert a video in my DVD drive. (Because Windows doesn’t recognize my DVD player, I can’t even install that program. Oh, well.) Figure 22.6 shows my DVD drive’s own player. My dealer installed this program, and it works okay. I have no idea how similar it looks to the Windows DVD Player, although the concepts are the same for both. Yes, playing the DVD is a great distraction. I mean, to see a movie on your computer screen—what could be more productive? (Don’t get me started on Web TV.)

You cannot use the Print Screen key to capture an image from a DVD movie. It’s not a bug—it’s done on purpose to prevent movies from being copied illegally. See Chapter 17, “Printing Things on the Screen,” for more information about using the Print Screen key.

Shut down the DVD player in about two hours, after you’ve watched the movie. Then get back to work. Remove the DVD video from your DVD drive, and put it back in the box for safekeeping. (Or hide it from others in your office.)

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Figure 22.6 A DVD player (not Windows).

A

Standard Play, Stop, Pause, Forward, and Reverse buttons.

B

Extra buttons to take advantage of DVD features like multiple audio tracks, subtitles, and so on.

C

Select audio track (some tracks include the director’s commentary).

D

Subtitle control.

Zip Drives Sure, other types of removable drives are available. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a trend among computer manufacturers: They seem to be installing a heck of a lot of Zip drives on various PCs. Or, should I say that a heck of a lot of PCs have Zip drives? (I mean, having 200 Zip drives in a single PC would be funny, but—oh, I’m rambling.) Zip drives are like beefy floppy drives. They swallow Zip disks, which store as much as 250MB in a hard plastic case about 4 inches square and a quarter-inch thick. Because these drives store a great deal of information (as much as 200 floppies’ worth) and are removable, they’re ideal for backing up data or sending files through the mail (as long as the other person has a Zip drive) or moving files between two computers in two locations. Odds are fairly good that your computer has a Zip drive. And I should write about that, naturally. ◊ Open My Computer. ◊ Right-click your Zip drive icon. You see a specialized pop-up menu relating to the Zip drive, as shown in Figure 22.7. The extra menu items come from Iomega, not from Microsoft. Your dealer installed them on your PC, and they’re not part of Windows. ◊ Choose Open. The Zip disk’s contents are displayed in a window. The disk works like any other hard disk, and it’s removable, like a floppy disk.

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Chapter 22 Removable Disks and Drives Figure 22.7 Special Zip drive menu.

A

Duplicates a Zip disk, creating an identical copy of one Zip disk on another Zip disk.

B C

Formats Zip disks. Adds levels of data security for the Zip disk.

D

Prevents the Zip disk from being ejected.

E

Displays information about the Zip disk (trivia!).

F G

Ejects the Zip disk. Creates a catalog of files on the disk and then ejects the disk.

◊ Close the Zip disk’s window. ◊ Close the My Computer window. I use my Zip disk for backup files. I don’t do full backups on them because that requires a large number of Zip disks and they are more expensive than backup tapes. For backing up a day’s work or important stuff that I want to stick in the fire safe, however, they’re ideal. ● Zip drives have nothing to do with ZIP formatted files, which you’ll probably download someday from the Internet. The two are entirely different things. For example, you do not have to put your ZIP files on a Zip drive.

A Zip drive is essentially a Bernoulli box, updated to fit in more compact and convenient cases. What’s a Bernoulli box? It’s an early type of removable hard drive that was like a large, bulky, and expensive Zip drive. It works based on aerodynamic principles discovered by the eighteenthcentury Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli. Now you know the $500 Jeopardy answer.

● Don’t feel guilty about having a Zip drive and not using it. Someday, when you have to take a huge graphics file to Kinkos for printing, you’ll be thankful.

● Keep removable disks away from magnets. Don’t get them wet. And don’t put them into the toaster. ● Zip disks are handy for moving large files between two PCs, both of which must sport a Zip drive.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● On the downside, Zip disks are expensive. Although they’re cheaper than a box of 200 floppy disks (which store about the same amount of information), they’re still pricey.

Changing Your Removable Disk’s Drive Letter Windows assigns drive letters to your PC’s removable drives (CD-ROM, DVD, Zip, and so on) based on how many hard drives are in your system and how many other drives might “appear” before the computer sees a particular drive. Normally the drive letter isn’t a problem. If you ever plan to add more disk drives (of any type) to your PC, however, you should think about changing the CD-ROM, DVD, or Zip drive letter now, before it becomes a hassle later. Here’s how it works: Suppose that you add a removable disk (a CD-R disk, maybe) to your computer. You have hard drive C, and the CD-ROM is drive letter D. After you add the Zip disk, however, it becomes drive D, and the CD-ROM is bumped down to drive E. None of your software can find the CD-ROM drive after that, and you have to reconfigure things. It’s a pain. That might never happen. Most people should never bother to change a disk drive’s letter. But it has happened to me enough that I feel the urge to share this information. The key is to change the drive letter assigned in the disk drive’s Properties dialog box (shown in Figure 22.4). Change the drop-down drive letters to whatever you want (whatever’s available). If you need detailed instructions, refer to this book’s Web page at http://www.wambooli.com/help/WinnyMe/ and enter NewLetter as the keyword.

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Chapter 23

Exploring Folders


> > > >

Using the Windows Explorer Browsing to a specific folder Finding a folder with the Find command Working with pathnames

One step below disk drive country is the land of folders. If this disk drive is the country, then the folders are the cities, villages, and neighborhoods of information stored on your hard drive. Folders turn an ugly mess of a disk drive with 10,000 files into a neatly organized rack of information. Digging down into the folder layer is your next step in exploring the information stored on your computer. ● Chapter 40, “A View to a Folder,” contains additional folder information— specifically, about changing the way you view folders and their contents. ● You can work folders like files, in many respects. Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders,” covers basic file activities, each of which applies to folders too.

Exploring Your Folders If you’re going to work with folders, you’ll want to run the Windows Explorer program, which automatically shows the Folders list on the left side of the window. (You can also click the Folders button in any file window.)

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Programs➡Accessories➡Windows Explorer. The Windows Explorer window appears, as shown in Figure 23.1. (To avoid serious typing injuries, I’ll call it Explorer from now on; the other Explorer, Internet Explorer, I’ll call IE, but not until Part V, “Planet Internet.”) Figure 23.1 The Windows Explorer window.

A

Choose View➡Toolbars➡ Standard Buttons to see this toolbar.

B

Choose View➡Toolbars➡ Address Bar to see this.

C D

The Folders list. Click here to show or hide the Folders list.

E

Click a plus sign to open a disk or folder and to display other folders.

F

A minus sign means that a disk or folder is open.

G

Other stuff (also on the Address drop-down list).

H

Choose View➡Status Bar to see a status bar here.

I

Files and folders appear over here.

J K

Bonus information. Click here to change the way that files are displayed in the window below.

◊ Maximize the window. Do this step so that the window looks like the one in Figure 23.1. Notice that the My Documents folder is selected in the folder (left) half of the window. The contents of that folder are displayed on the file (right) side of the window.

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Chapter 23 Exploring Folders

Folder side is the left side of the Explorer window, and file side is the right side. Choosing a folder on the folder side displays that folder’s files on the right side. ◊ Choose the My Documents folder. Click the My Documents folder once on the left side of the window. Its contents appear on the right—including any folders inside the My Documents folder. Keep the Explorer window open for the next tutorial.

Going to a Specific Folder Explorer makes it easy to go to any specific folder, primarily because you can see more folders at one time.

An advantage of displaying the Folders list is that it keeps you in perspective. In addition to seeing file icons displayed, you also see how the folder you’re viewing fits into the big picture.

Continue the last section’s tutorial: ◊ Choose drive C from the list under My Computer. Click any folder, disk drive, or whatever in the Folders list; its contents are displayed on the right side of the window. Right now you’re looking at the root folder of drive C. ◊ Open the drive C branch. Click the + by the drive C item in the Folders list. That step opens the “tree” for that section, displaying the contents of My Computer. The + opens a folder “branch.” The – closes a folder “branch.” A new branch of folders is displayed. Notice how the right side of the window hasn’t changed its contents. ◊ Open the Program Files branch. A whole lotta folders should appear, dropping themselves down in the Folders list. You can use the scrollbar in the Folders list to view folders that you can’t see directly. ◊ Choose the Accessories folder. The contents of the Accessories folder appear on the right side of the window.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Suppose that you’re working along—la, la, la—and you need to go to the Windows folder. Here’s how you do it: ◊ Scroll down the Folders list until you see the Windows folder. ◊ Click the Windows folder to select it. The contents of the Windows folder appear on the file side of the window. (The contents may be hidden, depending on whether you’ve told Windows to display that information. If the contents are hidden, click the View the Entire Contents of This Folder link to display them.) To move back to the preceding folder (Accessories), you could scroll around, but why not take advantage of Windows? ◊ Click the Back button. Ta-da. You’re there. Suppose that you yearn to see the contents of the My Documents folder. ◊ Click the mouse on the Address bar. This step selects the text that’s already there: Accessories. ◊ Type My Documents. After typing M, you see a drop-down list of all the places you’ve been that contain an “M.” Continue typing, and the list narrows to places containing “My.” Eventually you’ll see only two items: My Documents and Searching for “My doc” (or however much of “My Documents” you’ve typed). ◊ Double-click My Documents in the drop-down list. You’re there! To go somewhere you’ve been recently, you can use the Back button’s drop-down “back list,” as shown in Figure 23.2. ◊ Click the little triangle to see the Back button’s back list. ◊ Choose drive C from the back list. You’re back on drive C. Notice that the Windows folder was not on the list. The reason is that you used the Back button to return from the Windows folder back to the Accessories folder.

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Chapter 23 Exploring Folders

Figure 23.2 The Back list.

A

Click this little triangle to see the Back button’s list.

B

Folders that you’ve seen recently.

C

The Windows folder does not appear here because you went to it and then back to the Accessories folder.

D

Choose a folder to revisit it.

When you use the Back button, it removes the previously viewed folder from the list. ◊ Keep clicking the Back button until it appears dimmed. The dimmed text means the Back button is no longer available. Basically, you’ve gone back as far as you can! The Back button’s list is empty. ◊ Click the Forward button. There. Now you’ve gone back to the place that you’ve previously been back from. No wait. I mean…. Well, okay. I’ll end this part of the tutorial now. Meanwhile… ◊ Choose the Program Files folder. Use one of the many clever techniques you’ve learned from this chapter to locate that particular folder. Be sure that you click it to display its contents on the right side of the window. ◊ Click the Up button. The Up button always moves you to the parent folder—the folder that contains the current folder. For the Program Files folder, the parent folder is drive C itself, or the drive C root folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the Up button. The parent folder of drive C is My Computer. Do you see how the items in the Folders list become selected as you move about? ◊ Click the Up button. The parent folder of My Computer is the desktop, and its contents are displayed on the right side of the window. Those are all the same icons that you see on the desktop, by the way. Enough navigational training for now! But keep the Explorer window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● You can see any folder’s contents by selecting the folder from the left side of the Explorer window. ● Click the + to open a folder branch. ● Click the – to close a folder branch. ● Use the Back button to return to a previously viewed folder. ● Use the Back button’s list to choose a folder that you’ve been to recently. ● Use the Up button to move to the parent folder. ● Don’t forget about using the Address drop-down list to visit places!

Finding a Folder When You Know Its Name No sense in hunting down a folder by clicking endless + signs and searching through the left side of the Explorer window. You can always do things in better ways than the obvious. Suppose that you’re desperate to find the Fonts folder, where Windows keeps all its fonts. (I’m using the Fonts folder for this tutorial because I know that you have a Fonts folder on your hard drive. Most experienced Windows users know that the Fonts folder is in the Windows folder.) Assuming that you have an Explorer window open: ◊ Click the Search button. This magically transforms the Explorer window into the file searching window; the Folders list disappears and is replaced by the Search panel (see Figure 23.3). The right side of the window stays the same. (You can also activate the Search window by choosing Search➡For Files or Folders from the Start Thing.)

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Chapter 23 Exploring Folders Figure 23.3 Finding a folder.

A B C

Type the folder name here. Choose My Computer here. Click here to see the Search Options (if they’re not displayed).

D

Check Type to make the drop-down list appear.

E F

Choose Folder as the type. Click to find your folder.

◊ Type Fonts into the top text box. Or, type the name of the folder for which you’re looking. ◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. Or, if you know on which disk drive the file is located, you can choose that specific drive. There’s even a Local Hard Drives option to search all your hard drives (if you’re blessed with more than one). ◊ Ensure that the Search Options box is visible.

If you know only the first part of the name, type that part and then an asterisk, as in Fon*. If you know only the last part of the name, type an asterisk and then the part of the name that you know, as in *onts. And if you know only the middle part, use the asterisks like bookends: *on*.

Click the Search Options text to show the box in Figure 23.3 (if necessary). You need those options so that Windows will search for only folders, not just anything named Fonts. ◊ Check the Type box. Clicking the mouse to put a check mark in that box displays a drop-down list (see Figure 23.3). This is where you can tell Windows what type of file to look for. ◊ Choose Folder from the list. Scroll down until you find the Folder file type, and click it.

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Always fill in as much information as you can when doing a search. Now Windows looks only for folders. ◊ Click Search Now. Windows begins its search. Eventually one or more folders matching your search are found. They’re displayed on the right side of the window, as shown in Figure 23.4.

Figure 23.4 Folders in the Find dialog box.

A

Matching folders found (you might or might not have these).

B C

The one you were looking for.

D E

The Search panel.

Drag between columns to change their size, or doubleclick to automatically resize.

Click here to begin a new search, if necessary.

Don’t cry when no folders are found! You probably made a typo or a wrong selection in the preceding steps. Review what you did, and try again. The folder that you want lives inside the C:\WINDOWS folder. ◊ Double-click the Fonts folder. The contents of that folder are displayed in the right side of the window. Wrong folder?

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Chapter 23 Exploring Folders ◊ Click the Back button. Now you can choose another folder from the list. ◊ Click the Forward button. ◊ Click the Folders button. This closes the Search panel, replacing it with the Folders list. Now you’re ready to work! Close the Fonts window, or keep it open for the next section’s tutorial. (I’ve used hunting for the Fonts folder here as an exercise; a shortcut to the Fonts folder can be found in the Control Panel.)

Unlacing a Pathname Often folder names are shown in pathname format. A pathname is a DOS term (actually, a UNIX term). It’s one word—a long, complex word—that describes exactly where a file or folder is located in your computer. Normally I wouldn’t bring up pathnames, but many programs, including Windows, still use the term. The secret to understanding pathnames is to properly unlace them. Suppose that you’re told to go to this folder: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VIEWERS

This folder isn’t that hard to find when you ignore all the symbols and concentrate instead on the text: C WINDOWS SYSTEM VIEWERS

The first letter is a disk drive, drive C. The rest of the names are folders, one inside the other. ◊ Start up the Explorer. ◊ Open drive C. Click the + sign by drive C to open it, if it’s not open already. ◊ Open the Windows folder. ◊ Open the System folder. You might have to scroll down to find the System folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Open the Viewers folder. Just click the Viewers folder to display its contents; no + is next to the folder because it contains no other folders. Notice the Address bar. It says C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VIEWERS. That’s the pathname. Now your Address bar might just say VIEWERS. That’s okay, but it’s not informative: ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options. ◊ Click the View tab. ◊ Put a check mark by Display the Full Path in the Address Bar. If a check mark is already there, great. ◊ Click OK Now look at the Address bar.

As long as you break up the pathname into words, you can get to that folder. Now for the test. Suppose that you’re told to go to this folder: C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER

Can you do it?

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Chapter 24

Organizing Folders


> > > > > > > >

Creating new folders and organizing them Renaming folders Moving folders Putting folder shortcuts on the desktop Creating a compressed folder (Zip file) Working with a compressed folder Encrypting a compressed folder Deleting the compressed folder

Folders are necessary. They help you organize your stuff. Windows uses them that way, putting fonts in their own folder and other specific types of files in their own folders as well. Creating folders for your own stuff is a required part of using any computer. You create folders, put your stuff in them, and then maybe create even more folders for more stuff. It’s much easier than trying to assemble one of those California Closet organizers.


Summoning a New Folder into Existence Windows Me gives you a prime location for storing your stuff. It’s the My Documents folder, which can easily be accessed from the Desktop, any Address drop-down list, or just about anywhere in Windows. It’s your place for storing your documents. Of course, you don’t want to put all your stuff into the My Documents folder alone. You want to create even more folders—folders within folders—to be keenly organized. Trust me, this really helps. For example, everyone needs a Junk folder. It’s where you put temporary files or stuff you’re just playing with. It might be called Junk or STO or Temp or Blake—whatever— it just fills up with junk. Put it in your My Documents folder: ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. The contents of the My Documents folder are displayed for your viewing pleasure. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Folder. The new folder appears in the window, named New Folder. How dumb. Give it a new name: ◊ Type Junk. ◊ Press Enter. The name Junk is applied to the new folder. Now you have a Junk folder, where you can put throwaway or temporary files that you don’t really need long-term. In fact, all the little temporary files that you created in Part 1, “Windows Orientation and Review,” can go there. ◊ Move the Teleportation document to the Junk folder. Drag the Teleportation document to the Junk folder, as shown in Figure 24.1. This step moves the Teleportation document to the Junk folder.

Figure 24.1 Moving a file to the Junk folder.

A

Drag the document from here…

B C

…to this folder. Release the mouse button to drop the document into the folder.

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Chapter 24 Organizing Folders ◊ Move the Today’s Profit document to the Junk folder. If you don’t have the Teleportation or Today’s Profit documents, drag some other meaningless text documents into the Junk folder just because. (You’re bound to have some junk text files there; why not put them in an appropriate place?) Eventually, your My Documents folder should contain lots of folders, neatly organizing your work. As an example of what you can do, I submit Figure 24.2, which shows how deep organization can go.

Figure 24.2 An organized folder strategy.

A

Main categories under My Documents.

B

Specific folders for specific types of audio files.

C

General Work folder for business stuff.

D

Archive folders, good for storing old data.

E

Different types of graphics files, organized in their own folders.

As an example of the organization, get out a magnifying glass and find the 2000 folder under Letters in Figure 24.2. If you follow the path from My Documents, reading each successive folder name, it tells you exactly what you can find there: My Documents, Work, Letters, 2000

That folder most likely contains letters written in the year 2000 relating somehow to work. In fact, the previous text is a pathname (discussed in Chapter 23, “Exploring Folders”): C:\My Documents\Work\Letters\2000

Nifty.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Start your organizational theme! Create a Work folder inside the My Documents folder: ◊ Right-click in the My Documents window. Right-click the right side of the window, where the files are. A pop-up menu appears. ◊ Choose New➡Folder. This method is yet another way to create a folder. ◊ Rename the new folder Work. Type Work right after the folder is created to give it that name. You’re ready to start putting (and creating) important stuff there. If you already have a Work folder, Windows doesn’t let you create a second one. Rename the New Folder folder as Working instead, or just delete New Folder, which is covered later in this chapter. I can only show you how to organize—I can’t do your organization. On your own, you need to create folders for specific files.

You might notice that Windows places the new folder right where you clicked, which might not be aesthetically pleasing. To fix this, choose View➡Arrange Icons➡By Name. That straightens things up for you, as well as closes any “holes” from icons you’ve moved.

Keep the My Documents window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Don’t expect to build your entire folder structure at once; it doesn’t work. You have to build it a piece at a time, as you need it. No hurry. ● A folder has no minimum file requirement. A folder can contain zero files, one file, or thousands of files.

A good way to start is simply to look at what’s in your My Documents folder already. Do you have a bunch of text files? If so, create a Text folder for them.

● Of course, a folder with thousands of files probably needs some subfolders to organize things further. ● Honestly, a keyboard shortcut should exist for creating a new folder. I vote for Ctrl+N. (It’s „+-N on the Macintosh, not that I’m comparing or anything.) ● I occasionally create a new folder in places other than the My Documents folder. For example, I created a DOS Utilities folder in the Program Files folder for all my old, favorite DOS utility programs. Nothing is wrong with this method, but still all my documents and graphics files are stored in an elaborately organized scheme under the main My Documents folder.

290

Chapter 24 Organizing Folders ● The My Documents folder on drive C and the My Documents folder on the desktop are really the same thing. If you’ve configured Windows so that more than one person can use the computer, then everyone will have their own, personal My Documents folder.

Renaming a Folder Eventually you might discover that a folder contains stuff that doesn’t relate to the folder’s name. When that happens, you can rename the folder. For example, the Junk folder that you created earlier in this chapter now contains some text documents you made. The folder isn’t really “junk” anymore. ◊ Click the Junk folder once to select it. ◊ Press the F2 key. The F2 key is the keyboard shortcut for the Rename command. ◊ Type Sample Text Files. The word Files might “wrap” to the next line below the icon so that it says this: Sample Text Files

That’s okay; the name is still readable and informative. Although you can rename a folder with as many as 255 characters, short descriptive names are always better. ◊ Press Enter to lock in the new name. Renaming a folder happens all the time. For example, you might be planning a trip to the mountains. Everything about the trip is in your Mountain folder in the Vacations folder. Then you get a huge bonus check. Time to rename the Mountain folder as the Disney World folder. Although renaming folders is easy, I have a warning: Windows memorizes the names of folders containing programs and, if you rename them, it takes longer to find and start your program. It doesn’t “lose” the program, although it takes Windows longer to find the program when you try to run it again. The purpose of the My Documents folder, and all the folders that you create there, is to hold documents, not programs. Therefore, renaming folders in My Documents is always okay.

Don’t rename a folder if it contains a program! It doesn’t matter which type of program it is: DOS, Windows, a game, whatever.

291


Never rename a folder containing programs. Sheesh! ● You cannot give a folder the name of another folder in the same window. If you already have a Sample Text Files folder in My Documents, for example, Windows spews a nasty error message at you. ● You can give a folder a name as long as 215 characters, although short descriptive names are always best. ● You can use letters, numbers, and spaces in any combination to name a folder. You can also use periods and other symbols, but not any of these characters: “ * / : ? \ | < > ● You can also rename a selected folder by choosing the File➡Rename command. ● Right-clicking a folder and choosing the Rename command from the shortcut menu also renames the file. ● Never rename any folders inside the Program Files folder or the Program Files folder itself.

Never rename the Windows folder or any folders in that folder. If you do, your computer might not start up.

Moving a Folder Part of organization involves not only putting proper files in proper folders, but also keeping those folders organized. For example, because your collection of MIDI files is stored haphazardly in the My Documents folder, you’ll wisely follow my good advice and create a MIDI folder, moving your MIDI files into it. Then you’ll notice that you also have an Audio folder for sound files. Hey! The MIDI folder should go in there! Eventually you’ll end up with a scheme similar to the one shown in the upper-left part of Figure 24.2. My, how organized. Because this book is work, the Sample Text Files folder should go in your Work folder. ◊ Drag the Sample Text Files folder into your Work folder. This step works just like moving a file; use Figure 24.1 as a guide, although you’ll drag a folder and not a file.

292

Make sure that you can see both the Sample Text Files folder and the Work folder in the My Documents window.

Chapter 24 Organizing Folders Some words of advice: ● Moving a folder moves all the folder’s contents, including any other folders inside that folder and all their contents. It’s a massive operation. ● Moving a folder isn’t a casual thing. Make sure that you’re doing so primarily for organizational purposes. That process implies some thought, as opposed to saying, “Well, I’ll just drag it here for now.”

A better way to move a folder is with the Move To button because you normally can’t see in the window the folder you’re moving to, which makes dragging the folder with the mouse unwieldy.

◊ Press Ctrl+Z, the Undo command. The Sample Text Files folder is moved back. ◊ Click the Sample Text Files folder once to select it. ◊ Click the Move To button. The Move To and Copy To buttons appear side by side on the window’s toolbar. Move To is on the left. Clicking that button displays the Browse for Folder dialog box, as shown in Figure 24.3. This is where you choose the destination for your folder. Figure 24.3 Finding a place to move a folder.

A

Choose the destination from this list.

B

The selected folder is the current destination.

C

If you’re nuts, type the pathname here.

D E

Scroll around to find the folder.

F

Move the file.

Make a new folder in the selected folder.

◊ Scroll to find and open the My Documents folder. ◊ Select the Work folder. ◊ Click OK.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The folder is moved to the Work folder. The Move To button may seem a bit excessive, with too many steps, especially when compared with the drag-and-drop method. But for copying a folder to someplace neither hither nor thither but yon, it really does come in handy. ◊ Press Ctrl+Z, the Undo command. Once again, the Sample Text Files folder is moved back. Don’t fuss over this; the folder will not become psychotic or confused. The final way to move a folder is with Cut and Paste, two commands found in the Edit menu. ◊ Select the Sample Text Files folder. This is the folder you’re moving. ◊ Choose Edit➡Cut. Or, you can press Ctrl+X from the keyboard. The folder’s icon appears ghostly on the screen; it has been selected for cutting but doesn’t quite yet know where it’s going to be pasted. Anticipation mounts. ◊ Open the Work folder. Double-click the folder to display its contents. This is the location for the folder you’re moving. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste. Or, you can press Ctrl+V, the Paste command’s keyboard shortcut, Either way, the folder is pasted into the Work folder. Keep the Explorer window open for the next exciting tutorial. ● Moving folders around is known as “pruning and grafting.” It’s a pun because the folder structure on your hard drive is called a “tree structure.” If you turn Figure 24.2 upside down, it kind of looks like a tree. Sorta. ● You can copy a folder similar to the way it’s moved, although this duplicates the entire contents of the folder, which consumes disk space. Instead of copying, I recommend creating a folder shortcut, which is covered later in this chapter.

Zapping a Folder to Kingdom Come Deleting a folder removes not only the folder, but also all its contents. It’s scary stuff. Continue the preceding tutorial (in Explorer at the Work folder): ◊ Drag the Sample Text Files folder to the Recycle Bin.

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Chapter 24 Organizing Folders You might have to minimize, resize, or move the Explorer window over to the right a little to see the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop. A warning dialog box might appear, asking whether you want to toss the folder and all its contents into the trash. You really don’t want to because this section is a tutorial. ◊ Click No. If the message doesn’t appear and the folder was thrown away, press Ctrl+Z to get it back.

Remember that deleting a folder deletes not only the folder, but also all its contents. That can be a great deal of stuff. Why delete folders? Because you might no longer need them. For example, you might have a collection of X-files theories that you grabbed from the Internet, and they’re taking up megabytes of disk space, so you just delete the folder to save yourself space. Now the warning: Remember that you’re supposed to uninstall programs, not delete them. See Chapter 14, “Installing and Removing Software,” for information about uninstalling programs. Another warning:

Don’t delete folders containing programs!

Never delete the following folders or any folders within them: C:\Windows C:\Program Files

Don’t delete the main My Documents folder. If you do, it deletes all your stuff, and Windows and some applications expect to put your new documents in that folder. Generally speaking, don’t delete any folder that you didn’t create yourself.

You can always copy the folder from your hard drive to a floppy disk or a Zip drive.

● You can also delete a folder by selecting it and choosing File➡Delete from the menu, or by right-clicking a folder and choosing Delete from the shortcut menu.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● The Delete button on the toolbar also deletes a selected folder. ● You can press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete a folder. ● The Amazing Kreskin can delete a folder simply by using his mind. ● See Chapter 29, “Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling,” which discusses the Recycle Bin in detail.

Making a Folder Shortcut You probably don’t want to make a copy of a folder. When you do, you copy the folder and all its contents—which can be a considerable chunk of disk space. No, rather than copy a folder, you want to create a folder shortcut. Folder shortcuts are placed mostly on the desktop. For example, your current project folder can be put on the desktop as a shortcut, saving you time when you need to get to your files. Continue the preceding tutorial (in the Explorer window, Work folder): ◊ Right-drag the Sample Text Files folder to the desktop. Use the right mouse button to drag the file to the desktop. When you release the mouse button, a pop-up shortcut menu appears, as shown in Figure 24.4. Figure 24.4 Creating a shortcut on the desktop.

A B C D

Right-drag from here… …to out here. Release the mouse button to see the shortcut menu. Choose this option to create the shortcut.

◊ Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. ◊ Press F2 to rename the file. ◊ Delete the first part of the name: Shortcut To. Use the cursor keys on your keyboard to move up to the beginning of the folder’s name. Then press the Delete key to edit out “Shortcut To.” ◊ Press Enter.

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Chapter 24 Organizing Folders The shortcut represents the original folder but is not a copy. You save disk space and keep a handy shortcut on the desktop. ◊ Open the Sample Text Files folder shortcut. You’ll see a window containing the text files, the same window that you would see had you opened the folder in the Work folder.

You never really need an icon named Shortcut To because all shortcut icons have the little twisty arrow on them.

◊ Close the Sample Text Files window. Because this section is just a tutorial, you don’t need the Sample Text Files shortcut on the desktop. ◊ Click the Sample Text Files desktop shortcut once to select it. ◊ Press the Delete key. Click Yes if Windows asks whether you’re emotionally ready to delete the shortcut. You are. Although the shortcut is gone, the original folder remains. Your Sample Text Files folder in the Work folder still lives. In fact, it never changed; only the shortcut to it was zapped to kingdom come.

Deleting a shortcut icon does not delete the original file. ◊ Close the Work window. The tutorial ends here, although you can create shortcuts to your project folders and stick them on the desktop for handy access. I find that method quicker than browsing through folders or even using the Start Thing’s Documents menu. ● Folder shortcuts don’t always have to go on the desktop. For example, using Figure 24.2, you could create a shortcut to the Letters folder in the Writing folder. That would give you quicker access to that folder if you needed it. ● Even though the shortcut folder is not the original, its contents are. So, if you open a folder shortcut and delete some icons, you really are deleting icons, not some mythical representation of them.

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Using Compressed (Okay, Zip File) Folders Windows Me is the first version of Windows to actively support the Zip file format. Although this seems like it would make third-party Zip file utilities (such as WinZip) useless, there are still many things that those programs do—and do better than Windows. So, if you have WinZip or some other Zip file manager, keep using it. If you don’t, then you can call upon Windows to manage your Zip file archives.

In the land of Microsoft, Zip file archives are called “compressed folders.”

Zip files, also known as archives, evolved from the need to transfer programs and files between PCs using a modem. This was way before the Internet was popular. Back in those early days, transferring files took a long time, and often many files needed to be transferred in a group. The solution was to create a file archive: a single file that contained many other files. Additionally, the files were digitally compressed; they took up less space! That meant that many files could be transferred quickly as a single file. When an archive file was received, an unarchiving utility program was used to extract the individual files, decompressing them to their original size. A Zip file, which Windows Me calls a compressed folder, is merely the latest and most popular type of file archive. You’ll find Zip files used all over the Internet for downloading programs, and you can use them yourself for storing large files in a more compact size.

Creating a Compressed Folder Compressed folders are really Zip files. So, they’re not really true folders, but actually special storage places for files that you seldom use or files that take up huge amounts of space. Creating a compressed folder is cinchy. ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Open the My Pictures folder. The My Pictures folder is where Windows entreats you to store all the graphic images that you create or scan. From Part I of this book you created a file named Silly Picture.

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Chapter 24 Organizing Folders ◊ Select the Silly Picture file. The image’s preview appears on the left side of the My Pictures window. Just above that you’ll find information about the file. Note its size. On my screen, I see that Silly Picture weighs in at 500KB, or half a megabyte. Whoa. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Compressed Folder. The New Compressed Folder appears. Hmmm. It has a zipper on it. Hmmm. ◊ Rename the compressed folder Sample Stow. Type the name Sample Stow, and press Enter to rename the icon. If you see a warning dialog box about changing the extension, click No; instead use Sample Stow.zip as the new filename. ◊ Drag the Silly Picture icon to the Sample Stow compressed folder. Ploop! This copies the file to the compressed folder. (Technically, it adds the file to the Zip archive.) ◊ Click the Sample Stow icon and check the file size. On my screen, the folder occupies only 33KB of disk space—a whopping 467KB less than the original file! That is the benefit of compressed files. Imagine the difference between downloading the original Silly Picture at 500KB and downloading the compressed folder archive at 33KB from the Internet. The original file would take 15 times longer to download—thus the reason archive files were invented. On your hard drive, archive files allow you to store large files, such as graphics images, without occupying great expanses of disk real estate. Compressed folders make for ideal long-term storage of any types of files that you want handy, if you don’t want to hog up space. Keep the My Pictures window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Adding files to a compressed folder (Zip archive) is as easy as dragging their icons to the folder. ● You cannot move a file into a compressed folder. If you want to move the file, first copy it to the folder and then delete the original. ● The Move To and Copy To buttons will not display compressed folders. Ditto for the Save As and Open dialog boxes; you cannot browse to compressed folders. ● You cannot create folders, compressed or otherwise, inside a compressed folder. However, you can copy folders to a compressed folder. ● You also cannot run programs from a compressed folder. Consider it a storage tool, not a permanent method of keeping programs or documents that you use often.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If you’ve installed a Zip file manager, then the compressed folders icon might not appear as shown in this book. In fact, if you’re using a Zip file manager, I’d recommend not messing with the Windows version of compressed folders at all; use the Zip file manager instead.

Files in a Compressed Folder Continuing from last section’s tutorial… ◊ Open the Sample Stow compressed folder. Double-click it to open. It opens just like any other window and looks the same. Of course, it’s not the same because the files inside the folder are slender cousins of their uncompressed selves. To extract one or more files from the archive, you first select them and then copy them elsewhere. It’s basic file copying, which is covered in Chapter 25, “File Fun,” but for practice you can extract the Silly Picture file and put it into the My Documents folder: ◊ Select the Silly Picture icon. ◊ Click the Copy To button on the toolbar. The Browse for Folder dialog box appears. ◊ Select My Documents from the scrolling list-o-folders. ◊ Click OK. The file has been copied, but because it came from a compressed folder, it was actually decompressed and then copied. Minor detail. ◊ Close the Sample Stow window. ◊ Click the Up button. This takes you from the My Pictures folder to the My Documents folder, where you can locate the Silly Picture icon that you just extracted. ◊ Click the Back button to return to the My Pictures folder. This tutorial continues with the next section.

Some Compressed Folder Tricks There are no rules for using compressed folders. Here’s a smattering of suggestions for things to do: ✓ Create a compressed folder full of images, and then attach it to an email message to send to a friend or relative.

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Chapter 24 Organizing Folders ✓ Create a compressed folder on a Zip disk, and copy all of today’s work into that folder for storage. ✓ Create a compressed folder for storing all of last year’s stuff. ✓ Copy the work that you do at home into a compressed folder that you can send to the office computer. ✓ Create a compressed folder for storing temporary or junk files. There are probably many more ways to use compressed folders. If you think of any good ones, email me at [email protected], and I’ll post them on this book’s Web page. Two more interesting and useful tricks can be found in the compressed folder’s pop-up menu. ◊ Right-click the Sample Stow compressed folder. Up jumps a shortcut menu with two items that might catch your eye, as shown in Figure 24.5. Figure 24.5 A compressed folder’s pop-up menu.

A

View the compressed folder’s contents.

B

Decompress and save all the stored files.

C

Slap a password on the compressed folder.

D E

Don’t mess with this one.

F

Other, standard pop-up menu items covered elsewhere in this book. Right-click on the compressed folder’s icon to see the popup menu.

The Extract All command runs the Extract Wizard, which lets you select a folder into which all the compressed files will be decompressed. This is the ideal option to choose, for example, when downloading files from the Internet. For program files, extract the files into a temporary folder, and then run any Setup or Install program. For other files, extract them into their own special folders. The Encrypt command lets you password-protect the files in the archive. After encrypting, no one else can extract files from the compressed folder without knowing the password. (However, other people can open the compressed folder and view the icons there.)

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Encrypting a compressed folder is the only way to password-protect files in Windows Me. A Decrypt command appears on the pop-up menu if the compressed folder is already encrypted. It’s used to remove the password from the compressed folder. Any time you want to access a file in an encrypted compressed folder, you’ll be asked for the password. If you don’t know the password, or if you forget it, then you’re basically screwed. Keep the My Pictures window open for this chapter’s last tutorial. ● You cannot encrypt or decrypt individual files in a compressed folder. The encryption and password applies to everything in the folder. ● Don’t forget the password! There’s no secret way to get into an encrypted compressed folder if you lose the password. ● Remember that you cannot use the Open dialog box to find and open files held in a compressed folder. If you’re using an encrypted compressed folder to hide your stuff, you’ll have to extract and decrypt the files before you can use them. ● Yes, I know it seems silly that the thing is encrypted and yet you can still view all the icons in the compressed folder. However, you cannot extract or preview the icon’s contents. That’s still better than no file encryption at all.

Deleting a Compressed Folder As this tutorial winds to a close, it has come time to remove the compressed folder you created. ◊ Select the Sample Stow compressed folder. ◊ Choose File➡Delete. A warning box might appear, filling you with dread over sending the file to the Recycle Bin. Click Yes. ◊ Close the My Pictures window. Yer dun.

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Chapter 25

File Fun


> > > > >

Copying a file Making file shortcuts Moving files Renaming files and icons Working with groups of files

Crack your knuckles as though you were Bugs Bunny sitting down to play the “Hungarian Rhapsody.” Your fingers are about to dance on the keyboard as you learn some basic file-manipulation skills: making shortcuts and copying, duplicating, moving, renaming, and working with groups of files. It’s all covered in this chapter. ● All the file-manipulation commands in this chapter apply to folders, too. See Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders.” ● The only command missing from this chapter is Delete, which is used to remove unwanted files. That command is covered in Chapter 29, “Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling.”


Ten Thousand Ways to Copy a File I suppose that making a copy of a file is important. DOS had the COPY command, and then came the XCOPY and XCOPY32 commands. It’s the same in Windows: You can copy a file in probably a half-dozen ways. Choosing how to copy a file depends on where you’re copying it. This section explains everything.

One final thing: Don’t forget the Undo command: Edit➡Undo or Ctrl+Z. It can undo any of the file-manipulation commands covered in this chapter.

◊ Open the My Documents folder on the desktop. Whenever you work with files, especially copying them, it’s best to work with the Folders list visible: ◊ Click the Folders button. This displays the Folder list, if it’s not already visible. (If you just hid the Folders list, click the button again.) If the files all slid off the east side of the window, choose View➡Arrange Icons➡By Name, and they’ll line up properly again. Also, ensure that the toolbar is visible. If not, choose View➡Toolbars➡Standard Buttons. Now you’re ready for some copyin’.

Basic File Copying Windows Me has introduced a handy new way (call it way 10,001) to copy a file. It’s the miraculous Copy To button.

Be careful not to confuse the Copy To button with the Move To button. Note that the Copy To button is on the right. If in doubt, point the mouse at the button (without clicking), and the button’s label appears after a moment. It should say Copy To. ◊ Select the Envelopes document.

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Chapter 25 File Fun This document was created in Part I, “Windows Orientation and Review.” If you don’t have it, choose another document by clicking it once with the mouse. ◊ Click the Copy To button. The nifty Browse For Folder dialog box appears (see Figure 25.1). This is where you select a destination, or the place to where you’re copying the file. All your PC’s disk drives and the folders on those drives can be accessed from this very spot. Figure 25.1 Select a place to copy the file to.

A B

Standard tree structure thing. You can copy to the floppy disk here.

C

The highlighted folder; where the file will be copied.

D

If you’re insane, type a pathname here.

E

Click to create a new folder in the highlighted folder.

F

Click to copy.

◊ Click on the + to open the My Documents folder. ◊ Select the Work folder. (If the Work folder does not exist, choose another folder.) ◊ Click OK. The file is copied. Prove it: ◊ Open the Work folder. Double-click to open the Work folder, or just choose it from the Folders list on the left side of the window. Lo, there’s the copy of the Envelopes file. ◊ Click the Back button. Return to the My Documents folder for the next section’s tutorial. ● The file copying operation has always been source-to-destination. In Windows, you find the source, which is the file that you want to copy. Then you click the Copy To button and locate the destination, the spot where you want the copy to be created.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Copying a file creates two identical files on disk. ● Sometimes what you really need is a shortcut copy instead of a duplicate. Creating shortcuts is covered later in this chapter. ● You can also choose Edit➡Copy to Folder from the menu in case the toolbar is invisible. ● To copy a file to a floppy disk, simply choose the disk from the Browse for Folder dialog box. (Ensure that there’s a disk in the drive before you click OK.)

Copy and Paste The second way to copy files in Windows is to use the Copy and Paste commands. It works like this: 1. Select an icon and copy it. 2. Navigate to the folder in which you want the copy. 3. Paste the copy. Of course, that’s just too simple for Microsoft; some variety must be in there, as you’ll discover. Here is one way you can copy the Teleportation (plain text) icon from the My Documents folder to the Work\Sample Text Files folder: ◊ Click the Teleportation icon to select it. ◊ Copy the file. Here are your choices: Choose Edit➡Copy. This option works best if you’re whizzing around by using the mouse. Press Ctrl+C, the keyboard shortcut. This method works only if your left hand is glued to the keyboard while your right hand is working the mouse. The Teleportation file has been selected for copying. It sits in the Clipboard, awaiting the moment that it will be pasted. ◊ Open the Work\Sample Text Files folder. On the left side of the window, click the + by the Work folder, and then click the Sample Text Files folder once to open it. ◊ Paste the file.

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Chapter 25 File Fun More options: Choose Edit➡Paste. Remember that the more times you click your mouse, the more noise you’ll make and the more work others nearby will assume that you’re doing. Press Ctrl+V, the keyboard shortcut. Use this option only if you can figure out how V can be associated with the word paste. The file is copied to the new directory. It has the same name and same content as the original. Everything is the same; the copied file is a duplicate of the original. ● If the pasted file doesn’t line up right, choose View➡Line Up Icons from the menu. ● If the previous tip doesn’t work, choose View➡Arrange Icons➡by Name. That’ll do it.

If you’re good with two buttons on the mouse, you can shorten things considerably: To copy, right-click an icon and choose the Copy command. In the new location for the file, rightclick in the window and choose the Paste command.

● All told, that’s three ways to copy a file and three ways to paste. That’s nine possible copy-and-paste combinations. Then there’s the right-click shortcut menu Copy and Paste commands, which makes the total 11, in addition to the Copy To button and Edit➡Copy To Folder commands. That makes 13 ways to copy a file—so far.

Copying by Ctrl+Dragging Dragging an icon with the mouse is okay for copying files between two folders or two open windows that you can see. Beyond that, I recommend copying by using the commands discussed in the preceding sections. Continue the preceding section’s tutorial: ◊ Click the Back button to return to the My Documents folder. ◊ Ctrl+drag the Silly Picture icon to the Work folder. Press the Ctrl key first. Then drag the Silly Picture icon to the Work folder’s icon. Release the Ctrl key after you release the mouse button.

To copy an icon with the mouse, hold down the Ctrl key. Otherwise, you’ll move the file.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Ctrl refers to the Ctrl key on your keyboard, which is called the Control key, so “Ctrl+drag” refers to a control-drag. ● Windows assumes that you want to move a file when you drag its icon between two folders on the same hard drive. In that situation, you must press the Ctrl key to copy the file instead.

Notice the + while you’re Ctrl+dragging? It’s your clue that you’re copying the icon, not just moving it.

● When you drag a file to another hard drive, Windows assumes that you mean to copy it; you don’t have to press the Ctrl key. In fact, the + automatically appears when you drag an icon to another hard drive. ● This makes 14 methods for copying a file. Of course, you can always use the right mouse button to drag and drop a file, choosing Copy Here from the pop-up menu that appears. That makes 15.

Duplicating a File Whenever you copy a file, you’re creating a duplicate. However, I reserve the phrase “duplicating a file” for creating a copy of a file in the same folder. This stuff can be tricky. Suppose that you create some piece of artwork and want to mess with it while keeping the original intact: ◊ Open the Work folder. You should find the Silly Picture file, copied there from a previous lesson. ◊ Right-click the Silly Picture file. ◊ Choose Copy.

If you were working on a real file, you’d probably rename the duplicate to something else. For example, when I recently used this trick to edit a programming file named a-sort, I cleverly renamed the duplicate b-sort. Then I proceeded to mess with the b-sort file while the original a-sort remained untouched.

◊ Right-click the window. Click next to the Silly Picture file to display the window’s pop-up menu. ◊ Choose Paste. Hey! It’s called Copy of Silly Picture, a duplicate of the same file in the same folder. Windows has to rename the duplicate file because two files in a folder cannot share the same name.

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Chapter 25 File Fun

Making a File Shortcut Sometimes you need a copy of a file just to be handy. For example, say that you’re always fishing in the Windows folder for the FAQ file. If you need better access to the file, why not create a shortcut to it someplace handy, such as in My Documents or on the desktop? Continue this chapter’s tutorial: ◊ Browse to the Windows folder on drive C. Open My Computer, Drive C, and then the Windows folder. The contents of the Windows folder appear on the right side. If not, click the link View the Entire Contents of This Folder.

Making a shortcut works just like copying a file. The only difference is that you paste the file as a shortcut, not as a full copy.

◊ Press the Tab key. This step switches the focus to the right side of the window, where the files are. ◊ Scroll until you find the FAQ file. ◊ Select the FAQ file. ◊ Press Ctrl+C to copy the FAQ file. ◊ Return to the My Documents folder. You can click the Back button a few times to get there—if you’ve been working through this chapter’s tutorials. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste Shortcut. The new file, Shortcut to FAQ, appears in the My Documents window. You now have easy access to the file. ● Shortcuts are easily identified by the little, curly arrow in the icon’s lower-left corner (see the icon in the margin). ● Opening the shortcut is the same as opening the original. ● Shortcuts are pasted mostly to the desktop. ● The Start menu is full of program shortcuts (refer to Chapter 10, “Ode to the Start Thing”).

Opening a shortcut icon and editing the file does change the original. Remember that it’s a shortcut, not a copy.

● Most people rename shortcut icons, removing the initial Shortcut To part of the name. Renaming a shortcut does not change the original in any way.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Deleting a shortcut icon does not change the original in any way. ● Moving a shortcut icon does not change the original. (Okay: in any way.)

Don’t Make a Shortcut This Way! The worst way to create a shortcut is to choose New➡Shortcut from any one of several menus around Windows. When you do, you’re faced with a dialog box that forces you to manually type the original file’s pathname (barf!) or use a Browse dialog box to hunt down the original file. What a colossal waste of time!

The Copy Warning Two files of the same type with the same name cannot live in the same folder. When you attempt to copy or move a file to a folder and a file with that name is already there, you’ll see a warning. Be careful. ◊ Ctrl+drag the Silly Picture icon from the My Documents window to the Work folder. This step attempts to copy the Silly Picture icon to that folder—although a file named Silly Picture is already there. Because Windows assumes that you want to replace the old one with the one you’re pasting, a warning dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 25.2. Figure 25.2 A file is about to be replaced. Uh-oh!

A B

The file about to be replaced.

C D

Check these dates!

The file you’re replacing it with.

If this date is more recent, replacing the file might be okay.

Examine the file dates and time in the Confirm File Replace window. If the file that you’re pasting (on the bottom) is more recent, you’ll probably want to replace the older one. If that’s not what you expected, click No.

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Chapter 25 File Fun ◊ Click No. If you’re copying a group of files, you’re asked to confirm each one, or you can click Yes to All to replace all the files. ● The Confirm File Replace is actually a Paste command warning. It appears whether you’ve copied or moved files. ● In addition to filenames, files have types. For example, Silly Picture is a Paint program file, called a bitmap graphic. Chapter 27, “Essence of a File,” covers file types.

The Grand Total

For example, I routinely send copies of the files that I’m working on to a Zip disk as a backup. When I go to paste the files, Windows displays a warning similar to the one shown in Figure 25.2. I click Yes (or Yes for All, which appears when you copy more than one file at a time) to replace the older backup files on the floppy disks with my current work.

So how many ways are there to copy a file? Not really 10,000, of course. But if you add in all the variations, options, left/right mouse buttons, dragging, plus the three DOS commands that can also be used to copy files, you come pretty close!

Moving a File Hither and Thither

If you really want to copy the file and not delete the original, rename something. Rename the file that’s already in the folder, or rename the file that you’re pasting.

Most of the time, you probably move files, not copy them. Ideally this happens during the throes of disk organization. You realize that your Junk folder contains a bunch of doodles that you drew while you were on the phone. Move them to a special Doodle folder, where you’ll keep them until one day they’ll be published and you’ll be famous (that happens after you’re dead, though, so you’ll never see any money from it).

Moving files is all about organization. Move to Where? The Copy To button’s twin sister is Move To, which works just like Copy To, but the original file is deleted; only the copied file remains, which means (in a rather wordy way) that the file has been moved.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition I won’t bore you with a tutorial here. Basically refer to the section earlier in this chapter on the Copy To button, and know that Move To works the same, with the exception that the original file is deleted (it has been moved).

Moving a File Can Be a Drag As with copying files, the easiest way to move a file is to drag it, as long as the folder is visible. Providing that you have an Explorer window open with the Folders list visible, it can be easy. Continuing from the previous tutorial in this chapter: ◊ Drag the Today’s Profit icon into the Work folder. Releasing the mouse over the Graphics folder “drops” the file into that folder. Confirm that you’ve done your job: ◊ Open the Work folder. There’s the Today’s Profit file. Great. ● Remember, this trick works just fine as long as you can see the folder to where you’re dragging the file. Can’t see the folder? Then you have to choose another way to move the icon. ● Windows always moves files between folders on the same disk. When you drag to another disk, Windows automatically copies the icon. ● To override an automatic copy, press the Shift key. Shift+dragging an icon always moves that icon, no matter what.

Moving a File with Cut-and-Paste Moving files can also be done with Cut and Paste. You select an icon, cut it, and then navigate to the folder to where you want it moved. Then you paste. Continuing from the previous section’s tutorial: ◊ Select the Silly Picture icon. ◊ Cut the file. This step is not a delete operation. Because you’re cutting the file to paste it elsewhere, selecting the file and cutting it does not delete the file.

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The Silly Picture file is now “cut,” and it appears dimmed onscreen. It’s not deleted; it’s merely flagged as being cut. In fact, if you were to wander off and do something else now (other than Paste), Windows would not move the file.

Chapter 25 File Fun Here are your choices for the Cut command: Choose Edit➡Cut. Gotta love them menu commands, although I admit that this method is out of the way for most folks. Press Ctrl+X, the keyboard shortcut. If you’re addicted to keyboard shortcuts, this method is the one that you use. ◊ Open the Flying Car folder. This was created in Part I of this book. Locate the Flying Car folder in the Folders list. Click once to open that folder and display its contents. ◊ Paste the file. Now you can use the standard Paste options, the same ones as for Copy and Paste: Choose Edit➡Paste. Ah, the menu. Always there. Reliable. Boring. Press Ctrl+V, the keyboard shortcut. The favorite of keyboard users around the world (where, in some languages, the word for paste might start with a V).

You can also select a file for cutting by right-clicking the icon and choosing the Cut command from the shortcut menu. When you get to the folder in which you want to paste, right-click in the window and choose the Paste command.

The file is moved to the new directory. It’s the same file, just in a new place.

Making Up Your Mind as You Go Another way to copy or move files is to drag with the right mouse button. As I’ve said, this method works best if you can see the folder to which you’re copying or moving a file. If so, the right-drag is great because it lets you copy, move, or create a shortcut in one operation. After you release the mouse in a right-drag, a pop-up menu appears. From that menu, you can select one of these options: Copy Here—Copies the file to the new location Move Here—Moves the file to the new location Create Shortcut(s) Here—Makes a shortcut icon in the new location Or, you can choose Cancel to skip the whole operation. (The reason I’m writing this tip in a sidebar is that it’s tricky: You must be able to see the destination folder, and you must use the right mouse button, which throws many people.)

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Giving a File a New Name If we named our children the way we’re supposed to name files in Windows, kids would probably be walking around today with names such as Inventive, Stubborn, Cuddly, Independent, Constantly in Trouble, and Tattles About Her Sister. That’s a silly method for naming human children, but it’s entirely appropriate when you’re naming files. A file’s name is assigned when the file is created. Afterward you can rename the file by using one of the various Windows Rename commands. ◊ Open the Sample Text Files folder. It’s in the My Documents\Work folder, if you don’t have the Explorer window open. ◊ Rename the Teleportation file as My First Document. Here are your choices: Select the file and press the F2 key—This method is the way that I rename files: You have to use the mouse to select the file, but the F2 key is handy because your hands are on the keyboard anyway to retype the filename. Right-click the file and choose Rename—This method is my second favorite because it combines selecting the file with choosing the Rename command. Handy. Select the file and choose File➡Rename from the menu—I’ve always thought that this method involved an extra step, so it’s my least favorite file-renaming option. Finally, my not-recommended option, which you might have already stumbled on accidentally: Click the file once to select it and then again to rename—This step is not a double-click; it’s slower. You click the file once to select it. Pause. Then click the file again and the filename becomes selected, ready for replacement or editing. (You’ll do this accidentally all the time. Just press the Esc key on your keyboard to cancel.) ◊ Type the icon’s new name. Name the file My First Document. ◊ Press Enter to lock in the new name. If you see a dialog box telling you that the file cannot be renamed, read the message. It generally tells you which of the 72 file-renaming errors you’ve violated. (The number isn’t 72—I just pulled that number out of a hat.) Try renaming again.

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You can edit an icon’s name just as you edit any text in Windows. Normally you just type a new name, which replaces the old one. However, you can use the cursor keys, Backspace, Delete, and other editing keys.

Chapter 25 File Fun If you get a warning about changing the filename’s extension, then click No and rename the file My First Document.doc. Chapter 27 goes into more detail on filename extensions and how to avoid this type of error. See the sidebar “Basic File-Naming Rules and Regulations,” later in this chapter for more information about what you can and cannot name a file. ● Don’t rename any file, icon, or folder that you didn’t create yourself. ● Don’t rename any files in the Windows or Program Files folders. ● You cannot rename a file with the same name of another file in the same folder. If you try, Windows displays an ugly warning dialog box. Close the dialog box, and then try renaming your file again. ● You can rename only one icon at a time. You cannot select a group of files and rename them at one time (you could in DOS, but not in Windows). See the section, “Crowd Control (Working with Groups of Files).” ● You can give two files of different types the same name. It’s possible, for example, to have both a WordPad and Paint file named Airplane Food in a folder. But two WordPad files named alike? No way.

If you’re using the As Web Page option on the View menu, you might have trouble renaming some files. For example, a graphics file would be previewed on the left side of the window (the Web page). If you try to rename a file, Windows always switches to preview the file instead. In that case, turn off the As Web Page option.

Don’t rename programs. Sure, it would be cute to rename WordPerfect as DoodleWriter. Unfortunately, that name might give you some problems when Windows claims that it can no longer find WordPerfect (because it was renamed).

Basic File-Naming Rules and Regulations A filename can contain letters, numbers, and spaces. A filename cannot contain any of these characters: “ * / : ? \ | < >

A filename can be any number of characters long, from 1 to 215. A 216-character filename is one character too many and is probably ridiculous. Although uppercase and lowercase letters look different onscreen, Windows doesn’t notice any difference. You can save a file as May Schedule, and Windows still finds it when you type may schedule or even MAY SCHEDULE.

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Crowd Control (Working with Groups of Files) You can copy or move groups of files in the same way as you work with single files. The only difference is that you have to select more than one file in the first step. That way, you can treat the files as a group for a gang-copy or gang-cut. Obviously this technique is much more efficient than doing things one file at a time. The remaining tutorials in this chapter merely select groups of files. To copy or move the group, refer to previous sections in this chapter. The Copy and Cut commands covered in those sections apply to groups as well as to individual files.

Selecting a Ragtag Group of Files with Ctrl+Click To select more than one file at a time, press the Ctrl key as you click each file. This process is known as a Ctrl+click (Control-click): ◊ Open the My Documents window in Explorer (if it’s not open already). You should have a few files in this folder. If not, go to one of your other folders that contains a large number of files. Go only to a folder that you created; don’t use any Windows or Program Files folders. ◊ Press and hold the Ctrl key. As long as the Ctrl key is pressed, Windows remembers which files you click. ◊ Click an icon to select it. ◊ Click another icon to select it. Both icons are selected—a group! ◊ Continue Ctrl+clicking icons to select a group. For example, you could Ctrl+click all your graphics icons to select them and then move them to the Graphics folder. Figure 25.3 illustrates this concept. At this point, you would use the file command on the group of icons: Copy or cut them (or delete them, which is covered later in this chapter).

You can switch away from the window and do something else, and the files are still selected. Be careful where you click, though! If you click anywhere in the Explorer’s right window other than on one of the selected files, you deselect the group and have to start over.

● You can select files in only one folder at a time. If you want to work with files in several folders, you must select each group in each folder, work with the files, and then move on to the next folder.

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Chapter 25 File Fun

Figure 25.3 Three files are selected.

A

Ctrl+click more than one file to select a group.

B

The number of icons (objects) selected.

C

The amount of disk space used.

D E

A list of the files. If the folder contains lots of files, use the scrollbars to see more for selection.

F

You can also change the view to see more icons in the folder.

G

Or, choose View➡Arrange Icons➡By Type to see icons sorted according to their type.

H

Any file command (Copy, Cut, or Delete, for example) affects all files as a group.

● You can drag the group of files as a unit. Be careful to click on a selected icon to start your drag.

Calf-Ropin’ Files A wholly graphical way to corral a bunch of files into a group is to drag the mouse around them, like a lasso, as shown in Figure 25.4. This technique is good for selecting files when they’re grouped together. ◊ To select a group of files, drag the mouse around them. Figure 25.4 explains how to do this step. All files inside the “line of ants” become selected.

Often you’re not blessed with having all your file’s icons in a neat and nifty rectangle onscreen. If so, you can rope as many as you can, and then you can still Ctrl+click other rogue icons to make them part of the group.

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Figure 25.4 Dragging to select a group of files.

A B C

Start here.

D

Selected files.

Drag down to here. A “line of ants” ropes in the files.

Here’s another trick: Drag to select a group of files. Then, to select another group, press and hold the Ctrl key. That technique selects the second group in addition to the first group. Figure 25.5 shows how to do it.

Selecting a Line of Files with Shift+Click Suppose you want to select all files of a certain type in a window. For example, you want to move all your WordPad documents. You could just Ctrl+click to select each one, but that’s a pain. An easier way is to arrange the window to show the plain-text documents together:

Be careful when you’re using the Ctrl key while you’re dragging over a group of files to select them. If you miss your timing, you copy selected files rather than select them. Because Ctrl+drag is a copy operation that affects selected files, make sure that you press the Ctrl key, pause, and then drag to lasso a bunch of files.

◊ Choose View➡Arrange Icons➡by Type. The icons appear in the window, sorted according to their file type (or which program created them).

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Chapter 25 File Fun Figure 25.5 Selecting two groups of files.

A

This group is selected, as shown in Figure 25.4.

B

The Ctrl key was pressed as the mouse was dragged to select this group, too.

C

You can select additional rogues by Ctrl+clicking them.

If you’re using Large Icon view, it might not be possible to see how things are arranged. Better choose List view instead: ◊ Choose View➡List. ◊ Click the first file on the list. ◊ Shift+click the last file on the list. All files (of the same type) between them are selected. This technique works to select files in sequence, no matter how they’re displayed. If the files are listed alphabetically, you can select them from A to Z, or from 1 to 9, or from M to X, or whatever. (To restore the window to the way it was, choose View➡Arrange Icons➡by Type and then View➡List.)

Selecting the Whole Dang Doodle If you’re not discriminating about which files you select, you can select them all (the whole dang doodle)—all the files in a folder. It’s easier than it sounds: ◊ Choose Edit➡Select All. Or, you can press the handy Ctrl+A shortcut key combo. Whatever—everything in that window is selected.

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Figure 25.6 Selecting files by Shift+clicking.

A

Click here to select the first item in the group.

B

Shift+click here to select the final item in the group.

C

All items between the two items are selected.

D

You can choose List view from here.

If the window contains hidden files or folders, you see a dialog box asking whether you want to select the hidden file or folder, too. Choose OK. Because hidden files generally relate somehow to other files in the folder, you should probably move or copy them, too. Leave all the files selected for the next section’s tutorial.

Unselecting Selected Files Suppose that you select your group of files by using one of the techniques mentioned in this chapter (such as Select All); in addition to all the files in the window, some folders and other whatnot are also selected. Don’t fret. Unselecting them is easy: ◊ Ctrl+click files to deselect them.

When you Ctrl+click a selected item, you unselect it.

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Chapter 25 File Fun Unselect the folders in the My Documents window. Ctrl+click each of them until only the documents in that window are selected. You also can use the Ctrl key when you drag over files to unselect them. ◊ Choose Edit➡Select All. Again, all the files are selected. You don’t want the folders to be selected, however. ◊ Press the Ctrl key. ◊ Lasso the folders. Drag the mouse around the folders as though you were selecting them. A-ha! Because you have the Ctrl key pressed, you’re deselecting the folders. ◊ Release the Ctrl key. You also can do it backward: Suppose that you now want to select all the folder icons in the My Documents window. Don’t do a thing! Although you can select the folders in a number of ways, you should have all files except the folders selected. You can easily reverse that situation: ◊ Choose Edit➡Invert Selection.

If you accidentally copy files when you’re using the Ctrl key to select, press Ctrl+Z to undo the Copy command.

Whoa! All the deselected files are now selected, and vice versa. I use this trick all the time when I want to select all except a single file in a folder: I select the file and then choose Edit➡Invert Selection. It saves time. You can close the My Documents window now. ● Ctrl+clicking a selected file does not affect other files selected in the window. It merely unselects the file that you Ctrl+clicked. ● You can also use the Ctrl key while dragging over selected files to unselect them.

Working with groups of files is one of the major weaknesses in Windows. When it comes to moving or copying a group of files, an experienced DOS user can beat the pants off any Windows user.

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Chapter 26

Using the Send To Command


> > > >

Finding the Send To menu Using the Send To menu Adding to the Send To menu Removing commands from the Send To menu

If you’ve discovered the Send To menu in Windows, you’ve found a jewel in the rubbish heap (not to draw a direct analogy or anything). Windows isn’t junk; it’s just messy and random. Occasionally, however, a brilliant idea shines through. This chapter is about this type of idea: the Send To menu, which can be oh-so-very handy.

Hello, Send To Menu Attached to every file and folder in Windows is a pop-up menu. The pop-up menu, or shortcut menu, contains lots of common commands for doing things, depending on which icon you right-click. Common to all folder and file icons is the Send To submenu. It provides a quick way to send (copy) the icon to another location or send it to a program. Figure 26.1 sorts things out.


Figure 26.1 The Send To menu in all its glory.

A B

Copies a file to drive A. Creates a new compressed folder (Zip file) containing the selected file(s).

C

Pastes a copy of the file on the desktop as a shortcut.

D

Creates a new email message with the selected file(s) as attachments.

E F

No one uses My Briefcase.

G

Moves the icon to the My Documents folder. Sends a copy of the file to the Web Publishing Wizard program.

The Send To menu that you see on your computer might be different. The reason is that it’s totally customizable. Your programs might add their own items there, and you can add and remove items there. This chapter shows you how. ● The Send To menu’s items work differently depending on the item. For example, sending a file to another drive copies the file. Sending the file to a folder (such as My Documents) on the same drive, however, moves the file. ● Each item on the Send To menu does different things to the selected file(s). For example, some items might copy a file, some might run a program and load the file, some might create a new file or email message. It’s all basically drag and drop.

Using the Send To Menu There’s nothing magic about the Send To menu. It’s just a shortcut, an easy way to transfer or put a file somewhere else. Suppose that you’re starting a new project and want to create a desktop shortcut for that project’s folder: ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Open the Work folder.

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Chapter 26 Using the Send To Command You created this folder and the following Sample Text Files folder for a tutorial earlier in this book: ◊ Right-click the Sample Text Files folder to display its shortcut menu. ◊ Choose Send To➡Desktop (create shortcut). A shortcut icon to the folder has been placed on the desktop. You probably need to get rid of the Work window, however, to see it. ◊ Close the Work window. There, on the desktop, is the Shortcut to Sample Text Files folder. Rename the folder as Sample Text Files, if necessary. Or, you can just go ahead and delete the shortcut folder by dragging it to the Recycle Bin. ● The Send To command also appears on the File menu whenever one or more icons are selected.

The number one thing I use the Send To menu for is copying files to drive A. At the end of my workday, I go to my project folder, select all the files, and then choose File➡Send To➡ 3 1/2 Floppy (A). It’s much faster than using Copy and Paste.

● You can add your own items to the Send To menu or remove items that you never use.

Adding Your Own Command to the Send To Menu In my opinion, the way Microsoft sets up the Send To menu is merely a suggestion. You can put far more interesting and useful things on that menu than the silly bunch that’s already there. For example, one thing I always put on the Send To menu is Notepad. That way, if I ever find a file and have no idea what’s in it, I can send it to the Notepad for a quick peek.

Shhhh! Items on the Send To menu are in the C:\Windows\SendTo folder. ◊ Right-click My Computer. ◊ Choose Explore from the shortcut menu. ◊ Open drive C.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Open the Windows folder. ◊ Choose the SendTo folder. You might have to scroll down a few inches to find that menu. Inside you’ll see all the items on the Send To menu, although here they appear as icons in the window— in fact, that’s all they are. Figure 26.2 describes things.

Figure 26.2 The Send To menu in all its glory.

A

Shortcut items have been pasted in here.

B

Some items are not shortcuts; do not delete them.

C

Lots of room for other stuff!

To add the Notepad program to the list of items on the Send To menu, all you have to do is paste in a shortcut. Notepad lives in the Windows folder. ◊ Click the Up button. Scroll through the file list in the Windows folder to look for the Notepad icon. Hint: It starts with an “N.” ◊ Right-click the Notepad icon. ◊ Choose Copy from the shortcut menu. ◊ Click the Back button. ◊ Choose Edit➡Paste Shortcut. You had better rename the shortcut. The command Send To➡Shortcut to Notepad reeks of “Amateur!” ◊ Press F2. ◊ Rename the icon as Notepad. Now the menu says Send To➡Notepad, which looks like an okay Windows command to me. To prove it, right-click the Notepad icon, choose Send To, and view the menu.

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Chapter 26 Using the Send To Command It should say just Notepad. Nifty. Now, try out your shortcut. Lots of mystery files abound on your computer. Chapter 27, “Essence of a File,” gives you some hints on how to discover what the files are all about. Some files you just have to peek at, however, to see whether they’re worthy of anything. ◊ Choose drive C. On the left side of the window, scroll up and select drive C. You’ll see files in the root folder on the right side of the window. Among the files you see should be some “log” files: SCANDISK.LOG or STRTLOGO.OEM. These files have a generic icon, as shown in the margin. ◊ Right-click SCANDISK.LOG. If you don’t have SCANDISK.LOG, you can choose another file. ◊ Choose Send To➡Notepad. The file appears in Notepad for viewing. (Or, if the file is huge, WordPad opens it.) What does it mean? I don’t know. The Send To command works, though.

Look only! Don’t mess with unknown files that you might open in Notepad! ◊ Close Notepad. Notepad is only partially useful. I use it to view C-language source code files quickly and to edit them, if necessary. (Notepad loads more quickly than my C programming software.) Keep the Explorer window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● If you have lots of graphics files, put a shortcut to your graphics file viewer on the Send To menu. That way, you can send files there that might otherwise be opened by the programs that create them. ● You can add folders to the Send To menu: Choose the folder and copy it, and then paste a shortcut in the SendTo folder. For example, create a new folder in My Documents and name it Hell. Then put a shortcut to that folder in the SendTo folder. That way, every shortcut menu boasts a Send To➡Hell command.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● To put a disk drive on the Send To menu, right-click the drive’s icon in My Computer and choose Create Shortcut from the pop-up menu. Although the drive’s shortcut icon must be placed on the desktop first (Windows insists), you can drag it from there into the SendTo folder’s window. ● If a file that you want to view is too large for Notepad, Windows prompts you to open WordPad instead. This switch is fine; the Send To➡Notepad command still does its job, and you can preview the file. ● Yes, I know that I told you never to mess with the Windows folder or any of its subfolders. For this particular folder (and others I specifically tell you about), it’s okay—within limits, of course.

Tweaking Commands in the Send To Menu Renaming any command in the Send To menu is as easy as renaming its icon in the SendTo folder. Or, you can remove a command simply by deleting its icon there. Not only is this handy, but also I recommend it, especially if your Send To menu has commands that you know that you’ll never use (like, say, that My Briefcase icon). Continue the preceding section’s tutorial: ◊ Click the Back button until you’re back in the SendTo folder. The folder has four icons that you shouldn’t delete (at least, it does in Figure 26.2 on my system): ● Compressed Folder—Copies the selected file(s) into a new compressed folder (Zip file). ● Desktop (create shortcut)—Copies the file (or files) as a shortcut on the desktop. ● Mail Recipient—Attaches the file to an email message. ● My Documents—Moves or copies the file to the My Documents folder. Notice that none of these icons are shortcuts. They’re all in the folder by some other mysterious means, which implies that they would be a bear to replace, so just leave them alone. (If you do accidentally delete them, don’t write an email asking me how to get them back. I really don’t know!) Everything else—all the shortcut icons in the SendTo folder, are available for deleting. ◊ Select the icon that you want to remove. No one uses My Briefcase. No one! I’m serious. You don’t need it. Delete its icon.

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Chapter 26 Using the Send To Command ◊ Press the Delete key on your keyboard. Press Y for Yes if you’re asked to confirm deleting the file. The useless My Briefcase item has been removed from the menu. (Or, you can press Ctrl+Z right now to return it.) Feel free to delete any other icons or menu items from the folder if you feel that you’ll never use them. If this advice troubles you, give yourself about six months of using Windows. After that, if you never use any of those commands, delete them.

No one wants a gallimaufry of things on the Send To submenu. You can close the Explorer window. The tutorial is over.

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Chapter 27

Essence of a File


> > > > > >

Determining what’s in a file Avoiding unknown file types Opening an icon and peering inside Playing an icon Viewing an icon’s properties Understanding file types and extensions

There’s more to a file than its name, just like there’s more to you than your name. Files have icons, just like you have a face. Beyond that… who knows! People can get to know you by communicating or observing, or (oddly enough) by being related to you. For files, it requires a little more undercover work, which is the subject of this chapter.

What Is That File? Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of files? Windows might know. You should know.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Ideally, a file’s name and its icon should tell you a great deal. The name should describe the file’s contents. The icon should tell you which type of file it is and whether it’s a program, a document created by a specific program, a folder, or what. If you’re curious about a file’s contents, you can pull several tricks to divine what the file is all about: ✓ Try to identify the file by its name or icon. ✓ Use the file’s extension to determine what type of file it is. ✓ Use the file’s Play command to see or hear its contents. ✓ Use the file’s Open command to attempt to run it. Although these items might sate your curiosity, you should never delete or move any file you’re unfamiliar with—even if it’s just an innocent little 20KB text file. ● If you didn’t create it, don’t mess with it. ● The lesson to learn here is that you should properly name your files: short, sweet, and to the point. ● Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about the icons and how they identify a file. Windows makes up icons and assigns them as it sees fit. Alas, it’s not very good at it.

Identifying Icons In addition to the filename, Windows uses little pictures or icons to help you recognize popular types of files. After a while, you’ll recognize the common ones and the programs with which they’re associated. One particular icon is special. It’s the Unknown File Type icon, shown in the margin. Don’t mess with this type of file! Just because the icon is “unknown” doesn’t mean that it’s a spare, random, or meaningless file for Windows. It is important! It’s just that there is no program available to open the file. Why can’t you open this type of file? Because it’s not meant to be opened. Just leave unknown file types alone—because if you don’t, you’ll have to face the certain peril of the nasty Open With dialog box. I shudder. How about a tutorial to explain all this? ◊ Open the My Computer icon on the desktop. ◊ Open drive C.

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Chapter 27 Essence of a File What you’re looking at is the root folder of drive C, which contains several files, some of which are slapped with the Unknown File Type icon. ◊ Select an Unknown File Type icon. On my screen I see CONFIG.BAK, NULL, SCANDISK.LOG, and STRTLOGO.OEM, among others. I’ll choose STRTLOGO.OEM, which you can see in Figure 27.1.

An unknown file type does not label useless files. Figure 27.1 Information about an unknown file.

A B

The selected file. Information about the file (refer to Chapter 6 for Web View information).

C

It’s an OEM file (which is merely the filename extension).

D

Yet another Unknown File Type icon.

Windows knows quite a bit about the file: its name, date modified, size, and attributes. And Windows probably knows exactly what to do with the file, but its type is unknown. So be it. But this is a tutorial, so: ◊ Open the icon. I’m doing this to prove a point: When you open an Unknown File Type icon, which means that Windows doesn’t know which program created the file, you’re faced with the nasty Open With dialog box (Figure 27.2).

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 27.2 The dreaded Open With dialog box.

A

The file you attempted to open.

B C

Ignore all of this. Click this.

◊ Don’t do anything! Whenever you see the Open With dialog box, click the Cancel button. Do not attempt to associate the file to any program in the list. Don’t do it! ◊ Click Cancel. I have a beef with the Open With dialog box. Basically, I think that it should just say, “This file must be used for something, but I don’t know what. Oh well.” Too many people get into trouble with the Open With dialog box, so the moral here is to ignore and avoid files of an unknown type. ● Another time that you might encounter the Open With dialog box is when someone emails you a file attachment. Your computer might not recognize the file type, so you’ll see the Open With dialog box displayed when you go to open the file. Click Cancel. Then reply to whomever sent the email, explaining that you cannot open the file; have that person resend the file in a format that your computer can understand. ● Remember, even though the file type is classified as unknown by Windows, it’s still important. Don’t delete a file that you didn’t create just because it has an unknown type of icon. ● The file type (and therefore the icon displayed) has a lot to do with the filename extension. More on that later in this chapter. ● More information about the Open With dialog box can be found on my Web site, www.wambooli.com.

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Chapter 27 Essence of a File

Opening a Known Icon to See What’s Inside Generally speaking, you can always open an icon to see what’s inside. I don’t recommend this, especially if you’re just cruising around the Windows folder and want to see what all the pretty icons do. Why? Because some of those icons run programs that consume memory or might wreck havoc. Still, opening files is something that people do, and all my writing about not doing it doesn’t seem to stop anyone. One word of caution: Windows does not want you to open some files, such as a DLL file. That’s a special program file that Windows uses and shares with other programs. If you try to open one, a nasty message appears—essentially, Windows wags its finger at you. Some stuff just wasn’t meant to be messed with.

If you feel the urge to wantonly open a file, remember to save your work in other windows first.

● If the file you open makes the computer act weird (or dead), reset your PC. Chapter 1, “Windows on and Off,” tells you how. ● If you ever see the Open With dialog box, click Cancel. There. You’re safe.

The Fun Play Menu Option Although you’d never know it by looking, some files are Windows Media files. That means you can play them, listening to their music or watching their videos. What fun! ◊ Open the Windows\Media folder on drive C. If you don’t have a Media folder, you can use the Search panel to locate various Windows Media files on your PC (this subject is covered in Chapter 28, “Hunting Down Files”). Windows Media files have a distinct icon, as shown in the margin. ◊ Choose a MIDI file. Click on an icon to determine whether it’s a MIDI Sequence. After selecting the file, look on the right side of the window for a description (refer to Figure 27.1). It should say MIDI Sequence below the file’s name. Keep clicking until you find a MIDI Sequence file. ◊ Right-click the file. ◊ Choose Play.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition You’re rockin’! Stop the song if you want, or wait it out. ◊ Return to the MEDIA window. ◊ Select a WAV sound file. Click on an icon and view its description. You’re looking for Wave Sound files now. ◊ Right-click the sound file. ◊ Choose Play. The sound file plays. There. Now you know what’s in it. Sound (or “wave”) files contain recorded audio bits—like on a tape recorder. Some of them are funny sounds, some are music bits, and some are recorded bits of TV shows or films. On my PC, I found the Robotz Close file. Now you can spend about the next 15 minutes right-clicking and playing all the sound files in the folder. Go ahead—you have the time. Be sure to close the Windows Media Player when you’re done. Keep the Explorer window open for the next tutorial. ● Animation and video files also have a Play command on their shortcut menus. Although you might not have these types of files on your system, some sample videos do come on the Windows Me distribution CD. ● You can use the Find command to locate audio and video files all over your hard drive (see Chapter 28). ● See Chapter 42, “Sound Advice,” for information about setting your PC’s volume.

Checking a File’s Properties Another way to gather information about an icon is to examine its properties sheet. Sometimes this sheet can tell you a great deal about the file. Other times it shows you a bunch of trivia and nothing much else. Continue from the preceding section’s tutorial in the Windows\Media folder: ◊ Right-click a MIDI file icon. For example, select the Brandenburg Concerto icon. ◊ Choose Properties. The icon’s Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 27.3.

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Chapter 27 Essence of a File Figure 27.3 Properties for a MIDI file.

A

Filename (which you can rename here).

B C

File type—good info.

D E F

The file’s pathname.

The program that opens this file.

The file’s actual size. File creation, modification, and accessed dates.

G

Sets/resets the file’s Read Only attribute.

H

Set whatever changes you’ve made.

The file’s Properties dialog box can tell you a lot (or nothing) about the file. The basic information in the General tab tells you the file’s name, its type, which program opens it, and dates and times; it also lets you set and reset file attributes (see the accompanying sidebar). Other tabs display more detailed information, although these might not be available for all files. Also, for multimedia and some other types of files, a Preview panel appears, which lets you play or view information in the file. Very handy. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Properties dialog box. Keep the Explorer window open for the next tutorial. ● Not every file’s Properties dialog box gives you the juicy information that a MIDI file does. In fact, the “mystery files” in drive C’s root folder have lousy, nondescript Properties dialog boxes. ● A Preview tab appears on sound files, MIDI music files, video clips, and other multimedia files. It enables you to view the file’s contents.

A shortcut for the Properties command is to press the Alt+Enter key combination. This command is pretty universal throughout Windows for seeing various Properties dialog boxes.

● Summary and Statistics tabs appear on certain documents, such as Microsoft Word documents. They offer more information about the document, such as who wrote it, how long it is, and whether it’s a good read.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If you check the properties of a shortcut icon, a special Shortcut tab appears. In that panel, you can find out about the original file and change the shortcut file’s icon. ● In addition to the General tab, other tabs appear for other files, including the whole half-dozen that appear in a DOS program’s Properties dialog box.

The Lowdown on File Attributes Files have many attributes: name, icon type, file type, location, size, date, and on and on. These are all file attributes or items that describe the file and make it different from other files on disk. One type of file attribute is simply called the, well, attributes. These are flags that identify the file as being of a certain, special type. There are three of these attributes, which you can change in the file’s Properties dialog box: Read-only—This attribute locks the file, allowing you to read it but not to save any modifications to disk. The file also cannot be overwritten or deleted. Hidden—This attribute hides the file from display in a window or from being found by a file search. (However, you can tell Windows to display hidden files. More on this later in this chapter.) Archive—This attribute is used by backup programs. It determines whether the file has been modified since the last backup. You use a file’s Properties dialog box to set or reset these attributes, as shown in Figure 27.3.

The Exciting World of File Types and Filename Extensions Windows assigns icons to files based on the file’s type. For example, a MIDI file is a MIDI type, and a text file is a text type. That’s how Windows knows which program to run when you open a file and which icon to display for it. It can also cause some puzzlements. These two icons apparently share the same name—which is technically not permitted. However, they’re icons of two different types. One is a WordPad icon, and the other is a Paint icon. This situation is permissible because the icon’s names are, in secret, not identical. Shhh!

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Chapter 27 Essence of a File ◊ Open the Windows Explorer if it’s not open already. ◊ Browse to the My Documents folder. Filenames have two parts. There’s the name, and then there’s the filename extension, which you might see on your screen. For example, you might see the file Silly Picture.bmp listed. That BMP part identifies the icon as a bitmap graphic, which is opened by the Paint program. You can direct Windows to show or hide the extensions at your whim. Personally, I prefer to hide them, which avoids file renaming hassles and also keeps the screen clear of the filename extension clutter. ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options. The Folder Options dialog box appears. ◊ Click the View tab. ◊ Click to put a check mark by Hide File Extensions for Known File Types. If the item is already checked, good. ◊ Click OK. The change in the My Documents folder is subtle, but notice how only the names appear. If you prefer the other way, with the extensions showing, then reverse the previous procedure to remove the check mark. Viewing the extensions in a filename isn’t necessary. In fact, it can be confusing, which is why you should configure Windows not to display the extensions. ◊ Browse to the root folder on drive C. Another thing that you can set is how Windows displays hidden files. I prefer to have them not shown, but if you’re curious, here’s how to view them: ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options. ◊ Click the View tab. ◊ Click to put a check mark by Show Hidden Files and Folders. ◊ Click OK. You’ll notice that more files appear in the window. Those are the hidden files, and they have a ghostly appearance to remind you that they’re special. Honestly, Windows doesn’t want you to mess with hidden files. I configure my systems not to show them, but sometimes I’ll temporarily turn that option on when I suspect that a hidden file is messing with me. (Don’t ask.)

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Configure Explorer to rehide the hidden: ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options. ◊ Click the View tab. ◊ Remove the check mark by Show Hidden Files and Folders. ◊ Click OK. You can close the Explorer window. ● Did you notice that the option says Hide File Extensions for Known File Types? That implies that unknown file types do, in fact, display their extensions. Don’t let that throw you. ● Your programs register their icons and file types with Windows when the programs are installed. That way, Windows can display icons for your programs and their data files.

Some four-letter extensions exist. Only one comes to mind: HTML, for identifying Web page documents.

● Windows knows a file type by examining the file’s name—more specifically, its extension. ● The extension is merely the last part of a filename, beginning with a period and having one to three letters. ● Hey! Remember choosing a file type when you’re saving a document in WordPad? It’s the same thing here: A file’s format is associated with a certain three-letter extension known to Windows. Nifty, huh? ● You can find more information about customizing folders in Chapter 40, “A View to a Folder.” ● Sorry to keep bringing up this subject, but don’t mess with unknown files, even if you feel the urge (which might be as strong as your desire to eat). If you really want to mess with files, you should learn about the UNIX operating system, where messing with files becomes a passion.

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Chapter 28

Hunting Down Files


> > > > > >

Finding the Search command Searching for a file by its name Searching for a file by only part of its name Searching for a file by its contents Searching for a file by its file type Searching for a file by its date

Oh where, oh where, did my little file go? Oh where, oh where can it be? You should never lose files. Never. Following proper folder organization, as discussed in Chapter 24, “Organizing Files,” means that you should always have a place for everything—even the junk. Yeah, but everyone loses files now and then. You fumble the Save As dialog box and, lo, the file is stored somewhere else. To find it, whip out the Search command. This chapter tells you how best to employ this powerful tool. Study hard, and maybe the “Oh where, oh where” song will stop playing in your head.

Hello, Search Command! There are several ways to get at the Search command, most of which I’ll show you in this chapter. The most forward way is to use the Search command on the Start Thing menu.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 28.1 shows the items on the Search submenu, although more often than not you’ll use the For Files or Folders command. Figure 28.1 The Search submenu.

A B

The Search command. Search for files, folders, and icons on your PC.

C

Search the Internet (I recommend another approach in Chapter 31).

D

Search for People on the Internet (see Chapter 30).

E

Other search commands may be placed here by third-party applications.

◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Search➡For Files or Folders. An Explorer window appears with the Search panel displayed, as shown in Figure 28.2. Give it a look-see. Figure 28.2 The Searching variation on Windows Explorer.

A B C

Shows/hides the Search panel. Found files appear here. Click to erase all the selections and start a new search.

D

Type or guess the name of the icon or folder here.

E F

Type text to search for here. On which drive to search (disk drives).

G

Show/hide the extra Search Options.

H

Refine the search.

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Chapter 28 Hunting Down Files ◊ Click the Folders button. Ah-ha! The Explorer window returns to look more like itself. ◊ Click the Search button. Now you’re back in Searching land. The remaining sections in this chapter tell you how to use the Search panel to find various things on your computer’s disk drives. Keep the Search panel and the Search Results window open. ● Another way to summon the Search panel is to press the Win+F key combination. (Win is the Windows key.) You would think it would be Win+S, but no. F means “find,” by the way. ● If you really want to get obtuse, pressing the F3 key also turns the Search panel on and off. ● Every time you use the Search command, all the options are reset. Unlike the Find command in a word processor, which remembers what you found last, the Search command in Windows starts out fresh every time.

You can use the Search command with a variety of options, as described in the following sections. For example, you can use date information along with a partial filename to locate a specific file. Don’t think that because I’ve divided the information into sections in this chapter that you’re somehow limited to using one Search technique at a time.

Finding a File When You Know Its Name As long as you know the exact name of the file you’ve lost, it’s easy to find it. (You don’t even have to know the whole name, a subject that’s covered in the following section.) Here are the steps to quickly find any lost file whose name you know: 1. Summon the Search panel. 2. Type the filename in the Search for Files or Folders Named text box. 3. Choose My Computer from the Look In list. 4. Click Search Now. The file, if it exists, is found and displayed on the right side of the window. From there you can see where the file is or just open it directly.

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Alas, the Search command cannot locate your car keys or glasses—unless they’re in a file on your disk drive. For the following tutorial, I’ve used the README filename. README is a file that usually comes with software or hardware products. It contains additional instructions and information about the product. Your hard drive is bound to have a smattering of README files on it. ◊ Summon the Search panel. ◊ Type readme in the Search for Files and Folders Named box. You’re looking for a file named readme. You don’t have to type upper- or lowercase; Windows finds any matching letter. ◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. If you’re looking on drive C only, you can choose drive C. Or if you want to limit the search to all your PC’s hard drives, choose Local Hard Drives from the list.

The icons in the Search Results side of the window behave just like icons in any Explorer window: You can open the files displayed there, drag them to other windows, and copy and move copy them. Rename the icons. Delete them. Whatever.

◊ Click Search Now. Windows searches for readme and displays any matching files—and folders. Figure 28.3 shows the results it found on my computer. If no files are found, Windows displays the message “There are no items to show in this view” and says “0 file(s) found” at the bottom of the dialog box. Boo-hoo. As is often the case, you might see more matches than you were looking for. That’s when you use the In Folder and Type columns to confirm what file you’re looking for.

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Here’s another tip, and I’ll bet that you didn’t know this: You also can use the file lists in the Save and Open dialog boxes like miniature versions of the Explorer program. You can rename, cut, copy, or delete any file listed just about anywhere in Windows.

Chapter 28 Hunting Down Files

Figure 28.3 Files found.

A

Maximize the window to best see the results.

B C

Matching files found. Click a heading to sort the list by that column.

D

Drag between columns to resize them.

E

Double-click between columns to autoformat their width.

F

This column tells you where you can find the file.

G

This column shows you the file type.

Okay, enough about README files for now. ◊ Click the New button. It’s near the top of the Search panel. Clicking the New button resets the Search panel, allowing you to start a new search, which you’ll do in the next section’s tutorial. ● Did you notice how quick that was? Didn’t take any time at all for the Search command to locate dozens of files all over your computer. ● To open the folder containing a found file, right-click that file and choose Open Containing Folder from the pop-up menu. ● Notice how the Search command found not only README files but also files with longer names that had the letters README in them? Call that convenient. ● If it’s important to you to search for a specifically named file, such as ReadMe rather than README or readme, choose Advanced Options➡Case Sensitive from the Search Options part of the panel. ● If you’re performing multiple searches, don’t forget to click the New button between each search. The Search panel retains selections you’ve made and it might frustrate you if some items are still set when you don’t need them.

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Finding a File When You Know Part of Its Name I recommend saving files and documents by using brief descriptive names. For example, the name Grocery List for You and Please Don’t Forget to Pick Up Junior at the Soccer Rally is a perfectly legal Windows name. (No, you don’t go to prison for using that filename.) If you forget where you put it, though, and exactly how it’s written, it might take some time to find it…. Not so fast! The Find command lets you find files when you know only a small part of the filename. You can use special characters called wildcards to substitute any or all of the characters on which you’re fuzzy. Windows uses two wildcard characters: ✓ The * replaces a group of any letters, numbers, or characters in a filename. ✓ The ? replaces a single letter, number, or character in a filename. Table 28.1 shows some examples of how this technique works.

Table 28.1

Using Wildcards

Filename

Matches These Files

win*

Any file that starts with win: wince, windbag, Windsor, windsurfing, wine cellar, wingding, wink, Winnebago, and winter, for example. Any file that contains the word data: data, database, databank, viewdata, and rawdatafile, for example. Any file that ends in up: group, backup, checkup, cover-up, and go belly up, for example. Any three-letter file that starts with p and ends in p: pip, pop, and pup, for example. Any filename and a three-letter extension ending in t: README.TXT, RunDOS.BAT, and others too many to list.

data *up p?p *.??t

You’ll probably use the * wildcard more than the ? wildcard, as long as you know at least part of the filename. Summon the Search panel if you’re not continuing from the previous section’s tutorial. ◊ Type the in the Search for Files and Folders Named box. You want to find any file with the letters the in it, at the beginning, middle, or end of the filename. ◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. ◊ Click Search Now.

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Chapter 28 Hunting Down Files Lordy! I didn’t guess that Windows would find so many. My computer has 214 “the” files on it. That’s a bunch. Close the Search panel if you want, or keep it open for the next section’s tutorial. If you keep the window open, click the New button so that you can start afresh.

Finding a File When You Know What’s In It

Finding a filename with the in it was only a tutorial. Just the other day, I used this trick to search for a filename with loan in it. I knew that that it was named “something-loan.” I searched for *loan and was able to locate the file quickly.

Sometimes a file’s name just flies out the window, even if the window is shut and it’s freezing outside. Filenames do that. As long as you remember some tidbit of text inside the file, though, Windows should be able to locate the file—or at least a small group from which you can pick. The Containing Text box in the Search panel is designed to order the Search command to locate a specific snippet of text inside all the files you’re searching. Although this type of search might take longer than a filename-only search, if that’s all the information you have to work with, it’s better than nothing. ◊ Conjure up the Search panel. Because you don’t know the filename, you have to leave the Search for Files and Folders Named box blank.

Gads! Will it still work? ◊ Type your name in the Containing Text box. This step is known as an ego search. For example, I type Dan Gookin in the box to look for any file containing my name. You do the same, but with your name. (I would have put your name in this paragraph, but for legal reasons the publisher told me not to.) ◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. ◊ Click Search Now. This search might take awhile. Rather than find files by name, Windows has to open every file and look inside for the matching text. Depending on the size and number of files on your hard drive, it could take a few minutes.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Doh-dee-doh. The amazing thing about this search is the strange places your name ends up. Don’t panic! The computer doesn’t “know things” about you. You entered your name when you first fired up Windows, remember? You’re just seeing all the oddball places on your hard drive where your name has been encoded. My test system’s hard drive has 11 files containing my name, most of which are in my electronic mailboxes. On my main writing computer there are 290 files with my name, most of them containing the text By Dan Gookin. My main email computer has 1,719 matches with my name—lots of email. That makes sense. No conspiracy going on…. You can close the Search Results window if you need a rest. Otherwise, reset it for the next tutorial: Click the New button.

Finding Files of a Certain Type Ever wonder where Windows keeps its sound files? How about MIDI music files? Windows comes with lots of those. Video files? Well, you might have some of them on your hard drive too. Why not use the Find command to hunt ‘em down? ◊ Beckon the Search panel. ◊ Click the Type box.

The File Type option is often used in conjunction with another search option—unless, well, you really do want to see where all the files of a certain type are located or just want to have them all listed in one window.

A new item appears below the Type box. It’s a drop-down list containing all the different file types known to Windows. Presently, (All Files and Folders) is selected, which is how Windows is searching for stuff now. Selecting a specific file type from the list narrows the search. ◊ Choose MIDI Sequence from the list.

◊ Choose My Computer from the Look In drop-down list. ◊ Click Search Now. You should see some MIDI files in the Windows\Media folder as well as in folders for your PC’s sound card and maybe for some games. If you have MIDI-composition software, you see some MIDI samples in its folder. To play a MIDI file on the list, right-click it and choose Play. You can play with the files some more or search again for other multimedia file types: wave sounds and video, sound, and movie clips.

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Chapter 28 Hunting Down Files Close the Search Results window now, or to continue with this chapter’s final tutorial; click the New button. ● Refer to Chapter 27, “Essence of a File,” for information about file types. ● You can choose the type Folder to find only folders, not files. ● The All Files and Folders option is used to match any file or any folder on your computer.

Finding Files Created In, Oh, Just the Past Few Days or So

I use the Size item to help me find superhuge files on my computer— mostly for disk cleanup operations. For example, I click Size and choose At Least and then enter 1000KB (for one megabyte). The Find command then locates all 1MB (or heftier) files on my hard drive. If it finds any I created, especially if I no longer need them, they’re banished to the Recycle Bin.

You don’t know the filename. You don’t know the file type. You can’t even remember what text you put in it—or maybe it was a graphics file that contains no text. Is the Find command useless? Are you stuck? Hardly. As long as you know approximately when you last saved the file, Windows can still help you find it. You don’t even have to know dates or times—just approximately how many days or months ago you remember saving the file. ◊ Somehow muster the Search panel. ◊ Click the Date box. The Date panel contains several options for narrowing the date when a file was modified, created, or last accessed, as shown in Figure 28.4. ◊ Choose Files Created from the drop-down list. ◊ Choose In the Last Days. ◊ Enter 2 for the number of days. Windows is about to find any file created during the previous two days. Don’t forget the name and location information: ◊ Click Search Now. The list of files found tells you, in a way, how busy you’ve been these past two days. Me? I’m on a deadline. My screen shows 100 files found! (Of course, I only recognize a few I’ve done; the others are from various Windows programs that have been busy while I wasn’t looking.)

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Figure 28.4 Finding a file by its date.

A B

Show/hide this special panel.

C

Choose the date the file was modified, created, or last accessed.

D E

Find recent files.

F G H

Search for files by their date information.

Find files within a certain date range. File type options. File size options. Other stuff.

If you were trying to find something on that list, you would simply scroll down and examine the filenames. Somewhere on the list is every file you’ve created, so if you’ve lost something on your computer, it’s bound to be there. If not, adjust the number of days and search again. ◊ Close the Search Results window. Ah. The tutorial is finally over!

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Don’t forget that you can mix and match settings in the Search panel. The more information you provide Windows, the more accurately it finds the file for which you’re looking.

Chapter 29

Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling


> > > > >

Deleting files Using the deadly Delete command Recovering a file you’ve accidentally deleted Making adjustments to the Recycle Bin Emptying the Recycle Bin

Although deleting files might seem like a scary proposition, it is part of computer life. You delete files because you no longer need them, you need to free up disk space, or they’re old and useless. It’s all routine file maintenance, which, like sweeping the floor, is probably something you’d rather have someone else do. This chapter discusses everything you need to know about deleting files and folders. It also covers the Recycle Bin, which is the hell where files go when they’re deleted. Don’t fret: You can undelete files by rescuing them from Recycle Bin hell. This chapter shows you how. ● Never delete programs or drag them to the Recycle Bin! Programs must be uninstalled (refer to Chapter 14, “Installing and Removing Software”). ● Don’t forget Undo! The Undo command can instantly restore a file (or files) you’ve accidentally blasted to kingdom come! That’s Edit➡Undo or the Ctrl+Z keyboard shortcut.


Killing Off a File or Two Deleting files can be scary at first. When I first used a computer, I never deleted anything. Then I filled up my first and only floppy disk. My choice was simple: Delete a few files, or buy another disk. At $8 for a 180KB 5 1/2-inch floppy disk, I began deleting files. I haven’t stopped since. Death to the file! The choice of which files to delete is up to you. As you use your computer, temporary or junk files accumulate. Because I urge you to save everything (and you should), eventually you’ll notice that many of those saved files are not necessary anymore. That’s when you should delete them. Or, if you’ve copied the files to a Zip disk or CD-RW, for example, for long-term storage, you can delete the duplicates.

Never delete any file you personally did not create! Deleting a File In the film Forrest Gump, the character Bubba Blue goes on and on about how many ways you can fix shrimp: “Shrimp is the fruit of the sea.” Like those several dozen ways to fix shrimp, Windows must have a half-dozen ways to delete a file. Even so, only two steps are involved: 1. Select the icon(s) you want to delete. 2. Kill.

Please don’t wantonly delete files— even if they’re silly old README files off in some lowly folder for a program you think that you’ll never use. Stupid old me deleted a README file like that once, and now I have a computer with a CD-ROM drive I can no longer access.

The variety comes in the method of killing: ◊ Open the My Documents folder. ◊ Delete a file. It doesn’t matter which file you delete. Just pick any old random file and choose one of these methods of execution:

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Chapter 29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling ● Drag the icon(s) to the Recycle Bin—The best method if you can see the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. ● Right-click the icon and choose Delete—A favorite of mine. ● Select the icon(s), and then click the Delete button on the toolbar—Not my style, but very toolbar-like if you’re a toolbar fan. ● Select the icon(s), and then choose File➡Delete—A method that’s too cumbersome for me. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve ever deleted a file this way. ● Select the icon(s), and then press the Delete key on the keyboard—Awkward. Windows might display a warning dialog box, asking whether you want to delete the file. I find this question insulting; I’m not so dumb as to go through any of the preceding motions and—oops!—make a mistake. On top of that, you can undelete with ease any file you delete, which I’ll show you how to do before the end of this chapter. ◊ Click Yes to delete the file if Windows warns you about it. The file is gone. No, it’s not; the file is not gone. It has been moved to the Recycle Bin for a while. That way, you can easily get it back if you need to. More about that in a few paragraphs.

Deleting Files En Masse Deleting a group of files is cinchy: Select the icons as a group, and choose one of the various Delete commands, as covered in the section “Deleting a File,” earlier in this chapter. Another way to delete a group of files is to delete the folder the files are in. This action deletes the folder, all the files in the folder, and all the files in any subfolders. It’s mass extinction! ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Right-click the Flying Car folder and choose Delete.

Deleting a folder potentially can be a massive operation. You might want to review the contents of the folder before deleting it.

You created this folder in Part I of this book. If you don’t have this folder, choose another one. Windows might warn you that deleting the folder deletes not only the folder but also every dang doodle file in the folder. Click Yes.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The folder and all its precious documents are gone. (Don’t worry: You’ll restore them soon.) ● Never delete any folder you did not personally create. ● Refer to Chapter 25, “File Fun,” for information about selecting files in groups.

Seriously Deleting a File One more Delete command exists. It’s the deadly one. This Delete command does not casually move your icon to the Recycle Bin for safekeeping. No, this command obliterates your file, zapping it to Bit Heaven. ◊ In the My Documents window, choose File➡New➡Bitmap Image. This command is one of those I recommended avoiding earlier in this book. The New menu is good for creating new folders but not much else; it’s just easier to open the application and create things there. For this example, however, you’ve created a blank Paint document in a quick-and-dirty way. ◊ Press Enter to keep the name. Because you’re going to delete this file anyway, the name New Bitmap Image is just fine. ◊ Select the New Bitmap Image document. You already did this by pressing the Enter key. But had this not been a tutorial, you would have had to select the file you wanted to obliterate; therefore, I have to write in this step. OSHA rules. ◊ Press Shift+Delete. This step works like pressing Shift+S to produce a capital S; press and hold the Shift key and tap the Delete key. Release both keys.

Shift+Delete is the deadly delete command. Be careful with it! An appropriately nasty dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 29.1.

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Chapter 29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling Figure 29.1 Really, seriously, deleting a file.

A

A visual image of the file being disintegrated.

B

Click to banish the file from reality.

C

Click to chicken out and maybe use the normal Delete command instead.

◊ Click Yes. The file is permanently destroyed. You have no way to get it back. ◊ Close the My Documents window. Obviously, the Shift+Delete command isn’t something you use casually. In some circumstances, however, you should consider it. Use Shift+Delete carefully and cautiously. You might assume, for example, that if you’re cleaning your hard drive for the purpose of increasing disk space, Shift+Delete would be better. Even so, I still recommend using the standard Delete command for disk cleaning. Then open the Recycle Bin to finish the operation, permanently deleting files there. (Deleting any file in the Recycle Bin is the same as using Shift+Delete.) Another circumstance for using the Shift+Delete command is when you don’t want a file to be recovered by anyone. Suppose that you draw a picture of the boss on your PC and black out all his teeth. It’s a riot, so you keep it around. At the end of the day, though, you should use Shift+Delete to get rid of it, in case you get fired and someone looks through your Recycle Bin. (In that case, who would care? But I had to come up with some example for the security-conscious.)

Your only visual clue that the file is being deadly deleted is the vanishing icon in the Confirm File Delete dialog box. Watch for that icon. Even if you’ve turned off the Confirm File Delete dialog box for the regular Delete command (covered later in this chapter), this one still appears. Thank goodness.

Some utilities might be capable of rescuing a file you’ve killed off with Shift+Delete. I don’t know of any personally, although I do know that the FBI and the IRS successfully recover deleted file information from criminals’ hard drives all the time. So it is possible. (Buy the utility first, though; the FBI and the IRS do not recover deleted data as a public service.)

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Undeleting a File Deleting a file doesn’t mean that it’s killed off indefinitely. That’s the idea behind naming the Windows dead-file receptacle the Recycle Bin and not the Trash Can. You can recycle files you might have accidentally thrown out. I do it all the time. To recover a deleted file, follow these steps: 1. Open the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.

All files you delete on removable disks (floppy disks and Zip disks, for example) are deadly deleted automatically. The warning dialog box reminds you about it. Under Windows you cannot configure removable disks in any other way.

2. Select the files you want recovered. 3. Choose File➡Restore from the menu. 4. Close the Recycle Bin. The following tutorial rescues the file and folder you deleted in this chapter’s previous tutorials: ◊ Open the Recycle Bin. The Recycle Bin icon is located on the desktop. Opening it reveals a window in which you see files in limbo, as shown in Figure 29.2. Figure 29.2 Deleted files inside the Recycle Bin.

A

Previously deleted files and folders.

B

Dump the Recycle Bin, erasing all files held there.

C D

Restore all deleted files. Information about individual files appears here when they’re selected.

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Note that you cannot open the file or “preview” it in the Recycle Bin; you must restore the file before you can mess with it.

Chapter 29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling To recover files you’ve recently deleted, you should sort the dead by the date of their departure: ◊ Choose View➡Arrange Icons➡By Delete Date. The icons in the window are now sorted by the date they were deleted, oldest first (on top). The more recent files are at the bottom of the list. ◊ Scroll to the bottom of the list (if necessary). The last item on the list should be the folder you deleted earlier in this chapter. ◊ Click the folder you deleted to select it. See the left side of the window change? Information about the removed file is displayed: where it was originally, the date it was deleted, and other trivia. Also there’s a handy Restore button. Cool.

Can you find the New Bitmap Image document? No! It was removed with the deadly delete command, Shift+Delete. You cannot recover it from the Recycle bin.

◊ Click the Restore button. Or you can choose File➡Restore. The file (okay, folder) is resurrected from the Recycle Bin and placed back in its original folder, My Documents. ◊ Close the Recycle Bin window.

Although restoring files from the Recycle Bin is easy, never use that as an excuse to be lazy when you’re deleting files!

Managing the Recycle Bin Windows designed the Recycle Bin to be easy to use and maintain. You don’t ever really have to do anything with it. However, this section describes some common Recycle Bin activities you might do from time to time as well as some customization suggestions.

Tweaking the Recycle Bin To make the Recycle Bin behave the way you want it to, you have to access its Properties dialog box and go a-tweakin’. ◊ Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop. ◊ Choose Properties. The Recycle Bin Properties dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure 29.3.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 29.3 The Recycle Bin Properties dialog box.

A

The same panel exists for each hard drive in your system.

B

Click here to set up each hard drive individually.

C D

My recommended option.

E F G

Click here to have all files deadly deleted (with Shift+Delete) rather than stored in the Recycle Bin (not recommended). Disk space slider. Adjust the amount of disk space the Recycle Bin can chew up. Remove this check mark to disable the file delete warning (recommended).

You can set the settings in the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box individually or globally for each hard drive in your system. I recommend globally: ◊ Choose Use One Setting for All Drives if it’s not chosen already. You have no reason not to use this setting. The only one I can possibly think of is if, for example, drive D were a 30GB hummer. In that case, you might want to adjust the Maximum Size slider on that panel to 1% or so. That way, the Recycle Bin doesn’t use as much disk space. Speaking of disk space: ◊ Adjust the disk space slider to 10% if it’s not at that percentage already. This step sets the maximum storage space for files in the Recycle Bin. For example, if you have an 8GB drive, you have 800MB set aside for storage in the Recycle Bin. That’s an okay capacity, considering the huge size of today’s programs. If you have a 30GB drive, 10% of that is 3GB. My opinion? That’s too big. If you drag the slider down to 1%, it gives you 300MB of storage for the Recycle Bin, a more reasonable amount.

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Chapter 29 Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling

Turning Off the Delete Warning Should you turn off the delete warning? It depends on the amount of mistakes you make. If you have ten thumbs, for example, you might feel happier with the warning turned on. If you’re like me, though, you might tire of the warning dialog box that says, “Are you sure you want to delete this file? I mean, you might have accidentally chosen the Delete command, you big dummy.” If you feel comfortable not having the warning message displayed, do this: ◊ Click to remove the check mark next to the item Display Delete Confirmation dialog box. Honestly, the warning isn’t necessary when you consider that you can always rescue files from the Recycle Bin. The deadly delete warning, however, still appears (refer to Figure 29.2). ◊ Click OK to close the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box.

If you want all files deadly deleted rather than just moved to the Recycle Bin, choose the Do Not Move Files option. Although this action saves disk space, it utterly eliminates any chance of file recovery in case you make a boo-boo. I do not recommend this option.

Any changes or new settings you’ve made take place after you close the dialog box. Or, if you change your mind, choose Cancel instead. ● Although you might have 10% of your hard drive set aside for Recycle Bin storage, the Recycle Bin might never fill up. If its size does concern you, you can adjust the value downward. A value of 5% on a 10GB hard drive is still 500MB of potential storage.

When the Recycle Bin does fill up, it begins to delete files (permanently), starting with the oldest first.

Emptying the Recycle Bin Every so often you should flush your Recycle Bin and dump into oblivion all the files stored there. You flush it primarily to free up disk space, although at times you might just want to rid yourself of all those old files. It’s a good job for the Spring. ◊ Open the Recycle Bin icon. ◊ Review the files stored therein.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Take time to scroll through the list of files and look them over. If you see any files you might want to keep, pluck them out now: Select the file and choose File➡Restore from the menu. Odds are, however, that you won’t find anything worthy of rescuing. ◊ Click the Empty Recycle Bin button. Or choose File➡Empty Recycle Bin. The deadly delete dialog box asks whether you’re serious. Yes, you’re serious. You’re about to save some disk space. ◊ Click Yes. The Recycle Bin is empty. For now. ◊ Close the Recycle Bin window. Don’t worry. It should fill up again, soon. ● If you have a hard time viewing the files before deleting them, then you can always right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop. Choose Empty Recycle Bin from the menu. You’re done. No reminiscing, no belated good-byes.

If you don’t want to delete all the files, select the ones you want to keep. (Ctrl+click to select them.) Then choose Edit➡Invert Selection to select the files you don’t want to keep. Choose File➡Delete to remove the selected files permanently from the Recycle Bin.

● That’s right—any file you delete in the Recycle Bin window is permanently deleted. ● One of the options in the Disk Clean-up tool program is to empty the Recycle Bin (refer to Chapter 21, “All About Hard Drives”).

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Part V

Planet Internet

Chapters in This Part 30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review Insights and hints about browsing the Web in Windows Me.

31 Internet Explorer and Beyond Various aspects of Web browsing beyond the normal click and type, including that blessed History list.

32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty A whirlwind introduction and tour of basic email.

33 More Fun with Outlook Express Attaching files, using stationery, and futzing with the Address Book.

34 The AOL Chapter A brush-up on basic Internet activities using the popular America Online service.

35 Even More Internet Madness A final chapter on saving Web pages, downloading files, playing Internet games and, uh, shopping.

Part V


A

Browse the Internet with IE (Chapter 30).

B

Read email with Outlook Express (Chapter 32).

C D

Use AOL (Chapter 34).

E

Use the History (Chapter 31).

F

The Favorites list (Chapter 31).

7 H

The Favorites panel.

Search for Web things (Chapter 30).

Add and organize Favorites (Chapter 31).

Chapter 30

Internet Explorer Orientation and Review


> > > > >

Using Internet Explorer (IE) Setting your home page Browsing and linking Searching the Web Quitting IE

Because this isn’t one of those kindergarten books, I pretty much expect you know about the Internet and how to get around. But it’s not always the wisest thing to assume too much. Therefore, I present this chapter as a quick orientation and review for you, the Internet maven-in-the-making. Consider the stuff here a quick review about some basic Web browsing stuff, plus some tips and observations—things you’ve come to suspect if you’ve been reading this book for any length of time. ● Refer to Chapter 7, “Your Internet Orientation Chapter,” for a general introduction to the Internet. ● Though other Web browsers exist, I’ve discovered that Windows works best with Internet Explorer, so that’s what I cover here exclusively.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Internet Explorer does not read your email. You use Outlook Express for that, as covered in Chapter 32, “Outlook Express Quick and Dirty.” ● If you’re using AOL, refer to Chapter 34, “The AOL Chapter,” for information on how to access the Web, read email and do other AOL-ish things. ● This chapter uses the abbreviation IE to stand for Internet Explorer. Forgive me, but it’s late, and my fingers are tired of typing.

Hello, Web! When you feel the urge to browse the World Wide Web, you need to fire up your Web browser. That’s the tool you use to view information stored on the various computers connected to the Internet. ◊ Open the IE icon. There’s one on the desktop, or you might find one on the Quick Launch bar. Or, on the Start Thing menu buried in the Programs submenu. If the Dial-up Connection dialog box appears, optionally enter your name and password. Click Connect to have the modem dial. Wait. Eventually the IE window appears, as shown in Figure 30.1. Most of the items highlighted in that figure are covered later in this chapter.

Figure 30.1 The Internet Explorer.

A

Return to preceding Web page.

B

Display list of previously visited pages.

C

Stop Web page from loading.

D

Reload or “refresh” current Web page.

E F G

Go to home page.

H

Covered in Chapter 31. Web page addresses are displayed or typed here. The Web page itself.

364

Chapter 30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review ◊ Maximize the IE window. It’s always best to see the World Wide Web on a full screen, no matter how big your monitor is. Keep the IE window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Internet Explorer starts up whenever Windows requests information from the Internet. It can happen at odd and unexpected times, such as when you use Windows Help or create a Web page address in Microsoft Word. ● You don’t have to start IE every time you visit the Internet. You could, for example, start your email program instead (see Chapter 33, “More Fun with Outlook Express”). ● You know that you’re connected to the Internet when you see the little connection thing on the system tray. Watch for it. ● Windows might keep asking you for your Internet password even after you’ve clicked the Save Password box. This could be because you’re using a laptop or have your computer configured for multiple users. Also, problems with your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) computer might cause Windows to ask for your password again.

”Oh, Give Me a Home Page…” The first Web page you see in the IE window is known as the home page. That’s merely a location (page) on the World Wide Web where IE goes whenever you first start it up—just as TVs in some hotel rooms always display the pay-movie preview channel when you turn on the TV. IE is preset to open the MSN Web page, which might have to do with the fact that Microsoft owns MSN, but I have my doubts. The Web page’s name appears on the window’s title bar. The Web page address is listed on the Address bar. In Figure 30.1, it says http://home.msn.com/

Of course, the first page you see when you start IE can be anything you want, from your own Web page on the Internet, to a “portal” like Yahoo! or Excite, or even a blank startup page. Whatever you want. Here’s how to change the home page: ◊ Click in the Address box. The text in the Address box—the Web page address—is selected. ◊ Press the Delete key on your keyboard. The text is gone!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Type yahoo.com. Or type the name of whatever Web page you want to serve as your home page: cnn.com, excite.com, deja.com, wambooli.com or whatever.com. ◊ Press Enter. Eventually, the Web page appears. ◊ Choose Tools➡Internet Options. The Internet Options dialog box appears. ◊ Click the General tab to bring that panel forward (if it’s not already). The General tab is described in Figure 30.2. Your area of concentration is at the top, where it says Home Page.

Figure 30.2 The Internet Options dialog box.

A

Your current home page (yuck!).

B

Click here to set the current page as your home page.

C

The “default” is the Microsoft home page.

D

Starts IE without a home page; the screen is blank until you type an address or choose a home page from your Favorites.

E

Other stuff.

◊ Click Use Current. The current Web page—the one IE is looking at right now—becomes the home page. The current Web page’s address replaces the old home page address. Or if you want to start up with a blank home page, click Use Blank. ◊ Click OK.

366

Chapter 30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review The new home page is set. Try it out: ◊ Click the Back button. You return to the preceding Web page, which should be the boring, old Microsoft “home” page. Yawn. ◊ Click the Home button. Ta-da! There’s your new home page. Not only do you now return to the home page every time you click the Home button, but it also appears whenever you start IE. ● The home page is merely the Web page you see when you first start IE (or any Web browser). There’s nothing special about it, although any good home page should contain lots of links as well as updated information or news. ● If you choose a blank home page, then that’s what appears when you click the Home button: a blank page.

IE may occasionally open up at the Upgrade Internet Explorer Web page, where you can download the latest version of IE. My advice: Don’t bother. To turn off this feature, choose Tools➡ Internet Options and in the Advanced tab, remove the check mark by Automatically Check for Internet Explorer Updates. Click OK.

● Yahoo! makes a good home page because it offers dozens of features with no subscriptions or fees involved. Yahoo! also provides an excellent catalog of other pages on the Web.

● You can return to your home page at any time by clicking the Home button on the IE toolbar.

Browsing the World Wide Web It’s called the Web because the various pages are linked to each other. Visit the Chili Cook-Off page, and you might see a link to the Pepto-Bismol page. If you visualize that (the links, not the Chili Cook-Off), you can see how it makes for a web of information. Okay, enough descriptions! You can visit another Web page on the Internet in one of two ways: ✓ Click a link to take you to another Web page ✓ Type the Web page’s address

367

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The easiest way to visit another Web page is to click a link, which is why having a home page full of links is ideal. Typing a Web page address is more of a pain because you have to be very accurate. No mistakes! If you make a typo, then the Web page won’t load. That’s frustrating. ◊ Type www.nasa.gov on the Address bar. You must type the whole address, www.nasa.gov. ◊ Press the Enter key. You might have to wait awhile.

Waiting is called the “fourth W.” (The first three are World Wide Web.) Lo, the NASA home page is onscreen. Now say you’re enamored with the NASA home page but eager to know of the news of the day. ◊ Press Ctrl+N. This starts a new IE window. (Check the taskbar for another IE button.) For some reason, the new window is always a copy of the page you’re currently viewing. (I personally think it should be your home page.) But that can be remedied: ◊ Click the Home button. Or type the address www.yahoo.com to go to Yahoo! if it’s not your home page. Yes, you do have two windows open to the Web. This can be confirmed by viewing the taskbar. One button will be the NASA Homepage and the other Yahoo!. Now say you want to read the news, but still want to keep the Yahoo! window open. You could do that by pressing Ctrl+N again, but I have a clever shortcut: ◊ Right-click the News link. The link is near the top of the page. It might also be called Today’s News. (I would show you a picture of it, but Yahoo! changes its look too often.) A shortcut menu appears. ◊ Choose Open in New Window.

368

Chapter 30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review The Web page you link to opens in yet another window. Now you’re juggling three IE windows at once, which is a good way to save time; one window can be loading information while you’re reading in another. ◊ Close the NASA window. Right-click on the NASA Homepage button on the taskbar. Choose Close from the shortcut menu. ◊ Close the Yahoo! News window. This leaves the main Yahoo! page open all by itself. Closing this window now would quit IE, but I’m not ready for you to do that just yet.

Finding Stuff on the Web The Web is like a library without a librarian. Although that’s good because no one shushes you, it’s not good because it’s harder to locate the information you want. Fortunately, there are solutions for finding stuff, which are covered in the sections that follow. These are the places I visit to find things I’m interested in. It’s not a complete list, but it’s a good start.

You might have noticed a Search button on the IE toolbar. Ignore it. The Search button takes you to a Web page that Microsoft chooses. That location might be a good place to search for things, but I would rather make my own decisions about how to search the Web.

There are two types of Web pages that help you find things, catalogs and search engines. A catalog is like the old library card catalog. It lists Web pages according to categories and subcategories. A search engine uses the searching power of the computer to hunt down Web pages containing the specific information for which you’re looking. Deciding between a catalog or search engine really depends on whether you know what you want or are just browsing. Fortunately, most Web pages that are catalogs also happen to be search engines.

Places to Find Web Places The list of Web catalogs and search engines changes all the time. Three years ago I compiled a list and today half of those catalogs are gone! Fortunately, the ones that remain seem fairly stable. Table 30.1 lists a sampling.

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Table 30.1

Web Search Engines and Catalogs

Site

Address

Ask Jeeves Dogpile Excite Go Google GoTo Lycos Metacrawler Search.com Yahoo!

www.ask.com www.dogpile.com www.excite.com www.go.com www.google.com www.goto.com www.lycos.com www.metacrawler.com www.search.com www.yahoo.com

Yahoo! actually stands for something: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. Your assignment: Go visit one of the search engines or catalogs shown in the table. Type its name into the Address box and press Enter. Once you’re there, try to search for “fabulous Las Vegas” and see what comes up. ● Ask Jeeves is the most interactive of the search engines. It’s where you can type “What is the state flower of Idaho?” and have various Web pages appear that might contain the answer. ● Dogpile is the site I visit when I really want to scour the Web for information. ● Google has perhaps the most elegant interface. ● If IE asks you about AutoComplete click No to disable it. AutoComplete is the feature that guesses which Web page you’re typing and tries to type the rest of the address for you. I find this annoying. If you really want to turn it on, choose Tools➡Internet Options and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down and put a check mark by Use Inline AutoComplete. Click OK. ● Ignore the warning that “others” might be able to see information you send on the Internet. Click to put a check mark in the box so that you’re not bothered by that message in the future.

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Chapter 30 Internet Explorer Orientation and Review

Finding People on the Internet Here is something scary: Are you on the Internet? Are you listed? Your name and address and phone number? Probably. If you’re in the phone book, chances are that you’re also listed in an Internet people search engine. Don’t panic! Most of the people search engines let you remove your name from their database if it freaks you out. If anything, be prepared to freak out. Table 30.2 lists several people search engines. Visit one and see if you can find yourself on the Internet!

Table 30.2

Places to Search for People

Site

Address

Switchboard WhitePages.com Yahoo!

www.switchboard.com www.whitepages.com people.yahoo.com

◊ Type people.yahoo.com into the Address bar. ◊ Fill in the forms on that page to find yourself. Enter your first and last names, city, and state. ◊ Click Search. If nothing comes up, delete the city and state to see how many other people share your name.

Searching Newsgroups

Be concerned about your privacy! Most people-search sites have a feature that lets you suppress your own name from being listed. These Internet sites are as sensitive about your personal information as you are.

Newsgroups aren’t really news. They are groups, though—groups of people who discuss certain topics, similar to an open email forum. They’re quite popular, and you can use Outlook Express to view them (although I don’t cover them here because I believe that topic is way too far off the beaten path for a Windows book).

If you’re interested in searching newsgroup discussions, I recommend deja.com/usenet. More information can be found about that topic, as well as searching for the infamous stock quote message boards, on this book’s Web page (www.wambooli.com). Use the keyword usenet.

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Finding Your Car Keys or Glasses I’m just kidding. There are some things you cannot find on the Web.

Quitting IE When it’s time to quit, and you’re done wasting time, er, researching on the Internet, you simply close the IE window. ◊ Close the IE window. ◊ Click Yes in the Disconnect dialog box if it pops up. If you don’t see the Disconnect dialog box, double-click the connection thing on the system tray. Then choose Disconnect from the dialog box that appears.

You don’t have to disconnect. For example, if your email program is still running, you can continue to play on the Internet.

Dear Dan: How do I set things so my computer doesn’t auto disconnect after a certain time? I am trying to send an email with a file attachment and the computer disconnects with around 80% of the email being sent. Dan Says: To change the disconnect time, open the Control Panel’s Modems icon. Highlight your modem and click the Properties button. Click the Connection tab. Remove the check mark by Disconnect a Call If Idle For More Than…. Now you’ll never be disconnected again!

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Chapter 31

Internet Explorer and Beyond


> > > > >

Working with the Favorites menu Adding bookmarks Organizing the Favorites menu Editing bookmarks Working with the History list

Internet Explorer has several features to help you deal with the vastness of the Web. For example, there is the History list for keeping track of every place you’ve recently been. And for places you want IE to remember, you can drop a bookmark and save a page’s address in your Favorites list. All that fun stuff and more is covered right in this nifty li’l chapter.

Your Favorite Web Things When you find a Web page you enjoy, add it to your list of favorites. This process is known as bookmarking. Like putting a bookmark in a favorite book, you can bookmark a Web page so that you can easily return to it later.


Always drop bookmarks! You should “drop” a bookmark on any Web page at which you ponder, even for a short time. That way, you can easily go back to the Web page later. Don’t worry about accumulating bookmarks: You can edit them at any time, removing the old ones you never use. ● I use the term drop a bookmark because the command to do so is Ctrl+D. ● Microsoft doesn’t call it bookmarking because that’s what Netscape calls it. Microsoft makes the only Web browser in the world that does not use the term bookmarking. No, with Microsoft it’s “favorites.”

Viewing the Favorites Menu Windows stores its bookmarks on an IE menu called Favorites. It also stores them in a panel called Favorites, which you can activate with the Favorites button in IE. ◊ Start IE and connect to the Internet. You need to run IE to access the Favorites button. (In older versions of Windows you could access it from the Start Thing. You can still do that in Windows Me; refer to Chapter 38, “Messing with the Start Thing.”) ◊ Click the Favorites button. You see the Favorites panel, which is a duplicate of items on the Favorites menu. I find the Favorites panel easier to work with for editing; for choosing bookmarks I use the Favorites menu. Figure 31.1 shows what’s where and how in the IE Favorites world. If you haven’t yet dropped any bookmarks, then the items you see in the Favorites panel are what Microsoft chose for you. These folders are important and while you can try to delete them, some of them are more-or-less permanent. Other folders that your dealer might have added can be deleted. In fact, anything can be deleted. It’s your Favorites menu! ◊ Click the Favorites button again. This hides the Favorites panel. Keep IE open for the next section’s tutorial.

374

Chapter 31 Internet Explorer and Beyond Figure 31.1 Favorites.

A B C D E F

The Favorites menu. Click here to see… …the Favorites panel. Displays an Add Favorite dialog box. Lets you edit the Favorites. Folders of Favorites for further organization.

G

Items in this folder appear on the Links toolbar.

H

Shortcuts to Web pages.

Adding to Favorites (Dropping Bookmarks) Whenever you visit any Web page in which you are remotely interested, drop a bookmark. An example is the Internet Movie Database. ◊ Type www.imdb.com in the Address bar and press Enter. The imdb stands for Internet Movie Database. It’s a great source of information for anyone who enjoys films. Better drop a bookmark, but instead of just pressing Ctrl+D you’re going to place this bookmark in a special Favorites folder.

The Channels, Links, Media, and Software Updates folders are used by other parts of Windows and should not be deleted. Their contents, however, can be deleted. You should wait until you’ve used IE for a while to figure out what’s necessary before you perform any wanton destruction.

◊ Choose Favorites➡Add to Favorites. The Add Favorite dialog box appears. Normally you could just click OK to add the Web page—which is a longer way to do what pressing Ctrl+D does—but you want to add the Internet Movie Database to your new Search submenu. ◊ Click Create in>>. The dialog box grows larger, which is what the >> thing means throughout Windows (“show more”). Figure 31.2 sorts things out.

375

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 31.2 The Add Favorite dialog box.

A

Don’t click here. It “subscribes” to the Web page, which is a pain; it means Windows could decide to visit the Internet all by itself to “update” the subscribed Web page. Oh, I suppose that might be a good thing, but I’m suspicious of a computer that dials the Internet all by itself.

B

You can edit this name; it’s how the name appears in the menu.

C

Favorites is selected; the bookmark, as well as any newly created folder, will be placed there.

D E

You’re done! Click to create a new folder.

(To create the new folder inside a specific folder, first select that folder before clicking the New Folder button. That’s not necessary for this exercise.) ◊ Click New Folder. A new folder appears in the Favorites list. This folder will hold various search engines, such as the IMDB. ◊ Type Search and press Enter. Thus the new folder is renamed—and also selected. It will be the new home for the IMDB bookmark. ◊ Click OK. The bookmark has been added. Prove it: ◊ Click the Home button. Return home so you can pretend like you’re starting your Internet day. ◊ Choose Favorites➡Search➡The Internet Movie Database(IMDB) It worked!

376

Chapter 31 Internet Explorer and Beyond Keep IE open and stay online for the next section’s tutorial. ● I prefer to edit the name as I add it to the Favorites menu. But you can edit it later, which is shown in the next section. ● The Add to Favorites command also appears in the Favorites panel. ● If you don’t use the Add to Favorites button, then any Web pages you bookmark are stored at the bottom of the Favorites menu. To put them on a submenu (in a folder), you must edit the Favorites list, which is covered in the next section. ● Here’s a sampling of the submenus (folders) I’ve created when I use IE: Shopping, Funny, Search, News & Weather, Reference, Historical, Computers, and so on.

Items created in the Links folder appear on the Links toolbar, which may or may not be visible in IE (or shoved over to the right of the Address bar). Refer to Chapter 39, “Toolbars from Beyond Infinity,” for information on rearranging the Links toolbar. Personally, I’ve deleted all the Microsoft references on the Links bar and use my own links there, which I find amazingly handy.

Organizing Your List-o-Favorites If you follow my advice and drop bookmarks like there’s no tomorrow, you’ll eventually end up with a Favorites menu several feet long. Time for some organization and cleanup, but first you need two bookmarks for the exercise: ◊ Visit cnn.com. ◊ Press Ctrl+D to bookmark that page. ◊ Visit intellicast.com. ◊ Browse to your city. Use the menus to locate your particular corner of the world. I used the ZIP code search to locate my personal hamlet. ◊ Press Ctrl+D to bookmark that page. ◊ Choose Favorites➡Organize Favorites. See Figure 31.3 for a description of the dialog box.

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Figure 31.3 The Organize Favorites dialog box.

A

Contents of the Favorites menu.

B C D E

The selected item.

F G H

Create a new folder. Rename the selected item. Move the selected item(s) to a specific folder. Delete the selected item(s). You’re done. Double-click to open a folder and reveal its contents.

Organize your favorites like you organize your folders. The idea behind organizing your bookmarks is the same as for organizing your folders (that story is told in Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders”). Suppose that you have a number of news links: cnn.com, usatoday.com, your local newspaper, the news links in Yahoo!, and The Wall Street Journal, for example. Why not create a News folder? ◊ Click the Create Folder button. The new folder, named New Folder, appears. ◊ Rename the New Folder as News. Press Enter to lock in the new name. The News folder is a submenu of the Favorites folder on the Start Thing. ◊ Drag the CNN bookmark to the News folder. ◊ Drag the Weather Forecast bookmark to the News folder. ◊ Double-click to Open the News folder. ◊ Click the Weather Forecast bookmark to select it. ◊ Click Rename.

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Chapter 31 Internet Explorer and Beyond On my screen the name is way too long. I just need to know that the link tells me about the weather. Type Weather and press Enter. There. Much better. And it also makes for a narrower menu. ◊ Click Close. Or you can keep IE open for the next section’s tutorial.

Organizing in the Folders Panel Everything you do in the Favorites menu can also be done in the Favorites panel. ◊ Click the Favorites button. The Favorites panel appears. Now suppose you want a new Weather submenu and you want to move the Weather Forecast bookmark to the new menu. ◊ Right-click the Channels item. You can right-click any item you want and the same pop-up menu appears. ◊ Choose Create New Folder. ◊ Rename the new folder Weather. ◊ Click to open the News folder. ◊ Drag the Weather bookmark into the Weather folder. It might take a few times to get it right; you really have to “drop” the icon on top the folder. ◊ Right-click the Weather bookmark. ◊ Choose Rename from the shortcut menu. ◊ Type Home. There. Now you can add other Weather bookmarks to the list, one for Mom and Dad, the kids, whomever, and keep them all in the same place. Keep everything as it is for the next section’s tutorial.

Removing Unwanted Bookmarks You can remove bookmarks if you don’t like them or if you find an occasional dead Web page. Whatever. Always keep in mind that the bookmarks you keep are yours. If you don’t want a bookmark in the Favorites list, kill it off!

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Right-click the bookmark link you want to delete. ◊ Click the Delete button. A confirmation dialog box may appear; if so, click Yes to delete the bookmark. Continue whacking away at unwanted bookmarks. When you’re done, close the Favorites panel, and even IE itself. ◊ Close the Favorites panel. Continue to stay on the Internet for the next section’s tutorial. ● It’s a good idea to review your Favorites list for dead bookmarks every month or so, lest they start piling up. ● If you’re leery of deleting bookmarks, create a Near Death folder in your Favorites menu. Drag into that folder any bookmarks you think you want to delete—but are not yet certain. Then, later, when you are certain, you can find those bookmarks quickly.

Oh, Those Places You’ve Been! Surprise! IE keeps track of where you’ve been, even if you don’t drop a bookmark. Many people find this feature wonderful. Others may find it embarrassing. Don’t worry! The History feature, as it’s called, is fully adjustable, undoable, and removable— whether you need it or not.

Visiting Something from Way, Way Back Reviewing your Web travels is easy: ◊ Click the History button. A panel appears detailing all the places you’ve browsed on the Web for the past two weeks or so. Everything is there, as shown in Figure 31.4. You can browse through the days by opening them. Then click on a Web site item to see which pages were viewed. To return to a particular page, click on it in the list. When you’re done, close the History panel, or leave it open for the next section’s tutorial.

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Chapter 31 Internet Explorer and Beyond Figure 31.4 The History panel.

A

Choose a different method of displaying this information.

B C D

Previous days’ exploration. Places you’ve been to today. Web sites you’ve been to, arranged alphabetically (use the View button to change).

E

Click to open a site and see the individual pages viewed.

F G

Individual page viewed. Right-click to delete items.

Controlling the History List The History list can be a source of relief at finding a long lost and recently visited site, and also a source of embarrassment—and security! Want to know where Junior’s been on the Web? IE is very good about keeping track. Even though the History list is good at keeping track of where you’ve been, it can be edited. ◊ Right-click an item in the list. A pop-up menu appears. One of the items on that menu is Delete, which removes the “evidence.” ◊ Choose Delete. Poof! That item is, well, history. Continue to delete items you don’t want in the list. When you’re done: ◊ Close the History panel. The History list is controlled from the Internet Options dialog box. ◊ Choose Tools➡Internet Options. ◊ Click the General tab. The bottom area of the dialog box (refer to Figure 30.2) deals with history items. You can set the number of days to keep historical evidence or click the Clear History button to delete the entire list.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If you don’t want IE to keep a History list at all, enter 0 for the number of Days to Keep Pages in History. ◊ Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box. The History lesson is over.

Activating the Desktop

Clicking the Clear History button is the only way to clean out the list. You cannot remove those items by deleting their icons from the Windows\History folder.

The last amazing thing I’m not going to show you about the Internet is the Active Desktop feature in Windows. I’m not sure how many people actually use it, but I’ve not gotten a single email asking me to explain it. Even so, I can’t guess about whether or not it’s needed. So I’ve stuck all the Active Desktop information onto this book’s Web page (www.wambooli.com) for those who really, really care. Use the keyword activate to find out what’s up.

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Chapter 32

Outlook Express Quick and Dirty


> > > > > > >

Starting Outlook Express Reading your mail Replying to your email Forwarding email Working with mail folders Sending email Quitting Outlook Express

Email is the number one thing people do on the Internet. In fact, women (the more practical half of the species) use email more than they use the Web. And why not? Email is cool. An email address on a business card is a must. And getting lots of email means bragging rights (even though most of it is junk or SPAM). As with the Web, I’m going to assume you’re basically familiar with email. Therefore, this chapter provides a quick introduction and review of how Outlook Express works to do email on the Internet. ● You cannot get email unless you set up an email account (refer to Chapter 7, “Your Internet Orientation Chapter”).

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● This chapter deals exclusively with Outlook Express 5.5, the email package that comes with Windows Me. Any updates to Outlook Express or new information can be found on this book’s Web page. ● I’ll be using the abbreviation OE for Outlook Express. Abbreviations save time and valuable typing molecules I’d otherwise waste typing Outlook Express in every paragraph of this chapter.

Outlook Express, In and Out The first thing most people do when they connect to the Internet is check their email. “Did anyone send me any messages?” “Do people like me enough to send me a message?” “Am I worthy?” “Am I interesting?” “Or am I just so despondent about email that I bore everyone and that’s why I never get any email?” A-hem. When someone sends you email, it sits on your Internet service provider’s (ISP) computer until you pick it up. The program you use for that task is Outlook Express: ◊ Start Outlook Express. Eventually you connect to the Internet, and OE appears onscreen looking something like Figure 32.1.

Figure 32.1 Outlook Express.

A B C D E

You’ve got mail! Click to read. Like it says. Newsgroup nonsense (not covered in this book). Folders for storing email. Send any pending messages/check for new mail.

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Chapter 32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty ◊ Maximize the window. If you have email waiting, Outlook Express tells you. You might hear some chimes, and, if you have any mail, you’ll see the text You have 22,698 unread message(s) in your Inbox. Wow! You are popular! If you don’t have any email waiting, well, aren’t you pitiful? Seriously, you don’t always have mail. If you do, great. If not, check back later. Reading mail (if you’ve received any) is covered in the next section. Keep OE open and warm. ● There is no way to change the sound played when new mail arrives. It would be nice, but it just isn’t possible. ● Check your mail at least once a day. People who respond quickly to email get more email than people who ignore it.

Viewing the Inbox All new email you receive goes to the Inbox folder. The number of unread messages appears next to the Inbox icon in blue.

The best way to get email is to send it. Find out which of your friends and co-workers have email accounts. Send them email. Then, when they answer you, write back! Remember that email is communication, and communication has to go both ways to work.

◊ Open the Inbox folder. Your Inbox opens to reveal any messages that are waiting. Figure 32.2 explains things. To read a message, click on it. The message’s content appears in the lower half of the window. Another way to read the message is to double-click on it. That opens the message up in its own window. Figure 32.3 shows you how that one works.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 32.2 The Inbox.

A B

Contents of your Inbox. Mail you’ve read appears dimmed.

C

Unread mail appears in bold type.

D

The message you’re reading is highlighted.

E F G

Current message’s contents. A file attachment. Click to delete the highlighted message.

H

Click a column heading to sort messages by that column.

I

Click to reply to the current message.

Figure 32.3 Reading a message.

A

Person who sent the message.

B C D E

Message subject. Message contents. Reply to this message. Reply to this message, including the sender and everyone who received it.

F

Forward this message to someone.

G H

Print the message. Delete the message (move it to the Deleted Items folder).

I

Read the preview message in the Inbox.

J

Read the next message in the Inbox.

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Chapter 32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty When you’re finished reading a message, you can do one of several things: ✓ Reply to the message ✓ Forward the message to someone else ✓ Delete the message ✓ Move the message to a folder for storage The following sections tell you how each of these options works. ● All messages stay in your Inbox until you delete them or move them to a folder. ● Messages that have been read appear in lighter text with their envelope icons open. Messages you’ve replied to appear the same, but with a tiny arrow pasted on the envelope icon. ● If you want to check your mail again, click the Send and Receive button. ● The folders used by OE are not the same folders you use in Windows. There is no “Inbox” folder per se on the hard drive. It’s all done within OE.

Another nifty thing you should consider doing when you’re reading a message is to add that person’s name to your email program’s address book. Choose Tools➡Add to Address Book➡Sender. Or if you’re not in a message window, choose Tools➡Add Sender to Address Book.

● By the way, it doesn’t matter if you read your mail from the Inbox or doubleclick to open a message. Either way works just fine, though some of the menu items change.

Replying to a Message To reply to the message you’re reading, click the Reply button. A new message window appears, as shown in Figure 32.4. Enter your reply in the lower half of the window. Optionally you can edit or delete the original “quoted” message. You can edit or just delete the original message if you like. I recommend keeping the original message because it keeps my reply in context.

The keyboard shortcut for the Reply to Author button is Ctrl+R, which I use instead of clicking the button because it’s quicker and my hands are already on the keyboard.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 32.4 Replying to a message.

A

The original message appears “quoted” here.

B

The To field automatically contains the name of the person who wrote the message to which you’re replying.

C

You can add other names to the list by clicking here.

D

You can send carbon copies of the message to others here.

E

Click here to add other carbon copy names from the Address Book.

F

The message subject.

When you’re ready to send, click the Send button. If you’d rather not send it, just close the window after typing the reply. OE will ask if you want to save the message; click Yes. The message is saved in the Drafts folder, from which it can be reopened, edited, and sent. After sending the reply, the window closes, and your Inbox returns. You can delete the original, move it to another folder, or just skip over it and continue reading new messages.

You can press the F7 key to spellcheck your message when you’re done composing it. To check your messages automatically, choose Tools➡Options and click the Spelling tab. Put a check mark by the item Always check spelling before sending. Click OK.

● If you want to cancel the message before sending it, just close the Reply window. A dialog box asks whether you want to save the message. Click No, and the message isn’t sent.

● You can send a carbon copy, or courtesy copy, of the message to others in the message’s Cc field. That way, people can be informed of the message without thinking that the message is directed to them.

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Chapter 32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty ● Mail delivery over the Internet is usually instantaneous. I’ve sent messages back and forth to a reader in Australia, and he read them just seconds after I sent them.

Forwarding a Message to Someone Else

Update the Subject line if the message content changes.

Occasionally you’ll get email you want to resend to someone else. For example, if Jerry sends you a humorous story about firefighters and you want to send a copy of it to your friend Mike the Fireman, what you need to do is forward the message. To forward the message you’re reading, click the Forward button. Or you can press Ctrl+F. Unlike replying to a message, you must supply the name in the To field; enter the name of the person to whom you’re sending the message. You can optionally add your own comments, or just include the original message in the body. If you want to be nice, you can edit out all the >>>> quotes so that the message looks like you originally wrote it. Click the Send button to send the message.

Deleting a Message More often than not, you end up deleting the messages you get. Sure, you can save them, but the majority of email is SPAM, which is junk you don’t want to reply to or even keep. Trash it! To delete the message you’re reading, click the Delete button. The message is moved into the Deleted Items folder. Deleted messages stay in the Deleted Items folder until you empty that folder. The command to do so is Edit➡Empty ‘Deleted Items’ Folder. There is no way to recover messages that have been emptied from the Deleted Items folder. ● Getting and deleting SPAM is part of email life. ● How do you get on a SPAM list? Dumb luck. You increase your chances if you post to a newsgroup, display your email address on a Web page, order something from a Web page, or especially reply to SPAM to ask to be “removed” from the list. Even if you avoid all those chances, though, one or more of them still might find you and send you SPAM.

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Moving the Message to Another Folder If you don’t want to keep the message in your Inbox, and you don’t want to delete it, you can always move it to another folder. Out of the box, OE comes with only a few folders, as shown in Table 32.1. You can create your own folders and even subfolders for organizing your read or even unread email.

Table 32.1

Please don’t respond to any SPAM or unsolicited email! It’s a trick: If they can get you to respond, they’ll know that you’re a real person and they’ll send you even more SPAM. Don’t ever respond to SPAM!

Folders in Outlook Express

Folder

Reason for Existing

Inbox

Contains new messages, plus messages recently received and read (messages sit there until you move them out or delete them). Holds messages waiting to be sent later. Contains all the messages you’ve sent. OE’s Recycle Bin. Holds messages you compose but elect not to send. (To send them, open the message in the folder and click the Send button.)

Outbox Sent Items Deleted Items Drafts

Any additional folders are those you create yourself. Here’s how: ◊ Right-click the Local Folders item. ◊ Choose New Folder from the pop-up menu. The new folder appears in the list. ◊ Name the folder Jokes. Now you have a folder to hold all the jokes you receive. Additional folders can be created to hold email of all different sorts. On my system I have folders named Jokes, Family, Fan Mail, Publishers, Business, Online Orders, and so on. Mail I receive or reply to gets moved into the proper folder.

Being organized is oh so satisfying.

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Chapter 32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty To move a message from the Inbox to a folder, drag it by using the envelope icon. Figure 32.5 shows you how it’s done. Figure 32.5 Moving a message to a folder.

A

Drag the message by its envelope icon.

B

Drag it to the proper folder.

You can view the contents of any folder by choosing that folder from the Folders list. The messages appear just as they do in the Inbox, with the list above and the content window below. ● You also can create a new folder by choosing File➡Folder➡New. This displays the Create Folder dialog box, which you can use to put the new folder anywhere you’d like—even as a subfolder to an existing folder. ● I try to keep my Inbox empty. I transfer whatever’s worth saving to the proper folder and delete everything else.

Composing a New Email Message To send an email message to someone else, you need only two things: the person’s email address and something to write about. It’s similar to sending someone a letter, although in this case no paper is involved and you have nothing to lick. (Well, if you’re in the habit of licking your PC monitor to send an email message, don’t let me stop you.) ◊ Choose Message➡New Message. Or press the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+N. The New Message window appears, as shown in Figure 32.6. ◊ In the To field, type the email address of the person to whom you’re sending the message. If you’ve been saving email names in the address book, you can type a nickname rather than the full address. Also you can click the Rolodex icon to view names in the address book and copy them to the To field. (More on the address book and nicknames in Chapter 33, “More Fun with Outlook Express.”)

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Figure 32.6 Creating a new message.

A

Type the person’s email address here.

B

Click here to view names saved in your address book.

C D E F G

Type a subject here.

H

Format bar. Message content goes here. Spell check the message. Click here to attach a file to the message. Click here when you’re ready to send.

◊ Enter any Cc names. Cc names are people to whom you want to send a carbon copy of the message, such as “FYI, but it’s not directed at you.” As with the To field, you can type multiple names; separate each with a comma. ◊ Enter any BCC name. The Blind Carbon Copy field contains the email names and addresses of folks whom you want to see the message; however, the other folks in the To and Cc fields don’t see these names. (If this field is not displayed, choose View➡All Headers.) ◊ Type a subject. The message subject is required. Make it short and descriptive of the message’s contents. (Actually, the subject isn’t required, but it doesn’t hurt to specify one.) ◊ Type the message content.

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You can send a message to more than one person. The secret is to type everyone’s email addresses in the To field. Separate each email address with a comma, like this: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Or, if you’re using nicknames, you might type bubba,geek,dl

Again, a comma separates everything.

Chapter 32 Outlook Express Quick and Dirty There is no limit to how much you can type. Some email messages can get quite long. Then again, no rule exists about replying with just one word or a sentence, if that’s all it takes. ◊ Click the Send button. Your message is whisked off into the ether, sent through the Internet to the recipient. ● The BCC (blind carbon copy) field sends the message to others, although their names are not visible when the message is read by folks listed in the To and Cc fields. This way, you can keep someone in the loop about a message without letting the other folks know about it; the email addresses in the BCC field don’t show up at all. It’s sneaky. ● You can format your message with fancy fonts and background “stationery.” This, and other formatting information, is covered in Chapter 33. ● Attaching files to an email message also is covered in Chapter 33.

Quitting Outlook Express When you’re done reading your mail, or if you don’t have any mail because no one really likes you, you will want to quit Outlook Express. ◊ Close any open mail-reading windows. ◊ Choose File➡Exit. A dialog box might appear, asking whether you want to disconnect from the Internet. Choose Yes if you’re done for the day.

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Chapter 33

More Fun with Outlook Express


> > > > > >

Using the Address Book Adding names Creating nicknames Formatting email and using stationery Working with email attachments Adding an email signature

A whole book could be written on using Outlook Express (OE), and there might even be a few out there. There’s a lot you can do with the program, and completely covering it here (in a Windows book) would be silly. So I’m going to try to cram about 380 pages of important stuff into this wee li’l chapter. Here goes!

Working with the Address Book Every time you reply to a message, OE sticks the recipient’s name into your electronic Address Book. That’s a mini-database that contains not only names and address, but also other information about the people with whom you communicate.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Start OE if it’s not started already. ◊ Click the Addresses button. The Address Book window appears, as shown in Figure 33.1. This is where the names of everyone you’ve replied to are stored. You can add your own names, and edit or expand the information there. Figure 33.1 The Address Book.

A B

Names (or email addresses).

C

Create a new contact, folder, or group of contacts.

D

Double-click to open a contact for editing.

Corresponding email addresses.

You can use the Address Book to add, delete, or modify names. Keep it open for the next section’s tutorial.

Adding a Name Manually Suppose you want to add a name to the Address Book and that person has yet to write to you. How rude! But you can be the one who initiates the electronic conversation. Continuing from the previous section’s tutorial, add yourself to your Address Book: ◊ Press Ctrl+N. This displays a new contact Properties window, as shown in Figure 33.2. ◊ Fill in the First Name. ◊ Fill in the Last Name. ◊ Type in a nickname. I use the nickname me for my own account. My mom has the nickname Mom. (More on nicknames in the next section.)

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Chapter 33 More Fun with Outlook Express

Figure 33.2 Creating a new contact.

A B C

Type the first name.

D E F G H

The email nickname.

I

Click if the recipient cannot receive fancy-formatted messages (he or she will tell you).

J

Other crap you can fill in.

Type the last name. The name as it appears onscreen.

The email address. Click to add to the list. List of email addresses. Edit the list of email addresses.

◊ Type in the email address. ◊ Click Add. The Address Book lets you juggle multiple email addresses for each person. The default address is the one OE automatically uses when you send that person a message. To set the default, highlight one of the addresses in the list and click the Set as Default button. ◊ Click OK. There. You’ve added yourself. Now you can write to yourself electronically, but you’ll most likely use your own address to carbon copy important messages to yourself, which is what I do. That way I have a copy of the message in both my Inbox (received) and Outbox (sent). Your name now appears in the Address Book, which you can keep open for the next section’s tutorial.

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Creating a Nickname Nicknames are extremely handy. They allow you to type in mom or boss or jenny instead of full email addresses when you write email. The following is the whirlwind tour of how nicknames work. Assign a nickname to someone already in your Address Book: ◊ Open the Address Book (if necessary). ◊ Double-click the Name you want to nickname-ify. A Properties dialog box appears for that person. ◊ Click the Name tab. ◊ Enter the nickname into the Nickname text box. For example, my friend Jerry Hewett has the nickname Jerry on my system. My agent has the nickname Matt. My wife, Empress. Make the nickname somehow related to the person’s real name, occupation, position, or relationship to you. ◊ Click OK. Continue assigning nicknames if you’d like. Otherwise you can move on to using nicknames: ◊ Close the Address Book. Start up a new message to test the nickname feature. (You don’t have to send a message, just work through the steps.) ◊ Press Ctrl+N A New Message window appears. The cursor is blinking in the To text box. ◊ Type a nickname. For example, type me. To expand the name and confirm the address, click the Check button on the toolbar. The name expands to the full contact person name, which should be you! You can continue typing a message to yourself, or just close the New Message window; click No and don’t save the message. Keep OE open for the next section’s tutorial.

Summoning a Contact You can use nicknames from the Address Book, or you can summon names by clicking the magic Address Book button by the To, Cc, and Bcc fields. One again, there are a gazillion different ways to do things in Windows. Amazing!

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Chapter 33 More Fun with Outlook Express ◊ Press Ctrl+N to start a new message. ◊ Click the Address Book button by the To field. The Select Recipients dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 33.3. This is actually an amazing and clever dialog box, in my opinion. It allows you to universally select names for all three common email address fields.

Figure 33.3 Selecting people to send to.

A B

Your list of contacts.

C

People already in the To field.

D

Click to add the highlighted contact(s) to the Cc field.

E

People already in the Cc field.

F G

Click to add to the Bcc field.

Click to add the highlighted contact(s) to the To field.

People already Bcc’d.

◊ Select a name. Choose the person you want to send the message to. ◊ Click To: ->. That person is added to the To field. Clicking Cc or Bcc adds them to that field. You also can Ctrl+click a buncha names and add that buncha people to a field. ◊ Click OK when you’re done adding. You’re returned to the New Message dialog box with the various fields filled-in. Now just enter a Subject and type the message. But, alas, the tutorial is over.

Another nifty way to get at your Address Book’s contents is to display the Contacts panel. Choose View➡Layout. Put a check mark in the Contacts box, then click OK. A list summarizing the folks in your Address Book then appears in the lower-left corner of OE’s window.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Close the New Message window. ◊ Click No. You don’t want to save the message. Keep OE open for the next section’s tutorial.

Fancy Formatting Your New Messages Another OE feature is its capability to format email messages using fancy text and graphics. I’m not a fan of this, because few email programs can receive the email messages with all the fancy formatting intact. (OE can, but Eudora or Pegasus email programs cannot.) But if you want to goof around, who am I to stop you? To start a fancy-formatted new message, follow these steps: ◊ Click the New Mail button’s drop-down list. Figure 33.4 shows you what’s going on. The list contains an assortment of stationery for your email.

Figure 33.4 Creating email with stationery.

A B

Click here to see the menu.

C

Choose a specific stationery file.

D

Other options I’m too lazy to write about.

Various stationery (background) options.

◊ Choose Leaves. This opens a New Message window with the Leaves background, as shown in Figure 33.5. Refer to the figure for additional text formatting information. Otherwise, you fill in all the fields and type the message as you normally would.

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Chapter 33 More Fun with Outlook Express

Figure 33.5 Fancy formatting stuff.

A B C

The Format bar.

D E F

Select a font.

G

Bold, Italic, and Underline text formats.

H I

A menu of text colors.

J K

Text alignment options.

The stationery. Select text and then choose a formatting tool.

Select the text size. A menu of various preset paragraph styles.

Various paragraph formatting options.

Other options.

◊ Type and format the message. Type the text first. Then go back and select the text and choose a tool from the Format bar to apply that format. ◊ Click Send. The message is sent off, and sent off pretty. ● Choose View➡Toolbars➡Formatting Bar to display the Format bar if is isn’t visible in the New Message window. ● Try not to format the text too small! Anything smaller than 10 points might show up too teeny for some folks to read. I prefer 12 points myself, which might look huge on your monitor but look excellent on your recipient’s monitor. ● Don’t forget that Undo command, Ctrl+Z, should you format yourself into a corner!

Remember that not everyone will see the message as you formatted it. If you get complaints from a person, then note that they cannot receive fancy-formatted messages. You can edit their Address Book entry and check the Plain text box as shown in Figure 33.2, item 9.

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All About Email Attachments (Sending Files with Your Email) Sending an attachment is like sending someone a file on a floppy disk through the mail, although the file is being sent from your computer to another computer through the Internet. In Outlook Express you can send files and receive them. Sending is easier. I’ll cover that one first.

Sending an Email Attachment To send an email attachment you need three things. In addition to the email address of the person you’re sending to and the message, you also need the file to send. This can be any file on your hard drive, though most people send graphics images. Start by composing a new email message. (Refer to Chapter 32, “Outlook Express Quick and Dirty,” for the details.) Enter the recipient in the To field, any Cc or Bcc people, a subject, and type a message. Now you’re ready to attach the file. (I’m assuming the file has already been created and that you know in which folder it lives on your computer’s hard drive.) ◊ Click the Attach File button on the toolbar.

The best graphics format for sending email graphics images is JPEG or JPG. Those files are small and can be quickly sent and received by anyone with a computer.

An Insert Attachment dialog box appears, which is similar to the Browse/Open dialog box you have encountered many times in Windows. ◊ Browse to the folder containing the file you want to add. Browse through your hard drive, looking for the folder containing the file you want to send.

Always attach “real” files, not their shortcuts. ◊ Click to select the file. ◊ Click Attach. The file’s name appears in a new header item, Attach.

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Chapter 33 More Fun with Outlook Express You can attach multiple files: Just keep clicking the little paper clip button and finding files to send. Keep in mind that more files make for a very large email message, which some people don’t like. (I send multiple files in separate messages.) ◊ Send the message. At this point, sending the email message with an attachment works just like sending any other email message. The only difference is that you’re sending a file, and it might take longer than usual to send the message, depending on the file’s size. ● When you’re sending an attachment, ensure that the person to whom you’re sending the message can deal with it. For example, don’t send a WordPerfect document file to someone who doesn’t have WordPerfect. How can you know? Ask them! ● Another attachment consideration: Try to avoid sending huge attachments to people. For example, my friend Reed once sent me a 2MB graphics file. Ugh. Write a message before sending any file over, say, 150KB and ask the person whether it’s okay to send it. ● You don’t have to write any text when you’re sending a file, although you should. Explain what the file is and why you’re sending it.

Consider copying huge files, or multiple files, into a Compressed Folder (or Zip file) before sending. This is one way to cut down on file transfer size. (Note that JPEG graphics files are already compressed, so copying them to a Compressed Folder wouldn’t save you much.) See Chapter 24, “Organizing Folders,” for more information on Compressed Folders. If you decide not to send an attachment you’ve already attached, right-click its icon. Choose Remove from the shortcut menu, and the file is unattached.

Receiving an Email Attachment Attachments are received along with your regular email. The telltale sign is the paper clip icon in your inbox. Jump for joy when you see it! Reading an email message with an attachment works just like reading any email message. For a graphics image attached, you’ll be able to see the image below the message. Other attachments might not appear in the window. In that case, you must use the paper clip button to run or save the attachments. Figure 33.6 shows you how the paper clip button works.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 33.6 A graphics attachment in a message.

A B C D E

Click to see the menu. The name of the attached file. The file size. Additional attachments might appear here. Click to save the attachments (recommended).

Do not open attachments unexpectedly sent to you! Dealing with Email Viruses People do send nasty attachments, or email viruses, sometimes without even knowing it. The Happy Park and KAK viruses can infect a computer, causing you to send out email messages spreading the virus without your knowledge. Here’s my advice:

● Do not open any attachment you weren’t expecting. ● Confirm any unexpected attachments before you open them. ● Never run a program file attachment or save it to disk. Program files have a filename that ends with .EXE.

● When in doubt, throw the message out.

If you choose the filename from the paper clip menu, Windows attempts to open the file and show you its contents. This doesn’t save the file to disk, so I recommend instead that you always choose the Save Attachments menu item, saving it in a proper folder on your hard drive.

Dealing with Unknown Attachments When you get files of an unknown type, reply to the sender. Tell the person that you’re unable to read the attachment, and then ask for more information. Don’t fret over this situation; it happens all the time.

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Chapter 33 More Fun with Outlook Express If you attempt to open the file and encounter the dreaded Open With dialog box, click Cancel. Refer to Chapter 26, “Using the Send To Command,” for more information. Sometimes you might see a warning dialog box when you try to open a file of an unknown type, as shown in Figure 33.7. My advice? Click Cancel and be rid of the file. Figure 33.7 An attachment warning dialog box.

A

Windows does not recognize this type of file.

B

Never open an unknown file type.

C

I even recommend against saving an unknown file type to disk.

D

Click here to cancel the whole thing.

Additional OE Options Most of the additional OE options and features can be accessed through Options dialog box. ◊ Choose Tools➡Options. The Options dialog box appears, containing many tabs and tons of gizmos designed to configure and customize the way OE behaves. For example, I remove the check marks by Send and Receive Messages at Startup because sometimes I want to start OE and read my mail without connecting to the Internet. ◊ Click the Compose tab. Options in the Compose tab let you preset formats for composing your email messages. You can choose fonts, stationery, and the Business Cards thing (which I’ve never messed with). One thing you might crave is a signature, which is a bit of text OE sticks on the end of each outgoing message. This is a great way to automatically add a message to the end of your email. ◊ Click the Signatures tab. Figure 33.8 explains the various options and settings.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 33.8 Creating a custom signature.

A

Click to activate the signature deal.

B C D

Like it says. Click to create the signature. Create the signature here.

◊ Click New. ◊ Type your signature in the box. Include your name, sign off, clever phrase, your home page, and so on. ◊ Click OK. Now whenever you create a new message, the signature you created appears automatically in the Message window. You can quit OE now. The lesson ends here. ● To include a hyperlink in your email message just type it in. OE is smart enough to recognize and interpret Web page addresses and URLs, making them appear as underlined (and clickable) links in your message. ● I’ll post additional information about OE on this book’s Web page; refer to Appendix A, “Using This Book’s Web Page,” for more information. The information is based on any questions I get via email, so if you have any pressing issues, let me know.

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Chapter 34

The AOL Chapter


> > > > > >

Connecting to AOL Reading your messages Composing messages Sending an email attachment Browsing the Web in AOL Quitting AOL

This isn’t an AOL book, but the various gods and deities require that I write something about it because so many people use AOL—even though this is a Windows book and I’m already protesting writing too much about the Internet. There. I’ve gotten it off my chest. This chapter contains some basic AOL information. This stuff should help you get oriented and perform a few basic AOL-ish things. As with Outlook Express, I could write a whole book about AOL. I just have space here to skip through a few brief topics. ● AOL is America Online, a national online service provider that has its own content and that also provides access to the Internet. It is not a part of Windows. ● This chapter assumes that you’ve already installed and set up AOL.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● If you have AOL, you cannot use Internet Explorer or Outlook Express as described elsewhere in this book. You must use AOL as your email program and Web browser. (AOL email and Web browsing is the subject of this chapter.) ● This book is specific to AOL version 5.0.

Getting into AOL Connecting to AOL is as easy as finding an AOL icon. They’re all over the place. When I installed AOL, it put an icon on the desktop, on the Quick Launch bar, in the system tray, and on the Start Thing in the Programs➡America Online folder—and the monitor laser-beamed an AOL tattoo on my forehead. (Just kidding.) ◊ Start AOL. The program dials your modem and connects to AOL. ◊ Click the No Thanks button. Now there might not be a No Thanks button, but chances are really good that the first thing you’re hit with when you connect to AOL is an advertisement. Clicking the button makes it go away so that you can get on with AOL. A voice says, “Welcome.” And if you’re lucky, the voice also says, “You’ve got mail!” Mail is usually the first thing most people do on AOL, so I’ll cover it next. In the meantime, you can gander at the welcome screen, as shown in Figure 34.1. ● You can get help from AOL by typing help into the keyword text box. This is your best source for finding useful information about AOL. ● Disconnect from AOL when you’re done. Refer to the last section in this chapter. ● Yup, AOL sure foists a lot of ads on you.

Checking Your Mail Let me get right to the point: ◊ Click the You’ve Got Mail link. (This won’t work, obviously, if you don’t have any mail. You can still visit your mailbox, however, by clicking the Mail Center button and then the Mailbox button.) ◊ Double-click the first (top) message in the list. This opens the message in its own window, as shown in Figure 34.2. From that window, you can then read all the mail in your mailbox, reply to it, forward it, delete it, download an attachment, or whatever.

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Figure 34.1 Say hello to AOL.

A B C D E

Click to read new mail. Web page navigation buttons: Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, and Home. The keyword text box. Yet another advertisement. Get help!

Figure 34.2 Reading your mail.

A

The message subject, date sent, and sender’s name.

B C

Message content.

D E F G H

Click to download an attachment. Delete this message. See the next message. Reply to this message. Forward this message to someone else. Add this person to your address book.

◊ Read the message. Uh-oh. Another one of those long, forwarded e-mail jokes. Why not just buy the book?

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition After reading the message, you have several options: You can delete the message, reply, forward, or just skip on and read the next message. Figure 34.2 shows you which buttons to press for each operation. If the Download Now button appears (see Figure 34.2), then the email message has an attached file. That’s always exciting. ◊ Click the Download Now button to retrieve an attachment. A warning dialog box may appear. It’s good advice! Heed it! Then click Yes if you’re still willing to download the attachment. ◊ Use the Download Manager dialog box to find a location for the file. This works like any Save As dialog box. You must find a folder for the file you’re downloading. My version of AOL chooses the Downloads directory within the AOL folder itself. My advice is to create a Downloads directory inside the My Computer folder for your downloads. But where you stick the attachment is up to you; just remember where you put it. ◊ Click Save to save the attachment to disk. This may take a while…. “File’s done,” the voice says. ◊ Click OK. The file has been saved to disk. If it’s a graphics image, you will be able to view it right there in AOL. Close the window when you’re done a-gawkin’. ● Messages that you read are stored in the Old Mail tab in the Mailbox window. Click that tab to review the messages you’ve read.

You can check your AOL message even when you’re not at home. Browse to www.aol.com on the Internet from any computer. Once there, enter your AOL sign-on name and password. Then read your mail!

● Your replies, as well as any mail that you send, are kept in the Sent Mail tab in the Mailbox window. ● Note that mail you’ve read has a fat red check mark on the envelope icon. ● Messages with file attachments also sport their own special envelope icon. ● The attachment warning message is important! Heed it! Never download an attachment that you weren’t expecting, even from someone you know. Always write back and confirm that they sent the file, and ask what it is. Be suspicious! ● You cannot get an email virus from any attached graphics image. Downloading and viewing the graphics image is okay. But if a file claims to be a graphics image and does not display a preview window, then it might be something else. Delete it and ask the person who sent the image what’s up.

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Sending a New Message Sending email is necessary if you ever expect to receive any email. People who send mail get mail back! And we all know how much fun it is to get email. To compose a new message, you need to know the email address of the person to whom you’re sending and what to write. You also need to start up a new message in AOL, for which there’s a handy keyboard command: ◊ Press Ctrl+M. The Write Mail window appears, which looks something like Figure 34.3. Figure 34.3 Creating a new message.

A

Type the recipient’s email address here.

B

Enter people to whom you’re carbon-copying here.

C

The message subject goes here.

D E F

Formatting toolbar.

G H

Send that message!

Message contents. Click to attach a file to the message.

Use this button to fish names from your personal address book.

Fill in all the appropriate boxes to compose your message: ◊ Type the address of the person(s) to whom you’re sending the message into the Send To box. ◊ Type a subject. ◊ Type the message. You can use the Format bar to apply formatting to the message. Or, just be wordy and type away your feelings. When you’re done, you need to send the message. ◊ Click Send Now. A dialog box appears, telling you that your message has been sent.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click OK. Ta-da! ● You can send email to both AOL users and people who have other Internet accounts. Just type the full email address into the Send To box. ● You can enter multiple addresses into the Send To box; just type a comma and press Enter after typing each name. ● Click the Address Book button to display its list of names. Choose one and click Send To to put that name into the list. ● Sending a blind carbon copy (BCC) is done through the Address Book; select a name and click Blind Copy to stealthily send that message. (Blind carbon copy recipients see the message in addition to the To and Copy to people—but no one sees the list of BCC people.)

Attaching a File One of the more popular things to do with email is to attach a file. You can take any file saved on your PC’s hard drive and electronically staple it to an email message, sending that file to someone else. This can be done with graphics images, document files, and just about anything. To send an attachment, first ensure that you have the attached file already saved on your computer’s hard drive. Then create a new message as you normally would: ◊ Press Ctrl+M to start a new message. ◊ Enter an email address. ◊ Enter a subject. ◊ Type some message text.

To send a picture, ensure that the picture file is saved in the JPEG or JPG graphics file type. That way the picture sends more quickly and can easily be received by just about anyone using a computer.

To attach the file, use the magical Attachments button, as shown in Figure 34.3. ◊ Click the Attachments button. An Attachments dialog box appears. This lists any current attachments that you may have, so the list will be empty. You need to go out and find a file to add. ◊ Click the Attach button. An Attach dialog box appears, which is basically a Browse/Open dialog box. You’ll use this dialog box to hunt down the file that you want to send. You remember where you put that file, right?

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Chapter 34 The AOL Chapter ◊ Locate the folder containing the file that you want to send. Use the tools in the dialog box to find the disk drive and folder containing the file. ◊ Click to select the file. ◊ Click Open. The Attach dialog box vanishes, and you’re returned to the Attachments dialog box. The file you just selected appears in the list, ready to send. Here you can click the Attach button again to fetch more file attachments. Or: ◊ Click OK. You’re back in the Write Mail window. Notice that the attachment is listed at the bottom of the window. Everything is ready to go. ◊ Click Send Now to send the message. This can take some time, depending on the size of the file you’re sending. “File’s done,” says the AOL voice again. ◊ Click OK. ● It’s a good idea to explain the attachment in the body of the message. If the message is personalized, that would be a good indication to the recipient that you really sent the attachment and that it’s not a virus. ● I recommend copying large files, or multiple files, into a compressed folder and then sending that compressed folder (which is really a Zip file) instead of the large or multiple files. ● Sending a JPEG of a photograph requires that you have some way of getting that photograph into the computer. This can be done using a scanner or digital camera—but that’s a whole ‘nuther can of worms that I need not get into here!

Visiting the Web In addition to all the fun and exciting things that you can do on AOL, you can also browse the World Wide Web. You don’t even need a separate program (like Internet Explorer) for this. AOL does it all. For example, suppose that you want to visit the Drudge Report. ◊ Type www.drudgereport.com into the keyword box. Refer to Figure 34.1 for where the keyword box is. In a few minutes, you’ll see Matt Drudge’s news page on the Web.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition To visit another page, type its address into the keyword box: ◊ Type www.drudgeretort.com into the keyword box. Yes, that’s drudgeretort, which is a parody of the DrudgeReport page. In fact, you can get there quickly by just editing the keyword box, replacing the second R with a T. Enough parodies! ● You can use the Web navigation buttons to go back to a previous Web page, to go forward, to stop loading a page, to refresh a page, or to visit AOL’s home page. Refer to Figure 34.1 for its location. ● Now that you know more or less how the Web works on AOL, you can skim through Chapter 30, “Internet Explorer Orientation and Review,” and Chapter 31, “Internet Explorer and Beyond,” for a quick tour. Remember that the commands and options presented there are specific to Internet Explorer, not AOL. ● AOL won’t let you do some things on the Web. For example, AOL won’t always let you send or receive some file attachments. Some Web games won’t work on AOL. Generally speaking, most Web pages that don’t function properly on AOL will let you know. Remember to read everything.

Signing Off on AOL You’re done with AOL for the day. Time to quit. ◊ Choose File➡Exit. “Goodbye,” says the voice. AOL disappears and hangs up the modem. ● From time to time, AOL may want to send you updates. This typically happens when AOL quits; the update files are downloaded automatically to your computer. Then AOL quits and annoyingly restarts all by itself. Just quit again when that happens; you don’t have to sign back on to AOL at that time. ● Obviously, there’s a lot more to AOL than I just covered here. In fact, consider yourself lucky that anything got covered at all, since AOL is definitely not a part of Windows. ● If you’re interested in knowing more about AOL, then I recommend picking up a good book about it. Topics such as online shopping, chatting, instant messages, and other AOL-ish things can be found there. ● If you need help with AOL, then you should use the AOL Help center. Type help into the keyword box and pose your question to the AOL staff.

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> > > > >

Saving a Web page to disk Saving an image to disk Downloading programs and files Playing games on the Internet Some shopping advice

One final Internet thing before I return you to your regularly scheduled Windows Millennium Edition book: It’s downloading stuff from the Internet! Also covered— and get a bucket of popcorn for this one—are the new Internet Games included with Windows Me. And shopping, too? Oh, yes! It’s absolutely more fun for the same price you paid for the rest of the book.

Downloading Stuff from the Internet Just in case it’s new to you, downloading is the electronic art of transferring files from thither to hither where the Internet is thither and your computer is hither. Or, put another way, it’s grabbing files from the Internet. There are several ways to grab things from the Internet. It all depends on what you want to grab, which is covered in the sections that follow.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Honestly, everything you see in IE is downloaded from the Internet. It must be! After all, it’s been sent from the Internet into your computer. In the context of this chapter, downloading refers to specifically saving most things the Internet already sends you anyway. ● There is no charge to download information from the Internet, other than your regular Internet connection fees.

Grabbing a Page from the Web Certainly you can save a Web page on your hard drive. Any Web page! Some of them save better than others, but the real question should be, why bother? I can think of at least two reasons why I save Web pages to disk. The first is to read the information later, when I’m not on the Internet. Especially if it’s some long diatribe or article. Why waste time reading it online? The second reason I download Web pages is, primarily, simple theft. I design my own Web pages and occasionally download other pages from the Internet to see how they work. (Of course, that’s a little advanced for this book.) Why not find some classic literature and save it to disk. Imagine how impressed your friends will be to spy some old classic titles lining the shelves of your hard drive! ◊ Fire up IE and connect to the Internet. ◊ Browse to www.literature.org. Lo, it’s a treasure chest of classic literature. Back when they wrote books. Good books. No TV. ◊ Click the Authors link. Impressive dinner party list, no? Somewhere in the future there may be such a list of classic computer books and…naaa, I really don’t think so. ◊ Click Herbert George Wells. I love H.G. (You might have to scroll down to find him.) ◊ Click The Time Machine. The next page lists all the chapters in the book, which you can view individually. (You could click the Source File link to see and download the entire text, but that would take too long for this tutorial.) ◊ Click Chapter 1. Rather than get lost reading this excellent work, save it to disk and read it later! ◊ Chose File➡Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.

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Chapter 35 Even More Internet Madness ◊ Choose a folder for the Web page. You can create a Great Literature folder inside the My Documents folder for this work. Or create a specific Time Machine or HG Wells folder if you plan on collecting similar works. ◊ Click Save. The Web page is saved to disk, available any time you want to read it. I’ll prove it: ◊ Click the Home button. This is just to get you somewhere else on the Internet; which will sort-of prove that you’re opening a Web page on the hard drive as opposed to just reloading it from the Web. ◊ Choose File➡Open. ◊ Click the Browse button. ◊ Browse to the folder containing the document you just downloaded. ◊ Select that document. ◊ Click Open. ◊ Click OK. There’s the same Web page, saved on disk. Keep IE open for the next section’s tutorial. ● You can edit the name the file is saved under inside the Save As dialog box. The name given to Chapter 1 of the Time Machine is rather long. ● Some Web pages don’t save well. Don’t be surprised if you open a Web page you saved on disk and all the images are missing or chunks of text are missing. ● You don’t have to be connected to the Internet to view a Web page saved on your hard drive. Note, however, that viewing some Web pages might cause IE to want to dial into the Internet. It’s doing so to download images and other current information requested by the Web page. Connecting is optional, however. ● Microsoft Word and other programs can open, view, and edit Web pages saved to disk. ● If you just want the text from a Web page (and not all that formatting), choose Text File (*.txt) from the Save As Type drop-down list. That saves the information as plain text, which can be read by most applications (including WordPad).

Saving an Image You can purloin any image that appears in IE. (Purloin means to steal, though it’s safer to use around your friends who might not be familiar with the term.) It’s easy:

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Browse to www.whitehouse.gov. That’s the home page for the executive branch of the U.S. Government. ◊ Right-click on the White House image. A shortcut menu appears, which you should be used to by now from right-clicking everything in Windows. ◊ Choose Save Picture As from the shortcut menu. ◊ A Save As dialog box appears. The My Pictures folder is automatically chosen for the picture download. You can browse to another folder if you like. ◊ Click Save. Now you have the image. This trick can be done with any image, whenever one appears on the Web: rightclick, save, and you have it. ● Most images on the Web are of the GIF or JPEG graphics type. ● Choosing Set as Wallpaper from the shortcut menu makes that image the wallpaper background for your desktop.

You, Images, and the Law! I need to point out that many images on the Web are copyrighted. Their use is restricted by law and many Internet users sit woefully in prison right now for downloading and using Web images from various television shows. I’m kidding! (Sort of.) How can you tell if something is copyrighted? It’s tough. Generally, I would assume any image on any business or professional site is copyrighted. In fact, if you see a © anywhere on the Web page, then it would be a good guess that you cannot reuse the images. There is a section of the copyright law called “fair use,” which basically states that you can download a copyrighted image from the Internet if you want. You cannot, however, reuse the image in a manner that infringes upon the copyright owner’s rights. For example, you cannot download an image of some Teen Idol and use that image to make and sell t-shirts. But keeping the image for yourself is supposedly okee-doke. (Hey! I’m no lawyer.) See a lawyer if you’re gravely concerned over copyright violations.

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Grabbing Software Finally there’s the issue of downloading software from the Internet. Yes, the Internet is a vast storehouse of PC software ready for you to take! But you might have some concerns, which I’ve handily put into Table 35.1.

Table 35.1

Downloading Concerns You Might Have

Concern

Dan’s Clever Response

Must I pay to download the software? What about free software? Freeware?

No!

Shareware? Can I download a virus?

Don’t pay for it either. It’s free, but the author retains the copyright (which they call copyleft). That means you cannot modify the program without permission. This you must pay for, but only if you end up using it. Sure, but only from a questionable source. I’ll show you how to know what’s questionable and what’s not.

Here are the steps to download yet another card game for your computer: ◊ Visit www.filemine.com. File Mine is just one of many online software storehouses. Another favorite of mine is www.download.com. You can find a complete list by using any Web search engine (see Chapter 30, “Internet Explorer Orientation and Review”) and searching for “shareware.” There’s a search box on the main page that works similar to the search box for a search engine or online catalog, though this one looks for files. ◊ Choose Win (all) from the drop-down list. You want to find Windows software. ◊ Enter video poker in the Search box. Or you could enter words describing whatever software for which you’re looking. Using brief, descriptive key words is best. ◊ Click Search. In a few moments, File Mine displays a list of potential matches. You also can choose to have the list display the most popular choices, recent (New) files, jewels, or programs that receive good reader reviews. Note that each program contains a description, download time, and various requirements. Also listed is how much the author would like as a shareware donation, should you end up using the program.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Locate the file you want to download. For example, I’ll choose the first one in the list, Advanced Video Poker 1.2. The screen says it should take under 10 minutes for me to download. ◊ Click Download Now. Another page appears. ◊ Scroll down until you find the Download Sites section. ◊ Click on a download site link. More than one site may be listed. You can choose any link you’d like. After doing so, a File Download dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 35.1.

Figure 35.1 The File Download dialog box.

A

The name of the file you’re downloading.

B

The server’s address (this one is in Russia—cool!).

C D

Never choose this option.

E

Always choose this option to save to disk. Start the download.

◊ Click OK. A Save As dialog box appears. I recommend placing all the files you download into a Downloads folder inside the My Documents folder. Create that folder now using the Save As dialog box if you need to. ◊ Browse to the folder in which you want to save the download. ◊ Click Save. The download begins. A special downloading dialog box appears monitoring the file’s progress. You don’t have to sit and stare at this dialog box. Feel free to browse to another Web page, read your email, or do anything else. The file continues to download whether or not you’re looking at it.

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Chapter 35 Even More Internet Madness Time passes.… (Now would be a good time to visit www.literature.org and catch up on some of that reading you skipped in high school.) Eventually the download ends. IE beeps at you and the Download dialog box informs you that downloading is complete. You can install the file right away: ◊ Click Open. This runs the installation program or opens the Zip file you just downloaded, from which you can continue to install. If you elect not to open, then remember where you saved the downloaded file so that you can install it later. ● If a downloaded program wants you to restart Windows after it installs, choose No! Wait until you’ve quit IE and logged off the Internet before you reset. It won’t hurt anything, but you must reset before you can use the new software (if that’s what it requests of you). ● A Web site such as File Mine lists only files it has checked out and confirmed to be virus free. This doesn’t guarantee that a file will work, but it’s better than downloading from just anywhere. ● Yahoo! lists a bunch of file downloading sites. Look in the following Yahoo! folder: Computers and Internet > Software > Shareware

Virus Alert! If you’re ever curious about whether or not you’ve downloaded a computer virus, visit the following Web page: www.norton.com/avcenter

This is the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center, a home of sorts for the Norton AntiVirus program, though anyone can use the site. This Web page lists current virus threats and explains how viruses can be removed in case you fear your computer is infected. For example, I was one of the millions of people who downloaded the infamous Christmas Elf Bowling game. An email hoax was sent out, warning that the program was, in fact, a virus. A quick check of the Symantec Web page confirmed that the file was not, in fact, a virus. May you be as fortunate!

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Playing Online Games Yet another way to waste time with the Internet is by playing games. I have three suggestions: First, go visit Yahoo! and play one of the online games there. (This might or might not work in AOL, which really wants you to play games on AOL anyway.) Second, get some game software that has a connect-and-play feature for the Internet. Basically, you start the game and then use whatever option to dial-up the Internet and connect to a special game server. That computer then connects you with other players all over the world and you can play (which for most online games means kill each other) until your eyes grow bloodshot. Finally, you can use one of Windows’ new series of Internet games. ◊ From the Start Thing choose Programs➡Games. ◊ Click the Show More arrows to display the full list of games. You’ll see a host of new Internet games, which allow you to play common card and board games with other Windows Me souls on the Internet. Figure 35.2 shows them all. Figure 35.2 Internet games, courtesy of Winny Me.

A

Click the Show More arrows to see the entire menu.

B C D E F

Regular, boring games. My old friend Sol. The cursed FreeCell. Internet games. More boring games.

The Internet games work only on the Internet. Assuming that you’re already on the Internet, you’re ready to play: ◊ Choose Internet Checkers from the Games submenu. A fancy startup dialog box appears. Read it if you dare.

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Chapter 35 Even More Internet Madness ◊ Click Play. Or you can chicken out and click Quit. If you play, you sit and wait for someone else on the Internet to join you. When they do, you start to play, as shown in Figure 35.3 where I’m playing checkers with someone on the Internet.

Although you might be eager to play Backgammon with your computer, note that the Internet Backgammon game works only on the Internet, connecting you with another user (see Figure 35.2).

Figure 35.3 Playing Checkers with an Unknown Soul on the Internet.

A B C D

Whose turn is it?

E F

Turn chat on or off.

I am Red. Chat messages appear here. Pre-programmed chat messages (boring).

Drag a piece with the mouse to move it.

◊ Play the game! I can’t help you with the rules or how to cheat. Just have fun! ◊ When you’re done, quit. Ah, yet another way to spend time on the Internet. Like we need that. ● Don’t forget to log off the Internet if you connected just to play a game. ● Unlike browsing Web pages or skimming through your email, playing a game requires constant focus—especially when you’re dealing with other, living humans elsewhere on the Internet. Try not to go away from the game for too long as a courtesy to the other player(s).

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Windows Internet games connect to a Web site called Zone.com, which is actually a part of Microsoft-owned MSN. ● Even though you can chat while playing a game, the games themselves are not the same as Internet chat rooms. In fact, the only chat comments you can make are chosen from a drop-down list. Bummer. ● My online checker-playing partner in Figure 35.3 eventually chickened out and quit the game. Oh well.

Online Shopping: Boon or Curse? Oh, I don’t need to tell you how to shop. My six-year-old knows how to buy things. Give him a credit card and a few minutes to figure out where to find LEGOs on the Internet and, well, I have another book to write! Seriously, nothing is easier than shopping online. You can buy anything. Personally, I’ve bought clothes, books, music, software, and entire computers online. Most transactions don’t involve any human communication at all! Here’s my general advice: ● Start shopping at retailers you may deal with in the real world. For example, my first online clothes-buying experience was with Eddie Bauer, mostly because I’m familiar with their merchandise already. ● I prefer established online retailers, such as Amazon.com, to newer stores. ● If possible, try to set up an account with the retailer. Have your own logon and password for that site. Don’t share your password with anyone! ● It’s perfectly safe to send credit card information over the Internet. ● I advise to have your merchandise shipped with tracking information. In other words, if you can, direct the online vendor to send you something via UPS, FedEx, AirBorne or some other service that provides package tracking. That way things won’t get lost in the mail (if you take my hint).

Always check the merchandise return policy, especially when buying computers, which often have strange return and support policies. For example, one place that sells cheapy computers has you return them to the original manufacturer for defects and support.

● Keep the boxes and shipping materials for a few weeks after you receive your stuff. It’s easier to send it back using that material. Also keep track of the invoices and packing slips as they often contain handy return mailers you might need.

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Part VI

The Tweak Master

Chapters in This Part 36 The Control Panel How to using the Control Panel, plus tweaking the keyboard and the joystick, and setting the date and time.

37 A New Face on the Interface Changing the look and feel of the desktop.

38 Messing with the Start Thing Making changes to the Start Thing, as well as setting various useful options.

39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity Adding, removing, or customizing the taskbar and other toolbars in Windows.

40 A View to a Folder Changing a folder’s background and other folder options.

41 Tweaking Your Monitor Adjusting your screen size, resolution, and colors.

42 Sound Advice Making your PC a noisy place.

43 Fun with Fonts Previewing, adding, and removing fonts.

44 Messing mit der Mouse Changing the mouse pointer and using the mouse left-handed.

45 Installing New Hardware Adding new gizmos to your PC and how Windows sets them up.

Part VI


A

Tweaking central for your PC (Chapter 36).

B

Change the look of the screen (Chapters 37 and 41).

C

Add or remove toolbars (Chapter 39).

D

Change the look of a folder (Chapter 40).

E

Adjust the sound volume (Chapter 42).

F

Change your system sounds (Chapter 42).

7

Change the mouse pointer (Chapter 44).

H

Add new hardware (Chapter 45).

I

Work with fonts (Chapter 43).

J

Tweak the keyboard (Chapter 36).

K

Add a joystick (Chapter 36).

L

Set the date and time (Chapter 36).

M

Change this thing (38).

Chapter 36

The Control Panel


> > > > > >

Finding the Control Panel Using icons in the Control Panel Setting the PC’s date and time Configuring your PC’s joystick Adjusting your keyboard Setting up Windows for more than one user

You can do three things in Windows: You can work, you can dink, and you can play. Working is what you’re supposed to do. It’s the reason you have a computer. It’s the important stuff. The other two things that you can do with Windows distract from your business: Playing, well, that’s obvious—computer games are banned from most businesses—but dinking? Dinking is the chore of messing with Windows for Windows’ own sake. You tweak. You adjust. You fiddle. It’s required, yet it takes away from your work. Because it’s a major part of Windows, I have to cover it, not only in this chapter—which covers Tweak Central, the Control Panel—but also in this entire part of the book. Yup. It’s a big deal.


Wherefore Art Thou, Control Panel? The Control Panel is the central location for changing just about anything in Windows. Anything! So if it looks, acts, or smells funny, then the first stone in the path to getting it fixed is the Control Panel. ◊ Choose Settings➡Control Panel. Ploop! There’s the Control Panel. Figure 36.1 shows the commonly used view on the Control Panel. Only a handful of icons appear, those that Microsoft has deemed that you’ll use more than the others.

Figure 36.1 The Control Panel, stupid mode.

A B C D

Nifty icon. Icon names, which give you a hint at what these control. Detailed description. Click to see everything.

What nonsense. ◊ Click the View All Control Panel Options link. I’d rather see all the icons—even if I were just a beginner, I would find comfort knowing that Windows isn’t hiding anything from me. The Control Panel now appears something like Figure 36.2, which lists all the icons. Most of the icons can also be accessed from other parts of the computer. For example, right-clicking on the desktop and choosing Properties gets you to the Display icon’s information. However, usually when I know that I have to tweak something, I just instinctively open the Control Panel and start from there.

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Chapter 36 The Control Panel

Figure 36.2 The Control Panel, everything mode.

A

Select an icon to view its description.

B

Click here to return to stupid mode.

C

Some icons are placed here by other programs or are specific to certain hardware in your computer.

◊ Close the Control Panel’s window. As you get experienced with the Control Panel, you might just want to access its items directly from the Start Thing. Here’s how to set that up: ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Settings➡Taskbar and Start Menu. ◊ Click the Advanced tab. This dialog box is covered in Chapter 38, “Messing with the Start Thing.” For now, locate the Start menu and Taskbar scrolling list at the bottom of the dialog box. ◊ Put a check mark by Expand Control Panel. ◊ Click OK. The dialog box goes away, but now you can easily access any icon in the Control Panel using the Start Thing itself: ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Settings➡Control Panel. A submenu appears listing all the items in the Control Panel. Some items have submenus themselves; some are merely icons. Getting to any one is now as easy as plucking it from the Start Thing’s menu.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● The Control Panel isn’t a folder like My Documents or the Windows folder. No, it’s more of a program than a folder—a program that displays other programs that you can use to tweak your PC. ● You can also copy the Control Panel icon to the Quick Launch bar. The easiest way to do this is to Ctrl+drag its icon from the My Computer window; refer to Chapter 11, “Other Ways to Start Your Stuff,” for the details.

Some Quick Tinky-Dinks to Get Out of the Way

If you accidentally drag the Control Panel shortcut to the taskbar, you end up creating a Control Panel toolbar. If that’s what you want, okay; I think it takes up too much room. Refer to Chapter 39, “Toolbars from Beyond Infinity,” for information about removing the extra toolbar.

Some icons in the Control Panel are worthy of note but not worthy of an entire chapter. They include the following: ✓ Date/Time ✓ Game Controllers ✓ Keyboard ✓ Passwords and Users This section touches on what’s important or worthy of looking into with each of these icons.

Adjusting the Date and Time Your computer can keep track of the time—barely. Generally, you’ll probably have to reset your computer’s clock every month or so—more often if you’re a stickler for the exact time.

Computers have too much to do to keep track of the time properly. The truth is that computers make lousy clocks. Because they do so much and do it immediately, the time often slips—especially computers with power-saving features (computers that “sleep”), which often lose a few minutes every day, for some reason. Why? Who knows. What you should know is how to reset the clock if necessary:

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Chapter 36 The Control Panel ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Date/Time icon. Refer to the instructions earlier in this chapter for opening the Control Panel, or just choose the Date/Time icon from the Control Panel’s submenu on the Start Thing. The Date/Time Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 36.3.

Figure 36.3 The Date/Time Properties dialog box.

A B C D E

Choose the month. Choose the year. Choose the day. Set your time zone. Why do we suffer through daylight saving time nonsense?

F

Analog clock display (cannot be manipulated with the mouse).

G

Type the time here; doubleclick to select the hour, minutes, or seconds.

H I

Spinner. Use the Apply button to help set the exact time.

The following technique is the way I set the time. You might want to read through these steps before you set the time because the, uh, timing of the steps is important: ◊ Observe what time it is now, as a reference. “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anyone care?” I use a digital clock as a reference. (Unlike a computer’s clock, a digital clock shows me the exact time.) You can dial up the Time Lady on the phone (if your phone company still offers that service) or just use a nearby clock to see what time it is. Use it as your “reference clock.” ◊ Enter the current hour in the Time/Date dialog box. Double-click the hour that’s displayed (it’s 12 in Figure 36.3), and type the hour or use the spinner.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If the current hour is already set, leave it alone. ◊ Enter the next minute. Don’t enter the current minute; enter the next one. For example, if your clock says that it’s 2:45 in the afternoon, enter 46 in the minute part of the Time/Date dialog box. ◊ Enter 00 for the seconds. Wait until your reference clock—the one you’re using to set the time—reaches 00 seconds. ◊ Click Apply.

I do not recommend connecting to the Internet through an on-line service such as AOL. While AOL is very popular, it’s just much better to have an ISP and access the Internet directly. (I don’t even go into the busy signals or disconnects or junk e-mail…)

If you want to set your PC’s time officially, you can visit the Official U.S. Time page: http://www.time.gov/

Additionally, you can use Yahoo! or any Web search engine to look for “atomic clock” software. Those programs will let your PC access the atomic clock and set your computer’s time according to the most accurate clock in the universe. (See Chapter 30, “Internet Explorer Orientation and Review,” for more information on searching the Web.)

Now the computer’s clock is set to exactly the same time as your reference clock—for now, anyway. ◊ Close the Date/Time Properties dialog box. ● The average PC’s clock slips from 10 to 40 seconds per day. Sorry! ● You can also display the Date/Time Properties dialog box by double-clicking the time on the system tray.

Don’t feel bad: Some early PC “clones” actually dragged several days behind real time. A bug in the PC’s BIOS prevented the day from turning over at midnight. On those computers you would have, for example, two Mondays in a row. Weird.

● If you live where they celebrate daylight saving time, your computer reminds you when its clock needs to be changed one hour ahead or back, and then it makes the change automatically. Amazing devices.

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Chapter 36 The Control Panel

They’re Not Joysticks—They’re Scientific Instruments! When IBM introduced its PC back in 1981, it came with a small variety of expansion cards: one to add memory, one to give you color graphics, one with a serial port on it, and one with an “analog/digital,” or A-to-D, port. The IBM documentation explained that the A-to-D port allowed you to connect certain “scientific instruments” for data collection and analysis. Uh-huh.

The A-to-D port is a joystick port. Sure, you could connect something like a model train set or weather anemometer to your PC’s A-to-D port. Because its name has changed to joystick port, however, the thing you’re most likely to plug into it is a joystick. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Gaming Options icon. Yeah, “gaming options” is much more sophisticated than “joystick.” And maybe it’s more accurate; have you seen the buttons and gizmos on a typical joystick? Anyway, the Gaming Options dialog box appears onscreen (see Figure 36.4).

Figure 36.4 The Gaming Options dialog box.

A

Any joysticks that you already have installed.

B

Click to install another joystick.

C

Other stuff.

To add a joystick to your PC, plug it in. Then click the Add button and choose your joystick from the list. Or, click the Add Other button and then the Have Disk button to install your joystick by using any disk that came with it. ◊ Click OK to close the Game Controllers dialog box.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Most games have their own joystick setup or calibration option. Use that option to fine tune your joystick for optimum performance in the game. ● You do not have to run the New Hardware Wizard to install a joystick. ● USB joysticks are the easiest to install: Just plug them in. ● The joystick port is also where you plug in a MIDI device, which eventually connects to a musical instrument.

Make sure that your game supports whichever joystick you’re using. If you haven’t yet bought a joystick, look in your game’s documentation. It tells you exactly which joystick works best. Buy that one.

Making Keyboard Adjustments You can use the Control Panel’s keyboard icon to adjust the speed and feel of your keyboard, as well as to give you access to certain foreign-language characters. If you feel the urge, therefore, to type à la française or if the keys on the keyboard ssssstick, do the following: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Keyboard icon. ◊ Click the Speed tab (if the Speed panel is not visible). The Keyboard Properties dialog box shows itself, looking much like Figure 36.5. Refer to the figure to change your settings. Figure 36.5 The Keyboard Properties dialog box.

A

The computer waits a long time before repeating a key that you press and hold.

B

The computer slowly repeats a key that you hold down.

C

Test the repeat and delay rates in here.

D E F

The cursor blinks slowly.

G

The computer doesn’t wait before repeating a pressed key.

The cursor blinks rapidly. Keys held down are repeated at a fast rate.

434

Chapter 36 The Control Panel ◊ Click the mouse in the Click Here box. ◊ Press and hold the A key. Wait for the A key to start repeating: AAAAAAAA. ◊ Release the A key. The pause before the A key repeats is set on the Repeat Delay slider. The speed at which the A key repeats is set on the Repeat Rate slider. Make adjustments as necessary. (The settings that I prefer appear in the figure.) ◊ Click the Language tab. The Language panel appears, as shown in Figure 36.6 Figure 36.6 Set your foreign-language keyboard here.

A

Keyboard languages and layouts that you have installed.

B

English (United States) is the keyboard layout used in the United States.

C

The standard French keyboard layout used in France.

D

Click here to add another keyboard layout.

E

Sets the highlighted keyboard as the default.

F

Keyboard shortcuts used to switch keyboard layouts on the fly.

G

Click here to put a keyboard layout indicator on the system tray (recommended).

To add a French keyboard, follow these steps: ◊ Click Add. The Add Language dialog box appears. ◊ Choose a keyboard layout from the Language drop-down list.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Be aware of language variations. For example, the English (British) keyboard has the £ symbol above the 3 rather than the American #. The French (Canadian) and French (Swiss) ones have differences between them, too. ◊ Choose French (Standard). You can choose another language if you plan to type letters in that language. ◊ Click OK to close the Add Language dialog box. The language and keyboard layout that you chose appears in the Language list.

Press the F key to quickly scroll down to the French part of the list.

◊ Choose Left Alt+Shift as your Switch Languages key. ◊ Ensure that the Enable indicator on the taskbar item is on. ◊ Click OK. You might need the Windows CD to install some files. Otherwise, everything is set and the Keyboard Properties dialog box closes. Notice the blue square on the taskbar? It should say En, which means that you’re using the standard English keyboard layout. ◊ Start Notepad. ◊ Press the Alt+Shift key combination by using the Alt and Shift keys on the left side of your keyboard. This step switches keyboards to your alternative choice: the French keyboard. See the little Fr on the system tray? ◊ Type Oo-la-la, see how I type in French?. Hmmm…. Oo)lq)lq; see hoz I type in French§

Did you notice that the French keyboard layout is different from your made-in-theUSA keyboard layout? The A is where the Q key is, for example. Also, did you notice that what you typed wasn’t automatically translated into French? It’s a keyboard layout feature, not a translation program. ◊ Close Notepad. No, you don’t have to save the file. ◊ Right-click the blue EN on the system tray.

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Chapter 36 The Control Panel ◊ Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Lo, you’re back in the Keyboard Properties dialog box, on the Language panel. If you want to remove the French (Standard) keyboard, click it once to select it, and then click Remove. That option is gone. ◊ Click OK to close the Keyboard Properties dialog box. ● You must press the left Alt+Shift key combination in each individual program to activate the foreign keyboard layout for use in that program. ● A question that you’re probably asking right now is, “Where are the maps of the foreign-language keyboards?” To tell you the truth, I don’t know. Microsoft previously included them with its documentation. Now they don’t. Sorry. ● Another missing item: the Dvorak keyboard layout. It was developed decades ago to simplify typing and improve speed. Honestly, if you want to use a Dvorak keyboard layout, buy a Dvorak keyboard. It usually comes with setup software so that Windows understands the new keyboard layout.

One PC, Many Humans If a Windows computer will be shared by more than one human, you can set it up so that everyone can customize the Windows desktop and other items to suit their fancies. That should make people happy (as happy as they can be while all sharing the same computer). In my travels, I’ve discovered that most people who configure the PC for several users typically wind up disappointed. They eventually reset Windows back to one-user operation. If you’re interested in configuring Windows Me for use with multiple humans, refer to this book’s Web page and use the keyword humans to read how it works.

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Chapter 37

A New Face on the Interface


> > > > > >

Changing the desktop wallpaper (background) Using a Web page as wallpaper Tweaking Windows’s windows Replacing Windows’s popular icons Building your own icon Working with desktop themes

What color is your PC? Kind of a fawn white, maybe? Perhaps it’s black. But purple? Green? Polka dot? Alas, unless you want to spray-paint your PC, the case is pretty much the same color as everyone else’s. But what you see on the screen? Well, that can be changed as much as you like. This chapter tells you what can change and how to do it. ◊ Microsoft workers sing happy songs in praise of Chairman Bill.

This chapter is a serious time-waster. The options and settings that it presents give you an opportunity to tweak and tune for hours—if you let the time get away from you.


A New Background to Match Your Mood The desktop is Windows’s front door, so to speak. It doesn’t have to be so dull, though. You can replace the desktop with another image or pattern—or even a Web page document. You can even create your own images, patterns, or Web page documents to cover Windows’s ugly doorstop:

You can also see the Display Properties dialog box by opening the Control Panel’s Display icon.

◊ Right-click the desktop. ◊ Choose Properties. The Display Properties dialog box appears. ◊ Click the Background tab to bring that panel forward (if it isn’t already). Figure 37.1 shows the Background panel, where you choose the wallpaper—a graphics image, pattern, or Web page to appear on the desktop. Figure 37.1 Setting the desktop’s wallpaper.

A B

Preview screen. Choose a graphics file or Web page document from this list.

C

Files shown here are in the C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper folder.

D

Click here to find another graphics or Web page document to display.

E

Adjusts the graphic to centered, tiled, or stretched.

F

Click here to select a pattern rather than an image or Web page.

G

Click here to preview your changes.

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Chapter 37 A New Face on the Interface The following sections describe the various things you can do in this dialog box to change the way the desktop looks. Keep the Display Properties dialog box open.

Using a Desktop Pattern as Wallpaper Patterns are the simplest and often the best thing to have as your desktop wallpaper. Unlike graphics images and Web page documents, patterns take the least amount of time to display. Because they’re boring and not splashy, however, few people bother (except me!). (Refer to the instructions in the preceding section if the Display Properties, Background dialog box isn’t open.) ◊ Click Pattern. The Pattern dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 37.2. Figure 37.2 The Pattern dialog box.

A

Choose a pattern from this list.

B C

Desktop pattern preview.

D

Choose (None) to have no pattern. When a pattern is selected, click here to edit it.

Windows comes with an array of preset patterns from which you can choose. ◊ Preview a pattern by choosing it from the Pattern list. For example, Cargo Net, previewed in Figure 37.2, displays a hypnotic, manly, seagoing pattern—at least, to me it does. Windows lets you either pick a preset pattern or fashion your own. To fashion your own, choose any pattern from the list to modify it. (You cannot modify (None) because it isn’t a pattern.) ◊ Click Edit Pattern. The Pattern Editor window appears, which I just have to show you in Figure 37.3.

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Figure 37.3 The Pattern Editor dialog box.

A B C

Pattern name. Choose a pattern from here. Click once to set a block, and click again to reset it.

D

You also can drag in here to change colors in full strokes.

E F

Preview window. Enter a new name, and click here to add the pattern to the list.

Feel free to waste time here. Figure 37.3 offers instructions and tips on how to edit a pattern or create your own. If you create your own, remember to type its name in the Name box and then click Add. When you’re done, click the Done button: ◊ Click Done. The Pattern Editor closes, and you’re back at the Pattern dialog box. ◊ Click OK. In the Display Properties dialog box, notice that your pattern probably doesn’t show up in the image preview. That means that you’ve selected an image or Web page document to display instead. (They have priority.) ◊ Choose None from the top of the Select list. Now you should see your pattern previewed. ◊ Click Apply. The Apply button makes the changes you suggest but leaves the Display Properties dialog box open, in case you want to make more changes. To remove the pattern: ◊ Click the Pattern button. ◊ Choose (None) from the Pattern list.

442

Chapter 37 A New Face on the Interface ◊ Click OK. ◊ Click Apply. Keep the Desktop Properties dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial. ● The foreground color for the pattern is always black. The background color is set in the Display Properties dialog box, on the Appearance panel, in the Color dropdown list.

Using a Graphic Image as Wallpaper

Of all the things you can have on the desktop, a pattern is the fastest to display an update. (If you’ve ever noticed Windows taking too long to redraw the desktop, it’s probably due directly to the complexity of the desktop wallpaper image.)

The most popular thing to slap on the desktop is a graphics image. It can come from several sources: ✓ The C:\Windows folder. ✓ The C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper folder. ✓ The C:\My Documents\My Pictures folder. ✓ You can create the image yourself by using Paint or any graphics program that produces bitmap image (BMP) files as output. ✓ You can “scan in” the image—such as a picture of your kids—by using a scanner. Just save the image as a JPEG or bitmap image (BMP) file, and you’re set. The files listed in the Background tab of the Display Properties dialog box are drawn from the folders mentioned previously. So, if you create your own image, be sure to save it in one of those folders. (I suggest the My Pictures folder first.) ◊ Open the Display Properties dialog box (if it’s not already open), and click the Background tab (if that panel is not already forward). ◊ Choose a picture file from the list. Ooo! Look at the Iceberg image. What a great background for the computers aboard the RMS Titanic. ◊ Choose Center from the Picture Display drop-down list. Now work through the list of background pictures until you find one that doesn’t fill the screen. On my system, I’ll choose the Water Color image. Note how the image doesn’t fill the screen.

443

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Choose Stretch from the Picture Display drop-down list. The Stretch option is one way to make a smaller image fill your screen. ◊ Choose Tile from the Picture Display drop-down list. The Tile option also works to place a small image on the screen, although some images tile better than others. Although the preview window shows you generally how everything looks, it’s always best to use the Apply button. ◊ Click Apply. The desktop wallpaper changes to the image you selected. You’ll probably want to goof around with more options. Use the Browse button to try some desktop wallpaper patterns by using your own graphics files. Keep the Display Properties dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Refer to Chapter 35, “Even More Internet Madness,” for information on downloading images from the Web for use as wallpaper. ● You also can use an HTML or Web Page document as wallpaper. I don’t recommend this option, but if you’re curious, visit this book’s Web page and type the keyword HTMLwall.

If you create your own wallpaper image file, it’s best to make it the same size as your screen. In the Display Properties dialog box, on the Settings panel, the screen’s size is listed in the Screen Area box. Setting your graphics program to that same resolution (800 by 600 or 1024 by 768) ensures that the image fits perfectly on your desktop.

New Colors, Fonts, and Stuff I’m always surprised at how many Windows users don’t bother changing the window colors and fonts. It’s always the same boring old blue windows and stick fonts. Yuck. You spend all that time picking out your clothes, finding a car in the right color, and even mulling over furniture, but you leave Windows in the same boring color. For shame! ◊ Summon the Control Panel’s Display Properties dialog box. ◊ Click the Appearance tab.

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Chapter 37 A New Face on the Interface The Appearance Panel (see Figure 37.4) is where you’re allowed to change the Windows color and font scheme. Really! You can change it. The figure shows you what’s what. Figure 37.4 Please change your system colors here.

A B

Preview window. To change a particular item, click it in this window.

C

Choose a predefined color and font scheme here.

D

Choose an item to change here (or click in the preview window).

E F

Object’s size (optional).

G H I

Object’s first color and the desktop pattern color dropdown list. Optional second color. Font settings for items that need it. Italics button.

Play! Have fun! Change things! To get you in the mood, take this swift step: ◊ Choose Red, White, and Blue (VGA) from the Scheme list. The Scheme list contains a bunch of settings already made for you: fonts and colors. See how the windows are red and the text is shown in a fun font in the preview screen? ◊ Choose Desktop from the Item list (if it’s not chosen already). ◊ Click the Color drop-down list. A wee little color palette appears. ◊ Pick a Gold color from the drop-down list. See how the background changes color? ◊ Click the text Message Box in the preview window.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The Font area at the bottom of the screen is active. ◊ Choose Comic Sans MS from the Font drop-down list. If you don’t have Comic Sans MS, choose another font. ◊ Click the font’s Color drop-down list. Oops. That shade of pale green isn’t there. ◊ Click Other. Whoa! Whole lotta colors going on! ◊ Choose a pale green color. Choose the color from the Basic Colors palette or from the color curtain on the right side of the color. ◊ Click OK when you’ve found your pale green. ◊ Click the text Active Window in the preview window. ◊ Use the spinner next to the Size box to increase the size way up.

The number of colors you have is determined by how your monitor is set up. Changing the colors to a higher number is covered in Chapter 41, “Tweaking Your Monitor.”

Notice how the Active Window title bar changes?

Okay! Enough goofing around! ◊ Click Cancel to close the Display Properties dialog box. Remember, none of the changes are implemented if you don’t click OK or Apply.

Dear Dan: Silly me. I went goofing around too much in the Display Properties, Appearance dialog box. I made some things too big, and now I can’t get to any buttons or see any text and, oh, I’m so ashamed. Dan Says: Shame thee not, gentle reader. Refer to Chapter 46, “Tools to Help You,” and use the System Restore program to undo those nasty changes.

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Chapter 37 A New Face on the Interface You get the idea. You know the feel. If you really want to tweak the Windows colors and fonts, return to the Appearance panel in the Display Properties dialog box, and go mad!

Changing the Main Icons You can pull some other tricks with the way Windows shows itself. They’re minor tricks, and if you’re in the mood for play and have the time, you can certainly have some fun changing the look of Windows even more. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Display icon.

If you come across something you really like, save it! Click the Save As button, and you can save your custom scheme to disk. Then it will appear in the list the next time you start Windows—and you can choose it from the list if things ever go goofy on you.

◊ Click the Effects tab. The Effects panel contains the last few things that you can tweak on the desktop, as shown in Figure 37.5. Figure 37.5 Other things to change.

A

Windows standard desktop icons.

B

Click here to change the selected icon.

C

Restore the standard icon from whatever changes you’ve made.

D

Self-explanatory options.

You can set the items in the Visual Effects part of the dialog box on your own. They’re self-explanatory. Choose one or reset the check mark, and then click the Apply button to see how it affects things. Enough effects! ◊ Close the Display Properties dialog box. Other noteworthy items in this dialog box are covered later, in Chapter 41.

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Using a Desktop Theme Tired of doing it all a little at a time? Wish that the “experts” would design a desktop theme for you—one that includes fonts, colors, a background image, and even sounds? Consider it done: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Desktop Themes icon. There is a chance that you might not have this icon available in the Control Panel. In some versions of Windows, you need the Plus! package to get the Desktop Themes icon. If you don’t have the package, don’t worry: You’re missing only a few silly and some interesting options—nothing absolutely necessary.

Figure 37.6 Setting a desktop theme.

A

Choose a preset theme from here.

B C

Preview window.

D E F G

Themed icons (kinda hard to see here). Themed windows. Themed wallpaper. Preview other settings. Options and such.

◊ Pick a theme from the Theme drop-down list. Some of them are fun. Some are way too busy.

Enough! I’m wasting too much time here! ◊ Click the Screen Saver button to see the theme’s screen saver in action.

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Chapter 37 A New Face on the Interface See? They think of everything. ◊ Wiggle the mouse when you’re done watching the screen saver. ◊ Click the Points, Sounds, Etc. button. A Preview window appears with tabs to show you what all the mouse pointers, sounds, and other visual elements will look like for the theme. ◊ Click Close when you’re bored with previewing. Now you really have no other settings to make or change in the Desktop Themes dialog box. You merely pick and preview a theme: ◊ Close the Desktop Themes dialog box. To update your desktop with a specific theme, click OK. All the various changes are made: wallpaper, icons, sounds, mouse pointers, and so on. Or, if you don’t want to change your desktop, click Cancel. ● The changes that you make can also be undone individually. Simply return to the proper icon in the Control Panel (Display, Sounds, or Mouse, for example) to reset or tweak any options. ● If you want to save a custom theme, use the Save As button and save the theme to disk.

Oops! If you choose a theme and hate it, return to the Desktop Themes dialog box and choose Windows default or Windows Standard from the list. That restores Windows back to how it was when it came out of the box.

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Chapter 38

Messing with the Start Thing


> > > >

Changing the Start Thing’s look Showing or hiding commands Expanding various submenus Fixing the system tray

The button in the Windows cap of happiness is labeled Start. I call it the Start Thing. It’s really a Start button from which you start several things, including Stop. Yes, you can stop by choosing Start, which is a jocular subject that I’d rather not joke about at this time. This chapter is about things you can do to the Start Thing. You can control how it behaves, what it looks like, and the things that it shows you. This is one of those great improvements Winny Me has made over its ancestors. And I say, it’s about time!

Basic Start Thing Figure 38.1 shows you the Start Thing and all the various parts and things attached to it. Most of those items are covered elsewhere in this book. What remains is the sole item at the end of the Settings submenu, the Taskbar and Start Menu command.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 38.1 Let’s look back at the Start Thing from Chapter 10.

A

This is where we begin the chapter.

◊ Choose Settings➡Taskbar and Start Menu from the Start Thing. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 38.2. Most of the interesting stuff takes place in the Advanced tab, which you’ll read about in a few paragraphs.

Figure 38.2 A dialog box with a long name.

A

More Start Thing options back here.

B

Preview some of your changes.

C D

Taskbar configuration items. Start Menu configuration things.

On the General tab, the bottom three items deal with the Start Thing. ◊ Put a check mark by Show Small Icons in Start menu. Lo, the preview window shows you a smaller Start menu. Keep the check mark there if you like that view, or remove the check mark if you prefer the big sloppy Start menu. The Show Clock item deals with the clock display in the system tray, which is covered later in this chapter.

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Chapter 38 Messing with the Start Thing The Use Personalized Menus item controls the Show More arrows. When that option is checked, only the menu items that you recently have chosen appear in the menus. Otherwise, everything shows up. ◊ Remove the check mark by Use Personalized Menus. ◊ Click OK to close the dialog box with the long name. ◊ Click the Start Thing. ◊ Choose Programs. Whoa! Everything shows up. Now this is the way Windows used to look in the old days. Why, I remember… If you prefer full menus, keep this option. But if you’d rather have the personalized menus with the Show More arrows, then return to the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, and put a check mark by that item. Click OK. (The personalized menus are on in all this book’s illustrations because that’s the way Windows Me ships.) ● You can also access the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box by choosing the Control Panel’s Taskbar and Start Menu icon.

What Stays, What Goes Aside from the big icons/little icons and Show More arrows, you can control how certain items look on the Start Thing, as well as which items appear on the Start Thing. This is the most control Microsoft has ever given any mere mortal Windows—ever. Take advantage of it. Summon the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box: ◊ Choose Settings➡Taskbar and Start Menu from the Start Thing. ◊ Click the Advanced tab. I don’t know why they call it Advanced. It’s not like you need an extra degree in computer science to understand what’s going on. If it were up to me, I’d call it the More Stuff panel. But Microsoft doesn’t answer my email. Figure 38.3 shows what’s what in the Advanced panel. There are three parts. The top four buttons deal with adding, organizing, and removing items from the Programs submenu. Boring! An interesting option, however, is Re-sort. That button sorts the submenus, which tend to get all cocky after you add new programs. I don’t know why the menus go screwy like that, but at least there’s a button to deal with it.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 38.3 The Advanced panel.

A

Add a program to the Start Thing.

B

Remove a Start Thing program.

C

Ha! Opens up the Start menu in an Explorer window (like that’s “advanced”).

D E

Sorts the items in the menus.

F

Shows, hides, and controls the behavior of various Start Thing items.

Blessedly cleanses your various personalized “I’ve done this” menus.

The Clear button is immensely handy. It wipes clean the Documents menu, the dropdown list of Web sites from IE’s Address bar, and other recently used items from various places in Windows. (In my opinion, you should simply be able to turn off that annoying “feature” instead of having the Clear button.) Finally, there’s the scrolling list of options, the more interesting of which are described in the sections that follow. Keep the dialog box open for the next few sections. ● I suppose they call it Re-sort and Resort because it would be nice to take a break from Windows and go to a resort, but Microsoft doesn’t want you thinking that way. ● Love that Clear button!

Displaying or Hiding Various Options

The two elements in common salt, sodium and chloride, are lethal when consumed individually.

The first three options in the scrolling list control whether three items in the Start Thing menu appear: ◊ Put a check mark by Display Favorites. ◊ Click Apply. ◊ Click the Start Thing.

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Chapter 38 Messing with the Start Thing Look! There’s the Favorites menu (below the Programs menu), which is basically a rehash of the Favorites menu in IE. I’m so glad they made displaying this item optional. I mean, it really stole a lot of time when I would accidentally choose it instead of Documents. Ugh. Glad it’s gone. Notice two other items on the menu: Log Off and Run. (If they’re there.) ◊ Click in the dialog box again to bring it front and center. ◊ Remove the check mark by Display Favorites. ◊ Remove the check mark by Display Logoff. ◊ Remove the check mark by Display Run. This eliminates three items from the Start menu, trimming it down to size. ◊ Click Apply. ◊ Click the Start Thing. Very nice. Now the Start menu contains items that you really need or might use.

The Enable Dragging and Dropping item in the list does two things. If checked, it lets you drag Program submenu items around. It also allows you to right-click menu items to see a shortcut menu. I recommend leaving this item checked.

For me, I do use the Run command, although I never use the Log Off command. To make that command return, or generally to make a final decision about what you want and what you don’t want, return to the dialog box: ◊ Click in the dialog box again to bring it front and center. Make whatever choices you want for the three Display items, and then click Apply. Leave the dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial.

Expanding Things The scrolling list contains five Expand items which enable you to access items within folders that would otherwise open. For example, when you expand the Control Panel, you get access to all its icons from the menu; you no longer have to open the Control Panel and then open an icon, which is a waste of time. Another example: Suppose that you choose to Expand My Documents. Then the My Documents folder item in the Documents menu no longer merely opens up the My Documents folder. Instead, it opens up to reveal that folder’s contents as a submenu. Crazy. ◊ Put a check mark by Expand My Documents. ◊ Click Apply.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Now try this out: ◊ Click the Start button. ◊ Choose Documents➡My Documents➡Work➡Sample Text Files➡Teleportation. You must be very careful when navigating all those menus. (See the next section on the Scroll Programs item.) Anyway, the Teleportation document is opened. (That document and some of the folders in the previous command were created elsewhere in this book.)

Aren’t those menus slippery? ◊ Close the Teleportation document. Keep everything set just as it is for the next section.

The Old Scrolling Menu Trick The last item in the Advanced panel’s scroll list is Scroll Programs. It’s an interesting and useful item, but one that’s difficult to demonstrate unless you have a menu with a ton of crap in it. Normally, a long menu folds between two columns, as shown in Figure 38.4. With the Scroll Programs item checked, small triangles appear on the top or bottom of a menu, enabling you to scroll up or down through the choices. ◊ Put a check mark by Scroll Programs. ◊ Click Apply. ◊ Open the Teleportation document again. Use the steps in the previous section to navigate to the Teleportation document. If some of the menus fill the screen, look for the little up and down arrows on them. Practice using them. ◊ Close the Teleportation document again. Make any necessary final adjustments to the Advanced panel. (For example, I do not want to expand the My Documents folder, so I’m switching off that item.) ◊ Click OK to close the dialog box. Yes indeed, you have finally mastered the Start Thing. I wish Bill Gates were handing out medals for this. Alas.

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Chapter 38 Messing with the Start Thing

Figure 38.4 Scrolling a menu.

A

Normally a long menu “folds” between two columns.

B

Part of the long menu is hidden.

C

Click the scroll-up arrow to view the hidden menu items.

D

A scroll-down arrow might appear here.

Cleaning the System Tray One final task, not really related to the Start button, but one that I get lots of email questions on, is how to clean up the system tray. Actually, there are two system tray issues. On one side are people who would rather see an empty system tray, one free of wee li’l icons. On the other side, I have readers who want to put everything into the system tray. It must be handy for them. But my advice is to set up things with the Quick Launch bar, desktop, and Start menu, as described in Chapter 10, “Ode to the Start Thing.” Leave the system tray for those programs that stick their icons there. To rid yourself of items in the system tray, you must be sneaky. Most programs stick icons there without your permission. Even so, you generally can remove anything from the system tray by right-clicking its icon and choosing the proper removal option. For example, my PC’s system tray appears in Figure 38.5. It contains several icons, two of which I know Windows put there and others about which I have no clue. In addition to those, another guy appears there when I connect to the Internet. If Windows were a small town, the system tray would be a busy street.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 38.5 The system tray.

A

Windows puts the time here.

B

Windows also puts the sound icon here.

C

The ATI Graphics video control center.

D

Other icons for programs with which I’m unfamiliar.

E F

AOL. A disabled item, something that has been deactivated but that can still be accessed.

◊ To get rid of an icon, right-click it. ◊ Look for a disable item on the pop-up menu. For example, right-clicking on the E-thing icon on my system (see Figure 38.5) displays a pop-up menu. I choose Exit from the menu, and the E-thing icon is gone. Two other icons on my system tray, and the AOL icon, also have Exit commands on their shortcut menus. Bye-bye! Some icons are harder to get rid of. For example, removing the Volume icon requires you to open the Control Panel’s Sound and Multimedia icon. You can then remove the check mark by Show Volume Control on the Taskbar. I do not recommend this, however. You get rid of the clock from the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, covered earlier in this chapter. (See Figure 38.2.) Remove the check mark by Show Clock, and it’s gone. Still other icons in the system tray may represent programs that run when the computer starts. Check the StartUp folder and remove them from there (refer to Chapter 10). Finally, some icons require you to visit the depths of Windows to remove their stench. I’ve done this a few times, using advanced tools and surgical techniques banned from most international beauty competitions. Therefore, it would be unwise of me to share them here, but if you send email, I might give you a hint or some (as I call them) Tick Removal Tricks.

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Chapter 38 Messing with the Start Thing

Various shareware utilities let you stick program icons (or really anything) into the system tray. I don’t advise using them. Such programs alter the way Windows behaves and tend to make the system unstable, which causes it to crash more. Most people I know who’ve used such system tray programs eventually uninstall them, regretting having made the attempt in the first place.

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Chapter 39

Toolbars from Beyond Infinity


> > > > > >

Making the taskbar disappear Moving and resizing the taskbar Finding a lost taskbar Working with toolbars Putting a Web page on the toolbar (nuts) Making a toolbar into a floating palette

In the beginning was the taskbar. It not only listed buttons for every open program or window, but it also had the Start Thing to the left and the system tray to the right. And it was good. Then along came the Quick Launch bar. And it, too, was good. But things started to get cramped. This chapter introduces you to taskbar overload. Windows has a total of four optional toolbars that you can meld into the taskbar. Plus, you can put any folder (that’s on the desktop) on the taskbar. Heck, why not just put Windows itself on the taskbar and forget about it? But I digress.


Wrestling with the Taskbar There’s no point in wrestling with the taskbar unless you know a few key moves and pressure points. Figure 39.1 is your taskbar lexicon for the rest of this chapter. Study the figure. Return to this section when you encounter some taskbar or toolbar jargon with which you’re not familiar. Figure 39.1 Sweet spots on the taskbar.

A B C D E F G H

Start Thing. Right-click here for a Start Thing shortcut menu. Quick Launch bar. Taskbar. Button on the taskbar. System tray. Handle; drag here to move or resize the toolbar. Upper lip; used to resize the taskbar.

Bye-Bye, Taskbar The taskbar has various degrees of invisibility. You can make it vanish between programs, or you can hide it altogether. Let me tell you that just about everyone likes having the taskbar visible. In fact, a major frustration that many folks face is not being able to get to a hidden taskbar. ◊ Right-click the taskbar.

That dimple bar on a toolbar is very important! It’s the best place to rightclick the toolbar to see a shortcut menu, and it’s the place you “grab” with the mouse when you want to move the taskbar.

Click a blank part of the taskbar, or click the taskbar’s handle, if it has one (refer to Figure 39.1). ◊ Choose Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 39.2.

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Chapter 39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity

Figure 39.2 The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

A B C

Taskbar settings. Normal operation; leave on. Hides the taskbar when you maximize a window.

D

Start Thing options (see Chapter 38).

E

Two more taskbar settings hidden back here.

◊ Put a check mark by Auto Hide. ◊ Click OK. ◊ Start WordPad. See how the taskbar slips out of the way? It’s still there, though; look for the little gray strip at the bottom of the screen. ◊ Point the mouse at the taskbar. Vloop! Up it pops. ◊ Move the mouse away from the taskbar. Vloop! Down it goes.

It’s the taskbar version of the hokey pokey! ◊ Close WordPad. You don’t need to have a program open. The taskbar just hides itself all the time. I think that this option is horrible. I need to see the taskbar to determine whether everything is working properly on my computer. Also, by displaying the connection thing on the system tray, the taskbar lets me see whether I have any open windows and confirms whether I’m on the Internet. If you prefer to have the taskbar hidden, move on to the following section. Otherwise, repeat the preceding steps to remove the check mark next to Auto Hide in the Taskbar Properties dialog box.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Point the mouse at the taskbar. Get the sucker to pop up. ◊ Right-click the taskbar. ◊ Choose Settings➡Taskbar and Start Menu. ◊ Remove the check mark by Auto Hide.

Another way to get the taskbar to pop up is to press the Windows key on your keyboard (or press Ctrl+Esc, if your keyboard lacks a Windows key).

◊ Click OK. Ahhh. Back to normal—for now. ● You can configure Internet Explorer to run “full screen,” in which case the taskbar disappears. However, you can still move the mouse to the bottom of the screen to make the taskbar pop up. ● Some Windows games also hide the taskbar. That’s good.

Dear Dan: How do those blank buttons get on the task bar? I click them and they go away, but what are they? Dan Says: They’re bugs in the program that just quit. Some games leave the phantom buttons on the taskbar. Some screen savers do as well. They’re just a sign that the program didn’t properly shut down, which may cause the system to become unstable (although I’ve never experienced that). I just click the phantom buttons, and they go away.

Permitting More Play The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box contains two additional taskbarcontrolling items, items that must be turned on before you can change the taskbar’s size or move it around. ◊ Choose Settings➡Taskbar and Start Menu. ◊ Click the Advanced tab.

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Chapter 39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity Most of the settings in this dialog box are covered in Chapter 38, “Messing with the Start Thing.” However, two settings at the bottom of the scrolling list deal specifically with the taskbar. ◊ Scroll to the bottom of the list. There are two items there, below the Taskbar heading. ◊ Ensure that there is a check mark by both taskbar items. The first item, Display Shortcut Menu on Right-Click, is needed if you ever expect to be able to manipulate the taskbar. This is a good thing. The second item, Enable Moving and Resizing, is necessary to work through the next two sections. However, if you find a moving or size-changing taskbar unsettling, you can return here and remove the check mark by that item. (Leave the check mark set for now.) ◊ Click OK. Now everything is set up to work through the next two sections’ tutorials.

Changing the Taskbar’s Size Most people I know run the taskbar at the same size: the same height as a button on the taskbar. That’s okay, but you can change its size. For example, if you’re running the Quick Launch bar with full-size icons, you’ll probably want a thicker taskbar. If you have lots of windows open, a thicker taskbar lets you see more windows at a time. Follow these steps to resize the taskbar: ◊ Point the mouse at the top of the taskbar, its “upper lip.” The upper lip is pointed out in Figure 39.1. It’s the entire top part of the taskbar, not just the part pointed to in the figure. ◊ Drag the mouse up. Press the mouse button and drag ‘er up. The taskbar resizes itself as you drag. Notice how dragging is done in specific increments. Drag until the taskbar is about three button heights tall.

You can still have the Quick Launch bar and taskbar (and other toolbars) arranged from right to left rather than from top to bottom. See the section “Arranging the Toolbars,” later in this chapter.

◊ Release the mouse button. If you have the Quick Launch bar (or any other toolbar) visible, you might notice that the taskbar has automatically rearranged itself, displaying the toolbars horizontally, as shown in Figure 39.3.

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Figure 39.3 A fatter taskbar.

A

Drag up on this edge, the upper lip.

B C

Everything gets taller.

D E

Taskbar.

Quick Launch bar in a horizontal orientation.

Handles.

To resize the taskbar to make it smaller, just reverse the preceding steps: ◊ Point the mouse at the taskbar’s upper lip. ◊ Drag the mouse down.

Moving the Taskbar Normally the taskbar rests on the bottom of the screen, away from your programs lurking on the desktop. The taskbar isn’t glued down there, though. Although few people ever move the taskbar, it can be done. All you do is drag the taskbar to another edge of the screen.

Remember this basic move that you’ve just done! It’s important. Although you might not be able to imagine it now, there will be times when you resize the taskbar to enormous sizes. Keep in mind that you can always resize it again. It’s flexible.

Now is this necessary? No. In fact, the only time people write me about moving the taskbar is when it has been accidentally moved (kids like doing that), and they want it moved back. The best way I can show you how to do that is to work through the following tutorial. To drag the taskbar, point the mouse at an empty part of the taskbar. Don’t point at a program or window’s button, and you cannot drag by using the Quick Launch bar. Find an empty spot on the taskbar. (Close some windows, if necessary.) ◊ Drag the taskbar up to the top of the screen. Don’t release the mouse button until you see the taskbar’s outline at the top of the screen. There. Doesn’t that look stupid?

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Chapter 39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity ◊ Drag the taskbar over to the right side of the screen. Hmmm. Maybe it needs some resizing. Okay, but resize it only if you plan to keep it over there. Otherwise: ◊ Drag the taskbar back to the bottom of the screen. There. Back to normal, which is probably what you prefer. The key to moving the taskbar is to close your open window, displaying more of the taskbar’s “skin.” Then it’s easy to point the mouse and drag the taskbar hither, thither, and yon.

Restoring a Lost Taskbar Sometimes the taskbar utterly disappears, and it seems like you can’t get it back. Bah! The taskbar cannot disappear permanently. It’s merely hidden, and you need to know how to recover it. First, of course, check to see if the Auto Hide option is on in the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box. (Press Ctrl+Esc to pop-up the Start Menu.) If so, remove that option. You’re set. Beyond that, you need to look hard at all corners of the screen for a teensy taskbar. ◊ Resize the taskbar to a thin strip along the bottom of the screen. Looking at the screen now, it seems as if the taskbar is gone. But you can use some quick keystrokes to restore it: ◊ Press Ctrl+Esc. This step pops up the Start Thing menu, and it also switches the Windows focus to the invisible taskbar. ◊ Press Alt+spacebar. This keyboard shortcut pops up the taskbar’s control menu. ◊ Choose Size. Press S for Size. You might not see it, but the mouse pointer has moved to the taskbar’s upper lip. It has changed to an up-down “resizing” arrow. ◊ Press the up-arrow key a few times. The taskbar is fattened up to visible size.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If the up-arrow key doesn’t work, try the left-, right-, and down-arrow keys. (Some joker might have moved the taskbar to another edge of the screen.) ◊ Press Enter to lock in the taskbar’s new size. Now you’re a hero.

Adding More Toolbars Windows comes with an assortment of fun toolbars that you can stuff on the taskbar. In addition to adding the Quick Launch bar, which I find useful (it’s covered in Chapter 11, “Other Ways to Start Your Stuff”), you can add one or all of the following: ✓ The Address bar ✓ The Desktop bar ✓ The Links bar ✓ Any folder ✓ Any Internet address Yes, you can add any or all of the preceding items, but the real question is, should you? I’ve already voiced my opinion about the Quick Launch bar and how useful it is. The other toolbars, eh? (The following tutorial will probably render your taskbar kind of messy. Be patient. Instructions for cleaning things up are coming near the end of this chapter.) To add a toolbar, follow these steps: ◊ Right-click the taskbar. Or, you can right-click any handle on the taskbar to see the shortcut menu. ◊ Choose Toolbars. The Toolbars submenu appears. The four alternative toolbars are listed at the top of the menu. The New Toolbar command at the bottom of the menu is for placing a folder or Web page on the toolbar. ◊ Choose Address. The Address bar appears on the taskbar (making things rather crowded, but if you’ve read this chapter so far, you know one way to remedy that). It’s the same Address bar used in Internet Explorer. Typing an address there starts up IE (if it’s not already) and takes you to that Web page. Handy? Who knows. I don’t use it.

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Chapter 39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity ◊ Right-click the Address bar’s handle. ◊ Choose Toolbars➡Address. This step removes the Address bar. ◊ Right-click the taskbar. ◊ Choose Toolbars➡Desktop. On my screen, the Desktop toolbar is displayed with its title and captions visible, making the toolbar far too long. (Also, the Quick Launch and taskbar have been shoved around.) A set of Show More arrows is available, indicating that more of the toolbar is visible off to the right somewhere, as shown in Figure 39.4. Figure 39.4 A long desktop toolbar.

A B C

The Desktop toolbar.

D

The wee little taskbar got shoved over here.

E

Show More arrows.

The Desktop toolbar handle. The Quick Launch bar was resized and put up here.

◊ Right-click the Desktop toolbar’s handle. ◊ Choose Show Title to remove the check mark. Almost done: ◊ Right-click the Desktop toolbar’s handle a second time. ◊ Choose Show Text to remove the captions.

You can still see the captions for each icon: Point the mouse at the icon, and eventually the caption appears in a pop-up balloon.

Now the toolbar should fit (more or less) onscreen. What I see are a bunch of mini-icons representing everything on the desktop. Having the Desktop toolbar isn’t crucial, but it does illustrate how Windows displays a folder on the taskbar.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Suppose that you want to add your My Documents folder as a toolbar on the desktop. First remove the Desktop folder: ◊ Right-click the taskbar. ◊ Choose Toolbars➡Desktop. The Desktop toolbar is gone. ◊ Right-click the taskbar.

You’ll probably want to remove the new toolbar’s title and captions. The proper steps for removing that text are covered earlier in this section.

◊ Choose Toolbars➡New Toolbar. The New Toolbar dialog box appears, which is a special sort of browsing window. ◊ Choose the My Documents folder. Or, you could browse to any folder that you wanted to mount as a toolbar. ◊ Click OK. The folder appears on the taskbar. To remove the My Documents toolbar: ◊ Right-click the My Documents toolbar’s handle. ◊ Choose Close. A warning dialog box might appear. It tells you that if you close the toolbar, you’ll have to use the New Toolbar command on the Toolbars submenu whenever you want to add the toolbar again. Whatever. Click OK.

Adding a folder to the taskbar can prove useful—if you customize a folder for that specific purpose. For example, create a folder called Projects. Inside the Projects folder, put shortcuts to all your project folders—the things you do all the time. Then stick the Projects folder on the taskbar as a toolbar.

● The final type of toolbar that you can add to the taskbar is, believe it or not, a Web page. If you’re serious about this (and I don’t know who would be), refer to this book’s Web page and type foolish in as the keyword. ● You can also choose the Control Panel as a toolbar. From the New Toolbar dialog box, browse down to the Control Panel and click OK.

Arranging the Toolbars Even if you have just two toolbars floating on the taskbar, arranging them is something that you have to deal with. For some reason, Windows slips around the toolbars like they’re attached with Vaseline. Ugh. To move or rearrange a toolbar, you must drag it around by its handle.

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Chapter 39 Toolbars from Beyond Infinity Unfortunately, I cannot show a tutorial for this because Windows’s behavior is rather inconsistent when it comes to positioning toolbars. If you want to play on your own, open about three toolbars, which is discussed in the preceding section. Practice moving them around by dragging their handles. (Sorry I can’t do better, but my test tutorials never work the same way twice.)

The key to moving a taskbar around is to drag it by its handle. Floating a Toolbar You can drag any toolbar from the taskbar to create a floating palette on the desktop. This may seem obscure, but in some instances it becomes extremely handy. ◊ Right-click the taskbar. ◊ Choose Toolbars➡Desktop. The Desktop toolbar appears, scrunched on the taskbar like 5:00 traffic on the Ventura freeway. ◊ Drag the Desktop toolbar to the desktop. You must drag by using the toolbar’s handle. The mouse pointer changes to a “copy” pointer (with the little gray rectangle). When you release the mouse, a palette, or tiny window, appears, containing all the toolbar’s commands, as shown in Figure 39.5.

Figure 39.5 A floating-palette toolbar.

A B C

Drag using the handle. Show More. Right-click here for the palette’s shortcut menu.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Although a desktop palette on the desktop is redundant, other palettes might be useful. For example, you could create a special folder full of program shortcuts. Add that folder to the taskbar, and then drag it out to a palette for yet another way to start your stuff! ◊ Drag the Desktop palette back to the taskbar. Drag the palette by its title bar, and release the mouse button when the pointer is over the taskbar. ◊ Right-click the Desktop toolbar’s handle. ◊ Choose View➡Large. The toolbar changes to display large icons rather than small icons. The captions are a little redundant. Better remove them: ◊ Right-click the Desktop toolbar’s handle. ◊ Choose Show Text. Now you’re ready to re-create the palette: ◊ Drag the Desktop toolbar up on the desktop to create a palette. Drag by using the toolbar’s handle. The palette now looks like a bunch of icons— more like a palette than a menu. ◊ Close the Desktop palette by clicking its X close button. A warning dialog box appears. Yadda-yaddayadda. Click OK.

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You cannot drag the taskbar up to create a floating palette. However, you can run a program called TaskMan. Use the Start Thing’s Run command and type TASKMAN. Press Enter to see the equivalent of a floating-palette taskbar window.

Chapter 40

A View to a Folder


> > > > >

Changing a window’s template Adding a background image Adding a folder comment Removing folder modifications Manipulating a folder’s options

Windows has many options for changing the way it displays icons in a folder. Some of these options are nifty; others are obtuse. But, hey—you should be expecting that by now! This chapter covers folders. Specifically, you’ll learn how to change the way a folder displays information. As usual, there are more options than you’ll probably use in a lifetime, so I’d better hurry.

Tweaking a Folder’s Appearance Folders don’t have to be boring. Look at the desktop. You can add any image to the desktop, creating a fun and engaging look for your computer—and also wasting mountains of time. Guess what? You can do the same for each folder in Windows.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition To start, the following tutorial creates a Personal folder in the My Documents folder, a place where you can experiment before trying this stuff out on more serious folders on your hard drive. ◊ Open the My Documents folder on the desktop. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Folder. ◊ Rename the new folder as Personal. ◊ Open the Personal folder. The folder doesn’t have any icons in it yet, but that’s okay. It’s best to try this trick out on an empty folder. ◊ Choose View➡Customize This Folder. ◊ Click Next. What would you like to do? Hmmm… ◊ Check everything. Put a check mark by all the items listed in the wizard. Doing so directs the wizard to work through all its options: choosing or editing an HTML (Web page) template for the folder, modifying the folder’s look, and adding a folder comment. (If in the future you just want to add or change one, then check only that item.) ◊ Click Next. The following sections cover each of the check mark items individually.

Slapping on a Folder Template Continuing from the previous section’s tutorial, a folder template is technically an HTML file plus a special script that controls how the folder looks. It’s advanced stuff, but the wizard gives you four templates from which to choose, as shown in Figure 40.1. Figure 40.1 Choosing a template.

A B C

Template preview. Various templates that you can use. Very advanced stuff.

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Chapter 40 A View to a Folder ◊ Browse the template styles. I like Standard, although you can preview each of the templates by selecting them. Image Preview is an excellent choice for any folder that contains graphics. ◊ Choose Standard. For this tutorial, choose the Standard style. ◊ Click Next.

Choosing a Background Image The next wizard panel lets you choose a background image for the folder, as well as set the text color used by the filenames. Fun, fun, fun. Figure 40.2 sorts things out. Figure 40.2 Choosing a background image.

A B

Preview window. List of graphics files from your hard drive.

C

Venture out to the disk to search for a graphics file.

D E

Set the text color. Set the background color.

◊ Select a background image from the list. Or, use the Browse button to scope out an image on your hard drive. Try not to choose something overly complex. Also note that the image will be “tiled” to fill the window.

Simple, boring background graphics work best. ◊ Choose the Text and Background color. It’s nice that you can choose either color option, seeing how different background images may render black-on-white text harder to read. The buttons by Text and Background display pop-up color palettes, from which you can choose the text and background colors.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click Next. The final item to set is the folder comment, covered in the next section.

Entering a Comment The next panel in the wizard lets you type in a comment, one that appears when information is gathered about the folder. (You’ll see how it works in a moment.) ◊ Type Personal Stuff, Don’t Look! into the Folder Comment area.

If you just want to change the background color of a folder, refer to Chapter 37, “A New Face on the Interface.” The Appearance tab in the Display Properties dialog box lets you change the folder’s background color. Choose Window from the Item list, and pick a color from the Color dropdown list.

The dialog box accepts regular text, but also various HTML formatting commands. If you know HTML, then you can use it to format the text. If not, then whatever you type in the box will be fine. ◊ Click Next. You’re finished, but there’s one more panel to work through, covered in the next section.

Viewing the Results The wizard is done creating your customized folder. Check it out: ◊ Click Next. ◊ Click Finish. Give Windows a second to hum and churn. Then your folder appears all modified: It has the standard layout and a background image. ◊ Click the Up button. This returns you to the My Documents folder. ◊ Select the Personal folder. Observe the left side of the window. There you’ll see the text “Personal Stuff, Don’t Look!” displayed. The comment works! Notice that the My Documents folder is not affected by your background change in the Personal folder.

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Chapter 40 A View to a Folder

Changing the Settings You can modify any of the settings by returning to the folder and rerunning the wizard. ◊ Open the Personal Folder. ◊ Choose View➡Customize This Folder. ◊ Click Next. You can change any or all of the options. For this example, suppose that you just want to change the folder comment. ◊ Keep only the Add Folder Comment check mark. Remove the other two check marks, if those items are checked. ◊ Click Next. The comment text is selected, so you just need to erase it and replace it with something else. ◊ Press the Delete key. The text is gone. ◊ Type the following: My Personal Folder (Don’t Look!)

Carefully enter those several lines of text, minding all the angle brackets and slashes. When you’re sure that you’ve got it right, continue: ◊ Click Next. ◊ Click Finish. ◊ Click the Up button. ◊ Select the Personal folder. Hmmm. Better. More interesting. But if you really want to go nuts here, you need to brush up on HTML formatting.

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Undoing Your Custom Folder A reader once wrote to me explaining that my books often explained how to do things but rarely how to undo them. So, if you’re interested in undoing folder customization, follow these steps: ◊ Open the Personal Folder. ◊ Choose View➡Customize This Folder. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Put a check mark by each of the three items. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Choose the Standard template. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Choose (None) as the background image. ◊ Reset the Filename Appearance colors to black and white. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Delete all the comment text. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Click Finish. The folder is now back to boring old normal. You may delete the Personal folder; you’re done with it.

Setting Other, Various Folder Options You can train your folders to exhibit certain behaviors, customizing the way they act and display information. And all this training can be done in one dialog box. You don’t have to feed your folders fish the way they feed the seals at the zoo to get them to bark and clap and catch a ball on their noses. ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Choose Tools➡Folder Options. The Folder Options dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 40.3.

Chapter 40 A View to a Folder Figure 40.3 The Folder Options dialog box.

A

Turns on Active Desktop (which I don’t recommend).

B

Turns on the graphic display/ summary on the left side of the window.

C

Determines whether new folders open into their own windows.

D E

File-clicking options.

F

Restores everything to the way Windows works originally (as set in the figure). More folder options back here.

Active Desktop? Leave it alone. It just makes life too busy for me to have the Web butting into my work all the time. Sorry, Microsoft. Web View? I like it. Of course, that information on the left side of the window does tend to crowd some folders. Browse Folders? I can go either way. In some cases, I want all the new folders to open in their own windows. But other times I prefer fewer windows on the desktop. Clicking? I’m a double-click man from way back. Single-clicking is for the weak! Set the items that you want as you prefer them. For example, reset the Web View and Browse Folders items, and then return to Part I, “Windows Orientation and Review,” and rerun some of those early folder-browsing tutorials. See which way you like best. ◊ Click the View tab. The View tab presents even more options, most of which are pretty self-explanatory, so you can play with them on your own time. Figure 40.4 explains some of my favorites.

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Figure 40.4 The custom settings panel.

A

Changes all folder windows to look like the current window (mass change!).

B

Resets all folders to look like Windows originally had them.

C

Removes those show/hide links on some folder windows.

D

Controls the display of hidden files.

E

Hides the ugly filename extensions (recommended).

F

Remembers individual window settings each time you open that window.

G H

Keep this one checked. Restores all settings back to the way Windows originally had them.

◊ Click OK to close the Folder Options dialog box. You can close the My Documents window, too, if you’re done with it. The tutorial has ended.

If you’re eager to find out about the Active Desktop, refer to this book’s Web page and enter activate as the keyword.

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Chapter 41

Tweaking Your Monitor


> > >

Changing monitor color and resolution Using a screen saver Password-protecting your screen saver

As an apprentice computer book writer back in 1985, I had to learn the difference between the monitor, the screen, and the display. They’re not the same, you know. The monitor is the box that sits on top of or alongside your computer. It’s the TV setlike thing. The screen is the glassy part of the monitor, where the image is displayed. The display is the image that’s displayed. Even knowing that, I still titled this chapter “Tweaking Your Monitor” rather than “Tweaking the Display.” Maybe it should have been titled “Tweaking Your Old Boss.”

Changing Screen Size and Colors Every monitor has the capability to display an image with a specific number of pixels—those tiny dots you see when you press your nose against the screen. The dots are measured by vertical and horizontal values. So, for example, a screen with a resolution of 800 pixels across (horizontal resolution) by 600 pixels high vertical resolution) has 480,000 pixels. Lots. Then there are colors. Each pixel can be configured to display a certain number of colors: 16 colors, 256 colors, more than 1 million colors, 16 million colors, and a gazillion colors.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Together, these two values make up the screen size and color settings for your monitor. You can change the settings, increasing the resolution and number of colors, as much as your PC’s video adapter and monitor will let you. It’s all done in the Display Properties dialog box. ◊ Right-click the desktop. ◊ Choose Properties. The Display Properties dialog box rears its ugly head. ◊ Click the Settings tab. The Settings panel is shown in Figure 41.1. Figure 41.1 The Settings panel in the Display Properties dialog box.

A

Set the number of colors here.

B

Set the screen area (pixels) here.

C D

Color preview.

E

Vertical (up and down) resolution.

F G

Preview screen.

Horizontal (across) resolution.

More on this feature later in this chapter.

In Figure 41.1, you see that I’ve chosen the rather lame settings of 256 colors and a resolution of 800×600 pixels. My monitor is capable of much more—in fact, some of my software demands that I set the number of colors to 16 million or more. This is the place to meet those requirements. ◊ Slide the Screen Area bar one notch to the right. This step increases your available screen real estate. On my screen, the values jumped from 800×600 up to 848×480 pixels. If I keep sliding it all the way over, I end up at 1024×768 pixels. Likewise, the preview window shows more available screen space. Yippee!

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Chapter 41 Tweaking Your Monitor With the resolution set as high as it goes, choose a high color value: ◊ Choose the highest color value from the Colors drop-down list. On my screen the value is True Color (32-bit). With some computers, choosing a high color value will reset the Screen Area slider to a lower resolution. That’s because more colors generally means a lower resolution. It all depends on your computer’s video adapter and how much video memory you have installed. ◊ To preview your new resolution, click the Apply button. A dialog box might appear. Windows attempts to preview the resolution for 15 seconds and then switches you back to your current screen resolution. ◊ Click OK. The display shows you how the new resolution would look. A dialog box asks you if you want to keep the resolution. ◊ Click Yes to keep the resolution; click No to return. Or, you can wait, in which case the old resolution is restored automatically. You can keep the Display Properties dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial. Or, close the dialog box if you’re ready to take a brisk walk and get some air. ● Did you get more screen space, or did the images onscreen just get smaller? Actually, it’s both. To get more stuff onscreen, you have to make things smaller—science has yet to figure out a way to increase the size of the monitor (unless you buy a huge monitor to begin with). ● LCD monitors usually have a specific setting, one that looks best on that monitor. For a 15-inch LCD, it’s usually 1024×768 pixels. You might find that other resolutions don’t display as well. ● Some combinations of screen resolutions and colors result in a flickering or otherwise visually unacceptable screen. If so, continue to test various combinations of resolution and colors until the screen shows a more pleasant appearance. ● There might be some circumstances in which Windows won’t be able to change screen resolution without resetting the computer. If so, oh well; you’ll have to reset the computer to change the screen’s resolution. Newer computers don’t have this problem, thank goodness.

One way to improve the visibility of your icons at a high resolution is to open the Display Properties dialog box, display the Effects panel, and put a check mark by Use Large Icons.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● For some strange reason, many children’s games require a very low color value: 256 colors. If you run those games without setting the low color value, your screen might appear in all black or with black areas. ● Most Windows programs generally have a zoom feature that enlarges the text you’re editing. It helps if the resolution is high enough to prevent the text from looking too teensy.

The Screen Needs Saving A screen saver is an archaic program designed to prevent something called “phosphor burn-in.” It was a malady that affected early monochrome and color PC monitors; if you left the monitor on for any length of time, eventually the screen image would “burn” into the phosphor. Many such monitors had a hollow image of the old WordPerfect or VisiCalc programs visible onscreen—even with the monitor turned off! What the screen saver did was to blank out the monitor, “saving” it from being burned by an image. At first screen savers merely blanked the screen, turning it black until you pressed a key. Then fancier screen savers offered images—flying toasters and floating toast, for example. Watching a screen saver was more like playing a game. ● Monitors are now better made than the earlier monochrome and RGB color monitors. Phosphor burn-in is no longer a problem (it rarely, if ever, happens), although the screen saver program survives as a sort of fun thing to do anyway. ● A screen saver in Windows is the only practical way to put a password on your system. ● An alternative to using a screen saver is to “sleep” the monitor, which is covered later in this chapter. ● Some LCD monitor manufacturers recommend that you do not use a screen saver with their monitors. I don’t know why, but if they say so, it must be good advice. ● I don’t recommend downloading screen savers from the Internet. Too many of my readers report problems with them. If you do download one, save the screen saver file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder. That way, it appears on the list of screen savers along with what Windows normally offers. ● I cannot help you troubleshoot screen savers that you download from the Internet. Sorry.

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Chapter 41 Tweaking Your Monitor

Selecting a Screen Saver Windows comes with a gaggle of screen savers from which you can choose. To set one up on your PC, open use the Control Panel’s Display icon to show the Display Properties dialog box (if that dialog box is not open already). ◊ Click the Screen Saver tab to bring that panel forward. The Screen Saver panel in the Display Properties dialog box is shown in Figure 41.2.

Figure 41.2 Save your screen here.

A

Screen saver preview window.

B

Choose a screen saver from this list.

C

Activate password protection.

D

Set or change the screen saver’s password.

E

Delay before the screen saver kicks in.

F G

Adjust the screen saver. Preview what it will look like.

As with other parts of the Display Properties dialog box, the Screen Saver panel encourages play. Let me take you on a tour of the ground rules before you set off on your own: ◊ Choose 3D Pipes from the Screen Saver drop-down list. Or, choose any screen saver that you find interesting. Or, heck, choose them all! If you choose (None), the screen saver is disabled. You’ll see the screen saver preview—such as animated pipes—in the preview window. That’s a pitiful way to enjoy a screen saver, though.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click Preview. The screen saver appears full-screen—just like it does when it finally takes over your computer. ◊ Press the Ctrl key.

You have two ways to restore the screen after a screen saver kicks in: Press any key on the keyboard, or jiggle the mouse. If you want to press a key on the keyboard, the Ctrl key is the safest one to press; pressing Enter, Esc, or even the Alt key might trigger some command. Because the Ctrl key doesn’t affect any application, it’s the best key to press.

After you’ve chosen your screen saver, you have to tell Windows when to kick it in. The value in minutes is specified in the Wait box. If you don’t move the mouse or type anything from the keyboard for that number of minutes, Windows kicks in the screen saver. ◊ Enter 15 in the Wait box. Windows waits for 15 minutes of inactivity before it switches on the screen saver. I usually set the screen saver to this amount of time, adjusting it up or down depending on how often I use my computer. ◊ Click OK. The Display Properties dialog box goes away. Your screen saver is set, and now you have to wait to see it in action. (Go outside and take a walk. When you come back, the screen saver should be on.)

If you’re in a habit of just sitting there and reading Web pages on the Internet, you might want to choose a value higher than 15 minutes.

● The Settings button can be used to adjust certain aspects of each screen saver. The dialog box that you see when you click the Settings button is different for most screen savers, yet the controls in that dialog box are fairly obvious. ● Even though the original purpose of the screen saver was to prevent the same image from appearing on your monitor, quite a few screen savers do, in fact, display a static image. Oh, well. So much for progress.

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Chapter 41 Tweaking Your Monitor ● My choice is not to use a screen saver at all! My PC sports an energy-efficient monitor. Rather than save the screen, I tell the computer to turn off the monitor after a specified amount of time. This topic is covered in the section “Sleep, Monitor, Sleep…,” later in this chapter.

Password-Protecting Your Screen Saver The only truly secure password that Windows Me offers is the screen saver password. The logon password is a joke; it doesn’t prevent people from accessing your computer. The screen saver password cannot be bypassed. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Display icon. ◊ Click the Screen Saver tab. You must set a screen saver to have a screen saver password. I know: That sounds dumb. If you choose None from the list of screen savers, though, the Password Protected option becomes unavailable. I assume that you have already chosen a favorite screen saver. ◊ Click to put a check mark in the Password Protected box. This step enables the Change button. ◊ Click Change. Windows displays the Change Password dialog box. You must type the screen saver’s password twice to lock it into memory. ◊ Type the password in the New Password box. Type something short and sweet—something that you’ll remember. Try to stick with letters and numbers, although not something obvious, such as your name. All characters you type are displayed as asterisks. ◊ Type the password again in the Confirm New Password box. Type the same password again. Asterisks onscreen replace the characters that you type. ◊ Click OK to close the Confirm New Password dialog box. Windows pops up a dialog box saying that the password has been changed. ◊ Click OK. The password is set. To try it out, wait a while. (You cannot test the password by clicking the Preview button.)

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click OK to close the Display Properties dialog box. Wait. When the screen saver kicks in, only typing the proper password lets you regain access to your computer.

You must remember the screen saver password. If you forget it, you cannot use your computer. ● It doesn’t matter which screen saver you’re using; password protection works the same for all of them. ● The only way to get back into Windows if you forget your password is to reset your computer. I know I told you that was a no-no back in Chapter 1, “Windows On and Off,” but this is one of those few desperate situations when you can’t do anything else and are compelled to reset. ● We keep passwords on all our computers at home, primarily to keep our little kids out. The password for all the computers is none, and it works quite well—at least, until Simon is old enough to read this book.

Sleep, Monitor, Sleep… Rather than bother with a password, you can put your monitor to sleep. This feature is available on most newer PCs. They can turn themselves off and go into a special lowpower mode. The screen goes blank—just like a screen saver—and you save energy. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Display icon. ◊ Click the Screen Saver tab. If your monitor is capable of sleeping, you’ll see a special section labeled Energy Saving Features of Monitor at the bottom of the Display Properties dialog box (refer to Figure 41.2). ◊ Click Settings. The Power Options Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 41.3. (It’s the same dialog box that you see if you choose the Control Panel’s Power Management icon.)

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Chapter 41 Tweaking Your Monitor Figure 41.3 The Power Options Properties dialog box.

A

Set the power scheme here— for example, for a laptop computer.

B

Choose a time after which you want your monitor to sleep.

C

I advise against setting these items to anything other than Never.

I instruct my monitor to sleep after 30 minutes of computer inactivity (no typing or mouse movements). ◊ Choose After 30 Mins from the Turn Off Monitor drop-down list. ◊ Click OK to close the Power Management Properties dialog box. ◊ Click OK to close the Display Properties dialog box. Now your monitor is configured to turn itself off after 30 minutes (or whatever value you choose).

By the way, if you have a screen saver that plays sounds, the sounds continue to play if your monitor sleeps. That’s because the monitor, not the computer, is turned off. If you’ve set the computer to sleep as well, it doesn’t play the sounds. (Some of those sounds can get to you after a while.)

● If you really want to be old fashioned about things, consider merely turning off the monitor when you’re away from the computer. Now that would be different. ● In Chapter 1, I did not recommend sleep mode for the computer. Ditto for the hard drives (see Figure 41.3). I just find it too annoying to have to wait for the hard drives to become awake again.

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Chapter 42

Sound Advice


> > >

Adding sounds to system events Creating and using a sound scheme Adjusting the volume

For some people, a happy computer is one that sits still, doing its work by feeling the gentle taps on the keyboard and quietly displaying text on the monitor. The soft warbling of the computer’s fan adds a nice high-tech touch. Productivity swells. For other people, a silent computer is a boring computer. They want to hear a slippery squeak when a window is maximized to fill the screen. They ache to hear Big Ben at the top of each hour. They chortle at the sound of an ill wind when Windows is shut down. To those people I dedicate this chapter. May your computer be silent no more. May you now add sound to everything you do. ● This chapter assumes that your PC is properly equipped with a sound card. Most PCs are, but if yours isn’t, you’ll have to skip this chapter. ● The easiest way to tell whether your PC has a sound card is to check its rump. On the back of your computer should be several connectors (miniplugs) into which a set of speakers or a microphone plugs. ● You must connect speakers to most models of PCs to hear their sounds. Some PCs can play the sounds internally or through the monitor.


Adding Sound to the Point of Annoyance Face it: Sounds make a computer fun. They add a level of life that’s often lacking in the sterile computer world. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Sounds and Multimedia icon. The Sounds and Multimedia Properties dialog box appears, ready for you to play. Figure 42.1 shows you which knobs to twist and which buttons to punch.

Figure 42.1 The Sounds and Multimedia Properties dialog box.

A

Events to which sounds can be assigned are listed here.

B C D

The program.

E F G

The program’s sounds. No speaker means that no sound has been assigned to that event. Pick a sound here. Preview the sound. Choose a predefined sound scheme.

H

Save your own sound scheme.

I J

Adjust the sound volume. Other multimedia things to play with (freely ignore).

The following sections discuss a few popular activities that take place in the Sounds and Multimedia Properties dialog box.

Toward a More Cacophonous PC To assign a sound to an event, scroll through the list of events on the Sounds tab. Events with speaker icons beside them already have sounds, although you can change the sound, if you want. No speaker means that no sound is yet associated with that event (refer to Figure 42.1). ◊ Select the Exit Windows event.

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Chapter 42 Sound Advice If a sound is associated with that event, click the Play button beside the Preview icon to hear the sound. To assign a new sound, follow these steps (they work for any event): ◊ Choose a new sound from the Name drop-down list. Several dozen or so sounds should be listed. ◊ Pick the DING.WAV sound. Your screen might just say DING. That’s okay. It’s the same file. ◊ Click the Play button to preview the sound. Hey! Now that is boring. (I feel like I just correctly answered a question on a quiz show: “What’s the capital of Uruguay?” “Bob, that would be Montevideo.” DING.WAV!) Have some fun! Start plucking through the sound files, picking one and then clicking the Play button.

This could take hours. Keep the dialog box open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Repeat the preceding steps to assign several more sounds to Windows events. Just go nuts! ● You can use the Browse button to hunt down sound files on the hard drive. Special Play and Stop buttons that help you preview the sounds you’ll find live in that Browse dialog box. ● You also can use the Find command to locate sound (WAV) files on your PC. Refer to Chapter 28, “Hunting Down Files.” ● To remove a sound from an event, choose None from the Name drop-down list in the Sound area of the Sounds Properties dialog box.

Using a Sound Scheme Windows comes with a plethora of predefined sound schemes. Pick a sound scheme, and it will set all your sounds in Windows to a particular theme—if you want. I like to mix and match. ◊ Open the Sounds Properties dialog box, if it’s not open already.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition First, before you start, save the current sound scheme that you’ve set up. If you’ve changed or assigned any sounds and just love them, this step will keep those settings for your future use. ◊ Click the Save As button. ◊ Type Mine into the Save Scheme As dialog box. ◊ Click OK. There. Now all your settings are safe, and they can be restored again later. It’s a good thing.

If you don’t see any schemes, they probably weren’t installed with Windows. Refer to Chapter 15, “Adding More of Windows,” to add the Multimedia, Multimedia Sound Themes, and Desktop Themes items to Windows.

◊ Choose Musica Sound Scheme from the Scheme drop-down list. The sounds in the Events area are changed all at one once to the predefined Musica theme. ◊ Try a few sounds! Choose an event and click the Play button; for example, see how the Musica theme works. ◊ Choose another scheme and try its sounds. If you find a scheme that you like, choose it and click OK to set it in place. Or, you can mix and match themes—again wasting hours of valuable time—in the Sounds Properties dialog box. To restore your own theme, choose Mine from the drop-down list. ◊ Click OK to close the Sounds Properties dialog box.

Adjusting Just How LOUD It Gets Your computer can have two or more volume switches. One is a control on the taskbar’s system tray. The others, if they exist, are on your computer’s external speakers. Specific programs, such as the Windows Media Player, also have their own volume controls. I’ll trust that you can figure out on your own how to adjust your external speakers’ volume.

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Chapter 42 Sound Advice

Changing the Master Volume To adjust a sound as Windows plays it, you use the sound control on the system tray: ◊ Click the sound control on the system tray. Click once. If you click twice, close the Volume Control window, go back to the system tray, and click once on the little sound-control guy. A pop-up sound control appears, as shown in Figure 42.2. Figure 42.2 The Sound Control pop-up.

A B C

Click here. Disables all sounds. Slide up to increase volume and down to decrease it.

◊ Slide the bar up. When you release the mouse button, you hear a sound, indicating how loud the volume level is. ◊ Slide the bar down. Releasing the mouse button plays the sound, which is now softer. Find a comfortable sound level. Click the slider a few times to hear how loud the beep is. To hide the sound control when you’re done, just click the mouse anywhere outside the sound control, such as on the desktop: ◊ Click the desktop. ● If you choose the Mute option on the sound control, the sound icon on the system tray appears with the universal “no” symbol superimposed. ● Speakers also must be plugged in for you to hear the sounds.

Don’t forget that your PC usually has a second volume control on the speakers. The volume control on the system tray goes up only so high. Your speakers, on the other hand, might go all the way up to 11.

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Changing the Volume for Individual Sound Devices Before I knew about the Volume Control window, I had to manually reset my computer’s volume every time I played a music CD. I had the volume set low for the computer’s own sounds. Whenever I played a CD, though, I pumped up the volume. After playing the CD, whenever Windows beeped at me, I would jump out of my chair.

Why is it that we as a species don’t force computers to do more of the work? The volume control on the system tray is a master control. It controls all the sounds that your PC plays. Inside your PC are several things that generate sound. To control their volumes individually, you must accidentally discover the Master Out window, just like I did: ◊ Double-click the sound icon on the system tray. The Volume Control (Master Out) window appears, as shown in Figure 42.3. You can also access the Volume Control window by choosing Programs➡Accessories➡ Entertainment➡Volume Control from the Start Thing menu.

Figure 42.3 The Master Out window.

A

Sound sources inside your PC.

B

Adjust the balance of the left and right speakers.

C

Main volume control (same as on the system tray).

D

Individual volume controls for each sound source.

E

Mute an individual sound source.

F G H

Volume for WAV files. MIDI music file volume. CD audio (music) volume.

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Chapter 42 Sound Advice Suppose that you want to play a WAV file quietly. You can turn down the volume in the Wave part of the dialog box. If you really want to hear your CDs play loudly, bump that volume control way up. ◊ Choose Options➡Properties. The Properties dialog box sets which volume controls you see (or don’t see). In the bottom of the dialog box is a scrolling list of volume controls that Windows deals with. To see a control displayed, click to put a check mark in its box. Likewise, to remove a control from the Volume Control window, click to remove the check mark. ◊ Click OK to close the Properties dialog box. ◊ Close the Master Out window. Now you know the secret and can have the computer do the work of adjusting the volume whenever you play a CD or MIDI file and want the WAV (sound) files played at a different volume.43

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Chapter 43

Fun with Fonts


> > > > >

Finding the Fonts folder Previewing your fonts Adding fonts Removing fonts Using the Character Map program

You can’t really have much fun with fonts. They’re basically different styles of type that you can see onscreen, use in documents, and send off to the printer. Hubcaps are more interesting (especially when they pop off on the freeway and transform themselves into spinning metal disks of death). Although fonts add pizzazz, that’s not the subject of this chapter. The key here is unlocking the secrets of fonts; they live all by themselves in the Fonts folder. You can preview fonts, add new ones, or remove old ones. It’s all cinchy, although I had to write a chapter about the topic anyway.

Hello, Fonts Folder! All Windows fonts (almost all of them, anyway) are kept in their own Font folder. It’s a special folder sitting right beneath Windows’ own folder on your hard drive. You

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition don’t have to wade through My Computer or the Explorer to get there; a handy shortcut to the Fonts folder lives inside the Control Panel: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Fonts folder. The Fonts folder window is displayed, as shown in Figure 43.1. This folder is unique, so don’t blow me off and skip over the figure. You have important things to note here.

Figure 43.1 The Fonts folder.

A B C D E F G

Special views. Large icons. List view. Group fonts by their similarity. Show all font file details. A font file. Notice how different fonts have different weights and styles (choose View➡Hide Variations to eliminate the Black, Bold, and other descriptions).

You’ll discover that the Fonts folder is your beehive of activity for anything to do with Windows fonts. The following sections go over the many things that take place there. Keep the Fonts folder open for the next section’s tutorial. ● Only Windows fonts live in the Fonts folder. If you’re using other fonts, such as PostScript fonts for use with the Adobe ATM software, they live in another folder. (Use the ATM program to manage those fonts.) ● TrueType fonts can be resized from small to large without affecting the font’s appearance onscreen or in printed documents. Most of your fonts are TrueType, which use the TT icon in the Fonts folder. ● System fonts are used internally by Windows, usually in dialog boxes or error messages. These fonts are also called fixed fonts because they’re displayed only in specific sizes. You probably won’t use these for your word processing.

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Chapter 43 Fun with Fonts

A Font Sneak Peek Windows lets you preview any font in the Fonts folder. To see the preview, just open a font file. ◊ Open the Arial font. Locate the Arial font in the Fonts folder, and double-click its icon for a preview. You’ll see something similar to Figure 43.2.

Try using TrueType whenever you can. TrueType fonts look good at any size and on any printer.

Figure 43.2 Previewing a font.

A B C D E

Click to close the window.

F

Samples at different text sizes.

G

Scroll down to see larger text sizes.

Print this page! Font name and type. Mindless trivia. Sample of the standard characters and how they look.

◊ Absorb the font. When you’re previewing a font, you should see which type of font it is. Different fonts have different uses, based on their type: ● Serif fonts—These fonts have curlies and pointies on the ends of the letters. Choose a serif font for text that people read (the serifs make it easier to read the text). Good serif fonts are Times, Garamond, and Bookman. My favorite serif font is Souvenir. ● Sans serif fonts—These fonts are typically blocky and square. A sans serif font is best used for a headline. Good sans serif fonts are Arial, Helvetica, and Monogramma. My favorite sans serif font is Optima. ● Decorative fonts—You might see these fancy fonts in advertisements or as illustrations. They’re used primarily as decorations or logos. Writing a report in this type of font would be tiresome and, well, strange. Examples of decorative fonts are Wingdings, Zapf Dingbats, and Bocklin. My favorite decorative font is Fajita.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Also look for unique characters in the font. Three characters to look for are the lowercase g and the uppercase W and Q. Although two fonts might appear similar, if you look at their little g and big W and Q, you’ll definitely find some differences. ◊ Click the Done button to close the Arial font. Open other fonts and take a look at their previews.

Previewing All Your Fonts One common question I get is, “How can I see all my fonts at once?” It’s a logical request. Often you have to repeatedly use the Font command to change a font over and over to see which one you like the best. Wouldn’t it be nice if Windows would let you print all your fonts in one fell swoop? Alas, Windows offers no way to preview all your fonts at once. You can preview and print each font individually—but, hey!—computers are supposed to save you time, remember. For previewing fonts, I can recommend a nifty little shareware utility. It’s called Win32 Font Lister, and it’s available from the author at his own Web page: http://qed.Newcastle.edu.au/intelligent/fontlister/

I can highly recommend this utility, especially if you have many fonts and need help deciding which one to use. It’s a wonderful program.

Adding a New Font to Your Font Folder Microsoft made one trick really easy: To add a new font, you simply copy the font files to the Fonts folder. Suddenly, every Windows program knows about the new font. It’s that easy. ◊ Have your font disk or CD ready. In my hot little hands, I have a font CD containing the font ITC Benguiat. I just ordered it from Image Club (1-800-661-9410; http://www.imageclub.com). ◊ Open the Fonts window (if it’s not open already). ◊ Stick your font disk into drive A, or put the font CD into the CDROM drive. ◊ Choose File➡Install New Font. The Add Fonts dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 43.3.

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Figure 43.3 The Add Fonts dialog box.

A B C D

List of fonts on the disk. Pick the disk drive from here. Pick the folder from here. Click or Ctrl+click to select fonts to install.

◊ Choose the fonts disk’s disk drive from the Drives list. I chose drive A. Choose your CD-ROM drive if the font CD is in there. ◊ Open the font’s folder (if necessary). No folder was available to open on drive A (refer to Figure 43.3). On a CD, however, you might have to open a Fonts folder.

Don’t bother with the Network button. It brings up one of those “you have to know the network pathname first” type of dialog boxes—a waste of time.

It takes Windows a while to read in the font names and such. Be patient. When the font names appear in the List of Fonts window, you have to pick and choose which ones you want: ◊ Select the fonts that you want to install. Click a font name to install only that font. Ctrl+click to select more than one font. Or, click the Select All button to install all the fonts. ◊ Click OK. Chugga-chugga. The fonts are copied to the Fonts folder, where they live safely on your hard drive. You have no need to reset; the fonts are ready to use.

If several fonts are in a group, such as the variations on Benguiat shown in Figure 43.3, choose them all. You don’t have to choose every font on the disk, although choosing all fonts of one type is okay.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Keep the Fonts window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● You have to quit some Windows programs and then reopen them so that they can “see” the new fonts. ● Even though you can copy the font files manually by dragging or copying a font icon from one folder to the Fonts folder, it’s best to use the Install New Font command.

If you get one of those “Two Billion Fonts on a CD” disks, don’t install all the fonts! Just pick and choose the ones that you need as you need them. Avoid font bloat, which slows your computer.

● Fonts are cheap and freely available all over. You can find them on the Internet or at a software store, or they might even come with programs and applications that you install.

Killing Off an Under-used Font Fonts are cheap, and just about every application seems to come with its own clutch of font files, all automatically installed for you. Eventually, your programs’ Font menu is longer than a list of political campaign promises. Welcome to font glut.

If you see a warning dialog box telling you that the font you’re deleting is being used, choose another font. Obviously, you want to delete fonts that you don’t use.

You have two choices: Just delete the font that you don’t plan to use, or drag it to another folder for storage. I’ll show you the kill option first: ◊ Open the Fonts folder (if it’s not open already). ◊ Select the icons for fonts that you want to kill off. ◊ Choose File➡Delete. A warning box appears, asking whether you’re sure that you want to delete the fonts. ◊ Click Yes. The fonts are rubbed out.

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“But you said never to delete anything that I didn’t create myself.” Yes, I said never to delete any file that you personally didn’t create. Fonts are a rare exception. If you have font bloat, you need to delete fonts that you don’t use. Or, if it sits better with you, use the option described next. Your second option, as opposed to deleting fonts, is to move the unwanted ones elsewhere for storage: ◊ Open the My Documents icon on the desktop. ◊ Choose File➡New➡Folder.

Notice that the Undo command does not rescue your font. Go ahead and check: The Undo command is dimmed. You can still get your font back from the Recycle Bin, but you must restore it manually. See Chapter 29, “Deleting, Undeleting, and Recycling,” for more information.

◊ Rename the folder as Font Storage. Press Enter to lock in the new name. ◊ Open the Font Storage folder. Now you can drag font icons from the Fonts folder over to your Font Storage folder. Storing your spare fonts in another folder means that the fonts are still available (you can even open them for a preview), although they don’t appear in any Windows program’s Font menu, and you avoid slowing down the system due to too many fonts. ◊ Close the Font Storage window. To reinstall the font icon, just drag it from the Font Storage window back to the Fonts window. Or, you can use the Add Fonts dialog box and browse to the Font Storage folder. The result is the same. Keep the Fonts window open for the next section’s tutorial. ● If the font icon came from a CD, I delete it from my system instead of storing it elsewhere on my hard drive. After all, it’s already stored on the CD. ● Having too many fonts can slow down your system. If you’ve noticed that the Font menu takes a while to appear, you probably have font glut working against you. Delete those fonts!

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Snipping Out Characters with the Character Map Program Opening a Font icon lets you preview the font, although it doesn’t let you use any of the amazing characters that you find there. For example: ◊ Open the Fonts folder (if necessary). ◊ Locate and open the WingDings icon. The preview window shows you many of the delightful characters in this decorative font. Nifty. See the happy face? Wouldn’t he be cool to insert into a memo telling your kids to clean their rooms? Alas, you cannot select the character in the window, and, even if you could, no Copy command is available. Drat! ◊ Click the Done button to close the font preview window. ◊ Close the Fonts window. To your rescue comes the Character Map program. It lets you not only preview all the characters in a font, but also copy and paste them. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡Character Map. The Character Map program appears, looking similar to Figure 43.4.

Figure 43.4 The Character Map program.

A B C

Choose a font. All the characters in that font. Press and hold the mouse button to magnify a character.

D

Double-click to put a character here.

E

Puts the highlighted character here (same as doubleclicking).

F

Click to copy characters in the Characters to Copy box.

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Chapter 43 Fun with Fonts ◊ Choose Wingdings from the Font drop-down list. All the characters in the Wingdings font appear on the Character Map grid. ◊ Point the mouse at a character, and then press and hold the mouse button. The character at which you’re pointing is magnified so that you can better see it. In Figure 43.4, I’m highlighting the smiley-face guy. ◊ Double-click the smiley-face guy. Refer to Figure 43.4 to narrow his location. After you double-click, the character appears in the Characters to Copy text box. You can double-click additional characters to insert into the text box. (In fact, you could use the Character Map program rather than the keyboard to type, but that method would be ridiculous.) ◊ Click Copy. The smiley character is copied to the Windows Clipboard. ◊ Click Close. The Character Map program goes away. ◊ Start WordPad. Before you type, some formatting is necessary: ◊ Click the Center tool. ◊ Choose a font size of 48. Gotta make it big. ◊ Choose Arial from the Font drop-down list. Sans serif fonts seem more urgent. ◊ Type Please Remember to Make Your Bed!. ◊ Press Enter to start a new line of text. ◊ Press Ctrl+V to paste the smiley face. If the smiley face shows up too small, select it and choose 48 from the Font Size drop-down list. (Be careful when you’re selecting the happy face; select only that character.) The result of your labor should look something like Figure 43.5.

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Figure 43.5 The resulting file in WordPad.

A B C

Arial font; 48-point text size. Wingding font; 48-point text size. Character pasted in from Character Map program.

Save your masterpiece. Print it. Use it! Maybe someone will listen. ◊ Close WordPad. Remember that three faces are in the Wingdings font file: happy, nonplused, and sad. Pick a face to match your mood! ● If the Character Map program isn’t installed on your computer, see Chapter 15, “Adding More of Windows,” for information about adding it.

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In Microsoft Word, you can choose Insert➡Symbol from the Word menu to see a dialog box similar to the Character Map window. You can use that dialog box to insert special characters directly into your document.

Chapter 44

Messing mit der Mouse


> > >

Making the mouse pointer easier to see Choosing another set of pointers Converting the mouse to left-handed use

No one does much toying with their mouse in Windows, although I had to write a chapter about it, if anything, to show you all the amazing animated mouse pointers you could play with. Oh, and other things in the Mouse Properties dialog box are worthy of note. I’ll touch on them here and there in this wee chapter.

Making the Pointer Easier to See

The Mouse Properties dialog box isn’t covered in serious depth in this chapter. That’s because most of the stuff in there is fun stuff you can play with on your own. While you’re in the dialog box, play around! Some nifty and often useful mouse features are available.

Where is the mouse? Where did it go? Not the mouse on the tabletop, but the mouse on the screen? Do you find yourself often swarming it around to locate it? Ever just return to the screen and play the game of “Where is the mouse pointer?” before you resort to moving it around? You’re not alone.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition There are many tricks you can pull to make that hidden white arrow less hidden. The following sections cover two of them.

Making the Mouse Easier to Locate Windows controls the mouse from within the Mouse icon, housed in the Control Panel. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Mouse icon. ◊ Click the Pointer Options tab. Figure 44.1 illustrates the dialog box I see on my screen. It may be different on your screen; many computers use custom mouse devices that often sport different, fancier Mouse Properties dialog boxes. Somewhere in there, however, you will be able to find the options described in Figure 44.1.

Figure 44.1 Change your mouse pointer here.

A B

Pointer Options tab.

C D E F

Annoying Snap To option.

G

Set the mouse acceleration factor.

Add some mouse trails. Set trails options. Add the Ctrl key locate feature. Apply changes without closing the dialog box.

Two items in this dialog box might help you locate the pointer more easily. ◊ Put a check mark by Show pointer trails. ◊ Click Apply.

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Chapter 44 Messing mit der Mouse See the pointer trails as you move the mouse? That’s one way to help locate the thing. ◊ Put a check mark by Show location of pointer when you press the CTRL key. ◊ Click Apply. ◊ Now hold the mouse still. ◊ Press and release the Ctrl key. “We have the mouse on radar!” Personally, I don’t like the Ctrl+key mouse finding option. It’s just not that obvious to me. If you like either of these options, great! Otherwise, remove the check mark by the option you detest. Remember you can return to this dialog box to reset things later if you like. Keep the Mouse Properties dialog box open.

Making a Bigger Mouse Pointer Continuing from the previous section’s tutorial in the Mouse Properties dialog box: ◊ Click the Pointers tab. The Pointers panel appears, which contains options shown in Figure 44.2. As with the Pointer Options tab, these items might or might not appear on your screen depending on the mouse you’re using. The options will be available somewhere in the dialog box, so keep looking for them. Figure 44.2 Change your mouse pointer here.

A

Choose a pointer scheme from here.

B C

Pointer preview.

D

Various mouse or Windows conditions to which the pointer reacts. The selected pointer for that condition.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click the Scheme drop-down list. Several of the options available are flagged as “extra large.” To help you see the mouse pointer, you can choose one of the extra large pointers. ◊ Choose Windows Standard (extra large). The preview window, as well as the scrolling list, shows you the newer, larger mouse pointer assortment. Again, if this helps you to see the mouse pointer, great! ◊ Click OK to make the changes, otherwise click Cancel. The Mouse Properties dialog box scurries away. ● You can pick and choose individual cursors if you don’t like all the cursors in a Scheme. Just double-click a cursor item in the list and use the Browse dialog box to locate a cursor to suit you. ● You can even choose an animated cursor, one that moves or wiggles. Use the Browse dialog box and choose Animated Cursors (*.ani) from the Files of type drop-down list. What you see listed in the window will be a flock of animated cursors. Fun.

A Left-Handed Mouse? If you’re left-handed and would prefer to work the mouse left-handed, Windows can accommodate you. Or maybe you’re right-handed, like my friend Wally Wang, and use the mouse left-handed. (Don’t ask.) Whatever, prepare to reverse your polarity: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Mouse icon. ◊ Click the Buttons tab. If you don’t have the Buttons tab, click the Basics tab instead. ◊ Choose Left-handed. Using the mouse should seem more natural to you now. The only caveat I can offer is that books, manuals, and Web pages use the term right-click, which is now a left-click for a left-handed mouse. Watch out for that.

This book assumes that the “main” mouse button is the left one, which a right-handed person would use.

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Chapter 45

Installing New Hardware


> > > >

Adding hardware to your computer Installing an expansion card Configuring Windows to “see” your hardware Running the Add New Hardware Wizard

Adding a new toy to your PC is fun. Well, having the toy is fun, but installing it can be a pain. Microsoft has tried its best to make hardware installation easy for you. In the old days, you had to run complex setup programs and modify your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. There were chants and animal sacrifices. It was messy. Windows now greets new hardware toys with a wink and a smile. Almost everything is done automatically. This chapter provides you with a gentle overview of the process.

Adding Hardware to Your PC Installing most goodies on your PC involves two parts: the hardware part and the software part. The hardware part is the physical installation, either attaching some goodie to your PC’s rump or opening up the PC’s case and installing some gizmo. Generally this stuff isn’t tough; it just requires some patience and money to pay someone else to do it for you.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The software part used to drive people nuts, which is where Windows Me has become a blessing. When Windows sees the new hardware, it instantly recognizes it and sets up everything for you. It blows you away the first time it happens. Beyond the software part might be installation of a program to run a hardware goody. For example, although installing a scanner is cinchy, you need an application to run the scanner and display the images onscreen. ● As long as you buy hardware that is Plug and Play or “Designed for Windows Me (or Windows 95/98),” the software experience isn’t that difficult. ● The easiest thing to add to a computer is a USB device. It just plugs into your PC’s USB ports and—ta-da!—you’re done. This works best, of course, if your computer has a USB port on its box somewhere. ● Unless you’re experienced in upgrading the insides of your computer box, I would advise having a professional or your dealer do it. ● Installing hardware isn’t truly difficult. Anyone with a screwdriver can manage it. Good illustrations help. Oh, and unplugging the computer before you open the case is a big plus.

The Software Setup Windows is designed to recognize 95% of new computer hardware immediately after it’s installed. (The missing 5% is supposed to be other things that might still exist.) After you install your hardware, you should be able to turn on your PC and, lo, whatever you installed is instantly recognized. That’s when you read the following section, “Everything Works Right.” Read the section after that, “It Didn’t Go As Planned,” when Windows fails to recognize your new hardware.

Everything Works Right After installing the hardware, Windows starts up and immediately recognizes the hardware. A dialog box appears, proclaiming that “new hardware” has been found. Windows then proceeds to install the necessary software to run that hardware. ✓ Windows might ask for the Windows CD to be inserted. Get ready for that. ✓ Because Windows sometimes might not find a proper driver, check to see whether your hardware came with a driver. If so, you have to keep that CD or floppy disk handy. Insert it when (or if) you’re asked. ✓ If a dialog box appears, prompting you to restart your computer, do so. That’s it for hardware installation. Windows has all the software necessary to run your new hardware. Keep in mind, however, that you might have to install an application to use the hardware. For example, although Windows instantly recognized my

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Chapter 45 Installing New Hardware PC’s new video camera, I still had to install the application that uses the camera in order to take videos and still pictures.

It Didn’t Go As Planned If Windows acts stupid after you start your PC with the new hardware installed, don’t get frustrated. You simply have to tell Windows to go out and hunt for your hardware. It’s an extra step, that’s all. A tiny category of hardware exists that Windows cannot recognize. Stuff in that category includes ✓ External modems ✓ Joysticks ✓ Tape backup drives ✓ Some SCSI peripherals You must install modems and joysticks from the Control Panel’s Modems or Game Controllers icons, respectively. Open the icon and click the Add button to choose a new modem, or install a modem from disk. Tape backup drives only are recognized by your backup software—nothing else. When you run your backup program, it recognizes the tape drive, even though Windows might not. You must set up SCSI peripherals by using a program that came with your SCSI adapter card. Most of the time, the SCSI card recognizes the device, although you might have to run a special format program or install some other option to get the hardware to work. Anything not in the preceding categories is installed by using the Add New Hardware Wizard in the Control Panel. If you’ve just added new hardware to your PC and Windows has not recognized it, do the following: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Add New Hardware icon. The Add New Hardware Wizard starts up. It does a thorough examination of your PC’s guts to see whether any new hardware is attached. ◊ Click Next. ◊ Click Next. Windows scours your PC for plug-and-play items. This search might take awhile, or it could be quick.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If something is found, Windows proceeds with the installation. (Really, though, Windows probably would have found the new item at start-up.) If Windows finds nothing, the next panel in the wizard is displayed, as shown in Figure 45.1.

Figure 45.1 The Add New Hardware Wizard.

A

Choose this option to have Windows look for new hardware.

B

Choose this one only if you know the manufacturer and product name (or number) of whatever it is you installed or if the hardware came with an installation disk.

C

If the console is open, it should be unplugged with no image on the monitor.

D

Should be a screwdriver.

◊ Choose Yes (if it’s not chosen already). ◊ Click Next. ◊ Click Next. Windows takes a few minutes to search for new hardware. If Windows finds any new hardware, it is displayed on a list onscreen. Choose the hardware you want to install in order to continue. Windows might ask for an installation disk. If so, stick it in the drive. You’re done. If no hardware is found, you’ll get a chance to search manually. ◊ Click Next.

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To properly tell whether the computer has “stopped responding,” just wait. You should see no movement on the Detection progress bar, no hard drive light flickering, and no computer activity—for at least four minutes. Only then should you consider resetting your computer.

Chapter 45 Installing New Hardware The Add New Hardware Wizard presents a screen full of peripherals you might have installed, as shown in Figure 45.2. Your job is to select which one you installed for a manual setup.

Figure 45.2 Manually choosing the hardware you installed.

A

List of possible devices that are installed.

B

This list should give you, if anything, an idea of the possibilities your computer is capable of.

◊ Choose the device you installed from the list. Suppose that you’ve installed an older SCSI card, one that Windows can’t recognize. In this case, select SCSI Controllers from the list. ◊ Click Next. For the next screen (my favorite), you must know the manufacturer and product name for the device you’ve installed (see Figure 45.3). Or, if the manufacturer isn’t listed, click the Have Disk button to install from the setup floppy disk that came with the hardware.

If you’re running this tutorial just to see what happens, please do not choose any hardware from the list! You do not want to burden your PC with extra drivers for hardware you do not own. Click Cancel to quit the Add New Hardware Wizard now.

Figure 45.3 Find your hardware here.

A

Find your hardware manufacturer here.

B

List of their products over here.

C

Click here if it’s not listed but you have an installation disk.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Click Next. The next screen might ask for additional information about the hardware. This process might get technical, although whatever settings Windows has listed should generally be okay. ◊ Click Next. Now you might be asked to insert the Windows CD. Then your computer might reset. (Actually, whatever happens after this varies depending on what type of hardware you’re installing.)

If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to use the technical-support number for whatever hardware you’re installing. Many hardware technicalsupport lines aren’t as busy as the software-support lines.

Eventually the Add New Hardware Wizard finishes its operation, and your PC should be set up and installed with its new hardware. (Unfortunately I can’t offer any more detailed information at this point without knowing exactly what it is you’re installing.)

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Part VII

Problem Solving

Chapters in This Part 46 Tools to Help You Some programs that Windows offers you in times of woe.

47 Hardware Troubleshooting Using the Device Manager, using troubleshooters, and starting Windows in the “safe” mode.

48 Irksome Things Solutions to common (and annoying) Windows problems, plus words of wisdom.

Part VII


A

The System Info program (Chapter 46).

B

The Device Manager (Chapter 47).

C

Other irksome things (Chapter 48).

Chapter 46

Tools to Help You


> > > > > >

Using the Microsoft System Information program Using System Restore Understanding the Automatic Skip Driver Agent Working with the System Configuration Utility Scanning for viruses (advice only) Creating an emergency boot disk

Being a doctor is easier than being a veterinarian, which is easier than fixing computers. A doctor can always ask you, “Where does it hurt?” Even if you don’t know the name, you can point and go, “Ouch.” A vet can look at a sad cow or a lumpy kitty and figure out some possibilities. But a computer doctor? If the PC is goofing up, how can you trust it to tell you what’s wrong? This chapter covers some helpful programs that come with Windows. You can use these programs in times of woe to help determine what is wrong with your system. Also covered is creating an emergency boot disk, which can help you start and diagnose a dead computer.


Your Home Plate for Help Your first response to a weird, ailing, or silly computer is to call the tech-support people. Start with your computer dealer. You paid those folks the most money, and from them you should get the most help. Especially if you bought from a national dealer, the company probably has teams of eager young people, cheerfully dressed in white lab coats, yearning to assist you. Now if that doesn’t work (and it must be often, judging by the kind of email I get), you should turn to the home plate of help, a program called System Information. ◊ From the Start Thing menu, choose Programs➡Accessories➡System Tools➡System Information. The Microsoft System Information program shows itself on your computer, which should look similar to Figure 46.1. The information shown in the figure details my computer’s basic setup.

Figure 46.1 The Microsoft System Information program.

A B C

Categories and subcategories. Information is displayed here. Helpful Tools menu.

On your screen, you should see some basic information about your computer: the Processor type, amount of RAM, and other stuff that it would otherwise be tough to know just by looking at your computer’s case. By opening and selecting items on the left side of the window, you can see additional information: ◊ Click the + next to Hardware Resources to open it.

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Chapter 46 Tools to Help You A list of hardware trouble spots appears, although you can do nothing here other than poke around. A technician would know what all this stuff means; you just need to know how to get here. Keep the System Information program window open for now. ● Write down all the tech-support phone numbers (computer dealer, computer manufacturer, Microsoft) on this book’s Quick Reference card. ● The System Information program’s job is to provide you, tech-support people, or your computer guru with an overview of how your PC is set up. ● The System Information program isn’t magic. It just provides a review of your system’s setup, plus any additional information that the tech-support people might need.

Using the Miraculous Tools Menu In addition to displaying a summary of your computer’s innards, both hardware and software, the System Information window is also a central place to run many of Windows tools— mini-programs that help you diagnose and often repair some common ills. ◊ Display the Tools menu.

Not all the Tools menu items are covered here, mostly because of space reasons. Generally speaking, if something isn’t mentioned here, don’t mess with it! If a tech-support person needs you to use the tool, you’ll know where to find it.

Behold! It’s a menu full of helpful programs that you can use to figure out what’s wrong with Windows. Most of these tools can be accessed from the Start Thing, but all of them can be found in the handy Tools menu.

The following sections take you on a brief tour of the programs in the Tools menu.

System Restore Every so often, Windows makes a careful note of its condition. It saves various settings and information about important files in a super secret location on disk. This is known as a restore point or system checkpoint. You can use that information to restore your computer’s condition if anything nasty befalls it. ◊ Choose Tools➡System Restore.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The System Restore Wizard appears. You have two or three choices: You can create a restore point, which would be a good idea before adding new software or hardware, or you can restore the system to an earlier time. If you’ve already used System Restore, a third choice appears where you can undo the operation. More on that in a moment. As an example, suppose that you’ve ignored my advice and decided to upgrade to the next version of IE. Then you notice that some things start working improperly. Who knows why? Just run System Restore. You can follow through here for practice: ◊ Choose Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time. ◊ Click Next. The next window displays a calendar from which you can choose a restore point, as shown in Figure 46.2.

Figure 46.2 Using System Restore.

A

Calendar of restore points. (Bold days contain restore points.)

B

The restore points on the selected day.

C D E F

Previous month. Next month. Previous day. Next day.

◊ Choose a day from the calendar. ◊ Choose a CheckPoint from the list.

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Chapter 46 Tools to Help You Preferably, choose a day before you experienced trouble. For example, if you installed the program on Tuesday, choose a restore point that morning before the installation, from the previous day, or earlier. ◊ Click Next. A warning dialog box might appear, instructing you to save files and close any open programs. Do so, and then click OK. Note that restoring the system does not erase any recently saved files or email. Also, you can undo a system restore rather easily. More on that in a moment. ◊ Click Next if you want to restore the system. Remember, this is a tutorial. There’s no need to click Next here; you can click Cancel and be done with it. If you click Next, the system is restored to the previous time. The computer resets. Eventually you’ll see the Restoration Complete window. ◊ Click OK. Hopefully that fixed the problem. Run the computer through its paces for a few minutes to ensure that everything is back to normal. ● Using System Restore is the best way to undo nesting things that various installation programs do to your computer. For example, if you’re one of the unfortunate souls who downloads a screen saver or desktop wallpaper switcher and just can’t get it uninstalled, then run System Restore to get your computer—and your sanity—back. ● To undo a system restore, run the program again and choose Undo My Last Restoration from the main screen. Click Next and follow the instructions to undo the system restore operation. ● I would choose a system restore over reinstalling Windows any day of the week. ● Honestly, there’s only a few reasons to ever need to re-install Windows. Most problems can be fixed without doing that. I’d even bet that most problems can be fixed without running System Restore. But it’s so easy to use that it’s worth a try.

The Registry Checker This is an easy one to run and use. ◊ Start the System Information program. ◊ Choose Tools➡Registry Checker.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition The Registry Checker program runs lickety-split. If there were any errors, they’re fixed! Otherwise, the program sadly reports that there was nothing for it to do and, maybe, asks if you want to back up the registry. You do, so click Yes. So much for that tool.

What the Heck Is a Skip Driver? A skip driver sounds like some large piece of road-working equipment, something that Caterpillar might make. Or, maybe it’s a guy’s name. Or, maybe it’s yet another one of the commands on the System Information program’s Tools menu. The Automatic Skip Driver Agent (as it’s called) is a Windows method of helping you start your computer without a hitch. Hitches normally occur when your computer goes to run a special piece of software called a driver. These programs are loaded when the computer starts. For example, there might be a driver (a program) that controls your PC’s DVD drive. Suppose that a driver goes nuts and causes the system not to start. That’s where Mr. Skip Driver comes in. Windows notes which drive failed, and the next time Windows starts, it skips over that driver, not running the program or loading it into memory. You can use the Tools➡Automatic Skip Driver Agent command to view the list of drivers that Windows might have skipped when your computer last started. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a message telling you that there are no ASD (Automatic Skip Driver) things to worry about. Click OK. If there was a problem, Mr. Skip Driver will detail the problem for you and suggest a course of action. (This hasn’t yet happened to me, but if it does, I’ll document everything and put it on this book’s companion Web page.)

The System Configuration Utility One of my favorite tools—a hidden treasure—is the System Configuration Utility. This tool will help you track down any number of problems that may occur when your computer starts. ◊ Choose Tools➡System Configuration Utility. Figure 46.3 shows what’s going on. Basically, this is the place where most of the computer’s startup options and programs are set. It’s the direct ancestor of the old AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files that drove DOS users nuts. It’s all there in the System Configuration Utility.

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Chapter 46 Tools to Help You

Figure 46.3 The System Configuration Utility dialog box.

A

Different ways to start the computer.

B

Edit the contents of the old SYSTEM.INI file.

C D

WIN.INI is here, too. Other programs that start when your computer starts.

E

Various environment settings here (no longer in AUTOEXEC.BAT).

F

Even more startup options here, mostly troubleshooting stuff.

G

Restore a system file.

The General tab shows options for starting your computer. Choosing Normal Startup from this list resets Windows back to a normal startup, if it has been starting any other way. The Extract File button can be used to restore a specific system file. For example, if somehow you discover that USER.EXE is “bad,” you can click the Extract File button to restore that file. (Before Windows Me, you had to reinstall Windows. With the Extract File button, you can merely reinstall whichever program is needed. ◊ Click the Startup tab. You’ll see a scrolling list of programs, each of which is started when Windows starts. These are in addition to the startup programs in the Programs➡StartUp menu. So, if you know there’s some annoying program that keeps running and you know the program’s name, here is where you can disable the program: Locate its name in the list, and remove its check mark. Another place to look for rogue startup programs is in the Win.ini tab: ◊ Click the Win.ini tab. A list of options that once were used by the ancient Windows 3.1 initialization (“ini”) file are shown in a handy tree structure-like thing. ◊ Open the [windows] folder.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Two items are found in the [windows] folder that start up programs: load= and run=. You can also look for rogue startup programs by those items. To disable them, remove their check marks.

Do not randomly disable things! I do not recommend that you foolishly start disabling startup programs to soothe your PC’s ills. Only if you know the name of the startup program should you look in the places mentioned previously to try to disable something. Still, for troubleshooting startup woes, I often use the System Configuration Utility. Keep it handy. ◊ Click Cancel to close the System Configuration Utility window. ◊ Close the System Information (Help and Support) window.

Virus Scanning One of the sad parts of computer life is that some nasty people have written even nastier programs called computer viruses. Oh, they have other names, although virus is the one with which everyone is familiar. A virus can really ruin your day. The program, when it’s run, erases files or causes general mayhem—a bad situation. Fortunately, you’re not a helpless babe in the woods. Generally speaking, you can never get a computer virus if you follow two simple rules: ✓ Never start your computer by using a floppy disk that someone else gives you. ✓ Never run a program emailed to you from someone whom you don’t or barely know. People who steal software break the first rule. It happened to a fellow I knew who got a “free” game from a buddy at work. The game was an illegal copy of commercial software, and it had a virus. Booting from the floppy disk infected this guy’s system, and he lost everything. The second rule is easier to obey. Never, under any circumstances, accept a program from someone you don’t know—especially if it’s sent by email. I’m not talking about graphics images or Zip files or any nonprogram file attachments. However, a program file—a COM or EXE file—is suspect, especially if someone you don’t or barely know has sent it.

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Chapter 46 Tools to Help You Also suspect are Windows Scripting Host files when opened by Outlook Express. Avoid attachments with a WSH extension.

Reading email does not infect your computer. Even if you get a bad program as an email attachment, it infects your computer only when you run the program. At that point, the only resource that you have is a piece of software called a virus scanner, or antivirus software. Windows Me includes no antivirus software (which is dumb, in my opinion). You can also get a virus scanner from the Web. Visit this site: http://www.mcafee.com

The McAfee antivirus software is the most popular and most effective method for checking any file on your computer for signs of infection. If McAfee finds a bad file, the program can remove the file quickly and safely. I highly recommend that you visit the company’s Web page and download an evaluation copy. Pay for it if you use it. I also recommend the Norton Antivirus program, which comes prepackaged on many computers.

Creating an Emergency Boot Disk During moments of sheer panic, you must have an emergency boot disk. It’s a floppy disk that you can use to start your computer in times of woe. To create an emergency boot disk, you need a floppy disk. Go grab one now. Label it. Write “Emergency Boot Disk” on the label. Write the computer’s name on the label. Date the label. ◊ Open the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Programs icon. ◊ Click the Startup Disk tab. ◊ Stick your floppy disk in drive A. ◊ Click Create Disk. If you’re asked to insert the Windows 98 CD into your CD-ROM drive, do so. Windows asks you to insert the floppy disk into drive A. Hey, you’ve already done that. ◊ Click OK.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Wait while Windows copies files to the floppy disk. Wait. Wait. Wait. When the thermometer disappears on the dialog box, it’s done! ◊ Click OK to close the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box. ◊ Remove the disk from drive A. Put your emergency boot disk in a safe, yet handy place for whenever you might need it. What can you do with the disk? Often, you can recover your computer system. However, using the disk is usually a job for a professional troubleshooter. There are many programs and tools on the disk, most of which would take me several chapters to describe. Even then, I might not cover every conceivable problem that the disk can fix. No, it’s best just to keep the disk and let someone in tech support, a consultant, or your computer guru use it if you need it. ● All PCs can be started from a floppy disk. Before hard drives were created, that’s how everyone started up a PC. ● Floppy disks are good for about a year, or sometimes less. Make sure that you create a new emergency boot disk every year or so. That way, whenever you need it, you can be sure that it works.

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Chapter 47

Hardware Troubleshooting


> > > > > >

Using the Device Manager Viewing a device’s Properties sheet Finding troubled devices Replacing a device driver Running a troubleshooter Using Safe Mode

When the problem isn’t Windows, it’s your PC’s hardware. Things go wrong. The modem decides to walk in the park. Memory disappears. Two expansion cards duke it out, and you lose several system features. Nasty stuff. Fortunately, the tools mentioned in this chapter will help you pinpoint those hardware problems and hopefully fix them.

The Device Manager The Device Manager is an important tool for viewing the status of all the hardware (devices) in your computer. You would suspect that such a useful tool would have its own program window, but no; the Device Manager is hidden inside the System Properties dialog box: ◊ Open the Control Panel’s System icon. ◊ Click the Device Manager tab.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Figure 47.1 shows the Device Manager on my computer. Your computer might show a different list of devices, depending on what’s installed and what’s not. Generally speaking, all the devices in your computer are listed in the tree structure-like thing in the Device Manager.

Figure 47.1 The Device Manager.

A B

Device Manager tab.

C

Click to open a category and see the actual devices used.

Categories of devices in your computer.

Keep the Device Manager open for the next section’s tutorial.

Reviewing Some Devices The items in the Device Manager window are categories of things inside your computer: disk drives, display adapters, monitors. To review the specific devices themselves, you need to open a category. ◊ Click the + to open the CDROM category. A branch of the tree appears displaying the particular CD-ROM drive on your computer. In my test computer, it says TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1202, which is the brand name, make, and model number of the DVD inside my computer. ◊ Click the + to open the Disk Drives category. You’ll see at least two items here. One is a hard drive, and the other is a floppy disk. (Of course, your computer might not show these items, for example, if your system lacks a floppy drive or has a special type of hard drive.) ◊ Click the + to open the Display Adapters category.

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Chapter 47 Hardware Troubleshooting You’ll see the manufacturer, make, and model of your computer’s display adapter— the device that controls the monitor and displays graphics. On my system, it’s a RAGE PRO TURBO AGP 2X (English). ◊ Select the video adapter. ◊ Click Properties. The Properties dialog box for your video adapter appears. Most of the items in the Device Manager have similar Properties dialog boxes, plus or minus a few tabs specific to each device. Figure 47.2 shows what’s what with my RAGE PRO video adapter.

Figure 47.2 A device’s Properties dialog box.

A B C

Trivia about the device.

D E

Test the device.

F

Check/change memory, DMA, and IRQ conflicts (advanced stuff).

Important information here. Review or change various options.

Change/update the software that controls the device.

The device’s Properties dialog box is not a place to play. It is a place to confirm that the device is working properly and to troubleshoot, which we’ll get into in the next section. One important thing to note is the Device Status area (see Figure 47.2). If it says, “This device is working properly,” then everything is okay. Otherwise, any specific problems with that device will be listed here, along with suggestions for fixing things. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box. ● The Settings tab in many of the Properties dialog boxes can be used to make minor adjustments to the way certain devices behave. For example, you can reassign a drive letter in a CD-ROM’s Properties, Settings dialog box. Most of the options, however, are pretty obscure.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● Remember, not every device will have all the tabs shown in Figure 47.2. Some devices might have only a General and a Driver tab. Other devices might sport specific tabs not shown in Figure 47.2.

Checking for Errors The Device Manager dialog box lets you know immediately if there is a problem device in your system: When you open the Device Manager, a malfunctioning device will be flagged by a yellow circle with an exclamation point in it. Two such devices exist in Figure 47.3, the floppy drive and one of the serial (COM) ports. Figure 47.3 Problems flagged by the Device Manager.

A

The yellow circle signals trouble!

B

More trouble!

◊ Double-click to open the problem device. The General tab of the device’s Properties dialog box should tell you what’s wrong. View the Device status area (see Figure 47.2). For example, that area for the floppy drive in Figure 47.3 says, “The device is not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. See your hardware documentation (Code 10).” Because I’m experienced with such things, I know that the floppy drive is busted. The error message says basically the same thing; it implies that the device is not working, which generally means that the hardware has failed. The failed communications port shown in Figure 47.3 yields this message in its Properties dialog box: “This device is causing a resource conflict. To resolve the conflict, use the Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter in help. (Code 15).” And that subject is covered later in this chapter.

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Chapter 47 Hardware Troubleshooting Bottom line: The Device Manager is very good about telling you what the problem is and how to fix it. For some hardware problems, such as the floppy drive discussed previously, the only solution is to replace that device. ◊ Click OK to close the Properties dialog box (if opened). Keep the Device Manager open for the next section’s tutorial.

Replacing a Driver The most common type of hardware error message you’ll see in the Device Manager is that a software program or driver needs replacing. Even if the notorious yellow circle doesn’t appear in the Device Manager, often upgrading or reinstalling a driver can fix some hardware troubles. The following tutorial works through the steps to reinstall a driver. You can follow along for practice, but you don’t have to click the final button to actually replace the driver. Suppose that the video adapter’s driver goes nuts on you. You see the yellow circle. Or, maybe some game you’re playing recommends that you upgrade your video driver. ◊ Open the Display Adapter’s item in the Device Manager. Refer to this chapter’s first section for how to open the Device Manager if it’s not open already. ◊ Click to open the Display Adapters branch. ◊ Double-click your display adapter. ◊ Click the Driver tab. ◊ Click the Update Driver button. The Update Device Driver Wizard starts, which takes on the task of finding new software for your hardware. You have two choices. The Automatic search for a better driver is “recommended.” Choose the second option, Specify the Location of the Driver, only if you have an update disk at hand. ◊ Click Next. Windows goes out and looks for a better driver. It might even want to look on the Internet. If so, great. If a better driver is found, it appears in the next screen. Click Finish to install the driver. If a better driver cannot be found, Windows suggests that you stick with the current driver. Click Cancel.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Close your video adapter’s Properties window. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Device Manager.

Yet another option exists for locating updated drivers: the Internet. Whenever I need a new driver, I visit the manufacturer’s Web site and check to see if a newer, better driver is available for downloading. If so, I download the software along with the instructions for installing it. I’ve upgraded my video adapter, printer, and network drivers using this technique.

● How do you know when you need a new driver? Something will tell you! Either the Device Manager will flag the device as failing or some software that you install might inform you that your driver is out of date. ● If installing the new driver screws up something, then refer to Chapter 46, “Tools to Help You,” for information on using the System Restore utility. ● If you manually select a new driver that’s out of date, Windows will let you know. It specifically tells you that the driver you’re installing is older than the one you’re currently using. The only time you’d want to go forward with that type of operation is if you’re specifically directed to do so. Otherwise, do not replace a newer driver with an older one.

Running a Troubleshooter Windows has some great programs to help you narrow down and fix various hardware problems. These troubleshooting wizards often have prevented me from fenesterating a computer. Several troubleshooters are available, depending on which piece of hardware you’re having a fit with. ◊ From the Start Thing, choose Help. The Windows Help window appears. (See Chapter 8, “Help Me!” for more information about using Windows Help.) ◊ Choose Troubleshooting. Click the Troubleshooting link beneath the What Would You Like Help With? heading.

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Chapter 47 Hardware Troubleshooting A list of hardware troubleshooters appears. They’re grouped by problem area: Audiovisual problems, email, hardware, networking, and so on. ◊ Pick your problem! Whatever you’re having trouble with, click that item on the list to start up a troubleshooter. For example, suppose that you’re having trouble with your computer waking up after you put it into sleep mode (which I don’t recommend, by the way). ◊ Choose Hardware & System Device Problems. Another screen appears with more choices: ◊ Choose System Devices & Power Management. Scroll through the list, looking for more items that specifically describe your predicament. Beneath the Troubleshooting header are several troubleshooters themselves. These are the special programs that Windows runs to help you track down problems. ◊ Choose the Power Management Troubleshooter. The troubleshooter appears on the right side of the Help screen. ◊ Choose I’m Having Problems Resuming from Standby. ◊ Click Next. (You might have to scroll down to see the Next button.) Read the information that appears. It describes one aspect of the problem, and then options are available to determine whether what you read is the solution. Assume that it’s not. ◊ Choose No. ◊ Click Next. Deeper into the bowels of Windows you go! The next page offers some detailed troubleshooting, including checking log files for failed device drivers. Such intrigue! You don’t have to continue now. You have a good taste for how troubleshooting works and should be able to manage it on your own if the occasion arises. ◊ Close the Help window. Most computer problems are common and easy to solve. Microsoft is very clever in the way that it presents information in the troubleshooters. I would guess that a majority of the problems you might have can be easily fixed by following the steps in the troubleshooter.

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DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition Some troubleshooters run other programs in Windows. Try to move the Help window over so that you can see both the instructions and the window you’re working in.

Safe Mode Windows has a special way to start itself, called Safe Mode. In this mode of operation, Windows can pull itself together, but it neglects to load all the optional device drivers, software, and extensions that control special hardware—programs that might be causing trouble. To start the computer in Safe Mode, press the Ctrl key as the computer is starting. This displays a special startup menu. Choose Safe Mode from the menu. When Windows appears in Safe mode, the screen resolution will be very low; it will look dumb. But that’s because the computer is in fixit mode, not you’re-here-to-work mode. In Safe mode, you can run the System Restore program, as described in Chapter 46. Or, you can use various Control Panel icons to reset any setting that you’ve recently made that you want undone. The idea is to fix and then restart the computer. So, when you’re done with your repairs, shut down Windows and restart the computer. That should fix things up nicely.

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Chapter 48

Irksome Things


> > > > > >

Soothing words of wisdom Fixing a slow-running system Removing annoying startup messages Finding a lost window Undoing the sins of the Auto Arrange command Removing a dead program

Because I put my email address in all my books, people write. Sometimes they say, “I’m just writing to see whether you really answer all your email.” I do. Sometimes they say, “Where the heck is my window?” and I try to help them. I don’t mind. If you buy one of my books and the answer you need isn’t in there, I feel that I owe you some help. It’s only fair. Over the years, I’ve saved some of the more interesting bits of email I’ve gotten, dragging those messages and my replies to a special folder. This chapter contains a majority of those questions and answers, mostly the common problems that people encounter when they’re using Windows and my suggested solutions. If you can’t find the answer here, you can always write me, and maybe your question and its answer will appear in the next edition of this book.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ● My email address is [email protected], and I answer every message. ● Even though I answer every letter, I can’t help everyone. It’s always best to try your dealer first. Be sure to read all the chapters in this part of the book first because the answer to your question might already be in here. Thanks. ● Also, I can’t reply to you if your email program is broken. I know this makes sense, but if you write me telling me that you cannot receive email, how can I answer you back? ● I cannot guarantee an answer from any regular (post office) mail you send. Sorry. ● Refer to the Index for more items not specifically mentioned here. This book is full of troubleshooting information.

General Advice I don’t have a list of Ten Commandments for you, although if I were on my deathbed and saw you start up Windows, I might utter the following words of wisdom before logging off this big, blue ball: ✓ “Don’t reinstall Windows to fix a problem.” ✓ “Don’t upgrade to the next version of Windows.” ✓ “Resetting your PC fixes most weirdness.” Because I’m not on my deathbed and the little machine that goes “boop” is still “booping,” I can elaborate on these knowledge nuggets.

Don’t Reinstall Windows There’s this bozo I’ve heard on the radio. This person’s solution for every PC woe is to have listeners reformat their hard drives and reinstall Windows. What a mindless twit. And not only radio personalities, but some tech support dweebs also recommend that you reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows. I compare this to going to the doctor with a scraped knee and instead getting a heart transplant. It’s not necessary! You never have to reformat your hard drive. Also, because reinstalling Windows is a pain, I do not recommend it. A solution exists for every Windows problem. Sure, reinstalling Windows might fix the problem, but why go through such an ordeal? First, try to find your problem in this part of the book, in either this chapter or the preceding two chapters.

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Chapter 48 Irksome Things Second, phone your dealer for support. Phone Microsoft. Or, visit the Web page for support. You’re probably not the first or only person to have the problem. A fix exists—or, at least, an answer does. Third, never mess with your PC’s operating system. More on that in the next section.

Never Upgrade Your Operating System Your operating system (Windows) is the most important piece of software on your PC. As long as it does everything you need, you’ll never have any reason to buy a newer version. This rule applies to all your software, not just the operating system. Upgrading an operating system means that you’re putting all your software at risk. After all, if the stuff works now, why fix it? Windows Me is okay, but if you’re happy with Windows 95 or 98, don’t upgrade! When Windows 2001 comes along, don’t bother with it, either! The secret is to wait until you buy a new computer. The new computer will have the new operating system preinstalled and set up perfectly. Until then, you can continue to use your old system just fine. ● Most people’s problems with Windows stem from the fact that they’ve upgraded from an older operating system. I’m serious! Upgrading leads to trouble. ● If any software you’re using does the job, you don’t need to upgrade. You should consider an upgrade only if the new version has features that you absolutely need. ● I did a special edition of DOS For Dummies published by IDG Books Worldwide for Microsoft, one that was packaged with the last version of MS-DOS, 6.22. The only thing Microsoft made me edit in the book was this remark: “Do not upgrade DOS!” Apparently it wasn’t good for the company’s bottom line. I can’t lie to you here: You don’t need to upgrade Windows!

Reset! Restarting your computer often fixes much of its weirdness. For example, if the mouse cursor is gone or you can’t paste to the desktop or drag an icon to the Recycle Bin, a quick reset fixes the problem. Always try that method first. Do I need to write a second paragraph about that? No.

Your System Is Running Slowly Computers run slowly only when they have a lot to do. Are you making your PC do a lot? How many buttons are on the taskbar?

541


The more programs you run, the slower your PC runs. Even though Windows is capable of running more than one program at a time, doing so slows things down—especially with big, clunky programs, such as Microsoft Word and Excel. Running them along with other programs can cause out-of-memory errors and general slowness. The solution: Shut down some programs. Alas, shutting down programs doesn’t help when the Internet is slow. The Internet can slow down—no matter how fast your modem is—depending on the number of people online at the time. For example, when the “dancing baby” animation was hot, it took the dancing-baby home page hours to load. The solution: When the Internet is slow, disconnect and try again some other time.

”I Changed My Screen (Somehow), and Now I Can’t See or Get at Anything” A guy wrote me complaining that he couldn’t see a thing that he was typing. He’d gone into the Display Properties dialog box and made all his Windows controls really huge. (Ha-ha!) Okay, that happens. And it’s an innocent mistake. That dern Apply button is just too tempting, I suppose. Anyway… Refer to Chapter 47, “Hardware Troubleshooting,” for information about starting Windows in Safe Mode whenever you can’t see the screen. That method enables you to see the screen and make changes to fix things.

Oops! Floppy in the Drive You might see a strange error message when the system starts. It goes like this: Non-system disk or disk error Replace and strike any key

Duh! You left a floppy disk in drive A. Oops! Remove it. Press Enter. You’re done.

ScanDisk Rears Its Ugly Head If your computer was improperly shut down—for example, you just turned it off or a power outage hit—Windows runs the ScanDisk program when you restart, to ensure that everything is okay.

542

Chapter 48 Irksome Things Don’t panic! It’s a good thing that ScanDisk runs. It ensures that any open files don’t clutter the hard drive. If you’re prompted to run ScanDisk, do so. If ScanDisk reports any errors, fix them! Select whichever option fixes the problem. You don’t have to create an Undo disk, so don’t bother with that option. And there’s no point in saving damaged, missing, or cross-linked files, so just select the option to delete those files. (Also see Chapter 21, “All About Hard Drives,” for more information on ScanDisk.)

If you notice that ScanDisk runs every time you start your computer, you’re improperly shutting down your PC. Always use the Shut Down command on the Start Thing menu to quit Windows. See Chapter 1, “Windows On and Off.”

Finding a Lost Window You can easily locate wandering windows. Just look for the window’s button on the taskbar. As long as the button is there, you should be able to find the window somewhere nearby. If you cannot see the window or cannot “grab” it with the mouse, do the following: ◊ Click the window’s button on the taskbar. This step ensures that Windows is focusing its attention on the errant window. ◊ Press Alt+spacebar. This step activates the window’s control menu, which you might or might not see, depending on how lost the window is. ◊ Press M (for Move). The window is now in a special Move mode. You can press the cursor keys on the keyboard to move the window up, down, left, or right. ◊ Press the up-, down-, left-, or right-arrow cursor keys to move the window. This step should slide the window into view. ◊ Press the Enter key when you’re done moving the window. Don’t let the window wander off again.

If the window is lost in a program that uses multiple document windows, choose the missing window from the Windows menu. Press Alt+- (Alt plus the hyphen key). Then type M, and move the window as just described.

543

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition If the window is just too large for the screen, you can try resetting the screen’s resolution, as covered in Chapter 41, “Tweaking Your Monitor.” Or, you can use the same shortcut menu described previously to resize the window: Choose Size from the shortcut menu, and then use the arrow keys to move one side of the window in or out, changing the size.

”I Can’t Drag Items in a Window!” Stuck icons usually mean that you’ve accidentally chosen the Auto Arrange item for a window. This problem can be maddening. It took me two days to figure out the problem on my laptop. ◊ Right-click the window with the stuck icons. This step also works on the desktop. ◊ Choose Arrange Icons. Look on the Arrange Icons submenu. If a check mark appears next to Auto Arrange, you have to remove that check mark: ◊ Choose Auto Arrange to remove the check mark. The icons shall be stuck no more. If the preceding steps don’t work (no check mark appears next to Auto Arrange), resetting your computer should do the trick.

Closing a Dead Program Nothing is more amusing to me than when some Windows program crosses its eyes and nods off into oblivion. Its window stays put on the desktop. You can still work. The taskbar works. Other programs slide their windows around just fine. That one program is a booger, though. Here’s how to get rid of it: ◊ Press Ctrl+Alt+Del. Yes, this step is the “three-finger salute,” the Vulcan nerve pinch. This summons the Close Program window, as shown in Figure 48.1.

544

Chapter 48 Irksome Things Figure 48.1 The Close Program window.

A

Tasks (programs) running on your PC.

B

The “not responding” part is your clue that you’ve found a dead task.

C D

Remove the highlighted task.

E F

Instantly shut down your computer—watch out! Close this window. Heed this warning!

◊ Look for any programs “not responding.” If you find one, click it once to select it, and then click End Task. After a short time, Windows might display another warning dialog box, asking whether you really want to shut down the program. Click Yes. ◊ Click Cancel to close the Close Program window. If you ever have to close a program that has run amok, do so as just described. Then shut down Windows. Although you can continue to use your computer, my advice always is to play it safe. Shutting down Windows ensures that all your files are saved to disk and that any memory used by the dead program isn’t wasted.

545

Appendix A

Using This Book’s Web Page

Like a father assembling a child’s toy (or a backyard barbecue), I have some left over pieces. Now if this were the Mega Blazer Power Blaster, I’d just toss the extra pieces in the box and throw it away. (For the barbecue, I’d have my father-in-law turn it on to test it.) But in this book, I just couldn’t toss out anything extra. It’s not that this book is missing anything. It’s not! This book has all the information you need to learn how to think like Windows. In the process of review and editing, it was determined that some things would appeal to only a small percentage of this book’s readers. For example, home networking. Not everyone has more than one computer. If you do, great. Even then, however, how many multicomputer families are networking their computers? Not very many. So in a book tight on space, I’d rather talk about the new System Restore program, which is useful to everyone, than devote 14 pages to home networking. Instead of tossing out those subjects, I’ve put the text up on my Web page for all to view. This is all bonus information: stuff that was cut from the previous edition or stuff I wanted to write about but figured only a handful of people would enjoy.

Getting to the Web Page The Web page is located on my Wambooli site, where I support all the computer books my wife and I have written. ◊ Start up IE and connect to the Internet. Or you can use AOL.

DAN GOOKIN Teaches Windows Millennium Edition ◊ Type www.wambooli.com/help/WinnyMe in the Address box. The book’s Web page appears in the browser window. (“Winny Me” is my pet nickname for Windows Me.) The look of the Web page may change from time to time, as I add new material. There are links on the page to cover various topics that supplement the material in this book. There are also links to other books I’ve written, and you can browse there and view helpful information. Oh, and you can buy more of my books as well. Please! Simon is going to need braces something terrible….

Using the Keywords Special information is available specifically to readers of this book. Occasionally there will be a topic on which I want to expand, but don’t have the space in the book. To get that information, a keyword is offered. ◊ Type blorf into the text box. ◊ Click Go. The blorf keyword sends you to a page where you can pick up my signature and paste it into your book. (This was from a reader’s request, actually.) ◊ Read the page, heeding its instructions. ◊ Close IE when you’re done. Similar keywords elsewhere in the book take you to other special pages. These are special treats for you as a reader of this book; because you can only find the keywords by reading the book, consider it a bonus. For any further questions you have regarding this book or the Web page, please email me at [email protected].

548

Index

Symbols * (asterisk) wildcard characters, file searches, 346 ? (question mark) Help system, 106-107 wildcard characters in file searches, 346

A accessing Internet, requirements, 85-86 Accessories command (Programs menu), 24 Accessories menu commands Notepad, 27 Paint, 50 System Monitor, 154 Windows Explorer, 77 WordPad, 34 Active Desktop, folder behaviors, 478-479 Add Favorites dialog box (IE), 375-377 Add Fonts dialog box, 502-504 Add Language dialog box, 435-437 Add New Hardware Wizard (Control Panel), 515-518

Add Printer Wizard local printers, 226-227 manufacturer listing, 226-227 network printers, 226 installing, 229-231 printers, naming, 227 Add to Address Book command (Tools menu-Outlook Express), 387 Add/Remove Programs icon (Control Panel), 184-187 new software installations, 175-177 software uninstallations, 179-181 adding Address bar to taskbar, 468-470 addresses to Outlook Express, 387 commands to Send To menu, 325-328 Desktop bar to taskbar, 468-470 fonts to Fonts folder (Control Panel), 502-504 hardware, 513 Plug and Play devices, 514-518 USB devices, 514

joysticks via Control Panel, 433-434 Links bar to taskbar, 468-470 names to Address Book (Outlook Express), 396-397 printers on networks, 229-231 programs Quick Launch bar, 146-147 Start Thing menu, 128-134, 453-454 sounds to system events, 492-493 Web pages Favorites folder (IE), 375-377 taskbar, 470 Windows Me CD components, 183-185 Address bar (Internet Explorer), 367-369 Address bar (My Computer), 70 folder pathnames, 77 Address Book (Outlook Express), 387 names, adding, 396-397 nicknames, creating, 398 recipients, selecting, 398-400 screen appearance, 395-396

addresses, email, adding (Outlook Express) addresses, email, adding (Outlook Express), 387 addresses (Web) AutoComplete feature (Internet Explorer), 370 entering (Internet Explorer), 367-369 aliases shortcut icons, 116 Start Thing menu, 129 Alt+Print Screen button desktop folders, printing, 211-216 desktop windows, printing, 209-210 America Online (AOL), 86 connecting, 97-98, 408 email, 98 attachments, downloading, 410 composing, 411-412 deleting, 410 file attachments, sending, 412-413 forwarding, 410 graphics, 410 reading, 408-410 replying, 410 sending, 411-412 exiting, 414 help keyword, 408, 414 set-up, configuring, 92-93 updates, 414 Web browsing, 94, 413-414 welcome screen, 408 anti-virus programs, disabling for new software installations, 175

550

AOL, see America Online (AOL) applications documents, printing, 195 Help system, 103-104 shortcut icons, placing on desktop, 116-117 Start Thing menu adding, 128-134 copying to desktop, 118-119 dragging back from desktop, 120 archive files. See also ZIP files attributes, 338 Arrange Icons command (View menu), 72 arranging program windows in multitasking environment, 158-160 Ask Jeeves Web site, 370 assigning sounds to system events, 492-493 Assisted Support links (Help system), 102-103 asterisk (*) wildcard character, file searches, 346 attachments email downloading (AOL), 410 sending (AOL), 412-413 Outlook Express compressing, 403 graphic formats, 402 receiving, 403-404 sending, 402-403

unknown, 404-405 virus transmission, 404 attributes (files) archive, 338 hidden, 338 read-only, 338 Auto Arrange option (desktop icons), 118, 124 AutoComplete (Internet Explorer), 370 autoplaying CDs, 269 disabling, 269-271 DVDs, 269 disabling, 269-271 awakening PCs from sleep mode, 17

B background images, folders, selecting, 475 backing up hard drives CD-R disks, 260 DAT tape drives, 260 frequency of, 260 incremental, 260 ZIP disks, 260 Bernoulli box, 275 blank screen, troubleshooting, 542 booting PCs in Safe Mode, 538 Browse for Printer dialog box, 230 browsing Look In List, Paint graphics, 50-53 TIPS file, WordPad documents, 49-50

commands Web America Online (AOL), 413-414 via addresses (Internet Explorer), 367-369 via links (Internet Explorer), 367-369

C Calculator closing, 30 division symbol (/), 25 equals symbol (=), 25 help window, launching, 103-104 launching, 24 multiplication symbol (*), 25 number entry, 26 copying to Notepad, 29 stock price example, 25 views, 25 window, moving around, 26 canceling print jobs, 224 cascading program windows, 158-160 catalogs (Web searches). See search engines CD-R disks, 260 CD-ROM drives Device Manager, monitoring, 532 features, 267-268 letter identification, 241 My Computer icon, 243 CDs autoplaying, 269 disabling, 269-271 ejecting, 268-269

inserting tray types, 268-269 trayless types, 268-269 music types, playing (Media Player), 272-273 changing desktop fonts, 446 desktop schemes, 445-446 home pages on Internet Explorer, 365-367 character mapping utility, font characters, 506-508 Clipboard, 29 contents, viewing, 165-166 desktop folders, storing (Alt+Print Screen button), 211-216 desktop snapshots, storing (Print Screen button), 208-209 desktop windows, storing (Alt+Print Screen button), 209-210 Clipboard Viewer, 165-166 installing, 183 closing Calculator, 30 544-545 Notepad, 31 Outlook Express, 393 programs, 30 colors desktop, changing, 444-445 monitors, changing, 482-484

commands Accessories menu Notepad, 27 Paint, 50 System Monitor, 154 Windows Explorer, 77 WordPad, 34 dimmed appearance, 164 Edit menu Copy, 161-162, 306 Cut, 161-162, 313 Delete, 161-162 Invert Selection, 321 Paste, 161-162, 307 Select All, 319-320 Undo, 161-162, 351 Word Wrap (Notepad), 29 File menu Delete, 295, 353 Exit, 30 Install New Font, 502 New Compressed Folder, 299 New Folder, 288-290 Open, 46-48 Page Setup, 63-64, 195 Print, 61-62, 195 Print Preview, 195-196 Rename, 292, 314-315 Restore, 356-357 Save, 33-34 Save As, 35, 416 Save As (Notepad), 30 Work Offline, 96 Help menu, Help Topics, 103-104 Message menu, New Messages, 391 Printers menu, Purge Print Documents, 224 Programs menu Accessories, 24 Games, 422-423

551

commands Search menu, For Files or Folders, 342-343 Send To menu adding, 325-328 Compressed Folder, 328 deleting, 328-329 Desktop Shortcut, 324-325, 328 Mail Recepient, 328 My Documents, 328 renaming, 328-329 Settings menu Control Panel, 428 Dial-Up Networking, 91 Printers, 218 Taskbar and Start Menu, 128 Start Thing menu Help, 100 Search, 341-342 Windows Update, 187 Tools menu Add to Address Book (Outlook Express), 387 Automatic Skip Driver Agent, 526 Folder Options, 72, 478 Internet Options (IE), 366-367 Registry Checker, 525 System Configuration, 526 System Restore, 523 View menu Arrange Icons, 72 Customize This Folder, 474 Large Icons, 71 Standard Buttons, 72 Toolbars, 72

552

comments, folders, entering, 476

Connected to Your ISP dialog box, 96

components (Windows Me CD) adding, 183-185 removing, 185-187

connecting America Online (AOL), 97-98, 408 Internet, 91, 94-96

composing email messages America Online (AOL), 411-412 Outlook Express, 391-393

Control Panel, 70 accessing from Start Thing menu, 429 Add New Hardware Wizard, 515-518 Add/Remove Programs icon, 184-187 new software installations, 175-177 software uninstalls, 179-181 date/time, adjusting, 430-432 Desktop Themes icon, 448-449 Device Manager, 531-536 Display icon, Effects tab, 447 Fonts folder adding, 502-504 character mapping, 506-508 previewing, 501-502 removing, 504-505 storing, 505 viewing, 499-500 joysticks, adding, 433-434 keyboards foreign language layout, 435-437 repeat rates, 435 speed adjustments, 434-435 Mouse icon, pointer options, 510-512 Quick Launch bar icon, 430

Compressed Folder command (Send To menu), 328 compressed folders creating, 298-300 decryption, 302 deleting, 302 encryption, 301-302 files, extracting, 300 pop-up menu, 301 usage guidelines, 300-301 ZIP files, 298 compressing email attachments (Outlook Express), 403 computer viruses, see viruses computers, see PCs configuring America Online (AOL), 92-93 mouse for left-handed use, 512 PCs, Internet connections, 86-91 Recycle Bin properties, 357-358 Connect To dialog box, 94-96

Deleted Items folder (Outlook Express), messages, moving screen appearance, 428-429 Sounds and Multimedia icon, 492 cookies, deleting (Disk Cleanup utility), 251 Copy command (Edit menu), 161-162, 306-307 Copy To button, file location, 304-306 copying files, 304 Copy and Paste commands, 306-307 Copy To button, 304-306 Crtl key+mouse dragging, 307-308 File Replacement Warning dialog box, 310-311 floppy disks (Send to menu), 325 font characters, character mapping utility, 506-508 Start Thing menu programs to desktop, 118-119 text in WordPad (drag method), 166-168 copyright guidelines, Web page images, 418 cover fax pages (Print dialog box), 234 creating compressed folders, 298-300 emergency boot disk, 529-530 file shortcuts, 309-310

folder shortcuts on desktop, 123, 296-297 folders, 288-290 nicknames in Address Book (Outlook Express), 398 submenus on Start Thing menu, 137-138 Crtl+Alt+Del keystroke (Close Window command), 544-545 Crtl+C keystroke (Copy), 162, 306 Crtl+mouse click (file selection), 316-317 Crtl+mouse dragging (files, copying), 307-308 Crtl+O keystroke (Open), 47 Crtl+P keystroke (Print), 62 Crtl+S keystroke (Save), 33-34

Cut command (Edit menu), 161-162, 312-313 cutting text in WordPad (drag method), 166-168

D DAT tape drives, 260 data backups CD-R disks, 260 DAT tape drives, 260 frequency of, 260 incremental, 260 ZIP disks, 260, 275 date/time, adjusting (Control Panel), 430-432 Date/Time Properties dialog box, 431-432 dates, file search criteria, 349-350 decorative fonts, 501

Crtl+V keystroke (Paste), 162, 307

decrypting compressed folders, 302

Crtl+X keystroke (Cut), 162, 313

default printers changing, 203-205 selecting, 220

Crtl+Z keystroke (Undo), 162, 304, 351 Customize This Folder command (View menu), 474 customizing folders appearance, 473-477 undoing previous actions, 478 Outlook Express, 405-406 Start Thing menu appearance, 451-454

defragmenting hard drives (Disk Defragmenter), 252-254 Delete command (Edit menu), 161-162 Delete command (File menu), 295, 353 Deleted Items folder (Outlook Express), messages, moving, 390

553

deleting deleting commands from Send To menu, 328-329 compressed folders, 302 desktop icons, 115, 124-126 email messages America Online (AOL), 410 Outlook Express, 387-390 files, 352-356 by group, 353-354 cautionary warning, 352 Display Delete Confirmation dialog box, 359 Recycle Bin selections, 360 warning dialog box, 353 folder shortcuts from desktop, 297 folders from My Documents, 294-296 Internet cookies (Disk Cleanup utility), 251 programs, Start Thing menu, 135-136, 453-454 software improper methods, 179 Norton CleanSweep, 181 proper methods, 179-181 system tray icons, 457-458 Web pages Favorites folder (IE), 379-380 History list (IE), 381-382

554

deselecting files, 320-321 desktop documents dragging, 119-120 shortcut icons, 120-122 elements, 114 folder shortcuts creating, 296-297 deleting, 297 folders, printing (Alt+Print Screen button), 211-216 fonts, changing, 446 icons Auto Arrange option, 118, 124 deleting, 115, 124-126 Internet Explorer, 115 Microsoft Works, 119 MS-DOS Prompt, 115 My Briefcase, 115 My Computer, 115 My Documents, 115 My Network Places, 115 Notepad, 119 Online Services Folder, 115 Outlook Express, 115 Paint, 119 placing, 116-117 positioning, 124 Recycle Bin, 115 Set Up MSN, 115 Windows Explorer, 115 Windows Media Player, 115 project folders, shortcut icons, 122-123 schemes, changing, 445-446 screen appearance, 15-16

shortcuts, 114 programs, launching, 149 snapshots, printing (Print Screen button), 208-209 special effects, applying, 447 Start Thing menu programs copying, 118-119 dragging back, 120 system colors, changing, 444-445 system tray, online icon appearance, 94 themes, setting, 448-449 toolbars, floating, 471-472 wallpaper graphics images, 443-444 patterns, 441-443 setting, 418, 440-441 windows, printing (Alt+Print Screen button), 209-210 WordPad graphics, dragging to, 169-171 WordPad text, dragging to, 169-171 Desktop Shortcut command (Send To menu), 324-325, 328 Desktop Themes icon (Control Panel), 448-449 Details view (My Computer), 244 Device Manager CD/DVDs, autoplay, disabling, 269-271 CD-ROM category, 532 Disk Drives category, 532

disk drives Display Adapters category, 533 drivers, replacing, 535-536 errors, checking, 534-535 hardware, troubleshooting, 531-536 properties, viewing, 533-534 Dial-Up Connection dialog box, 364 Dial-Up Networking command (Settings menu), 91 dialog boxes Add Favorties (IE), 375-377 Add Fonts, 502-504 Add Language, 435-437 Browse for Printer, 230 Connect To, 94-96 Connected to Your ISP, 96 Date/Time Properties, 431-432 Dial-Up Connection, 364 Disconnect, 372 Display Delete Confirmation, 359 Display Properties, 440-441, 444-446 screen saver options, 485-488 File Replacement Warning, 310-311 Folder Options, 72, 478-480 Format, 266-267 Gaming Options, 433 Internet Options, 366-367 Modems Properties, 87-88

Mouse Properties, 510-512 Open, 46-47 Open With, unknown file types, 333-334 Organize Favorites (IE), 377-379 Page Setup, 63-64 orientation options, 199-201 Paint, 61-62 Pattern, 441-443 Patterns, 441 Power Management Properties, 488-489 Print fax options, 234 number of copies option, 62 page range options, 197-199 Recycle Bin Properties, 357-358 Run, 149-150 Save As, 35 file formats, 39-42 file renaming, 38-39 folder locations, 36 new folders, 42-43 Select Recipients, 399 Shutdown Windows, 17-20 Sounds and Multimedia Properties, 492 Sounds Properties, 493-494 Taskbar and Start Menu Properties, 128, 451-454, 462-468 dimmed commands, 164 directory trees, plus/minus signs (Windows Explorer), 80-82

disabling anti-virus programs for new software installations, 175 Disconnect dialog box, 372 disconnect properties, modems, 372 Disk Cleanup utility file deletion options downloaded program files, 250 Internet cookies, 251 Recycle Bin, 250 temporary files, 250 temporary PC health files, 250 Windows uninstall information, 250 hard drives, file removal, 248-251 disk compression on hard drives, 261 Disk Defragmenter, hard drive performance, 252-253 disk drives CD-ROMs, letter identification, 241 contents (My Computer), 74-75 Device Manager, monitoring, 532 DVDs, letter identification, 241 folders, opening (My Computer), 75-76 icons, 242 CD-ROM, 243 floppy disk, 243 hard disk, 243 information (My Computer), 73-74

555

disk drives letter identification, 240 changing, 276 drive A, 241 drive B, 241 drive C, 241 drive D and up, 241 networks, 242 naming (My Computer), 244-246 removable Jaz drives, 241 magneto-optical (MO) drives, 241 Zip drives, 241 root directories, 75 volume labels, 240 Windows Explorer, treestructure view, 78-79 disk errors, troubleshooting, 542 display adapters, monitoring (Device Manager), 533 Display Delete Confirmation dialog box, 359 Display icon (Control Panel), 447 Display Properties dialog box font options, 446 monitors, 482-484 scheme options, 445-446 screen saver options, 485-488 system colors, 444-445 wallpaper options, 440-441 displaying. See also viewing disk drives (Windows Explorer), 78-79 folders (Windows Explorer), 78-79

556

hard drive contents (My Computer), 74-75 My Computer content options, 71-73 folder options, 72 icon arrangement, 72 standard buttons, 72 toolbar options, 72 print queues, 221-223 division symbol (/), Calculator, 25 documents desktop dragging, 119-120 shortcut icons, 120-122 faxing, 234 from Web sites, 235 multiple copies, printing, 62 opening My Documents folder, 55-56 versus saving, 45 without Open dialog box, 53-55 Paint, printing, 59-62 printing commands, 195 landscape orientation, 199-201 page ranges, 197-199 paper size selection, 201-203 portrait orientation, 199-201 Print Preview window, 195-196 recent file lists, opening, 56-57 saving, 33 frequency of, 34 versus opening, 45

WordPad folders, searching, 49-50 naming guidelines, 36-37 opening, 46-47 Print Preview button, 64-66 printing, 194 saving, file formats, 39-42 saving, frequency of, 37-38 saving, new folders, 42-43 saving, new names, 38-39 Documents menu capacity of, 31 programs, launching from, 149 recent lists, 31 TIPS file, documents, opening, 53-55 Dogpile Web site, 370 DOS commands, printing, 216 dot-matrix printers, paper types, 225 Download.com Web site, software source, 419-421 downloading email attachments from America Online (AOL), 410 Internet software freeware, 419-421 installation, 177-178 shareware, 419-421 virus warnings, 421 Drafts folder (Outlook Express), messages, 390

extracting files from compressed folders dragging documents from desktop folders, 119-120 graphics to desktop, 169-171 icons to Recycle Bin, 353 mouse, group file selection, 317-319 Start Thing menu programs from desktop, 120, 131-134 text to desktop, 169-171 drive A (disk drive), 241 drive B (disk drive), 241 drive C (disk drive), 241 drive D and up (disk drive), 241 drivers, hardware, replacing (Device Manager), 535-536 duplicating files within same folder, 308 DVDs (Digital Versatile Disks), 267-268 autoplaying, 269 disabling, 269-271 drive letter identification, 241 movies, playing (Windows DVD Player), 273

E Edit menu commands Copy, 161-162, 306 Cut, 161-162, 313 Delete, 161-162 Invert Selection, 321 Paste, 161-162, 307 Select All, 319-320 Undo, 161-162, 351 Word Wrap (Notepad), 29

ejecting CDs, 268-269 floppy disks, 265 email America Online (AOL), 98 attachments, downloading, 410 composing, 411-412 deleting, 410 file attachments, sending, 412-413 forwarding, 410 graphics, 410 reading, 408-410 replying, 410 sending, 411-412 graphics, attachment formats, 402 Outlook Express, 98 addresses, adding, 387 attachments, compressing, 403 attachments, receiving, 403-404 attachments, sending, 402-403 attachments, unknown, 404-405 attachments, virus warning, 404 BCC (blind carbon copy), 393 composing, 391-393 formatting, 400-401 Inbox, deleting, 387-390 Inbox, forwarding, 389 Inbox, reading, 385-387 Inbox, replying, 387-389 Inbox, viewing, 385 launching, 384

moving to folders, 390-391 recipients, selecting, 398-400 screen appearance, 384-385 servers IMAP, 89 POP3, 89 SMTP, 89 viruses, preventing, 529 emergency boot disk, creating, 529-530 emptying Recycle Bin, 359-360 encrypting compressed folders, 301-302 envelopes mailing labels, 67 printing, 63-66 equals symbol (=), Calculator, 25 Esc key, submenu navigation, 24 Excite Web site, 370 Exit command (File menu), 30 exiting America Online (AOL), 414 Calculator, 30 Internet Explorer, 372 Notepad, 31 Outlook Express, 393 programs, 30 expanding folders, Start Thing menu, 455-456 extensions, filenames, 338-340 extracting files from compressed folders, 300

557

F1 key, Help system

F

Save As, 35, 416 Work Offline, 96

F1 key, Help system, 102, 105-106

File Mine Web site, software source, 419-421

F2 button (Rename command), 219

files A: drive, copying (Send To menu), 325 accidental deletions, Restore command (File menu), 356-357 attributes, 338 compressed folders, extracting, 300 copying, 304 File Replacement Warning dialog box, 310-311 copying (Copy and Paste commands), 306-307 copying (Copy To button), 304-306 copying (Crtl key+mouse dragging), 307-308 deleting, 352-356 by group, 353-354 cautionary warning, 352 Display Delete Confirmation dialog box, 359 warning dialog box, 353 deselecting, 320-321 desktop folders, printing (Alt+Print Screen button), 211-216 desktop shortcuts, creating (Send To menu), 324-325 duplicating within same folder, 308 filename extensions, 338-340 folders, moving, 288-289

favorite printers, selecting, 220 Favorites folder (Internet Explorer), 373-374 adding to, 375-377 deleting unwanted bookmarks, 379-380 organizing, 377-379 subfolders, 377-379 viewing, 374 faxes cover pages (Print dialog box), 234 modem software, 233 receiving, 235 time schedule (Print dialog box), 234 Web sites, 235 faxing documents, 234 from Web sites, 235 File Allocation Tables (FATs), 256 File menu commands Delete, 295, 353 Exit, 30 Install New Font, 502 New Compressed Folder, 299 New Folder, 288-290 Open, 46-48 Page Setup, 63-64, 195 Print, 61-62, 195 Print Preview, 195-196 Rename, 292, 314-315 Restore, 356-357 Save, 33-34

558

hard drives defragmenting, 252-254 removing (Disk Cleanup utility), 248-251 repairing (ScanDisk), 254-258 hidden, 339-340 icons, opening, cautionary warning, 335 identification methods execution of, 331-332 icons, 331-333 name, 331-332 moving (Cut and Paste commands), 312-313 moving (mouse dragging), 312 moving (Move To button), 311 naming guidelines, 315 Properties dialog box, tab options, 337 Recycle Bin, emptying, 359-360 renaming, 314-315 saving, 33 frequency of, 34 searching, 343-345 date options, 349-350 partial text, 347-348 type option, 348-349 wildcard characters, 346-347 selecting (Crtl+mouse click), 316-317 selecting (mouse dragging), 317-319 selecting (Select All command), 319-320 selecting (Shift+mouse click), 318-319 shortcuts, creating, 309-310

fonts types extensions, 338-340 searching, 348-349 undeleting, 356-357 Unknown File type icon, 332-334 Windows Explorer, searching, 79-82 fixed fonts, 500 floating toolbars, 471-472 floppy disks copying (Send To menu), 325 ejecting, 265 formatting, 266-267 full method, 266 quick method, 266 inserting, 265 My Computer icon, 243 floppy drives evolution of, 264 locating, 264-265 versus ZIP drive capacities, 274 Folder Options command (Tools menu), 72, 478 Folder Options dialog box, 72, 478-480 folders appearance, customizing, 473-477 background images, selecting, 475 behaviors Active Desktop, 478-479 file clicking options, 479 graphic display summary, 479

comments, entering, 476 compressed creating, 298-300 deleting, 302 pop-up menu, 301 usage guidelines, 300-301 creating, 288-290 customization, undoing, 478 deleting, 294-296, 353-354 documents dragging to desktop, 119-120 searching (WordPad), 49-50 WordPad, 42-43 files duplicating, 308 moving, 288-289 graphics files, searching (Paint), 50-53 moving (My Documents), 292-294 My Computer, 72, 75-76 My Documents, viewing (Windows Explorer), 81, 278-279 My Pictures, viewing (Windows Explorer), 81-82 naming, character guidelines, 292 organizing (My Documents), 289-290 Outlook Express, email messages, moving, 390-391 pathnames, 77 renaming (My Documents), 290-292 Save As dialog box options, 36

shortcuts creating, 296-297 deleting, 297 Start Thing menu, expand option, 455-456 subfolder creation, 290 templates, selecting, 474-475 view options, 480 Windows Explorer branches, 279-282 navigating, 279-282 pathnames, 285-286 searching, 79-82, 282-285 tree-structure view, 78-79 view options, 278 fonts adding (Font folderControl Panel), 502-504 characters, copying (character mapping utility), 506-508 decorative, 501 desktop, changing, 446 excessive, system performance, 504-505 Image Club Web site, 502 PostScript, 500 previewing (Font folderControl Panel), 501-502 removing (Font folderControl Panel), 504-505 sans serif, 501 serif, 501 storing (Font folderControl Panel), 505 system, 500 TrueType, 500 Win32 FontLister, 502

559

Fonts folder (Control Panel) Fonts folder (Control Panel) adding, 502-504 character mapping, 506-508 previewing, 501-502 removing, 504-505 storing, 505 viewing, 499-500 For Files or Folders command (Search menu), 342-343 Format dialog box, 266-267 formatting email messages (Outlook Express), 400-401 floppy disks, 266-267 forwarding email messages America Online (AOL), 410 Outlook Express, 389 freeware, downloading, 419-421 frozen programs, troubleshooting, 544-545

G games, joysticks, adding (Control Panel), 433-434 Games command (Programs menu), 422-423 Gaming Options dialog box, 433 Go.com Web site, 370 Google Web site, 370 GoTo Web site, 370

560

graphic images, wallpaper screen size, 444 setting, 443-444 sources, 443 stretching, 443 Web page option, 444 graphics Clipboard, viewing, 165-166 email attachments, sending (AOL), 410-413 folder behaviors, 479 Paint, searching, 50-53 selecting, 162 WordPad, dragging to desktop, 169-171 green underlined text (Help system), 101 grouping files, deletion operations, 353-354

H hard drives back up media, 260 contents (My Computer), 74-75 defragmenting, reasons for, 253-254 disk compression, 261 files, removing (Disk Cleanup utility), 248-251 folders, opening (My Computer), 75-76 information (My Computer), 73-74 Low Disk Notification utility, 242 maintenance, scheduling (Maintenance Wizard), 258-259 My Computer icon, 243

repairing (ScanDisk), 254-258 root directories, 75 tuning up (Disk Defragmenter), 252-253 Web page images, saving to, 417-418 hardware Add New Hardware Wizard (Control Panel), 515-518 adding, 513 Plug and Play devices, 514-518 unrecognized status, 515-518 USB devices, 514 device properties (Device Manager), 533-534 drivers, replacing (Device Manager), 535-536 errors, checking (Device Manager), 534-535 joysticks, installing, 515 modems, installing, 515 SCSI peripherals, installing, 515 troubleshooting (Device Manager), 531-536 troubleshooting (Windows Help), 536-538 UPS, usage guidelines, 13-14 Help command (Start Thing menu), 100 help resources, author Web pages, 547-548 Help system ? (question mark) button, 106-107 applications, 103-104 Assisted Support links, 102-103

installing F1 key, 102, 105-106 green underlined text, 101 Index, 101 information, printing, 102 launching, 100 Microsoft Word, 105-106 point-and-shoot, 107 screen appearance, 100 Search box, 101 WordPad, 105-106 Help topics command (Help menu), 103-104 hidden files, 339-340 hiding Favorites menu (Start Thing menu), 454-455 Logoff menu (Start Thing menu), 454-455 Quick Launch bar, 143 Run menu (Start Thing menu), 454-455 taskbar, 462-464 History list (Internet Explorer), 380 security tracking features, 381-382 home pages (Internet Explorer) changing, 365-367 preset, 365 Yahoo! Web site, 367

I icons desktop Auto Arrange option, 118, 124 deleting, 115, 124-126 Internet Explorer, 115 MS-DOS Prompt, 115

My Briefcase, 115 My Computer, 115 My Documents, 115 My Network Places, 115 Online Services folder, 115 Outlook Express, 115 placing, 116-117 positioning, 124 Recycle Bin, 115 Set Up MSN, 115 Windows Explorer, 115 Windows Media Player, 115 disk drives, 242 CD-ROM, 243 floppy, 243 hard, 243 files identifying, 332-333 Unknown File Type, 332-333 My Computer, display options, 72 opening, cautionary warnings, 335 Quick Launch bar default buttons, 145-146 maximum number of, 144-145 programs, adding, 146-147 programs, executing, 145 programs, removing, 148 resizing, 143 Recycle Bin, dragging to, 353 stuck, troubleshooting, 544-545

system tray, removing, 457-458 identifying files execution of, 331-332 icons, 331-333 names, 331-332 Image Club Web site, font sources, 502 images on Web pages copyright guidelines, 418 saving to hard drive, 417-418 IMAP email servers, 89 Inbox (Outlook Express) messages deleting, 387-390 forwarding, 389 moving, 390 reading, 385-387 replying, 387-389 viewing, 385 incremental backups, 260 Index (Help system), 101 ink jet printers, paper types, 225 inserting CDs tray types, 268-269 trayless types, 268-269 floppy disks, 265 Install New Font command (File menu), 502 installing Clipboard Viewer, 183 joysticks, 515 modems, 515

561

installing printers direct connections, 225-228 network connections, 229-231 SCSI peripherals, 515 software Add/Remove Programs icon (Control Panel), 175-177 anti-virus programs, disabling, 175 Internet downloads, 177-178 overview, 174-175 registration cards, 173-174 WinZip, 184-185 Internet access requirements, 85 ISPs, 86 modems, 86 software, 86 Assisted Support links (Help system), 102-103 connecting, 91, 94-96 disconnecting, 96 downloads, installing, 177-178 ISPs billing plans, 88 locating, 88-89 toll-free access, 89 newsgroups, searching, 371 online games playing, 422-423 Zone.com Web site, 424 online shopping guidelines, 424 PC configuration, 86-91

562

Internet Checkers (online game), 422-423 Internet Connection Wizard, 89-91 Internet Directory Service (LDAP), 89 Internet Explorer Address bar, 367-369 automatic startups, 365 desktop icon, 115 Favorites folder, 373-374 adding to, 375-377 deleting unwanted bookmarks, 379-380 organizing, 377-379 subfolders, 377-379 viewing, 374 History list, 380 security tracking features, 381-382 home pages changing, 365-367 preset, 365 Yahoo! Web site, 367 launching, 364 password access, 365 Search button, 369 shutting down, 372 Upgrade Internet Explorer Web page, 367 Web addresses, AutoComplete feature, 370 Web browsing via addresses, 367-369 via links, 367-369 Web pages images, saving to hard drive, 417-418 saving to hard drive, 416-417 window appearance, 364-365

Internet Options command (Tools menu-IE), 366-367 Internet Options dialog box, 366-367 Internet service providers, see ISPs Invert Selection command (Edit menu), 321 ISPs (Internet service providers), 86 billing plans, 88 connections, 94-96 locating, 88-89 recommended services, 88-89 required information, Internet Connection Wizard, 89-91 toll-free access, 89

J-K Jaz drives, 241 joysticks (Control Panel) adding, 433-434 installing, 515 JPEGs, email attachments, 402 Kensington SmartSockets, 12 keyboards (Control Panel) foreign language layout, 435-437 repeat rates, 435 speed adjustments, 434-435

modems Links bar, taskbar, adding, 468-470

mailing labels, printing, 67

landscape orientation, documents, printing, 199-201

List view (My Computer), 243

Large Icons command (View menu), 71

local printers, Add Printer Wizard, 226-227

Maintenance Wizard, hard drives, maintenance scheduling, 258-259

L

Large Icons view (My Computer), 244 laser printers, paper types, 225 launching Calculator, 24 Help system, 100 Internet Connection Wizard, 90 Internet Explorer, 364 Notepad, 27 Outlook Express, 384 Paint, 50 programs, 21-23 desktop shortcuts, 149 Documents menu, 149 Quick Launch bar, 145 Run command, 149-150 ScanDisk, 258 System Monitor, 154 Windows Explorer, 77-79, 277 WordPad, 34 LCD monitors, screen saver usage, 484 left-handed mouse, configuring, 512 line filtering, power strips, 12 links, clicking (Internet Explorer), 367-369

loading, see opening

locating floppy drives (My Computer), 264-265 ISPs, 88-89 logging in, 15 Look In List, browsing features, 50-53 lost files, searching, 343-345 date options, 349-350 partial text, 347-348 type option, 348-349 wildcard characters, 346-347 lost taskbar, restoring, 467-468 lost windows, troubleshooting, 543-544 Low Disk Notification utility, hard drive space, 242 Lycos Web site, 370

M magneto-optical (MO) drives, removable disk drive, 241 Mail Recepient command (Send To menu), 328

McAfee VirusScan, 529 Media Player, music CDs, playing, 272-273 Menu bar (programs), 26 menus, scrolling (Start Thing menu), 456 messages, formatting (Outlook Express), 400-401 Metacrawler Web site, 370 Microsoft Windows Update Web site, 187-189 Microsoft Word documents, printing page ranges, 198-199 Help system, launching, 105-106 Microsoft Works, desktop, copying to, 119 MIDI files (Windows Media folder) playing, 335-336 properties, 336-337 modems, 86 disconnect properties, changing, 372 faxes receiving, 235 software, 233 installation, 515 checking, 87-88

563

Modems Properties dialog box Modems Properties dialog box, 87-88 modifying colors on monitors, 482-484 date/time (Control Panel), 430-432 My Computer, view options, 243-244 screen size (monitors), 482-484 monitors colors, changing, 482-484 pixels, 481 modifying, 482-484 screen savers downloading from Internet, 484 evolution of, 484 password protection, 487-488 restoring to desktop, 486 selecting, 485-487 sounds, 489 time set, 486 use on LCD types, 484 versus sleep mode, 484 screen size, changing, 482-484 sleep mode, setting, 488-489 mouse clicking options, folder behaviors, 479 drag-and-drop, Start Thing menu additions, 131-134 file selection Crtl+click, 316-317 dragging action, 317-319 Shift+click, 318-319

564

files, moving, 312 left-handed configuration, 512 point-and-shoot (Help system), 107 pointer options schemes, 511-512 trails, 510-511 right-clicking file deletion options, 353 Send To menu, 323-324 taskbar, 142-143 Web page images, save options, 418 text, selecting, 162 Mouse Properties dialog box, 510-512 Move To button, 311 movie DVDs, playing (Windows DVD Player), 273 moving email messages to Outlook Express folders, 390-391 files Cut and Paste commands, 312-313 mouse dragging, 312 Move To button, 311 to new folders, 288-289 folders (My Documents), 292-294 programs on Start Thing menu, 134 submenus on Start Thing menu, 139 taskbar, 466-467 toolbars, 470-471 windows on desktop, 26

MS-DOS Prompt icon, 115 MSN Web site, 365 multiple printers, selecting, 203-205 multiplication symbol (*), Calculator, 25 multitasking programs, 153-154 background appearance, 156 foreground appearance, 156 switching between, 156-158 System Monitor/WordPad, 154-156 windows arrangements, 158-160 music CDs, playing (Media Player), 272-273 My Briefcase, 115 My Computer Address bar, 70 folder pathnames, 77 contents, 69-70 display options, 71-73 icon arrangement, 72 Control Panel folder, 70 customized views, 71-73 desktop, 70, 115 disk drives CD-ROM/DVD drives, 241 contents, 74-75 icons, 242-243 information, 73-74 letter identification, 240-242 naming, 244-246 removable, 241

online games floppy drives, locating, 264-265 folders, 72 opening, 75-76 function of, 69 icon options, 72 large icons, 71 multiple-window mode versus one-window mode, 77 one-window mode versus multiplewindow mode, 77 opening, 70 standard buttons, 72 toolbar options, 72 versus Windows Explorer, 78 views, changing, 243-244 ZIP drives, disk contents, viewing, 274

N names, Address Book, adding (Outlook Express), 396-397 naming disk drives (My Computer), 244-246 documents (WordPad), 36-37 files, guidelines, 315 folders, character guidelines, 292 printers, 205 Add Printer Wizard, 227 NASA Web site, 368 navigating folders (Windows Explorer), 279-282

My Documents contents, viewing (Windows Explorer), 81 desktop, 115 documents, opening, 55-56 folders deleting, 294-296 moving, 292-294 organizing, 289-290 renaming, 290-292 viewing (Windows Explorer), 278-279

network drives, letter identification, 242

My Documents command (Send To menu), 328

new folders, creating, 288-290

My Network Places, 115 My Pictures compressed folders, creating, 298-300 contents, viewing (Windows Explorer), 81-82

network printers (Add Printer Wizard), 226 installing, 229-231 naming, 205 selecting, 203-205 New Compressed Folder command (New menu), 299 New Folder command (File menu), 288-290

New Messages command (Message menu), 391 newsgroups NNTP servers, 89 searching, 371

NNTP servers, 89 noise supression, power strips, 12 Norton AntiVirus, 529 Norton CleanSweep, software removal utility, 181 Norton Utilities versus ScanDisk, 258 Notepad closing, 31 desktop, copying to, 119 items, pasting, 29 launching, 27 Maximize button, 28 Minimize button, 28 numeric values (Calculator), pasting, 29 Restore button, 28 screen appearance, 27 scrollbars, 28 text entry, 27 saving, 30 word wrap, 29 windows maximizing, 28 minimizing, 28 resizing, 27 numeric values, Calculator, copying to Notepad, 29

O online games Internet Checkers, playing, 422-423 playing, 422-423 Zone.com Web site, 424

nicknames, Address Book, creating (Outlook Express), 398

565

online services online services America Online (AOL), 86 configuring, 92-93 connecting, 97-98 Prodigy Internet, 86 online shopping guidelines, 424 Open command (File menu), 46-48 Open dialog box, 46-47 documents, opening alternatives, 53-55 file types, 47-48 Thumbnail view (Paint), 50-51 Open With dialog box, unknown file types, 333-334 opening documents My Documents folder, 55-56 recent file lists, 56-57 without Open dialog box, 53-55 WordPad, 46-47 file types (WordPad), 47-48 folders (My Computer), 75-76 icons, cautionary warnings, 335 My Computer, 70 unknown email attachments (Outlook Express), 404-405 unknown files (Open With dialog box), 333-334 Organize Favorites dialog box (IE), 377-379

566

organizing folders in My Documents, 289-290 Web pages, Favorites folder (IE), 377-379 orientation, printer document setup landscape, 199-201 portrait, 199-201 Outbox (Outlook Express), messages, moving, 390 Outlook Express, 98 Address Book names, adding, 396-397 nicknames, creating, 398 recipients, selecting, 398-400 screen appearance, 395-396 attachments compressing, 403 receiving, 403-404 sending, 402-403 unknown, 404-405 virus warnings, 404 Deleted Items folder, messages, moving, 390 desktop icon, 115 Drafts folder, messages, moving, 390 email, formatting, 400-401 exiting, 393 Inbox messages deleting, 387-390 forwarding, 389 moving, 390 reading, 385-387 replying, 387-389 launching, 384

messages BCC (blind carbon copy), 393 composing, 391-393 options, customizing, 405-406 Outbox messages, moving, 390 screen appearance, 384-385 Sent Items folder, messages, moving, 390

P page ranges, documents, printing, 197-199 Page Setup command (File menu), 63-64, 195 Page Setup dialog box, 63-64 orientation options, 199-201 Paint desktop, copying to, 119 documents, printing, 59-62 graphics files, searching, 50-53 launching, 50 windows, maximizing, 50 palettes, floating toolbars, 471-472 paper sizes, printers, selecting, 201-203 paper types, printers, selecting, 225 passwords Internet access, 365 screen savers, 487-488

previewing Paste command (Edit menu), 161-162, 306-307 pasting items (Notepad), 29 text inability to, 163-165 WordPad (drag method), 166-168 pathnames in folders, 77 Windows Explorer, 285-286 Pattern dialog box, 441-443 patterns (wallpaper) editing, 442-443 setting as, 441-443 Patterns dialog box, 441 PCs (personal computers), 86 CD-ROM drives, 267-268 do’s and don’ts Windows reinstallation, 540-541 Windows upgrades, 541 DVD drives, 267-268 floppy drives evolution of, 264 locating, 264-265 hardware, adding, 513-518 Internet, configuring, 86-91 logging in, 15 modem properties, checking, 87-88 printers, direct connection installations, 225-228 restarting, 18-19

Safe Mode, starting, 538 shutting down, 16-20 sleep mode, 17-18 troubleshooting, 19 startup sequence, 14 troubleshooting scenarios blank screen, 542 disk errors, 542 frozen programs, 544-545 lost windows, 543-544 ScanDisk errors, 542-543 slow system speed, 541-542 stuck icons, 544 troubleshooting tools emergency boot disk, 529-530 Registry Checker utility, 525 Skip Driver Agent utility, 526 System Configuration utility, 526-528 System Information utility, 522-523 System Restore utility, 523-525 turning on power strips, 12 UPS, 13 people, names/addresses, searching, 371 pixels, monitor resolution, 481 modifying, 482-484 placing document shortcuts on desktop, 120-122 icons on desktop, 116-117

project folders shortcuts on desktop, 122-123 playing MIDI files (Windows Media folder), 335-336 movie DVDs (Windows DVD Player), 273 music CDs (Media Player), 272-273 online games, 422-423 WAV files (Windows Media folder), 336 Plug and Play devices, hardware installations, 514-515 troubleshooting, 515-518 point-and-shoot help (Help system), 107 pointers (mouse), 510 schemes, 511-512 trails, 510-511 POP3 email servers, 89 portrait orientation, printed documents, 199-201 PostScript fonts, 500 Power Management Properties dialog box, monitor options, 488-489 power strips. See also UPS Kensington SmartSockets, 12 line filtering, 12 noise supression, 12 PCs, turning on, 12 previewing documents, Print Preview button (WordPad), 64-66

567

previewing fonts, Fonts folder (Control Panel), 501-502 Print command (file menu), 61-62, 195 Print dialog box fax options cover pages, 234 time schedule, 234 number of copies option, 62 options, 61-62 page range options, 197-199 print jobs, canceling, 224 Print Preview button (WordPad), 64-66 Print Preview command (File menu), 195-196 print queues displaying, 221-223 jobs, canceling, 224 Print Screen button desktop snapshots, printing, 208-209 full-screen mode, 209-210 top-window mode, 209-210 printers default, selecting, 220 direct connections, installing, 225-228 dot-matrix, paper types, 225 ink jet, paper types, 225 laser, paper types, 225 multiple, selecting, 203-205 naming, 205, 227

568

network connections, installing, 229-231 paper sizes, selecting, 201-203 print jobs, canceling, 224 print queues, displaying, 221-223 renaming (Printers folder), 219 test pages, printing, 228 Printers command (Settings menu), 218 Printers folder accessing, 218 contents, 218 default printers, selecting, 220 printers, renaming, 219 Printers menu commands, Purge Print Documents, 224 printing desktop folders (Alt+Print Screen button), 211-216 desktop snapshots (Alt+Print Screen button), 208-209 desktop windows (Alt+Print Screen button), 209-210 documents general applications example, 195 landscape orientation, 199-201 multiple copies, 62 page ranges, 197-199 Paint, 59-62 paper size selection, 201-203 portrait orientation, 199-201

Print Preview window, 195-196 WordPad example, 194 envelopes, 63-66 mailing labels, 67 information from Help system, 102 test pages, new printer installations, 228 Prodigy Internet, 86 programs closing, 30 desktop shortcuts, launching, 149 Documents menu, launching, 149 Help system, 103-104 launching, 21-23 multitasking, 153-154 background appearance, 156 foreground appearance, 156 switching between, 156-158 System Monitor/WordPad example, 154-156 windows arrangements, 158-160 Quick Launch bar adding, 146-147 executing, 145 removing, 148 recent file lists, opening, 56-57 removing improper methods, 179 Norton CleanSweep, 181 proper methods, 179-181

renaming Run command, launching, 149-150 shortcut icons, desktop, placing, 116-117 Start Thing menu adding, 128-134, 453-454 copying to desktop, 118-119 deleting, 453-454 dragging back, 120 system tray icons, removing, 457-458 window elements, 26 arranging, 158-160 Programs menu commands Accessories, 24 Games, 422-423 project folders, desktop shortcut icons, 122-123 Properties dialog box, 337 Purge Print Documents command (Printers menu), 224

Q-R question mark (?) Help system button, 106-107 wildcard character in file searches, 346 Quick Launch bar, 119, 141-142 Control Panel icon, 430 handle, 143 hiding, 143 icons default buttons, 145-146

maximum number of, 144-145 resizing, 143 missing, troubleshooting, 142-143 pop-up menu, 143 programs adding, 146-147 executing, 145 removing, 148 Show More arrows, 144-145 read-only file attributes, 338 reading email messages America Online (AOL), 408-410 Outlook Express, 385387 receiving email attachments (Outlook Express), 403-404 faxes, 235 recent file lists, documents, opening, 56-57 recipients, email messages, selecting (Outlook Express), 398-400 recovering deleted files, 356-357 Recycle Bin desktop icon, 115 emptying, 359-360 files restoring, 356-357 selecting for deletion, 360 icons, dragging to, 353 Properties dialog box, 357-358 storage capacity, 357-358

registration cards, new software, 173-174 Registry Checker utility, 525 reinstalling Windows, warning against, 540-541 removable disk drives, 241 letter identification, changing, 276 removing files from hard drives (Disk Cleanup utility), 248-251 fonts from Fonts folder (Control Panel), 504-505 programs improper methods, 179 Norton CleanSweep, 181 proper methods, 179-181 Quick Launch bar, 148 Start Thing menu, 135-136 system tray icons, 457-458 Web pages Favorites folder (IE), 379-380 History list (IE), 381-382 Windows Me CD components, 185-187 Rename command (File menu), 292, 314-315 renaming commands (Send To menu), 328-329

569

renaming disk drives (My Computer), 244-246 documents (WordPad), 38-39 files, 314-315 folders (My Documents), 290-292 printers (Printers folder), 219 programs (Start Thing menu), 134-135 repairing hard drives (ScanDisk), 254-258 replacing hardware drivers (Device Manager), 535-536 replying email messages America Online (AOL), 410 Outlook Express, 387-389 resizing icons (Quick Launch bar), 143 Notepad window, 27 taskbar, 465-466 restarting PCs, 18-19 Restore command (File meu), 356-357 restore points, System Restore utility, 523-525 restoring desktop from screen savers, 486 lost taskbar, 467-468 revisiting Web pages, History list (IE), 380 right-click mouse file deletion options, 353 Send to menu, 323-324

570

taskbar, 142-143 Web page images, saving, 418 root directories, 75 Run command (Start Thing menu), 149-150 Run dialog box, 149-150

S Safe Mode, PCs, starting, 538 sans serif fonts, 501 Save As command (File menu), 35, 416 Save As dialog box, 35 file formats, 39-42 file renaming, 38-39 folder locations, 36 new folders, 42-43 Save command (File menu), 33-34 saving documents (WordPad), 37-43 files, 33 frequency of, 34 Web pages hard drives, 416-418 text-only, 417 ScanDisk CHKDSK (Check-Disk) descendant, 258 Display Summary, 256 errors, troubleshooting, 542-543 File Allocation Tables (FATs), 256 hard drives, repairing, 254-258 launching, 258

log files, 257 results, viewing, 257 Set Cross-Linked Files to Delete, 256 Set Lost File Fragments to Free, 256 Standard test, 255 Thorough test, 255 versus Norton Utilities, 258 scheduling maintenance on hard drives (Maintenance Wizard), 258-259 schemes desktop, changing, 445-446 sounds, selecting, 493-494 screen savers downloading from Internet, 484 evolution of, 484 password protection, 487-488 restoring to desktop, 486 selecting, 485-487 sounds, 489 time set, 486 use on LCD monitors, 484 versus sleep mode, 484 screen size, monitors, changing, 482-484 SCSI peripherals, installing, 515 Search box (Help system), 101 Search command (Start Thing menu), 341-342 search engines, 369 Ask Jeeves Web site, 370 Dogpile Web site, 370

Shutdown Windows dialog box Excite Web site, 370 Go.com Web site, 370 Google Web site, 370 GoTo Web site, 370 Lycos Web site, 370 Metacrawler Web site, 370 Search.com Web site, 370 Yahoo! Web site, 370 Search menu commands, For File or Folders, 342-343 Search.com Web site, 370 searching files, 343-345 date options, 349-350 partial text, 347-348 type option, 348-349 wildcard characters, 346-347 Windows Explorer, 79-82 folders via Windows Explorer, 79-82, 282-285 name/address Web sites, 371 newsgroups, 371 Paint graphics (Look In List), 50-53 Web sites, methods, 369 WordPad documents, TIPS file, 49-50 Select All command (Edit menu), 319-320 Select Recipients dialog box, 399 selecting files (Crtl+mouse click), 316-317

files (mouse dragging), 317-319 files (Select All command), 319-320 files (Shift+mouse click), 318-319 files for deletion from Recycle Bin, 360 folders background images, 475 templates, 474-475 graphics, 162 printers default status, 220 networks, 203-205 screen savers, 485-487 sound schemes, 493-494 text, 162 self-extracting archives, Internet downloads, 177-178 Send To menu commands, 323-324 adding, 325-328 Compressed Folder, 328 deleting, 328-329 Desktop Shortcut, 324-325, 328 Mail Recepient, 328 My Documents, 328 renaming, 328-329 sending email, America Online (AOL), 411-412 email attachments America Online (AOL), 412-413 Outlook Express, 402-403 Sent Items folder (Outlook Express), 390 serif fonts, 501

Set Up MSN desktop icon, 115 setting desktop themes, 448-449 sleep mode for monitors, 488-489 Start Thing menu properties, 451-454 wallpaper, 440-441 Settings menu commands Control Panel, 428 Dial-Up Networking, 91 Printers, 218 Taskbar and Start Menu, 128 shareware, downloading, 419-421 Shift+Delete keystroke, file deletion, 354-356 Shift+mouse click, file selection, 318-319 shopping online, guidelines, 424 shortcut icons (desktop), 120-123, 144 aliases, 116 files, creating, 309-310 folders creating, 296-297 deleting, 297 Microsoft Works, placing, 119 Notepad, placing, 119 Paint, placing, 119 Windows Explorer, 79 Show More arrows Quick Launch bar, 144-145 submenus, 23 Shutdown Windows dialog box, 17-20

571

shutting down shutting down Internet Explorer, 372 PCs, 16-20 sleep mode, 17-18 troubleshooting, 19 Skip Driver Agent utility, 526 sleep mode monitors, setting, 488-489 shutdowns, 17-18 slow system speeds, troubleshooting, 541-542 Small Icons view (My Computer), 243 SMTP email servers, 89 software deleting, 179 improper methods, 179 Norton CleanSweep, 181 proper methods, 179-181 Internet downloads Download.com Web site, 419-421 File Mine Web site, 419-421 freeware, 419-421 shareware, 419-421 virus warnings, 421 new installations Add/Remove Programs icon (Control Panel), 175-177 anti-virus programs, disabling, 175 Internet downloads, 177-178 overview, 174-175

572

registration cards, 173-174 uninstalling Add/Remove Programs icon (Control Panel), 179-181 Norton CleanSweep, 181 sorting submenus (Start Thing menu), 453-454 sound files MIDI files playing (Windows Media), 335-336 properties (Windows Media), 336-337 WAV files, playing (Windows Media), 336 sounds schemes, selecting, 493-494 Sounds and Multimedia icon (Control Panel), 492 system events, adding, 492-493 volume, adjusting, 494-497 Sounds and Multimedia Properties dialog box, 492 Sounds Properties dialog box, sound schemes, 493-494 SPAM (junk email), deleting, 389-390 special effects, desktop, applying, 447 Standard Buttons command (View menu), 72

Start button (Start Thing menu), 21-22 Start Thing menu aliases, 129 appearance, 21-22 customizing, 451-454 Control Panel, accessing, 429 desktop icons, dragging back, 120 Display Favorites submenu, 454-455 Display Logoff submenu, 454-455 Documents submenu capacity, 31 recent lists, 31 editing (Windows Explorer), 136-137 folders, expand options, 455-456 functions, 21-22 Help menu, 100 menu types StartUp, 139 top-o-the-menu, 139 programs adding, 128-134, 453-454 copying to desktop, 118-119 deleting, 453-454 drag-and-drop additions, 131-134 moving, 134 removing, 135-136 renaming, 134-135 Run submenu, 454-455 Scroll Programs option, 456 Search menu, 341-342 Start button, 21-22 submenus creating, 137-138 moving, 139 sorting, 453-454

toolbars startup sequence for PCs, 14 storing fonts, Fonts folder (Control Panel), 505 Web pages, Favorites folder (IE), 373-374 stuck icons, troubleshooting, 544 submenus appearance, 22-23 Esc key, 24 mouse movement, 24 Programs menu, 23 Show More arrows, 23 Start Thing menu creating, 137-138 moving, 139 sorting, 453-454 Switchboard Web site, people locators, 371 switching programs in multitasking environment, 156-158 Symantec AntiVirus Research Center, 421 system checkpoints, System Restore utility, 523-525 system colors, changing, 444-445 System Configuration utility, 526-528 system events, sounds, adding, 492-493 system fonts, 500 System Information utility, 522-523 System Monitor display counters, 154-156 function of, 154-156

launching, 154 multitasking example, 154-156 System Restore utility, 523-525 system sounds, volume, adjusting, 494-497 system tray icons, removing, 457-458 online icon appearance, 94

T taskbar Address bar, adding, 468-470 appearance, modifying, 142-143 blank buttons, troubleshooting, 464 Desktop bar, adding, 468-470 elements, 141-142, 462 hiding, 462-464 Links bar, adding, 468-470 lost, restoring, 467-468 manipulation settings, 464-465 moving, 466-467 resizing, 465-466 screen appearance, 462 Web pages, adding, 470 Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, 128, 451-453, 462-468 technical support, Assisted Support links (Help system), 102-103 templates, folders, selecting, 474-475

test pages, printers, 228 text Clipboard, viewing, 165-166 files, searching, 347-348 Notepad entry, 27 pasting, inability to, 163-165 saving (Notepad), 30 selecting, 162 Web pages, saving, 417 word wrap (Notepad), 29 WordPad copying via drag method, 166-168 cutting via drag method, 166-168 deleting, 38 dragging to desktop, 169-171 entry, 35 insertion pointer, 38 new paragraphs, 38 pasting via drag method, 166-168 themes (desktop), 448-449 tiling program windows, 158-160 timing faxes (Print dialog box), 234 TIPS file, browsing, 49-50 Title bar (programs), 26 toolbars Address bar, adding to taskbar, 468-470 Desktop bar, adding to taskbar, 468-470 floating, 471-472 Links bar, adding to taskbar, 468-470 positioning, 470-471 Web pages, adding to taskbar, 470

573

Toolbars command (View menu) Toolbars command (View menu), 72 Tools menu commands Add to Address Book (Outlook Express), 387 Automatic Skip Driver Agent, 526 Folder Options, 72, 478 Internet Options (IE), 366-367 PC troubleshooting overview, 523 Registry Checker, 525 System Configuration, 526 System Restore, 523 top-o-the-menu (Start Thing menu), 139 troubleshooting envelopes, printed output, 66 hardware Device Manager, 531-536 Windows Help, 536-538 hardware installations, 515-518 missing Quick Launch bar, 142-143 PC problems blank screen, 542 disk errors, 542 emergency boot disk, 529-530 frozen programs, 544-545 lost windows, 543-544 Registry Checker utility, 525 Safe Mode operation, 538

574

ScanDisk errors, 542-543 Skip Driver Agent utility, 526 slow system speeds, 541-542 stuck icons, 544 System Configuration utility, 526-528 System Information utility, 522-523 System Restore utility, 523-525 Tools menu, 523 shutdowns, 19 taskbar, blank buttons, 464 text, inability to paste, 163-165 viruses McAfee VirusScan, 529 Norton AntiVirus, 529 prevention guidelines, 528-529 .WSH extensions (email), 529 TrueType fonts, 500 tuning up hard drives (Disk Defragmenter), 252-253 turning on PCs, 12 power strips, 12 UPS, 13

U-V undeleting files, 356-357 Undo command (Edit menu), 161-162, 351

undoing folder customization, 478 uninstalling software Add/Remove Programs icon (Control Panel), 179-181 Norton CleanSweep, 181 uninterruptible power supply, see UPS Unknown File type icon, 332-333 updating Windows Me, Microsoft Windows Update Web site, 187-189 upgrading Windows, warning against, 541 UPS (uninterruptible power supply). See also power strips battery drainage, 13 hardware, usage guidelines, 13-14 office supply sites Warehouse.com Web site, 13 Zones.com Web site, 13 PCs, turning on, 13 USB devices, hardware installations, 514 Usenet newsgroups, searching, 371 View menu commands Arrange Icons, 72 Customize This Folder, 474 Large Icons, 71 Standard Buttons, 72 Toolbars, 72

Win+E keystroke (Windows Explorer) viewing. See also displaying Clipboard, 165-166 folders custom settings, 480 My Documents (Windows Explorer), 278-279 Windows Explorer, 278 Fonts folder (Control Panel), 499-500 Inbox (Outlook Express), 385 MIDI file properties (Windows Media folder), 336-337 My Computer Details view, 244 Large Icons view, 244 List view, 243 Small Icons view, 243 print queues, 221-223 Web pages, Favorites folder (IE), 374 viruses email attachments (Outlook Express), 404 .WSH extensions, 529 Internet downloads, 421 McAfee VirusScan, 529 Norton AntiVirus, 529 prevention guidelines, 528-529 Symantec AntiVirus Research Center, 421 visiting Web pages, Favorites folder (IE), 380 volume, system sounds, adjusting, 494-497 Volume Control, output devices, controlling, 496-497

volume labels, disk drives, 240

W wallpaper desktop, setting, 418 graphics images screen size, 444 setting, 443-444 sources, 443 stretching, 443 Web page option, 444 patterns editing, 442-443 setting as, 441-443 setting, 440-441 Wambooli Web site author Web pages, 547548 keyword searches, 548 Warehouse.com Web site, UPS vendor, 13 warm booting PCs, 1819 WAV files, playing (Windows Media folder), 336 Web browsers, America Online (AOL), 94, 413414 Web pages Favorites folder (IE) adding to, 375-377 deleting, 379-380 organizing, 377-379 storing, 373-374 subfolders, 377-379 viewing, 374 hard drives, saving to, 416-417 History list (IE) deleting visited pages, 381-382 revisiting, 380

images copyright guidelines, 418 saving to hard drive, 417-418 taskbar, adding, 470 text-only, saving, 417 Web sites Ask Jeeves, 370 browsing via America Online (AOL), 413-414 documents, faxing, 235 Dogpile, 370 Excite, 370 Go.com, 370 Google, 370 GoTo, 370 Image Club, 502 Lycos, 370 Metacrawler, 370 Microsoft Windows Update, 187-189 NASA, 368 people locators Switchboard, 371 WhitePages.com, 371 Yahoo!, 371 search methods, 369 Search.com, 370 software sources Download.com, 419-421 File Mine, 419-421 Wambooli, author Web pages, 547-548 Warehouse.com, 13 Yahoo!, 370 Zones.com, 13, 424 WhitePages.com Web site, people locators, 371 wildcard characters, files, searching, 346-347 Win+E keystroke (Windows Explorer), 79

575

Win32 FontLister Win32 FontLister, 502 windows arrangement in multitasking environment, 158-160 contents (programs), 26 Notepad maximizing, 28 minimizing, 28 resizing, 27 Paint, maximizing, 50 programs cascade appearance, 158-160 tiled appearance, 158-160 Windows DVD Player, 273 Windows Explorer Accessories folder contents, 80 desktop icon, 115 disk drives, tree-structure view, 78-79 files, searching, 79-82 folders branches, 279-282 navigating, 279-282 pathnames, 285-286 searching, 79-82, 282-285 tree-structure view, 78-79 view options, 278 launching, 77-79, 277 My Documents folder, contents, viewing, 81 My Pictures folder, contents, viewing, 81-82 screen elements, 78 shortcut icon, 79 Start Thing menu, editing, 136-137

576

tree-structure, plus/minus signs, 80-82 versus My Computer, 78

Word Wrap command (Edit menu-Notepad), 29

Windows Help, hardware, troubleshooting, 536-538

WordPad documents folders, searching, 49-50 naming, 36-37 opening, 46-47 printing, 194 saving, 35 saving, file formats, 39-42 saving, frequency of, 37-38 saving, new folders, 42-43 saving, new names, 38-39 envelopes, printing, 63-66 file types, opening, 47-48 graphics, dragging to desktop, 169-171 Help system ? (question mark) button, 106-107 launching, 105-106 launching, 34 multitasking example, 154-156 Print Preview button, 64-66 Save As dialog box, 35-36 screen elements, 34 shortcut icon, desktop, placing, 116-117 text copying via drag method, 166-168 cutting via drag method, 166-168

Windows Me (Windows Millennium Edition), 183-187 CD components adding, 183-185 removing, 185-187 logging in, 15 restarting, 18-19 shut downs, 16-17 sleep mode, 17-18 shutting down, 19-20 startup sequence, 14 updating (Microsoft Windows Update Web site), 187-189 Windows Media folder MIDI files playing, 335-336 properties, viewing, 336-337 WAV files, playing, 336 Windows Media Player, 115 Windows Update command (Start menu), 187 WinFax Pro, 233 WINFILE program, Start Thing menu, adding, 132-134 WINVER utility, Start Thing menu, adding, 128-131 WinZip utility downloading, 177 installing, 184-185

Zone.com Web site deleting, 38 dragging to desktop, 169-171 entry, 35 insertion pointer, 38 new paragraphs, 38 pasting via drag method, 166-168 Work Offline command (File menu), 96

X-Z Yahoo! Web site, 370 Internet Explorer home page, 367 people locators, 371 ZIP disks, 260 ZIP drives backup uses, 275 cost, 276 disk contents magnetic sensitivity, 275 viewing, 274 removable disk drive, 241 versus floppy drive capacities, 274 ZIP files evolution of, 298 Internet downloads, installations, 177-178 third party utilities, 298 Windows Me support, 298 WinZip utility, 177 Zone.com Web site online games, 424 UPS vendor, 13

577

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