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Tips for Windows The Task ManagerThe Start button is the normal way to exit Windows.
Occasionally, however, an application may “hang”— in which case you want to
close the problem application but leave Windows open. Press Ctrl+Alt+ Minimizing Versus Closing an ApplicationMinimizing an application leaves the application open in memory and available at the click of the taskbar button. Closing it, however, removes the application from memory, which also causes it to disappear from the taskbar. The advantage of minimizing an application is that you can return to the application immediately. The disadvantage is that leaving too many applications open simultaneously may degrade the performance of your system, depending on the amount of memory available. Designating the Devices on a SystemThe first (usually only) floppy drive is always designated as drive A. (A second floppy drive, if it were present, would be drive B.) The first hard (local) disk on a system is always drive C, whether or not there are one or two floppy drives. Additional local drives if any, a zip (removable storage) drive, a network drive, and/or the CD-ROM are labeled from D on. The Help ButtonThe Help button (a question mark) appears in the title bar of almost every dialog box. Click the question mark, then click the item you want information about (which then appears in a pop-up window). To print the contents of the pop-up window, click the right mouse button inside the window, and click Print Topic. Click outside the pop-up window to close the window and continue working. To Click or Double ClickThe Folder Options command in the Tools menu controls the appearance of the My Computer window and determines whether you will click to open an underlined icon or double click to open a classic icon. The command also specifies whether or not Web content will appear at the left of a folder, as was done in Figure 7. The View menu is used independently of the Folder Options command and lets you select one of five different views. All choices depend strictly on personal preference, and we encourage you to experiment freely with the various options. The Right Mouse ButtonPoint to any object on the Windows desktop or within an application window, then click the right mouse button to see a context-sensitive menu with commands pertaining to that object. You could, for example, right click the icon for drive A, then select the Open command from the resulting menu. The right mouse button is one of the most powerful Windows shortcuts and one of its best-kept secrets. Use it! Sort by Name, Date, File Type, or SizeFiles can be displayed in ascending or descending sequence by name, date modified, type, or size, by clicking the appropriate column heading. Click Size, for example, to display files in the order of their size. Click the column heading a second time to reverse the sequence, that is, to switch from ascending to descending, and vice versa. The Smart ToolbarThe toolbar in Windows Explorer recognizes whether you are viewing a Web page or a set of files and folders, and changes accordingly. The icons that are displayed when viewing a Web page are identical to those in Internet Explorer and include the Search, Favorites, and History buttons, plus additional buttons to mail and/or print the page. The buttons that are displayed when viewing a file or folder include the Undo, Delete, and Views buttons that are used in file management. Both sets of icons include the Back and Forward buttons. Convergence of the ExplorersWindows Explorer and Internet Explorer are separate
programs, but each includes some functionality of the other. You can use
Windows Explorer to display a Web page by clicking the Internet Explorer icon within
the tree structure in the left pane. Conversely, you can use Internet Explorer
to display a local drive, document, or folder. Start Internet Explorer in the
usual fashion, click in the Address bar, then enter the appropriate address;
e.g., C:\ to display the contents of drive C. The Document, not the ApplicationAll versions of Windows are document-oriented, meaning that you are able to think in terms of the document rather than application that created it. You can still open a document in traditional fashion, by starting the application that created the document, then using the File Open command in that program to retrieve the document. It’s often easier, however, to open the document from within My Computer (or Windows Explorer) by double clicking its icon. Windows then starts the application and opens the data file. In other words, you can open a document without explicitly starting the application. The Plus and Minus SignAny drive, be it local or on the network, may be expanded or collapsed to display or hide its folders. A minus sign indicates that the drive has been expanded and that its folders are visible. A plus sign indicates the reverse; that is, the device is collapsed and its folders are not visible. Click either sign to toggle to the other. Clicking a plus sign, for example, expands the drive, then displays a minus sign next to the drive to indicate that the folders are visible. Clicking a minus sign has the reverse effect; i.e., it collapses the drive, hiding its folders. Back Up Important FilesWe cannot over emphasize the importance of adequate backup and urge you to copy your data files to floppy disks and store those disks away from your computer. You might also want to write-protect your backup disks so that you cannot accidentally erase a file. It takes only a few minutes, but you will thank us, when (not if) you lose an important file and wish you had another copy. The Show Desktop ButtonOne of the most useful enhancements in Windows 2000 (over the Windows 95/NT 4.0 interface) is the Show Desktop button on the taskbar, which enables you to minimize all open windows with a single click. The button functions as a toggle switch. Click it once and all windows are minimized. Click it a second time and the open windows are restored to their position on the desktop. If you do not see the Show Desktop button, right click a blank area of the taskbar to display a context-sensitive menu, click Toolbars, then check the Quick Launch toolbar, which contains the Show Desktop button. The Undo CommandThe Undo command is present not only in application programs such as Word or Excel, but in Windows Explorer as well. You can use the Undo command to undelete a file provided you execute the command immediately (within a few commands) after the Delete command. To execute the Undo command, right-click anywhere in the right pane to display a shortcut menu, then select the Undo action. You can also pull down the Edit menu and click Undo to reverse (undo) the last command. Some operations cannot be undone (in which case the command will be dimmed), but Undo is always worth a try. File ExtensionsLong-time DOS users remember a three-character extension at the end of a filename to indicate the file type; for example, DOC or XLS to indicate a Word document or Excel workbook, respectively. The extensions are displayed or hidden according to a setting in the Folder Options command. Pull down the Tools menu, click the Folder Options command to display the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab, then check (or clear) the box to hide (or show) file extensions for known file types. Click OK to accept the setting and exit the dialog box. Keyboard ShortcutsMost people begin with the mouse, but add keyboard shortcuts as they become more proficient. Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+U are shortcuts to boldface, italicize and underline respectively. Ctrl+X (the X is supposed to remind you of a pair of scissors), Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V correspond to Cut, Copy, and Paste, respectively. Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End move to the beginning or end of a document. These shortcuts are not unique to Microsoft Word, but are recognized in virtually every Windows application. Right Click and DragThe result of dragging a file with the left mouse button depends on whether the source and destination folders are on the same or different drives. Dragging a file to a folder on a different drive copies the file. Dragging the file to a folder on the same drive moves the file. If you find this hard to remember, and most people do, click and drag with the right mouse button to display a shortcut menu asking whether you want to copy or move the file. This simple tip can save you from making a careless (and potentially serious) error. Use it! The My Documents FolderThe My Documents folder is created by default with the installation of Windows 2000. There is no requirement that you store your documents in this folder, but it is convenient, especially for beginners who may lack the confidence to create their own folders. The My Documents folder is also helpful in a laboratory environment where the network administrator may prevent you from modifying the desktop and/or from creating your own folders on drive C, in which case you will have to use the My Documents folder. Customize Windows ExplorerIncrease or decrease the size of the left pane within Windows Explorer by dragging the vertical line separating the left and right panes in the appropriate direction. You can also drag the right border of the various column headings (Name, Size, Type, and Modified) in the right pane to increase or decrease the width of the column and see more or less information in that column. And best of all, you can click any column heading to display the contents of the selected folder in sequence by that column. Click the heading a second time and the sequence changes from ascending to descending and vice versa. Select Multiple FilesSelecting (clicking) one file automatically deselects the previously selected file. You can, however, select multiple files by clicking the first file, then pressing and holding the Ctrl key as you click each additional file. Use the Shift key to select multiple files that are adjacent to one another by clicking the icon of the first file, then pressing and holding the Shift key as you click the icon of the last file. |
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| © Lynne Grewe |