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Every good tech should know Windows—and I don’t mean from a programming side, but rather from a user’s perspective. You are expected to be (eventually) the master or mistress of All Things That One Can Do on a Windows System. This includes skills such as moving and copying files, changing file associations, and using common shortcuts. We tend to ignore these more basic issues since we just assume that a person who replaces a hard drive also knows how to do these types of jobs. You need to be com- fortable and confident with the Windows interface, or you will lose credibility as a tech. If you walk up to service a PC and have trouble moving or resizing a window, for exam- ple, this won’t instill a lot of confidence in your client! The A Certification exam writers understand this, and they test you on Windows user-level stuff, such as file manipulation, shifting between open applications, access- ing the proper toolbar to find formatting tools, and so on. While you probably already know much of this information, I’ve added this section for you to review and perhaps catch a few bits and pieces you might have missed along the way. Let’s start with a tour of the Windows 9 x interface and then jump into the nitty gritty of work- ing with Windows.
Essential Windows
- Touring Windows 9 x
- Working with Windows 9 x
W E B C H A P T E R
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Touring Windows 9 x Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve always been a fan of Macintosh computers. I’ve found the Macintosh operating system’s interface easy to use and very intuitive. Back in the DOS days, I grimaced with envy when some pompous Mac-head performed with a few mouse clicks a procedure that took four or five disturbingly complex DOS commands. I stared in wide-eyed fascination as a Mac made my Windows 3. x interface look like a poor second cousin compared with the smooth animations of its operating system. Everything changed when I got my first copy of Windows 95. I fired up the system to stare in awe as I got my first view of what would soon make me forget all about the Macintosh: the Windows Desktop (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Windows 95 Desktop
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Clicking the Start button opens the Start menu, which enables us to see all programs loaded on the system and to start them. Click on the Start button to bring up the Start menu. Now, move your mouse, but don’t click, up to Programs. As the mouse moves, notice how other menus appear. When the Programs menu appears, move the mouse to the Accessories menu. Locate the Notepad program and click it as shown here.
Figure 2 Mike’s messy desktop
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Later versions of Windows hide lesser-used menu options, so if you don’t see Notepad, click the double down-arrows at the bottom of the Accessories menu. Notepad will then appear.
Windows General Rules of Clicking
Since we have so much clicking to do in this chapter, let’s take a moment to reflect on what I lovingly call the “General Rules of Clicking.” There are a few exceptions, but these rules almost always apply and really help in manipulating the Windows interface to do whatever you need done.
- Click menu items once to use them.
- Click icons once to select them.
- Click icons twice to use them.
- Alternate-click on anything to see its properties.
Great! If you opened Notepad properly, you should see something like Figure 4, with Notepad displaying an untitled text page.
Figure 3 Start button
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If you have Windows 98/ME or Windows 2000, you also get the Quick Launch tool- bar (shown in the following illustration). This handy extra enables you to select often- used programs instantly. You can easily add or remove programs, folders, and files to and from the Quick Launch toolbar by simply dragging them onto or off of it. We’ll see how to do this later.
My Computer My Computer provides access to all drives, folders, and files on the system. To open My Computer, simply double-click the My Computer icon on the Desktop. When first opened, My Computer shows you all the drives on the system (Figure 5).
Figure 5 My Computer in Windows 98
The left side provides details of whatever icon you currently have highlighted. Microsoft calls this the Web view. For example, the previous figure has the C: drive high- lighted, so the left side provides details about that drive. If you use Windows 95, or if you choose to turn off this option in Windows 98/ME or Windows 2000, you get a less sophisticated window that looks like Figure 6.
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Figure 6 My Computer in Windows 95
Figure 7 Directory of floppy disk
To view the contents of a drive or disk, double-click the corresponding icon in My Computer. Let’s say you want to see the contents of a floppy disk. You insert the floppy into the floppy drive and then double-click the floppy drive icon to see what’s inside. Here are the contents of a random floppy disk I had lying around (Figure 7).
Notice the different icons? Windows assigns different icons to different types of files based on their extensions. As you look at these icons, some of you might say, “But I don’t see any extensions!” That’s because Windows hides them. If you have Windows 95, click on View | Options to open the Options menu. Click the View tab and uncheck the Hide MS-DOS file extensions for file types that are registered check box. (While you’re there, let’s change one other item that will help later. Click the Show All Files radio but- ton, too.) Suddenly, all the extensions appear. (See Figure 8.)
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My Documents Windows 98 and Windows 2000 provide a special icon called My Documents. After Windows 95 came out, Microsoft discovered that users placed their files all over the sys- tem, and they often had trouble remembering where they’d put them! Microsoft recog- nized this issue and starting with Windows 98, created My Documents as a central default storage area for all files created by applications. Newer Windows programs, like Office 2000, store their files in My Documents unless you explicitly tell them to use a different folder.
Recycle Bin We know from Chapter 8 that a file is not erased when you delete it. Windows 9 x and Windows 2000 add an even higher level of protection in the form of the Recycle Bin. When you delete a file in Windows, a copy of the file moves into the Recycle Bin. It stays there until you empty the Recycle Bin, restore the folder or file, or until the Recycle Bin grows larger than a preset amount. To access these settings, alternate-click on the Recy- cle Bin and select Properties.
Figure 9 Windows 2000 View tab
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Figure 10 Windows 2000 Recycle Bin
NOTE Everything in Windows has a properties setting which you can access by alternate-clicking and selecting Properties. From here on, when I say “access properties,” you know I mean to alternate-click and then select the word “Properties.” You may also access properties by highlighting the object and pressing ALT-ENTER.
Different versions of Windows Recycle Bin’s properties look very different, but they all basically work the same. Figure 10 shows the properties of a typical Windows 2000 Recycle Bin. Note that you set the amount of drive space to use for the Recycle Bin— percent being the default amount. If a hard drive starts to run low on space, this is one of the first places to check!
Network Neighborhood Systems tied to a network, either via a network cable or by a modem, have the Network Neighborhood or, as Windows 2000 calls it, My Network Places. The next illustration shows all the current network connections available to you. Let’s save Network Neigh- borhood for Chapter 20.
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tion, I have also fixed many thousands of systems, recovered 1,000 times as much data as I ever lost, saved companies, saved jobs, and saved many millions of dollars for my customers and my employers. Welcome to the club! By the way, if we ever meet face to face, buy me a Guinness Stout or two and ask me about the “ProPrinter Stampede” or the “Gas plant flood of ‘82.” I’ve got some great stories! Enough of this soapbox! Let’s get some maneuvering skills!
NOTE Windows provides multiple methods for almost any task. I won’t show you every way to do everything—just what I feel are the best methods for han- dling a particular procedure.
Let’s begin with the most basic of maneuvering skills—maneuvering Windows. The A exam really hits on this area and it trips up everyone. Many of the steps you and I take daily we don’t really think about, as we repeat these steps so often we do them more subconsciously than consciously. That’s fine for day-to-day system support, but you’ll find yourself staring blankly at a screen when the A test asks, “Given XXXX sce- nario, which hot-key combination would best enable you to do YYYY?”
TIP Know your shortcut keys! You should know how to run Windows com- pletely without a mouse! You never know when you’ll need to work on a system whose mouse just died!
So, as Mary Poppins said, “The best place to start is at the beginning.” Let’s look at a basic window.
The Basic Window
All Windows 9 x windows contain roughly the same tools. Figure 11 shows a generic window. Let’s make sure we know all these components. If you’d like, fire up Notepad and follow along!
Window States
A window must be in one of three states: windowed, full-screen (maximized), or min- imized. The preceding figure shows the window in the windowed state. To make the window full-screen, click the Maximize button (the box icon in the top-right corner of the window). Figure 12 shows the result.
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Figure 11 Windows “window tools”
Figure 12 Full-screen window
Minimize
Maximize
Close
Minimize
Maximize
Close
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Figure 13 Moving a window
Once you select the program on the taskbar, press SHIFT-F10 to bring up the shortcut menu for the selected item, and move using the arrow keys as previously described. Note that most applications have a Move option on the shortcut menu, although you will occasionally run into some that do not. We use this “no mouse move” technique to retrieve a window that manages to completely move itself out of view of the Desk- top. This technique may take a bit of practice—learn it.
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Resizing a Window
We often like to change the size of a window. We use the window’s borders to resize it. Move the mouse to the border on any side until the cursor changes to a double arrow.
Then drag to move that side. You may also move the mouse cursor to any corner to move the two adjoining sides at once. Look for the cursor to change to a diagonal dou- ble arrow, and then drag as before.
Menus
Virtually every window uses a menu. Each menu varies from program to program, so my only real motivation here is accessing a menu without a mouse. Select the window and look at the menu. Notice the underlined letters in the menu?
Hold down the ALT key and press the letter of the menu option you wish to use. For example, to open the File menu, press ALT-F. You can then use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys to select the menu item and press ENTER , or you may press SHIFT and the underlined letter. Know both of these methods.
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Figure 15 Alternate-clicking on a Windows 98 My Computer toolbar
You move these toolbars by simply dragging them around. A toolbar may be free- standing or snapped to any side of a window. Most of these toolbars can move com- pletely outside the window if desired. Users often accidentally move these toolbars and think something has messed up badly! Most applications enjoy substantial flexibility with their toolbars. Try alternate-click- ing in a blank area in any toolbar to see what options appear, as shown in Figure 15. While the options vary among different Windows versions and applications, you can always alternate-click to see what you may change.
Multiple Windows
The single greatest feature of all versions of Windows centers on the multitasking capa- bilities. Running multiple programs in multiple windows enables you to do some very cool things. With multiple windows, for example, you can minimize a web browser so that it may open instantly when needed. You can drag and drop text and graphics between applications. You can even copy and move files and folders between two open windows. Multiple windows make Windows fun to use, but they also make system use a little messy. Let’s turn now to navigating around multiple windows.
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Too Many Windows!
Using My Computer exposes a serious downside: by default, every time you open a folder, it opens a new window. While sometimes this is great, most of the time it is sim- ply frustrating (Figure 16).
Figure 16 Arrgh! Lots of open Windows
You can turn this feature off by selecting View | Folder Options and changing the radio button selection in the Folder tab. (Different versions of Windows move things around, so you might have to hunt through the Folder Options to find the proper radio button.)
