by Dan Gookin Laptops FOR DUMmIES ‰ Laptops For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004115690 ISBN: 0-7645-7555-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/RU/RS/QU/IN About the Author This is Dan Gookin’s 98th book on personal computers and technology. For over 20 years, Dan has been writing about technology, contributing articles to numerous high-tech magazines, and appearing on TV, radio, and other media. Dan combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative, entertaining, and yet not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into over 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work. Perhaps his most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times #1 bestseller (though as a ref- erence, it could not be listed on the NYT Bestseller list). From that book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day. Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2004 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Power Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, the “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” full of tips, how- tos, and computer news. He also maintains the vast and helpful Web page, www.wambooli.com. Dan holds a degree in Communications/Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. Presently he lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he enjoys spending time with his four boys in the gentle woods of Idaho. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor: Paul Levesque Acquisitions Editor: Greg Croy Copy Editor: Jean Rogers Technical Editor: Mark Chambers Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle Media Development Supervisor: Richard Graves Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( www.the5thwave.com) Composition Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez Layout and Graphics: Andrea Dahl, Carl Byers, Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey, Stephanie D. Jumper, Jacque Roth, Heather Ryan, Julie Trippetti Proofreaders: Rob Springer, Carl William Pierce, TECHBOOKS Production Services Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction 1 Part I: Choosing a Laptop Just for You 5 Chapter 1: Sometimes You Can Take It with You 7 Chapter 2: Buying a Laptop Just for You 21 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? 33 Chapter 3: Out of the Box and into Your Lap 35 Chapter 4: Laptop Goes On, Laptop Goes Off 43 Chapter 5: Basic Laptop Hardware Tour 65 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software 87 Chapter 7: Expanding Your Laptop’s Universe 113 Chapter 8: Power Management Madness 133 Part III: Between Your Laptop and the World 147 Chapter 9: All That Networking Nonsense 149 Chapter 10: Laptop to Internet, Hello? 169 Chapter 11: A Very Merry Modem 181 Chapter 12: Online Security 201 Chapter 13: Handy Web Browsing and E-Mail Tips 213 Chapter 14: The Desktop-Laptop Connection 225 Part IV: On the Road Again 239 Chapter 15: Before You Hit the Road 241 Chapter 16: The Road Warrior (Or Computing in the Strangest of Places) 251 Chapter 17: Laptop Security 257 Chapter 18: Giving a Presentation 269 Part V: Troubleshooting 275 Chapter 19: Major Trouble and General Solutions 277 Chapter 20: Upgrading Your Laptop 289 Part VI: The Part of Tens 295 Chapter 21: Ten Battery Tips and Tricks 297 Chapter 22: Ten Handy Laptop Accessories 305 Chapter 23: Ten Things to Throw in Your Laptop Case 311 Index 317 Table of Contents Introduction 1 About This Book 1 And Just Who Are You? 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part I: Choosing a Laptop Just for You 5 Chapter 1: Sometimes You Can Take It with You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 The Power Cord Can Stretch Only So Far 7 The Osborne 1 8 The luggables 9 The Model 100 11 Hybrid beasts, or the “lunch buckets” 12 Early PC laptops 13 The search for weightlessness 15 From laptop to notebook 16 The modern notebook 16 The future of the laptop 17 Why You Need a Laptop 18 Why You Don’t Need a Laptop 19 Chapter 2: Buying a Laptop Just for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Buy That Laptop! 22 The five steps to buying any computer 22 The hunt for software 22 Figuring out how much basic laptop power you need 24 Finding out what you don’t need 25 Special laptoppy issues 26 Laptop expansion options 27 Communications options 28 Energy management hardware 29 Docking stations and port replicators 29 Hunting for Service and Support 29 Where to Buy 31 The Final Step: Buying Your Laptop 32 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? 33 Chapter 3: Out of the Box and into Your Lap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Basic Box Unpacking 101 35 Making piles for the various things in the box 36 “How long should I keep the box?” 37 When to send in the warranty 37 Setting Up Your Laptop 38 Do you need to charge the battery? 38 Is some assembly required? 39 Finding a place for the laptop 39 The last thing to do: Plug it in! 40 “Should I plug the laptop into a UPS?” 41 What to Do Next? 42 Chapter 4: Laptop Goes On, Laptop Goes Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Turning It On 43 Before you turn on the power! 44 Open the lid 44 “Where is the power button?” 46 “What is the moon button for?” 46 Random power button symbols 47 Power on! 48 A Brief Foray into Windows 48 Windows for the first time 49 Special deal software 51 Windows every time 51 Exploring the Start thing 52 Various Options for Turning Off (Or Not) the Laptop 54 Properly shutting down your laptop 54 “I need to restart Windows” 55 Putting your laptop to sleep (Stand By) mode 56 Waking up from sleep (Stand By) mode 57 “What the heck is hibernation?” 57 Turning on Hibernation mode 59 Shutting down when the laptop doesn’t want to 60 Changing the Whole On-Off Scheme of Things 60 Setting the function of the power button 60 Changing the sleep button’s function 62 What happens when you just close the lid? 62 Chapter 5: Basic Laptop Hardware Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Your ’Round the Laptop Tour 65 A place for your CD/DVD 66 Does Mr. Laptop have a floppy drive? 67 Laptops For Dummies x A home for Mr. PC Card 67 Mystery things called ports 68 A place for the old ball and chain 71 The thing’s gotta breathe 71 Look at the Pretty Lights! 72 This Isn’t Your Daddy’s Keyboard 73 The general keyboard layout 73 Where did the numeric keypad go? 75 The Fn key is the Fun key! 76 Mind these specific keys 78 This Isn’t Your Momma’s Mouse 78 The mouse pad 78 Where is the wheel button? 80 IBM’s “happy stick” keyboard mouse 80 Controlling the mouse 81 Get a real mouse! 82 Cleaning 83 Cleaning the case 83 Cleaning the keyboard 84 Cleaning the screen 84 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Places to Do, Things to Go 87 My Documents 88 My Computer 90 My Network Places 91 The Network Connections window 91 What’s Important in the Control Panel 93 Setting the best Control Panel view 93 The optional Start menu approach 94 Display options 96 Network connections 97 Power options 97 System 98 Phone and modem options 99 Printers and faxes 99 Wireless link 101 Laptop-specific icons 101 Goodies in the System Tray 102 Where Your Programs Lurk 103 Installing new software 104 Removing old software 105 Software you want, software you don’t want 107 xi Table of Contents Logging On to Windows 107 The User Accounts icon 107 Changing your password 108 Changing your image 109 Adding new accounts 109 Removing an account 110 Disabling the Guest account 110 Logging on as administrator 110 Do you really, really hate to log on? 111 Chapter 7: Expanding Your Laptop’s Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 Beyond Your Lap 113 The miraculous expandability options of the USB port 114 Doing the USB thing 116 What are the A and B ends of a USB cable? 117 Connecting USB gizmos 118 USB-powered devices 119 Adding a hub 119 Adding external USB storage 120 Removing external storage 123 Using a PC Card 124 Inserting a PC Card 124 Using the PC Card 125 Removing the PC Card 125 Adding Some Big Boy Toys 126 Using an external keyboard 126 Connecting a second monitor or video projector 127 Using two monitors at once 128 Gotta getta mouse 128 Printing 129 Setting up the printer 129 Printing in Windows 131 Options for when you don’t have a printer 132 Chapter 8: Power Management Madness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 The Battery Will Get a Charge Out of This! 134 Types of batteries 134 Finding your laptop’s battery 136 Monitoring the battery 136 What happens when the power gets low 139 Charging the battery 141 The spare battery 142 Don’t fall off the battery cycle! 143 Laptops For Dummies xii Should you keep the battery in the laptop when you use AC power all the time? 143 RIP battery 144 Managing Your Laptop’s Power 144 Part III: Between Your Laptop and the World 147 Chapter 9: All That Networking Nonsense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149 Adding Your Laptop to an Existing Network 150 The hardware connection 150 Setting up the connection in Windows XP 151 Adding and removing your laptop to and from the network 153 Finding other computers on the network 154 Getting into another computer’s disk drives 156 Accessing network printers 157 Sharing a folder on your laptop 157 Unsharing a folder 159 Networking with No Strings Attached (Wireless Networking) 159 The ABGs of 802.11 160 Wireless networking hardware 161 Connecting to a wireless network 161 Scanning for wireless networks 164 What if you don’t know the SSID? 164 What is the computer’s MAC Address? 166 Renewing your lease 166 Accessing a pay service wireless network 167 Disconnecting the wireless connection 167 Chapter 10: Laptop to Internet, Hello? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169 What You Need to Get on the Internet 170 Bonus Laptop Goodies Your ISP Can Offer 171 Getting ISP access from all over the country 171 Check for Web-based e-mail access 171 Connecting Your Laptop to the Internet the Ethernet Way 172 The Ethernet connection 172 Getting on the Internet 172 Connecting your laptop directly to a DSL or cable modem 173 Connecting to a router 173 Dial-Up Internet 176 Configuring a dial-up connection 176 Finding the connection 177 Making the dial-up connection 178 xiii Table of Contents [...]... like saying, “Hi!” feel free to do so Enjoy your laptop computer I’ll see you on the road! 3 4 Laptops For Dummies Part I Choosing a Laptop Just for You L In this part aptops aren’t only for people who have laps; they’re for everyone! That’s because the laptop is the ideal portable computer, not only for use as your main computer but as a computer system that you can take with you whenever and wherever... and stuff is carefully crossreferenced so that you won’t waste your time reading repeated information As a supplement to this book, I offer a Web site and a free weekly newsletter You can visit the Web site at www.wambooli.com Specific information for this book can be found at www.wambooli.com/help /laptops/ For information on my free weekly newsletter, refer to www.wambooli.com/newsletter/weekly/ Finally,... Figure 1-3: Radio Shack’s Model 100 11 12 Part I: Choosing a Laptop Just for You The Radio Shack Model 100 was really all that was needed for portability at the time, which is why the device was a such a resounding success ߜ The Model 100 provided the form factor for laptops of the future It was about the size of a hardback novel It ran for hours off of standard AA batteries It weighed just 6 pounds ߜ Despite... Just for You The Osborne 1 The first successful portable computer was the Osborne 1, created by Adam Osborne in 1980 A computer book author and publisher, Adam believed that for personal computers to be successful, they would have to be portable Adam’s design for the Osborne 1 portable computer was ambitious for the time: The thing would have to fit under an airline seat — and this was years before...xiv Laptops For Dummies Dialing a specific connection 179 Don’t forget to disconnect the dial-up connection! 179 Chapter 11: A Very Merry Modem 181 The Modem Hardware 181 Where the Modem Dwells in Windows .182 Setting the modem’s volume 182 Adding special modem command settings 184 Options for disabling the modem ... 314 Not the End of the List 315 Index 317 Introduction Y ou’ve made a wise decision picking up this book, Laptops For Dummies It’s packed with tips, suggestions, examples, and just so full of laptop fun and frivolity that reading it will both inform and consume you Consider your days of laptop bewilderment at an end All that aside, and given that relatively few people bother... wireless mania In the traditional For Dummies standard, this book is a reference It assumes that you know nothing or find the subject daunting If that’s what you need to help you in your laptop life, then you’ve found your book About This Book Everything between this book’s card stock covers is unveiled here in a wellpaced, informative, and often wit-laden tone Information is laid out so that you need... it to the shelf for when you need it later In writing this book, I assume that you may know a bit about computers, as most folks do today But you may be utterly fresh on the idea of portable computing Despite what they tell you, a laptop computer is not merely a portable version of the desktop computer There is more to it, and this book is here to show you the ropes 2 Laptops For Dummies I divide... example, “Check your fly before you stand up to give your presentation.” When you see this icon, you can be sure it points out something that you shouldn’t forget, or something I said earlier that I’m repeating because it’s very important, and you’ll likely forget it anyway Watch out and pay attention when you see this icon — it flags something bad or that could cause trouble For example, “When it’s dark,... were becoming the standard for desktop computers For technological reasons, monochrome LCD screens were all that laptops could offer ߜ Honestly, the lunch buckets did offer something over the old transportable or luggables: less weight! A late-model lunch bucket PC weighed in at about 12 pounds, or half the weight and about 18 the size of the suit⁄ case-sized luggables Early PC laptops The computer industry’s . Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies. com, and related trade dress. by Dan Gookin Laptops FOR DUMmIES ‰ Laptops For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright. the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day. Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2004 Edition;