32 BIT An older type of computer processor capable of processing up to 32 bits of binary data (0 or 1) at a time They can handle up to 4Gb of installed memory 64 BIT Much newer processor designs capable of handling 64 binary bits at a time and memory in excess of 4Gb They offer significant stability and security benefits over 32 bit processors ADMINISTRATOR APPENDIX A The user mode in which software has full access to change / delete anything on your computer Windows Vista by default runs in a Standard User mode to improve security GLOSSARY ADSL The most common type of broadband internet access Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line is the access provided by British Telecom and all other noncable or satellite internet access providers AGP An interface for graphics cards on a PC, has since been replaced by PCIExpress (PCI-E) BOOTING Starting up your computer to use Windows Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 56 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 DEFRAGMENT DUAL BOOTING Files on your hard drive can become fragmented over time This means that Windows looks for the next best place to save your file However as you delete files this space might not be big enough for it So it splits the file over the available free space Running more than one operating on your PC For instance having both Windows XP and Windows Vista installed and choosing when you switch the computer on, which one to boot into Over time this can slow your PC down and cause your files to become corrupt Defragmenting your drive brings all the pieces of your files back together again Fragmented Files F i F l i l e e Defragmented Files F i l e F i l e DX10 DirectX 10 is the new 3D graphics engine for Windows Vista, it enables new effects in PC games GB Gigabyte, A unit of measure 1Gb = 1000Mb 1Gb is typically enough space on a hard disk to store 200 MP3s or enough memory to allow Windows Vista to run properly DEP HARD DRIVE / HARD DISK Data Execution Prevention, a feature introduced in Windows XP Service Pack to stop viruses It can also prevent some games from running Typically C: or A:, these are traditional ways to refer to the hard drives and removable storage in your PC A physical disk that sits inside your PC on which you store files and data If you not have much memory, Windows creates a virtual memory file, called a swap file, that acts as memory but sits on the hard drive Reading and writing to a hard disk is slower than reading and writing to memory Hard disks are measured in Gb units DRIVER ICAL Software that tells Windows how to communicate with installed hardware See WebDav, also the calendar program for Apple computers DRIVE LETTERS Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 57 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 MB PCI-E Megabyte, A unit of measure 1Mb is approximately the amount of storage you can fit on a floppy disk To compare, a CD will store approximately 650Mb and a DVD will store 4.5Gb PCI Express, the new format for graphics cards on a PC, replacing the older AGP standard MEMORY Temporary storage for files and programmes while your computer is running The more memory your computer has, typically between 512Mb and 2Gb, the faster it can run because the less reading of the hard disk is required Reading and writing to memory is faster than to a hard disk Memory is measured in either Mb or Gb units OPERATING SYSTEM Aka: Windows Vista The software that acts as an interface for your computer and that allows you to run software PDF Adobe’s Portable Document Format is an excellent way to transfer documents between people, being operating system independent PHISHING Emails that purport to be from Banks or websites such as Amazon or eBay that try and trick you into logging in to what you think is a genuine site to get your passwords and other details READYBOOST A way of increasing the amount of memory in Windows Vista by plugging in a compatible USB pen drive REMOTE ASSIST Connecting your computer to a network of others, either in your home or onwards to the internet A feature in Windows that allows remote control of your PC over the internet when you give permission, so that someone not in front of your PC can solve problems on it PARTITION REMOTE DESKTOP Your hard drive can be split into separate partitions Each of these becomes its own hard drive in the available space For instance a 400Gb hard drive can be split into a 100Gb partition followed by two 250Gb partitions This is useful for keeping your data and files away from your Windows installation Remote control of other PCs in your home or office NETWORKING SAVED SEARCHES / VIRTUAL FOLDERS A search that you can save as a folder and that can be treated in the same way, but that holds no actual files and Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 58 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 dynamically updates whenever it’s opened SHADOW COPIES / PREVIOUS VERSIONS Automatic backup of previous versions of files performed by Windows Vista These previous copies of files can be restored by right clicking on the file and selecting its properties TASKBAR The bar that typically runs along the bottom of your screen containing the Windows Orb Button, icons and the clock UAC User Account Control (UAC) is the security system in Windows Vista to guard against virus and other attack SPAM UI Unwanted, unsolicited email Named after a pre-cooked tinned meat commonly eaten in the UK during the Second World War, and usually despised by all who ate it User Interface, a term to describe the look and feel of an application or Operating System SPYWARE The location where your Documents and other personal files are stored This can be moved away from the drive or partition on which you have installed Windows Vista Unwanted files that collect on your PC as you browse the internet Many are innocuous but some can have malicious purposes They are removed by software such as Windows Defender SYSTEM RESTORE A feature that takes a snapshot of your PC’s operating system at certain periods so you can restore the system to that point in the event of a problem TAGS USERS FOLDER VIRTUAL MEMORY Additional memory kept as a hidden file on your hard drive for when you run out of physical memory This is much slower than physical memory WEBDAV A way to store calendars online so that they can be shared with other people Key words to describe the contents of your files or photographs Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 59 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 WI-FI Wireless internet access, also called 802.11 There are four speeds a, b, g and n with a being the slowest, n being the fastest and g currently being the most common WINDOWS KEY / ORB The key between CTRL and ALT at the bottom left of your keyboard, also known as the Windows Orb (formerly the Start Button) on the taskbar WINDOWS UPDATE / MICROSOFT UPDATE A utility built into all versions of Windows to help keep the operating system up to date and free from security holes XPS Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s PDF format, the Cross Platform Support document format offers the same advantages that PDFs offer but is relatively new Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 60 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 ABOUT MIKE HALSEY Mike Halsey grew up in Camberley, Surrey (UK) He is currently based in Sheffield Mike has been working in IT Support for years He began supporting individuals in their homes and microbusinesses and moved on to blue-chip clients including major UK banks NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland and the supermarket chain Tesco He has been a beta-tester for Microsoft for a few years now Before that Mike spent several years’ self-employed providing websites, adverts and other promotional APPENDIX B THE AUTHOR materials for micro-business and SMEs in the UK and as far afield as Amsterdam and China He is now working as a teacher for a national training charity teaching English, Mathematics and, unsurprisingly, IT He is a keen photographer with a particular interest in modern architecture His photographic site is at www.TheLongClimb.com Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 61 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 INTRODUCTION Microsoft Office 2007 is nothing short of a revolution in the way we use office software However the new Ribbon interface and some of the options we’re used to being able to find easily can appear hidden away at first THE RIBBON Gone are the menus in almost every office application to be replaced by the Ribbon An intuitive, context sensitive bar across the top of your screen that contains all the commands you will need for any particular task APPENDIX C OFFICE 2007 The Ribbon may seem confusing at first but it’s worth spending some time working with as it’s a far better way of working with office applications WHY THE RIBBON? The ribbon came about because feedback given to Microsoft on new features customers wanted in Office were usually things that the software was already capable of doing Previous versions of Office automatically ‘hid’ features that weren’t used for a while The software also allowed people to completely ‘lose’ toolbars and even the main menu Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 62 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 MINIMISING THE RIBBON USE THE ORB If you need more space on your screen, you can Right Click anywhere in a blank area of the Ribbon and select Minimise the Ribbon You can restore it the same way The Office Orb, located in the top right of each Windows in most applications is the replacement for the old File menu When minimised, the Ribbon will only appear when you click on a tab and / or hover over it CUSTOMISE THE RIBBON THE START ORB The new Start Orb in the top right of most applications is the replacement for the File menu It is here that you can open and save files and change options QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR The Ribbon itself is not customisable, in that it was designed to not need it However there is software available that will let you customise it and add new tabs of your own including Ribbon Customizer from pschmid.net/office2007/customi ze FIND OFFICE 2000 / XP / 2003 COMMANDS If you get stuck in the first few days of using the Ribbon, Microsoft have a handy interactive guide on-line where you can select the command you want in the previous Office menu system and it will show you where the command is on the new Ribbon You can find the Find Familiar Commands in the New Ribbon office.microsoft.com/enat gb/getstarted/FX101938921033.aspx You can add commands you use commonly to the quick access toolbar by clicking the down arrow to the right of the icons there If you want to add a lot of commands to the quick access toolbar you can move it easily below the Ribbon LIVE PREVIEW One of the coolest new features in Office 2007 is Live Preview When selecting something in the Ribbon that will change the formatting of your document, hovering over the item will change your document so you can see how the change will look should you implement it The change won’t take place however until you actually click the Ribbon item OPTIONS IN OFFICE You’ll see that Office 2007 as standard is a blue colour Many people don’t like this very much Pressing the Start Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 63 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 Orb and selecting [Word / Excel ] Options will allow you to change the Colour Scheme to silver or black as suits your tastes SAVE AS The Save section in Options allows you to change the standard Save options for Office OPTIONS Use the options in the Start Orb to change the default spell-checker language and colour of Office applications With Office 2007, Microsoft have introduced new file formats that are more robust and resilient than previous versions The new *.docx and *xlsx formats cannot be read in previous versions of Office without a compatibility pack, which can be downloaded office.microsoft.com/enfrom us/products/HA101686761033.aspx SAVE AS PDF? In the Save As options from the Start Orb is a facility to go online to find more file formats you can save your documents as These include Adobe PDF format This is an extremely useful and free plug-in from Microsoft ENGLISH SPELLING By default the language settings in Office 2007 and the spell-checker are US English You can change this in Language Settings located in the Options from the Start Orb Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 64 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 18 T H FEBRUARY 2007 First draft of the document 25 T H FEBRUARY 2007 Second Edition - Complete update with many new sections and complete change of format 13 T H MARCH 2007 Part – Exploring - Added Previewing files, Renaming Files (Quick Hint) Part – Playing – Added Support for Games APPENDIX D DOCUMENT VERSION HISTORY Part – Guaranteeing - Added Complete PC Backup Part 10 – Diagnosing - Added MSConfig, System File Checker, I can’t access my files / IE Favourites, Windows Calendar has stopped working, Internet Explorer is Malfunctioning Part 11 – Tweaking - Added IE7 tweaks, Add your own Wallpaper Appendix B – Added About the Author Appendix D - Added Document version history 24 T H MARCH 2007 Part – Installing – Updated Vista Upgrade Edition Part - Exploring – Updated Previewing files Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 65 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 Part 10 – Diagnosing – Updated Windows Calendar has stopped working Part 11 – Tweaking – Added Previewing PDF Files in Explorer, How to create icons without text TH APRIL 2007 Part – Exploring – Remembering Window Sizes Added Part 10 – Diagnosing - Added Gaming problems in Vista Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 66 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 ... Sizes Added Part 10 – Diagnosing - Added Gaming problems in Vista Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 66 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 ... from the Start Orb Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 64 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 18 T H FEBRUARY 2007 First draft of the document 25 T H FEBRUARY... people to completely ‘lose’ toolbars and even the main menu Windows Vista – Power users guide Written by Mike Halsey, Page 62 of 66 www.TheLongClimb.com, Copyright © 2007, 2008 MINIMISING THE