Laptops FOR DUMmIES phần 4 pptx

4. Click the Customize button. This must be the Customize button by the Start Menu option, not the Classic Start Menu option. 5. Click the Advanced tab in the Customize Start Menu dialog box. 6. Scroll through the list of Start menu items to find My Documents. 7. Select the Display as Link option. 8. Click OK to close each dialog box. The My Documents icon now shows up in the Start menu. Take a moment now to visit the My Documents folder. It contains your docu- ments and the stuff you create, plus it contains other folders. Some of the other folders, such as My Pictures and My Music, are customized to hold specific types of files. (Pictures and music for the My Pictures and My Music folders, respectively.) You can also create your own folders for specific types of files, or just to be organized. For example, I create a My Downloads folder inside the My Documents folder to keep all the silly files I download and save from the Internet. ߜ My Documents is really a folder, which is a storage container for files. ߜ The My Documents folder is located on your laptop’s hard drive. So when you read about “saving this or that to the hard drive,” the My Documents folder is the specific spot. ߜ You can quickly access the My Documents folder by using the Address drop-down list in any Save As, Open, or File dialog box. Press the F4 key to activate the Address drop-down list. ߜ Most of the Save As dialog boxes use the My Documents folder as the first choice for where to save your stuff. ߜ Download is the term for transferring a file from the Internet to your own computer. ߜ Folders are a very important concept for keeping your files organized. I would waggle my finger at you and explain all the benefits of using folders and on and on, but who has the time? So if you’re serious, pick up my book PCs For Dummies (Wiley), and you can read more about organizing your files in greater detail. ߜ Your programs do not reside in the My Documents folder. No, they go in the Program Files folder. Refer to the section, “Where Your Programs Lurk” later in this chapter. 89 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software My Computer The My Computer icon is home to all the goodies that dwell on your laptop. It should really be My Laptop, but your laptop is a computer, so I suppose you can let that oversight slide. You can find the My Computer icon on the desktop, or it can be accessed from the Start panel. Opening this icon reveals the My Computer window and its contents — various important places on your computer. Figure 6-1 shows a sample. Figure 6-1 shows the fun My Computer things grouped by category: special folders, hard drive(s), and then removable storage. You might also find areas for a scanner or digital camera, plus perhaps other toys attached to your computer. The My Computer window gives you a central location from which you can access all of these devices. ߜ If the My Computer icon is not on the desktop or cannot be found in the Start menu, then refer to the previous section. The instructions for adding the My Documents icon are similar for My Computer; just substi- tute “My Computer” for “My Documents” and follow the steps listed. Figure 6-1: Some of the fun things you may see in the My Computer window. 90 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? ߜ Note the panel on the left side of the window. It contains some common commands, plus other interesting places to visit on your computer. The commands, or System Tasks, vary depending on which item is selected in the My Computer window. ߜ You can eject a DVD or CD by choosing that drive’s icon in the My Computer window, and then choosing File➪Eject from the menu. ߜ The icon for the CD or DVD drive may change, depending on whether you have a disc in the drive and what’s on the disc. For example, music CDs have a special music icon, as shown in the margin. My Network Places Another place you might want to become familiar with is the My Network Places icon and its accompanying window. Find the My Network Places icon now. It might be on the desktop, or you may find it on the Start menu. It’s also accessible via the My Computer window by clicking on the My Network Places link in the Other Places area (on the left). Unless your laptop is connected to a network, and there are other computers on the network sharing resources (disk drives or printers), the My Network Places folder will be empty. When your laptop is connected to a network, you can use the connection to send files between your laptop and the other computer(s). If you cannot find the My Network Places icon on the desktop or Start menu, then refer to the section, “My Documents,” earlier in this chapter. The instructions there also apply to the My Network Places icon; just substitute “My Network Places” for “My Documents” in the steps listed. The Network Connections window Another important place you should know how to visit is the Network Connections window, which sounds a lot like My Network Places, but it’s not. The Network Connections window is where you manage the way your laptop connects to various networks, either wirelessly or wired. Getting to the Network Connections window is most easily accomplished by visiting the Control Panel and opening the Networking Connections icon. But there are other ways to get there as well: ߜ The Network Connections icon may appear in the Start panel. If so, click it with the mouse, and you’re there. 91 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software ߜ If you can see the little networking guys icon in the System Tray, you can right-click it and choose Open Network Connections from the context menu that appears, as shown in Figure 6-2. ߜ You can get to the Network Connections window from the My Network Places window by clicking the View Network Connections link in the Network Tasks panel (on the left). The Network Connections window contains an icon for every network connec- tion made by your laptop. You will see an icon for the wire-based Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, and any dial-up Internet services you may connect to. In Figure 6-3, two network adapters are shown, one for wireless and another (that isn’t connected) for the wire-based connection. Sadly, Network Connections is one place you might end up spending many an unhappy hour trying to untangle some networking madness. I put that topic off until Chapter 9 of this book. Figure 6-3: The Network Connections window. Figure 6-2: One way to access Network Connections. 92 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? What’s Important in the Control Panel In Windows, you can work, you can play, or you can dink. Dinking is the art of adjusting and fine-tuning Windows, changing the appearance of this and the performance of that. It’s playing with a purpose, and that play takes place in a land called the Control Panel. To visit the Control Panel, you have several options: ߜ Choose the Control Panel link from the Start menu thing. ߜ From the My Computer window, choose either the Change a Setting link or the Control Panel link from the panel on the left. ߜ Choose the Control Panel from any Address bar drop-down list. ߜ Say, “Hey Control Panel!” really, really loud. Just about anywhere you see the Control Panel’s icon (margin), you can click and get to the Control Panel. When you’re there, you’re free to dink. Setting the best Control Panel view You can choose how the Control Panel looks: the easy way or the best way. The easy way, also known as the Category View, is shown in Figure 6-4. This way is all graphical and fun, but it takes far more steps to get things done there. On a laptop, time is battery power, so you’ll probably want to switch to the Classic View. Figure 6-5 shows the Control Panel’s Classic View. In this mode, all the Control Panel’s icons are visible at once, making each equally and quickly accessible. To switch to the Classic View, click the Switch to Classic View link on the left side of the Control Panel window. ߜ Note that some of the icons you see in your laptop’s Control Panel con- tents will be different than what’s shown in Figure 6-5. ߜ Some laptop manufacturers include custom Control Panel icons, as do various hardware vendors. These icons are used to control hardware specific to your laptop, such as IBM’s ThinkPad Configuration or the Iomega Active Disk icons shown in Figure 6-5. ߜ Of all the icons in the Control Panel, only a handful play roles specific to a laptop computer. For information on icons not mentioned here, please refer to a good Windows reference. 93 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software The optional Start menu approach When finding the Control Panel takes too much time (and time is battery power on a laptop), you might consider another approach to accessing the Control Panel. Figure 6-5: The Control Panel works best in Classic View. Figure 6-4: The Control Panel’s silly Category View. 94 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? Figure 6-6 shows the options in the Control Panel as a fly-out menu on the Start menu. This is perhaps the best (certainly the fastest) way to access the individual Control Panel icons: Simply pop up the Start menu, and then use the mouse to choose Control Panel and then the individual icon for whatever your dinking needs. The following steps configure the Control Panel as a fly-out menu on the Start menu: 1. Right-click the Start button. 2. Choose Properties from the Start button’s pop-up menu. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click the Start Menu tab. 4. Click the Customize button by the Start Menu option. You can only show the Control Panel as a menu when using the Windows XP Start menu, not the Classic Start menu. Figure 6-6: The Control Panel’s fly- out menu on the Start menu. 95 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software 5. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click the Advanced tab. 6. Locate the Control Panel item in the scrolling list of Start menu items. 7. Select the Display as Menu option beneath the Control Panel heading. 8. Click OK to close each dialog box. The Control Panel now lives as a sub-menu on the Start panel thing. Prove that it worked by clicking on the Start button and finding the Control Panel item — it will now have a triangle indicating that it’s a menu. Display options The Display icon is where you go to adjust your laptop’s screen settings. You can set the individual colors, styles, and appearance of windows on the screen. You can set a screen saver. Or you can configure the screen’s resolu- tion and number of colors. These seem like items you might set only once, but of all the options in the Control Panel, this one is likely the most popular. The Display Properties dialog box is shown in Figure 6-7. The ghost image of monitor number 2 is present because this particular laptop is equipped with an external video port for presentations. The Advanced button in Figure 6-7 is used to help determine which monitor the laptop uses. ߜ The quickest and handiest way to get to the Display Properties dialog box is to right-click on a blank part of the desktop and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. ߜ You need the Display Properties dialog box when you give a presenta- tion with your laptop. It’s where you configure the settings for the exter- nal monitor or video projection system. ߜ Your laptop’s display has certain modes and resolutions that work best. For example, 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768. These and other resolutions are known as the native settings for the monitor. Although other resolutions might be possible, the results don’t look good and could wreak havoc on the display. ߜ It may seem trivial, but by not setting a background image or wallpaper, Windows spends less time updating the screen. And time is battery life! To set a blank background image, click the Background tab in the Display Properties dialog box and choose “(None)” from the scrolling list. ߜ On the other hand, you can set the background image to anything you like, including pictures of the grandkids, your cat, or that exotic dancer at the Pink Pussycat who claims to adore you. To make this happen, click the Background tab and use the Browse button to locate the kids’ picture on the hard drive. (It’s most likely somewhere in the My Pictures folder.) 96 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? ߜ You might also consider setting a lower resolution and number of colors for your monitor. The higher resolution/color settings require more video memory, which means more work for the computer, more power, and less battery life. If you can stand it, click the Settings tab in the Display Properties dialog box and choose a lower screen resolution for your laptop’s display. Network connections The Network Connections icon is where you get access to your laptop’s net- working hardware. It’s also where you may spend many mind-numbing hours configuring, correcting, and cursing the network settings. For more information, refer to the section, “The Network Connections window,” earlier in this chapter. Power options The Power Options icon is your main location for adjusting how your laptop uses the battery. The settings in the Power Options Properties dialog box enable you to control how the laptop goes to sleep and hibernates, control the power button’s function, as well as control the settings for bossing the battery itself. Figure 6-7: The Settings tab of the Display Properties dialog box. 97 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software The Power Options Properties dialog box is shown in Figure 6-8. Note that some tabs are specific to the IBM ThinkPad laptop used to capture the image; the items without the black laptop icon are generic Windows tabs. You may find hardware-specific tabs in your Power Options Properties dialog box as well. In addition to the Power Options icon, the Control Panel on your computer may have its own icon for your laptop’s battery or power supply. Chapter 8 has more information about your laptop’s battery and power man- agement issues. System The System icon is a central location for controlling your laptop’s hardware and for minor troubleshooting. Figure 6-9 shows the Hardware tab of the System Properties dialog box. One important button in that tab is labeled Device Manager. That’s a prime hard- ware troubleshooting spot you may be directed to someday. Clicking the Device Manager button displays the Device Manager window, which gives you access to the complete list of your laptop’s hardware. A quick scan of the list determines whether or not everything is functioning properly; malfunctioning hardware is flagged with a yellow circle icon. Disabled hardware appears with an X by it. Figure 6-8: The Power Options Properties dialog box. 98 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? [...]... the Value Data 10 Click OK 11 Close the Registry Editor window 12 Restart Windows for the change to take effect Where Your Programs Lurk There is a place for everything, and for everything there is a place My Documents is for your stuff My Computer is for the computer’s stuff The Control Panel lets you control things And for the software you install and use, there is the Program Files folder Yes, it... information may be utterly lost and not retrievable Keep that in mind when choosing a password Changing your image To select a new picture for your account, click on the Change My Picture item (see Figure 6- 14) This produces a window full of insipid stock photographs you can use for your account image Or, if you’re clever, you can click the Browse for More Pictures link and scour the hard drive for. .. What? IEEE 13 94 or FireWire gizmos USB was one of two standards that emerged to replace the morass of expansion options and ports that plagued the PC for many years The second standard is called IEEE 13 94, or IEEE for short Apple Computer refers to it as the FireWire standard, which is a cool but extremely scary-sounding name At one time, USB was considered the expansion option of choice for connecting... storage devices attached to your computer, as shown in Figure 7 -4 Figure 7 -4: A list of removable devices attached to the laptop 3 Click the device you want to remove For example, I clicked the item Safely Remove USB Mass Storage Device — Drive(E:), shown in Figure 7 -4 If all goes well, you see an announcement that the device can be safely removed 4 Unplug or remove the device The whole idea here is that... USB ports on its sides or rear Refer to Chapter 5 for more information Into those ports, you either plug a USB device directly, or you attach a USB device by using a cable For example, a memory card reader or flash memory disk drive may plug directly into your laptop, as shown in Figure 7-1 Other devices use a USB cable to attach themselves to the laptop For example, a USB printer or external hard drive... example, may be instantly mounted on your computer, its disk drive-like icon appearing in the My Computer window, ready for access See the section, “Adding external USB storage,” for more information ߜ If the USB device has its own power switch, then you must switch the thing on before the computer will recognize it ߜ It would be a Bad Thing to remove a USB storage device (disk drive or flash memory... Windows You’ll have to refer to a book on Windows XP for more specific information on that topic Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software Software you want, software you don’t want Most laptops come with a host of software preinstalled Don’t feel compelled to use it In fact, if you’re annoyed by that software, simply refer to the previous section for the steps required to uninstall it You do not need... consider disabling software you don’t use to help save battery power For example, on my laptop, I disabled the internal modem Refer to Chapter 21 for details on this and on other tricks for saving battery life Phone and modem options The Phone and Modem Options icon is used not only to set up the modem, but to configure phone dialing for when you’re away from your home or office This is a necessary thing... the one shown in Figure 6- 14 Figure 6- 14: Your user account is modified here Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software If your account lacks a password, click the Create a Password link To change a password, click the Change My Password link To get rid of your password, click the Remove My Password link No matter what you choose, follow the instructions on the screen for entering or deleting your... to have an internal modem (and have it enabled) for faxing to work To add a printer to your laptop, click the Add a Printer link on the left side of the window Then follow the instructions and steps in the wizard to add your printer Also refer to your printer’s documentation; note that some printers must be connected before their software is installed; for other printers, the software must be installed . is a place for everything, and for everything there is a place. My Documents is for your stuff. My Computer is for the computer’s stuff. The Control Panel lets you control things. And for the software. the F4 key to activate the Address drop-down list. ߜ Most of the Save As dialog boxes use the My Documents folder as the first choice for where to save your stuff. ߜ Download is the term for transferring. refer to the previous section. The instructions for adding the My Documents icon are similar for My Computer; just substi- tute “My Computer” for “My Documents” and follow the steps listed. Figure