MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messen- ger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organiz- ing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messen- ger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organiz- ing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing • installing programs • security • Internet Explorer • Mail • search • Sidebar and Gadgets • Media Player • Photo Gallery • Movie Maker • Windows Live Messenger • organizing les • networks • Start Menu • printing CHRIS FEHILY Learn Windows Vista the Quick and Easy Way! Visual quickstart guide final spine = 1.2188 MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA Visual quickstart guide B o o k L E v E L ✓ beginning ✓ intermediate advanced Visual QuickStart Guide—the quick and easy way to learn! n Easy visual approach uses pictures to guide you through Microsoft Windows Vista and show you what to do. n Concise steps and explanations let you get up and running in no time. n Page for page, the best content and value around. n Chris Fehily is a writer and consultant living in San Francisco. He admits to having used Windows even before version 1.0, when it was called Interface Manager. His other books for Peachpit Press include Visual QuickStart Guides to Windows XP and to the Python and SQL programming languages. Peachpit Press 1249 Eighth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 800 283-9444 510 524-2178 fax 510 524-2221 Find us on the Web at: www.peachpit.com FOR COMPUTERS USING: Microsoft Windows Vista Home/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate Editions COMPUTER BOOK SHELF CATEGORY: Windows / Windows Vista US $21.99 Canada $26.99 UK £15.99 Visual quickstart guide FEHILY MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA 434528_windows_vista_vqs.indd 1 12/1/06 4:21:14 PM VISUAL QUICKSTART GUIDE Microsoft W INDOWS V ISTA Chris Fehily Peachpit Press Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page i Visual QuickStart Guide Microsoft Windows Vista Chris Fehily Peachpit Press 1249 Eighth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 510/524-2178 800/283-9444 510/524-2221 (fax) Find us on the Web at: www.peachpit.com To report errors, please send a note to errata@peachpit.com Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education Copyright © 2007 by Chris Fehily Managing editor: Clifford Colby Editor: Kathy Simpson Production editor: Andrei Pasternak Compositor: Owen Wolfson Indexer: Rebecca Plunkett Cover design: The Visual Group Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact permissions@peachpit.com. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an "As Is" basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it. Trademarks Visual QuickStart Guide is a registered trademark of Peachpit Press, a division of Pearson Education. Throughout this book, trademarks are used. Rather than put a trademark symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked name, we state that we are using the names in an editorial fashion only and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringement of the trademark. ISBN 0-321-43452-8 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound in the United States of America Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page ii For Brian, Ken, Steve, Stu, Cliff, and Darren Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page iii Special Thanks to… Kathy Simpson for staying ahead of me Cliff Colby for working backstage Andrei Pasternak for coordinating Owen Wolfson for squashing Rebecca Plunkett for rotating terms Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page iv Introduction xiii Chapter 1: Getting Started 1 Chapter 2: The Desktop 55 Chapter 3: Getting Help 103 Chapter 4: Personalizing Your Work Environment 117 Chapter 5: Organizing Files and Folders 181 Chapter 6: Installing and Running Programs 251 Chapter 7: Printing, Scanning, and Faxing 285 Chapter 8: Setting up Hardware 313 Chapter 9: Digital Photos 331 Chapter 10: Windows Media Player 357 Chapter 11: Windows Movie Maker 391 Chapter 12: Connecting to the Internet 411 Chapter 13: Security and Privacy 421 Chapter 14: Internet Explorer 445 Chapter 15: Email, Contacts, and Calendars 471 Chapter 16: Windows Live Messenger 497 Chapter 17: Managing User Accounts 509 Chapter 18: Setting up a Small Network 519 Chapter 19: Working Remotely 539 Chapter 20: Maintenance & Troubleshooting 551 Appendix: Installing Windows Vista 571 Index 581 v Contents at a Glance Contents at a Glance Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page v vi Table of Contents Introduction xiii What Windows Does . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv The Editions of Windows Vista. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv What’s New in Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi Upgrading to Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Chapter 1: Getting Started 1 Logging On and Logging Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Using Welcome Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Exploring the Windows Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Icons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Dialog Boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Transferring Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chapter 2: The Desktop 55 Exploring the Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Using the Start Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Customizing the Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Exploring the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Managing Windows by Using the Taskbar . . . . . . 74 Customizing the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Using the Notification Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Adding Toolbars to the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Using the Quick Launch Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Using the Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Managing Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Tidying Your Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Table of Contents Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page vi Chapter 3: Getting Help 103 Starting Help and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Browsing Help and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Searching Help and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Getting Help on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Capturing Screen Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Allowing Others to Connect to Your Computer Remotely. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Chapter 4: Personalizing Your Work Environment 117 Using Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Setting the Window Color and Color Scheme. . 121 Setting the Desktop Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Setting the Screen Saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Setting the Desktop Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Configuring the Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Configuring the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Configuring the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Configuring Sound and Audio Devices . . . . . . . . 140 Setting the Date and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Localizing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Accommodating Disabled Users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Using Speech Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Using Alternative Mouse Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Conserving Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Managing Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Managing Visual Effects and Performance . . . . 175 Restoring the Old Windows Look . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Getting General System Information. . . . . . . . . . 179 Chapter 5: Organizing Files and Folders 181 Exploring Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Storing Stuff in Your Personal Folder. . . . . . . . . . 185 Using Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Navigating in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Tagging Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Filtering, Sorting, Stacking, and Grouping Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Customizing a Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Setting Folder Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Creating Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Naming Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Table of Contents vii Table of Contents Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page vii Moving and Copying Files and Folders . . . . . . . . 212 Sending Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Deleting Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Compressing Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Searching for Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Saving Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Burning CDs and DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Chapter 6: Installing and Running Programs 251 Installing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Removing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Turning Windows Features On or Off . . . . . . . . . 259 Launching Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Launching Programs Automatically . . . . . . . . . . 262 Running Older Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Switching Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Exiting Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Killing Unresponsive Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Using the Free Utility Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Saving Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Opening Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Associating Documents with Programs . . . . . . . 281 Chapter 7: Printing, Scanning, and Faxing 285 Installing a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Sharing a Network Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Setting Printer Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Printing Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Controlling Printouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Scanning and Faxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Chapter 8: Setting up Hardware 313 Connecting Devices to Your Computer. . . . . . . . 314 Installing a New Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Setting up Bluetooth Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 Managing Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Chapter 9: Digital Photos 331 Importing Photos to Your Computer. . . . . . . . . . 332 Getting Started with Windows Photo Gallery. . 338 Viewing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 Finding Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Touching up Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Printing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Table of Contents viii Table of Contents Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page viii Ordering Prints Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Emailing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Chapter 10: Windows Media Player 357 Getting Started with Media Player. . . . . . . . . . . . 358 Playing Music CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Customizing the Now Playing Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Viewing Visualizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Changing Player Appearance with Skins . . . . . . 367 Shopping Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Listening to Radio Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 Ripping CDs to Your Hard Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 Organizing Your Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Working with Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Burning Music CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Playing DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Using Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 Chapter 11: Windows Movie Maker 391 Getting Started with Movie Maker. . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Importing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 Organizing Your Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 Creating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Editing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Editing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Adding Visual Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Adding Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Publishing a Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Chapter 12: Connecting to the Internet 411 Understanding Connection Types . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Chapter 13: Security and Privacy 421 Checking Your Security Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Using a Firewall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Updating Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Defending Against Viruses and Spyware . . . . . . 434 Setting Parental Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Encrypting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 Table of Contents ix Table of Contents Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page ix [...]... in Windows Vista N N Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xviii Introduction Upgrading to Windows Vista Not Eligible to Upgrade? If you’re moving to Vista from an earlier version of Windows, Microsoft gives you upgrade options that depend on the version that you’re currently running A Windows Vista version upgrade is much cheaper than a full copy You can upgrade from only Windows XP or Windows. .. Getting Ready to Install Windows Vista 572 Choosing an Installation Type 575 Installing Windows Vista 576 Activating Windows Vista 579 Transferring Existing Files and Settings 580 Index 581 xi Table of Contents Appendix: Installing Windows Vista Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page xii Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM... i.1 The edition of Windows Vista that you’re using is displayed with your computer details near the top of the window Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Premium N Windows Vista Business N Windows Vista Enterprise N Windows Vista Ultimate The core features in the different Vista editions look and work alike, so most discussions apply to all editions equally This book points out the differences... a t e Windows XP Professional Windows XP Home Windows XP Media Center Windows XP Tablet PC Windows XP Professional x64 Windows 2000 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Clean install only • In-place upgrade or clean install xviii Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xix Introduction About This Book This book is for you if you’re new to Windows, moving or upgrading to Vista from... and www .microsoft- watch.com If a popular free program isn’t labeled “public domain,” “public license,” or “open source” (www.opensource.org), you should check it for spyware See “Defending Against Viruses and Spyware” in Chapter13 Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xv Introduction The Editions of Windows Vista The editions of Windows Vista are: N N Figure i.1 The edition of Windows Vista. .. xii Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xiii Introduction i Windows Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is the latest Microsoft operating system for PC users at home, work, and school Feature for feature, Vista is better than XP, but to make people want to upgrade to Vista, Microsoft put special effort into: Security Vista protects you against malicious websites, viruses, spyware, and other... have an earlier version, you must install a full copy of Vista You have two ways to upgrade: Upgrading to Windows Vista N N An upgrade lets you install Vista and keep your programs, files, and settings as they were in your previous edition of Windows A clean install overwrites your current copy of Windows with Vista, erasing everything You can use Windows Easy Transfer (see the appendix) to reload your... menu, the taskbar, Windows Explorer, and other redesigned controls retain enough of their old personalities to let you jump in Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xiv Introduction What Windows Does Windows like every operating system, Microsoft or otherwise—is software that controls: The user interface Windows manages the appearance, behavior, and interaction of the windows, buttons, icons,... prompt: Windows Vista is complex software, but its user interface—the aspects of it that you see and hear and use to control Vista is designed to let you wield a lot of power with a modest amount of learning The secret is understanding the underlying consistency of the ways that Windows works As you use Windows, techniques like switching programs, searching for files, resizing windows, drag-and-drop,... installation: Logging On and Logging Off N If your PC came with Windows Vista installed, either the Welcome screen will appear with a factory-installed account name or the computer will start in Windows Setup (see the appendix) the first time you turn it on Follow the manufacturer’s instructions N If you upgraded to Windows Vista from Windows XP by doing an in-place installation, your existing accounts migrated . CATEGORY: Windows / Windows Vista US $21.99 Canada $26.99 UK £15.99 Visual quickstart guide FEHILY MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA 434528 _windows_ vista_ vqs.indd 1 12/1/06 4:21:14 PM VISUAL QUICKSTART GUIDE Microsoft W INDOWS V ISTA Chris. Chapter13. Ch00 Vista (xiii-xx) Intro 12/1/06 2:54 PM Page xiv The Editions of Windows Vista The editions of Windows Vista are: ◆ Windows Vista Home Basic ◆ Windows Vista Home Premium ◆ Windows Vista. Press Ch0 Vista (i-xii) FM 12/1/06 3:01 PM Page i Visual QuickStart Guide Microsoft Windows Vista Chris Fehily Peachpit Press 1249 Eighth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 510/52 4-2 178 800/28 3-9 444 510/52 4-2 221