Laptops for dummies

92 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? 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) Figure 6-2: One way to access Network Connections The Network Connections window contains an icon for every network connection 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 of this book Figure 6-3: The Network Connections window Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software 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 contents will be different than what’s shown in Figure 6-5 ߜ Some laptop manufacturers include custom Control Panel icons, as 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 94 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? Figure 6-4: The Control Panel’s silly Category View 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 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software 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: Right-click the Start button Choose Properties from the Start button’s pop-up menu The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears Click the Start Menu tab 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 flyout menu on the Start menu 95 96 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click the Advanced tab Locate the Control Panel item in the scrolling list of Start menu items Select the Display as Menu option beneath the Control Panel heading 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 resolution 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 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 presentation with your laptop It’s where you configure the settings for the external 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.) Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software 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 Figure 6-7: The Settings tab of the Display Properties dialog box Network connections The Network Connections icon is where you get access to your laptop’s networking 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 97 98 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? 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 has more information about your laptop’s battery and power management 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 hardware 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 Chapter 6: Windows and Your Laptop Software Figure 6-9: The System Properties dialog box You can other fun things in the System Properties dialog box, as covered throughout this book ߜ You can also access the System Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the My Computer icon and choosing Properties from the context menu ߜ You might 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 to on the road and is covered in Chapter 11 Printers and faxes Use this icon to help your laptop recognize a printer Or when you’re connected to a Windows network, you’ll notice any shared printers automatically appear in the Printers and Faxes window Figure 6-10 shows a sample Printers and Faxes window Three types of printers are shown in the figure: a fax, a network printer, and a local printer 99 100 Part II: I Have My Laptop, Now What? Fax printer Network printer Local printer "Default" Figure 6-10: The Printers and Faxes window Faxing works just like printing, except that the printer is a fax machine in another location Also, the faxing is controlled by the laptop’s internal modem, so you need 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 first Network printers are found and displayed automatically each time your laptop connects to a network The network must have other Windows computers on it, and those computers must be sharing their printers for the printer to show up in the window Note that network printers have “plumbing” beneath their icons The dark circle with a check mark in it represents the default printer, or the printer that Windows uses whenever you haven’t specifically chosen another printer To set the default printer, right-click on a printer icon and choose Set as Default Printer from the context menu ߜ The local printer shown in Figure 6-10, Microsoft Office Document Image Writer, is actually a virtual printer I have no idea what that is ... 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... own icon for your laptop’s battery or power supply Chapter has more information about your laptop’s battery and power management issues System The System icon is a central location for controlling... 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