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Chapter 1: The Desktop and Start Menu

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When you turn on a Windows XP Pro computer for the first time, you may think that you're simply seeing the traditional Windows startup process as redesigned by a West Coast graphic designer. If it's a new computer, you may also receive a big hello from the company that sold it to you.

If you've just performed a clean installation of Windows XP (Appendix A), or if it's a brand-new PC, you may now be treated to a series of blue "Welcome to Microsoft Windows" setup screens. This Setup Wizard guides you through setting up an Internet account, activating your copy of Windows (Introduction), setting up accounts for different people who will be sharing this computer (Chapter 17), and so on. Appendix A has a complete description of this process.

What happens next in the startup process depends on which of XP Pro's two "personalities" you're seeing, which is determined by what kind of network you're connected to.

Eager though you may be to dive in, taking a minute to learn the difference is essential if you hope to understand what appears on screen when you log in and why it may not match the examples you see online and in magazines and books.

Unlike Windows XP Home Edition, which was designed primarily for individuals to use, well, at home, Windows XP Pro serves two masters. Although it works very well for home PCs, it's also designed to thrive in massively networked corporations.

As a result, Windows XP Pro has two distinct personalities, each of which presents different features, a different logon sequence, and different levels of security. What you get when you log in depends on what kind of network your PC is connected to:

• A domain network is a group of computers and other network gear that's centrally maintained by an administrator, thanks to a special, master computer called a domain controller. That highly paid professional can set up and troubleshoot all files and security settings on all domain PCs without having to visit each one in person.
  You, the employee, can generally sit down at any computer in the domain and log on with your user name and password. At that point, you find the same files, folders, and disks available to you as you did at your own computer. For more information on domains, see Chapter 19.

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Logging In

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What happens next in the startup process depends on which of XP Pro's two "personalities" you're seeing, which is determined by what kind of network you're connected to.

Eager though you may be to dive in, taking a minute to learn the difference is essential if you hope to understand what appears on screen when you log in and why it may not match the examples you see online and in magazines and books.

Unlike Windows XP Home Edition, which was designed primarily for individuals to use, well, at home, Windows XP Pro serves two masters. Although it works very well for home PCs, it's also designed to thrive in massively networked corporations.

As a result, Windows XP Pro has two distinct personalities, each of which presents different features, a different logon sequence, and different levels of security. What you get when you log in depends on what kind of network your PC is connected to:

• A domain network is a group of computers and other network gear that's centrally maintained by an administrator, thanks to a special, master computer called a domain controller. That highly paid professional can set up and troubleshoot all files and security settings on all domain PCs without having to visit each one in person.
  You, the employee, can generally sit down at any computer in the domain and log on with your user name and password. At that point, you find the same files, folders, and disks available to you as you did at your own computer. For more information on domains, see Chapter 19.
• A workgroup is the kind of network in most homes and small offices: a small cluster of machines connected via network cables or wireless cards, as described in Chapter 18. Instead of enjoying central administration, as in a domain, you have to configure all settings for accounts and shared folders independently on each computer. If you have five PCs, and you'd like to be able to access all of their files from across the network, you must set up an account for yourself (a name and password) five times. (Clearly, workgroups get to be a real hassle as they grow larger than about ten machines.)

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The Elements of the XP Desktop

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Once you're past the heart-pounding excitement of the new startup logo and the Setup Wizard, you reach the digital vista shown in Figure 1-3. It's the Windows desktop, now graced by a pastoral sunny hillside that should look familiar to anyone who has ever watched "Teletubbies."

Figure 1-3: Everything you'll ever do on the computer begins with a click on one of these three elements: a desktop icon, the Start button (which opens the Start menu), or the taskbar, which is described in Chapter 2. (The Start menu, now in a new, improved two-column format, lists every significant command and software component on your PC.) Some people enjoy the newly streamlined Windows XP desktop. Others deliberately place additional icons on the desktop—things like favorite programs and documents—for quicker access. Let your personality be your guide.

On a fresh installation of Windows XP, you may be surprised to discover that Microsoft has gone cleanliness-crazy. A new installation of Windows XP on a new computer presents an absolutely spotless desktop, utterly icon-free except for the Recycle Bin. Even the familiar My Computer, My Documents, and My Network Places icons seem to be missing. (If you've upgraded from an older version of Windows, you'll still see your old icons on the desktop. Furthermore, the company who sold you your PC may have stocked the desktop with a few of its own icons—but you get the point.)

Those former desktop icons are now in your Start menu, which appear when you click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your screen (Figure 1-3). The following pages cover the Start menu in detail.

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The Start Menu

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Windows XP is composed of 40 million lines of computer code, scattered across your hard drive in thousands of files. The vast majority of them are support files, there for behind-the-scenes use by Windows and your applications. They're not for you. They may as well bear a sticker saying, "No user serviceable parts inside."

That's why the Start menu is so important. It lists every useful piece of software on your computer, including commands, programs, and files. You can use the Start menu to open your applications, install new software, configure hardware, get help, find files, and much more.

When you click the Start button at the lower-left corner of your screen, the Start menu pops open, shooting upward. Its contents depend on which options you (or your computer's manufacturer) have put there; Figure 1-4 illustrates an example. The new, multi-column structure of the Start menu is one of the most radical developments in Windows XP.

The new Start menu is divided into four chunks. One area, the pinned items list, lists programs you use every day and is yours to modify. Another, the most frequently used programs list, lists programs you use often and is computed automatically by Windows. The final two sections list Windows features and standard Windows programs. Figure 1-4 describes the function of each section.

The desktop icons that once provided quick access to important locations on your PC—My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and Internet Explorer—have been swept away by the digital broom of Microsoft's clean-freak XP designers.

You can still get to these locations; they're listed in your Start menu now. On one hand, having them in the Start menu means that you can open these folders and programs without having to hide whatever windows are covering up your desktop. On the other hand, opening them now requires two mouse clicks (including one to open the Start menu)—an egregious expenditure of caloric effort.

If you miss the old arrangement, it's easy enough to put these icons back on the desktop. To do so, right-click the desktop and then choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

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StartLog Off

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This command is at the heart of Windows XP's accounts feature, in which each person who uses this PC gets to see his own desktop picture, email account, files, and so on (see Chapter 17). When you're logged into a network domain this is one of the most important features of all. You should log off your computer any time you walk away from it, especially if your computer stores confidential information. If this is a home computer and it doesn't store confidential information you can safely ignore this option forever.

Choosing this command may present either of two dialog boxes, depending on whether your computer is logged into a network domain, or whether or not you log on to a standalone or workgroup computer that has the Windows XP feature called Fast User Switching turned on.

You cannot use Fast User Switching on a computer that logs on to a network domain.

The newly designed XP Start menu has its charms, not the least of which is its three-dimensional glowing effect. But it's also confusing to old-time Windows users, and slower to open, particularly on PCs that aren't quite state of the art.

Fortunately, it's easy enough to switch back to the organization and design of the old, single-column Start menu. Just right-click the Start button. Now, from the shortcut menu, choose Properties.

In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box that appears, you'll see the option to return to the old Start menu design—what Microsoft calls Classic Start menu—staring you in the face, complete with an illustration. Click that button, click OK, and enjoy going back to the future.

When you use the Classic Start menu, you'll notice a few differences in the behavior of the Start menu commands. For example, the Log Off command bears your actual account name ("Log Off Chris"), and of course the Programs command isn't a second, separate menu superimposed on the Start menu. (But you knew that, of course, because you're already accustomed to the older Start menu.)

Incidentally, on the assumption that you really liked Windows better the old way, turning on the Classic Start menu also restores several icons to your immaculate desktop: My Documents, My Computer, Internet Explorer, and My Network Places. (They disappear when you switch back to the modern Start menu.)

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StartShut Down (Turn Off Computer)

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In Windows XP Pro, this menu item is more powerful than its name implies. Choosing it opens a dialog box that offers several variations on "shut down" (see Figure 1-6).

• Standby puts your computer to "sleep." This special state of PC consciousness reduces the amount of electricity the computer uses. It remains in suspended animation until you use the mouse or keyboard to begin working again. (This feature is available only if your computer offers it and you've turned it on in the Power Options program in the Control Panel.)
  How the PC sleeps depends on its power-saving features. Usually, the hard drive stops spinning and the screen goes dark. Whatever programs or documents you were working on remain in memory.
  This information is stored only in memory, not on your hard drive. If your computer loses power, you lose all of the information that was stored in memory. To be absolutely safe, save your open documents before putting the PC in Standby.
  If you're using a laptop on battery power, Standby is a real boon. When the flight attendant hands over your microwaved chicken teriyaki, you can take a food break without closing all your programs or shutting down the computer. And best of all, Standby mode consumes only the barest trickle of battery power.
  Use Standby when you want to put your computer to sleep on cue. It's worth noting, however, that you can set the computer to stand by automatically whenever you haven't used the mouse or keyboard for a while. You can even make it so that the computer won't wake up again unless you type in a certain password. Section 8.20.4 has the details on these extra features.
• Shut down quits all open programs (or, in some cases, prompts you to do so), offers you the opportunity to save any unsaved documents, and then exits Windows. Most modern PCs then turn off automatically.
  If you're logged on to a workgroup network, this command may be called Turn Off.
  If your older model requires you to manually press the Power button, you must wait until a message appears on the screen telling you that it's safe to turn off the computer (which may take more than a few seconds).

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StartAll Programs

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For most people, the Start→All Programs command is the most important function of the Start menu. It's the master list of every program on your computer. (The installer for any new program generally installs its own name in this menu; see Figure 1-7.) You can jump directly to your word processor, calendar, or favorite game, for example, just by choosing its name from the Start→All Programs menu.

When the Start menu is open, you can open the All Programs menu in a number of ways: by clicking the All Programs menu, by pointing to it and keeping the mouse still for a moment, or by pressing the P and then the right-arrow keys on your keyboard.

Speaking of keyboard fanaticism: Once the programs list is open, you can also choose anything in it without involving the mouse. Just type the first letter of a program's name—or press the up and down arrow keys—to highlight the name of the program you want. Then press Enter to seal the deal.

Clearly, the graphic designers were on vacation the day Microsoft came up with this one. The All Programs menu appears superimposed on the regular Start menu, adding a third column in a second layer—not the most elegant visual solution, to be sure, but at least easy to find.

The Start→All Programs menu also lists the Startup folder, which contains programs that load automatically every time you start Windows XP. This can be a very useful feature; if you check your email every morning, you may as well save yourself a few mouse clicks by putting your email program into the Startup folder. If you spend all day long word processing, you may as well put Microsoft Word or WordPerfect in there.

If you have a lot of programs, the All Programs menu may itself consume multiple columns on your screen. If this columns-on-columns effect makes you a bit dizzy, just replace it with the simple, one-column, scrolling Programs menu of Windows gone by.

To do so, right-click the Start button, then choose Properties from the submenu. Next, click the Customize button, click the Advanced tab, and scroll down the list of options until you see Scroll Programs. Turn on the checkbox and then click OK twice.

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StartRun

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Use the Run menu item to get to a command line, as shown in Figure 1-9. A command line is a text-based method of performing a task. You type a command, click OK, and something happens as a result.

Working at the command line is becoming a lost art in the world of Windows, because most people prefer to issue commands by choosing from menus using the mouse. However, some old-timers still love the command line, and even mouse-lovers encounter situations where a typed command is the only way to do something.

Figure 1-9: Top: The last Run command you entered appears automatically in the Open text box. You can use the drop-down list to see a list of commands you've previously entered.

Bottom: The Run command knows the names of all of your folders and also remembers the last few commands you typed here. As you go, you're shown the best match for the characters you're typing. When the name of the folder you're trying to open appears in the list, click it to save having to type the rest of the entry.

If you're an old-time PC veteran, your head probably teems with neat Run commands you've picked up over the years. If you're new to this idea, however, the following are a few of the useful and timesaving functions you can perform with the Run dialog box.

As noted later in this discussion, one of the most important Start menu commands is the All Programs menu, where you'll find the name of almost every application on your computer. You can open any of these programs one at a time by typing its program file name in the Open text box and then pressing Enter. That's an extremely useful shortcut for both pros and novices alike, because it's frequently faster to launch a program this way than to use the Start→All Programs menu.

Unfortunately, the program file name isn't the same as its plain-English name; it's a cryptic, abbreviated version. For example, if you want to open Microsoft Word, you must type winword. That's the actual name of the Word program icon as it sits in your My Computer→Local Disk (C:)→Program Files→Microsoft Office→Office folder. Some other common program-file names are shown here:

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StartSearch

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The humble Search command looks no more special than anything else on the Start menu. In Windows XP, however, it's a newly revised powerhouse that's far more complex to navigate. Microsoft has even given it a new name—Search Companion. You'll probably use it often.

The Search function can quickly find all kinds of computer-ish things: file and folder icons, computers on your network, Web sites, email addresses, and phone numbers.

If you save your files exclusively into the My Documents folder (Section 1.16), you'll have little need to use the Search function to locate your files. You'll always know where they are: right there in that folder.

Every now and then, however, you won't remember where you filed something, or you'll download something from the Internet and not be able to find it again, or you'll install something and not know where to look for it. In those situations, the Search command is just what you need (Figure 1-11). It lets you look for a particular file or folder based on its description—by its name, size, date stamp, and so on.

Microsoft is at it again, adding cutesy cartoon characters to its software. Fortunately, the Search program works just as well without the dog as with it.

If you'd just as soon not have little Rover eyeing you with his little anthropomorphic 3-D eyes while you do your searching, it's easy enough to get rid of him. Either click "Turn off animated character" on the current menu, or click directly on the animated character to open up the panel illustrated here.

Click "Turn off the animated character" to get rid of the dog. (You must still sit through one final animation while it saunters away.)

On the other hand, if this kind of thing seems to make computers less intimidating for you, click "Choose a different animated character" instead. You'll find that Microsoft has provided not just one, but several provocative little characters that can occupy the bottom of your Search panel—a wizard, some yuppie woman in a flying car, and a surfboard kid whose face appears to be made of a banana. Click Next until you see the one you want, and then click OK.

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StartHelp and Support

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Choosing Start→Help and Support opens the new, improved Windows Help and Support Center window, which is described in Chapter 4.

Once again, speed fans have an alternative to using the mouse—just press the F1 key to open the Help window.

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StartControl Panel

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This extremely important command opens an extremely important window: the Control Panel, which houses two dozen programs you'll use to change almost every important setting on your PC. It's so important, in fact, that it gets a chapter of its own (Chapter 8).

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StartSet Program Access and Defaults

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This awkwardly named command appears only if you've installed Service Pack 1 or 2. It's actually just a shortcut to the Set Program Access and Defaults panel of the (equally clunkily named) Add or Remove Programs control panel.

Its purpose is to let your specify which program (not necessarily Microsoft's) you want to use as your Web browser, email program, instant-messaging program, Java module, and music player—a choice offered by Microsoft to placate the U.S. Justice Department. Details are in Section 5.10.6.

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StartMy Network Places

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In previous versions of Windows, a My Network Places icon used to appear on everybody's desktop. Of course, for the millions of non-networked PC users in their home offices and bedrooms, it never made much sense. In Windows XP Professional, in fact, My Network Places appears only when your PC joins a network—and then only in the Start menu. (You can also put its icon on the desktop yourself, as described in Section 1.2.)

In any case, once it's there, choosing this command opens the My Network Places window, which displays icons for the computer, disks and folders other people on the office network have made available for rummaging. (Much more on this topic in Chapter 20.)

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StartMy Computer

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The My Computer command is the trunk lid, the doorway to every single shred of software on your machine. When you choose this command, a window opens to reveal icons that represent each disk drive (or drive partition) in your machine, as shown in Figure 1-21.

The My Computer window at home and the My Computer window on my PC at work don't look alike. What's up with that?

The difference is that your PC at work is probably on a network domain, and the one at home belongs to a smaller, less formal workgroup network . As you'll discover over and over again, the Windows XP Pro experience is slightly different depending on which kind of network you're on.

On a computer that's part of a domain, you see only two sections: "Hard Disk Drives" and "Devices with Removable Storage" (as shown at top in Figure 1-21).

On a workgroup PC, you get a third section, called "Files Stored on This Computer" (Figure 1-21, bottom). It lists the My Documents folders for each person who has an account on—and who has logged on to—this computer.

Why? Because in a corporation, your files probably aren't even on your PC. They probably sit on some centralized server machine elsewhere on the network. So there probably aren't many "files stored on this computer."

For example, by double-clicking your hard-drive icon and then the various folders on it, you can eventually see the icons for every single file and folder on your computer. (The My Computer icon no longer appears on the desktop—unless you put it there, as described in Section 1.2.)

You don't have to live with "My This, My That" as the names of the important Windows folders. You can easily rename them, as described in Section 1.17.4.

Figure 1-21: The My Computer window is divided into two sections on a computer that's a member of a network domain, and three sections on a computer that's a member of a workgroup.

Top: The screen you see when your computer joins a network domain. At the top of the screen comes a list of hard drives, followed by a list of removable-disk drives. This computer has one floppy drive, two hard drives (or one partitioned hard drive, as described in Appendix A), and one CD-ROM drive. (If there's a disk in the CD-ROM drive, you get to see its name, not just its drive letter.)

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StartMy Music, My Pictures

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Clearly, Microsoft imagined that most of its Windows XP customers would be multimedia mavens, decked out with digital cameras and MP3 music players. To hammer home the point, it has stocked your My Documents folder with My Pictures and My Music folders to store digital photos and music files, respectively.

If you do indeed have a digital camera or MP3 player (and it's Windows XP compatible), you'll probably find that whatever software came with it automatically dumps your photos into, and sucks your music files out of, these folders. You'll find much more on this topic in Chapter 7.

If you don't feel the need to stare at these folder names in your Start menu day after day, it's easy enough to get rid of them. Right-click the Start menu; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties. In that dialog box, click the Start Menu tab, click Customize, and then click the Advanced tab. Now scroll down in the Start menu items list until you see My Music or My Pictures. Click "Don't display this item," and then click OK.

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StartMy Recent Documents

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You should see the My Recent Documents menu command in your Start menu by default. If you don't, you can turn it on using the techniques described in the box below.

There's one good reason for turning on this menu: It adds to your Start menu a submenu listing the last 15 documents you've opened. Using a list of recent documents can save you time when you want to reopen something you've worked on recently, but you're not in the mood to burrow through folders to find its icon.

Some of the commands that populated the Start menus of previous Windows versions no longer appear in the home version of Windows XP. That's by design, of course: Microsoft is trying to make its new operating system look less overwhelming to the newcomer.

But if you miss some of the old folders—My Network Places and My Recent Documents, for example—it's easy enough to put them back.

Right-click the Start menu. From the shortcut menu, choose Properties. Now the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears; on the Start Menu tab, click the Customize button, and then the Advanced tab.

In the scrolling list, you'll find a checkbox that makes My Network Places appear in the Start menu. Windows 2000 veterans may also want to turn on "Display as Connect to menu" under Network Connections, so that you have a handy submenu of network connections in your Start menu. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the list, you'll also see an option that adds System Administrative Tools to your All Programs menu and even to your Start menu. (You can read about these technical utilities in Chapter 16.)

At the bottom of the dialog box, turn on "List my most recently opened documents" to add the My Recent Documents command to your Start menu. Click OK twice to return to the desktop and try out your changes.

Note, however, that:

• Documents appear on the "recently used" list only if your applications are smart enough to update it. Most modern programs (including all Microsoft programs) perform this administrative task, but not all do.
• The Documents list doesn't know when you've deleted a document or moved it to another folder or disk; it continues to list the file even after it's gone. In that event, clicking the document's listing produces only an error message.

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StartMy Documents

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This command opens up your My Documents folder, which, until Windows XP, appeared as an icon on your desktop. It's designed to hold the data files you and your programs create.

Of course, you're welcome to file your documents anywhere on the hard drive, but most programs propose the My Documents folder as the target location for newly created documents.

Sticking with that principle makes a lot of sense for three reasons. First, it makes navigation easy. You never have to wonder where you filed some document, since all your stuff is sitting right there in the My Documents folder. Second, this arrangement makes backing up easy, in that you can drag the entire My Documents folder right onto a Zip disk or blank CD.

Whenever you log on, Windows XP provides a My Documents folder just for you. (It actually sits in the My Computer→Local Disk (C:)→Documents and Settings→[Your Name] folder.)

This feature can be confusing if you're not expecting it. For example, if you stop by the computer after somebody else has logged in, none of your stuff is where you expect to find it—specifically, in the My Documents folder. That's because the computer no longer opens your documents folder when you choose Start→My Documents.

If this happens to you, check the name that appears at the top of the Start menu. It identifies who's currently logged on—and whose documents are showing up in the My Documents window.

Third, remember that Windows XP has been designed from the ground up for computer sharing. It's ideal for any situation where different family members, students, or workers share the same PC. Each person who uses the computer will turn on the machine to find her own separate, secure set of files, folders, desktop pictures, Web bookmarks, preference settings—and My Documents folder. (Much more about this feature in Chapter 20.)

Figure 1-22: Top: The only task you can perform on this first screen is to turn off the new, Windows XP double-column Start menu design to return to the older, single-column Classic Start menu design of Windows versions gone by. The good stuff awaits when you click the Customize button.

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Customizing the Start Menu

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As millions of Windows users have demonstrated, it's perfectly possible to live a long and happy life without ever tampering with the Start menu. For many people, the idea of making it look or work differently comes dangerously close to nerd territory. (It's true that listing your favorite files there gives you quicker access to them—but it's even easier to use the Quick Launch toolbar, as described in Section 2.5.1.)

Still, knowing how to manipulate the Start menu listings may come in handy someday, and provides an interesting glimpse into the way Windows works.

Thanks to the User Accounts feature described in Chapter 17, any changes you make to the Start menu apply only to you. Each person with an account on this PC has an independent, customized Start menu. When you sign on to the machine using your name and password, Windows XP loads your customized Start menu.

Microsoft offers a fascinating set of customization options for the Start menu. It's hard to tell whether these options were selected by a scientific usability study or by a dartboard, but you're likely to find something that suits you.

To view and change the basic options, right-click the Start menu; choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Now the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box opens, as seen in Figure 1-22.

Section 1.17.1.1: The General tab

When you click the Customize button, you see the dialog box shown at right in Figure 1-22. Here you're offered a random assortment of Start menu tweaks:

• Select an icon size for programs. Turning on "Small icons" gives you smaller icons next to the commands in the left column of the Start menu. (You always get small icons on the right side and in the All Programs menu.) As a result, the Start menu is more compact. Consider converting to small icons as your All Programs menu gets crowded.
  OK, I'm with you—I turned on "Display as a menu" for the Control Panel, so now I can open any Control Panel program directly from my Start menu. Trouble is, now I can't open the Control Panel window itself! Nothing happens when I click the Start

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Chapter 2: Windows, Folders, and the Taskbar

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Windows got its name from the rectangles on the screen—the windows—where every computer activity takes place. You look at a Web page in a window, type into a window, read email in a window, and look at the contents of a folder in a window—sometimes all at once. But as you create more files, stash them in more folders, and launch more programs, it's easy to wind up paralyzed before a screen awash with cluttered, overlapping rectangles.

Fortunately, Windows is crawling with icons, buttons, and other inventions to help you keep these windows under control.

There are two categories of windows in Windows:

• Desktop windows. These windows, sometimes called Windows Explorer windows, include the windows that open when you double-click a disk or folder icon. This is where you organize your files and programs.
• Application windows. These are the windows where you do your work—in Word or Internet Explorer, for example.

Nonetheless, all windows have certain components in common (see Figure 2-1).

• Title bar. This top strip displays the name of the window. Drag it like a handle when you want to move the window on the screen.
• Minimize button. Click this box to temporarily hide a window, shrinking it down into the form of a button on your taskbar (Section 2.4). You can open it again by clicking that button. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then N.
• Maximize button. Click this button to enlarge the window so that it fills the screen, gluing its edges to the screen borders. At this point, the maximize button turns into a restore down button (whose icon shows two overlapping rectangles), which you can click to return the window to its previous size. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then X.

You can also maximize or restore a window by double-clicking its title bar.

Figure 2-1: All windows have the same basic ingredients, making it easy to become an expert in window manipulation. This figure shows a desktop window—a disk or folder—but you'll encounter the same elements in application windows.

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Windows in Windows

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There are two categories of windows in Windows:

• Desktop windows. These windows, sometimes called Windows Explorer windows, include the windows that open when you double-click a disk or folder icon. This is where you organize your files and programs.
• Application windows. These are the windows where you do your work—in Word or Internet Explorer, for example.

Nonetheless, all windows have certain components in common (see Figure 2-1).

• Title bar. This top strip displays the name of the window. Drag it like a handle when you want to move the window on the screen.
• Minimize button. Click this box to temporarily hide a window, shrinking it down into the form of a button on your taskbar (Section 2.4). You can open it again by clicking that button. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then N.
• Maximize button. Click this button to enlarge the window so that it fills the screen, gluing its edges to the screen borders. At this point, the maximize button turns into a restore down button (whose icon shows two overlapping rectangles), which you can click to return the window to its previous size. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+Space bar, then X.

You can also maximize or restore a window by double-clicking its title bar.

Figure 2-1: All windows have the same basic ingredients, making it easy to become an expert in window manipulation. This figure shows a desktop window—a disk or folder—but you'll encounter the same elements in application windows.

• Close button. Click the X button to close the window. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+F4.
• Menu bar. Click a menu title (such as File or Edit) to open a menu, revealing a list of commands availabel for that menu in this window. Keyboard shortcut: Press Alt+[underlined letter in menu], or press F10 to activate the menu bar in the active window and then press the underlined letter.
• Toolbar. Some windows offer rows of one-click shortcut buttons as equivalents for the menu commands that Microsoft thinks you'll use frequently. (More on toolbars at the end of this chapter.)

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The Desktop Window Overhaul

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Windows' windows look just fine straight from the factory: all the edges are straight, and the text is perfectly legible. Still, if you're going to stare at this computer screen for half of your waking hours, you may as well investigate some of the ways these windows can be enhanced for better looks and greater efficiency. As it turns out, there's no end to the tweaks Microsoft lets you perform.

You can view the files and folders in a desktop window in any of several ways: as small icons, jumbo icons, a tidy list, and so on. Each window remembers its own view settings.

To change the view of a particular open window, choose one of these commands from its View menu (or from the little icon on the toolbar): Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, or Details. Figure 2-5 illustrates each of these options.

Some of these views are new in Windows XP. Filmstrip view, for example, is a home run for anyone with a digital camera or scanner. It turns the folder window into a slide show machine, complete with Next and Previous buttons beneath an enlarged picture, as well as buttons that rotate the image on the screen. (You get this view automatically when you open your My Pictures folder.)

Figure 2-5: The new Filmstrip view (upper left) creates a slide show right in the folder window. Thumbnails view (upper right) is also good for photos—or anyone who would like a larger target for clicking each icon. (Tip: If you press Shift as you switch to Thumbnails view, you hide the file names. Do it again to bring the names back.)

In the new Tiles view (middle left), your icons appear at standard size, sorted alphabetically into vertical columns—with name and file details just to the right. Icons view (middle right) sorts the icons horizontally in rows, displaying only their names. The List view (lower left) packs, by far, the most files into the space of a window. Details view (lower right) is the same as List view, except for the additional columns of information that reveal the size, the icon type, and the date and time the item was last modified.

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Window Toolbars

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On the day it's born, every Windows XP desktop window has a standard toolbar across the top (see Figure 2-9). A toolbar is simply a strip of one-click buttons like Back, Forward, Search, and so on.

But by choosing View→Toolbars, or right-clicking a blank spot on a toolbar and pointing to Toolbars on the shortcut menu, you can add or hide whichever toolbars you like, on a window-by-window basis. Three different toolbars are availabel from the View menu: Standard Buttons, Address Bar, and Links.

As anyone in the U.S. Justice Department could probably tell you, the Internet Explorer Web browser is deeply embedded in Windows itself. These window toolbars are perfect examples: They appear not only in desktop windows but also in Internet Explorer when you're browsing the Web. In fact, you'll probably find them even more useful when you're browsing the Web than when browsing your desktop folders.

This toolbar helps you navigate your desktop (or the Web). The desktop version contains buttons like these:

• Back, Forward. On the Web, these buttons let you return to Web pages you've just seen. At the desktop, they display the contents of a disk or folder you've just seen. If you're using one-window-at-a-time mode (see "Uni-Window vs. Multi-Window" in Section 2.2.3), these buttons are your sole means of getting around as you burrow through your folders.

In both Internet Explorer and at the desktop, you can click the tiny down-pointing black triangle on the Back or Forward button to see a drop-down menu of every Web page (or desktop window) you visited on your way to your current position. Similarly, if you point to one of these buttons without clicking, a tooltip indicates which Web site or folder you'll go to if you click.

Figure 2-9: Top: The three basic toolbars that you can summon independently for any desktop window—and also in Internet Explorer.

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The Taskbar

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The permanent blue stripe across the bottom of your screen is the taskbar, one of the most prominent and important elements of the Windows interface (see Figure 2-11).

Figure 2-11: When you see nothing but microscopic icons, point without clicking to view an identifying tooltip.

The taskbar has several segments, each dedicated to an important function. Its right end, the notification area, contains little status icons that display the time, whether or not you're online, whether or not your laptop's plugged in, and so on. The main portion of the taskbar, of course, helps you keep your open windows and programs under control. You can even dress up your taskbar with additional little segments called toolbars, as described in the following pages.

This section covers each of these features in turn.

In Windows XP, Microsoft has chosen a new name for the area formerly known as the tray (the group of tiny icons at the right end of the taskbar): the notification area. (Why use one syllabel when eight will do?)

The purpose is much the same: to give you quick access to little status indicators and pop-up menus that control various functions of your PC. Many a software installer inserts its own little icon into this area: fax software, virus software, palmtop synchronization software, and so on.

Didn't there used to be another toolbar—the radio toolbar? How am I supposed to tune in my favorite Internet radio stations?

It's gone from Windows XP. When you're in the mood for a little classical music as you crunch numbers, use the new Media Explorer bar panel instead (Section 2.1.2).

To figure out what an icon represents, point to it without clicking so that a tooltip appears. To access the controls that accompany it, try both left-clicking and right-clicking the tiny icon. Often, each click produces a different pop-up menu filled with useful controls.

Despite the expansion of its name, you'll probably discover that this area is much smaller than it used to be. On a new PC, for example, you may find little more than the current time.

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Taskbar Toolbars

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Taskbar toolbars are separate, recessed-looking areas on the taskbar that offer special-function features. You can build your own toolbar, for example, stocked with documents related to a single project. (Somewhere in America, there's a self-help group for people who spend entirely too much time fiddling with this kind of thing.)

Sometimes, after manually hiding the taskbar (or going too far when you're trying to make it smaller), you can't get it back. The thin blue line disappears, or your mouse pointer won't turn into a double-headed arrow when you position it on the thin line. Here's how to fix the problem:

1. Press Ctrl+Esc. This keystroke selects the taskbar, even though you can't see it (although you can now see the Start menu).
2. Press Esc to make the Start menu disappear. (The taskbar is still selected, even though you can't see it.)
3. Press Alt+Space bar to bring up a shortcut menu.
4. Choose Size from the shortcut menu; this changes your mouse pointer into a four-sided shape. Don't click anything.
5. Press the arrow key that points toward the center of the screen (from the taskbar's perspective). As you do, the taskbar reappears.
6. Resize the taskbar very carefully to avoid repeating all of these steps.

To make a toolbar appear or disappear, right-click a blank spot on the taskbar and choose from the Toolbars shortcut menu (Figure 2-15). The ones with checkmarks are visible now; select one to make the toolbar (and checkmark) disappear.

The Quick Launch toolbar, once you've made it appear, is fantastically useful. In fact, in sheer convenience, it puts the Start menu to shame. It contains icons for functions that Microsoft assumes you'll use most often. They include:

• Show Desktop, a one-click way to minimize (hide) all the windows on your screen to make your desktop visible. Don't forget about this button the next time you need to burrow through some folders, put something in the Recycle Bin, or perform some other activity in your desktop folders.

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Chapter 3: Organizing Your Stuff

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Every disk, folder, file, application, printer, and networked computer is represented on your screen by an icon. To avoid spraying your screen with thousands of overlapping icons seething like snakes in a pit, Windows organizes icons into folders, puts those folders into other folders, and so on.

This folder-in-a-folder-in-a-folder scheme works beautifully at reducing screen clutter, but it means that you've got some hunting to do whenever you want to open a particular icon.

Helping you navigate and manage your files, folders, and disks with less stress and greater speed was one of the primary design goals of Windows—and of this chapter.

To create a new folder to hold your icons, right-click where you want the folder to appear (on the desktop, or in any desktop window except My Computer), and choose New→Folder from the shortcut menu. The new folder appears with its temporary "New Folder" name highlighted. Type a new name for the folder and then press Enter.

Before Windows took over the universe, folders were called directories, and folders inside them were called subdirectories. Keep that in mind the next time you're reading an old user guide, magazine article, or computer book.

The top-level, all-encompassing, mother-ship window of your PC is the My Computer window. From within this window, you have access to every disk, folder, and file on your computer. Its slogan might well be: "If it's not in here, it's not on your PC."

To see it, choose Start→My Computer, or double-click its icon on the desktop, if you've put it there (Section 1.2 ). (And if it is on your desktop, remember that you can rename it something that's a little more, well, dignified, by clicking it and then pressing the F2 key.)

No matter how you open the My Computer window (Figure 3-1), you generally see several categories of icons:

Figure 3-1: Top: The My Computer window, shown here on a corporate-network PC, is the starting point for any folder-digging you want to do. It shows the disk drives of your PC. If you double-click the icon of a removable-disk drive (like your CD-ROM drive, Zip drive, or Jaz drive), you receive only an error message unless there's actually a disk in the drive.

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The Folders of Windows XP

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