The Windows Vista Book: Doing Cool Things with Vista, Your Photos, Videos, Music, and More

The Windows Vista Book: Doing Cool Things with Vista, Your Photos, Videos, Music, and More

Released April 2008
Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
ISBN: 9780321572943

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Book description

With so many books out there on Windows Vista, what makes this one better and different is its focus. While other Vista books can regularly be 500 or more pages, this book cuts through all the technical jargon and gives you exactly what you want: the most important, most requested, and just plain coolest things about Vista that will change the way you work on your PC. Each page covers just one topic, complete with full color photos and screenshots, making it easy to find what you’re looking for fast. You’ll learn how to take advantage of Vista’s newest features in order to better manage your digital photos, secure your computer, play your music, customize your computer’s look and feel, work with video, back up your data, and much, much more.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Acknowledgments (Matt Kloskowski)
  3. Acknowledgments (Kleber Stephenson)
  4. About the Authors
  5. Introduction
  6. One. Vista’s Coolest Features: Top Ten Things to Do Now, If You Just Can’t Help Yourself
    1. Tabs in Internet Explorer 7
    2. See Everything That You Have Open at Once
    3. Using Gadgets to Quickly Get to the Things You Need Most
    4. Instant Search
    5. Organize (and Fix) Your Photos with Photo Gallery
    6. Aero Look and Feel
    7. Back Up and Restore
    8. Live Icons
    9. Faster Resuming from Sleep Mode
    10. Parental Controls
  7. Two. Customizing Display and Appearance: Making Your Desktop Feel Like Home
    1. What Is Aero?
    2. Does Your Computer Support Aero?
    3. What’s New with the Start Menu?
    4. Setting the Date and Time
    5. Adding a Clock for Another Time Zone
    6. Installing a Font
    7. Setting the Number of Recent Apps
    8. Adjusting the Overall Volume
    9. Changing Your Mouse and Cursor Movement Speed
    10. Automatically Opening a Program When Vista Starts
    11. Using the Quick Launch Toolbar
    12. Adding More Programs to the Quick Launch Toolbar
    13. Tweaking the Quick Launch Toolbar
    14. Adding New Items to the Taskbar
    15. Previewing Your Open Programs
    16. Interacting with the Taskbar
    17. Hiding the Taskbar
    18. Making the Taskbar Larger
    19. Getting Back to Your Old Start Menu
    20. Creating Shortcuts on Your Desktop
    21. Adding New Items to Your Start Menu
    22. Changing Window Colors
    23. Customizing the Color of Your Custom Color
    24. Turning the Transparent Windows On and Off
    25. Changing Your Desktop Background (a.k.a. Wallpaper)
    26. Setting Your Monitor Resolution
    27. Turning on the Screen Saver
    28. Putting Your Display to Sleep
    29. Putting Your Computer to Sleep
    30. Switching Visually Between Open Programs
  8. Three. All New Gadgets and Sidebar: They’re New. They’re Cool. Find Out How to Use ‘Em
    1. What Is a Gadget?
    2. Why Should I Use Gadgets?
    3. What Is the Sidebar?
    4. How Do I Get Started with Gadgets?
    5. Adding a Gadget to the Sidebar
    6. Customizing the Sidebar
    7. Tweaking and Changing Gadget Settings
    8. Moving Gadgets
    9. Removing Gadgets from the Sidebar
    10. Using the Clock Gadget
    11. Using the Notes Gadget
    12. Using the Calendar Gadget
    13. Using the Contacts Gadget
    14. Using the Stocks Gadget
    15. Using the Slide Show Gadget
    16. Using the Currency Gadget
    17. Some of My Favorites
    18. A Popular Gadget Website
    19. Downloading New Gadgets
  9. Four. Security!: Keeping Your Computer Safe
    1. Why You Should Worry About Keeping Your Computer Safe
    2. Getting to Everything Security Related in Vista
    3. What Spyware and Malware Are and How Your Computer Gets Them
    4. Symptoms of Malware on Your Computer
    5. Getting Rid of and Keeping Malware Off Your Computer
    6. Windows Defender
    7. What to Do If You Suspect Malware But Can’t Get a Pop-Up to Close
    8. What Is a Virus and How Is It Different from Spyware?
    9. Protecting Your Computer from Viruses
    10. Determining If You Have a Virus
    11. The Importance of Automatic Updates
    12. Turning On Automatic Updating
    13. What Is Windows Firewall?
    14. Why You Should Back Up Your Computer
    15. Backing Up the Files on Your Computer
    16. Backing Up Your Entire Computer
    17. Where to Store Backups
    18. Restoring Your Computer from a Backup
    19. Automatically Backing Up Your Computer
    20. What Is Service Pack 1 (a.k.a. SP1)?
    21. How Do I Get SP1?
    22. How Do I Install SP1?
  10. Five. Surfing the Web: Getting Online Quickly & Safely
    1. Quickly Connect to a Wireless Network
    2. Your Internet and Networking Home
    3. How to Know If You’re Currently Connected to the Internet
    4. Connecting to an Existing Internet Connection
    5. Setting Up an Internet Connection
    6. Sharing Your Files or Printers with Other Computers
    7. What Public Folders Are and How to Share Them
    8. Getting the Latest Internet Explorer Web Browser
    9. Getting Familiar with Tabbed Surfing
    10. How Tabbed Surfing Works
    11. Opening Multiple Tabs When You Open IE7
    12. Don’t Type the Whole Address
    13. Favorites
    14. Searching the Web from IE7
    15. Using Other Search Engines
    16. Printing Your Webpages
    17. Downloading Files from the Internet
    18. Blocking Pop-Up Ads
    19. Changing Pop-Up Blocker Settings
    20. What Should You Do If You See This Dialog?
    21. What Is the Phishing Filter?
    22. RSS Feeds and IE7 (What Is an RSS Feed?)
    23. How to Know If a Website Has an RSS Feed
    24. Subscribing to an RSS Feed with IE7
    25. Viewing Your RSS Feeds
    26. Viewing RSS Feeds in a Gadget
    27. Viewing Browser History
    28. Clearing Your Browser History
    29. Internet Explorer 7 and Add-Ons
    30. Page Zoom
    31. Turning Parental Controls On
    32. Restricting Websites Automatically
    33. Blocking and Allowing Specific Websites
    34. Restricting the Time
    35. Restricting Programs
    36. Viewing Reports
  11. Six. Keeping in Touch: Email and Instant Messaging
    1. Windows Mail—Where’d Outlook Express Go?
    2. Importing Your Contacts
    3. Importing Old Email Messages
    4. Setting Up an Email Account
    5. Creating Signatures
    6. Adding a Signature to an Email
    7. Emailing Photos to Your Family and Friends
    8. Changing the Amount of Time Windows Mail Waits to Check for Email
    9. Managing Junk Mail
    10. What to Do If Junk Mail Still Gets Through to Your Inbox
    11. What to Do If a Good Email Actually Gets Sent to the Junk E-mail Folder
    12. Mail Rules or Filters
    13. Setting Up Rules
    14. What Is Windows Calendar?
    15. Changing Your Calendar View
    16. Keeping Track of Your To Dos
    17. What Are Calendar Subscriptions?
    18. Publishing Your Calendar
    19. Instant Messaging and Vista
    20. What Phishing Is and Why It’s Bad
  12. Seven. Getting the Most Out of Your Photos: Viewing, Editing, and Printing
    1. Getting Your Photos onto the Computer
    2. Turning AutoPlay On and Off
    3. Viewing Your Photos
    4. Getting Your Photos into Windows Photo Gallery
    5. Increasing Thumbnail Size
    6. Editing and Fixing Photos
    7. Fixing Photos That Are Too Dark or Too Light
    8. Fixing Dull Photos
    9. Boosting Colors
    10. Making a Quick Black-and-White Photo
    11. Creating a Sepia-Tinted Photo
    12. Cropping Photos
    13. Fixing Red Eye
    14. Rotating Photos
    15. Organizing Photos in Windows Photo Gallery
    16. How Vista Organizes Your Photos Automatically
    17. What Tags Are and Why You Should Use Them
    18. Creating and Using a New Tag
    19. Finding Photos Using Tags
    20. Using Multiple Tags
    21. Knowing What Type of Tags to Create
    22. Rating Your Photos and Picking the Keepers
    23. Finding Your Favorites
    24. Viewing Your Photos in a Slide Show
    25. Spicing Up Your Slide Show
    26. Changing the Way You View Your Photo Thumbnails
    27. Emailing a Photo
    28. Finding Out More Info About Your Photos (Metadata Definition)
    29. Changing File Info or Properties
    30. Ordering Prints Online
    31. Printing to Your Printer
    32. The Secret to Getting Good Prints, Part 1
    33. The Secret to Getting Good Prints, Part 2
    34. The Secret to Getting Good Prints, Part 3
  13. Eight. Music: Play and Organize Music with Windows Media Player
    1. Add Files to Your Library
    2. Create Playlists
    3. Create Auto Playlists
    4. View Media in Your Library
    5. Find Items in Your Library
    6. Playing Your Music
    7. Rip a CD
    8. Burn an Audio CD
    9. Sync Music with Portable Devices
    10. Sharing Music and Other Media
    11. Customize the Look of Media Player
    12. Using Media Player’s Enhancements
    13. Changing Visualizations
    14. Listen to Radio Stations
    15. Using Mini Player
  14. Nine. DVDs, Videos, and Making Movies: Making Your Family Superstars
    1. Getting Started: Import Video from Your Digital Camcorder
    2. Add the Essentials: Audio, Video, and Pictures
    3. Create and Save Your Project
    4. It All Happens Here (Using the Storyboard)
    5. Timing Is Everything (Trim Your Clips)
    6. Splitting Up Is Easy to Do (Split Your Clips)
    7. Be a Showoff (Add Transitions)
    8. They’re Not Just Effects, They’re Special Effects
    9. Get Geeky with It (Add Narration)
    10. Add Music
    11. Give Credit (Add Titles & Credits)
    12. There Is an Easier Way: Use AutoMovie
    13. Ready for Prime Time? Preview Your Movie First
    14. Time to Share (Publish Your Movie)
  15. Ten. Storing, Finding, and Viewing Your Files: Working with Files and Folders
    1. Navigating Your Files and Folders (Windows Explorer)
    2. Customize Windows Explorer
    3. Getting Information About Your Files and Folders
    4. Create and Delete Files and Folders
    5. Customize Your Folders
    6. Rename Files and Folders
    7. Move and Copy Your Files and Folders
    8. Selecting Files and Folders
    9. Change Folder Views
    10. Show and Hide Panes
    11. Using the Address Bar
    12. Instantly Search for Files
    13. Using Advanced Search
    14. Sorting Files and Folders
    15. Grouping Files and Folders
    16. Stacking Files
    17. Restoring Files from the Recycle Bin
    18. Changing an Icon
    19. Managing Your Files and Folders the Vista Way

Product information

  • Title: The Windows Vista Book: Doing Cool Things with Vista, Your Photos, Videos, Music, and More
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2008
  • Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
  • ISBN: 9780321572943