Windows 7 All-in-One For Dummies

Woody Leonhard

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780470550168
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Operating Systems
• Index: Computer Science

Eight references in one-fully revised to include all the new features and updates to Windows 7

As the #1 operating system in the world, Windows provides the platform upon which all essential computing activities occur. This much-anticiapted version of the popular operating system offers an improved user experience with an enhanced interface to allow for greater user control.

This All-in-One reference is packed with valuable information from eight minibooks, making it the ultimate resource. You'll discover the improved ways in which Windows 7 interacts with other devices, including mobile and home theater.

• Windows 7 boasts numerous exciting new features, and this reference is one-stop shopping for discovering them all!
• Eight minibooks cover Windows 7 basics, security, customizing, the Internet, searching and sharing, hardware, multimedia, Windows media center, and wired and wireless networking
• Addresses the new multi-touch feature that will allow you to control movement on the screen with your fingers

With this comprehensive guide at your fingertips, you'll quickly start taking advantages of all the exciting new features of Windows 7.

Book II

Windows 7 Boot Camp

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: Running Windows from Start to Finish

A Few Quick Steps to Make the Desktop Your Own

Mousing with Your Mouse

Starting with the Start Button

Touching on the Taskbar

Working with Files and Folders

Getting Around

Arranging Libraries

Creating Shortcuts

Sleep: Perchance to Dream

Chapter 2: Controlling Users

Logging On

Choosing Account Types

Controlling User Account Control

Adding Users

Enabling the Guest Account

Changing Accounts

Switching Users

Chapter 3: Maintaining Your System

Coping with Start-Up Problems

Working with Backups

Maintaining Drives

Using System Restore and Restore Points

Scheduling the Task Scheduler

Zipping and Compressing

Using the Windows 7 Resource Monitor and Reliability Monitor

Controlling the Control Panel

Chapter 4: Getting the Basic Stuff Done

Burning CDs and DVDs

Improving Your Experience Index

Getting Word Processing — Free

Taming the Character Map

Calculating — Free

Painting

Sticking Sticky Notes

Using Sneaky Key Commands

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting and Getting Help

Troubleshooting in the Action Center

Tracking Your System’s Stability

Tackling Windows Help and Support

How to Really Get Help

Snapping and Recording Your Problems

Connecting to Remote Assistance

Getting Help on the Web

Chapter 1: Running Windows from Start to Finish

In This Chapter

Moving around the desktop

Working with windows (windows with a wittle w)

Stepping through the wondrous Taskbar

Organizing files and folders

Showing filename extensions

Using libraries to extend your reach

To sleep, perchance to dream

This chapter explains how to find your way around the Windows windows. If you’re an old hand at Windows, you know most of this stuff — such as mousing and interacting with dialog boxes — but I bet some of it will come as a surprise, particularly if you’ve never taken advantage of Windows 7 libraries or if the idea of using a background slide show appeals to you. You know who you are.

Most of all, you need to understand that you don’t have to accept all the default settings. Windows 7 was designed to sell more copies of Windows 7. A lot of that folderol just gets in the way. What’s best for Microsoft isn’t necessarily best for you, and a few quick clicks can help make your PC more usable, and more . . . yours.

If you’re looking for information on customizing the Windows 7 Start menu and the taskbar, skip ahead to Book III, Chapter 2.

A Few Quick Steps to Make the Desktop Your Own

As soon as you log on to the computer (that’s what it’s called when you click your name), you’re greeted with an enormous expanse of near-nothingness, cleverly painted with a pretty picture. Your computer manufacturer might have chosen the picture for you, or you might see the default Microsoft screen.

Your Windows destiny, such as it is, unfolds on the computer’s screen. The screen that Windows shows you every time you start your computer is the desktop, although it doesn’t bear much resemblance to a real desktop. Try putting a pencil on it.

I talk about changing and organizing your desktop in Book III, Chapter 1, but every new Windows 7 user will want to make a few quick changes. In the end, your desktop should look something like Figure 1-1 — although you probably want a cool picture slide show on the desktop rather than a photo of my namesake.

Figure 1-1: My Own Dummies desktop.

The Windows desktop looks simple enough, but don’t fool yourself: Underneath that calm exterior sits the most sophisticated computer program ever created. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into creating the illusion of simplicity — something to remember the next time you feel like kicking your computer and screaming at the 7 gods.

Changing the background

Start taking your destiny into your own hands by changing the wallpaper (er, the desktop background). If you bought a new computer with Windows 7 installed, your background text probably says Dell or Vaio or Billy Joe Bob’s Computer Emporium / Dial 555-3765 for a good time. Bah. Change your wallpaper by following these steps (note that Windows 7 Starter Edition owners can’t change the wallpaper):

1. Right-click an empty part of the desktop and choose Personalize.

Windows hops to the Control Panel’s Personalization pane, shown in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2: Choose your desktop background (even a slide show) here.

2. If you see a theme you like (use the scroll bar on the right to make sure you see all of them, including the high contrast options), click one of the Windows themes.

Each of the Windows themes consists of a slide show of the pictures you see, shuffled every 30 minutes. Although themes can specify different sounds and screen savers, the built-in Windows themes don’t modify the sounds and they don’t include screen savers.

If you want to see the details about each of the themes — in particular, if you really want to know where those gorgeous photos were shot — choose the theme and then click the Desktop Background link in the lower left corner. Hover the mouse over the picture to see its lineage.

3. If you don’t see a theme that tickles your fancy, or if you want to roll your own backgrounds, in the lower left corner click the Desktop Background link.

Windows responds with the Desktop Background window, shown in Figure 1-3, where you choose the pictures that you want to appear in a slide show by hovering the mouse over the picture and then selecting the box that appears.

Figure 1-3: Choose the pictures that you want to appear in a slide show.

4...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Book I: Cranking Up Windows 7
• Book II: Windows 7 Boot Camp
• Book III: Customizing Windows 7
• Book IV: Joining the Multimedia Mix
• Book V: Windows 7 and the Internet
• Book VI: Securing Windows 7
• Book VII: Networking with Windows 7
• Book VIII: Using Other Hardware