the visibooks guide to windows xp (2006)

MANIPULATING WINDOWS 19The Help and Support Center window should open: Tip: If the window takes up the entire desktop, click its button... In the Help and Support Center window, click

TABLE OF CONTENTS i

Table of Contents

Getting Started 1

Start programs 3

Close programs 9

Use Desktop icons 11

Turn off the computer 14

Manipulating windows 17

Move windows 18

Minimize windows 24

Restore windows 25

Resize windows 28

Scroll in windows 31

Maximize windows 32

Switch between programs 34

Working with Documents 41

Create documents 42

Save documents 46

Open documents 50

Copy 55

Paste 59

Cut 64

Delete 67

Print 70

Managing Files 75

Employ Windows Explorer 76

Select a file 82

Copy a file 83

Select multiple files 91

Create a folder 99

Move files 108

Rename a file 113

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Empty the Recycle Bin 134

Using Windows Utilities 137

Defragment the hard drive 138

Use the Help and Support Center 142

Use program help 150

Customizing Your Computer 157

Change the Desktop 158

Change font size 169

Change Taskbar settings 173

Add and delete users 176

Using the Web 187

View a Web site 188

Search the Web 194

Save a favorite web page 201

Set your own Home page 205

Visit a favorite Web page 208

Change browser text size 210

Using E-mail 215

Configure an e-mail account 216

Send an e-mail message 224

Send an e-mail message 225

Check for new mail 233

Reply to a message 237

Send an attachment 239

Delete messages 243

• Use Desktop icons

• Turn off the computer

1 Turn on the computer

The screen should look something like this:

This is called the Desktop

2 When the menu appears, place the cursor on All Programs

3 When the next menu appears, point at Accessories

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4 Move the cursor straight across, then to Notepad

5 Click Notepad

The Notepad program should open and look like this:

GETTING STARTED 9

Close programs

1 In the Notepad window, click its button

The Notepad program should disappear

The Desktop should contain no windows:

Practice 1

1 Open the Paint program

Tip: It’s under Accessories

2 Close the Paint program

Practice 2

1 Open the Calculator program

2 Close the Calculator program

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Use Desktop icons

1 Double-click the Recycle Bin icon

The Recycle Bin window should open:

GETTING STARTED 13

2 Click its button

The Recycle Bin window should close

Turn off the computer

1 On the Taskbar, click the button

2 When the menu appears, click Turn Off Computer

GETTING STARTED 15

3 When the Turn Off Computer window appears, click Turn Off

The computer should shut down

Practice: Getting Started

1 Turn on the computer

2 Open the Recycle Bin

3 Close the Recycle Bin

4 Open the Internet Explorer program

5 Open the WordPad program

6 Close both programs

Move windows

1 On the Taskbar, click the button

2 When the menu appears, click Help and Support

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The Help and Support Center window should open:

Tip: If the window takes up the entire desktop, click its

button

3 In the Help and Support Center window, place the cursor on its

Title Bar

Title Bar

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4 Hold down the left mouse button, then move the mouse left

Left mouse button

5 Release the mouse button

The computer screen should now look like this:

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Practice

1 Open the Paint program

2 Drag the Paint window to the bottom left of the Desktop

3 Drag the Paint window to the center of the Desktop

4 Close the Paint window

Minimize windows

1 In the Help and Support Center window, click its button

The screen should now look like this:

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Restore windows

1 On the Taskbar, click the button

The window should be the same size and in the same location it was before you minimized it:

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Practice

1 From the Desktop, open the Recycle Bin

2 Minimize its window

3 From the Taskbar, restore the Recycle Bin window

4 Close the window

Resize windows

1 Drag the Help and Support Center window back to the center

of the screen

2 Move the cursor to the bottom edge of the window

The cursor should turn into a double-headed arrow:

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3 Click and drag the bottom edge of the window upwards, until the

window is about half its height:

4 Release the mouse button

The window should now look like this:

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Scroll in windows

1 Click the window’s Scroll Bar and drag it downward:

The contents at the bottom of the window should appear:

Maximize windows

1 In the window, click its button

The window should again take up the entire Desktop

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Practice

1 Resize the Help and Support Center window so it’s about 3

inches tall by 3 inches wide

Tip: You can resize the window to make it narrower the same way you made it shorter

Put the cursor on a side edge of the window, then drag

2 Drag the window up to the top left of the screen

3 Scroll up and down the window to see its contents

4 Maximize the window

5 Close the window

Switch between programs

1 On the Taskbar, click the button

2 When the menu appears, click Search

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The Search Results window should appear:

Tip: If the Search Results window takes up the entire desktop, click its button

3 On the Taskbar, click the button

The Help and Support Center window should be on top:

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4 On the Taskbar, click the button

The Search Results window should be on top:

5 Close both windows: click their buttons

Practice

1 Open the Help and Support Center window

2 Resize the window to make it about six inches square

3 Drag the window to the middle of the screen

4 Use the scrollbar to view all the text inside it

5 Leave the Help and Support Center window on screen and

open the Paint program

Tip: It’s in the Accessories menu

If the Paint window takes up the entire Desktop, click its

button

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6 Resize the Paint window to ¼ of the screen size, then drag it to

the upper left corner of the screen

When you’re done, the screen should look like this:

7 Maximize both windows, then close them

Practice:

Manipulating Windows

1 Open the Help and Support Center window

2 Resize the window to take up ¼ of the Desktop

3 Drag it to the upper right corner of the Desktop

4 Minimize the Help and Support Center window

5 From the Desktop, open the Recycle Bin

6 Resize its window to take up ¼ of the Desktop

7 Drag it to the upper left corner of the Desktop

8 Minimize the Recycle Bin

9 Restore the Help and Support Center window

10 Restore the Recycle Bin

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Create documents

1 Click the button, then All Programs

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2 When the next menu appears, click Accessories

3 When the next menu appears, click WordPad

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4 In the WordPad window where the cursor is blinking, type:

Save documents

1 On the WordPad Toolbar, click the icon

Toolbar

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2 When the Save As window appears, type:

Note to Mom

in the File name box

Tip: Make sure the My Documents folder appears in the Save

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Open documents

1 Open WordPad

2 In the WordPad window, click File

3 When the next menu appears, click Open

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The Open window should appear, with the My Documents folder in the Look in box:

4 Click the document titled Note to Mom

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5 Click the button

The document Note to Mom should open:

Keep the document open

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Copy

1 Place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph

2 Click the left mouse button quickly 3 times

This should highlight the entire paragraph

Tip: If you have trouble triple-clicking, you can highlight the paragraph this way:

Place the cursor in front of the first letter of the paragraph

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Click and hold down the left mouse button

Drag the cursor straight down the paragraph, and over to the end, until the entire paragraph is highlighted

3 On the Toolbar, click the icon

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Paste

1 Place the cursor at the end of the paragraph, then press the

ENTER key on the keyboard twice

This should put the cursor on a new line

2 Click the icon

Tip: Any time you copy or cut something, it stays in the computer’s memory until you cut or copy something else

You can then paste that item as many times as you want

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3 Press the ENTER key twice, then click the icon again

You should see the two paragraphs at the bottom of the document:

Practice

1 Open the document titled Dear Sis in the My Documents folder

2 Copy the paragraph 2 times below itself

3 Delete the bottom paragraph

The document should look like this:

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4 Save the document as Dear Sis 2 in the My Documents folder

5 Close WordPad

Cut

1 Open WordPad

2 Open the document Note to Mom

3 Place the cursor at the beginning of the third paragraph

4 Click and drag the cursor down and to the right to highlight the

paragraph

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5 On the Toolbar, click the icon

The last paragraph should disappear:

Keep this document open

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Delete

1 Place the cursor at the beginning of the second paragraph

2 Highlight the paragraph

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3 Press the DELETE key on the keyboard

The second paragraph should disappear:

Tip: Delete does the same thing as Cut, except:

When you Cut something, you can Paste it later

When you Delete something, you can’t paste it

Keep this document open

Print

1 On the Toolbar, click the icon

You will see a window flash that says the document is printing

Tip: If no printer is connected to the computer, you will get a message asking if you want to install a printer

If you don’t have a printer connected, click the No button, then the Cancel button in the Print window

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2 Click the icon

3 Click the button to close the document Note to Mom

The Desktop should now be blank

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½ cup vanilla yogurt

3 Copy the line

1/2 cup cantaloupe

and paste it 3 times below itself

4 Change the second cantaloupe to honeydew

5 Change the third cantaloupe to pineapple

6 Change the fourth cantaloupe to grapes

7 At the end, type:

Cut up the first three fruits into small chunks Mix all ingredients together and serve chilled

The document should look like this:

8 Save the document in the My Documents folder as Fruit Salad

9 Close WordPad

MANAGING FILES 75

Managing Files

In this section, you’ll learn how to:

• Employ Windows Explorer

• Delete files and folders

• Restore deleted items

• Find files and folders

• Empty the Recycle Bin

Employ Windows Explorer

1 On the Taskbar, place the cursor on the button

2 Click the right mouse button

3 When the menu appears, click Explore (with the left mouse

button)

What is Windows Explorer?

Windows Explorer is the program on your computer used to organize folders and files

Think of it as your computer’s filing cabinet

Right mouse button

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Windows Explorer should appear:

4 Make sure the icon is clicked

Tip: You can go directly to your My Documents folder in Windows Explorer by clicking the button, then My Documents

5 If Windows Explorer does not take up the entire screen, click its

button

6 In the left pane, double-click the My Documents folder

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You should see a list of the folders within the My Documents

folder:

In the right pane, you should see the contents of the My

Documents folder:

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Tip: If the files and folders look different than above, click View

on the Menu Bar

When the menu appears, click List

Menu bar

Select a file

1 In the right pane, click the file Note to Mom

It should now be highlighted:

2 Double-click the file to open it

3 When the Note to Mom window appears, click its button to

close the file

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Copy a file

1 Right-click the file Note to Mom

2 When the menu appears, click Copy (with the left mouse

button)

3 Right-click in the white space below Note to Mom

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4 When the menu appears, click Paste

Copy of Note to Mom should appear:

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5 Right-click the file Copy of Note to Mom

6 When the menu appears, click Copy

7 Right-click in the white space below Copy of Note to Mom

8 When the menu appears, click Paste

Practice

1 Open Windows Explorer

2 View the contents of the My Documents folder as Large Icons

Tip: On the Menu Bar, first click View

3 Make 2 copies of the file Dear Sis in the My Documents folder

4 Change the view in the My Documents folder to Details

When you’re done, it should look like this:

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Select multiple files

Select all

1 Open Windows Explorer

2 View the contents of the My Documents folder

3 On the Menu Bar, click Edit, then Select All

SHIFT-click

1 Click Note to Mom to select it

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2 Press and hold down the SHIFT key on the keyboard

3 While holding down the SHIFT key, click Copy of Copy of Note

to Mom

All three files should be selected

4 Click in white space to deselect the files

Select non-consecutive files

1 Click Copy of Copy of Note to Mom

2 Press and hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard

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3 While holding down the CTRL key, click Note to Mom

The two files should be selected:

Practice

1 In the right pane used to view the contents of the My

Documents folder, select every other file or folder in the list

2 Deselect the files

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Create a folder

1 In the left pane, click the My Documents folder

2 Right-click on white space in the right pane

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3 When the menu appears, click New (with your left mouse

button)

4 When the next menu appears, click Folder

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When the new folder is created, the words New Folder should

be highlighted

5 Type the words:

Course Documents

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Then press the ENTER key on the keyboard

Tip: When text is highlighted and you begin typing, the old text

is automatically deleted—you don’t need to press the DELETE

key

The folder should now be named Course Documents

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Rename a folder

1 Open Window Explorer and view the contents of the My

Documents folder

2 Click the Course Documents folder

3 Click the words Course Documents

The words Course Documents should be highlighted, and the

cursor should be blinking

4 Type the words:

Win XP Stuff

5 Press the ENTER key on the keyboard

The folder should now be named Win XP Stuff

Move files

1 In the left pane, click the My Documents folder

2 In the right pane, drag Copy of Copy of Note to Mom over to

the left pane and place it on top of the Desktop folder