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PC Magazine Windows Vista™ Solutions ®
Mark Justice Hinton
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PC Magazine® Windows Vista™ Solutions
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PC Magazine Windows Vista™ Solutions ®
Mark Justice Hinton
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PC Magazine® Windows Vista™ Solutions Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN-13: 978-0-470-04686-9 ISBN-10: 0-470-04686-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hinton, Mark Justice, 1955PC magazine Windows Vista solutions / Mark Justice Hinton. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-470-04686-9 (paper/website) ISBN-10: 0-470-04686-4 (paper/website) 1. Microsoft Windows (Computer file). 2. Operating systems (Computers). I. PC magazine (New York, N.Y.) II. Title. III. Title: Windows Vista solutions. QA76.76.O63H5727 2007 005.4'46--dc22 2006037404 Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. PC Magazine and the PC Magazine logo are registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings, Inc. Used under license. All rights reserved. Windows Vista is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
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Much Love to my Mother, Ernestine Justice Hinton, and to my Father, Louis Daniel Hinton.
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About the Author Mark Justice Hinton eschewed computers in high school and college, delaying the inevitable. After burning out of the restaurant business, he got a job as a file clerk from a friend in a notorious investment company. In short order, he moved from divining the mysterious service bureau output to preparing the company for an in-house minicomputer, the IBM System/34, a box the size of 10 big PCs and the power of none of them. After two years as the Data Processing Manager of the National Symphony Orchestra (with an office in a broom closet way backstage in the Kennedy Center), Hinton followed his heart to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and founded PC Training and Consulting in 1984. Along with work for diverse clients, Hinton has taught computer classes for the University of New Mexico Division of Continuing Education since 1988. He has taught thousands of students in classes from DOS to Web design. Hinton lives, travels, and hikes in wildernesses with his companion of 25 years, Merri Rudd. They share their lives with many wonderful people and Lucky Dog, Miss Kitty, and Baby in the rift between the majestic Sandias and the volcanoes in the Land of Enchantment. He is an avid blogger, photographer, and poet.
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Credits EXECUTIVE EDITOR Chris Webb DEVELOPMENT EDITOR John Sleeva TECHNICAL EDITOR Justin Korelc PRODUCTION EDITOR William A. Barton COPY EDITOR Travis Henderson EDITORIAL MANAGER Mary Beth Wakefield PRODUCTION MANAGER Tim Tate
VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE GROUP PUBLISHER Richard Swadley VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Joseph B. Wikert PROOFREADING James Brook COMPOSITION Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama INDEXING Johnna VanHoose Dinse ANNIVERSARY LOGO DESIGN Richard Pacifico
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Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I
Getting Started with Windows Vista
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Microsoft Windows Vista: Windows for the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 First Blush: An Overview of the New User Interface . . 15 Getting Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Part II
Essential Windows Vista Setup
Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Security Is Job One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Backup, Restore, and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Part III
Making It Your Windows Vista
Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9
Customizing Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Working with Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 System Health and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Setup Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Part IV
Working with Windows Vista
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18
Working with Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Networking Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 User Accounts and Family Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Internet Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Windows Photo Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Media Player 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Windows Media Center, DVD Maker, and Movie Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 On the Road: Laptops, Tablet and Mobile PCs . . . . 393
Part V
Beyond Windows Vista
Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Appendix A
Microsoft Office 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Welcome to the Future! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Virtual Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
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Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I
Getting Started with Windows Vista
Chapter 1
Microsoft Windows Vista: Windows for the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Which Windows Vista? Five Options (Or Is It One?) . . . . . . . . . 5 The More You Pay, the More It’s Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Windows Anytime Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
New Hardware Support or Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Central Processing Unit (CPU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Video Subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 RAM and Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Warning and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2
First Blush: An Overview of the New User Interface . . 15 The Top New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 A Note about Windows Security Prompts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Welcome Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 The Desktop and Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Quick Launch Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Notification Area or Icon Tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Start Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 You’ll Flip Over This. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Views Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sort, Group, Filter, and Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Organize Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 3
Getting Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Buying a New Vista-Capable PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Upgrading Your Old Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Back Up Your Entire Old System — Now! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Installing Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Upgrading the Existing Windows Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Clean Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Installation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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Contents Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Windows Easy Transfer Migration Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 On the Old Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 On the New Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 What’s Not to Like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Part II Chapter 4
Essential Windows Vista Setup Security Is Job One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Security Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Windows Firewall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Windows Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Malware Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Virus Protection (Anti-virus Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Spyware Protection: Windows Defender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
File Encryption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Compressed Folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Encrypting File System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Chapter 5
Backup, Restore, and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Full versus Partial Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The Backup and Restore Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Backing Up with Complete PC Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Restoring from Complete PC Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Backing Up with the Back Up Files Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Restoring from the Back Up Files Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Backup Status and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Restoring Previous Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Restoring a System Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Creating a System Restore Point Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Giving Problems the Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Advanced Boot Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Booting from the Windows Vista Installation Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
A Warning about Dual-Booting with XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Part III Chapter 6
Making It Your Windows Vista Customizing Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Control Panel Home versus Classic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Appearance and Personalization Category . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
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Contents Other Personalization Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Taskbar and Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Ease of Access Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Folder Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Chapter 7
Working with Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 The Hardware and Sound Control Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Plug and Pray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 RAM (Random Access Memory) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 ReadyBoost — a RAM Supplement, of Sorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Adding New Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Installing a Printer or Two (Virtually) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Adding a Second Pointing Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Adding a Second Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Adding External Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Chapter 8
System Health and Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Windows Experience Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Where to Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Problem Reports and Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 System Diagnostics Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Routine Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Digging Deeper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Task Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Reliability and Performance Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
A Few More Utilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Chapter 9
Setup Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Shortcuts to Programs (and Documents) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Creating Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Shortcut Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Calculator, Character Map, Notepad, Paint, and WordPad . . . . . . . . 176 Run and the Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Snipping Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Windows Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Sticky Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Ultimate Extras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
xi
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Contents Installing and Uninstalling Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Installing a New Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Programs and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Default Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Part IV Chapter 10
Working with Windows Vista Working with Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Saving and Opening Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Saving Your Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Using Folders to Your Advantage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Opening Your Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Managing Existing Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Selecting Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Copying and Moving Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Deleting and Restoring Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Renaming Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Searching for Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Chapter 11
Networking Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Network Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Wired Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Wireless Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Love the One You’re With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Connecting to a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Choosing from Available Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Setting Up a Connection or Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Setting Up a Wireless Router or Access Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Manually Configuring Your Router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Network and Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Network and Sharing Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Sharing and Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Other Network Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Managing Wireless Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Managing Network Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Chapter 12
User Accounts and Family Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 User Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 User Accounts and Family Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 User Account Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Editing Your User Account Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Managing Other Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Switching Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
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Contents Sharing Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Advanced Sharing and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Practical User Account Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Scenario 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Parental Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Creating a New User. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 User Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Chapter 13
Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Connecting to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Wireless Connections on the Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Internet Explorer 7, a Web Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Browsing with Internet Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Improved Standards Support in Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Security in IE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Chapter 14
Internet Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Windows Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Adding Contacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Working with Selected Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Contact Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Importing and Exporting Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Windows Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 Setting Up an Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 Adjusting the View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Creating E-Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Sending E-Mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Receiving E-Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Windows Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 Changing the View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Adding an Appointment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Adding a Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Creating a New Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Creating a New Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Sharing Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Chapter 15
Windows Photo Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Browsing Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 The Info Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
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Contents The Big Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Previewing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Playing a Slide Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Adding Images to Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Moving or Copying Images to Photos or Videos Folders. . . . . . . . . . 326 Adding Folders to Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Importing from a Camera, CD/DVD, or Scanner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Renaming Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Editing Metadata for Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 Adding Tags and Ratings to Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 Renaming, Removing, and Deleting Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 Using Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Grouping Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Removing (versus Deleting) Folders and Files from Gallery . . 331 Editing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 Backup Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Tools for Editing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Printing Photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 On Your Own Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Through a Photo Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
E-mailing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Burning Images to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Burning a Data Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Working with Images Outside of Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Using Photos as a Screen Saver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Using the Details and Preview Panes in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . 340 Using Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Metadata in Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Chapter 16
Media Player 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Starting Windows Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 First-Time Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Around the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Menu Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Navigation Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Player Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Adding Files to the Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Creating Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 More Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Now Playing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 More Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
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Contents Compact Skinny Mini Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Compact Mode versus Full Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Skin Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 Mini Player Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Ripping CDs/DVDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Burning CDs/DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Syncing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Using an Online Music Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 eMusic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Wal-Mart Music Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 URGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Playing a New Zune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 PlaysForSure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Chapter 17
Windows Media Center, DVD Maker, and Movie Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Opening Media Center for the First Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 The Crux of the Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Pictures + Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Now Playing + Queue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 TV + Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Online Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Burning CDs/DVDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Windows DVD Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Windows Movie Maker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Chapter 18
On the Road: Laptops, Tablet and Mobile PCs . . . . 393 Tablet PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 More Power to You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 Mobile PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 Windows Mobility Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Power Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Tablet PC Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Pen and Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Tablet Input Panel Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Digital Ink Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Speech Recognition for All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Recognizing Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Commands versus Dictation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Troubleshooting Speech Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
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Contents Offline Files and Sync Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 Offline Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 Synchronizing Media Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Windows Mobile Device Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Meeting Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 SideShow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
VPart V Chapter 19
Beyond Windows Vista Microsoft Office 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 The New Office Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 The Office Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Key Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Program Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 The Quick Access Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 The Ribbon Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 The New “Shadow” Mini Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 Live Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Microsoft Office Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 Installing Office 2007 (Office 12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 A Few Noteworthy Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 Blogging in Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 Setting Default Paste Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
A Few Excel Standout Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Calculated Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Conditional Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Other Tools in Office 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Chapter 20
Welcome to the Future! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 The Top Ten Features of Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 What’s Old Is New Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 The Future of Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 The Rate of Uptake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Windows Vista Service Pack 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Vienna Waits for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Thinking Aloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Appendix A
Virtual Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
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Acknowledgments As I write these words and you read them, there is a sense of direct communication, immediacy, even intimacy. We are joined by this text. If fact, months and miles pass between my writing and your reading. More importantly, countless, people play a role in getting this to you. I thank them all. I also thank my colleagues, students, and friends at the University of New Mexico Division of Continuing Education, which has an impressive number of writers in its collective. In particular, thank you to Caroline Orcutt and Tim Johnson. I could not have written this book without your help. Thank you both, again. I thank my colleagues and friends at Wiley Publishing, especially Chris Webb, for having such confidence in me and giving me such a great opportunity. Thanks also to John Sleeva and Justin Korelc for turning my rough draft into something useful. I can say now that I dreaded the thought of “being edited” — my words are MINE — but John is such an adept professional, he made me grateful for every change. Closer to home, I thank my friends who sustain me and draw me out of my shell. I would name each of them, but, instead, I choose to name my one great friend, my wife, Merri Rudd. She did much more than play the role you expect of a writer’s spouse whose own life is turned upside down by The Book—the one person who cannot escape the author’s endless stories about minutia. Merri is a great writer and an exacting editor. She read every word before anyone else, and improved more than a few of them. Merri would say, “god leaves you better than he found you—like an editor.” I believe in her. Thank you, Darling! —peace, mjh
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Introduction
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Introduction
W
indows Vista is the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, the most widely used personal computer operating system in the world. This is the biggest upgrade to Windows since Windows XP, and you’ll learn in this book that Windows Vista is more on a par with Windows 95 in terms of how much it will change the way you do things — mostly for the better. You have probably already read about Windows Vista. You may know that the release of Windows Vista was delayed a few times as Microsoft extended testing. Those beta tests involved more people than any previous version of Windows Vista. I was one of many thousands of beta testers who installed update after update, sometimes a couple in a week, as Microsoft responded to bug reports and suggestions. You don’t need me to tell you Windows Vista isn’t perfect — what software is? How could a tool of such complexity completely please the hundreds of millions of people who will use it all day long, every day? Nevertheless, I’ve found many improvements in Windows Vista. There are a few simple changes — right there on the Start menu, for one — that I miss every time I sit in front of Windows XP. There are also a few things that just don’t work right and you might want to know about those, as well. In this book, we’ll examine the gems and the flaws with a high interest in practicality. Beyond “whatever works,” we’re after control and confidence.
Who I Think You Are It helps a writer to have a reader in mind. It may help you, standing in the bookstore aisle, to know what I’m assuming about the readers of the book. Throughout the book, I’ve had two readers in mind. One of these readers has read other computer books and magazines, such as PC Magazine. You have one or two books that have helped you immensely. You also have a few you’ve never opened or gotten anything from. (This book won’t be one of those.) If you aren’t a “power user” or the one others call for computer help, you want or need to be. More specifically, this book is for you if you have used Windows XP and are curious about what’s new, different, improved, or wrong with the new Windows Vista. The other reader may be less experienced or, at least, less of an enthusiast. You’re looking for practical information to help you decide whether to get Windows Vista or how to get things done with it. You know there’s got to be a better way to do the things you need to do. It’s tricky to write for people with different levels of experience and needs. I’m not whining or bragging, but I do believe there is a lot of “good stuff” for everyone throughout this book. In more than 20 years of teaching, I’ve worked with students at all levels of experience and with varying interests. Part of the joy of teaching is connecting with different people, helping them get more out of their daily computer experience, and passing on some of the fun I have with computers (while sharing the frustrations).
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Who I Think I Am I’ve been working with computers for 25 years, since before the first PC. I was more than comfortable with MS DOS and have been through every version of Windows, loving and hating it along the way. Don’t call me a geek — I’m a nerd. I also teach computer classes for the University of New Mexico’s Division of Continuing Education. I enjoy working with students and watching the “ah-ha!” expression appear on their faces. In turn, I’ve learned a great deal from my students. One of those things is to get down to business quickly.
What You Need to Use this Book You don’t have to have Microsoft Windows Vista — yet. The first few chapters will help you decide whether you want it and which edition to get. Once you do have Windows Vista, you have all you need to duplicate steps taken in the book.
Conventions Used in This Book To help you get the most from the text and keep track of what’s happening, we’ve used a number of conventions throughout the book: When we introduce them, we highlight important words in italics. Characters we want you to type in are in bold font. We show keyboard strokes like this: Win+E. “Win” refers to the Windows Logo key, located between Ctrl and Alt on most keyboards and featuring the four-paned flag logo of Windows. We present specific URLs, filenames, and folder names in a monofont like this. Most functions are introduced in a long form that starts with the Start menu, such as Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Personalization. This isn’t always the fastest way to reach a function, just one sure path. Many functions have shortcuts, links, or keystrokes, which are often noted, as well. If you can get there some other way, feel free to take the other path as long as you end up where you need to be at any given moment.
Icons Used in this Book Following is a brief description of the icons used to highlight certain types of material in this book.
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Tip Each Tip gives you additional information that adds to the topic under discussion. The information typically springs from something in the immediately preceding paragraph and provides a succinct suggestion that you might want to follow up while working through the chapter. In effect, a Tip says, “You should try this as well.”
Note A Note is just that: a note. Usually a note provides information related to the topic under discussion but not essential to it for the purposes of working through that topic. A Note says, essentially, “Here’s an interesting point about the topic.”
Caution Each Caution in this book alerts you to something worth paying attention to — for example, something that can cause you problems while working with the current topic. A Caution says, “Before going any further, be sure to consider this point.”
Cross Reference The Cross-References in the book refer you to other chapters or books that cover, in more detail, a point just mentioned in the text. You’ll also sometimes find cross-references in parentheses.
How This Book Is Organized Chapters are arranged to take you from an overview of Microsoft Windows Vista, through setting it up, to a dozen applications that are part of Windows Vista, plus Microsoft Office 2007, which is a separate purchase. We end with a discussion of the future of Windows.
Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista Here, we’ll examine the editions of Windows Vista, the top new features and different ways of getting or installing Windows Vista. If you don’t have Windows Vista yet, read this section before you buy it. If you do have Windows Vista, well, read this section anyway.
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup A key objective Microsoft has for Windows Vista is to make it more secure than Windows has ever been. In these chapters, we’ll see just what that entails and your part in keeping yourself safe.
Part III: Making It Your Windows Vista Starting with Windows Vista out of the box, what do you do to make a plain vanilla version into your own? How do you put the personal in “personal computer”? We’ll customize and tweak and learn about some of Windows Vista’s utilities and accessories.
Part IV: Working with Windows Vista How do you organize and manage your documents and files? Who has access to your system? In this part, the longest in the book, we’ll explore the applications included with Windows Vista, plus Windows Vista on laptops and other portable computers.
Part V: Beyond Windows Vista What’s noteworthy about the new Microsoft Office 2007? (Office is a separate purchase.) What can we predict about the future of Windows?
Book Website See the website www.wiley.com for materials related to this book, including corrections. See also www.mjhinton.com/vista/ for more. You are welcome to contact me with comments at
[email protected]. I cannot promise to respond to all e-mail.
Disclaimer I accept responsibility for all omissions and errors. I appreciate gentle notice of these from the reader.
Note Computers are devices that originated among scientists and engineers, often in an academic environment. Eventually, these high-tech devices found their way into the hands of, well, is “ordinary people” insulting to either group? My point is that almost every facet of computers has an “ease of use” or “user friendly” veneer over technical substance. There is a long path between “Where’s the power switch?” and “What are the seven layers of the OSI model?” (you have to know the answer before you can understand the question) and then far beyond that. I think we are picking a path between extremes. We are, at once, interested in practical stuff for daily use and curious about the substance behind the veneer. If I am sometimes too superficial or too heady, I hope the porridge is just right most of the time.
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Part I Getting Started with Windows Vista Chapter 1
Microsoft Windows Vista: Windows for the 21st Century Chapter 2
First Blush: An Overview of the New User Interface Chapter 3
Getting Windows Vista
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f you’ve been around a while, you know that the advent of the Windows operating system revolutionized the PC desktop. (Of course, Macs had a look and feel similar to Windows long before, although Macintosh and Windows users should remember that Xerox Parc preceded them both.) It was more than ten years before Windows went through a major change with Windows 95 (cue the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up!). Win95 represented a significant departure from the Windows of old. In the next six years Microsoft brought us Windows 98, Millennium, 2000, and XP as updates to Windows 95. Now, another 10+ years have passed and another significant change is before us (see “The Windows Family Tree” sidebar if you can’t get enough of this stuff). You thought Microsoft was late again, but they’re right on time, every decade. Big changes in operating systems often follow big changes in hardware. Windows Vista exists, in part, to take advantage of new processors as well as abundant RAM and disk space. It also has been designed to place Microsoft at the center of the convergence of media and entertainment systems with desktop and portable computers, as well as to expand Microsoft’s hegemony into Web-based services. Millions of people want to rip CDs and vinyl to disk and stream music and digital photos around the house while they wirelessly browse the Web and blog about their day. (Half the words in that sentence meant nothing in the context of Win95 and earlier.) Is Windows Vista a big deal or just another upgrade? Let’s see. Figure 1-1 shows part of the Windows Vista desktop and the taskbar. Notice the new Welcome Center, and the fact that the word “Start” is gone. In the next chapter, we’ll take a closer look at each of the elements of the new interface. For now, let’s just say the look isn’t radically different from XP but hints at the changes we’ll work through together in this book. As you ask yourself, “Is Vista for me?,” here are some of the features that may interest you (see www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/ for other ideas): Security enhancements — Microsoft heeded the hue and cry over Windows’ vulnerabilities to attack. Ironically, Microsoft’s efforts to improve security have also irked some users and competing security companies.
3
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Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista Improved search functions — You’ll soon see that the capability to search is available in places you’ve never seen it before, with new, advanced options. Simplified and expanded options for listing documents — See and sort files in brandnew ways within Windows Explorer. More options for playing media files — Both Media Player and Media Center play the same music and video files, plus DVDs. New and improved applications — Stay in touch using Windows Contact, Windows Calendar, and Windows Mail (a mild update to Outlook Express). Enjoy and edit photos using Windows Photo Gallery. Be dazzled by the included games.
Keep in mind that not every feature noted above is in every edition of Windows (more to come on that). We’ll expand on each of these areas and more throughout the book.
Figure 1-1: Windows Vista’s desktop, taskbar, and Welcome Center
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The Windows Family Tree Let’s ignore the contributions of all the other operating systems and restrict ourselves to the kin we admit to. Microsoft DOS
The dawn of time, at least for Microsoft. A nongraphical text and command-line operating system. Much of DOS lives on in some form in Windows: folders (“directories”) and files, including filename extensions. (I’m not saying Microsoft DOS was the first or best at anything — just that it popularized, even engrained, many ways of doing things.)
Microsoft Windows pre-Win 95
Brought multitasking, a graphical interface, windows, and the mouse into wide use on PCs, especially with Win 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups (WfWg).
Microsoft Windows 95
Start Me Up! Brought us the Start menu and the taskbar. The Web’s influence appears now, especially in simplified operations such as Forward and Back, and icons as links.
Microsoft Windows post-95, pre-Vista Start a fight over whether there were any innovations in Windows ME or Windows 2000. Windows XP was, at least, more stable and more media savvy. Then the world held its breath for five or six years. Microsoft Windows Vista
Like XP to 3.1 or XP to ME? You decide.
Which Windows Vista? Five Options (Or Is It One?) As you see in the sidebar, way back with Win3.1 there were different “flavors” of Windows available (3.1 versus WfWg). Underlying these flavors or “editions” is Microsoft’s apparent belief that there are two major camps of users: home users and office users — more precisely, individuals and IT managers (though not to couch it as us versus them). Part of the logic is that what works for one person at home with a PC or two doesn’t necessarily work for one person or department responsible for 100, or 1,000, machines. Large business users and the technical staff that supports them need more powerful tools for maintaining numerous systems over a wider area than home users, so it makes sense for the business version of an OS to have extras. Conversely, Microsoft sometimes gives the home user features it leaves out of the business version, as if “we know you business people don’t have time for fun.” Or is it “We know you bosses hate for your employees to have fun”?
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Microsoft lists the “editions” of Windows Vista this way: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. You see the clear tracks of home versus business, but there is at least one misleading aspect to this: the home user will have no use for Enterprise, but he or she may want Ultimate (a hybrid of Home Premium and Enterprise).
Windows Worldwide Most readers in the United States will never see these additional variations: Starter 2007 — In some areas of the world, one can buy a computer and Windows under a kind of installment plan, sort of like prepaid wireless. This edition has limited support for multitasking and none for networking, though it will connect to the Internet. Starter will run with less RAM than other editions (385 MB) and with lower graphics requirements. European Union versions — The EU has been very tough with Microsoft regarding antitrust matters. As a result, as with XP, the EU requires versions that do not include Media Player and some other multimedia support: Home Basic “N” and Business “N” (No Media Player). I assume citizens of the EU can download Media Player on their own. More recently, Microsoft has made other concessions to the EU that may also affect the U.S. editions; I’ll note these where appropriate.
Every edition has a core set of features, including some, but not all, of the new look and feel (the GUI, or graphical user interface). The new Start menu, the fast searching capabilities, the new look of Windows Explorer, and the new version of Internet Explorer are included in all editions of Vista. Still, there are differences (see also Table 1-1): Home Basic constitutes the core set of features, with only some of the new interface’s features and limited support for multimedia. It is tempting to compare it to XP Home, but I think it will prove more disappointing than that for many, because it lacks some of the graphical features that are most talked about. You can expect this version to be preinstalled on new discount desktop computers. Home Premium is effectively the upgrade for Windows XP Media Center and XP Tablet editions combined, incorporating new options for viewing media, as well as support for handwriting and speech. Home Premium offers all of the new aspects called Aero Glass, with semi-transparent windows and animated effects (some of this is absent from Home Basic). Some people dismiss many visual effects as eye candy and will turn them off; others find those effects cool. This will be a good choice for most home users. Business has some features Microsoft assumes matter more to business users than to home users. For example, some backup features present in Business are missing from Home Basic and Home Premium. Why would anyone want fewer backup options? A small business with limited in-house support might want this version.
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Chapter 1: Microsoft Windows Vista: Windows for the 21st Century Enterprise features Subsystem for Unix-based Applications and Multi-Lingual User Interface. It is probably aimed more at IT/IS departments (Information Technology/Information Services) than small businesses.
Ultimate. The name says it all. When you’re standing in line at the store with Home Basic behind someone who is buying Ultimate, will you feel embarrassed? Ultimate includes everything in Home Premium and Enterprise. It may be more than you need for individual use but it has everything you want. Microsoft promises “Ultimate Extras” but has so far only said these will include “cuttingedge programs, innovative services, and unique publications.” Don’t let my flippant tone insult you if, in fact, Home Basic is appropriate for you. Still, if price is not a major factor, why buy less than everything? This isn’t like buying a house 10 times larger than you need. It’s more like choosing between an empty notebook binder and one with dividers and paper — is it unreasonable to want the latter? On the other hand, as you will see in more detail later, Windows Vista demands a lot of your hardware, and those demands are somewhat greater in the Ultimate edition than in Home Basic. There is a good chance that some of Ultimate’s features simply won’t be available on older or less powerful machines. On one test machine, although Ultimate installed OK, the options for Aero — transparency among them — did not appear until I replaced the graphics card.
Cross Reference You can buy a new computer with Windows Vista preinstalled or you can upgrade an existing system. Don’t spend extra money before you read Chapter 3, where we’ll examine both of those options in greater detail.
Table 1-1: Windows Vista Features
Feature
Basic
Premium
Business
Enterprise
Ultimate
Aero interface enhancements
X
X
X
X
Internet Explorer 7
X
X
X
X
X
ReadyBoost
X
X
X
X
X
ReadyDrive
X
X
X
X
X
Search enhancements
X
X
X
X
X
Sidebar and gadgets
X
X
X
X
X
SuperFetch
X
X
X
X
X
Windows Explorer enhancements
X
X
X
X
X
Continued
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Table 1-1: Windows Vista Features (Continued)
Feature
Basic
Premium
Business
Enterprise
Ultimate
X
X
X
X
X
Security Features (see Chapter 4) Backup — basic files and folders BitLocker Drive Encryption
X
X
CompletePC image backup
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Defender
X
Encrypting File System Family Safety Settings & Parental Controls
X
X
Firewall
X
X
Previous Versions (aka Shadow Copies) System Restore
X
X
X
X X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Media and Internet Applications (see Chapters 14–17) Calendar
X
DVD Maker
X
X
X
Fax and Scan
X
Mail
X
Media Center
X
Media Player 11
X
Movie Maker
X
Photo Gallery
X
Premium Games
X
X
X X
X
X X
X
X X
Laptop & Tablet PC Features (see Chapter 18) Mobility Center
X
X
X
X
Presentation settings
X
X
SideShow
X
X
Speech Recognition
X
X
Sync Center/Offline Files
X
X
X
X
Tablet PC & Touch Support
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Business and Enterprise Features Connect to Domain Group Policy Meeting Space (formerly NetMeeting)
(join only)
X
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Table 1-1: Windows Vista Features (Continued)
Feature
Basic
Premium
Business
X
X
X
X
X
Remote Desktop
X
X
X
Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA)
X
X
Web-server IIS 7
X
X
Multi-Lingual User Interface (MUI) Network Projection
X
Ultimate Extras (unknown)
Enterprise
Ultimate
X
X
The More You Pay, the More It’s Worth As shown in Table 1-2, the full price for some editions of Windows Vista may come as a shock to some. Consider that many people will get Windows Vista preinstalled and included in the price of a computer. Many more will qualify for upgrade prices. Finally, you use the operating system for hours on end every single day for years; what’s that worth?
Table 1-2: U.S. List Prices for Vista Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic Full
$199.00
Windows Vista Home Basic Full (additional license only, no disc)
$179.00
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade
$99.95
Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade (additional license only)
$89.95
Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium Full
$239.00
Windows Vista Home Premium Full (additional license only)
$215.00
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade
$159.00
Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade (additional license only)
$143.00
Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business Full
$299.00
Windows Vista Business Full (additional license only)
$269.00
Windows Vista Business Upgrade
$199.00
Windows Vista Business Upgrade (additional license only)
$179.00
Continued
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Table 1-2: U.S. List Prices for Vista (Continued) Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate Full
$399.00
Windows Vista Ultimate Full (additional license only)
$359.00
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade
$259.00
Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade (additional license only)
$233.00
“Full” is the price you pay if you do not qualify for an upgrade. An additional license refers to the cost of a second copy (presumably to upgrade another machine you own) when you have already paid the full price or for a qualifying upgrade.
Windows Anytime Upgrade To address the inevitable issue of feature envy and upgrade fever, Microsoft will make it possible to upgrade through a function called Windows Anytime Upgrade. Therefore, if you want to step up from Home Basic to Home Premium or Ultimate, or from Business to Ultimate, you should be able to do so without buying a completely new installation disk.
New Hardware Support or Demands Let’s consider some of the hardware requirements that may determine which version you can run or whether you will be able to get everything out of a particular version. Keep in mind that you might buy a version but not get all its features due to hardware limitations. As you look at new computers, you will see two levels of certification: Windows Vista Capable and Windows Vista Premium Ready (the higher certification). A “capable” machine meets minimum standards, whereas a “premium machine” should enable all of Windows Vista features and provide better performance. I have listed the requirements for these standards in each hardware category. Even if the machine you buy or have isn’t certified, compare that machine to these requirements.
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) The main processor is the brain of your computer. It is the hardware that executes the commands that underlie every computer operation. CPUs have been growing more powerful throughout the evolution of computers. Your cell phone or MP3 player may have a processor more powerful than the earliest PCs; it surely has much more memory. Two companies in particular compete to make CPUs that run Windows: Intel and AMD. Both have recently announced more powerful CPUs. Windows Vista Capable — 800 MHz Windows Vista Premium Ready — 1 GHz
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32-BIT VERSUS 64-BIT SYSTEMS The current generation of systems is built around 32-bit processing, which describes more than just the CPU. Think of 32-bit as the width of a pathway through the system, within the CPU and between the CPU and some components such as RAM. The next generation is built around 64 bits. Anyone can tell you that 64 is better than 32, except in waist size. Windows Vista will work with 32-bit systems and work quite well. There is actually a separate 64-bit version of each of the Windows Vista editions noted above; your system will automatically install the appropriate version (both are included on each DVD). If you’re buying for the future and have the money, consider buying a 64-bit system. Most of us — I include myself here, more than just rhetorically — will do fine with the 32-bit version.
DUAL-CORE PROCESSORS AND MULTIPLE CPUS A single processor can be dual core (or even multicore), describing increased capacity to process instructions simultaneously. Basically, a dual-core chip can be thought of as two CPUs in one. Your motherboard also may support more than one separate CPU — not dual core, but two chips — which is another way of increasing computing power. All these features: 32-bit versus 64-bit, dual- or multicore, and multiple CPUs require an operating system that can support them. Windows Vista can.
The Video Subsystem Your computer’s graphics card is a part of a video subsystem, which includes the GPU (graphical processing unit), a specialized chip that takes graphics-related tasks off the CPU, freeing it for deeper thinking. The video subsystem should have its own video RAM. However, many less expensive or older systems use the CPU and main RAM instead. Watch out for the term shared memory; this implies the video subsystem does not have its own RAM. You should have at least 128 MB of video RAM. Windows Vista Capable — DirectX 9; 64 MB video RAM Windows Vista Premium Ready — A Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Pixel Shader 2.0, 32 bits per pixel; 128 MB video RAM (more for higher resolutions or multiple monitors)
Cross Reference The power of a computer’s existing graphics card will be the deal-breaker for many people who wish to upgrade. Older or less expensive systems will be underpowered by Windows Vista’s standards. In some cases, Windows Vista may refuse to install; in others, some cool features, such as window transparency, will not work. Buy stock in graphics card manufacturers now.
DIRECTX 10 DirectX 10 is the software side of the video subsystem. The functions within DX10 handle most of the action onscreen. Windows Vista works with DirectX 9 but shines with DX10. Will your graphics card support it? Of course, games and other software will be rewritten to exploit new features of DX10.
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Windows Vista also supports OpenGL, a non-Microsoft standard. Your current graphics card should support DirectX 9 or later.
RAM and Hard Drive Memory (that is, RAM, or random access memory) is the workspace of the computer. It’s where programs and data reside as you work with them. What kind of RAM chips or modules you have is determined by your particular system. The minimum RAM required is 512 MB. Suffice it to say, you can’t have too much. (Well, the Home versions do have a cap most users won’t exceed: Home Basic uses up to 8 GB of RAM; Home Premium uses up to 16 GB; the other flavors use whatever you give them.) Windows Vista Capable — 512 MB Windows Vista Premium Ready — 1 GB
Cross Reference You’ll learn more about RAM in Chapter 3.
Similarly, you can’t have too much storage space. Windows Vista demands a lot of it. It also expects fast disk storage — a spin rate of 7,200 RPM (revolutions per minute) versus older 5,400 RPM drives — plus a big built-in cache (temporary storage that smoothes out transfers between disks and much faster RAM). The newer SATA drives have faster transfer rates than older IDE/ATA drives. Larger drives often have larger caches (16 MB versus 8 MB, or less, for smaller drives). Windows Vista Capable — 20 GB (15 GB free); CD. Windows Vista Premium Ready — 40 GB (15 GB free); DVD. Windows Vista will work with upcoming hybrid drives that have flash memory on board. (Think of a device with a spinning disk plus something like a flash drive incorporated.) This feature is called ReadyDrive by Microsoft. This is effectively a larger and faster cache, further reducing disk access. One definite innovation that you can easily take advantage of is called ReadyBoost. If you plug in a high-speed, high-capacity (1 GB or more) USB flash drive, Windows Vista can use it for swapping memory. (It will ask you automatically if you want to do this.) Normally, memory swapping goes to the hard drive. When you switch from one active program to another, the hesitation you experience is, in part, due to swapping. If the USB drive is faster than the hard drive, this may speed up swapping. I didn’t actually notice a speed difference in my tests, but it seemed to work — at least there were no error messages.
Note See www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/evaluate/hardware/vistarpc.mspx for links to specific processor models (CPUs and GPUs).
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Warning and Disclaimer Windows Vista was released to the public just as this book went to press. In the past year, a number of features have come and gone and reappeared again in beta. Furthermore, Microsoft changes the name of various functions periodically. If I mention a feature that you can’t find in your system, its name may have changed, it may be specific to an edition you don’t have, it may not appear due to hardware differences, or it may turn up later in a Service Pack.
Summary This chapter has taken a brief look at what brought us to Windows Vista — both its history and new developments in hardware. In particular, note the following highlights: Windows Vista extends a long line of development in operating systems by Microsoft. Windows Vista will come in various editions, or versions. The Ultimate version contains all the features, provided that your hardware supports them. Hardware requirements will be high (more on this in Chapter 3). Before installing Windows Vista, you should examine more of what it offers. In the next chapter, you’ll begin to work with the new interface.
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First Blush: An Overview of the New User Interface
I
n this chapter, we take our first look at Windows Vista, including the new user interface (UI) and the new look and feel of the operating system (OS). In later chapters, you will discover how to modify Windows Vista — that is, customize it to work more to your liking. For now, let’s see what we get more or less out of the box, noting some comparisons to Windows XP. Based on the hype, you may expect to see Aero Glass listed first in this chapter. Aero Glass refers to a new visual scheme that is very noticeable, especially the transparency that some windows provide. It’s definitely cool. This chapter does contain references to Aero here and there where relevant, but for now we’ll concentrate on changes that affect the way you do things.
The Top New Features In brief, the following features are standouts in Windows Vista: Improved security throughout Simplified Start menu Easy navigation with breadcrumbs and favorite links Links to help documentation from dialog boxes Accessible tags and other metadata Let’s look at some of these as an overview now.
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A Note about Windows Security Prompts Although it may seem odd, you will start to see prompts for authorization to run an application. This is a major feature of Microsoft’s efforts to increase security. In effect, you have to confirm every process that might alter the system and could be coming from a malicious source. The computer doesn’t see you sitting there; it needs you to confirm you know what’s going on and authorize it. Functions accompanied by a shield with the Windows logo will usually require an extra step of authorization from you. Some of the prompts are in your face. The most dramatic darken the entire screen, limiting you to responding only to the prompt. Sometimes the only notice you get is the flashing of a taskbar button. You may already know about administrators and other security- and privilege-related topics. The surprise is that even as an administrator you’ll be prompted repeatedly. If such prompting makes you nostalgic for XP, remember those Windows Automatic Update messages that want you to restart your machine. You press the Restart Later button only to be nagged again in five minutes. Responding to objections of beta testers regarding the disruption of these User Account Control (UAC) prompts, Microsoft has included fewer of these than there were in the earliest days of testing. Keep in mind that most users want more security and this is one way to achieve that.
Tip There is actually a plus to these prompts, if you like to type commands. The frequent UAC dialogs you’ll see have a Details option that will show you the name of the executable that is trying to run (although sometimes this is an inscrutable string of characters). For example, it might show “xyz.exe”. Armed with that knowledge, you can run that program next time by pressing Win+R and then typing xyz.exe. (You’ll still get the security warning.) Let’s make some lemonade, people!
The Welcome Center When you first start Windows Vista, one window will appear in front of the desktop: the Welcome Center (see Figure 2-1). Don’t just close it — take some time to look at it. “Centers” are a new way of organizing information and operations; they are specialized windows grouping related functions. At the top of this window, you may notice there are no menus (File, Edit, etc.). Right away, you encounter a feature meant to improve your life by reducing clutter — one that will have many users up in arms for radically altering the old way of doing things. We’ll deal with changing settings later. For now, observe and endure. Nearest the top, on the left are two buttons rather like a browser’s Back and Forward buttons, with a small downward-pointing triangle for jumping to a particular place (after you follow a link within that window). Let’s call that first little triangle the session history button.
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Breadcrumbs in address bar
Refresh
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Search
Figure 2-1: The new Welcome Center
In Windows XP, the Back and Forward buttons in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer each have a separate drop-down list of pages in that given direction. Windows Vista combines the two lists into one, with the current page highlighted. This change may not be earthshaking, but it makes the options easier to access and more compact. To the right of the navigation buttons is something old with a big new twist. It looks like the old address bar — and you could still call it that — but it is also now called the breadcrumbs. This feature is borrowed from some Web sites, though these breadcrumbs do more than most of those on Web sites. Farther right, you’ll see another downward-pointing triangle — the history button — two curvy refresh arrows, and the new Search box. Without clicking anywhere in the Welcome Center, type the letter p. You will see the banner that makes up the top two inches or so of the Welcome Center change to Personalize Windows — the first item that starts with the letter p. Type v and “View computer details” is highlighted in the banner and below it. Type d three times; each time, you advance to the next item starting with a d. In other words, you can quickly select something by typing the first letter of the first word. Pressing Enter runs or opens that item, but let’s hold off a moment longer. In the prior steps, you were not using the Search box. Now, click in the Search box to the right of the address bar (you can use Ctrl+E or pressing Tab a few times works, too). In the box, start typing the first few letters of “personalize” and you should see Personalize Windows in the Welcome Center — and nothing else. This is called live search, which can be thought of as a kind of filter — in the current window, only items matching your typed text will appear.
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Again, no one shouts “huzzah!,” but this has great potential for getting to your choices quickly if you are willing and able to type. In Figure 2-1, you see the following in the address bar near the top of the window: (The Windows logo) ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Welcome Center
Every piece of the breadcrumbs is clickable. If you click directly on words, such as Control Panel, you go to that part of the system. (Use the Back arrow anytime.) Clicking any of the > symbols is a little different and more versatile. If you click the > to the right of Control Panel, you get a drop-down list of items “under” or in Control Panel — that is, all the Control Panel groups. The utility of this becomes more obvious as you try other > symbols. Click the one to the right of System and Maintenance to see all the tools belonging to that topic. (Notice that “Welcome Center” is bold.) This change in breadcrumbs is arguably revolutionary and will become very important to many users. No longer do you have to go back, or up, to some level in order to access another sublevel. Instead, you can jump directly between related items at a given level. Three little > symbols give you direct access to more than 20 different areas — and conceivably far more than that. In terms of folders, imagine this setup: Documents contains two folders called Work and Play. The Work folder contains two folders called Book and Memos. The Play folder contains one folder called Poems. The files in these folders don’t matter at the moment. This structure or tree could be represented as follows: Documents Work Book Memos Play Poems
If you were looking at the contents of the book folder, the initial breadcrumbs would look like this: (Folder icon) ➝ user name ➝ Documents ➝ Work ➝ Book
If you click the arrow to the right of Work, a list appears showing Book (in bold, as the current selection) and Memos (two folders at the same level), but not Poems (which is under a different parent folder). Now click to the right of Documents: the Work and Play folders appear in the list. Click to the right of your user name, and Document, Desktop, and many other major areas appear — whatever else resides at that same level. The breadcrumbs show your folder structure in context; more important, they give you a quick way to jump through that structure. Again, playing with each part of the breadcrumbs will reveal more of their value. To the right of the breadcrumbs, the downward-pointing “history button” triangle displays a list of places you’ve been on the system. As with a browser, this history may go back farther than the current session.
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Note If you click the history drop-down icon, the refresh icon, or the first icon in the breadcrumbs, the breadcrumbs lose most of their functionality until you go somewhere else (even if it is just backward and forward again) or click the session history drop-down triangle and reselect the same window you are in. What you gain with the loss of this function is the option to type over or edit the contents of the address bar, much as you would in a Web browser. As you type, Windows Vista displays previously visited locations that match the text you type (called AutoComplete).
Below the banner in the Welcome Center, you’ll see a select few icons and a link to “Show all items.” We’ll explore these at different times throughout the book, though you way want to click the “Show all” links now just to see more options. Notice the division of functions between “Get started with Windows” and “Offers from Microsoft.” The latter are all links to online services provided by Microsoft under the Windows Live umbrella. At the bottom left of the Welcome Center is a checkbox to “Run at startup.” The parenthetical note to the right of the selection is a modest example of Vista’s effort to inform you about how to deal with the consequences of changes. If you uncheck this box, the Welcome Center won’t appear next time, but you are shown how to find it nonetheless. Small changes can make big differences, though small changes can go unnoticed as well. Throughout Windows Vista, you’ll find short tips and links to related information, especially in dialog boxes.
The Desktop and Sidebar The desktop is just behind the Welcome screen, which at this point you may want to close or minimize. The desktop is largely unchanged from Windows XP. It is still a good place for icons you need immediate access to or have no better place for. The most noticeable change to the desktop is the addition of the Sidebar on the right. The Sidebar is a kind of toolbar that holds large icons called gadgets used for various purposes — for example, a clock or a calendar. You’ll learn how to modify the Sidebar in Chapter 6.
Tip Windows Vista has a lot of keystrokes that aren’t always obvious, many of which carry over from XP. Of particular importance is the Windows logo key. (It has the little four-part flag icon and is usually next to the Alt key on either side of the spacebar on a full-sized keyboard. I’ll write it simply as “Win” plus some keystroke.) The Win key figures into quite a few useful keystrokes, which I will note as appropriate.
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Tip For instance, hold down the Win key as you enter the letter d (for “desktop”) — Win+D (capitalized for documentation — you may never need the Shift key with any Win key combination). All open, nonminimized windows minimize, and the desktop is exposed. This keystroke is a toggle, so repeating it reverses it — those windows come back. Some wag called this the “boss button” or “panic button,” suggesting you can use it to hide what you’re looking at as someone walks by your cubicle (as if staring at your desktop isn’t the least bit suspicious). I use it all the time to get to the desktop or sometimes just to clear my mind.
Tip Contrast Win+D to Win+M (for Minimize All). They may seem the same but there are differences. Win+M is not a toggle; that is, unlike Win+D, repeating Win+M does not restore the windows — use Win+Shift+M, instead (one of the few exceptions to my earlier remark about rarely needing the Shift key with Win). I would say don’t bother with Win+M, except for one important difference: the Sidebar disappears with Win+D but not with Win+M, so use the latter if you want to see the Sidebar. Another difference is if you have more than one monitor, Win+M only exposes the desktop on the main monitor, not the other(s), whereas Win+D clears them all.
The Taskbar Unchanged since Microsoft introduced it in Windows 95, there is a taskbar across the bottom of the screen (unless you move it, as we will soon). As programs or other windows are opened, corresponding buttons appear in the taskbar. Buttons appear in the taskbar for some open applications. The taskbar is one of the tools for switching between open windows. Aside from some graphical tweaks, the taskbar hasn’t changed much (see Figure 2-2).
Start button
Quick launch toolbar
Icon tray
Figure 2-2: The taskbar, from Start to icon tray
If you hover over a button in the taskbar, you’ll see a live thumbnail preview of the contents of that window. This is another new feature of Windows Vista; you may not see this if Windows Vista doesn’t support the preview function on your hardware or if you have the Home Basic edition. Clicking the button will either restore or minimize that window. (It’s another toggle.)
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Depending on your screen width, if you open more than five or so separate instances of a window — say, five copies of Explorer or Word — Vista will consolidate the individual taskbar buttons into one group button. Unfortunately, the preview you get by hovering over the button does not show thumbnails for every instance — just the last one you looked at before the consolidation. However, if you click on that group button, a list of the windows that are part of the group appears. As you highlight each individual window name, you’ll see a preview of its contents. Note that the context menu (click the right mouse button) for a group button picks up options that apply to the whole group. The wording has changed slightly here, for the better: Show Windows Stacked (instead of Tile Horizontally) and Show Windows Side by Side (instead of Tile Vertically). The context menu for the group is the easiest way to close all the windows in a group.
Tip You may miss the live thumbnails when you work with XP. Visual Task Tips (www.visualtasktips.com) is a free program that provides the same feature to XP users.
Quick Launch Toolbar Toward the left end of the taskbar is the Quick Launch toolbar. The biggest change here may be that it is visible by default (XP required you to turn it on). Eventually, you will want to use this toolbar to hold a few of your most important icons. If you want to add an icon, Windows Vista enables you to do so for most icons with the “Add to Quick Launch” option on the context menu, which is very handy, although you probably don’t want too many icons there. If the taskbar is unlocked, you can move and resize the Quick Launch toolbar as well as rearrange the icons in it. We’ll unlock the taskbar shortly.
The Notification Area or Icon Tray All the way to the right of the taskbar, where the time is visible, is the icon tray. In this area, icons come and go to indicate some processes that are running (whereas Quick Launch is for starting a few processes). Initially, what shows there is whatever Windows Vista wants.
Cross Reference We’ll take more control over this area in Chapter 6.
The Start Menu The Start menu is at the far left end of the taskbar, left of the Quick Launch toolbar. This is one place to start a program or open a document. It is also here that we find some dramatic changes.
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First, the word “Start” is gone and the button has been reduced to a small, dare I say, sexy circular button. Click that button. As before, a two-column menu appears. The left-hand column displays programs, whereas the right-hand column offers access to other parts of the system. Before looking more closely at what’s listed, let’s jump right to a big change. With the menu displaying, just start typing a few letters in the new Start Search box (the cursor should be there automatically) — for example, sol. As you start typing, the listing in the left column changes to display items that contain those letters at the beginning of a word in the item’s name, or, possibly, in the contents of the file. These items are grouped as Programs, Favorites and History, or Files. This is a fast searching feature that appears in many other places in the system. If you don’t mind typing, it may get you to some file or program faster. As long as your hands are on the keyboard and off the mouse, use the arrow keys to move up and down, and press Enter to open or launch. (Obviously, you can switch to and from the mouse at any time.)
Tip The Win key by itself opens the Start menu, ready for typing.
If you have typed something, delete what you typed (the Esc key will work) or close the Start menu by clicking anywhere on the desktop. Bring the Start menu up again and notice the two columns (see Figure 2-3).
Other power options Type to search
Sleep Lock
Figure 2-3: The new and improved Start menu. Note the Start Search text box.
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The top section of the left column, above the thin line, is where items are “pinned,” meaning always there for future access. You can determine what’s pinned by clicking the right mouse button on any item anywhere in the Start menu, or even in Windows Explorer, and choosing “Pin to Start Menu” or “Unpin from Start Menu” (though some items say “Remove from this list”). This is another place for your most frequently used programs (in addition to the Quick Launch toolbar). Below the pinned items are other items. On a brand-new setup, these are functions Microsoft wants you to notice. Over time, the most recently used programs appear here. At the very bottom of the left column is the Start Search box we just used. Above that is the All Programs menu item. This may look like XP, but there is another important change here. Click All Programs and any items in the previous column are replaced by the items in All Programs. Folder icons indicate submenus, which with a single mouse click will expand or collapse within that column. A scrollbar will appear if needed. Notice the Back button for backing out of this listing. Some may disagree, but I think this is much improved over XP’s multiple columns and fly-out submenus, which sometimes popped to the right and sometimes to the left. At the top of the right column is your ID and an icon that changes as you highlight menu items. Below that are options to access the following: Documents Pictures Music Games Search Recent Items Computer Network Connect To Control Panel Default Programs Help and Support
Note Windows Vista does away with the old “My X” nomenclature that began with Windows 95 and reached absurd heights in Windows XP (My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, ad nauseum). In Vista, the corresponding folders are named simply Documents, Pictures, Music, and so on.
At the bottom of the right column is another important change. The old XP “Turn off computer” button is gone, replaced by three buttons (refer to Figure 2-3).
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The first button, a circle with a short notch at the top (a common symbol for a switch) will turn off your computer — sort of. Windows Vista has a new mode called Sleep that combines features of the old Standby and Hibernate modes. Using Sleep mode, your computer is off in the way that your TV is off — not completely — and therefore ready to go in an instant. To the right of the “off” button, is a padlock button, which locks your system, requiring anyone to log in to continue. To the right of these two larger buttons is a smaller button with a right-pointing triangle that pops up the following specific options for shutdown: Switch User Log Off Lock (or use the button to the left) Restart Sleep (or simply use the button farthest to the left) Hibernate (may not show on your system) Shutdown Most Windows users are intimately familiar with restarting — a program crashes or acts weird and we restart. If you aren’t used to restarting at least once every day, go buy a lottery ticket — you are one lucky person. It remains to be seen whether Windows Vista actually realizes Microsoft’s longstanding goal of reducing restarts. Both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer crashed for me, but I never saw the dreaded “blue screen of death,” and both programs resumed and behaved afterward without restarting. As I mentioned, Sleep mode combines the old Standby with Hibernate modes. In XP, Standby reduces power consumption only slightly while keeping the machine on and everything you are running in memory. Moving the mouse or touching the keyboard brings a system out of Standby almost instantly. Of course, if the power goes off, then you may actually lose data. Standby never seemed worth the risk to me. Hibernate, conversely, is a great feature everyone should know about. Hibernate copies the contents of RAM to a file on disk and shuts down. The next time you start up, your running programs and open documents are restored to RAM just as they were before hibernation. Not only is startup faster, but whatever you were last working on is ready for you to resume. It’s a great feature. The downside is the time it takes to hibernate and restore from hibernation, which is still normally less time than a cold start. Sleep mode puts these two features together. Your running programs and open documents are still in RAM for nearly instantaneous resumption and everything is saved to disk in case something goes wrong. In the process, power consumption is reduced further than Standby ever did, although it is not completely off. Some older machines may not reduce power consumption as much as newer machines. Try Sleep, especially if you mistrusted Standby. It is faster than Shutdown or Hibernate. In fact, Hibernate probably won’t show on your shutdown menu. (You’ll see why in Chapter 18.) Don’t be underwhelmed by the changes to the Start menu. With some play, you may come to really appreciate them.
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Cross Reference See Chapter 6 for information about customizing the Start menu, and Chapter 18 for more about shutdown and power options.
You’ll Flip Over This When you have multiple windows open, instead of selecting buttons from the taskbar, you’ve long had the option to press Alt+Tab for the Task Switcher. This is now called Flip, and features “live” thumbnails of the content of the open windows (see Figure 2-4).
Figure 2-4: Alt+Tab, now called Flip, shows previews of your windows (if your system supports Aero Glass).
Recall from Chapter 1 that you need a Windows Vista Premium Ready machine, including at least 128 MB of video RAM, to get everything out of the new interface. Unfortunately, if you have the Home Basic edition or if your system does not fully support Aero Glass, you’ll see a list of icons that isn’t very different from XP with any edition, except for the addition of a Desktop icon that minimizes open windows. We’ll examine the new graphic scheme in Chapter 6. If you have the power needed for Aero Glass, you also have the capability to take advantage of Win+Tab, which shifts all your windows into a kind of Rolodex you can spin through repeating Win+Tab (or Win plus spinning the wheel between your mouse buttons); this is called Flip 3D (see Figure 2-5). If you don’t have the power, you may see the same display Alt+Tab produces or nothing at all.
Note Microsoft offers an XP PowerToy that adds a preview feature to Alt+Tab in XP that is similar to WindowsVista’s (but not identical). See www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/ and click PowerToys for Windows XP, and then Alt-Tab Replacement. You can find many other interesting PowerToys here, including SyncToy, TweakUI, Open Command Window Here, and Image Resizer.
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Figure 2-5: Win+Tab, called Flip 3D, is showier but requires a more powerful graphics card.
Windows Explorer Let’s move on to the workhorse of Windows, Windows Explorer (not to be confused with the somewhat related Internet Explorer, covered in Chapter 13). When you open a window, you’re running Windows Explorer. (I just call it “Explorer” for the rest of this chapter.) Explorer has changed dramatically in Vista. Begin by opening Explorer. You could use Start ➝ Computer.
Tip Win+E may be the fastest way to open Explorer.
At the top of the Explorer window are the Back and Forward buttons and breadcrumbs in the address bar, all of which we looked at in the Welcome Center. “Centers” are just specialized Explorer windows.
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Toolbars Notice that there are no menus across the top of the Explorer window. Instead, buttons appear in a toolbar, which XP also featured. Some of these buttons, however, are quite a bit like menus, as you will see by clicking on the downward-pointing triangle next to them. Two of the buttons appear fairly consistently: Organize (which has many of the old File menu options) and Views. Additional buttons come and go, depending on the context. Figure 2-6 shows examples from three different windows.
Figure 2-6: The toolbars are context sensitive.
Note that the Pictures folder has Slide Show and Print buttons, whereas the Games folder does not but does have a Parental Controls button. The Music folder has a Play All button. In each of these examples, a file is selected. If no files are selected, there are fewer buttons. Context determines everything in Windows.
The Views Button The Views button has two parts. Repeatedly clicking on the word “Views” cycles you through various views of the folder contents, though not all the available views. Clicking the triangle enables you to go more directly to a choice, and, surprisingly, some choices in between (see Figure 2-7).
Figure 2-7: The menu that appears by clicking the triangle next to the Views button offers some new options.
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The views are as follows: Extra Large Icons — Looking at images with Extra Large Icons will knock your socks off. There is nothing like this in XP. This view offers gradations between these discrete sizes if you drag the slider. Large Icons — This is the size of XP’s thumbnails. Medium Icons — This is what XP calls Icons. Small Icons — This may look like List, but the icons are sorted in rows first. List — This one was resurrected during the beta tests. These are small icons sorted in columns. Details — This view displays the most information about each file, organized in columns of data and rows. Click a column heading to sort by that column; click again to reverse the sort order. Drag the line between column headings to resize that column (or double-click for the optimum size for that column). Click and drag headings left or right to rearrange columns. (I like Date modified right next to Name.) Right-click over any column heading for a list of available headings (check to display, uncheck to hide) and “More” for a nearly overwhelming list of possible columns whose utility depends on the type of files listed. Note the context menu options to “Size Column to Fit” and “Size All Columns to Fit” (Ctrl+Plus on the number keypad). Tiles — Tiles are easily underestimated. They marry medium icons with a little detail, sorted like small icons (by rows). Compared to XP, the most dramatic change is in the icon sizes — what used to be called Thumbnail view — and the fact that you can have custom sizes on-the-fly by either dragging the slider up and down or rolling the mouse wheel. Figure 2-8 shows what these various views look like; alas, the figure does not show the in-between sizes (which are très cool).
Sort, Group, Filter, and Stack In every view are column headings that in XP only showed in Details view. These headings greatly simplify sorting, grouping, filtering, and stacking (the latter two are new in Windows Vista.) You can sort in any view by clicking on the word in the column heading. Click once to sort ascending or descending, and again for the reverse. You can add or remove headings through a context menu over any heading. You have more options by clicking the triangle to the right of each column heading. Figure 2-9 shows two examples. You can sort by any column heading (XP called this “Arrange Icons by”). Click the small triangle next to the text in a column heading and click Sort; repeat to sort in the reverse order.
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Titles
Details
Small icons
Medium icons
List
Large icons
Extra large icons
Figure 2-8: A composite of Vista’s views. Column headings divide the different views, with Tiles at the top and Extra Large Icons at the bottom.
Figure 2-9: A composite of the options for Name and Date modified. Note the very different options depending on the column.
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You can group files by clicking that same little triangle next to the column heading text and clicking Group (repeat to ungroup). Grouped files appear under a heading with the characteristic by which the files were sorted — for example, a letter if sorted by name, or “Today” if sorted by date. A change here is the addition of a count of files in that group in parentheses in the group heading (nice). Better still, you can collapse headings, hiding all the icons under that heading. Single-click the little caret (^) at the end of the heading or double-click the heading itself to collapse or expand. A single click of the heading will select all the files under that heading. These enhancements to the headings in a group greatly simplify selecting groups of files for various file operations such as delete, copy, and so on. The bigger change is the addition of filters and stacks. Filters can eliminate files from display. For example, files have both a date created and a date modified. The Date Modified column heading drop-down menu has an option labeled “Today” (refer to Figure 2-9). Use it and you won’t see files whose date modified is the current date. Instead of or in addition to Today, you may see “Unspecified” or even “A long time ago.” Click on a specific date in the calendar to see files matching only that date, if any. This is very useful for reducing clutter, and it will be even more useful as a step before file operations such as copy, move, rename, and delete.
Cross Reference See Chapter 10 for more about file operations.
Stacks take all the files in a group and reduce them to a single icon. This will be most useful if you have a lot of icons. Frankly, I think grouping is more useful (especially with collapsible headings), but I may learn to appreciate stacks yet. Oddly, choosing “Stack by (something)” from the drop-down menu for any column heading actually runs a search to achieve the effect. Click on one of the resulting stack icons to see the files that match. For example, select Start ➝ Music, and then double-click the Sample Music icon. In the Artists column heading, choose Stack by Artists. If you right-click over one of those stacks, you’ll find Explore, Open (in a new window), and Create Shortcut. Choose Explore (or double-click the icon). Notice that in the address bar, the breadcrumbs display “Search Results in Sample Music” (that was also there in the previous step). If you could use the stack icon directly for file operations — say, to delete or copy a stack — that would be useful. During the beta tests, that was possible but often crashed the system. Now, you have to go the extra step of opening the specific stack you want to work with before any file operations. You can view stacks using any of the available views, from Tiles to Extra Large Icons. In Figure 2-10, these files are sorted by the date modified, stacked, and viewed as tiles. Notice the count of files below each stack.
Figure 2-10: Stacks gather multiple files under one icon.
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The Organize Button Clicking the Organize button simply drops down a menu, reminiscent of the File and Edit menus of old (see Figure 2-11).
Figure 2-11: Most of the Organize menu options will be familiar.
ORGANIZE ➝ LAYOUT By default, the Explorer window presents several “panes.” You turn various panes on and off through Organize ➝ Layout. Figure 2-12 shows the five panes. Search pane
Menu bar Preview pane Navigation pane
Details pane
Figure 2-12: Five panes appear around the outside of the window.
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Tip If you must see the old-style menus, just press the Alt key. There they are, between the address bar and the toolbar. Press Alt again or Esc to clear the menu; you can use letters or the mouse in the classic menus. If you must have those menus stick around all the time, click Organize ➝ Layout ➝ Menu Bar — but not the first day you use Windows Vista, please. Paradigm shifts take some getting used to.
The Navigation Pane Windows XP introduced the Task pane on the left side of the window. Many old-timers immediately turned it off, deeming it more pain than pane. Ironically, in doing so, they denied themselves access to potentially useful common tasks and some data. The new Navigation pane replaces the Task pane on the left of the window. It is much improved. The common tasks are now called Favorite links. You can even add to those links by dragging and dropping into that area, which makes this much more useful. XP had a button to toggle between the Task pane and Folder view. Now, both can reside in the same area. Click the arrow next to Folders in the Navigation pane to expand or collapse the folder display. Drag the horizontal border between the two areas up or down to adjust space between Favorite links and Folders. The Details Pane and Metadata The new Details pane spans the bottom of the window. As the name implies, it shows you details about the file — a thumbnail of the content plus “metadata.” Metadata is data about data. Huh? Well, consider a letter. The content of the letter is data. The author and reviewer of a letter would be metadata — information about the file that may not actually be a part of the content itself. For music files, the genre would be metadata. For photographs, the exposure and other EXIF data are metadata. Metadata acquires a new prominence in Windows Vista; XP had a lot of potential that wasn’t often exploited by Windows or companies that write software. Granted, Microsoft Office has long supported metadata in its File ➝ Properties command, including a preview thumbnail option that is off by default. Now that metadata is more exposed, it will likely become more useful. Many people are going to turn off the Details pane before they give it a chance. Don’t be one of them.
Tip Tags are a specific category of metadata that you may want to start entering. For some files, you can add tags through the Details pane. We’ll explore this more fully in Chapter 10.
The Search Pane Perhaps this should be called the Search toolbar. It doesn’t quite look like other panes, but it is on the same Layout menu. The Search pane appears between the address bar and the toolbar. It adds buttons that effectively filter files by type: All, E-mail, Document, Picture, Music, and Other. Clicking Music would display only files recognized as music files (MPG, WAV, etc.).
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How is that different from filtering? First, filtering doesn’t involve search; it just works by magic. Second, in a folder full of music files, you could filter just MPG, just WAV, or both (using checkboxes in the drop-down menu for the Type column heading), whereas the Search pane buttons are predefined as to which files belong in which category. Finally, you can filter in any folder; the Search pane isn’t available everywhere. (I don’t know why not.)
Tip Use Win+F for Search (formerly Find) if you aren’t already in a window with a search box. If you are, use Ctrl+E to jump the cursor to the search box.
The Preview Pane So many panes, and yet there is one more. The Preview pane shows a large thumbnail of a selected file or just an icon for that file type. When a music file is selected, the Preview pane shows the CD cover and provides a button to play the music within the Preview pane (not opening Media Player). Until this shows the content of more types of files, it may not be very useful, especially given Extra Large Icons under the Views button. Bringing Back the Missing Status Bar In XP, at the very bottom of Windows Explorer, there used to be a single line of text called the status bar. Often, when an object was highlighted, the status bar displayed some information about the highlighted object: file size and date, disk space, and so on. In many respects, the Details pane has replaced the status bar (with much more information). However, the status bar is still available; it’s just off by default in Vista. Bringing it back is a little tricky. As you look through the new button options, you probably won’t see any reference to the status bar. In this case, you have no choice but to resort to the missing menus. Press the Alt key, and then from the menu that displays at that point, select View ➝ Status Bar. (I want to thank Microsoft representative Harold Wong for mentioning this tip in a public presentation on Vista.)
Summary Before you even leave the first screen, you can see that Windows Vista offers myriad changes to some old standbys: Desktop Taskbar Start menu Windows Explorer In the next chapter, I assume you have seen enough to want Windows Vista. Chapter 3 explains how to go about getting it.
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f you don’t already have Windows Vista, this chapter will walk you through your options for obtaining and installing it.
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor You may want to start with a tool Microsoft has available for evaluating current hardware. This tool, the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, is available for download from www.microsoft.com/ windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/. Download it, install it, and run it (WindowsVistaUpgradeAdvisor.msi). Figure 3-1 shows the opening screen of the Upgrade Advisor. 1. When you run the Upgrade Advisor, the first screen introduces the program and advises you to be certain that all hardware you will use with Windows Vista is attached and on. This enables you to get a complete report on potential compatibility issues. Plug everything in and turn everything on, even media players and cameras. Click the Start Scan link.
35 Figure 3-1: The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor
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Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista 2. The second screen you see indicates that the Upgrade Advisor is scanning your system. While you wait, read the text and use the numbered buttons at the bottom of that screen to see specifics about the various editions. 3. The screen displays “Scan complete” and a button and link to “See Details.” Click either button to continue. 4. The next screen indicates whether you can run Windows Vista and recommends an edition, if possible. On the left, you can click an edition for issues pertinent to each edition. (You won’t see Enterprise, because it’s not available retail.) Scroll down the screen to see whether any problems with system requirements, devices (hardware), or programs are flagged. 5. If you click any details buttons at this point, the vertical editions buttons are not available. (Use the Back button to return if necessary.) Now you will see a horizontal menu consisting of the following: System, Devices (identifying devices that may not work as well as those that should work fine), Programs (flagging incompatible software you may not be able to use until you upgrade that software), and Task List (things to do before and after you upgrade). Read through all the screens; there are options to print and save the report (see Figure 3-2).
Figure 3-2: A sample of the Upgrade Advisor’s report
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When you have digested everything, close the Upgrade Advisor. As discussed in the first chapter, Windows Vista was designed to take advantage of numerous advances in hardware, so there are perfect setups, less-than-perfect setups, and setups with which you’ll never get Windows Vista running.
Note I can’t recommend Home Basic, because it lacks some cool and useful features. Although Home Basic may have some new features that make it preferable to XP Home, you’d be better off with Home Premium or Ultimate, which are the best choices for most individuals, even those with some business needs, in my opinion. Companies may have good reasons to go with Business or Enterprise. Unless the cost is prohibitive, you probably can’t go wrong with Ultimate, if you can run it with most of its features.
Note At least one desirable component is missing from Home Premium that is present in Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Home Premium does not have Shadow Copy, a backup feature discussed in Chapter 5. Personally, I want all the backup options possible.
Even when Windows Vista will run on an old system, it surely will run better on a machine that exceeds Microsoft’s minimum requirements. There is no doubt that the coolest graphical effects demand recent graphics-related hardware. If any device is flagged by the Upgrade Advisor, you may want to check the manufacturer’s Web site for new drivers. If you can’t find a driver that fixes the problem, you should consider replacing that component or perhaps buying an entirely new system.
Tip There are a few free, Web-based services that also evaluate computers. One of these is www.pcpitstop.com/vistaready/.
Buying a New Vista-Capable PC Manufacturers are beginning to certify their hardware as Windows Vista capable or compatible. In a nutshell, you want power — raw power, as much power as you can afford; a new, fast processor,
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including a huge, fast hard drive; screaming video; and a nuclear power source for the cooling system. More specifically, consider the following minimums and recommendations: Component
Minimum (Vista Capable)
Recommended (Premium Ready)
CPU
800 MHz
1 GHz
RAM
512 MB
1 GB Home Basic maximum 8 GB Home Premium maximum 16 GB
Video RAM (not shared)
64 MB
256 MB PCI Express x16
Hard drive
7200 RPM
Big SATA with largest cache
When in doubt, bigger and faster are almost always better. If you are buying a new system, you probably want Windows Vista preinstalled or included as an upgrade. (Remember the discussion of the Windows Vista “flavors” in Chapter 1.) Most manufacturers participate in the Windows Vista Express Upgrade, which entitles buyers to upgrade to Windows Vista if the machine was purchased between October 26, 2006, and March 15, 2007.
Note Pay close attention to which version of Windows Vista is preinstalled on a new system. As manufacturers try to keep costs down, they may opt for Home Basic, which may be fine for you if you are aware of what you are getting.
Be aware that if Windows Vista comes preinstalled, it may be an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) version of Windows Vista. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, OEM versions differ from a Microsoft version bought in a box. In particular, you probably can’t install your OEM version on any machine other than the one it came with. (There can be legitimate reasons to want to install on another machine.) In addition, OEM versions often come with a CD or DVD that allows only a catastrophic restoration of the entire setup. That can be an easy tool to use, but it isn’t as flexible as owning a non-OEM, retail copy of Windows Vista.
Upgrading Your Old Machine If you were lucky enough to get a good rating from the Upgrade Advisor, or you were able to replace one or two components to do so, then you should consider upgrading that system to Windows Vista. Look carefully at your upgrade options, especially which edition you can run and which upgrades you qualify for. For example, if you have XP Home, you may not qualify for an upgrade to Ultimate, or it may cost more than upgrading from XP Professional to Ultimate.
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Back Up Your Entire Old System — Now! We’re getting ready to upgrade your old system. No matter which option you use, no matter how careful or lucky you are, you do not want to go one step further without a backup. What kind of backup? That depends on your preferences. I would have a full backup of the entire hard drive; some users would be satisfied with just backing up data and other important files. (Ah, but do you know what and where the “other important files” are?) At the end of this chapter, we’ll examine the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard. Call me oldfashioned, but I can’t relax without a recent backup. If you’ve never done a backup, you need more information than I can give you here (plus a serious wake-up call). However, there are a few places to check for documents you’d really miss. You could copy files from here by dragging and dropping them to any removable drive or network location: My Documents — If you are like most computer users, you have some chaff among the wheat here (files you’d never miss). The question is, do you pick and choose or just grab it all? Desktop — For many users, the desktop is a wasteland of shortcut icons you could re-create if you had to. Have you dropped any documents here that are vital? This is where I put files I download from the Web. C:\Documents and Settings and C:\Program Files — Many of the files in these two folders would be installed automatically if you had to reinstall any programs. However, there are also configuration files, downloaded files, dictionaries, and more here that you might regret losing. Further complicating things, your user name has a folder here that you should inspect or back up, but important files may be under another user name, including the generic Default User and All Users. For the record, C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\ contains My Documents and the Desktop. What about files only found in the Windows folder or a nonstandard program that drops its folder in the root folder (C:\)? The more you think about it, the better a full-disk backup sounds. That will take more time and more backup space. XP has a backup program that isn’t always installed automatically. If you have to search the hard drive or the XP CD, you’re looking for a file named ntbackup.exe. This file, like any backup program, allows you to select individual folders or back up all folders (i.e., a partial backup versus a full backup).
Tip Now is the time to buy a big external hard drive — USB 2 or FireWire, if your machine supports it. (Buy two; I’ll explain later.) This will be your backup drive. With an external drive, you can back up multiple machines in the office or the home. With a large enough drive, you can have multiple backups for each machine. You can also store your backup off-site or in a fireproof safe. Such drives often come with their own software (I still use XP’s). Make sure you also have a copy of the backup software on that external drive. There’s nothing more frustrating than a backup you can’t restore because you no longer have the software.
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For more information about XP Backup, see PC Magazine Windows XP Solutions by Neil Randall (Wiley, 2005), XP’s Help system, or Microsoft’s Web site.
Installing Windows Vista When you are ready to install Windows Vista, there are two major options: Upgrading the existing Windows installation A clean installation (two types)
Upgrading the Existing Windows Installation Although this option is “easy,” I’m reluctant to recommend it. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider it; just be sure to also consider the alternatives. Table 2-1 describes the upgrade paths for various earlier Windows editions.
Table 2-1: Vista Upgrade Paths
If You Own
You Can Upgrade to
But Not to
XP Home
Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate
(none)
XP Professional
Business or Ultimate
Home Basic or Premium (Microsoft considers that a downgrade)
Media Center
Home Premium or Ultimate
Home Basic or Business
Tablet PC
Business or Ultimate
Home Basic or Premium
Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME Windows 2000 Professional Windows XP Professional x64
(none)
Home Basic or Premium, Business or Ultimate
In other words, an XP Home owner qualifies for an upgrade to any Windows Vista edition, whereas anyone who owns a special edition of XP can’t “downgrade” to Windows Vista Home Basic. The most arbitrary aspect of this is that the owner of Media Center can upgrade to Home Premium (the natural successor to Media Center) but not Business, and for the Tablet PC owner it is the reverse. Understand, you can buy and install any full retail edition of Windows Vista you like. A Media Center owner is not prohibited from buying and installing Home Basic. The table indicates which versions qualify for upgrade pricing versus full pricing (refer to the pricing in Table 1-1 in Chapter 1).
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In an upgrade installation, Windows Vista replaces your existing Windows setup. In the process, the older Windows folder (not your data) is backed up and replaced. The main advantage of this process is that once Windows Vista is installed, you may not have much more to do. Your applications are probably there, ready to run, and your data is probably there, ready to work with. Those “probablies” may give you pause, but it is a pretty reliable process with minimal risks and effort. That said, always back up before you do any major upgrade like this. There may be some disadvantages to this process. The upgrade installation may take longer than the alternatives; the installation requires more disk space (because of the backup of the older version); or you may not have enough free disk space for this. To me, the primary disadvantage of upgrading is that it denies you the joy of a clean install.
Clean Installations In a clean installation, Windows Vista is installed onto a drive or into a partition where nothing is currently installed — hence, “clean.” The primary disadvantage of a clean install is the amount of work and time involved. Of course, you have to back up your data and then restore it — but you back up before an upgrade, too. Data that requires a specific application may be unusable until you install that program. You need to round up all your applications and reinstall each, probably reconfiguring program options in the process (options you may have forgotten). Plan carefully for those programs you don’t have on disk — programs you downloaded from the Internet. Oh, but the advantages. Beyond the pleasure of hard work, the simple fact is that after a clean installation your system runs faster until you junk it up with all those programs and files you feel you need on your computer. In other words, for now Windows is about as fast as it will ever be (except through hardware upgrades). You may also see a benefit in discovering which applications you don’t actually need anymore. You won’t even miss some of these. These forgotten or unused programs are, at the very least, taking up disk space. Some of these programs are automatically loading into memory code that you’re not even using. This is part of what clogs up a machine over the years. I can’t be the only nerd who performs a clean installation of Windows (regardless of the version) at least once a year, sometimes twice. It is a task not to be taken too lightly; you must prepare yourself and set aside time for this. Still, I find it well worthwhile. Even a clean installation comes with major choices. For example, do you want to install Windows Vista in addition to XP or completely do away with the old Windows?
NEW PARTITION AND DUAL-BOOT If you are easing into Windows Vista and are not ready to give up XP on a machine, you can either partition an existing hard drive or add a second internal drive. Then you can install Windows Vista onto that virgin drive or partition. Through the magic of dual-booting and the Boot Manager, you will be able to pick which version of Windows you want to boot into and use every time you start your computer, or pick one as the default. The primary advantage is having everything as it was plus the new version; it’s almost like having two computers. OK, not much like that, but it does feel like less of a commitment. The disadvantage is that you have much of the work of a clean installation (reinstalling and configuring programs) and still have that junked-up drive or partition — space you may wish you had for your new setup. Down the road, when you can no longer stand to look at XP, you may simply
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wipe it out, but that doesn’t recombine the two partitions, unless you do a clean installation of Windows Vista again at that point. (Serious nerds will do this in six months or so anyway.) The hardest part of the dual-boot option is preparing the partition (or installing the drive). You probably can’t use an external drive, because most are not “bootable.” Although XP Professional comes with a partitioning tool, it will wipe out data in the old partition to create two new ones. A commercial tool like Partition Magic (www.partitionmagic.com/partitionmagic/) claims to partition without loss of data. Back up anyway! If you end up having to wipe out the existing partition (wiping out Windows, programs, and data) to create two new partitions, this is only worth that effort if you really want to have both Windows Vista and XP. In effect, you will do a clean install of each into its own partition. However, if you are one of the lucky old-timers, an old hand at partitions, you’re probably ready to go. Do the clean install into one of your existing partitions or spare internal drives. For the rest of you, it may be time for a truly clean sweep.
Note There is another alternative for installing Windows Vista or XP. You can use virtualization software to run either operating system “inside” the other. See the Appendix for details.
Caution Dual-booting has been used for ages as a way to run more than one operating system on a single computer. The concept is simple: As long as each operating system is in its own partition, there won’t be any conflicts. However, there are some problems dual-booting Windows Vista with XP. First, Windows Vista has its own Boot Manager that takes over. This didn’t cause me any problems, but if you already dual-boot with Linux, you may lose your preferred boot manager. Second, the behavior of some of Windows Vista’s backup options changes in a dual-boot environment with XP. Details are provided in Chapter 5, but suffice it to say here that you lose some backup features.
A CLEAN SWEEP In this scenario, you wipe your hard drive or primary partition clean, leaving nothing installed. Out with the old and in with the new. When you are done, you have an out-of-the-box, clean installation of Windows Vista with nothing left over from the old days until you begin to reinstall applications and restore data. With a completely clean, bare-bones or “bare-metal” installation, be prepared to configure Windows, install and configure any applications you need, and restore your data from backup. It could be weeks before you feel everything is back in place (but only the files and applications you really need). It’s not as crazy as it sounds.
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Getting Ready for the Next Clean Installation Earlier, I suggested you buy two external hard drives. One will be for backups. The other will become the new home for all your data (and none of your programs). This second drive will give you a great leg up the next time you do a clean installation (or upgrade from Windows Vista to Linux — kidding!). Wiping out your OS and program drive won’t affect your data, which you will still be backing up to the backup drive. If you ever have to, you can take all your data to another machine or bring a new machine into your office. You may also want to consider creating a second partition on the primary drive during a completely clean installation. That way, you’ll be ready the next time you need a spare partition — perhaps for a dual-boot with the next version of Windows. It’s a bit of a guess how big this spare partition should be — probably no less than 20 GB.
The Installation Steps Let’s look at the steps involved in an installation of Windows Vista, regardless of type: 1. Pop the Windows Vista installation disk into a CD or DVD drive. Restart if you intend to boot from the DVD. If you are going to run the installation within XP and it doesn’t automatically run setup.exe, look for that program on the disk and run it manually. If you run Setup within XP, you will not have some disk management tools available during a custom installation (for example, the option to format a partition). If you are planning an upgrade installation, you don’t need those tools. If you run the installation by booting from the DVD, the Upgrade option is disabled. You will first see “Windows is loading files” (from the DVD), and then Microsoft’s copyright. Next, you will see a screen you would not get when running Setup from XP. This screen prompts for three items: “Language to install,” “Time and currency format,” and “Keyboard or input method.” Make your choices and click Next. Figure 3-3 shows the first screen to appear during setup under XP (or the fourth if you boot from the DVD). On the Install Windows screen, you’ll find buttons and links for the following options: Check compatibility online — This will take you to the Upgrade Advisor URL, from which you can download, install, and run the Upgrade Advisor. Surely, you’ve already done this. This option does not appear if you booted from the DVD. If you need this option, run it before you boot from the DVD. Install now — We will do this in a moment. What to know before installing Windows — This brings up a help page with step-bystep instructions. I have not duplicated those steps here; you may find the information helpful.
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Figure 3-3: Starting Windows Vista’s installation
Transfer files and settings from another computer — This runs Windows Easy Transfer, which we’ll look at later in this chapter. However, if you are doing a clean installation, you may want to read that section and run this option before you install Windows Vista. This option does not appear if you booted from the DVD. If you need this option, run it in XP from the DVD before you boot from the DVD. Repair your computer — You will not see this option if you run setup from within XP; it only appears when you boot from the DVD. Remember this option later if you have trouble after you install Windows Vista. The Repair option leads to the following recovery tools: Startup Repair, System Restore, Windows Complete PC Restore, Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, and a Command Prompt. We’ll examine these in Chapter 5. When you are ready, click the Install now button. Please wait.… 2. The next screen enables you to go online for updates or skip that step (see the “Why should I get updates for installation?” help topic). If your Internet connection is available (and fast) you may want to get the latest. If you don’t, you’ll get any updates later through Windows Update. Note the checkbox for “I want to make Windows installation better” (don’t we all) and the links for “What information will be sent to Microsoft?” and “Read our privacy statement.” Both open help files. 3. On the next screen, enter the long product key from the CD or DVD. Don’t worry about capitals; and you don’t need to type dashes, as they’re inserted automatically.
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Caution The product key is used to confirm that your copy of Windows Vista is legitimate. That key will be linked to the machine on which you are installing this copy. According to the End User License Agreement (EULA), which you will have to agree to on the next screen, this copy of Windows Vista can only be installed on one machine at a time. (You can uninstall it from one machine and reinstall it on another.) Hang on to the product key. You’ll need it if you have to reinstall Windows Vista.
On the same screen as the product key, note the checkbox for “Automatically activate Windows when I’m online” and the link for “What is activation?” Activation transfers your product key and a unique identifier for your computer to Microsoft. This in turn bestows Microsoft’s blessing that you have a legitimate copy of Windows. Although you do not have to activate at this time, you will have to activate within 30 days. Until you activate, you will be reminded frequently that you still need to. If you do not activate within 30 days, Windows Vista will switch to what Microsoft charmingly refers to as “reduced functionality mode” in which you cannot access Start, the desktop, or anything other than the browser. Even this hobbled state will shut down after 60 minutes. Don’t let this happen to you. Activate! 4. After the product key screen, you’ll see the license agreement. Be the first person ever to read it during installation. I don’t mean to make light of this, but what choice do you have at this point? If you want to install Windows Vista, you must check “I accept the license terms” and then click Next to continue. 5. Choose between an Upgrade installation over your existing Windows version or a Custom (advanced) installation (see Figure 3-4). These options were discussed earlier in this chapter. The Upgrade installation won’t be available to you if there is insufficient free disk space (less than 15 GB) or if you booted from the DVD. In those cases, you’ll have to use Custom to specify a different partition or a clean installation. If you follow the Upgrade path, upgrading will begin. Go take a break. There should be no more interaction until Windows Vista reboots in 30 minutes or more. If you follow the Custom path, you’ll have to identify the partition to use. Data on that partition will be wiped out (though Windows may back up an older version of Windows itself — something less than clean). Do you have a recent backup? If you booted from the DVD, you’ll see “Drive options (advanced).” (Those options are missing if you run Setup from within XP.) The advanced drive options enable you to do the following to a partition: delete, new (create), extend, or format. If only we had the shrink option found in Windows Vista. Then you could shrink one partition to make room to create another.
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Figure 3-4: Upgrade versus Custom (advanced) installation
At this point in a custom installation, if you have one partition but want two, then you will have to delete the old partition (wiping out all files on it), and then use New to create a new partition smaller than the entire drive and repeat New for a second partition. (You can have more than two partitions; each partition should be no less than 20 GB.) Then format the new partitions, pick one for Windows Vista, and continue with Next. As the installation begins in earnest, you’ll see indications of its progress, as shown in Figure 3-5. 6. The system will automatically reboot between gathering and expanding files. 7. When Windows Vista reboots after completing the installation or upgrade, you are prompted to log in (if you upgraded) or establish a new user account (if you performed a custom installation). Creating a new user requires a name, a password, and the selection of an icon for the account, as shown in Figure 3-6. (There’s one for the seven-year-old in each of us.) If you need more than one user account, you can create more in the Control Panel later. (From this point on, everything can be changed later through the Control Panel.)
Note You may be tempted to leave the password blank, especially if no one else has physical access to your computer. Be warned that connecting from another computer over a network may require a password — and blank is unacceptable. It should be obvious that having no password isn’t the best security, even though it is permissible.
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Figure 3-5: The next five steps in an installation or upgrade
Figure 3-6: Enter your user name and password, and choose an icon.
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Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista 8. On the next screen, specify a name for the computer (particularly important on a network) and the desktop background picture. 9. Next, you will be asked to accept recommended security settings, although you can say no or postpone.
10. Confirm your time zone and the current time. Click Next for the last time. Then you will be asked to “Please wait while Windows checks your computer’s performance.” Short promos appear for new tools such as Calendar, while Windows Vista runs a performance diagnostic we’ll look at later. 11. Finally, a screen proclaims, “You’re ready to start.” Click the Start button in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. Congratulations, you’re done!
Device Drivers When you ran the Upgrade Advisor, you may have seen warnings about potential device driver problems. Whether you saw them earlier or not, once Windows Vista is installed and started, you may get some pop-up warnings, and some peripheral hardware (such as a scanner) may not work. Windows comes with many device drivers. Often the latest and best drivers come from the manufacturer’s website, so if you get driver-related error messages or warnings, then check there first (a bit of a Catch-22 if the problem driver is your modem). Windows Vista–certified drivers are preferred, although XP drivers may suffice in some cases until the Windows Vista version is available. In the next chapter, we’ll discuss updating Windows Vista, and in Chapter 7 we’ll look more closely at hardware issues.
Windows Easy Transfer Migration Wizard At this point, you may be thinking, “There’s got to be an easier way to get all my programs and data set up on a new machine or clean installation.” Remember that you can do an upgrade installation over your existing system and not have to reinstall anything. Still, that doesn’t help if you buy a new computer and want everything set up as it was on an old computer (to the extent possible). To simplify the process of moving from one machine to another (especially, later, from one Windows Vista machine to another), Microsoft has a migration tool, a wizard called Windows Easy Transfer (see Figure 3-7). There are two aspects to this transfer. On the one hand are the steps you take on the old machine (the one with your data and program settings). On the other hand are the steps you take on the new machine.
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Figure 3-7: The Windows Easy Transfer Wizard
On the Old Machine 1. Assuming the old machine does not have Windows Vista installed, insert the Windows Vista installation DVD. From the setup screen, choose “Transfer files and settings from another computer.” Alternately, exit the setup screen and look on the DVD for migwiz.exe (probably in \support\migwiz\) and run it. If the old machine does have Windows Vista installed, as will be the norm soon, press Win+R and then type migwiz.exe to launch the program. The first screen is an overview of the process with links to additional information. Click Next to continue. 2. Do you want to start a new transfer or continue one in progress? On this screen, if this is the old machine, then you want to “Start a new transfer.” 3. Which computer are you using now? For the purposes of these steps, choose “My old computer.” However, notice you can start the process from the new computer as well. 4. Choose how to transfer files and settings to your new computer: Use an Easy Transfer Cable — This is marked “recommended,” but few readers will have the necessary cable. (Belkin makes one.) It is not a standard USB or network cable. Transfer directly, using a network connection — This may be the easiest option if your old and new machines are networked. If you use this method, copy the migwiz folder from the DVD to one of the two machines, because you’ll be running migwiz.exe on
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Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista both simultaneously. When you reach this step on the old machine, you’ll get a “key” that you need for the wizard, as it runs on the second simultaneously. Use a CD, DVD, or other removable media — We’ll follow this path and use an external hard drive (or other removable media). Click this option. 5. Choose how to transfer files and program settings: CD or DVD USB flash drive External hard disk or a network location The main problem with the first two options is limited capacity, although, in fact, you may have little enough to transfer that either will work. We’ll continue with the third option.
Tip Windows Easy Transfer will eventually estimate the number of bytes you’ll be transferring. You can estimate for yourself, at this time or earlier, by opening Windows Explorer (Win+E) and locating C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\. Right-click over the folder and choose Properties. You should see a count of files, folders, and bytes. You may not end up transferring every byte, or you may have more bytes if you include other users during the transfer.
6. Choose a network location. Browse to your external hard drive or a suitable network location and then specify a filename or accept the default. You can password-protect this file if you wish. Click Next. 7. What do you want to transfer to your new computer? All user accounts, files and settings — To me, this seems too broad, including All Users and Default User and who knows what else. This will automatically create new accounts on the new machine for other users of the old machine. My user account, files and settings only — This option is easy, but I’m still worried about picking up junk. Advanced options — Advanced options will provide a tree display of settings and folders to be transferred. You can uncheck those you don’t want to transfer. Expand all the levels to get a better sense of how much will be transferred. A total number of bytes is displayed in the lower-right corner. Make your choices and click Next. 8. Please wait until transfer is complete — You’ll see a progress indicator at this point. How long this takes depends on how many bytes you are copying and to what media. 9. You’re ready to transfer files and settings to your new computer — So, get over there. If you are using removable media, take it with you.
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On the New Machine 1. On the new machine, after installing Windows Vista, press Win+R and then type migwiz.exe (or select Start ➝ Accessories ➝ System Tools ➝ Windows Easy Transfer) to run the wizard. The same overview screen you saw in step 1 above appears. Click Next to continue. 2. Do you want to start a new transfer or continue one in progress? — On the new machine, you want “Continue a transfer in progress,” as shown in Figure 3-8.
Figure 3-8: On the new machine, you want to continue a transfer.
3. Are your computers connected to a network? Yes, I’ll transfer files and settings over the network — You’ll need a key from step 4 above. After you enter the key, return to the old machine, where you will resume with step 5 above (most of the remaining steps in this section are handled automatically). No, I’ve copied files and settings to a CD, DVD, or other removable media — This is the path we are following. Click this option. 4. Where did you save the files and settings you want to transfer? On a CD or DVD On a USB flash drive On an external hard disk or network location — This is our option. 5. Where did you copy the files and settings you want to transfer? — Browse to the external hard drive or network location. Enter the password if you used one. Click Next.
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Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista 6. Type a new user name or click a name in the list — You’ll see one or more user account names from the old machine. You can transfer the settings to the account you are logged into, select another existing user, or type in a new user name, which will create a new user account for that name. Your choice (I’ll use “demo” as a new user name). 7. Review selected files and settings — What you see depends on step 7 from the old machine. You do not have an option to make any changes here. Click the Transfer button to begin the transfer. 8. Please wait until the transfer is complete. — You’ll see another progress indicator. As before, how long this takes depends on the number of bytes and the media used. 9. The transfer is complete — Note the link to “Show me everything that was transferred.” You can read, print, or save this report. Use OK to close the report screen if you opened it. Click the Close button to close the wizard.
If you want to double-check, look under C:\Users\your user name\ for folders and files modified on the current date.
What’s Not to Like? I know some people swear by this process. It can be quite easy, though it does have a lot of different steps and options. I don’t really want to discourage you from using Windows Easy Transfer; you should seriously consider it. That said, let me tell you what I don’t like about the process and what I would do instead. My main concern is that some things will be copied that shouldn’t be. For example, running this process on an XP machine, the wizard chose to copy my settings for Microsoft Office 2003. However, I’ll never run Microsoft Office 2003 under Windows Vista — I’ll upgrade to Office 2007. Similarly, my settings for QuickTime would be transferred. Funny, I didn’t know I had any settings for QuickTime. Likewise, Windows Media Player — should I be concerned that on XP, I have Media Player 9 and under Windows Vista it will be Media Player 11? I don’t know. I also don’t know what’s included in “miscellaneous locations.” If you are going to use the wizard, I still think you need a full backup. I also recommend you use the advanced options and carefully review what will be copied. I’d be tempted to uncheck anything that isn’t simply data. I’d also uncheck data from default shared folders I don’t use (you might be using yours) and other users. I whittled the information the wizard wanted to copy down from 191 GB to 37 GB. The main mistake the wizard was making in this case was to copy all the data from my external hard drives; however, that data doesn’t need to be copied, which is precisely why it’s on external hard drives. In short, mixed messages or no, the Windows Easy Transfer wizard may be the perfect tool for you. I’ll just move my external data hard drive to a new computer and install applications as needed.
Note Microsoft will release the Windows Easy Transfer Companion in early 2007. This tool is different from the wizard we just examined. The claim is that the Companion will also transfer applications. (The wizard does not.) The Companion also has an optional cable for transfers. (Presumably, the Companion incorporates technology Microsoft acquired with AlohaBob, a transfer utility Microsoft absorbed.)
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Summary This chapter described three main ways to obtain Windows Vista: Preinstalled on a new machine As an upgrade to an existing machine As a clean installation In the next chapter, we’ll look at security features in Windows Vista.
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Security Is Job One Chapter 5
Backup, Restore, and Recovery
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e live in dangerous and uncertain times, and not just in the real world; even our virtual lives are in peril. In the last decade or so, most of us have come to realize that our computers are not just a door to the world, but one through which the world can enter uninvited. So many concepts and terms have pushed their way into our consciousness: viruses, worms, Trojans, malware — plus identity theft, phishing, and more. In this chapter, we won’t delve deeply into the details of these threats, but we will look at the defenses we have (and don’t have). In announcing its plans to replace XP, Microsoft also announced that security was the single most important feature of the new operating system. As you’ll see in this chapter, Microsoft has done better, but there is still more to be done. Like so many other tasks in Windows Vista, many of those pertaining to security have been gathered into one group under Control Panel. You can access security functions through the Control Panel (see Figure 4-1) or the Start menu. Recall that text under each heading is a link directly to that specific function.
57 Figure 4-1: Security functions under the Control Panel
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The Security Center The Security Center exposes the major security tools available (see Figure 4-2).
Figure 4-2: Security essentials are collected in the Security Center.
Each of the four categories — Firewall, Automatic updating, Malware protection, and Other security settings — has a triangle that enables a drop-down menu for more information. Green means these areas of security are adequately covered (at least by Microsoft’s standards; others may disagree). Yellow indicates you should check something. In Figure 4-2, the problem is that no antivirus software can be found by Windows Vista (a problem we’ll address shortly). You don’t want to see red here, as you will if the firewall or automatic updating are off. Don’t ignore red or yellow. You should investigate the reason for the alert as soon as you can.
Note I wonder why the Security Center doesn’t contain all security-related functions. The Security window in the Control Panel links to the Security Center and four options therein, but it also adds links for Parental Controls and BitLocker Drive Encryption (in some versions of Windows Vista). There is a lot of redundancy between these two windows (see Figures 4-1 and 4-2), so it isn’t clear why there isn’t just one Security Center with everything.
Let’s look at each of the areas addressed by the Security Center.
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Windows Firewall A firewall screens or filters network traffic. A firewall can block incoming or outgoing Internet traffic. It can block everything, but, more likely, a firewall should block unknown or suspicious traffic in or out of your system. A firewall can effectively close the door to unwelcome traffic. A firewall can be hardware or software. A hardware firewall is a box between your computer and your Internet connection. A software firewall is a program that runs on your computer and performs the same functions. Many people have a hardware firewall for the added protection it may offer them. As an analogy, airbags in a car keep you safer than seatbelts alone, and side-impact airbags are even better. However, many people drive cars that do not have airbags; we won’t even talk about people who drive without seatbelts. I can emphatically say that at the very least you need a software firewall. I can’t say you do or don’t need a hardware firewall; I’m persuaded by the argument for the extra protection but not enough to shell out money for one. Conversely, if you have a cable or DSL modem, which is really a network router, you have many of the benefits of a dedicated hardware firewall. Internet (and Web) traffic flows in packets of data through figurative channels called ports. The most commonly used ports are typically dedicated to specific functions or services; for example, a Web server typically responds to HTTP requests via port 80. Firewalls monitor ports, blocking or allowing the flow of data based on rules. These rules can be based on a port number, a communication protocol, a specific program, a source, or a destination Ports can be open, closed, or even “stealthed.” An open port is an open door through which any process can pass. A closed port is like a door that says “Do not enter” — some people can’t resist opening such doors. A stealthed port is like a door hidden in a wall — you don’t even know it’s there; you can knock, but you’ll get no response (instead of a more provocative “Go away!”). Microsoft’s earlier XP firewall was belittled by many because it screened only incoming traffic. Although it is true we need to worry first about what comes into our computers from the outside, it is also true that once a system is compromised in some way (i.e., once the computer is infected), outgoing traffic becomes important, too. ET isn’t the only one phoning home — malware does, too. An infected system might send out e-mail surreptitiously, act as a hidden Web server for porn, or function as a “zombie” for other malicious purposes. If your system doesn’t look critically at outbound traffic, you’ll never know what may be sent in the background. One of the first substantive security enhancements in Windows Vista you should consider is the improved firewall, capable of filtering both incoming and outgoing traffic. Let’s take a look at basic and advanced settings for Windows Firewall.
Note We’re getting technical here, primarily to better understand how a firewall works. Most readers will never need the depth of control Windows Firewall provides.
WINDOWS FIREWALL SETTINGS If your firewall isn’t working, you’ll probably get notification in the icon tray in the form of a red shield with an X, and a pop-up message. Whether or not there is a problem, from the Security
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Center, on the left, click Windows Firewall (or press Win+R and then type firewallsettings.exe). Figure 4-3 shows the resulting Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
Figure 4-3: The Windows Firewall
Note Many items in the Control Panel, and elsewhere, feature the Windows logo on a small shield. More than decoration, this symbol indicates that the function it appears next to requires confirmation in order to continue. This User Account Control (UAC) is a cornerstone of Windows Vista security.
The Windows Firewall Settings dialog box has three tabs: General — Here you’ll see whether your firewall is working. If it is off and you have no alternative firewall running, turn the Windows Firewall on. If you do use an alternative firewall, you can turn the Windows Firewall off. Two firewalls are not twice as good. An option under On is to “Block all incoming connections.” When this is checked, even previously allowed incoming communication is blocked (see Exceptions, next). This does not shut down all incoming traffic, but limits incoming traffic to only that which is in response to requests that originate from your computer; unsolicited incoming traffic is stopped. Microsoft recommends you check this setting when connected to a public network — for example, in an airport or coffee shop. If you don’t do this, you still have some protection through network settings, discussed in Chapter 11.
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Exceptions — You’ll see listed programs for which Windows Firewall has rules, most of which were preconfigured when Windows Vista was installed. Before you start checking, unchecking, or adding rules, note the line of text above the list that says, “Windows Firewall is currently using settings for…” This will be followed by the private or public network. By default, there are fewer exceptions on a public network (granting more security) — and those could be blocked by that option on the General tab. With luck, after our initial look at exceptions, you’ll never need this tab. In general, when a program attempts to connect to the Internet, the Windows Firewall (or a substitute firewall) allows or denies that program automatically based on lists of programs that are known to be OK or known to be problems. If the firewall cannot decide whether to allow or block a program, it will ask you what to do. If that happens, look closely at the alert that pops up. Look for a name for the program in question (you may want to research the Web for more information on it). It is always safer to block than allow, though that may limit the functioning of a legitimate program, which might bring you back to this tab. If you do need to manually add a program, use the Add Program button (do it now to see what I’m talking about, even if you just cancel later). The list you see next includes preinstalled Windows Vista programs, not all of which actually connect to the Internet. There is also a Browse button for looking for other programs. This is not a very useful process if you don’t know already which programs need access. Notice on the Add a Program dialog box a button to Change Scope. It is possible to unblock a program within the local area network (LAN) without unblocking it for the Internet. You’ll see even more control options in a moment; for now you can cancel these dialog boxes. Back on the Exceptions tab, note that the Properties button brings up the path to the program and the Change Scope button.
Caution If you do create or modify exception rules yourself, it is generally safer to write rules for a program than a port. Program rules only apply while the program runs; port rules apply while Windows Vista runs.
Advanced — The Advanced tab lists network connections your machine has. You’ll likely see one for Local Area Connection (your wired Ethernet adapter, if you have one) and perhaps another for Wireless Network Connection. Any networks listed here should be checked if you are using Windows Firewall to protect your computer.
WINDOWS FIREWALL WITH ADVANCED SECURITY Windows Vista offers a function that gives you even more control over the rules of Windows Firewall. This function is called “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.” You can find it under Administrative Tools under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance or, more easily, by
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pressing Win+R and typing wf.msc. This Advanced Security management console completely exposes all the details of the rules by which Windows Firewall operates. The console separates inbound and outbound rules; it also provides monitoring of the firewall. Select either the Inbound Rules or the Outbound Rules in the navigation pane on the left. On the far right, click the New Rule link just to get a sense of what’s possible here. As with the Exceptions tab for the more basic settings, you can create rules for programs or ports, but here you can also create custom rules.
Windows Update The joke at the turn of the century is “The whole world is in beta.” That is, whatever program we’re talking about will need corrections and updates. Although Windows Vista has been through years of development and testing, you know it can’t be perfect — you’re going to have to do something to keep it up-to-date. That something is Windows Update. From the beginning of the installation process and into your first boot, Windows Vista wants you to connect to Windows Update. Microsoft would prefer that you just let it run the show, which probably is the best choice for most people. The alternative is to examine proposed updates with enough understanding to smartly choose which to accept. Updates can be divided into two categories: critical and other. As the name says, critical updates are very important. They are almost always security-related patches. Every day, thousands of people hammer away at every line of Windows code looking for vulnerabilities. Some of these people wear white hats (testing the system for good, not evil) and others wear black hats. Once a vulnerability is uncovered, Microsoft attempts to patch that bit of code to remove the opening. The longer your system goes unpatched, the longer you are at risk. The other optional updates may be fixes or enhancements to Windows’ included software, or new drivers for hardware. These updates may improve the system, but they are not considered critical to its safety or functioning.
Tip I don’t want to establish in anyone’s mind the association of disaster and Windows Update. I’ve used Windows Update countless times on many systems under several versions of Windows and haven’t had any problems — knock on wood. Nevertheless, for any potentially major change to the system, one or more backups is a good thing to have. For details, see Chapter 5.
AUTOMATIC UPDATES It may be easiest to let Windows Vista take care of updates completely automatically. Windows Vista will check for critical updates, download those updates, and install them for you. You can have the Automatic Updates process prompt you before any of those steps. The actual Windows Update tool isn’t under the Windows Security Center, which links to it. You can find Windows Update under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Security ➝ Windows Update (see Figure 4-4).
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Figure 4-4: Here, Windows Update reports that everything is current.
Table 4-1 describes the links on the left of the Windows Update window.
Table 4-1: Windows Update Options
Task
Description
Check for updates
By default, this option checks for updates automatically.
Change settings
There are three variations on automatic updates. The first is to let Windows Vista do it all. If you choose that, pick a time of day when you expect the computer to be on (I use 12 p.m.); the second variation is to download the update but let you choose when to run it; and the third is to let you know there are updates that need to be downloaded and installed. The first choice is likely suitable for most users. Every day may be a bit much, but Windows Vista is new and likely to see a lot of updates. You should check for updates no less than every week. This screen also has checkboxes to expand the process to include recommended updates (instead of just those that are critical) and other products (such as Microsoft Office). Be aware that device drivers and other optional updates do not download automatically, so you should check Windows Update manually from time to time, even if you have automatic updates enabled.
Continued
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Table 4-1: Windows Update Options (Continued)
Task
Description
View update history
As you’d expect, this option shows what’s been updated, when, and whether it succeeded. Right-click over any update for links to extra information about that update.
Restore hidden updates
Updates can be hidden. For example, if you don’t have Microsoft Office, updates to it are irrelevant. This link enables you to see what you’ve hidden and change your mind.
Updates: frequently asked questions
Just what you’d expect.
Learn about Windows Ultimate Extras
This option shouldn’t show if you don’t have Vista Ultimate (see Chapter 2). Microsoft intends to give Ultimate users access to “cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications.” The specifics remain to be seen.
See also (links to): Security Center and Installed Updates
Security Center is just a link to jump to the Security Center described earlier. Installed Updates takes you into Control Panel ➝ Programs ➝ Programs and Features ➝ Installed Updates, where you can uninstall an update, if you dare. This only applies to optional and driver updates, which you would only uninstall if they caused a problem. Most system updates cannot be uninstalled.
The Windows Update Web Site In Windows XP, you can connect to the Windows Update Web site to check on updates and history. Windows Vista is updated solely through the Windows Update function on your computer; you no longer have the option of connecting to the Web site, instead. If you do connect to the Windows Update Web site, it will tell you to use the Control Panel function. The Windows Update Web site still exists, however, and will be used by older versions of Windows.
Testing Your Firewall How do you know your firewall actually works? You need a tool you can trust to try to crack into your system. Furthermore, because the firewall screens outgoing traffic as well as incoming traffic, you need to test outgoing screening as well. Gibson Research Council has two free, online tools I highly recommend (www.grc.com). You may have to dig through the website to find these (direct links can’t be provided):
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ShieldsUp! — ShieldsUp! is an online test at the website. Notice the information about your Internet connection’s IP (Internet Protocol) address and the associated machine name. If you have a broadband connection, a router, or a hardware firewall, or connect to the Internet through another computer on your network, the machine that is probed in these tests is that machine, not the computer you are sitting at. This means that negative results here are not cause for panic. You can test this by running the following tests twice, once with your firewall disabled — you’ll probably get the same results. I’m not actually suggesting you do that. If you do, don’t forget to turn your firewall back on. Don’t take this to mean you don’t need a firewall on every computer. You do. Among the services listed, start with Common Ports. All the ports on this test and the All Service Ports test should be “Stealth” for most users. Any ports that are not stealthed should get your attention first; check security sites such as www.symantec.com for “known exploits,” that is, malware known to use whatever ports are not stealthed. Unfortunately, Windows Vista, like XP before it, “fails” this test because it responds to ping, a universal Internet function that simply acknowledges that your connection provider — not necessarily your own computer — is there and connected. There is no easy way to block ping with Windows Firewall. LeakTest — Download leaktest.exe and run it; be sure to read the instructions. What you are likely to discover is a weakness in Vista’s Windows Firewall. Although Windows Firewall supports rules for blocking outgoing traffic, it does not interfere with any application that is not blocked by such a rule. Therefore, an unknown program such as LeakTest is allowed to “phone home,” just as more malevolent software may. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a simple way to force Windows Firewall to block programs that don’t have specific rules allowing outbound connections. This means that if malware that isn’t known to the firewall gets through your defenses, then Windows Firewall won’t stop that malware from establishing connections with the outside. If you have good defense otherwise, this isn’t horrendous, but it is at least a little disturbing. See the sidebar “Defense Alternatives.” www.pcflank.com — This site is unrelated to www.grc.com but has some similar port and leak scans, among others. You may also want to test your e-mail program and browser with these tools: http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/ — This site attempts to use known exploits against your browser. During the process, a lot of windows or frames open and you can expect to get various pop-up messages. Don’t be alarmed; wait for the results. www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytest/ — Give this site your e-mail address and they will send you attachments that mimic potential malware (the files are actually harmless; I haven’t received any junk mail from this, as far as I can tell). Anything that gets through to you without alteration or warning reveals a weakness in your defenses (in the firewall, in your AV tools, or in your e-mail program itself).
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Malware Protection Malware has become the umbrella term for software that does something bad. In the early days, this was primarily some variation on a virus, a program that infects your system and runs without your knowledge. More recently, programs have appeared that spy on your actions, sniff your hard drive, or record your keystrokes; this is spyware. All of it is malware. The Windows Security Center divides malware protection into two categories: Virus protection Spyware and other malware protection
Virus Protection (Anti-virus Software) Viruses, worms, Trojans, and so on have two broad operations: deliver the “payload” and spread to other systems. The spreading could occur over an internal network or through e-mail attachments, to name just two of many means. The payload ranges from blowing you a raspberry to scrambling your hard drive. The trick for the virus writer is to avoid detection long enough to spread before delivering the payload. Although many clever people are involved on both sides of this battle, there are also “script kiddies” who do nothing more clever than use the many kits available for assembling malware. Find something constructive to do with your life, troublemakers. The defense against this category of malware is some kind of anti-virus program (often written as AV software — not audiovisual, which went the way of mimeographs). Anti-virus software should stop an infection or detect and remove an infection that didn’t get stopped. You might think this is the job of a firewall, but it is not (though it could be). AV software has to recognize the threat either through a known signature or through some characteristic feature common to such threats (like writing to certain files or areas of disk or memory). As new viruses, etc., are identified, AV companies release new signature files to update their AV programs. If a virus-like threat can be recognized in advance, AV software can stop the threat before it can run, typically by blocking an e-mail attachment, deleting a file, or deflecting an operation such as writing to memory.
Safer Behavior The simplest ways to avoid viruses are to never download anything, never open any e-mail attachment, and never browse websites outside of the mainstream. It might seem simpler to unplug your Internet connection, but, like your mother said, you can be safe and still have fun. These days, it’s madness to connect to the Internet without trusted and updated AV tools. However, the best tools may not protect you from your own actions. Try to observe the following guidelines: Make sure all your security software is running and up-to-date. Don’t trust your friends — OK, that’s harsh, but your friends may have an infected machine. Moreover, some viruses fake the sender’s address, seeming to come from one place when they actually come from another.
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Don’t even look at junk e-mail — Don’t waste your time, don’t risk being seduced, and don’t open yourself to exploits (technical or social). Never open an e-mail attachment or downloaded file without scanning it first — This should happen automatically, but it may not. If you have any doubts, use your virus checker’s option for scanning the downloaded file manually. Trouble can lurk in seemingly legitimate files. That’s the modus operandi of Trojans and Microsoft Word macro viruses. (If you do need to open a .doc file, open it with WordPad, which cannot run macros.) Never click a link in e-mail — E-mail links may not lead where you expect them to, or may lead to an intermediary page. Such a page can, at least, note you followed the link (not the worst offense to your privacy). If you want to follow that link, enter it manually in the browser (but not if it is to www.viagragamblingporn.com). If you use copy and paste, double-check the link in the browser’s address bar before you go to that page. Never forward e-mail to everyone you know — This is how rumors and garbage are spread. Don’t be part of the problem. Obviously, people make exceptions to each of these suggestions from time to time, and even cautious people get burned. Be alert to the risks and the fact that new kinds of risks emerge over time. For example, Apple recently shipped some iPods that had a Windows virus. Partisans can argue over whether the fault is Apple’s or Microsoft’s, but who saw that coming? Who imagined cell phone malware?
If you get an infection, perhaps before you install or update your AV software, then the AV software should also detect that in memory and on the disk and be able to clean it up. However, it is always harder to clean up a mess than prevent one in the first place. In the case of virus-like malware, the problem may be that many areas become “infected” or, if it is in memory, it may elude detection or reinfect immediately following the cleanup. That’s why removal of malware may involve starting in Safe Mode or from a bootable CD or DVD. The very bad news here is that Microsoft still does not provide built-in anti-virus protection, although it has been distributing virus removal programs as a part of its regular updates. Microsoft is often accused of anti-competitive practices for providing too many built-in tools that, some argue, squelch competing products. So here’s a whole security category that had been left open to the competition until Microsoft started offering Windows Live OneCare (see the “Defense Alternatives” sidebar).
Cross Reference You’ll find more on backups, booting, and disaster recovery in Chapter 5.
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Defense Alternatives Clearly, you must obtain a good anti-virus program, especially before you connect to the Internet. The good news is that numerous good tools are available, many of them free. The irony is that you may have to connect to the Internet to get them. If so, then connect quickly, retrieve the AV software, and don’t waste another moment before installing it. You may even want to play it safe by using a machine you know is fully protected to download the AV software to copy to your unprotected computer. There are many good options for AV software, whether free or commercial. The sites that I’ve listed have suites of security tools that may include anti-spyware and a firewall. Some of the following sites have online scanners, which are good as a second opinion. However, everyone should have an up-to-date AV program installed and properly configured. Most of the following tools will replace the tools included with Windows Vista. Note that online scanners will trigger a security alert. You have to allow the scanner to install itself. www.windowsonecare.com — Microsoft’s suite of security tools: firewall, AV, anti-spyware,
plus tune-up software and backup/restore. The annual fee covers installing the software on three PCs. OneCare includes a firewall that blocks unknown programs attempting to connect to the Internet (see Figure 4-5). This is something Windows Firewall fails to do.
Figure 4-5: OneCare blocks unknown programs attempting to access the Internet.
The separate online version is free at http://safety.live.com. www.symantec.com — Symantec deserves praise for all the free tools and information the company makes available on its website, including free tools for removing specific viruses. You don’t have to be a customer of Symantec to download tools for removing infections.
An online scanner is available at http://security.symantec.com.
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www.avast.com — Avast has a free AV program, as well as a commercial version. I have used it for years. Almost every morning I hear it say “Virus database has been updated.”
There is no separate online scanner. The website does have a free virus removal tool. www.grisoft.com — Grisoft makes AVG Anti-Malware, a very popular commercial AV tool
(with a free trial version). www.pandasoftware.com — Panda Software has a security suite, free trials, and an online scanner (www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/). www.trendsecure.com — TrendMicro has another security suite, a free trial, and an online scanner (http://housecall.trendmicro.com). www.f-secure.com — F-Secure has a suite, free trials, and an online scanner (http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml).
Note that the European Union put pressure on Microsoft to open Windows Vista in a way that would allow AV companies to support Vista as they have earlier versions of Windows. The irony is that Microsoft’s new security measures limited the function of other AV tools, so in effect Microsoft had to loosen some security to open Windows Vista to security from other sources. Let’s hope hackers aren’t also the beneficiaries. Testing your AV is a little trickier, unless you have a CD full of viruses, like I’ve collected over the years. Online AV tests can be found at www.eicar.com; download the variations on the eicar.com file, which is a harmless file designed to look like a virus and should be blocked by your AV software. Microsoft OneCare blocked the simple forms of eicar.com but allowed me to download the Zip versions. However, OneCare stopped me from extracting the test file from the Zip files.
Tip A critical requirement of all anti-malware programs is that they be kept current. You also should consider occasionally running an online scanner from an unrelated provider for a second opinion.
Spyware Protection: Windows Defender A second branch of malware is called spyware. As the name suggests, spyware collects data about you. Spyware might sniff your hard drive for data such as social security numbers or credit card numbers. Spyware can scan your address book for e-mail addresses to use for junk e-mail. Most likely, spyware monitors what you do in your browser, spying on what you look at or waiting for you to type in some account information that could be useful. Spyware is different from virus-like malware in that it has its defenders. When a business spies on you, they call it market research. When your employer spies on you, they’re protecting their investments. When the government spies on you, they call it national security or fighting crime. Viruses
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rarely get such support. Spyware, even more so than viruses, is likely to be picked up while browsing the Web because so many people are interested in what interests you. In the early days of fighting spyware, new programs emerged specifically for that purpose. Over time, anti-virus and anti-spyware tools have converged. Most providers of AV software also deal with spyware. Similar issues of detecting, blocking, or removing apply to both anti-virus and anti-spyware software. One difference is that certain programs or websites may not behave as expected if their spyware is removed. Phishing is a twist on “fishing for information.” At it’s simplest, phishing can be as low-tech as someone calling you and asking you for your credit card number or social security number. Most people know better than to respond to that, but the updated version involves e-mail that asks for the same thing or instructs you to click a link and enter some information on a Web page in order to capture it. Phishing depends more on deception and your cooperation to some extent than other technical exploits.
Tip See PC Magazine Fighting Spyware, Viruses, and Malware by Ed Tittel (Wiley, 2004) for thorough coverage of the whole range of malware topics.
In dealing with spyware threats, Microsoft provides two lines of defense. One of these includes security enhancements to Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 7 Protected mode — Protected mode puts IE in what some call a sandbox, meaning IE is isolated from Windows Vista so that if you were to inadvertently (or intentionally) download, run, or install a malicious program, that program cannot access Windows Vista directly, reducing the possibility of it modifying system files or settings. Of course, you can download anything, run it outside of IE, and ignore all warnings. Anti-phishing filter — The anti-phishing filter involves a blacklist of known phishing sites as well as characteristics such sites share (particularly, tricky URLs that seem to lead one way but actually lead somewhere else). If you do head toward a known or suspected phishing site, you’ll get a warning page first.
Cross Reference We’ll examine Internet Explorer more fully in Chapter 12.
The other defensive measure against spyware is the inclusion of Windows Defender, an anti-spyware tool that blocks and removes spyware it recognizes. Normally, Windows Defender starts when Windows Vista starts, in which case it also automatically downloads updates and scans for spyware as you go about your business (the same process AV software follows). You do not have to do anything once you accept the default security settings, which you were asked to do when you installed Windows Vista.
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Nonetheless, as with an AV program, it is important to configure Windows Defender properly and keep it updated. Let’s look more closely at the steps involved. You can open Windows Defender with Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Defender or Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Security ➝ Windows Defender. Figure 4-6 shows the Home page of Windows Defender.
Figure 4-6: The Home page reports the status of the most recent scan, if any.
Note If you have installed OneCare or any security suite with anti-spyware tools, Windows Defender will be disabled.
To scan, you can simply click the Scan button near the top of the window to run a Quick scan of the most likely places for spyware (including temporary Internet files). The drop-down menu next to Scan allows for Full, Quick, or Custom scans. The first two are self-explanatory. Custom scan enables you to specify which drives to scan. You might use Custom to scan a newly attached drive. The History button lists programs Windows Defender has responded to and the actions Defender performed. From History, you can follow links to Allowed items and Quarantined items. Although it is unlikely you need to do anything on these screens, you can see what Defender has been doing on your behalf. The Tools button opens the Tools and Settings page, which provides another way to get to Allowed or Quarantined items. The Tools button also has a link to the Windows Defender website and a
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separate link to join Microsoft SpyNet. SpyNet participants share information about malware threats and responses to software that hasn’t been classified as safe or risky. This is one way the spyware database expands. In addition, the Tools page links to the Software Explorer, which enables you to examine processes that are running. With Software Explorer, you can see whether a running program is known to be OK (Permitted) or not yet classified, which does not mean that program is a threat, just unclassified as permitted. Finally, the Tools page includes a link to change Windows Defender options (see Figure 4-7).
Figure 4-7: Windows Defender has options for automatic scanning, default actions, real-time protection, and more.
You’ll notice that by default, Windows Defender is scheduled to perform a Quick scan daily at 2:00 A.M. If your computer isn’t on at 2:00 A.M, the task of scanning should automatically run the next time you start up. However, the scan does not smartly reschedule. You may be tempted to use the option to run it one specified day a week; expect Windows Defender to complain before the week is over that a scan hasn’t been run in a long time. I recommend you schedule a daily Quick scan to run during lunch. In addition, check the option to “Check for updated definitions before scanning” (if you have an Internet connection that is always on). These definitions, like AV signatures, identify known spyware. Because new malware is discovered daily,
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definitions and signatures need to be updated as often. Scanning with outdated definitions or signatures may result in your software overlooking the latest threats. The other options on this page can be left at the defaults (most are checked).
File Encryption When a file is encrypted, it is mathematically altered so that anyone accessing the file without a code key will not be able to understand its contents (at least not easily). Files, folders, and entire disks can be encrypted through various techniques. Before you encrypt a file, consider two things. First, if you lose the code key, you are locked out. Second, encryption can sometimes be cracked with the right resources or if someone else obtains the code key (from your sticky note on the monitor or through spyware). In other words, encryption might be more or less secure than you expect. Windows Vista provides several tools for encryption. Before we examine the details, consider two broad categories of encryption. In one technique, when we access the encrypted data, we are prompted for a password. In the other, logging in to the system gives you access to encrypted data. The latter is more “transparent” but less familiar to most of us.
Caution If you lose the key to an encrypted file, folder, or disk, you may never get into your data again. From a security standpoint, it may be undesirable to have an unencrypted backup, but as insurance it may be wise, at least as you experiment with new techniques.
Compressed Folders Files can be compressed — their size literally reduced — through various mathematically based techniques. One of the oldest methods was developed by Phil Katz, who created PKZip. Zip files have become a standard method of compression. You may want to compress files before you send them as e-mail attachments, particularly if you are sending more than one file, because the Zip file is not only smaller but acts as a single container file for as many individual files as you want. Those compressed files can later be expanded to their original size. One of the reasons this is relevant to a chapter on security is that Zip files can be used to try to smuggle malware past your defenses. Some AV programs don’t scan Zip files, at least not by default, though most should scan the files after they are extracted and before you can open the malware. Check your software’s settings. The other relevance to security is that Zip files can be encrypted and secured with a password. Unfortunately, Windows Vista doesn’t provide this function. You’ll need a third-party tool such as WinZip (www.winzip.com) to add a password. If you try to open a password-protected compressed folder with Windows Vista, it will prompt you for the password, as it should, so someone receiving a protected file won’t need a third-party tool to open it.
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Windows Vista lets you compress files and folders in one of two ways: Create an empty compressed folder — Right-click over an empty spot on the desktop or in any folder. On the context menu, click New ➝ Compressed (zipped) Folder. Type a new name for the compressed folder (this folder is empty). You can drag any files or folders and drop them onto this folder or open it and drag files in or out. Create a compressed folder containing selected files or folders — Select any files or folders, and then right-click over one of the selected objects and click Send To ➝ Compressed (zipped) Folder. This folder will have the name of the selected object (you can rename it). You don’t have to expand files in order to access them. Just double-click a compressed folder to open it. However, if you want to open those files, especially an executable, you should expand them. Look for the Expand All files button in the toolbar or on the context menu (you can also simply drag files into and out of compressed folders).
Encrypting File System The Encrypting File System (EFS) enables you to encrypt files or folders. When you are logged in, these files will be accessible without any further password prompting. If anyone logs in to your computer with a different user name, they will not be able to access these files. The decrypting is automatic, based on user ID. To encrypt a file or folder, perform the following steps: 1. Right-click over the object and choose Properties. 2. At the bottom of the General tab, click the Advanced button. 3. At the bottom of the Advanced Attributes dialog box, check “Encrypt contents to secure data” (see Figure 4-8).
Figure 4-8: Use the Advanced Attributes dialog box to set advanced properties for selected files or folders.
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4. If you have selected a file that is in an unencrypted folder, you will be prompted whether to encrypt just the file or the entire folder, which Windows Vista recommends. (I have no opinion.) 5. With default folder options, your encrypted files or folders appear in green.
Caution If you are unable to log in to the same computer using the same account (as would happen if you reinstall Windows Vista), you won’t be able to access your own files. It is critical that you back up your key or certificate for the EFS. Right-click and choose Properties for any encrypted object. On the General tab, click the Advanced button. Next to the Encrypt option, click the Details button. In the User Access dialog box, select your ID and click the Back Up Keys button. This starts the Certificate Export Wizard. Click Next. Check available options to include all information, and then click Next. Enter a password for the resulting certificate file and click Next. Enter a filename and choose a location; then click Next and Finish. Move the file to a secure location on another drive or removable media. If you need the key, copy it to the hard drive and open the file to start the Certificate Import Wizard.
BITLOCKER DRIVE ENCRYPTION You may be wondering whether you can secure an entire disk or partition, beyond the normal security associated with logging in with a password. A very specific concern involves the theft of a computer hard drive or laptop, an event that has been in the news more than a few times. What happens, normally, if someone attaches a drive to another system, especially another operating system? Will they be able to access your files? Microsoft’s response to this scenario is BitLocker Drive Encryption, which is different from the Encrypting File System in several ways. Whereas EFS is used with files or folders, usually just those requiring the extra security, BitLocker encrypts the entire hard drive or a single partition on the drive. If someone attempts to access this drive by connecting it to another system, they will find the contents unusable. BitLocker should be considered along with other security measures, including strong passwords and biometrics (such as fingerprint scanners). Laptop users, in particular, should consider BitLocker if the contents of their computers warrant extreme security. Unfortunately, you can’t simply enable BitLocker; it requires additional setup. Read through all of the following steps before beginning the process yourself: 1. Run BitLocker Drive Encryption — Use Start ➝ Security ➝ BitLocker Drive Encryption (BL from this point on). BL is not included with Home Basic or Home Premium (most readers do not need this function). Figure 4-9 shows two problems. BL requires two partitions: the system partition and a smaller partition just for BL (no less than 1.5 GB). Don’t you wish we’d considered this in Chapter 3, in the discussion on installing Windows Vista? We’ll fix this in a moment.
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup The other problem refers to TPM, or Trusted Platform Module, a special security chip that most older machines will not have (I don’t believe it can be added later). The TPM acts as a unique identifier for your system. BitLocker uses the TPM to recognize when something has changed (such as someone stealing your drive and hooking it up to another machine). Although I’ve read documentation that says BitLocker will work on systems without TPM, it did not on the systems I tested. This may be the deal breaker. I can’t recommend you continue, though if you do you may be successful. Follow any help links you want and then close BitLocker.
Figure 4-9: Problems encountered while setting up BitLocker
2. Repartition your hard drive — Be certain you have a recent and restorable backup. Use the Disk Management link under “See also” on the BL screen or press Win+R and type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Look at Disk 0, which is more than likely also C:. Is there any unallocated space on Disk 0? (Probably not). Right-click over C: and choose Shrink Volume. For BitLocker, you need to shrink C: by 1,500 MB. 3. Format the new unallocated space — Right-click over the unallocated space and choose New Simple Volume to run the New Simple Volume Wizard. Specify the volume size (the default is fine). You can assign any drive letter (you’re never going to use this drive — BL is). Format as NTFS; don’t use quick format or compression.
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4. Set the new volume as Active — Right-click over the formatted volume and choose Set as Active. Normally, the active partition has an operating system on it. This one doesn’t (yet), so you may get a warning you should ignore for the time being. (Keep this warning in mind if later steps fail, in which case you won’t want this to be the active partition.) 5. Run BitLocker again — Look for the option to turn on BL on the operating system drive. You cannot continue without this option. You may be prompted to initialize the TPM hardware. If you are still unable to turn BL on, your system may not be capable of using BL. If this is the case, return to diskmgmt.msc and make C: the active partition before you restart. If you do not, you may not be able to restart Windows Vista. If you are abandoning BL at this time, you can also delete the partition you created and expand the primary partition. As BitLocker initializes, you’ll be prompted to save a recovery password to USB (as well as a print option). This password is critical to recovering your system if BitLocker locks you out. Keep the password file safe. Select the option to “Run BitLocker System Check” and click the button to restart. 6. The system restarts and BitLocker runs a final check — If this fails, your system doesn’t support BL encryption. You may need to boot from the Windows Vista DVD to recover (see the next chapter). If your system passes the test, encryption will begin.
Note If someone can log in as you or has the key, they have access to your files. Many third-party tools enable you to password-protect a file or folder, in which case, even if someone logs in as you, they still need the password for those specific files or folders. Consider these programs: TrueCrypt — www.truecrypt.com CompuSec — www.ce-infosys.com PGP Whole Disk Encryption — www.pgp.com
Cross Reference For more information on related topics, see Chapter 12, “User Accounts and Family Safety,” and Chapter 13, “Internet Explorer.”
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Summary With Windows Vista, Microsoft has attempted to address the public’s concern with security. Windows Firewall offers some improvements over XP’s version (especially if you’re willing to craft your own rules). Windows Defender has been added to keep out spyware. Windows Update will keep things current, and the Security Center gives you one place to check on all of these areas. On the downside, Vista still has no anti-virus software included, so you’ll have to install your own. In the process, you may end up with a suite of programs to replace those included with Windows Vista, perhaps Microsoft OneCare. In the next chapter, we’ll look at another vital set of tasks for protecting your system: backing up and restoring data.
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very computer user has had that “uh-oh” moment. Most often it comes when a program freezes up or the whole system stops working for no apparent reason. It may be something completely beyond our control — sunspots, gremlins, a power outage, or bad programming. Sometimes, we’re somewhat to blame, idly deleting a file or replacing one file with another or forgetting to save changes. Of course, programs and Windows have been trying to protect us from ourselves for a long time with automatic saves and automatic backups of various kinds. Even the humble Recycle Bin is simply a second chance. This chapter looks at features that are meant to help us recover from all manner of mistakes and accidents, keeping in mind that now and then we’re simply out of luck. Windows Vista provides layers of backups. As before, there is the simple Recycle Bin, from which you can restore deleted files through the context menu or simply by dragging and dropping (until you empty the Recycle Bin). Other processes, both automatic and manual, deserve a closer look. Before going any further, let’s look at the two main strategies for backups: backing up absolutely everything (full) or being more selective (partial). Full backups increase the odds that you can recover anything. However, they take the most time and require the most space on the backup media. Partial backups may take less time and space, unless you consider the time you spend deciding what to back up (or grieving the stuff you didn’t think of). You see where I’m headed — I want both. Consider periodically backing up everything (say, monthly) and more frequently backing up selectively (say, files within documents or files that have changed since the last backup). The new and improved backup tools support both strategies.
Full versus Partial Backups As I’ve suggested, every Windows user should probably perform at least one full backup in his or her life. Done only once, this is called a fool backup — what good does a backup from last year do you? Windows Vista has a new tool called Complete PC Backup for creating a disk image, a file that contains every byte from a selected disk — a type of full backup. This is in contrast to the Back Up Files Wizard that primarily backs up files by type (e-mail, music, etc.) — a partial backup that skips configuration files and other files you could regret losing, such as custom dictionaries or address books.
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I think you should use both tools at least once. However, to choose only one to use on a regular basis, consider what you are willing to do when things are so screwed up you don’t have any other choices. What happens if you lose a file that wasn’t backed up in the partial backup? What if you lose everything?
The Backup and Restore Center Windows has long had a mediocre built-in backup program (ntbackup.exe). Unfortunately, it wasn’t always installed and it was often ignored. As with many other things in Windows Vista, a new center for backing up and restoring files exposes most of the mechanisms for disaster preparation and recovery. It is your new best friend. Find the Backup and Restore Center, shown in Figure 5-1, by selecting Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance or through Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Maintenance.
Figure 5-1: The Backup and Restore Center
Notice that the buttons “Back up files” and “Back up computer,” as well as the three links in the Tasks pane, all have the shield icon that indicates you will receive the UAC (User Account Control) prompt when you run them. I wonder why the two restore buttons do not.
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Backing Up with Complete PC Backup We’ll work first with Complete PC Backup, which, as the name implies, performs a complete backup: 1. Click the “Back up computer” button. Complete PC Backup will look for backup devices and offer you two main options (see Figure 5-2). Where do you want to save the backup? On a hard disk — This option is only available if you have a separate physical hard drive (internal or external). If you have a separate partition on the same drive as the system (C:), you cannot back up to that partition. In fact, all partitions on the same drive as the system will be included in this backup — it’s that complete. If you have additional separate hard drives or multiple partitions on a separate hard drive, you’ll have a choice among them in the drop-down list.
Note Network drives are not available for backing up to or restoring from with Complete PC Backup.
On one or more DVDs
Figure 5-2: Choose a backup location (destination).
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Tip If you choose to use DVDs, you will need a few — perhaps four to back up 20 GB — and you’ll have to be around to swap disks repeatedly. External hard drives that connect to USB 2 or FireWire are very convenient for backups and will allow you to store multiple backups, if you have the space.
Note to Microsoft: It would be nice if this screen listed the available space on potential backup media. You are not asked what folder to put the backup into or what to call it. Complete PC Backup will create a folder called WindowsImageBackup in the root, or top level, of the selected drive. 2. Which disks do you want to include in the backup? You will not see this screen if you only have one physical hard drive. Instead, you’ll go straight to the next step. Complete PC Backup insists on backing up the entire primary drive (including multiple partitions of that drive, if any). In Figure 5-3, you’ll notice that Complete PC Backup will back up both my Windows Vista drive (V:) and my XP drive (C:) because they are partitions of one drive. I cannot deselect either partition of the primary drive, although I can include an attached external disk in the backup. This screen, which you won’t see if you don’t have two or more physical drives, does display the space required for the backup and the space free on the drive you are backing up to.
Figure 5-3: Both partitions on the primary drive must be backed up.
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3. Confirm your backup settings. This screen shows the location for the backup and estimates the disk space the backup could take, but not how much free space is on the drive you are backing up to (see Figure 5-4). It also shows the disk(s) being backed up. If you want to change anything, use the little blue Back button in the upper-left corner. If you are ready to start, click the Start Backup button.
Figure 5-4: Start the backup.
4. Windows is saving the backup. A dialog box appears displaying a progress bar of how much is done and how much remains. This box does not have a minimize button, though it does have a Stop Backup button you aren’t likely to use. You can switch to other processes, but most people recommend letting backup run exclusively. Why raise questions like “What happens if I change a file during backup?” (Answer: The backup contains the file before the changes.) 5. The backup completed successfully. Close this dialog box. Ordinarily, when this is done, you go on about your business, but let’s look at what you’ve created and then restore from this backup. Open Windows Explorer (Win+E). In the Navigation pane, under Folders, choose Computer ➝ (your backup drive) ➝ WindowsImageBackup ➝ (computer name) ➝ Backup (date). The information in parentheses varies from one computer to another. The files in this folder have odd names (either random or registry-related); most are XML files. There is one big file of a type “Virtual Machine Hard Drive Image (.vhd), which contains the bulk of the backup.
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This .vhd is something of an “up and coming” file format, which Microsoft recently made freely available for other companies to use. See the Appendix, for more information about the role of .vhd in the frontier technology of virtualization (creating virtual computers inside real ones). As a part of virtualization, a .vhd file can be mounted as a virtual hard drive. It is only a matter of time before someone develops a program that enables you to use this backup file for selective restoring. As it stands now, restoring is a major operation.
Caution Most people don’t back things up. Those who do back up religiously have almost always suffered great loss in their past. Don’t wait for the harshest of lessons. It is also important to practice restoring data because you don’t want to have to figure out how in a real emergency.
Restoring from Complete PC Backup Just as Complete PC Backup backs up everything at once, it also restores everything at once. This makes it useful for recovering from an utter disaster, but it also limits its utility in more subtle situations. If you can’t boot or Windows Vista is wiped out, Complete PC Backup will get you back to where you were when you backed up (hopefully, more recently than last year). But what if just a few key files are gone or corrupted? You still have to restore the full image. Before you proceed to restore the entire disk, think about what may have changed since the full backup was made. If you used Complete PC Backup last month, a month’s worth of changes are not on that backup. Those changes will be lost unless you back them up separately. Make sure you have a backup of those most critical changes, perhaps using the tool described in the next section. If you do decide to restore from a Complete PC Backup backup, click the Restore Computer button in the Backup and Restore Center. This displays the instructions you need to follow to restore from a Complete PC Backup backup. You can’t actually restore from within the current session of Windows Vista. Instead, you reboot (from your hard drive if you can or the Windows Vista installation disk) and run it from there. The entire drive will be wiped clean and the backup restored. Did I mention things might have changed since that complete backup? Be sure to read my dual-boot warning later in this chapter. The instructions displayed when you click the Restore Computer button in the Backup and Restore Center warn you that this process will reformat your hard drives, erase data and programs, and restore your system to its condition at the time of the complete backup. The instructions further inform you that you have to run Windows Complete PC Restore from the System Recovery Options menu during booting. Follow the link to “What are the steps I need to take to restore my computer?” On that linked help page, I suggest you click the “Show all” link and print those instructions (“Restore your computer from a system image backup”). You won’t have access to this information during restoring (when you most need it). Before you proceed with the Complete PC Restore, read the rest of this chapter to consider other options. The steps involved in a complete restore are detailed under “Giving Problems the Boot.”
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Tip I’ll repeat this in more than one place in the book because it’s so important: Keep your data on a separate disk from the system and software. Not just a separate partition — recall that Complete PC Backup backs up all partitions on the primary disk. With separate system and data disks, you still have work to back up and restore — maybe even more work — but if your PC crashes without trashing the external data drive, you can plug it in anywhere and pick up. This does not obviate backing up your data regularly — on yet another external drive. Redundancy, redundancy!
Backing Up with the Back Up Files Wizard A separate option under Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Backup and Restore Center is a tool known as the Back Up Files Wizard. Whereas Complete PC Backup is complete, the Back Up Files function is more selective and focused on data. How the wizard starts depends on whether it has ever run before. The first time through, you configure this function. Subsequently, it runs without interaction. For the sake of these steps, I’ll assume this process hasn’t run before on your computer. You’ll see shortly what you do if it has run before. 1. Click the Back Up Files button in the Backup and Restore Center. If this process has run before, the program simply starts minimized using established settings. If this process has not run before, the wizard looks a bit like the one for Complete PC Backup, with some interesting differences. 2. Where do you want to save your backup? This screen (see Figure 5-5) is a little different from the comparable screen in Complete PC Backup (refer to Figure 5-2). Here, destination hard disks and CD/DVD drives are in one option, and the destination disks display the free space. This makes one wonder why this isn’t so on Complete PC. As with Complete PC, an external hard disk may be your fastest and easiest option. Conversely, this backup is more likely to fit on one DVD than Complete PC. We won’t know until later in the process. You also have the option of using a network drive, something Complete PC doesn’t allow. This could be especially useful if you want to back up every machine on a network to one hard disk. 3. Which disks do you want to include in the backup? If you only have one partition, you won’t see this screen. In Figure 5-6, the drives to back up are handled differently. Here, the Vista drive must be included. The other partition on that same disk (C:) and the external data drive (D:) are selected but either can be deselected. There must be a good reason for these interface differences, if only because the underlying programs were created by different teams of programmers. Still, such differences sometimes seem arbitrary and even unfriendly.
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Figure 5-5: Back Up Files looks a lot like Complete PC, but its options and defaults are different.
I’ll go further here and say I am bothered by the insistence of including the system drive (in my case, V: Vista — normally C:) in the backup. I would like to use this function to back up just my data, as I can with the analogous program in XP. I understand Microsoft assumes I have data on my system drive. Perhaps Windows Vista has data that must be backed up.
Figure 5-6: Select a disk, but you must include the system disk.
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4. Which file types do you want to back up? This screen specifies the types of files to back up (see Figure 5-7). In Windows Vista, you cannot specify folders to include or exclude, only types of files on entire disks. XP’s backup uses locations and allows files to be excluded by type. I don’t mean to undermine your confidence in the Windows Vista function with this comparison.
Figure 5-7: Files are backed up by type, not location.
Categorizing files by type, instead of location, makes backups seem easier but more mysterious. Are we really backing up all data files? The linked help page indicates the various system files that are not backed up, but what about a file type that Windows Vista doesn’t recognize? There is a checkbox for “Additional files,” which includes “any files that do not fit the other categories.” From anywhere on the disk? That’s quite a catchall. 5. How often do you want to create a backup? This screen, shown in Figure 5-8, has three options: How often — Your options are daily, weekly, or monthly. Monthly simply isn’t often enough. If you are backing up to a hard drive or network drive, take advantage of the daily option. What day — If you chose daily, this option isn’t available. If you chose weekly, you have seven predictable options. If you chose monthly, you have 32 options. Yes, 32. The 32nd is “Last day,” which makes sense but leaves me thinking that if, instead, you choose 31, then your backup will only run seven times a year (and never in February). What time — Options are on the hour from midnight to 11:00 P.M. If you choose an hour when the computer is off, backup will run automatically the next time you start.
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup Make your choices and click the button to “Save settings and start backup” now. There is no “just this one time” option, which is one way to force people to back up regularly.
Figure 5-8: You are effectively forced to schedule future backups (for editions other than Home Basic).
Note The Home Basic edition does not allow you to schedule backups. However, it will automatically remind you to run a backup manually.
The next screen tracks the progress of the backup. It includes a Stop Backup button you may never need. Notice there is no minimize button. However, the Close button isn’t really a close; it minimizes the backup window. You’ll get a notification tray pop-up when the backup is complete. The backup begins by creating a “shadow copy” (very quickly). This enables you to continue to use the system while the backup runs in the background. Again, as with Complete PC, changes made to files after the backup begins will not be backed up this time. The backup proceeds to scan the selected disks for the selected file types. This is not the backup, but the creation of a list of files to back up. The screen will eventually indicate that Vista is copying files to the backup drive. In one test, this process took about 20 minutes. (This number is for the roughest comparison. I don’t own a stopwatch or an hourglass.) We can’t fairly compare this to Complete PC, because that one copies everything and this one copies less than everything. Still, setting up this process to run automatically every lunch hour would be pretty painless.
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THE NEXT TIME YOU BACK UP When you run Complete PC a second time or more, the process is very similar to the first time. Conversely, when you run the Back Up Files subsequently, there is no wizard; it just runs in the background, remembering all your previous settings. If you need to change those settings, use the “Change settings” link. See the section “Backup Status and Configuration” later in this chapter.
Restoring from the Back Up Files Wizard You can restore from a backup created by the Back Up Files Wizard through the Backup and Restore Center using the Restore Files button. We’ll look at the Advanced restore function after this. 1. What do you want to restore? Files from the latest backup — If you choose the latest, you’ll go straight to step 2. Files from an older backup — If you choose older backup, the next screen will list available backups (including the latest) and you can select any. From this screen, Next will take you to step 2. Note the links under Other options to use System Restore and the Recycle Bin. 2. Select the files and folders to restore. Use the Add Files button (for individual files) or the Add Folders button (for entire folders). There is also a Search button. Make your selections (see Figure 5-9) and then click Next.
Figure 5-9: Which files or folders do you want to restore?
It seems odd to me that when backing up files, you can only specify disks and file types, not specific files or folders, but when restoring files, you can select files directly. Granted, selectivity makes restoring more useful. It just seems asymmetrical. You can back up all
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup files of a given type (say, pictures) regardless of location, but you can’t restore all files of a given type, except by location. 3. Where do you want to save the restored files? In the original location — This option puts things back where they came from. Folders will be created as needed. In the following location — If you choose this option, specify a location for the restored files (see Figure 5-10). This option enables you to restore the files to a new location. This can be especially useful if are not sure which of two files is the one you want: a file in a given location or the backup you made of that file. Restore the backup to a new location so you can compare the two. If you choose this option, you have two other options. If you leave “Restore the files to their original subfolders” unchecked, all the restored files will be placed in a single folder, not in subfolders. Check it if you want the original subfolders created under your new location. If you check “Create a subfolder for the drive letter,” a folder with the drive letter (C, D, or whatever) will be created under the new location. You probably don’t need this option if you check the previous one — it just adds one more subfolder to the path. In Figure 5-10, note the Restored File under Example.
Figure 5-10: Where do you want the restored files to go?
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4. Click the Start Restore button. In the process of restoring, if you are overwriting existing files, you will be prompted regarding how to handle that (see Figure 5-11).
Figure 5-11: A new option is available when one file might replace another.
Note The way Windows Vista handles any operation that could replace one file with another (here, in restore, but also in copy or move) is new and improved. The dialog box in Figure 5-11 is a bit more explicit than the comparable one in XP. The first option, Copy and Replace, replaces the existing file with the incoming one. The second option, Don’t copy, does not, leaving the existing file untouched. The third option — Copy, but keep both files — is new and very useful. With this latter option, the original file is untouched, and the second file is also placed in the folder with a modification to its name, such as filename (2).jpg. This is one of the easily overlooked but very useful changes in Windows Vista. A checkbox at the bottom left of this dialog box enables you to specify that the option you choose this time applies to any similar conflicts in the current process. When in doubt, don’t check it; deal with files one at a time, unless you have dozens of these files.
5. Successfully restored files. When restore is done, the dialog box confirms the restore is complete. Click the Finish button.
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Backup Status and Configuration Though the Backup and Restore Center gives you all the tools you need, there is a separate function called Backup Status and Configuration (see Figure 5-12). This screen looks very different from the Center but has much of the same functionality (press Win+R and then type sdclt.exe). You can find both the Backup and Restore Center and Backup and Restore Configuration on the Start menu at once by typing backup in the Start search box.
Figure 5-12: Backup Status and Configuration
Use the three big buttons on the left to see all the functions described below. Back Up Files — You also get this option if you click the Change Settings link in the Backup and Restore Center. The screen indicates whether automatic file backup is turned on and the status of the backup (latest date and next date). There is a button to Back Up Now and another to Change Backup Settings. In addition, there is a button to turn off (or on) automatic file backup. (Recall that Home Basic doesn’t have that option.) Restore Files — You also get this option if you click the Advanced Restore link in the Backup and Restore Center. There are two options here: Advanced restore — This is nearly identical to the function you run with the Restore Files button in the Backup and Restore Center except it includes one more option: “Files from a backup made on a different computer.” This option can be used to transfer
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files from one computer to another through backup and restore. Because these files belong to a different user account (even if it is your account on another machine), you’ll see a message suggesting you create that account and start over. Instead, uncheck “Restore the files without reassigning security permissions.” Restore files — This is the same function without the option to restore files backed up from a different computer. Complete PC Backup — This screen shows the status of Complete PC Backup (date and location) and provides a button to “Create a backup now” — exactly like the Backup Computer button on the Backup and Restore Center. In the final analysis, the Backup and Restore Center and the Backup Status and Configuration screen are interrelated. The Center provides more information and links on one screen, but most of the functionality is also on the Configuration screen. Together, they must be twice as good.
Restoring Previous Versions There are other options for dealing with files lost accidentally or through IO errors (“incompetent operator,” not you or me, of course). Right-click over any file or folder and look for a new option on the context menu that says “Restore previous versions.” That option takes you to a new tab on the Properties dialog box for the selected file or folder. (You could also choose Properties from the context menu and then click the Previous Versions tab.) Figure 5-13 shows an example.
Figure 5-13: Restore files from the Previous Versions tab.
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If any previous versions of the selected file or folder exist, you will see one or more listed here, with the newest at the top of the list (which is sortable). Files are listed here either because they were backed up with the Back Up Files wizard or because the system automatically created what are called shadow copies, which are part of the creation of a system restore point (described in the next section).
Note This Previous Versions function is not a part of Home Basic or Home Premium editions.
System Restore System Restore, which has been a part of a few versions of Windows, allows Windows to create backup copies of critical files automatically (this is called a restore point). System Restore does this after a successful startup and just before running any software installation or system update. If you encounter problems later, you can use System Restore to restore those critical files; if there is more than one restore point, you are able to select a specific date to roll back to. One problem with System Restore is that it only backs up some system files, unless you customize it. Sometimes, a restore does not quite put you back to where you were before the problem.
Tip If a problem is clearly associated with the installation of a new program, uninstall that program first to see whether that fixes things, before resorting to System Restore.
In Windows Vista, you’ll find links to System Restore in the Backup and Restore Center under the Tasks on the left: Repair Windows using System Restore — This leads to an option to restore a restore point (or to create one). Create a restore point of change settings — This leads to an option to create a new restore point manually (or to restore one). System Restore has suffered an odd makeover. The old interface wasn’t bad, with straightforward options to create or use a restore point.
Restoring a System Restore Point If Windows Vista begins to misbehave after you install a new program, device driver, or system update, and uninstalling that isn’t possible or doesn’t fix the problem, you should consider restoring the system to an earlier restore point.
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Let’s start from the Backup and Restore Center, using the link to “Repair Windows using System Restore.” 1. On the Restore system files and settings screen, click the Next button (see Figure 5-14).
Figure 5-14: System Restore
2. Choose a restore point. This screen, shown in Figure 5-15, lists available restore points, with the most recent at the top of the list (you can click on the column headings to resort). More than likely, you want the most recent restore point unless you know the problem predates it. Restoring an ancient restore point may leave you in worse shape. Pick a restore point and click the Next button.
Figure 5-15: Choose a restore point.
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup 3. Confirm your restore point. Double-check your selection, using the Back button as necessary. 4. Click Finish.
From this point, System Restore runs automatically. It restores the system files copied as a part of the selected restore point. The system restarts. When you log in, System Restore indicates that the restoring is complete. If this hasn’t fixed the situation, you can run System Restore again to use an earlier restore point or the one that was created as a part of restoring (undoing the original restore).
Tip There are more ways to start System Restore: Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ System Tools. That may seem absurd to mention, but remember the search function on the Start menu. On the Start menu, type rest… and System Restore will appear, among other choices. If you prefer using the keyboard, you can press Win+R and then type rstrui.exe. System Restore can also be run in Safe mode and Recovery mode (see “Giving Problems the Boot”).
Creating a System Restore Point Manually Recall that system restore points are created automatically by the system every day and before installing or uninstalling programs. To create a system restore point manually, let’s start from the Backup and Restore Center, using the link to “Create a restore point or change settings.” 1. That link opens the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box (see Figure 5-16). Notice under Automatic restore points the dates for most recent restore points. To manually create a restore point, click the Create button near the bottom of the dialog box. Do not click the System Restore button. This isn’t really an improvement over XP’s interface. It’s a step backward in ease of use, in my opinion. 2. Create a restore point. Type a very brief description or name for this restore point. You’ll want to recognize this in a list of restore points. Click the Create button. 3. “Creating a restore point” displays briefly as a restore point is created. 4. You should see the message “The restore point was created successfully.” That’s it. Click OK. If you want to see what you’ve just created, click the System Restore button on the System Properties tab or use any of the steps in the previous section. Your new manual restore point should be listed under “Choose a restore point.”
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Figure 5-16: Creating a restore point isn’t as obvious as restoring one.
Tip System Restore takes up at least 300 MB of disk space and up to 15 percent of disk capacity. Unfortunately, you can’t change the amount of space, but you can turn System Restore off for nonsystem disks (leave it on for your system disk). From the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog (Win+Break, System Protection under Tasks), you’ll see a list of available disks. You can safely uncheck any nonsystem disks (such as an external data disk or backup disk).
Giving Problems the Boot If you have a problem with Windows Vista that you cannot otherwise diagnose or fix with the functions examined so far, you should also be aware of the options available when you boot Windows Vista.
Advanced Boot Options There is a very brief window of opportunity of only a few seconds between the time you turn on or restart the computer and the first Windows Vista screen appears during which you can press the F8 function key for Advanced Boot Options. You should see a text screen with quite a few options, most of which you will never need.
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Believe it or not, you need to practice timing this keystroke — too soon, and your computer may produce a keyboard error; too late, and Windows Vista will start. You can press F8 repeatedly but don’t hold it down, i.e., tap, tap, tap. When you have it (more than once), you can use the option to “Start Windows normally,” if you don’t need any of the following. You should become familiar with at least these options: Safe Mode (and variations) — Safe mode starts Windows Vista in a minimal condition. You’ll notice the screen is very different. In this mode, many functions are intentionally unavailable — functions, especially drivers that might be creating problems, are not loaded. If you cannot boot Windows Vista normally or cannot run System Restore, consider booting in Safe mode and running System Restore from there (or other diagnostics or utilities you have up your sleeve). In Safe mode, the “What is safe mode?” help screen appears. Follow any of the links, but in particular see “Troubleshooting problems while in safe mode” and “Diagnostic tools to use in safe mode.” That’s an easy way to find System Restore and a few other utilities. Last Known Good Configuration — Known as LKGC to nerds (pronounce it like a Klingon), this function should be used if you are unable to boot into Windows Vista to run System Restore or other options. Unlike System Restore, LKGC is not reversible. Use it if nothing else works. Repair your computer — This option only appears on systems that do not include a Windows Vista installation disk. If you bought a retail copy of Windows Vista or your system came with an installation disk, you’ll need to boot from that disk (see the next section). If your Advanced Boot Options include this option, choose it and follow the steps in the next section, starting with Step 3.
Booting from the Windows Vista Installation Disk We end up here when all else fails. You’re in dire straits and none of the other recovery or restore options from this chapter are available to you or they haven’t helped the situation. In that case, try the following: 1. Reboot your computer. Insert the Windows Vista installation disk before you reboot and follow the procedure for booting from DVD. Some computers display a message during booting to press a key to boot from DVD. This is another keystroke to practice to be sure you can do it when you need to. Your computer may require a one-time change to the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) setup to allow booting from DVD. In that case, the Del key is often used for BIOS setup. 2. The screen displays “Windows is loading files.” To a point, this is the same process used to install Windows Vista after booting from DVD. You’ll see a screen to “Install Windows,” with selections for language, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method. Make your choices and click Next.
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Caution In the worst case, you may have to use the Install now option, but that will wipe everything out and it will not restore your Complete PC backup.
3. Use the option “Repair your computer” in the lower-left corner of the screen. System Recovery Options searches for Windows Vista on C:. If you have multiple bootable partitions, you may see more than one option on this screen. Choose your Windows Vista setup and click the Next button. At this point, you can use any or all of the following recovery tools. If you are having trouble booting, you should try the first three options in order: Startup Repair — This function checks for startup problems. (View the diagnostic report after running this for details.) If you are using this to fix a problem, click the Finish button and the system will reboot. Keep your fingers crossed. If you are just looking at this and want to return to the other recovery tools, click the link to “View advanced options for system recovery and support.” System Restore — We ran System Restore from within Windows Vista earlier in this chapter. System Restore backs up some system files automatically and regularly. You can restore those limited backups from here, from within Windows Vista (if it will start) and from Safe mode. On the first screen, click the Next button to see a list of restore points. It is usually best to use as recent a restore point as you have; if that one doesn’t fix things, you can repeat the process to this point and try the next most recent, unless you are confident about the date and time things went awry. Choose a restore point and click Next. A new restore point is created first, and then those system files that System Restore backs up will be restored. When the brief process is finished, reboot and log in to Windows Vista. If System Restore doesn’t fix things, you can repeat it or you can move on to the big guns (described next). Windows Complete PC Restore — This process will wipe out your current setup and restore a backup from Complete PC. If that’s what you want, choose this option. A screen displays the recommended backup to restore. You’ll see the location of the backup, the computer that was backed up, and the date and time of the backup. If you accept the recommended backup, click the Next button and skip the next paragraph. On the first screen, there is an option to “Restore a different backup” if you want to try another. This option leads to a list of available full disk Complete PC backups. Choose one and click Next. A screen will enable you to select which partitions to restore. If you see more than one, restore the Windows Vista partition. Should you also select other partitions? That’s hard to say. Have those other partitions changed since you ran
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Part II: Essential Windows Vista Setup Complete PC? If you want to roll back other partitions, include them here. If you want to keep other partitions as they are, do not include them here. If you want to get rid of them altogether, do not include them here and choose Format in the next option. Keep reading. The last screen displays the details of the backup to be restored. There is a checkbox if you need to “Format and repartition disks.” Checking that option will make the process take longer. If you have partitions that are not included in the backup or restore, don’t check this option — you’ll lose those partitions. (See the following Tip for the opposite advice.) Click the Finish button. One more warning screen appears with a checkbox to indicate “I confirm that I want to erase all existing data and restore the backup.” Have your notary click the OK button and initial here (X ____) and here (X ____). Clearly, this is not to be done lightly, without serious consideration. Nonetheless, this is the process for a complete restore.
Tip Chapter 3 described creating a dual-boot system, with XP (or another operating system) in one partition and Windows Vista in another. When you use Complete PC to back up a disk, it backs up all partitions (in this example, both Windows Vista and XP). You can use the “Restore a different backup” option to choose to restore only one of your partitions; if you also check the “Format and repartition disks” option, you will remove the second partition, leaving you with only one partition and one operating system. This may be preferable to a clean reinstallation of the one operating system you want, because you won’t have to start over from scratch with that operating system — you’ll have it as it was when you ran Complete PC to create the backup.
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool — Problems with RAM chips can cause problems while Windows Vista is running — e.g., freezes, hangs — that may not be clearly identified as such. This diagnostic tool will identify a RAM problem or eliminate it from consideration. Command Prompt — The prompt is an old friend to some and worthless to others. If your troubles might be related to malware (see Chapter 4), note the command mrt /?. This displays the options (switches) for the Malicious Software Removal Tool, an antimalware tool updated regularly as a part of Windows Update. You can run mrt at the command prompt without any options for the interactive version. You’ll click through a couple of information screens until the screen to select Scan Type: quick, full, or customized. Try quick unless you have the time for full and the suspicion that your computer problems are malware-related.
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A Warning about Dual-Booting with XP If you plan to run Windows Vista as a dual-boot option with XP, please be aware of a serious problem. When XP boots, it mounts any connected drives and checks for System Restore information. XP proceeds to delete all Windows Vista restore points and shadow copies and all but the latest Complete PC backup. The official Microsoft recommendation is to not turn on your Windows Vista drive until after XP finishes booting. No kidding. That’s hard to do if Windows Vista is on a partition of the same drive as XP, which is the most likely scenario. You should also consider another problem with dual-booting if both operating systems are on the same drive (in separate partitions). Recall that Complete PC backs up and restores the entire drive. Thus, you could unintentionally “restore” your XP partition to an out-of-date condition. Still not kidding. Finally, if you try to look in the Recycle Bin under XP on a dual-boot system, XP reports that the Recycle Bin folder on the Windows Vista partition is corrupted and offers to delete the folder. Doing so isn’t necessarily harmful; it just means you wouldn’t have anything to undelete in Windows Vista.
Summary This chapter looked at various options for protecting yourself from disaster, especially lost data. In the end, there is bad with the good. We have new, powerful tools for backup and restore, but they must be used regularly and thoughtfully. Preparing for disaster may involve any of these tools: Run Complete PC backup at least every month and after big changes. Run Back Up Files at least every week (daily is better). Handling loss may involve these: One or a few files — First check the Recycle Bin, and then the Previous Versions tab of a file or folder’s Properties dialog. More than a few files or folders — Restore from the backup created with the Back Up Files Wizard. Something is mildly wrong — Try System Restore. “Oh, no!” — Try restoring from a recent Complete PC backup after exhausting other options. Prepared with a full backup, we can feel safer in moving on to modify the system. In the next chapter, we’ll start customizing Windows Vista.
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Part III Making It Your Windows Vista Chapter 6
Customizing Windows Vista Chapter 7
Working with Hardware Chapter 8
System Health and Maintenance Chapter 9
Setup Programs
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ersonal computers are just that: personal. Windows Vista provides myriad means of customization. By tweaking some of these settings, you can make the system easier or faster to use; you can make it more fun to use; and you definitely will make it more yours. The primary tool for configuring Windows Vista is the Control Panel, an umbrella under which you’ll find the means to modify the following (and more): Windows Aero display properties Taskbar and Start menu Ease of Access Center Folder options and properties
The Control Panel The Control Panel is the center for most of your Windows Vista customization — or personalization, as it is now called. You can open the Control Panel through Start ➝ Control Panel (or by pressing Win+R and then typing control). Figure 6-1 shows the Control Panel Home screen. The major portion on the right of the screen shows the category headings, each of which links to a group of related functions. The subheadings beneath the category headings are links directly to some functions within those categories. In the Navigation pane are links to related tasks (which change as you move through the Control Panel). Some of the Control Panel functions in Vista are dramatically different from those in XP; others are nearly identical to XP’s. That’s part of the excitement of exploring the Control Panel. Note the section at the bottom of the Navigation pane for Recent Tasks (not shown in Figure 6-1 but you’ll see it as you move through the Control Panel), an easy way to return to your most recent activity in the Control Panel. This list will change as you use the Control Panel. Use the Control Panel Home link in the Navigation pane to return to the starting point. In some places, you will have to use the back arrow to return.
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Figure 6-1: The Control Panel Home screen
Control Panel Home versus Classic View On the left of the Control Panel Home screen, you’ll see an option for the Classic View. Choose it and the previous category view disappears. In place of the new view is something closer to the old Control Panel appearance that originated with Windows 95 (see Figure 6-2). Clicking the Control Panel Home link returns you from the distant past. In Classic View, every function under the Control Panel appears (47 icons in my case) in alphabetical order. I confess that in XP I almost always work in Classic View. XP’s Category View seems to make it harder to get straight to the desired function. However, Windows Vista has greatly improved organization and direct access to functions, with links under the major categories as well as in the Navigation pane. Give this new default view some time to impress you. Resist reverting to Classic View immediately.
Tip There is a compromise between the default view and Classic View. Choose Classic View and notice the column headings at the top. Single-click Category to sort, as you would any such heading in Windows Explorer; click the triangle beside Category; and choose Group. Now you have one screen with every icon grouped into the same categories that the default screen displays. In the setup for Figure 6-3, I collapsed some of those Group headings. The order of the icons under each heading may be different than the order of the same icons in the default view. More importantly, you lose those direct links that might be useful. I’m still giving the new look a chance, but I’m intrigued by this improvement in Classic over the XP equivalent.
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Figure 6-2: The Classic View of the Control Panel
Figure 6-3: Improving a classic: Classic View sorted, grouped, and collapsed
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Assume that any steps documented in this chapter are from the starting point of the Control Panel Home, not the Classic View, although the results should be obtainable from either starting point.
The Appearance and Personalization Category The Appearance and Personalization category groups many of the most visible changes to the system. Let’s work through some of these. Anything I skip is homework. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization. Notice as we “drill down” into lower levels of the Control Panel that the Navigation pane displays the other categories, sparing us from going back up to the Control Panel just to move down into another category. A modest enhancement you won’t see in Classic View. Many of the functions under Personalization have schemes, which are collections of settings. You should note what schemes are provided for each function — and what the default scheme is called, in case you want to quickly undo your changes. As you make changes in an area, you should save your new settings as a scheme (and save it again every time you make other changes in that area).
Personalization From Appearance and Personalization, choose Personalization, the first function (the main heading, though the links under it will be very useful later). Under the Personalization heading, you can change much about the look and functionality of Windows Vista.
THEME Although the Theme option appears farther down the Personalization screen, we should start here. A theme is a collection of schemes — that is, a collection of settings from all of the Personalization functions. When you change themes, you are changing the other settings available under Personalization in one fell swoop. You should do this before you work with the individual personalization functions. If you do it afterwards you risk wiping out your changes. Click the Theme link to open Theme Settings. Explore the few available themes. The preview window in the dialog box gives a very limited sense of the many settings determined by themes. Don’t click OK or Apply yet.
Tip If the theme name displayed is My Current Theme or Modified Theme, that implies some customization has already taken place from one of the established themes and those changes have not been saved. That’s not necessarily a problem. However, to be sure that you can get back to all your original settings before you proceed with personalization, use Save As to capture the current settings. Name your current theme and save it in Documents (the resulting file will have .theme as an extension name). Now, you can proceed to explore more options and still be able to return to your starting point.
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Choose the Windows Vista theme and click OK. This will establish many default settings throughout Personalization. When you return to the Theme dialog box, the theme name will display as My Current Theme again because you have changed settings from the Windows Vista theme defaults. If you like the changes you’ve made, save them with Save As. You can replace any theme you create, but you should not replace the themes that come with Windows Vista. If you don’t want to keep the changes you’ve made, pick Windows Vista and your changes are undone (and lost, if you didn’t use Save As first). You are likely to fine-tune your settings over a long period of time. Keep saving your theme.
WINDOW COLOR AND APPEARANCE
Back at the top of Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Personalization, this option allows you to adjust the look of every window and menu throughout the entire system. The right choice here enables many of the new features in Windows Vista. Get this settled first. What you see when you choose this function depends on your Windows Vista edition and your hardware capabilities. Figure 6-4 shows what you’ll see if your hardware and edition support Windows Aero and it is already enabled.
Figure 6-4: What the Aero user sees first under Window Color and Appearance
Figure 6-5 shows what you’ll see if you do not have Aero support or, simply, it isn’t enabled. If your screen looks similar to Figure 6-4, use the link to “Open classic appearance properties for more color options” for the remainder of this section (see Figure 6-5). Let’s compare two color schemes: Windows Vista Basic and Windows Vista Aero.
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Figure 6-5: The Appearance Settings have barely changed since Windows 95.
Note Jim Allchin of Microsoft writes that “Windows Aero may sound like just a cool name, it’s actually an acronym that stands for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.” (From www.windowsvistablog.com.)
Windows Vista Basic Vista Basic provides most of the new look of Windows Vista, but not quite all. Surfaces look somewhat 3-D. The corners of windows and dialog boxes are rounded. Buttons are smaller or sleeker. The Start menu has a black background. The Navigation pane in Windows Explorer is more colorful. Small stuff, but what are you upgrading for? If the changes seem subtle or superficial, now we’ll make it pop. Windows Aero Windows Aero extends Windows Basic. One of the features unique to Aero is adjustable transparency, which enables you to see through a window to the objects behind it. Aero has “Flip,” an enhanced Alt+Tab, which shows live thumbnails of your open windows. Aero also has “Flip 3-D,” which lets you to scroll through super-sized thumbnails of windows with a Rolodex or Ferris wheel effect using Win+Tab. Thumbnails also appear over taskbar buttons. It is Aero that makes this version of Windows look so different from any before. If your hardware supports it, Windows Aero is the choice you probably want, though it may not be the default.
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Note The Home Basic edition of Windows Vista does not include Aero.
The Other Color Schemes You will not see Figure 6-4 unless you have Windows Aero selected as your color scheme. Instead, you will get a plainer dialog box, which, regrettably, has scarcely changed since Windows 95 (refer to Figure 6-5). If Windows Aero is listed as available, choose it and click OK. If it is not listed, your hardware will not support Aero or your edition of Windows Vista does not provide it. Time to upgrade? If Aero is not available, choose Windows Vista Basic. Most users will not need the other color schemes, which include the following: Windows Standard — Much like Windows 95 and a step back from XP. You’ll see Windows Vista’s functionality with a flatter, squarer appearance. Windows Classic — I see only minor differences between Classic and Standard. Neither looks as nice as XP. High Contrast schemes — You may want to work with one of the High Contrast schemes. These are variations on Classic or Standard intended for people with vision difficulties (including visibility at night). Effects Regardless of the selected color scheme, there are three options under Effects. All are checked: Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts — Smoothing fonts makes them much easier to read and more attractive. You may want to compare the two methods below. If you don’t see a difference, use the default. Standard ClearType (default) None (uncheck the box) — There is probably no reason to ever do this. Show shadows under menus — A matter of preference and legibility. Your choice. Show window contents while dragging — When you drag a window, you will see the contents of the window move with it. If you uncheck this, you’ll see an outline of the window as you drag while the window itself stays put until you release the mouse button, at which point the window moves to the new location. Ten years ago, people turned this off because it overworked their graphics cards; you certainly don’t need to turn it off.
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Advanced Options There is something sadly ironic about the word “Advanced.” A decade ago, there were a lot of cool options here for the control freak and dabbler. Unfortunately, most of the adjustments you can make under Advanced are ignored by the Basic or Aero color schemes, so most of these options may not be worth your time unless you forego those newer schemes (XP had the same vexing problem). There is one item that I recommend adjusting that works in all of the color schemes in XP but no longer everywhere it should in Windows Vista. That is the tooltip, which is the text that pops up over icons, buttons, and tools. Every year this text seems smaller and smaller to me. Select ToolTip from the menu and change any of the available options. I recommend increasing the font size and changing the color of the font and background. Well, I used to recommend. They’ve taken away even this advanced setting. Windows Vista seems to have a different kind of tooltip for items such as Start, the date, file information, etc. I found the color of the font for Selected Item showed in unexpected places, such as the banner of the Welcome Center and in some dialog boxes, but none of the other attributes of that item applied. There is no rhyme or reason to how the newer schemes accept or ignore these advanced settings. If you are using a color scheme other than Basic or Aero (which I hesitate to recommend), explore the options for Active Title Bar, Inactive Title Bar, and Selected Items. To see the impact of the changes you make in Advanced Appearance, click OK and then Apply or OK on the Appearance Settings screen. Frankly, it is shocking how little these options have changed since Windows 95. Even more so that most of these options are useless under newer color schemes. Why not just gray-out the button for the newer schemes? At least, Microsoft should choose a word other than “advanced.”
Tip If you really want to play freely with any of this personalization, create a new user for that purpose. That way, you don’t risk messing up your current settings and you don’t have to struggle to fix anything — just remove the new user when you are done. See Chapter 12.
DESKTOP BACKGROUND From the Personalization screen, choose Desktop Background, also known as wallpaper. Here you select the picture that appears on your desktop. This dialog box is much improved from the one in XP. A large box presents thumbnails of available pictures (see Figure 6-6). A box labeled Picture Location smartly groups pictures based on location on disk: Windows Wallpapers, Pictures, Sample Pictures, Public Pictures, and Solid Colors. Once you have pictures in your own Pictures folder, you can quickly limit background choices to those pictures. If the Public Pictures folder is shared over the network, everyone could contribute pictures for anyone’s desktop. There is also a Browse button to look anywhere you want for more pictures. It’s nice to see the Group headings new to Windows Explorer. Use the triangle to collapse or expand groups of images. Below the picture thumbnail area, you can choose how the picture should be positioned: Fit to screen (by stretching or shrinking), Tile (repeat), or Center. For Solid Colors, that position tool is replaced by a button for more color choices. Choose a background and click OK.
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Figure 6-6: The new and improved Desktop Background picker
Tip You can make any picture your desktop background using Windows Explorer. Right-click over any image and choose Set as Desktop Background. (If you don’t see this option, the file format isn’t acceptable for a background.) You can also do this through Windows Photo Gallery.
SCREEN SAVER The Screen Saver is another function that is essentially unchanged from XP, though a few new screen savers are included. Below the preview of the selected screen saver is a menu to select a screen saver. To the right of the selection, a button allows settings for some and another previews your choice without having to wait. The options are as follows: None — Good for presentations or meetings. 3D Text — The Settings button lets you determine the text, color, speed, and more. Aurora — Vaguely like the Northern Lights. Blank — That’s right.
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An utterly vexing part of selecting a screen saver is that for most of the options, when you click the Settings button, Windows Vista alerts you that that choice has no options. There has to be a gentler way to communicate that — how about graying out the button if a screen saver has no options? Below the selection of the screen saver, you specify how long the keyboard and mouse can remain inactive before engaging the screen saver. There is also a checkbox if you want the logon screen to display when you clear the screen saver. Use this if you believe the screen saver will only kick in because you aren’t at your desk. Do you really want to have to log in several times a day? There is a link from Screen Saver to Change Power Settings.
Cross Reference We’ll deal with power in Chapter 18.
SOUNDS Microsoft hired eclectic musician Robert Fripp to compose the new four-second startup sound for Windows Vista. (Fripp’s mate, Brian Eno, had a hand in XP’s sounds.) Sound is an important part of the computing environment. The Sounds control panel enables you to pick a sound scheme to specify which sound to play for a given event, such as starting or exiting Windows. You can also create your own sound scheme by using the Save As button (which makes sense only if you actually change specific event sounds). Look through the list under Program. You’ll see sounds for many installed programs, not just Windows Vista. You can scroll through the list of events to hear (test) or change the sound associated with an event. Notice that some events have no sound associated with them. That’s often a good thing — do you want to hear a sound every time a window is minimized? Most people will say no, but it could be useful if you have a vision disability. Prepare to drive the person in the next cubicle mad, unless you use headphones. If you click on the selection menu, you’ll see a list of sounds in the current scheme; at the top of that list is (None). Use the Browse button to find more sounds. If you choose a sound from a folder, the selection list under Sounds will display other sounds from that location, not the original list.
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This is more important than it may sound. Choosing an appropriate sound may make your life more pleasant. Take, for example, the event called “Asterisk.” You probably hear that one often. Wouldn’t a shorter, softer, more pleasant sound make life better? The same might be said of any frequently heard alert. The next time a system sound jars you, go straight to the Sounds control panel, find the event, and choose something you’d rather hear. You can also set an event’s sound to none from the list. If you want to silence all the sounds without turning off your speakers, use the sound scheme No Sounds. This might be good for a meeting or some public places. Sounds such as MP3 and CD/DVD should still play. I think it is worth your time to pick your own sounds for the following: Exiting Windows and starting Windows (I have howling coyotes and cawing crows) Windows logoff and Windows logon (if you have more than one user on the machine) Windows User Account Control (you’ll hear this a lot. Use None?) Any of the errors and other alerts On my computer, when new e-mail arrives, Homer Simpson shouts, “Woo-hoo!” You can find different sounds on the Web. One should always be concerned about copyrights. You can record your own sounds with Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Sound Recorder. After you make changes here, be sure to use Save As to save your selections as a scheme. If you make changes later, use Save As again.
Tip A new feature of Windows Vista is individual volume settings per application. Start an application to see this; I suggest Start ➝ Games ➝ Hearts (or any other game). If you single-click the speaker icon near the time in the notification tray, a slider for increasing or decreasing the volume for the whole system appears; the speaker icon below the slider will toggle mute on and off. This looks different from XP but isn’t very. Notice the Mixer button. Click it (or right-mouse click over the original speaker icon and choose Open Volume Mixer). You should see at least two sliders: one for Speakers (under Device) and one for Hearts (under Applications). You can adjust the volume just for Hearts (or any currently running application); you can mute just the applications you want to mute. One limitation here is that if you increase the volume for any application, then you also increase the system volume, but lower volumes are independent of the system. Open other applications and try this again. The volume and the mute state you set for an application is remembered. You never have to hear a particular application again. Don’t forget if you make a change here.
MOUSE POINTERS Few things are more important in Windows than the mouse pointers. These little symbols communicate to you all day long — busy, unavailable, resize, select, move, and more. Obviously, the size of the mouse pointer affects your ability to see it and to place it precisely. There are also entertaining options here.
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Start by trying all of the schemes. When you choose a scheme, scroll the box of specific pointers associated with specific tasks or events (much as sounds are). Find the scheme that you want to work with. I recommend you look at Windows Aero (large) and Windows Aero (extra large). Apply a scheme to see if you like it. You can customize individual pointers within a scheme (just as you could change individual sounds within one scheme). Select the pointer and click the Browse button, which opens a window on the Cursors folder. Choose Medium Icons for a slightly distorted preview of each pointer. Filenames give some indication of the scheme and intended use, but you can mix and match and use any pointer for any purpose. Cursor files are of the type .CUR and .ANI (animated). You will find many more on the Web, as well as programs for creating your own. Select a pointer and click Open. If you want to undo your choice, click the Use Default button. There is a button to Enable Pointer Shadow, which I find rather subtle. It is meant to enhance the 3-D look. You may also want to examine the Pointer Options tab. The other mouse properties are discussed in the next chapter.
Tip Now that we’re almost done with Personalization, you may want to use the Theme function to save your changes with Save As. (Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Personalization ➝ Theme ➝ Save As (it probably says Modified Theme at this point). Think about situations that are different from day to day as appropriate for additional themes. For example, in a presentation, you might want no sounds, extra large mouse pointers, no screen saver, and a corporate logo for the background — none of which you want outside of presentations. Make two themes and switch as needed. (See Chapter 18 for the new Presentation Settings.)
DISPLAY SETTINGS Use Display Settings to change monitor and graphics card settings. It is also here that you can enable a second (third, fourth, up to ninth) monitor. Multiple Monitors I highly recommend having multiple monitors. We’ll get into the specifics of setting up additional monitors in the next chapter. The remaining options in this dialog box apply to the selected monitor.
Caution In the following section, you can make a change that distorts or obscures what you can see on the screen. If that happens, don’t panic. Most of these changes require confirmation within 15 seconds and will revert back to previous settings automatically if you do nothing. Just take a deep breath and wait. Worst case: read about boot options in Chapter 5. Be aware that the changes you make under Display Settings affect all users of the system, unlike the other changes we’ve explored.
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Screen Resolution Screen resolution is the width and height of the screen area in pixels (picture elements). A pixel is a dot, the smallest area of your screen that can be illuminated. More pixels mean more area. The paradox is that if you increase the resolution on a particular monitor, everything gets smaller in order to fit more on the screen. With lower resolution, objects, text, everything is larger but you get less area to work with. There is a very easy way to see what I’m talking about. Under Resolution is a slider. Click to the left or the right of the handle in the slider and it will jump one step left or right (or you can click on the handle and press the left or right arrow one time). Start with this small change. Click Apply (not OK). It will take a moment before your resolution changes. If you moved the slider left, you lowered the resolution and everything will get bigger and, possibly, more crowded. If you moved right, you raised the resolution and everything will get smaller, with more unused space visible to the right. For the last few years, most graphics cards have been set for 1,024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high. If this is uncomfortable for your eyes, try 800 × 600 pixels. Or increase resolution to a point you can still work comfortably without eyestrain. Colors The Colors option sets the color depth, which is the number of colors the graphics card can display. You want the highest setting available for your combination of graphics card and monitor, which may be 32-bit color (providing up to 16,777,216 colors, which should be enough for most of us). More colors means more subtlety in photographs, for one thing. Advanced Settings The Advanced Settings will be tailored to your particular graphics card (the Adapter tab) and monitor. Most systems won’t require changes here. However, one change to consider is on the Monitor tab: screen refresh rate. This is the rate at which the graphics card redraws or refreshes the screen. Some people experience headaches or other discomfort with the wrong refresh rate. Consider a refresh rate of at least 70 Hz.
Note There is a synergy in all of the settings under Personalization. You may have to work with settings for a while before you know what’s comfortable or not. Keep tweaking settings to find the right combination for you.
RELATED TASKS In the Navigation pane of the Personalization window are two links to related tasks. Change Desktop Icons This link opens Desktop Icon Settings. In the top portion, you can check icons you want placed on the desktop and uncheck icons you want removed. Icons include Computer, User’s Files (your files — very convenient), Network, Internet Explorer (the context menu for this icon has an option to Start Without Add-ons that could be useful), Control Panel, and Recycle Bin. Pick and choose.
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The lower half of this dialog box enables you to choose icons for Computer, your User folder, Network, and the Recycle Bin, full and empty. Click on the icon you want to change and then on the Change Icon button. Most of these icons are in a file called imageres.dll; Network draws from its own file. You can also browse for more options. This is another thing that may seem frivolous to some, but if it makes it easier for you to recognize one of these icons, you should make the change. Adjust Font Size (DPI) This link opens DPI Scaling (DPI = dots per inch), which also relates to pixel size. Before you make adjustments here, pick the screen resolution you want to use. Bumping this setting up could make a higher resolution more comfortable for you. If you find text on the screen is hard to read, you can choose Larger scale (120 DPI) instead of the Default scale (96 DPI). To get a better sense of the impact of a change here, click the Custom DPI button and try each of the available percentages (cancel if you don’t want to keep your changes). This is another change that affects all users, as the presence of the shield icon and the User Account Control message suggest.
Other Personalization Tasks After exhausting the options under Personalization, we move back to the Appearance and Personalization window (see Figure 6-7); from the top, it is Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization. Use the breadcrumbs or the back button because there is no link to use.
Figure 6-7: Appearance and Personalization
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Taskbar and Start Menu You can also access these properties through Properties on the context menu of the taskbar or the Start menu.
TASKBAR On the Taskbar tab, you can change any of the following features of the taskbar, most of which are checked (enabled) by default: Lock the taskbar — (A hit song in the 70s by the Clash.) Uncheck this to move or resize the taskbar. Auto-hide the taskbar — Check this to slide the taskbar out of sight until you hover near it. Keep the taskbar on top of other windows — Uncheck this to let any window cover the taskbar. Group similar taskbar buttons — Uncheck this to prevent the taskbar from combining several buttons into one as the taskbar gets more crowded. Recall that such grouped buttons can be closed, stacked, minimized, and more as a group by right-clicking over the group button. If you hover over the grouped button, you only see one thumbnail. To see the individual thumbnails, click on the group and move your mouse over the stack of buttons that pops up — presuming Aero is enabled, that is. Show Quick Launch — Uncheck this to remove the Quick Launch toolbar from the taskbar (but why?). Show window previews (thumbnails) — Uncheck this to suppress these very useful thumbnails (again, why?). This option is grayed out if you’re not using the Aero color scheme. I prefer to have the taskbar at the top of the screen. You can easily drag it to the top or either side, but first you have to unlock the taskbar by clicking the right mouse button over an empty place in the taskbar (or the time) for the context menu, and then clicking Lock the Taskbar, which unlocks it (the checkmark is there if it is locked, gone if it is unlocked). There is a subtle visual indicator in the taskbar. If it is unlocked, little “handles” consisting of three columns of dots appear in a few places. These handles can be dragged to move or resize parts of the taskbar. If you put your mouse pointer almost anywhere else, you can click and drag the entire taskbar up to the top, over to either side, and back down to the bottom. Try it in one of the other positions for a while; you can always drag it back to the bottom if that seems best. You may want to lock the taskbar to avoid moving or rearranging it accidentally. I never resize the taskbar, but with big monitors and high resolution, you may want to. Unlock the taskbar and drag the edge toward the center of the screen just a little.
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Tip I recommend a program called UltraMon to extend the taskbar to additional monitors. By default in Windows Vista, the taskbar appears only on the primary monitor, and all buttons for open windows are there, even if the actual window is on another monitor. With UltraMon, the buttons for open windows appear on the taskbar on the same monitor as the window. See www.ultramon.com.
NOTIFICATION AREA The Taskbar Icon Notification Tray (to be formal about it, or tray, informally) is to the far right of the taskbar. This area features icons for tasks that are running but which do not occupy the taskbar as buttons. Often these are background tasks, some of which come and go throughout the day. You can hover over any of these icons for a tooltip; some you can double-click to open a window; most you can right-click for a context menu. In the Icons area of the Notification Area tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, check Hide Inactive Icons — why give an icon space if the program is inactive? In theory, Hide When Inactive should be useful, but it can be hard to determine what constitutes inactivity. Click the Customize button. You will see some of the icons divided between those that are currently in the tray and those that have appeared there in the past. Click one of these items and then next to that item under Behavior. Your options are Show (always), Hide (never Show), and Hide When Inactive. Use Hide to effectively clean out the tray. A change from XP is the section for System icons: Clock, Volume (speakers), Network and Power (if your computer is capable of running on batteries). Check to display; uncheck to hide these special icons. Watch the subtle preview at the top of the dialog box as you click your choices. As you work with the tray, you’ll notice a < symbol, which will expand the tray to show all the items, including those that are hidden. In XP, this expansion timed out after a few seconds. In Windows Vista, the tray remains expanded until you move the mouse away or click the > symbol to collapse it. Another little friendly feature. If you unlock the taskbar, you can use the handle to the left of the tray to resize it (there is a minimum size of a few icons). Now if we could just drag the icons to rearrange them. See, we always want more.
TOOLBARS Windows Vista provides at least seven toolbars that can be added to the taskbar (if you have the space). You can also turn these on and off from the context menu of the taskbar. Unlock the taskbar to move or resize any of these toolbars. Right-click over the toolbar for an option to Show Title (uncheck to hide the toolbar’s title) and to Show Text (of the shortcuts in that toolbar — uncheck to have icons only, as it is in Quick Launch). The toolbars include the following: Address — Use this taskbar to enter URLs without opening the browser first. Some commands can also be entered here (try calc). Compare this to the Run function (Win+R) and Start Search (the Win key by itself).
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Windows Media Player — If you check this one, you won’t see the toolbar until you run Media Player and minimize it. Then the Media Player toolbar gives you access to controls for playing music. Links — These links are part of Favorites in Internet Explorer. Use this for quick access to Web pages without having to launch the browser first. Tablet PC Input Panel — We’ll examine Tablet functions in Chapter 18. Desktop — The Desktop toolbar displays the icons from the desktop, enabling you to open items from the desktop without having to see the desktop itself. Quick Launch (also on the Taskbar tab) — A very convenient place for a few essential shortcuts. The Show Desktop (Win+D) icon in Quick Launch has had a makeover but still functions as a toggle to minimize all or undo that. A new icon that looks like cascading windows is another way to switch between tasks, as you do with Alt+Tab, now called Flip, except that this switcher stays on the screen (the other one disappears when you let go of Alt), which means you can use arrow keys and Enter to switch tasks. Notice that a Show Desktop icon is always included with Flip. Another new feature for Quick Launch: use the Win key with a number to launch the corresponding Quick Launch icon. So if that new Flip icon is the second one in Quick Launch, Win+2 will invoke it. Now you have a pure keyboard method for using all the Quick Launch icons. New Toolbar (not in the dialog box, but available from the taskbar context menu) — As if all these toolbars weren’t enough, you can create your own with this option. You are prompted for a folder name (you should create this folder in Documents). Your new toolbar will be empty until you drag icons to the toolbar (or into the folder). You may find a favorite among these. I always use Quick Launch. I flip-flop on the desktop. I like to create my own toolbars, but a change in Windows Vista may make that less desirable. In XP, toolbars can be dragged off the taskbar and floated. That keeps them from cluttering the taskbar and makes good use of the space an extra monitor gives you. I hope this capability is restored to Windows Vista toolbars.
START MENU The Start menu (the Win key by itself) provides access to every program and many other functions on your computer. You’ve already seen the improvement provided by the addition of the Start Search box — type part of a name to have matching items appear. We’ve also examined the new collapsing, expanding, and scrolling menus of All Programs. To modify Start menu settings, right-click over the Start button and choose Properties or use Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Taskbar and Start Menu, and choose the Start Menu tab. Your first choice is between the (new and improved) Start menu and Classic Start menu (as in “old”). Each of these options has a separate Customize button. We’ll start with the Customize button for the new Start menu. There are an amazing number of options here that you need to explore and use for a while.
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Computer, Control Panel, Documents, Games, Music, Personal folder (your user name), and Pictures all offer these three options: Display as link — Clicking that link opens that item in a new window. Display as menu — Hovering over or clicking that menu pops out another menu to the side. Don’t display this item — If you don’t need it, don’t display it.
Tip We saw earlier that the Control Panel has a very new look and feel, an option for “classic” and something in between. Regardless of which of those you choose for the Control Panel display, you could display it as a menu on the Start menu. That gives you a long column of options in alphabetical order. You can still open the Control Panel in a window by typing control in Start Search (Win) or Run (Win+R), by right-clicking over it on the Start menu (choose Open), or from Windows Explorer (Win+E).
For some of the other options, your choice is to check it to show the feature or uncheck it to hide that feature. Again, if you don’t use a feature, don’t waste space on it. After the initial setup of the system, most people won’t need Default Programs. Perhaps you want a link to the Printers window. Several options affect searching from the Start menu. You can omit or include e-mail, your documents, browser history and favorites, even programs — but that’s the whole point of Start Search, to quickly find programs by name. These options have no effect on the Search elsewhere, just from the Start menu. Figure 6-8 shows part of the menu for customizing the Start menu (headings can be collapsed), and Figure 6-9 shows the result of these changes.
Figure 6-8: Personalizing the Start menu
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Figure 6-9: A less cluttered Start menu
The Classic Start menu has mostly analogous options, but don’t revert to Classic without giving the new way an adequate chance to impress you. In the Privacy section of this dialog box, you can turn off two functions that are meant to make it easy to get back to recent programs and documents: Store and display a list of recently opened files — Uncheck this and the Recent Items menu disappears from the Start menu, as well as the Recent folder from your user folder. Store and display a list of recently opened programs — Uncheck this and the Start menu will not show a list of recently run programs on the left side. All that will appear there are pinned items, All Programs, and Start Search. Unchecking this also clears the list of commands in the Run command (Win+R). I understand the privacy concerns and I can imagine environments in which these two options should be unchecked. However, unchecking them denies you two good tools for working with recently used programs and documents.
Tip I suggest here that you try something before you uncheck the option that stores recently opened files. Press Win+R, type recent, and then press Enter. This should open the Recent folder under your user name. Over time, there could be hundreds of icons here, which can be sorted, grouped, filtered, and stacked. This is much more powerful than the little Recent Items menu.
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Ease of Access Center The Ease of Access Center provides various tools that anyone may find useful at times, regardless of abilities (see Figure 6-10). When you open Ease of Access, the narrator begins reading the content aloud. (Uncheck “Always read this section aloud” if you don’t need the narration.) Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Ease of Access ➝ Ease of Access Center (or Win+U).
Figure 6-10: The Ease of Access Center
The common tools section includes the following: Start Magnifier — The Magnifier occupies the top portion of the screen, with a magnified area surrounding the cursor or currently selected item. The properties for the Magnifier enable you to adjust the scaling factor from 2x to 16x, adjust colors, and control tracking. Start Narrator — The Narrator reads text as you navigate around the screen. You can configure the Narrator to echo your keystrokes and read system messages as well. A Voice Settings button controls speed, volume, and pitch. Eventually, you’ll have voices to choose between; I only had Microsoft Anna. Start On-Screen Keyboard — This provides an onscreen keyboard for picking keystrokes with a pointing device (including joystick). You can choose among different styles of keyboards. There is also an onscreen keyboard with the Tablet functions we’ll examine in Chapter 18. This keyboard looks more complete but less polished. Set up High Contrast — We looked at high-contrast color schemes earlier.
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Below these common tools is a longer list of task-oriented adjustments to the system. Most of these automatically change settings we’ve looked at so far, so you may want to save your theme before continuing. For example: Make the mouse easier to use — Some readers will want to “Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.” This is a standard feature in some operating systems; anyone might appreciate it. Make the keyboard easier to use — “Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys” could be useful for many of us. Make it easier to focus on tasks — Who can resist? Look there to “Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)” or to adjust the duration of Windows notification dialog boxes (such as the date that pops up over the time or file information as you hover over a file, folder, or disk); increase the time from 7 seconds to 15 seconds, 30 seconds, even 1 minute or 5 minutes. These pop-ups will still disappear as soon as you move away from the item that triggers them. Recall that experimentation may be easier to undo in a user account created just for such play. Some of the functions meant to make Windows Vista more accessible and easier to use are not available at booting or on the initial login screen. If you need to extend the functionality to the login screen, see the link for Change Administrative Settings under Tasks.
Note From Microsoft’s Accessibility in Windows Vista website (www.microsoft.com/enable/products/ windowsvista/): “Windows Vista does not include SerialKeys. In previous versions of Windows, Serial Keys provided support so that alternative input devices, such as augmentative communication devices, could be plugged into the computer’s serial port. For individuals that used these devices, it is important to install an alternative solution prior to upgrading to Windows Vista. Recommended solutions: AAC Keys and SKEYS from Eyegaze.”
Folder Options Under Appearance and Personalization, you’ll want to make some changes to Folder Options. Clicking this heading opens a three-tab dialog box that looks much like the old XP box, but has some significant changes.
GENERAL The General tab has three sections. The first option in each section represents the new and improved way, while the second option is the “I hate change” way. I cannot recommend the second option for either Tasks or Browse Folder — you give up too much with those options.
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The default in “Click items as follows” is puzzling. Your options are the same as they were in XP: Single-click to open an item (point to select) — This is the way of the browser; you don’t double-click things on a Web page. If you select this option, a single click will open the item you are pointing to (unless it is a right click, which always brings up the context menu). To select an object, just point or hover over it. Double-click to open an item (single-click to select) — This is the old-school choice (older than XP, in fact). Before the Web changed our expectations, one clicked an icon to select it and double-clicked to open it. Change to the first option and save a mouse click every time. It is very interesting that Microsoft still plays it conservatively with this option. That made more sense in XP. With Windows Vista, defaulting to single-click would hardly be revolutionary. In fact, you’ll notice Windows Vista has made many functions into single-click buttons and links. This setting applies to icons that require double-clicking to open by default.
VIEW The View tab of Folder Options has two sections: Folder Views and Advanced Settings. Folder Views To see the value of the options under Folder Views, you need to open Windows Explorer (Win+E — leave Folder Options open). In Windows Explorer, select one of your data folders, say, Documents. You know you can change the display with Views. You can also change the column headings by right-clicking over one of them — uncheck those you don’t want, check the ones you do, and use More for more. The next time you open this same folder, you would expect it to look the same: same view, sort, etc. That’s controlled by an option under the Advanced settings (“Remember each folder’s view settings”). However, you may want to apply the customizing you just did to other folders. That’s what the Folder Views’ Apply to Folders button is about. However, if you switch back to the Folder Options dialog box, that button is probably grayed out. The problem is you have to get to Folder Options from the folder you just customized (so close Folder Options for now). In the folder you just customized, click the Organize button, and then choose Folder and Search Options, and the View tab. Here, the Apply to Folders button is available. Click that Apply to Folders button to change other folders to match the way you just changed this one folder. There is an important change here from XP. In XP, these settings applied to every folder. In Windows Vista, they apply to all folders of this type, which means based on the same template. We’ll get to those templates in the Folder Properties section that follows, but for now, if you changed a pictures folder and then click Apply to Folders, all your pictures folders changed, but not your music folders, for example. I use this feature for Pictures, where the default column headings include Date Taken but not Date Modified. I want both, plus Dimensions, and I want Date Modified right next to Name to ease sorting (just drag and drop). So I make all these changes, select Extra Large Icons, and apply those new settings, which changes other pictures folders (for example, Public Photos) but not Music, etc.
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You might want Details for Documents sorted by Date Modified but Tiles for Music sorted by Artist. As you wish. As you would guess, the Reset Folders button undoes all your changes for folders of this type. Advanced Settings The Advanced Settings section of the View tab has much to consider. You should experiment with these choices. I’ll highlight a few options: Always show menus — Check this if you have to have the old, I mean “Classic,” menus at the top of each window. Leave this unchecked and just tap the Alt key when you’re feeling desperate. Restore previous folder windows at logon — Check this if you want the folders that are open at shutdown to reopen at login. (I recommend that.) Use check boxes to select items — I wish we could print that in red flashing text. This is a very interesting new feature of Windows Vista, but it is off by default. The intended audience is someone using a Tablet PC and pen, but it will work for anyone. Check it and icons will acquire a checkbox. You’ll see the checkbox as you move over the item. Click the checkbox to select the item before a file operation such as copy, move, delete, open, or whatever. You can select as many icons as you want by clicking the checkbox for each (no need for the Ctrl key to add to the selection). Figure 6-11 shows two views with selected files (the checkboxes).
Figure 6-11: Using checkboxes to select items. See the underlining for Desert Landscape? That shows I’m using the one-click method.
I love the way this works while still allowing the many other ways we’ve always had for selecting. It also meshes nicely with the single-click (point to select) option I recommended before. Note that if you are using the check boxes to select multiple objects, you must click the check box itself. If you click elsewhere on the icon, you will lose your other selections (unless you are also using a key such as Ctrl or Shift). The rest of the Advanced settings on the View tab in Folder Options are homework.
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FOLDER PROPERTIES Let’s follow an important tangent for a moment. We’ll come back to the Search tab in Folder Options and the remaining functions under Appearance and Personalization later. We need to follow through with some other folder features. Open Windows Explorer and browse one of your user folders (say, Documents). Use Organize ➝ Properties to examine the properties for the currently selected folder. We’ll sidestep a few tabs that belong in other chapters and focus on two of the tabs: Location Repeatedly, I’ve advocated having an external data drive (and a separate backup drive), but I also want to take advantage of the default folders in Windows Vista. When I click on Pictures under my user name, I want my photos from the external drive to appear. Even if you don’t use an external drive, perhaps you use a separate internal drive or partition or you have some other way of organizing folders and you don’t want to move your files just to use the structure Windows Vista is built around. That is what the Location tab is for (see the top half of Figure 6-12). Note that you’ll find it only for these major folders: Documents, Pictures, Music, and the others directly under your name in Windows Explorer. Use the Move button to browse for the folder you really want to use. Repeat this for each folder that you want to redirect to a location other than the default (for example, from C:\Users\yourname\Documents\ to F:\data\mydocs\). See Figure 6-12.
Figure 6-12: The Location tab and the Customize tab of Properties for a folder
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When you move one of these folders, Windows Vista offers to combine files from both locations into the one location. You should say OK to that. If you feel you’ve made a mistake, use the Restore Default button on the Location tab. This button will not move any files, just change the default folder back to the original, leaving the files in your other folder. You’ll have to move them manually if your goal is to put things back the way they were before you changed the location. Customize The default view for a folder is based on a folder type template. The template determines the options that appear in Windows Explorer: the View (Icons, Details, etc.), column headings, and toolbar buttons. For any folder, use the Customize tab of the Properties dialog box to specify what type of files are in that folder (the bottom half of Figure 6-12). Your choices are as follows: All Items — Mixed files of any type Documents — Anything that isn’t one of the other types Pictures and Videos — Just what it says Music Details — Music files with details view Music Icons — Music files with icon view The last two are misleading, because you could make Details show Icons and vice versa (not that you would want to). They are more accurately Music Type 1 and Music Type 2. If Windows Vista picks the Documents template for a folder that actually is full of photographs, you don’t get the best defaults for photos (for example, you won’t see a Slide Show button in the toolbar). Granted, you can customize that folder just the same, but it would be better to get the right options without the effort, so change its template to Pictures and Videos. Recall that earlier we saw that these templates play a role in propagating folder options (see the “Folder Views” section above).
SEARCH
Back to Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Folder Options and the Search tab. There are three sections on the Search tab: What to search — At issue is whether to search the contents of files (slower) or just filenames (faster). The default option wisely searches contents of indexed locations, but not non-indexed locations (filenames are always searched). Indexing is usually controlled at the disk level. If you right-click over any disk in Computer, the General tab has an option to index the drive for faster searching. XP users often unchecked that because indexing was a resource hog that rarely paid off. In Windows Vista, indexing is much improved and should be enabled for document drives. Technically, you can control indexing for individual folders. In any folder, use Organize ➝ Properties ➝ General tab ➝ Advanced Attributes; check to index, uncheck to omit from index. Most people should just let entire drives be indexed.
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Part III: Making It Your Windows Vista How to search — By default, subfolders are searched and partial matches will be found. The option to Use Natural Language Search is interesting. I did a search with the words “e-mail from tim about vista.” Thirteen items were found that had any of those words anywhere in their names or content. I turned on the natural language option and the results dropped to the two e-mail messages from Tim about Vista. Those of us who search the Web frequently have learned to structure Boolean searches; natural language is almost unnatural for us. If you want a more natural search, try this option. When searching non-indexed locations — If you have any non-indexed locations, this option forces system folders and compressed files to be included in searches. These should probably remain unchecked for most readers.
Fonts The last option we’ll discuss from Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization is Fonts. Fonts are used on screen and in print. Windows Vista comes with hundreds to choose from, and free fonts and paid-for fonts can be downloaded from the Web. Be aware that fonts are usually copyrighted and may have restrictions for use on Web pages or embedded in documents distributed to others. Also be aware of the problems involved in using a font in e-mail or a Web page that other users don’t have; they won’t see the font you intended but a substitute. I think Microsoft missed a great opportunity by not previewing the fonts when you use the Large or Extra Large Icons. To see what the font looks like, open the font (notice I can’t say “double-click” anymore because you may have changed to single-click to open). The open font will have Print and Properties buttons.
Cross Reference The Windows Sidebar is covered in Chapter 9.
Summary By the end of this chapter, we’ve personalized the system top to bottom, from the Start menu to Folder Options. Some of these changes can be dismissed as cosmetic, but anything that makes us feel at home has value. Some of these changes can improve or hamper productivity. In the next chapter, we’ll work with hardware and its drivers.
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n this chapter, we’ll talk about what hardware you may want to add to your system and how to do that. We’ll also look at making adjustments to how your hardware works through software (particularly, device drivers).
The Hardware and Sound Control Panel For devices that are already properly installed, you can customize various settings through the appropriate function in Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound. Figure 7-1 shows some of these options.
Figure 7-1: The Hardware and Sound options
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Rather than run through these as a list, we’ll look at options as part of the discussion about specific devices. Note that some of these will also appear in other chapters.
Tip The blue text under the major headings in Figure 7-1 (such as “Add a printer” under “Printers”) is actually a link directly to that option. This is a great innovation in Windows Vista.
Plug and Pray In an ideal world, you would buy some cool device designed to work with your computer — say, an MP3 player. You would just plug and play; that is, you would hook it up, turn it on, and everything works wonderfully. As we examine the process Windows Vista goes through in detecting and recognizing new hardware, we’ll see it doesn’t always work so well and what you can do besides scream. First, here are some devices commonly added after the initial purchase of a system: Printer Mouse Monitor MP3 player Digital camera External storage USB hubs Wireless adapters If you have a choice, you want most devices to connect through a USB 2 connection. Such devices are easy to connect, don’t require opening the case, and usually automagically install any required device drivers. Of course, you may not have a choice; some older devices use USB 1 (slower), or more ancient connections such as serial, parallel, and SCSI.
Note FireWire is another high-speed connection for external devices. It has had limited appeal on PCs so far, but you are most likely to encounter it with digital video camcorders. Some devices support both FireWire and USB 2. FireWire comes in two speeds: 400 Mbps (megabits per second), which has higher throughput than USB 2’s rated speed of 480 Mbps, and 800 Mbps, clearly the speed leader.
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I know it’s obvious, but don’t buy hardware that requires a connection you don’t have. A digital video camera with FireWire 800 is worthless if you don’t have a FireWire port (and worth less if your port is FireWire 400). In most cases, you can buy a card to add support for other connections, if you have room for the card.
RAM (Random Access Memory) What about RAM? Shouldn’t that be on the list? If you buy a new machine, buy as much RAM as you can afford. If you are using an older system, there are countless variables at play: current configuration, available slots, type of RAM. You definitely have to open the case for this upgrade. Here are two Web sites that make the process as easy as possible: www.crucial.com www.kingston.com
Follow these steps to add more RAM: 1. Determine how much RAM you have. Display System Properties (use Win+Break, or Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ System). See Memory (RAM) under the System heading. The minimum RAM recommended is 512 MB. 2. Determine how much RAM you can have. Home Basic and Home Premium won’t recognize more than 8 GB, which shouldn’t be a problem for most people. Your particular system may have its own requirements. There are also issues of whether you currently have any RAM slots free and whether you can add one “bank” of RAM or have to add in pairs. You probably want to end up with at least 1 GB (new and old RAM combined). The two recommended websites above are invaluable for this information. 3. Buy and install the RAM. This is the part I gloss over. Open your computer, find the RAM slots, handle with care, and insert gently and securely. Adding RAM is really no more difficult than changing a light bulb (though bad luck is costlier with RAM than light bulbs).
ReadyBoost — a RAM Supplement, of Sorts Because you can never have enough RAM, Windows has long used memory swapping, where chunks of memory are swapped out to disk, to a page file or swap file, and swapped back to RAM as needed. Windows Vista introduces a new twist on this old technique: ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost uses USB flash drives (and some memory cards typically used in cameras and other mobile devices) for swapping. Solid-state flash chips are much faster than hard drives, so there is something of a boost to swapping. If you have a flash drive (also known as a thumb drive), plug it into your USB port. You may see a message about installing device driver software (typical for the first-time use of a USB device). AutoPlay should start automatically. If there are any files on the drive, you’ll see a list of functions available for those files (show pictures or play music, for example). You want the general option “Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost” (see Figure 7-2).
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Figure 7-2: AutoPlay with the ReadyBoost option
If AutoPlay ran but didn’t include the ReadyBoost option, Windows Vista doesn’t recognize that device as qualifying. It is also possible that AutoPlay will offer the option, but when you take it, Windows Vista may reject the device for this purpose. To check on the ReadyBoost status of a device, you can explore Computer (Win+E) and rightclick over the USB device. Select the ReadyBoost tab. Figure 7-3 shows two variations.
Figure 7-3: ReadyBoost properties for a rejected drive and an accepted drive
Tip If your flash drive is rejected, try formatting it (but back up any files on it). ReadyBoost requires NTFS formatting, and some flash drives are FAT. Even if the drive is already NTFS, it’s worth reformatting if the drive was rejected for ReadyBoost. The two screens in Figure 7-3 are before and after formatting a flash drive. I am not suggesting that formatting will make any drive suitable.
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If you don’t have a suitable flash drive, consider buying one. Although Windows Vista will use lower capacity drives, you should buy at least 1 GB (4 GB maximum). Drives certified as “U3” are likely to meet system requirements. Technical specifications include “2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes” (from Tom Archer’s Blog: ReadyBoost Q&A, http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/06/02/615199.aspx). ReadyBoost creates a cache file on the flash drive, reducing free space for other files. If you have sufficient capacity, you can store files on this drive at the same time it is in use for ReadyBoost. If you need to take the drive with you, Windows Vista will smoothly handle removing this drive at any time. (Have no fear.) However, it makes sense to dedicate a flash drive solely for this purpose.
Device Drivers Device drivers are pieces of code or programs that allow a device to communicate with the rest of the system. A device driver enables functionality. One device might work with different device drivers, in which case, you want the device driver that allows you to do everything the hardware is capable of. Imagine two printer drivers that are virtually identical. The only difference is that one supports both black-and-white and color printing and the other one supports only black-and-white printing. It may seem obvious which is better, until you consider whether the printer itself is capable of color. During installation of Windows Vista, it detects attached hardware and attempts to locate suitable device drives. The same process occurs the first time you connect a device to Windows Vista. Ninety percent of the time this process is so automatic and reliable there is no choosing involved. When things don’t work or don’t work as well as they should, you may want to get more involved. When you open a package containing new hardware, it will typically contain a CD of software, including drivers. Often, you’ll see a warning that you must install the drivers first. I’m going to risk professional humiliation by saying I’m not so sure that’s always necessary. That warning is covering a lot of bases, including a lot of different versions of Windows. Windows Vista comes with a large assortment of device drivers already and makes it easy to download new ones. So, don’t sue me, but I’m of the school of “plug and pray” — plug it in, turn it on, and hope it works, as it often does. Windows Vista may tell you that it can’t find a suitable device driver, as shown in Figure 7-4.
Figure 7-4: Face it or postpone it.
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In the dialog box shown in Figure 7-4, it makes sense to try the first option to locate and install driver software. This option will search Windows Update for the driver. If the search doesn’t turn up a driver, you will be prompted to insert a disk with the device driver. If you don’t have a disk, you can browse your computer for the appropriate files. This option is especially suitable if you keep backups of device drivers on removable media. If Windows Vista can’t find the driver and you can’t either, you should check the manufacturer’s website. If you are able to find drivers on the Web, download them and put a copy someplace where you can find it (create a folder for these things on your external data drive). Someday, you may not be able to find the driver on the Web again. If you or Windows Vista does find a driver, you may get a message like the one in Figure 7-5. This particular driver is very old and has not been approved by Microsoft. It may work fine; it may destabilize your system. Windows Vista is looking for “digitally signed” or certified drivers. One difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista is that the 64-bit version refuses to load unsigned drivers, while the 32-bit version allows them after the warning. If you’ve been through this process more than once with a device and you know it isn’t getting better, the third option, “Don’t show this message again for this device,” will stop the reminders. Of course, that device probably won’t work, and without a reminder you may just forget it altogether. I recommend “Ask me again later” until you can’t stand it any longer. What if the device works but not as well as expected? You may need a newer driver or you may need to tweak some of the device’s options through a configuration program or the device driver itself. In such situations, start with the manufacturer’s website for more information. If the device still won’t work to your satisfaction, you may have to return it and try a different model or brand. We’ll look a little deeper into this in the “Device Manager” section later in this chapter.
Figure 7-5: A warning about the device driver
Adding New Hardware Let’s go through the process of adding some common devices, or recommended ones that aren’t so common. Overall, we buy, we plug in, and we use it. Of course, few things are as simple as they should be.
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Installing a Printer or Two (Virtually) In the old days, printers connected through a parallel printer port or serial port. These days, a printer may well connect through USB, through a network interface, or even wirelessly (Bluetooth, infrared, even wireless USB). If you are considering a wireless device, research the limits on distance (normal office size is probably fine) and whether the signal requires direct line-of-sight (infrared). Let’s assume you can just plug it in (USB or parallel port). If Windows Vista doesn’t automatically recognize the printer when you turn it on, use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ Printers (or use the Printers link from the Control Panel). In the toolbar below the breadcrumbs, click the Add Printer button. Figure 7-6 shows the first dialog box that appears.
Figure 7-6: The Add Printer dialog box
Note When you look at a list of printers, you are likely to see these two, which are installed automatically: Fax — This can be used if fax services are installed and you have a fax-capable modem or an Internet-based fax service. Select this printer when you print any document to begin the process. Microsoft XPS Document Writer — XPS (XML Paper Specification) is a new page layout file format from Microsoft that preserves layout and fonts for easy sharing with other Windows users. XPS is arguably a competitor or alternative to Adobe Acrobat PDF. If no other printer is installed, this will be the default printer. If you print with this “printer” selected, you’ll create an XPS file, which can be opened in Internet Explorer.
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1. Choose a local or network printer. Add a local printer — Choose this if the printer connects directly to your computer by cable. Note that you should not need this if the printer connects via USB. Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer — If the printer is on the network or connects wirelessly. We’ll follow this path after we add a local printer. 2. Choose a printer port. Use an existing port — LPT1: would seem the most likely (after USB). If it is one of the COM ports, maybe you should replace that 10-year-old printer. Click Next. Create a new port — Very unlikely. 3. Install the printer driver. Browse the Manufacturer list on the left and select yours. Then browse the Printers list on the right and select yours. If you printer isn’t listed, you can try the Windows Update button or the Have Disk button (including downloaded drivers). Click Next. 4. Type a printer name. The manufacturer and model names appear automatically. You can change this. There’s nothing wrong with “Mark’s Printer” or “Color Printer.” Click Next. A checkbox sets this as the default printer. Is that what you want? 5. You’ve successfully added (some printer). Use the button to “Print a test page.” Click Finish. If, on the first Add Printer screen above, you chose “Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer,” you’ll follow these steps: 1. Searching for available printers. Shared network printers and wireless printers should appear in the box. If so, choose your printer and click Next. If not, make sure the printer is on. If your printer still doesn’t appear, click “The printer that I want isn’t listed.” The next screen allows you to browse for a printer or specify a printer by name, hostname, or TCP/IP address. Click Next. 2. Connecting to (printer) on (networked computer). You will get a warning that sharing a printer requires copying the driver from the other computer to yours. What if that driver has some malware? Let’s hope that’s unlikely. Click the install driver button and approve the UAC message. 3. Type a printer name. As with the local printer above, you name the printer and choose whether or not it is the default printer. Click Next. 4. You’ve successfully added (some network printer). Print a test page and click Finish.
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Tip One printer can have more than one driver. In other words, you can add the same printer a second time, giving you a duplicate icon in the Printers window. Then you can change settings for that second copy. Imagine two printers, one “draft,” the other “high quality”; or “black and white” vs. “color”; or manual feed vs. automatic. Your default printer might print black and white. When you want color, you select the color printer. This could be one printer (physically) controlled in different ways. I find this easier than running through printer settings before printing. During the second run of Add Printer, you’ll be asked about replacing the driver or using the same one. You can use the same one. Use the options we examine next to configure each printer uniquely.
In the end, in Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ Printers, you should see your new printer, as illustrated in Figure 7-7.
Figure 7-7: Installed printers
In Figure 7-7, note that the default printer has a checkmark in a circle (with a green background on-screen), whereas the two networked printers have the “pipe” under them.
PRINTING PREFERENCES AND PRINTER PROPERTIES From the Printers window in Hardware and Sound, two buttons configure the selected printer. Which one you use depends on the changes you need to make: 1. Select printing preferences. These are frequently used changes. This is also on the context menu for a printer as “Printing Preferences.” Basic tab — Includes paper size, orientation, and number of copies. Advanced tab — Options may include adjust resolution, toner/ink usage, watermarks, or other advanced features. Support tab — Provides manufacturer and printer driver information.
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2. Set printer properties. This offers many more options you are less likely to use beyond initial setup, if then. This is also on the context menu for a printer as “Properties.” General — The Printing Preferences button opens the dialog box we were just examining. Sharing — One of the benefits to networking is sharing resources, including printers. To share a printer, begin by adding that printer to the computer it is directly connected to. Use this tab for that printer to “Share this printer.” This option can also be found on the context menu for a printer. Give the printer a recognizable name. To use the shared printer on other computers on the network, follow the steps above for adding a network printer. (If you do nothing at all, there is a chance the printer will be discovered automatically, if you can wait to find out.) See Chapter 11 for more about networking. If your shared network printer doesn’t show up on its own on an XP machine, on that machine you can use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Printers and Faxes to Add a Printer and choose a network printer, or you can use XP’s My Network Places to browse to the printer and choose Connect from the context menu. Either way, you’ll be warned about installing drivers from other machines. Ports — It is very unlikely you’ll need this. This option identifies the physical connection used by the printer. Advanced — There is an option here to restrict times the printer is available to the network. Color Management — This leads to advanced color management settings. Security — With this, you can limit other users’ permissions to modify settings, although that is unlikely. Tray Settings — Use this to control tray selection, including manual feed. I create an extra printer driver for manual feed.
Tip As you use the preceding two sets of options, you may find you can’t change some settings. If the printer is not attached to your computer but shared over the network, those settings may have to be changed on the computer it is attached to. However, some settings, local or network, can only be changed with “elevated permissions.” Right-click over a printer and use “Run as administrator”; see Properties, in particular.
Adding a Second Pointing Device Windows Vista supports multiple pointing devices simultaneously — mice, trackballs, touch pads, pens, and game controllers. I use a pen and two wireless mice. Most of these devices are USB. As
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such, you may not have to do anything but plug the device into a USB port and let Windows Vista identify the device and find the driver. I highly recommend wireless mice. Aren’t you tired of dragging that tail or moving things that get set down on it? Use rechargeable batteries for your mouse (and wireless keyboard).
Tip Multiple pointing devices may help you avoid physical injury from repetitive stress by mixing up your motion. They may also alleviate potential boredom.
SETTING MOUSE PROPERTIES
From Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound, choose Mouse (or use the Mouse link from the Control Panel screen). The options available under Mouse Properties may vary with your particular device, which may also have separate utilities associated with it. You should look at every tab and every option, but let me highlight a few: Buttons tab, Button configuration — Switch primary and secondary buttons. Lefties need it. So do pranksters looking to flummox a colleague. Pointer tab, Scheme — Try different schemes for fun and improved visibility. You can further customize individual mouse conditions. The Browse button lets you pick from any of the effects in any of the schemes. Wheel tab, Vertical Scrolling — The default of scrolling three lines with each turn of the mouse wheel seems too stingy to me, especially on Web pages. I recommend “One screen at a time.” If you have an alternative pointing device, such as a pen or game controller, you can control its settings through a different properties dialog. Under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound, see “Pen and Input Devices” (discussed in Chapter 18) and “Game Controllers.”
Adding a Second Monitor I’m not talking about replacing your monitor, which is usually as simple as plugging the new monitor into your graphics card. I’m talking about one computer with two monitors (or more, up to nine). The first question is: Do you already have a graphics card that supports two monitors? Most people do not. However, you may want to upgrade your graphics card anyway, so consider a two-monitor card — and a lot of graphics memory (128 MB per monitor minimum, but 256 MB per monitor is better). Or consider buying two cards if your case has the available slots.
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Caution Plugging in a graphics card to replace the old or as a second card isn’t any harder or riskier than plugging in RAM. Here, the key issue is the type of card connection or slot you have available. You want to match your computer’s slot to the slot required by the graphics card (ISA, PCI, AGP, or PCI Express). Monitors also have different kinds of connectors, but you’re less likely to have a problem here because there are fewer options and most cards have the two most common: analog and digital. In one test system, I had an old VGA graphics card that worked fine with XP with a second monitor. In Windows Vista, however, it didn’t seem to be recognized at all. For various reasons, I bought a new graphics card that supports two monitors (under $100). I was shocked when the new card didn’t work, either. I was even more shocked when, after hours of troubleshooting, I discovered the fix was to remove the original AGP graphics card. Vista requires that multiple graphics cards come from the same manufacturer. This seems like a step back from XP’s flexibility. I was so close to having three monitors!
When Windows Vista starts, if there are two compatible graphics cards (or a 2-for-1), it will recognize two monitors. If one of the monitors is blacked out, you need to select Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Personalization ➝ Display Settings (see Figure 7-8). If you don’t see two numbered boxes, representing the two monitors, you don’t have the graphics card requirements. If you do see two, select the nonworking monitor and check “Extend the desktop onto this monitor.” Then drag any open window or desktop icon from one monitor to the next. If it doesn’t work, try dragging in the opposite direction.
Figure 7-8: Two monitors or more. My second monitor is on the left, so I had to drag that icon to the left side of number one.
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Now you can have e-mail in one window and the Web browser in another. And so much more.
Tip Laptops are probably ready to use a second (external) monitor. Do not assume you can use only the attached monitor or an external monitor/projector singly, even if that’s the way it works right now. Plug in your external monitor and click the option to extend your desktop. Several companies make a USB graphics card and connector. I have not tested these, but it is a great idea if it spares you from opening the case and plugging in a card — if doing so still matches the capabilities you’d get by doing it old school. Here are a couple to consider: Triton SEE2 — www.trittontechnologies.com USB Nivo — www.newnhamresearch.com
Adding External Storage Like closet space, everyone needs more disk space. In the old days, you might have opened up the case and stuck in a new internal hard drive. Some still do that today, but I wonder “why bother?” There are myriad external hard drives and CD and DVD players and recorders that connect to USB (or FireWire). For external hard drives, buy the largest capacity and fastest spinning drive you can afford (7200 RPM, not 5400 RPM). When you get your next computer, these devices can easily follow you like a well-trained puppy. One characteristic that differentiates these devices is whether they need an external power supply or can run off the power provided by USB. There is a slew of small, portable drives ranging from 8 GB to 80 GB that would be suitable for portable storage with a laptop or media player. For a desktop, you probably want something larger, which is likely to have a power supply. You may be able to find something under 100 GB, but don’t bother. 500 GB drives may seem huge, but they are under 50 cents a GB. I can’t recommend a specific brand; I’ve had no-name brands last for years and big-name brands go belly-up repeatedly in no time.
Tip Before long, you’ll have more USB devices than you have USB ports. Although there are lots of USB hubs for multiplying connections, be aware that USB devices that don’t have their own external power source will compete for power in those hubs; you may need a powered hub. It is also possible to add a USB 2 card to your computer, which is essential if you have the older and slower USB 1.x.
AUTOPLAY Removable drives, such as USB disks and flash drives, as well as CD/DVD drives, support AutoPlay. Often, when a disk is plugged into USB or inserted in a CD/DVD drive, Windows Vista will ask what you want to do (see Figure 7-9).
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Figure 7-9: AutoPlay varies with the content found on a removable drive.
You may also be able to set Windows Vista to automatically perform an operation when a disk is inserted. A frustrating aspect of this is that AutoPlay is configured to the type of files Vista finds on the device, not necessarily a specific disk. If more than one type of file is on that disk, you may still get prompted or Windows Vista may play or show the wrong type. That is, it may play music when you want to see pictures, or vice versa. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ AutoPlay (see Figure 7-10).
Figure 7-10: Change the default behavior for categories of files.
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Under Media, look at the options for Audio CD: Play audio CD using Windows Media Player Rip music from CD using Windows Media Player Play audio CD using Windows Media Center Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer Take no action Ask me every time Do you want every audio CD you insert to be ripped (copied to your disk and media library)? Do you prefer Media Player or Media Center (or some other media player)? Those last three options appear for most media types. Other options, depending on the media type, include the following: Run enhanced content Install or run program Import pictures using Windows View pictures using Windows (or Windows Media Center) For blank media: Burn an audio/video/data disc (CD or DVD)
Device Manager Deep troubleshooting may involve the Device Manager. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ Device Manager (or press Win+R and then type devmgmt.msc). See Figure 7-11. This hierarchy of devices can be expanded and collapsed like a folder display. Most of the objects listed have Properties that can be explored with a right-click of the mouse. (Be careful about changes here.) In particular, look for devices flagged with an exclamation point on a yellow background (configuration problem) or a question mark on a white background (no driver installed). The context menu gives you some direct options; use Properties for more options, especially on the Driver tab (refer to Figure 7-11). Although some problems are best left alone, you can try the following: Reinstall Driver (on the General tab) Update Driver Roll Back Driver
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Figure 7-11: Device Manager may show problems with exclamation points, question marks, or arrows.
Be sure to check the Windows Update website and the manufacturer’s website for information and updates. If nothing helps, you can try the following: Ignore the problem — The device is probably unusable. Uninstall the driver — The device will be re-detected on the next boot, which sometimes actually fixes things or gives you a second chance. Disable the device — Consider this a last resort for devices that nag you. Before you give up on a device (and disable or unplug it), use Windows Update (Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Windows Update). Also check the manufacturer’s website.
Caution It is tempting to search the Web for drivers. Surely other people have had the same problem with an odd piece of hardware. While I recommend you search the Web for discussions of problems with your device, be very careful about where you download drivers from. Drivers can be used to introduce malware into your system.
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Summary The right hardware can make your life easier or more fun. Add a second pointing device to give your repetitive stress a break. Add a printer and share it with the network. Add a second monitor for more workspace (plus the total coolness factor). Add an external hard drive for more storage (and another as backup). Add a USB flash drive for ReadyBoost caching. Each of these devices requires a device driver to enable Windows Vista to use that hardware. With newer hardware that connects via USB, these device drivers are usually installed automatically. Problems with devices may send you to Windows Update, to a manufacturer’s website, or to the Device Manager. In the next chapter, we’ll work with maintenance tools to help improve the system’s performance.
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System Health and Maintenance
W
e often wonder if we are getting the most out of our computers, especially as we sit drumming our fingers waiting for some process to begin or end. Is the system configured optimally? What can you do get the system into shape and keep it that way? This chapter explores the available tools for monitoring and maintaining your computer. Along the way, you’ll learn about the following: Performance tools and the new Windows Experience Index Problem Reports and Health Reports Routine maintenance, including Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter Not surprisingly, Windows Vista has many tools for examining and maintaining your computer. In this chapter, I will start with the tools I find most accessible and practical. In the process, I will skip some tools you may encounter along the way.
Note I appreciate that the readers of the PC Magazine series are serious computerists unafraid of technical details. At the same time, one of my goals is to stress the most useful tools while occasionally giving short shrift to others that are, nonetheless, potentially useful under less general circumstances. If you think “there must be more to this,” you may well be correct — there almost always is. We’re peeling back the layers of an onion, not making soup.
System There is a screen that we will start with to “view basic information about your computer.” This screen, call it “System,” displays the information about your Windows edition, some crucial information about your hardware, networking information, and product activation information. Beyond the raw information, there are numerous useful links on this screen. 149
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Open this System window with Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ System (or Win+R, control system). This will be our starting point to explore the current condition of your system.
Note You can start many Windows Vista functions in several ways. The System window seems to have more ways than most, including two links on the Welcome Center and a unique key combination of Win+Break (no jokes, please), which is handiest of all. If you are familiar with Win+Break in XP, you’ll be surprised by how different this System screen is. We’ll dig our way down to the older dialog box shortly.
Figure 8-1 is an example of the information displayed by System.
Figure 8-1: System (Win+Break)
Note I’d like to call this screen “System Information,” but there is a different, older System Information tool still around. In another location, this is launched as “System Properties,” but, again, there is a different, older tool by the same name. Clearly, it is not a System Center or System Explorer. In the taskbar, address bar, and Control Panel, it is simply “System,” an unprecedented example of excess brevity. What to call something is not a frivolous matter; it affects your ability to find information in this book and to relate that information to other sources.
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The categories of information displayed in System include the following: Windows edition — Which edition do you have? The name and copyright appear here. System — Here the processor (CPU) type, memory (RAM) amount, and system type (32-bit versus 64-bit) are displayed. If you have Tablet PC functionality, you’ll see that as “available.” Above those lines is a rating known as the Windows Experience Index (WEI — pronounced the way Lucille Ball pronounced “Wah!”). We’ll examine the WEI more closely in a moment. Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings — This is networking information (refer to Chapter 11). You can use the Change Settings link to change your computer’s description and domain or workgroup name. By the way, the System Properties dialog box that appears when you click Change Settings contains five of the seven tabs from XP’s System Properties (the one Win+Break leads to directly in XP); the missing tabs are General (whose information is on the previous System screen) and Automatic Updates (now part of Security or System and Maintenance under the Control Panel). Windows activation — Activating Windows Vista involves sending information to Microsoft about your computer and your copy of Windows Vista. Through activation, Microsoft attempts to track where copies of Windows Vista are installed as part of an effort to thwart piracy. You must activate Windows Vista within 30 days of installation or first startup. If you do not, Windows Vista will eventually refuse to run. You may as well activate as a part of installation or first-time startup. The Navigation pane of the System screen links directly to tasks we will approach in a different order.
Windows Experience Index Many different groups have created benchmarks for evaluating hardware performance and for comparing systems. PC Magazine uses the Winstone benchmark, for instance. Now Microsoft has entered the game with the Windows Experience Index. The first time Windows Vista starts on a machine, a performance evaluation automatically runs to rate your hardware and calculate a score. You can see the Performance Information and Tools (the PIT) window by clicking the Windows Experience Index link in the System window, or through Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Performance and Information Tools. As shown in Figure 8-2, the PIT window displays the same WEI shown on the System screen, but it also breaks that number down to constituent numbers. Each of these categories of hardware is evaluated and included in the final WEI (numbers are on a scale from 0 to 5.9). That may seem like an odd place to cap scores. We can assume that in a couple of years, new hardware will score higher than current hardware. Does a score of 5 sound better on a scale of 1 to 5.9 or 1 to 10? Not that 10 can remain a viable cap for long, either. Microsoft is trying not to embarrass you too much today, knowing that your screamer will be a doorstop in five years. Processor (CPU) — The CPU is the component that executes the instructions or calculations in programs and the operating system. This number rates the CPU’s speed or
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Figure 8-2: The components used to calculate the Windows Experience Index base score
Memory (RAM) — RAM is the workspace for currently executing programs and associated data. Low RAM forces Windows Vista to swap memory more, which is the process of moving code out of RAM to disk, swapping that code back when it is needed. This often feels like hesitation as you switch from one active task to another. Even with all the RAM in the world, Windows performs this swap. It may do it less with more RAM (or fewer active tasks). The example machine has only 512 MB of RAM, the minimum for a “Vista Capable PC” system (1 GB is the minimum for a “Vista Premium Ready PC”). The Home Basic and Home Premium editions of Windows Vista cannot use more than 8 GB of RAM. Graphics — Aero is the name of the features that comprise the new look and feel of Windows Vista, including transparent windows, live preview thumbnails in the taskbar, and the “task switching” feature called Flip 3-D (Win+Tab). It is possible to run Windows Vista but lack the capacity to support Aero. This rating gives you a sense of how well suited your graphics card is for the requirements for Aero. The original graphics card for this example system scored a 1.0 and did not support Aero. A relatively cheap graphics card with 256 MB graphics RAM provided Aero support and a middling score of 2.9. (The minimum graphics RAM for Vista Premium Ready PCs is 128 MB.) Gaming Graphics — The rating for gaming graphics is a specialized evaluation of the graphics system in terms of performance for demanding games and business presentation
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tools. A lower score here implies that more demanding games may not run or may not run well on a system. Virtual reality role-playing games demand more of the graphics subsystem than a card game does. In fact, even the new card games included with Windows Vista require 1.0 and recommend a score of 2.0. Primary hard disk — Hard disks are almost always evaluated in terms of capacity, which keeps increasing every year (not for the disks you have, mind you). This rating is less a measure of available space (a minimum of 15 GB free space is required to install Windows Vista) and more weighted toward spin rate plus caching. Most drives spin at 5,400 RPM or 7,200 RPM — of course, faster is better. Caching or buffering can reduce disk reads by holding data temporarily; data found in the cache eliminates reading the disk. Larger drives tend to have large caches (often 8 MB versus 16 MB) — larger is better. The example drive has the higher spin rate but a smaller cache.
Tip All this talk about cache may remind you about ReadyBoost. Plug a USB flash drive into your system and see if you can use it for caching. This will not improve the WEI score, but may improve performance, nonetheless. See Chapter 7.
Let’s compare just two of the systems I used throughout this book. The desktop system is five years old; I upgraded the RAM and the video card. The laptop is one year old. Feature
Desktop Score
Laptop Score
Processor
2.4
3.4
Memory (RAM)
2.9
4.1
Graphics
2.9
1.9
Gaming graphics
2.6
1.0
Primary hard disk
4.4
3.8
WEI base score
2.4
1.0
The laptop is a strong winner in the first two categories (new processor and 1 GB versus 512 MB RAM). The new video card gives the desktop the edge in both graphics categories, though it’s nothing to brag about. The surprise might be that a five-year-old 40 GB hard drive fares so well against a one-year-old 60 GB drive, until you consider that laptops often have drives that spin at 5,400 RPM. Notice that the final base score of the WEI is not an average but the lowest of the five subscores. Weakness in any one area reduces the entire score. You may think that is unfair, but a benefit is that it focuses on the weakest link. On the desktop system, the weakest link is the CPU. Although a CPU upgrade is possible, the effort and cost are not warranted, in my opinion. On the other hand, when a graphics score of 1 brought the whole system down to 1, that was clearly a worthwhile
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upgrade — cheap and easy. For the laptop, the gaming graphics is the weakest link, and I don’t think it can be upgraded. At the same time, be careful about taking this number too seriously. One might conclude that if the desktop CPU is not going to be upgraded, there is no benefit to other upgrades — the base score will remain 2.4 no matter how much the others rise. However, more RAM will clearly benefit this system, while also being relatively cheap and easy to install. Replacing the hard drive would probably not boost performance as much. Neither more RAM nor a bigger hard drive will affect the base score, though either will improve the system. As for the laptop, there really may not be any costeffective upgrade. Expect to see these scores on new systems and components. Microsoft indicates that the WEI base score will also appear on software, indicating the base score or component score a system should have to run that software. There are several useful links on the PIT screen, including the Tasks on the left. These links appear below the score: Learn how you can improve your computer’s performance — This link, at the top of the screen, opens a help page with a description of steps you can take to improve performance. That help page does not address improving the WEI base score. We’ll explore system tune-up later. What do these numbers mean? — This link opens a help page explaining the calculation of the WEI. View and print details — This link opens a page of details. Specific model information appears, including network adapters. Learn more about the scores online — At this time, this link opens Microsoft’s product page without anything specifically related to the WEI. However, the WEI subscores are passed to this URL, so we can assume that a tailored Web page will appear someday. View software for my base score online — This link opens www.windowsmarketplace.com. As with the Microsoft product page, nothing is currently tailored to the WEI but is presumably in the works. Update my score — This link reruns the tests that produce the score. If your hardware hasn’t changed, expect the same score. Eventually, you will pursue the Tasks on the left side of the screen. For now, close the Performance and Information Tools window.
Where to Now? There are many directions to head from the Performance Information and Tools screen. We could follow any of the links under Tasks; Advanced Tools opens a huge set of possibilities. We could also return to the System window to follow links under Tasks. Most of the tools we encounter through either of
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these paths are informational, not configurable. Information is good — very good — and an important part of understanding your system and diagnosing problems or performance. Unfortunately, a lot of this information is for a very special purpose and arcane outside of a narrow application (however important). Further, different functions keep bringing up very similar information in slightly different formats along with unique little extras. It can be maddening to sort out. I’m not abdicating my duty to you. I’m suggesting we step back from an ocean of data and look for a few precious items along the shore. Poetic metaphors aside, let’s look at two tools for diagnosing problems with your system.
Note You’ll find that many functions can be reached through more than one path. Which path to follow depends in part on where you start. I generally discuss functions as they are grouped on certain screens. However, at times I will ignore the first sighting of a function and approach it later down a different path. I think Microsoft needs to work harder to group related functions. There seem to be many different places to find functions for examining and improving the system.
Problem Reports and Solutions Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Maintenance ➝ Problem Reports and Solutions (or Win+R, wercon.exe) to see what problems have been recorded by the system and reported to Microsoft. Among the problems you might find here is anything that crashed or stopped working. We can be certain that these automatic reports were a crucial tool in beta testing. With hundreds of millions of users, there has to be an automated method for reporting problems. Microsoft’s privacy statement says that no personally identifying information is intentionally collected in this process, with the exception of your IP address. Microsoft acknowledges that pieces of memory or files that might be part of a problem report may contain personal information, but that this will not be used or shared. However, information pertaining to third-party products may be shared with them. Problem Reports (for short) defaults to “See problems to check.” If nothing is listed on the first screen, use the Task link to “View problem history.” This will display problems Windows has identified (see Figure 8-3). These items can be sorted by any of the column headings. Right-click over any problem to view details, group differently, or check for a solution. Note any problem products — watching for those problems in other contexts. Use the OK or back button to return to the main Problems screen. Look at “Change settings.” I recommend you leave the default to automatically report problems. You’ll still be prompted to confirm. You may want to check this function periodically as a part of routine maintenance, perhaps more frequently in the early days of using Windows Vista, or whenever a problem arises.
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Figure 8-3: View problem history in Problem Reports and Solutions.
System Diagnostics Report Frankly, the easiest way to run the System Diagnostics Report is through the Run function — that is, press Win+R and then type perfmon.exe /report. However, you can also find it by choosing Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Performance Information and Tools, and then clicking the Advanced Tools link under Tasks. Much useful information is here, but let’s start with the last option to “Generate a system health report.” (What’s in a name? “Health report” appears in that link, but not anywhere in the resulting report; if you used perfmon.exe /report, you never see the words “Health report.”) Under Diagnostic Results in the report, look first at any Warnings listed (see Figure 8-4). If any appear, come back to these later to follow links for symptoms and related information. Do any of these warnings seem connected to the problems in Problem Reports?
Tip Each heading is collapsible to help you focus on specific sections. In the middle of each section heading is an icon that might look like details in a window; it has no tooltip. Click the icon for a menu of all the layers of this report.
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Figure 8-4: The System Diagnostics Report
The Performance section (not shown in Figure 8-4; scroll down for it just below the Basic System Checks) has an overview of four areas of hardware: CPU, Network, Disk, and Memory (RAM). Under the Status column, look for stoplight color-coded indicators of status. More subtle are indicators of notes or comments that appear as a tiny pencil and pad; hover over the little icon for pop-up information. There is a lot to digest here, not all of which is equally important. Expand and collapse headings to get a sense of the technical detail. Return to the Warnings section if you had any messages there and click the link next to Symptom. This will jump down to the corresponding detail, which may be almost indecipherable. Here are a few other items to look for: Software Configuration — Startup Programs is one of several places in Windows Vista that reports which programs start when Windows Vista starts. Startup programs can be launched through several different functions (including but not limited to the startup folder under C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs\startup\). The command for each startup item listed in this section of the report indicates the program that runs, not necessarily which Windows function starts it. (See the following section on Startup for more.)
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Part III: Making It Your Windows Vista Hardware Configuration — See the System heading for interesting information about your physical and logical disks. Disk — Note the Hot Files section reporting on files causing the most disk activity (reads and writes). These are likely to include system files, particularly pagefile.sys and $LogFile. The purpose of LogFile should be obvious from its name. The pagefile is the file Windows Vista uses to swap chunks of code and data out of memory and to the disk; the pagefile is also called the swapfile (more about that to come). Also under Disk, you’ll find performance counters labeled Physical Disk Counters, which report on very specific disk activity like reads and writes. Memory — You’ll find performance counters that report on memory. Scan this list for counters with the word “faults” in them to find areas you may want to investigate further, though some faults have to be tolerated (with computers as with people).
If you want to compare these results with a later report, use File ➝ Save As. The file type is an HTML document (a Web page) and the default location is Documents. Use File ➝ Send To to create an e-mail attachment. You can also print this report (collapse unneeded headings to save paper; with all expanded, this is a long report).
Startup Programs that run automatically at startup can be initiated from quite a few locations. One of the simplest options to explore is the Startup menu under Start. Use Start ➝ All Programs. Right-click over the Startup menu item and use Open or Explore, (You should check the All Users variations as well.) If there is a shortcut here for a program you don’t want to run automatically at every startup, delete it or drag it out. If there is a program you want to run at every startup, create a shortcut for it here — see the “Get More Out of the Task Manager” sidebar later in this chapter. There are two very different tools for dealing with startup problems. One is a part of Windows Defender (Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Defender). See Tools ➝ Software Explorer and examine the Startup Programs category. Highlight a program for details. Be careful about removing a program. Do you know how to put it back? That may simply involve putting a shortcut for the program in the Startup folder. It is somewhat easier to disable a program. See if that solves or creates problems when you restart; you can enable programs through the same steps. The other tool is System Configuration (Win+R, msconfig.exe). On the Startup tab, you can uncheck a program to disable it. On the Boot tab, check Boot Log to create a log file tracking in detail every step executed during boot. The Boot tab also has Safe mode or Safe boot options (instead of using F8 at the moment of booting). There are many other interesting options in System Configuration. For example, see the Tools tab for access to quite a few other functions (some of which we’ll arrive at down a different path). When you next start Windows Vista, System Configuration should display a message that it is running, but, ironically, Windows Defender prevents that message from displaying (though System Configuration did do its job up to that point). System Configuration is not a tool to run every at startup but just to investigate startup problems. After that, use the normal startup option.
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Problem Solving What do you do if you discover a problem without a clear solution? (Well, it wouldn’t be a problem otherwise, would it?) Proceed through each of these steps: 1. Windows Update — There is always the hope that a problem with your system will be fixed by a visit to Windows Update. Even if you have automatic updates, you are not getting all the updates available because automatic updates are only those considered critical. 2. Manufacturer’s website — Ideally, Windows Update has recent files (especially device drivers) from most manufacturers. In reality, Microsoft can’t keep up. Check the manufacturer’s website for updates. 3. Search the Web — We’re seldom alone with a problem, especially with the blogosphere cranking 24/7. Someone out there has probably run into the same problem you’re having. They may even have a clue about what to do next. 4. Dig deeper — Later in this chapter, we’ll look at still more diagnostic tools. 5. Disable or remove — Some things can’t be fixed (right now, at least). Several of the tools in this chapter have options to temporarily disable a troublesome function. If the problem originated with a new program, uninstall the new program. (See Chapter 9.) 6. Avoid or ignore — Technically, this could be step 1 for many people. Life is full of problems; we’re all ignoring worse ones, so maybe you can live with some glitch. This may especially be true for problems you are unaware of until you dig deeper.
Routine Maintenance There are tasks you should perform regularly and routinely to improve the performance of your computer, some of which can be scheduled to run automatically: Windows Backup — Windows Backup includes File and Folder Backup, Previous Versions, System Restore, and Complete PC image backup. The details are in Chapter 5. Problem Reports and Solutions — Discussed above. Windows Update — Discussed in Chapter 4. Malware scans — Discussed in Chapter 4. Error-checking — Error-checking performs read and write tests for every sector of a disk. If an area of the disk is detected as bad or failing, Scandisk attempts to move the data in that area to a new area and to mark that area as bad, meaning it will not be used in the future.
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Part III: Making It Your Windows Vista Find Error-checking most easily by right-clicking over any disk in Windows Explorer. Choose Properties, then the Tools tab. The first option is Error-checking, which is also known as Scandisk or Check Disk. Select both checkboxes, automatically fix and attempt recovery, and then click the Start button. Most of the time, you are likely to get a message that this cannot be run at this time because the disk is in use. Click the Schedule Disk Check button. Most scheduled tasks run after Windows Vista has completely started; this one runs at boot time before Windows Vista loads. See also the sidebar “Command-Line Alternatives to Scandisk and Defrag.” Disk Cleanup — The Disk Cleanup function enables you to quickly remove unnecessary files from the system, freeing up disk space. I recommend running this before Disk Defragmenter, which moves that freed space around. Right-click over any disk in Windows Explorer; choose Properties. On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button (or Win+R, cleanmgr.exe). You are prompted to clean up either just your files or files for all users on this computer. If you choose “my files,” you’ll be prompted to select the disk to cleanup. If you choose “all users,” there is no disk prompt. Disk Cleanup performs an analysis of the disk and presents a dialog box. Note the amount of space each item will free up. Click the text of an item (not the checkbox) to see a description below. Check those items you wish to delete. My recommendation? Starting from the default selections, check Recycle Bin if the space is more than a few hundred megabytes. Check Temporary Files and uncheck Thumbnails. Do not check Hibernation File until you read about Power Options in Chapter 18. Do not check Offline Files. Disk Defragmenter — As files are deleted or moved, gaps of unused space appear on a disk. As large files are saved, these files are sometimes split by saving fragments in those gaps. This is normal disk behavior and not exactly a problem. However, fragmented files take longer to save or open because the fragments must be gathered from around the disk. Fragmented space may go unused. Defragmenting rearranges files into contiguous blocks of disk space and most of the empty space into one large block. Like Error-checking, Disk Defragmenter (“Defrag”) is also on the Tools tab for the Properties of any disk. Click the Defragment Now button (or Win+R, dfrgui.exe). The Disk Defragmenter dialog box appears (this is very different from XP). Defragmenter is scheduled to run automatically. In this dialog box, you can disable that (though there may be no reason to do so). Use the button to Modify Schedule. If Defrag is scheduled to run when the computer is off, it can’t, of course. Nor will it automatically run the next time you start the computer (as File Backup does), so schedule it for a time the computer is typically on. Lunchtime? Your options are daily (recommended), weekly, and monthly. If you want to run Defrag immediately, use the Defragment Now button that appears on the same screen as Modify Schedule. Note that it may be best to avoid activity so that Defrag can get the job done more quickly. See the sidebar “Command-Line Alternatives to Scandisk and Defrag.”
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Tip Some people may miss the display XP put on as it moved sectors. More important, many people say Microsoft’s defragmenter doesn’t do a good enough job (how good to you have do be to be better than nothing?). AusLogics Disk Defrag is a free defragmenter. Its in-progress fragmentation map is better than XP’s. It does not have built-in scheduling, but you can add it to startup or use Windows’ Task Scheduler. See www.auslogics .com/disk-defrag/. You may have to run this program as administrator (right-click over the program under Start ➝ All Programs ➝ AusLogics Disk Defrag menu ➝ AusLogics Disk Defrag program and choose Run as Administrator). Diskeeper 2007 is a commercial defragmenter that comes in several editions with 15-day trials. It has built-in scheduling. See www.diskeeper.com.
Figure 8-5 shows a composite of the two screens applicable to error-checking, cleanup, and defragmentation. The dialog box on the left appears when you right-click over a disk in Windows Explorer (disk V: in this case). The General tab appears first. At the top is the name of the disk (you can change it here), then the disk type and file system (NTFS may be more reliable; FAT may be faster but doesn’t support the largest drives). Then you see both graphics and text documenting used and free disk space. As a rule of thumb, you may start to experience difficulties with 15 percent or less free space. Note the Disk Cleanup button and the earlier related text. At the bottom of the General tab are two other options: Compress this drive to save disk space — Disk compression uses mathimagic to reduce the space required by most files. This process made more sense when hard disks were measured in megabytes instead of gigabytes. Before you check that box (something I don’t recommend), consider the following: The initial compressing takes time — quite a long time if you have a lot of files. Ironically, you need enough free space to perform the compression. At the moment you most desperately need this, it probably won’t work. That is not an argument in favor of doing compression to a brand-new disk (though that is the fastest option). The processes of compressing and decompressing files as they are used take some system resources. It is surely better to buy an external USB hard disk and move some of these files to it. Index this drive for faster searching — XP users often turned this off because it stunk. Windows Vista searching is vastly improved, but it depends on indexing. Don’t disable this. An arguable exception would be a drive that has no data, is never searched, or has confidential contents that should not be searchable (medical patient or legal client files, for example).
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The Tools tab has buttons for Error-checking, Defragmentation, and Backup. Each of these chores, including Disk Cleanup, should be performed at least once a month. Most of them can be scheduled to run automatically more frequently, even daily.
Figure 8-5: Disk Cleanup (left side), Error-checking, and Disk Defragmenter (right side) from Properties for any disk
Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter can also be found through Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ System Tools.
Command-Line Alternatives to Scandisk and Defrag We frequently use the Run command (Win+R) throughout the book. We have less use for the command prompt (a DOS-style command line). When we do need the command prompt, it is usually most easily brought up by pressing Win+R and entering cmd (short for command). The two commands we’re about to consider require Administrator privileges for the command prompt. One way to run cmd with administrative privileges is to locate Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Command Prompt, and right-click over the Command Prompt menu item. Choose Run as Administrator from the context menu for Command Prompt. Notice that the title bar says Administrator: Command Prompt; the normal command prompt title bar displays the path for cmd.exe. Error-checking is known as Check Disk (though it is spelled chkdsk). Its advantage is that it can be run immediately and doesn’t have to be delayed until the next boot. At the admin prompt, type chkdsk /? to list the parameters of the chkdsk command. Try chkdsk by itself at the prompt, which will report on the system or boot drive without making any changes. You can also add a drive letter to the command to check that drive.
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The /f parameter will fix problems. If you get a prompt that the drive is in use and offering to schedule Check Disk for the next boot, you can say yes or no. You can force the scan of a non-boot disk with chkdsk d: /f /x, where d: is the non-boot drive and /x forces the scan by unmounting the drive; /x will not work with the boot drive. You should not be using the non-boot drive for any other process at the same time. This option runs only three out of five tests, so the boot-time errorchecking is preferable. A related command is chkntfs d: /c, where d: is a specific drive letter. This schedules a check at boot time, which will determine whether or not chkdsk needs to run. When you schedule a check using the graphical version of Error-checking (through the System Properties dialog box), chkdsk runs at boot whether needed or not (which is a good thing to do monthly or so). Defrag also has a command-line alternative. At the admin prompt, type defrag.exe /? to list the parameters of the defrag command. Try defrag d: -a, where d: is a specific drive letter and the -a parameter performs analysis without any changes. The new graphical disk defragmenter no longer has analysis, so this may be useful to determine the degree of fragmentation. Add the -v parameter for verbose output — more details. Using defrag -c -w will perform a full defragmentation of all drives. If you want to cancel any command at the command prompt, use Ctrl+C. Avoid closing the command prompt window if either of these commands is in process; they may not terminate as smoothly as newer Windows commands.
Digging Deeper With just the tools provided with Windows Vista, you can dig much deeper into the processes occurring behind the scenes. As you dig, expect to encounter some heady stuff. The problem will be separating the wheat from the chaff. Let’s examine a few more tools for learning more about what’s going on in your system.
Task Manager Windows Task Manager covers some of the same ground as the Performance Monitor (next), albeit more compactly and with a cool twist. One way to start the Task Manager is to right-click over the taskbar and choose it from the first context menu. The Task Manager sports six tabs, as shown in Figure 8-6, most of which can be sorted by column headings. Most also have context menus that may prove useful. Applications — This tab lists the status of applications in the taskbar (not the icon tray or hidden applications). The status will be Running or Not Responding. If a task is nonresponsive for a long time, you may want to highlight that task and use the End Task button.
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Figure 8-6: The Windows Task Manager
The context menu for a selected task enables you to control the window of the highlighted application in various ways (switch to, bring to front, minimize, maximize, cascade and tile, and end the task). The context menu also will create a dump file, a huge file full of program data most people have no use for. Finally, use the context menu for an application to jump to the related process on the Processes tab. Processes — Applications are made up of one or more processes. Every application in the previous tab will have at least one corresponding process on this tab (which may have a different name from the application); other processes in the list are in use by hidden applications, notification tray functions, and Windows Vista itself. You can end a process, but it may be riskier than ending a task if the process is also in use by another application; the application has other processes that don’t end smoothly when one is killed; or you’re wrong about the process. Still, when you can’t kill an application, you usually can kill its process. Click on column headings to sort (twice to bring larger values to the top). I often sort by the CPU column to see what’s using the most processor time. You may also be interested in which programs use the most RAM. In either case, you may discover programs that are resource hogs but not very useful to you, particularly programs that insist on “pre-loading” before you run them to give the impression of fast loading. More and more applications use this cheat. In XP, you can find System Idle Process in this list. That’s not really a process so much as an indication of inactivity. Windows Vista drops that indication, more clearly reflecting true activity.
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The context menu has an option to set priority for a process above or below normal. This may not be something you want to do very often, but you can boost the priority for a more demanding or important process or drop the priority for a less demanding or important process. This is a one-time change that does not affect the process the next time it runs (unless you change it every time). Services (not in XP’s Task Manager) — Processes use services provided by the system. At this low level, there is great opportunity for destabilizing the system by killing a service. On the other hand, some services start automatically but are never actually used on a specific system. Optimizing, even securing, a system may involve controlling services. However, if you are unfamiliar with a specific service, use the Services button because it provides more information and options.
Note It would be helpful if you could easily connect applications to processes to services. Processes often have a shorter name based on the longer application name. Using the context menu, you can go from an application to its related process. The context menu for each process has a Properties option that provides file information about that process — see the Location on the General tab and the Details tab, in particular. Although you can also go from process to service through the context menu, that jump does not go just to a related service, so it’s not as much help as it could be — especially because service names are often obscure. The context menu on the Service tab jumps to the Process tab, but not a related process. The context menu for a process does not jump to its application. These jumps could be threaded more usefully.
Performance — The Performance tab graphs CPU and RAM usage. The Resource Monitor button opens a variation of a function we’ll examine later in the section “Reliability and Performance Monitor.”
Tip There is a Sidebar gadget that displays CPU activity and RAM usage in two analog speedometer-like gauges. If the Sidebar displays on your desktop, right-click, choose Add Gadgets, and double-click the CPU Meter. See Chapter 9 for more on the Sidebar.
Networking — The Networking tab graphs network throughput. Users — The Users tab, which isn’t in XP’s Task Manager, displays the status of users logged in to your machine. Your user name appears here, of course. If there are other user accounts on this machine, you’ll see them listed (probably as “disconnected”). You may also see network users who are using your shared resources.
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Get More Out of the Task Manager In XP, Ctrl+Alt+Delete starts the Task Manager. In Windows Vista, that key combination brings up a screen that includes an option to Start Task Manager, Switch User, and Log Off. Shutdown is on this screen also, which explains why Shutdown is no longer a menu on the Task Manager. The other XP key combination for Task Manager, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, still works. You can also use Win+R, taskmgr.exe. Under Options, check Always On Top to keep Windows Task Manager on top of all other windows. On the Processes, Networking, and Users tabs, the View menu has an option to choose columns. Consider hiding columns that don’t tell you much; add a few that interest you. All the tabs enable you to resize the columns. All except Applications enable you to drag to rearrange columns. Most columns can be sorted by clicking on the heading (do it twice to change the order). Select the tab you want to monitor — try Applications. To reduce the screen space Task Manager uses, double-click between the row of tabs and the column headings; this hides the title bar, menus, and tabs. Now you can resize the Task Manager to something more compact. Drag it out of the way (second monitor, anyone?). Double-click in the white space above the column headings to restore the title bar, menus, and tabs. A small icon will appear in the icon tray whenever Task Manager is running. This icon shows CPU activity as a green bar; more of that bar is bright green than dark during heavy CPU activity (all bright green equals 100% CPU activity). This is a handy way to keep an eye on CPU activity. Hover over the icon for a tooltip displaying the percentage of CPU activity. Near 100% activity for more than a few seconds indicates something is hammering the CPU and warrants investigation through the Task Manager or Performance Monitor. Also under Options, check Hide When Minimized. Minimize instead of closing Task Manager. There won’t be a button for it in the taskbar, just the little green icon pulsing with CPU activity. Finally, add a shortcut for taskmgr.exe to the Startup menu: 1. Use Start ➝ All Programs. 2. Right-click over Startup and choose Open. 3. Right-click in the main window and choose New ➝ Shortcut. 4. In the box on the first screen of the dialog box that appears, type taskmgr.exe, and then click Next. 5. The shortcut name on the next screen can be anything. Click Finish. 6. Right-click over your new shortcut and choose Properties. In Run, select minimized. Click OK. Every time you start your system, taskmgr will run. These steps could be used for other programs (see “Shortcuts” in Chapter 9).
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Reliability and Performance Monitor Earlier, you ran the System Diagnostics Report (Win+R, perfmon.exe /report). That report collects 60 seconds’ worth of data, and then collates and analyzes that data. The report is a snapshot. The source of that data is the Reliability and Performance Monitor. This tool shows the performance data in real time, instead of a snapshot. Again, we are seeing some of the same data in a slightly different way. The simplest way to start this tool is with Win+R, perfmon.exe. Through menus, you can use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Performance Information and Tools; click on the Advanced Tools link under Tasks. At the top of the Advanced Tools window, you may see something listed under Performance Issues. If a link is there, click it for more details. From the Advanced Tools, choose Open Reliability and Performance Monitor (this is where you end up more directly with Win+R, perfmon.exe). On the Resource Overview screen of the Reliability and Performance Monitor (or, more briefly, the Performance Monitor), you’ll see graphs and summary text displaying activity in four areas (see Figure 8-7). The text for each category features a triangle to expand that category for more information. The categories duplicate some of the categories in the previous System Diagnostics Report. Some of this information was also graphed by the Task Manager.
Figure 8-7: The Performance Monitor
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The areas are as follows: CPU — The CPU graph and summary text report on processor activity. It is normal for the processor to hit 100% usage. However, over time, most processors will have considerable idle time. Expanding the summary text shows which tasks are currently occupying the CPU. Click the CPU column heading to sort the most demanding to the top. Disk — As with the CPU, you will occasionally see 100% activity as the system reads from or writes to disk. There should be periods of low activity as well. Expand the summary text heading to see which tasks are engaged in disk access. Network — This graph and heading track network utilization, activity on your computer that involves network functions. If you expand the details, you may see Internet traffic as well, including IP addresses being contacted. Memory — How much RAM is currently committed to running processes? Of these categories of performance, memory is likely to have the highest sustained percentage of activity. (RAM is always in use, even as other areas may be idle.) 100% use over a longer period implies the need for more RAM. Expanded details show which programs use RAM. These four components of the Performance Monitor can help you determine what, if anything, is placing an extraordinary demand on these areas of your system. Armed with that knowledge, you might simply choose to avoid running the demanding process or avoid multitasking that process. The Performance Monitor is a “snap-in” for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The console provides general organization and functionality, while the snap-ins provide specific tools. On the left of most snap-ins is a menu called the console tree. You will see more of these console snap-ins as you continue to learn more about Windows Vista. Use View ➝ Customize to display or hide items in the console window. The Run command for many snap-ins ends in .msc, so Performance Monitor could be run with perfmon.msc instead of perfmon.exe. (This is one of the few console snap-ins that also has an .exe version.) Earlier, in the Task Manager, on the Performance Tab, we saw a button for the Resource Monitor. If you use that button, you get a screen with the same initial Resource Overview of perfmon, but without the console tree on the left or the menu options above (and a different title bar). Resource Monitor is a subset of Performance Monitor. As such, its only limit is that you cannot choose other monitors through the console tree menu. In the console tree of perfmon, you’ll find Monitoring Tools. Under the Monitoring Tools, the Performance Monitor graphs activity for a selected system component (initially, it is the CPU). Using the green plus sign above that graph to add a “counter” opens a huge list of possibilities, including those counters you saw earlier in the System Diagnostic Report (all this stuff is tied together). You can monitor the performance of very specific activities and functions, especially any that caught your attention in the System Diagnostics Report. Also under Monitoring Tools is the Reliability Monitor, which reports on system stability. This includes four categories of failures (application, hardware, Windows, and miscellaneous), plus installation and uninstallation of software by date (change the date with the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner of the graph). This could be used to track down the source of some misbehavior.
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Continuing down the console tree of perfmon exposes more and more data that I, for one, can no longer digest. Deep down, under Reports ➝ System Diagnostics are copies of the System Diagnostics Reports you’ve run earlier. This might be useful to track down when something changed.
A Few More Utilities Here are three more utilities you may find useful from time to time. All three are snap-ins to the MMC. For each, use Win+R and the command listed in parentheses or create a shortcut to run the command. Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) — Spots problem hardware, and updates or rolls back device drivers. We saw this in the Chapter 7. Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) — Lists all drives and partitions with more information than Windows Explorer provides. Right-click over a partition for Change Drive Letter and Paths. You can use this to specify a drive letter, rather than let Windows Vista assign these letters. If you are going to do this, do it before you install applications that may not recognize a change here. Obviously, Format and Delete Partition are hugely dangerous functions. Windows Vista adds Shrink and Expand partition to the context menu, which can non-destructively adjust partition size. (Just the same, you do have a complete and current backup, right?) Computer Management (compmgmt.msc) — This one includes both of the previous utilities and many other functions.
Summary In this chapter we’ve been working with tools that report on the condition of your computer. These tools can be used to diagnose problems or get a deeper view of functions under the surface. These tools may help you determine whether something is wrong with your system. Moreover, if they can help you pin that problem to a particular program, you may be able to upgrade that program, change its preferences, uninstall it, or just avoid it. If you can’t identify a problem program, you may be able to identify the date a problem arose. If that doesn’t indicate the problem is a program you installed that day, you may still be able to roll back the system with System Restore (see Chapter 5). We’ve also discussed procedures for routine maintenance, which may help you avoid or correct difficulties. In the next chapter, we will explore shortcuts more fully and add and remove programs. We’ll also have a look at the accessories included with Windows Vista.
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hroughout this book, we look closely at many different programs. In this chapter, I want to talk about a few programs that might get overlooked and to discuss adding or removing programs of your choice. Microsoft always tosses in various programs, utilities, and games with any version of Windows. Many of these are never used twice, but you should spend some time exploring the accessories that come with Windows Vista.
Shortcuts to Programs (and Documents) Shortcuts are icons that open folders, programs, documents — almost anything can have a shortcut. Suppose you have a document in the Documents folder. You can use Start ➝ Documents to open that folder and click the file icon to open your file. If you want to open that file more easily or faster, you can drag the original document to the desktop. But you may not want to actually move the file, just make it easier to access. With a shortcut, you can also leave the original where it is and use the shortcut to open it — shortcuts can be on the desktop or almost anywhere. Before creating your own shortcuts, note that Windows already contains numerous shortcuts throughout the program. When you click Start, almost everything you see is a shortcut. Recent Items is just a folder into which Windows Vista places shortcuts to files you’ve recently worked with, leaving the originals wherever they may be. Everything under All Programs is a shortcut (or a menu of shortcuts). Similarly, icons in the Quick Launch toolbar are just shortcuts.
Creating Shortcuts The context menus in Figure 9-1 contain six ways to create shortcuts. These are not all equally good in all circumstances. Pin to Start Menu — Right-click over a program — this one doesn’t appear for documents, unfortunately — and choose Pin to Start Menu. A shortcut for the selected program is added to the upper-left portion of the Start menu. To remove that shortcut, right-click over it and choose Unpin from Start Menu (sometimes it is Remove from this list). Remember that you can use Start Search on the Start menu (Win key by itself) to quickly locate anything on the Start menu.
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Figure 9-1: These context menus shows four good ways to create shortcuts and two not-so-good ways.
Add to Quick Launch — Right-click over a program — this one also doesn’t work for documents — and choose Add to Quick Launch. To remove the new shortcut, right-click it and choose Delete. This option is new in Windows Vista. If Quick Launch doesn’t appear, right-click over an empty spot on the taskbar and use Toolbars ➝ Quick Launch. If you unlock the taskbar, you can resize Quick Launch or move it to the other side of the taskbar. You can also drag items in the Quick Launch toolbar to rearrange them. Send To ➝ Desktop — Right-click any file, choose Send To, and then Desktop (create shortcut). The desktop is a very convenient place for shortcuts. Remember Win+D as a quick way to display the desktop. The desktop is also at the top of folder listings like the one in Windows Explorer’s Navigation pane or in most File dialog boxes. Create Shortcut — Right-click over any file and choose Create Shortcut. What could be easier? Unfortunately, this option creates the shortcut in the same location as the original (if it can, or on the desktop). You don’t need a shortcut in the same folder as the original. Since you’ll have to drag the shortcut somewhere to make it more useful, I recommend one of the other techniques instead. Create Shortcuts Here — You can drag and drop any object — document, program, folder, disk, etc. — while holding down the right mouse button. When you release the mouse button, a context menu appears. The options are usually to Copy Here, Move Here, or Create Shortcuts Here. Use the latter for a new shortcut in the location you are dragging to. That includes the desktop, Start menu, and Quick Launch toolbar, though we have those other techniques just for those areas (though two of them only work for programs and this method works for anything).
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New ➝ Shortcut — In an empty spot in a folder, click the right mouse button and use New ➝ Shortcut. In this technique, you must type in the full name of the program or file (and, possibly, its path) or browse to the object, click Next, name the shortcut, and then click Finish. This method involves at least four steps, when you could use just one step with any of the other methods. While this is my least favorite variant, there are times when it is perfect. Try this method and type notepad for the program and shortcut name. Use whichever technique works best for you to create shortcuts that make it easier to open anything. Some shortcuts belong on the Start menu, some on the Quick Launch toolbar, some on the desktop (which has the most space available). You might want shortcuts that take you from one folder to another that you frequently jump to. Where you locate shortcuts is really up to you, but you might experiment with different locations to figure that out. You can delete any shortcut from any location and you will not affect the original object. Shortcuts are disposable and easily created (assuming you can find the original).
Tip One more convenient place for shortcuts is the Favorite Links list in the Navigation pane of Windows Explorer. Here, you cannot drag and drop shortcuts (links) to specific files, but you can drag and drop links to folders or disks. You could even make a folder just for shortcuts and create a link in Favorite Links to that folder. Favorite Links are stored under your user name in a folder called Links (\Users\yourusername\Links).
Shortcut Properties Shortcuts are useful without any further exploration, but you can actually do more with shortcuts. Right-click over any shortcut anywhere and choose Properties. Figure 9-2, for example, shows the Shortcut tab of the Properties for a shortcut to Notepad. There are several things here you might want to change for certain shortcuts: Shortcut key — One thing that may make a shortcut even more convenient is assigning a keystroke to run it. Click in the Shortcut Key box and press any key on the keyboard. If you press “A,” for example, you’ll see “Ctrl+Alt+A” in the box. If you click OK or Apply, pressing Ctrl+Alt+A will run this shortcut, meaning that keystroke combination will open the target (the original program, document, folder, whatever). The system uses Ctrl+Alt because most programs do not, so there shouldn’t be many conflicts. Notice that you also can use the function keys and they will work alone, without Ctrl+Alt. This could be practical, especially for anyone who has difficulty combining three keystrokes. Remember, however, that many function keys already perform useful functions you may not want to override.
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Figure 9-2: Properties for a shortcut
While you could create shortcut keys for all the letters, numbers, punctuation, and function keys, most people cannot remember 55 shortcut keys; so use shortcut keys with restraint. Windows neither provides an easy way to find out which shortcut keys are assigned, nor does it prevent you from assigning the same keystroke to two shortcuts (only one will work), nor does it let you use the Win key. (There are third-party tools that do these things.)
Note Why didn’t Microsoft finally include an option to use the Windows Logo key for shortcuts? There aren’t that many preset Win key combinations. Fortunately, there is a free program called WinKey for this purpose. Unfortunately, the publisher, Copernic, no longer updates it, though you’ll find it at www.copernic.com/ winkey and other freeware sites. Another program called HoeKey (www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm) is much more technical to configure. Although starting HoeKey in Windows Vista produces an error message (“There was a problem in your settings”), it runs fine after that. Still, both of these programs need to be updated for Windows Vista.
Run — Whether you use a shortcut key or not, when you use the shortcut, the object you are opening can open in a “normal” window (not necessarily minimized or maximized), a minimized window, or a maximized window. Some programs remember their previous state (minimized, normal, or maximized), while others do not. Change this option when you want a shortcut to always open a particular way.
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Comment — While you can use the Comment field any way you like, I type a note to remind myself of the shortcut key I’ve used (if any). So I might add a comment like “ctrl+alt+a” as a reminder of the shortcut keystrokes. Open File Location — If you need access to the original object the shortcut points to, use this button. It will open the folder that object is in and highlight the original. Change Icon — If you click this button, you’ll see the icons available for the shortcut — you can choose any. Although you can use the Browse button to shop around for icons from any application, the easiest way to get more icons to choose from is to delete the full filename from the box and click OK. Windows Vista automatically displays all the many icons from shell32.dll. Advanced — You will almost never need the options under Advanced Properties. However, “Run as administrator” is one of those options and there are some tasks that require these elevated privileges.
Tip There are other ways to run programs with elevated privileges, in addition to the Advanced Properties option on the Shortcut tab. When you right-click over any application or shortcut, you will see an option to “Run as administrator.” With a shortcut or program selected, pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter will run that program as administrator, which also works in the Start Search and Run dialog boxes. For more on this topic, see Chapter 12, “User Accounts and Family Safety.”
Remember that these properties apply to any shortcut and that the Start menu is full of shortcuts. So you may not need to create a new shortcut if you can find an existing one to change the properties of. As we move on to look at installed programs and to install your own, keep in mind the potential of shortcuts to programs, folders, or documents.
Accessories Look around Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories and its submenus. In particular, try out the following accessories: Calculator, Character Map, Notepad, Paint, and WordPad Command Prompt and Run Snipping Tool Windows Sidebar Sticky Notes Ultimate Extras Games
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Cross Reference We examine most of the system tools in Chapter 8. The Ease of Access, and most of the Tablet PC accessories are covered in Chapter 18.
Calculator, Character Map, Notepad, Paint, and WordPad I’ve lumped these accessories together for a few reasons: they are relatively simple tools whose purpose is fairly obvious from their names; they’ve all been around since Win 3.1; and most are ignored by people who have other, more powerful tools available. Still, each of these accessories may come in handy at times: Calculator — Make Calculator handy by giving it a shortcut key, as discussed above. Find Calculator on the Start menu, right-click, choose Properties, and click in the Shortcut key box and press a letter (may I suggest “c” for “calculator”?). Now Ctrl+Alt+C will start the Calculator in an instant any time you need it. (You may get a one-time UAC warning because you didn’t create the Start menu shortcuts, but you should be able to continue.) Character Map (under Accessories ➝ System Tools) — Use Character Map if you need characters or symbols you don’t know a keystroke for. After selecting a font, you can select the character you want (repeat this to string several characters together), and then click Copy to put your character(s) into the clipboard for pasting anywhere. If this doesn’t work for you, it may be because of the font. You may have to select the same font in the program in which you are pasting the character(s). Character Map also shows keystrokes in the lower-right corner for inserting the character without using Character Map. For example, if you highlight the R in a circle for Registered Trademark, Character Map displays Alt+0174 (in some fonts). In a document, hold down the Alt key and type all four digits from the number keypad (not the numbers across the top of the keyboard — they won’t work) to insert that symbol. Most word processing programs, like Microsoft Word, have their own techniques for inserting characters, but this should also work and prove more universal. Notepad — Notepad is such a spartan text editor that many people don’t look at it twice. However, if you need to open or edit a text file, Notepad works fine. Hint: Web pages are simple text files. Paint — My left brain struggles for something to say about Paint. Play with it. If nothing else, it handles quite a few file formats, if you need an easy way to convert from one format to another. WordPad — WordPad is a lightweight version of Microsoft Word, and that can be a good thing. If you need word processing features but don’t have or need Word, WordPad may suffice. If you receive an e-mail attachment from someone you trust but only so far, you can use WordPad to open a Word document (prior to Word 2007) without the risk of running Word macros. (If you don’t trust the source, don’t even read the e-mail message.)
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Run and the Command Prompt We’ve been using Run throughout this book as an easy way to run a command or to open a program or even a document. I’ve mentioned Win+R whenever I can because it can be the fastest and easiest way to run or open something if you are willing and able to type. For example, pressing Win+R and then typing calc.exe (or just calc) and pressing the Enter key will run the Calculator. (A shortcut key would be even faster.) An added benefit of Run is that Windows Vista builds a list that nerds call an MRU (Most Recently Used), listing the commands you most recently typed into the Run box. That list stays intact through logout and login, so it can be a very convenient way to re-run any command. In XP, Run is in the second column of the Start menu. It has moved in Windows Vista to the Accessories menu, which doesn’t really matter because we are more likely to use Win+R than to run Run from a menu.
Tip If you can’t live without Run in its old place on the Start menu, there is a checkbox to add it. Right-click over the Start menu button and choose Properties, and then click the Customize button on the Start Menu tab. The options listed are in alphabetical order and Run is near the bottom of the scrollable list; it is unchecked by default. There is more on these options in Chapter 6, “Customizing Vista.”
Open a command prompt window — You can open a command prompt window that looks a lot like an old DOS prompt with the Command Prompt option under the Accessories menu. While I think many people can benefit from using Win+R to run commands or open files, far fewer people will benefit from the command prompt. That said, administrators use the command prompt a lot. Here are a few things you can do at a command prompt (once known as a DOS prompt):
Tip Open a command prompt by pressing Win+R and then typing cmd.
Type commands — At the prompt, you can type commands. For an example, open a command prompt and type dir (Enter). This command displays a directory listing. Some of the commands will open other windows, whereas some will take place within this command prompt window. Some commands require UAC confirmation or require logging in with Administrator privileges. (If you run a command prompt with admin privileges, you should see Administrator in the title bar of the window.) Review or repeat commands — If you want to review or repeat an earlier command (since the window opened), at the prompt use the up arrow repeatedly (remember when
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Caution The command prompt is likely to be most useful for those already familiar with DOS or other command-driven operating systems.
Snipping Tool The Snipping Tool is a feature from the Tablet PC edition of Windows XP, now incorporated into Windows Vista. With the Snipping Tool (see Figure 9-3), you can capture any portion of a screen, annotate and highlight it in various ways, and then save the image or paste it into another program, including e-mail.
Figure 9-3: The Snipping Tool is a screen-capture tool.
The first time you run Snipping Tool, you’ll need to run it from the Start menu (Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Snipping Tool). That first time, Snipping Tool will ask, “Would you like to add the Snipping Tool to your Quick Launch bar?” Saying yes will add an icon of a circle with a pair of scissors to the Quick Launch toolbar near the Start menu. That’s pretty convenient! (You could assign a shortcut keystroke to this.) To capture all or part of a screen: 1. Run the Snipping Tool.
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2. Choose one of the following shapes for the area to capture from the drop-down list next to New: Free-form Snip — Draw any shape around an area of the screen. When you connect the end of your drawn selection line to the beginning, the area within is captured. Rectangular Snip — Draw a box over the area to capture. Window Snip — Click anywhere in the window to capture (like a dialog box). Full-screen Snip — No selection necessary. The entire screen, including the taskbar, is captured. 3. Click the New button and then select the part of the screen to capture. 4. The Snipping Tool edit window will appear with the screen capture (see Figure 9-4). Note the tools on the left end of the toolbar. Use the pen to add notes. Change the color (red, blue, or black) or customize the pen for other colors, thicknesses (fine, medium, and thick) and nibs (OK, “tips,” if you prefer) — chisel or round. There are also a highlighter (yellow only) and an eraser. 5. What do you want to do with it now? Use File ➝ Save As (Ctrl+S) or the diskette icon to save the file. Specify a name and location (the default is Capture in your Pictures folder). Select a type: PNG, GIF, JPEG, or MHT (Microsoft “single file” HTML format — not recommended because it is too obscure). The first three formats are suitable for e-mail or the Web. Note the place in Save As for “Tags (Add a tag).” Type a word or three to describe this capture. This is metadata we’ll be discussing in the next chapter. Copy (Ctrl+C) the annotated image to the clipboard for pasting into any program that accepts graphics (for example, Paint). The captured image is automatically copied to the clipboard when you make the snip (unless you change this option). You only need to manually copy if you’ve annotated or altered the captured screen since the snip. Use File ➝ Send To or the envelope icon for e-mail. “E-mail Recipient” will paste it into the body of an e-mail message (you could also use Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste). Attach it to the e-mail with the option including “as attachment.”
Note These days, most e-mail programs display inserted images and attached images in much the same way. (An attached image will be displayed after all text, whereas inserted images can be inline with text.) Most e-mail programs also allow the recipient to save the image, whether it is attached or not. However, some recipients may have trouble with either method for including images because of lack of experience with one method or the other or some limitation of their e-mail program.
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Figure 9-4: The edit window of the Snipping Tool after screen capture
This simple little tool has numerous options under Tools ➝ Options, most of which are enabled and may as well stay that way, but you can decide for yourself, of course. For example, you might not want the line drawn to select the screen area to be part of the capture, or you may want to change its color from the default of red. If only there were an option here to make the Snipping Tool run when you press the PrintScreen key. Maybe in version 2.
Cross Reference For more about graphics file formats, refer to Chapter 15, “Windows Photo Gallery.”
PRTSCN (SIC) To this day, some people mourn the loss of simplicity of the PrintScreen key (ages ago, PrtScn) from the days when pressing that key dumped the contents of the screen to a printer (well, truthfully, only the text, because printers couldn’t handle graphics; the old days weren’t all good). For more than a decade, pressing the PrintScreen key has dumped the entire screen to the Clipboard instead of to a printer. This is actually a good thing once you know it does that and what to do next. From the Clipboard, you can paste the captured screen into any program that handles graphics, including e-mail or Paint. For that matter, Alt+PrintScreen captures the active window instead of the entire screen. (These two are much like two of the options in the Snipping Tool, which is now more useful than PrintScreen ever was.)
Tip Most of the figures used in this book were captured using SnagIt (www.techsmith.com). SnagIt is a fullblown commercial application that offers an almost overwhelming range of screen-capture options. As such, it is too much tool for many simple tasks, but great for documentation.
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Windows Sidebar The Windows Sidebar is one of the more obvious new features of Windows Vista. The first time you start Windows Vista, you are likely to see the Windows Sidebar along the right-hand edge of your desktop. The default Sidebar setup includes an analog clock, a small slide show viewer, and an unconfigured RSS viewer (see Figure 9-5).
Figure 9-5: The Windows Sidebar, with three gadgets
If you don’t see the Sidebar, enable it through Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Windows Sidebar. The large icons or objects you see in the Sidebar are called gadgets. These gadgets can be dragged up or down to change their order. You can even drag a gadget off the Sidebar to detach it and make it free-floating. Try that with the clock or any other gadget. Of course, you can drag the gadget back to the Sidebar. (The Weather gadget has a three-day forecast that shows when it is detached from, but not when it is attached to, the Sidebar.) You’ll notice as you begin to drag gadgets that each one has a tiny toolbar in the upper-right corner when it is selected. The X closes the gadget; the wrench opens options for that gadget (if any); the rows of dots or dimples are a handle for moving the gadget, though most gadgets can be dragged by any part of the gadget. Right-click over an empty part of the Sidebar for the Sidebar context menu, and then choose Properties. Here you can specify whether the Sidebar loads when Windows Vista starts (default), whether the Sidebar is on top of all other windows (always visible), which side of the screen the sidebar occupies, and which monitor, if you have more than one. I have the Sidebar on the left side of my left (second) monitor, keeping my primary (right) monitor uncluttered. Adjusting the Sidebar and adding or removing gadgets will make it more useful to you.
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Right-click over any gadget for its context menu. Opacity controls how “light” the gadget appears or how much of the background behind a gadget is visible. This may be even more important if you detach the gadget and float it elsewhere on the screen. At the top of the Sidebar, you’ll see a plus sign and two triangles. The triangles are used if there are more gadgets than fit the height of the Sidebar; use the triangles to move to the next group of gadgets in the Sidebar. Use the plus sign to add gadgets to the Sidebar (see Figure 9-6).
Figure 9-6: Add any of these gadgets or get more from the Web.
Tip The same gadget can be added to the Sidebar more than once. For example, you could add a second clock and choose a different time zone through its options. (You can add even more clocks.) You could do the same for the Weather gadget.
Beyond the gadgets provided with Windows Vista, you can also download and install gadgets from various websites, including the following: http://gallery.microsoft.com http://microsoftgadgets.com http://gallery.live.com
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Caution Keep in mind, these are little programs that may do more than they claim to do and can compromise your privacy or security. Be particularly leery of a gadget from an unknown source that connects to any Web account requiring login information. Such a gadget could “share” that information with its creator, though most gadget creators are good people who would never do such a thing. Further complicating the process of downloading gadgets is that some gadgets are for Windows Live instead of the Sidebar. There are also other mechanisms that provide similar functions using widgets, doo-dads, and thingamajigs.
Note Web developers and others should note that a gadget is a collection of files written in HTML and XML. See http://microsoftgadgets.com/Build/ for information.
Sticky Notes Under Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Tablet PC is an accessory called Sticky Notes (see Figure 9-7). This is actually different from the Notes gadget in the Sidebar, though both are meant to look like classic self-stick notes. Use Sticky Notes to write notes by hand with a pen or other pointing device or to record a brief voice note using a microphone (click the red circular button). Resize the note by dragging the lower right-hand corner. To add a note, click the New Note button. To move between notes, use the arrow keys. To delete a note, click the red X near the top.
Figure 9-7: Sticky Notes and the Notes gadget
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Compare this with the Notes gadget, which can be added to the Sidebar (see Figure 9-7). Like any gadget, Notes can be detached (it’s a bit larger floating) and semi-transparent (adjust the opacity). Click the plus sign to add a note, and the arrows to move through the stack. The white X in the lower left deletes the current note. The big difference between the Notes gadget and Sticky Notes is that you cannot handwrite in the Notes gadget; you type and your text appears in a handlettered-looking font (you can change the font). You also cannot record voice in the Notes gadget. You can have multiple instances (copies) of the Notes gadget, but only one instance of Sticky Notes. Both programs have an option to keep the notes on top of other windows. Finally, Sticky Notes takes up space in the taskbar, whereas the Notes gadget does not. To me, the following are deficiencies of both types of notes: You cannot mix handwriting and type or choose between the two. You cannot paste graphics into a note. You cannot create multiple, unstacked notes (which may be a blessing). You cannot search notes.
Cross Reference A tool that lets you mix handwriting, type, and graphics, as well as search, is Windows Journal, discussed in Chapter 18. Another is Microsoft OneNote, discussed in Chapter 19.
Tip I don’t mean to dismiss these notes before you’ve tried them, but I must say that 3M makes a great Post-it note program that I have used for years. It is far more powerful and flexible than either of these programs. The Post-it Digital Notes program overcomes the four deficiencies of Windows Vista’s two notes programs, and contains tabbed memo boards, alarms for notes, and options for sending notes over a network or via e-mail. See www.3m.com/psnotes/.
Ultimate Extras As you know, the Windows Vista Ultimate edition has everything contained in all the other editions, effectively merging the top home edition (Home Premium) with the top corporate edition (Enterprise). As an added benefit, Ultimate also entitles its owner to the Ultimate Extras — the kitchen sink, as it were. (How will that survive translation?) If you have the Ultimate edition, use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ Windows Update to look for information on Ultimate Extras. At this writing, the Ultimate Extras screen promises the following: Cutting-edge programs
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Innovative services Unique publications What these will turn out to be remains to be seen.
Games In Windows Vista, the game of Hearts is better than ever. It’s fun and the players seem smarter. Watch what happens when the first heart falls (and listen). A major game-related change in Windows Vista is the addition of the Games Explorer under Start ➝ Games, a window showing installed games (see Figure 9-8). Some older games may not install themselves here. You can start individual games through Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Games. (Why isn’t this called the Games Center?) When you start some of the games that come with Windows Vista for the first time, they offer the briefest overview of the rules in a pop-up tip. See the Help function in each game for more information.
Figure 9-8: The Games Center, er, Explorer, shows games that Windows Vista recognizes as installed.
Beyond the cool icons, the Games Explorer displays ratings information and lets you sort, group, and filter the games many ways, including by name, rating, and date last played. When a game is selected, information about that game appears to the right (in the Preview pane) and below (in the Details pane). The Details pane displays information about genre, publisher, developer, and product version. The Preview pane information includes the selected game’s rating plus recommended and required performance ratings as well as the system’s Windows Experience Index (the WEI, which is discussed in Chapter 8). All the installed games recommend a WEI rating of 2 but will play adequately with a rating of 1.
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With the graphic hardware demands Windows Vista makes, we can expect a lot of new developments in Windows games.
Tip Most of the available column headings display by default. Sort and group by Last played (click on the triangle to the right of Last played). Right-click over any column heading for options (or to eliminate any of the default headings). Too bad there aren’t columns for “number of times played,” “hours spent playing,” or “wins/losses” (see Game ➝ Statistics within most games). Use Views ➝ Extra Large Icons for beautifully crafted icons.
These games are included: Chess Titans — The first time you start Chess Titans, you will be prompted to select a level of play (beginner, intermediate, or advanced). Use the Game menu to choose between a human opponent (the board rotates for alternating play) or the computer. FreeCell — FreeCell has a unique option, Game ➝ Select game, to choose a game by number. Hearts — Hearts does not have hints or undo. Use Options to name your opponents. InkBall — This game appears only if a pen or other suitable pointing device is detected. Unique options include Game ➝ Pause and Clear Ink, as well as a Difficulty menu with five levels. Mahjong Titans — When you start Mahjong Titans, you select from six layouts. Minesweeper — When you start Minesweeper, you will be prompted to select a level of play (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), which determines grid size and number of mines. No undo. Exploding mines are much more animated than before, exploding in sequence with the sound of firecrackers. Purble Place — I think this is a kids’ game, but maybe it’s more like Pee Wee’s Playhouse. After Mahjong makes you feel stupid, play some Purble. Solitaire — An update of the classic, with better animation and sound. No undo or hint. Spider Solitaire — This is a killer variant of Solitaire. Most of the included games have the following options under the Game menu: New game (F2) Undo (Ctrl+Z) Hint (H) and popup tips — You ask for a hint on where to play, but tips are unsolicited. Statistics (F4)
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Options (F5) — Difficulty or scoring settings plus general options, including “Display animations,” “Play sounds,” “Show tips,” “Always continue saved game,” and “Always save game on exit” Change Appearance (F7) — To change the background/board and pieces or cards Improved Help (F1) — Includes actual rules for games You can usually save the game on exit (there is an option to “always save game on exit”). Games are saved under your user name in a folder fittingly named Saved Games. When you save one of the included games, a folder named Microsoft will be created under Saved Games; that folder will contain folders for each game, in which specific game sessions are saved. When you next play that game, you will be asked if you want to resume the saved game. Whether you say yes or no to resume, the saved game remains saved and you will be prompted the next time to resume that prior game. (I would think if I say no to resume, the game would be deleted. You have to do this manually.) When a game is selected, the toolbar includes a Play button with an option for “Saved Games,” which opens the Saved Games folder under your user name. The Play button can be customized to start any other application, including the game with custom commands or options. The toolbar in this center gives you easy access to Parental Controls. The Tools button has direct links to hardware controls under Control Panel.
Cross Reference We’ll examine Parental Controls in Chapter 12.
Installing and Uninstalling Programs Inevitably, you’ll need to install new programs (as well as upgrades to installed programs). Let’s walk through the process of installing a program.
Installing a New Program If you bought a program on CD or DVD, insert the disk. AutoPlay will either automatically run the installation program or ask you if that’s what you want to do. If nothing happens automatically, look on the disk for a file named Setup or Install. If you downloaded the Install program, run it from the Download folder.
Caution It may not be obvious to everyone that one should be very certain a program is safe to install. This means you trust the source very much and you obtained the program directly from that source, not from someone else who might have tampered with the program.
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You will receive a prompt asking if you really want to install. Do you? Most installations offer an Express (default options) or Custom option (you might pick and choose what to install or where). I almost always run Custom out of curiosity. Should you override the default options of an installation program? Maybe. In general, I let these programs go where they want to (usually under Programs) under whatever name they choose. I also let programs add themselves to the Start menu, but I usually don’t allow programs to add icons to the Quick Launch toolbar or the desktop. You know how to do that yourself if a program doesn’t offer.
Programs and Features Though we’ve installed programs the same way for years, Windows Vista has new options organized into Control Panel ➝ Programs ➝ Programs and Features center. Figure 9-9 shows the new interface that replaces the old Add or Remove Programs function of previous Windows versions.
Figure 9-9: Add or remove programs.
Notice specific buttons for Uninstall, Change, and Repair, as well as related Tasks in the Navigation pane.
UNINSTALLING PROGRAMS Programs come and go. At least, some should go. A program you will never use is a waste of space; it clutters menus and folders, and it may even launch a process in the background that does you no
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good if you never use the program. Clean house now and then, getting rid of things you are sure you don’t need. Of course, think before you do this. Do you have the original installation program in case you change your mind? Do you have registration or customization information you may need? When did you last back up your entire system? When you’re sure, go ahead and remove the program. Often, Remove or Uninstall is an option under the submenu for that program under Start ➝ All Programs. Or you can select the program in Programs and Features and click Uninstall in the toolbar.
Tip If you have trouble with your system after installing a program, uninstall it. If you still have problems, you may need System Restore (Chapter 5). System Restore automatically creates backups of some system files just before you install new applications.
TURNING WINDOWS FEATURES ON OR OFF
Under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Programs ➝ Programs and Features is a related task in the Navigation pane, “Turn Windows features on or off.” Go through this on your system with an eye for adding features that were not installed by default or for removing features you know you don’t need (keep note of changes). There is nothing I recommend changing here.
Default Programs You can use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Programs ➝ Default Programs to specify which programs are your preferred tools for browsing, e-mail, etc. Set your default programs — Use this function to set Windows Vista’s Internet and media programs. Set program access and computer defaults (last choice) — This function also controls which programs are the default programs for Internet and media. The previous function tailors the Internet and media programs that come with Windows Vista. This function could be used to assign non-Microsoft programs for Internet or media functions instead of those that come with Windows Vista. Associate a file type or protocol with a program — This link lets you to associate specific file types with programs. That can be handy under some circumstances and disruptive under many more. What do you suppose would happen if you tell Windows Vista to open GIF with, say, Notepad? The result wouldn’t be pretty — literally. On the other hand, sometimes you do need to change the default. For example, installing Microsoft Office 2007 changes the default application for TIF files (Tag Image File) from Windows Photo Gallery to Microsoft Office Document Imaging. This function could be used to change it back.
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Part III: Making It Your Windows Vista The Associate link brings up a list of every file type Windows Vista recognizes (and that’s a lot). It is easier and safer to right-click over a file of the type you are trying to change. Use Open with ➝ Choose Default Program. Select the program you want to use. If the box “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” is checked, the application you selected becomes the default application for opening that file. Return to this function if you change your mind. Change AutoPlay settings — Clicking this option switches you to Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ AutoPlay. Here you can specify how the system should handle different kinds of files. For example, when you insert a music CD, what do you want the system to do automatically? It can ask you every time, or play the music with Media Player or Media Center, among other options you’ll find here. If you insert a blank CD, do you want to automatically burn files to it? (See Chapter 7 for more information about AutoPlay.)
Summary As you work with programs, you need to do the following: Create and modify shortcuts Become familiar with accessories, games, and gadgets installed as part of Windows Vista Install and uninstall programs In the next chapter, we work more directly with documents and files, including file operations such as opening, saving, copying, moving, deleting, renaming, and searching.
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Part IV Working with Windows Vista Chapter 10
Working with Documents Chapter 11
Networking Windows Vista Chapter 12
User Accounts and Family Safety Chapter 13
Internet Explorer Chapter 14
Internet Applications Chapter 15
Windows Photo Gallery Chapter 16
Media Player 11 Chapter 17
Windows Media Center, DVD Maker, and Movie Maker Chapter 18
On the Road: Laptops, Tablet and Mobile PCs
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our computer uses disks to store everything in files. With a binary mind, everything can be divided into twos. Files can be divided into two broad categories: program-related or datarelated. Data files are also commonly referred to simply as documents. Where are these documents? Broadly speaking, any document can be described by a path used to locate it. This path is made up of the disk it is on, the folder it is in (which may be a series of folders inside of folders, any of which we might call a subfolder), ending in the name of the file itself (and, often, an icon or thumbnail representing that file). At the very end, often unseen, is the tail that wags the dog: the file extension name, which associates a file with an application. In this chapter, we’ll look at documents and tasks related to documents: Saving and opening Copying and moving Deleting and undeleting Renaming Searching
Windows Explorer Our primary interaction with documents is through the programs we use to create those documents, such as Microsoft Word. Then there are times we are outside of those application programs and using Windows Vista to work with documents. More often than not, the tool we use in Windows Vista is Windows Explorer. In Chapter 2, we took a look at Windows Explorer and its toolbars and panes, plus changes to sort and group, and new features such as stack and filter. You may want to review that section before we continue. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you.
Tip Win+E opens Windows Explorer.
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Figure 10-1 shows Windows Explorer with my user folder (mjh) selected. The tiles on the right show folders Windows Vista automatically creates for every user. In the Navigation pane on the left, the upper portion shows Favorite Links, which are shortcuts to folders. (You can add your own shortcuts here, as we’ll discuss later in this chapter.) Below the Favorite Links is a section labeled Folders, under which appear the first level of options below Desktop — my folder, Public, Computer, Network, Control Panel, and Recycle Bin. Each of those folders can be selected to show its contents on the right.
Figure 10-1: Windows Explorer, showing my user folder and subfolders
In the simplest arrangement, there is one internal disk or hard drive, which can be identified as C: (going back to DOS and earlier). All manner of thousands of folders dot the landscape as you drill
down through certain folders, with a few standouts described here (some of these followed the word “My” in XP): Users — This folder doesn’t appear in Figure 10-1. However, if you select Computer, then Local Disk (C:), you see Users, along with Program Files and Windows (described below). Each user of the system has a folder with his or her name under Users. Users replaces XP’s Documents and Settings folder. The following folders are under each user’s name: Contacts — This folder contains contact information, where each contact is a separate file. (See Chapter 14, “Internet Applications.”) Desktop — The desktop you see when you start Windows has a folder associated with it. Most icons you place on the desktop are in this folder.
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Documents — Most of your documents will be here, possibly in subfolders you create. Note that folders for Pictures, Music, and Videos have been “promoted” and are no longer subfolders of Documents. Downloads — When you use Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) to download files, or Windows Mail to save attachments, this is the initial default location for those files; you can use any folder for any purpose. I prefer to drop downloads on the desktop. Favorites — Your favorites (also known as bookmarks) in MSIE. Links — Shortcuts in this folder appear in the Windows Explorer Navigation pane under Favorite Links (above the Folders section). Drag and drop folders here to which you need ready access. Music — I know, some of these things are obvious. (See Chapter 16, “Media Player 11.”) Pictures — Ditto. (See Chapter 15, “Windows Photo Gallery.”) Saved Games — See the discussion of games in the previous chapter. Searches — Used to repeat previously saved searches. Discussed later in this chapter. Videos — Ditto from four rows ago. Windows — The majority of the files belonging to the operating system are under this folder. Program Files — Most of your installed software that isn’t part of Windows’ operating system files should be in folders under Program Files. Folders are often named for the program or the manufacturer and are created automatically as you install programs. AppData — This one is hidden under your user name. It contains the following folders: Local, LocalLow, and Roaming. These folders contain files used by various applications, particularly configuration or settings files. (To “unhide” this folder — which you may never need to do — see “Folder Options” in Chapter 6.) The path to your pictures begins C:\Users\(your name)\Pictures. In the address bar of Windows Explorer, the breadcrumbs will display as Computer ➝ Local Disk (C:) ➝ Users ➝ (your name) ➝ Pictures. Most of your documents that don’t fall into one of the media categories are likely to reside in folders within Documents or folders on the desktop. Either location can be accessed very quickly.
Note There is also a folder called Public under Users. Public contains the following subfolders; you may put files in these folders for sharing (though there is much more to sharing documents, as we’ll see in Chapter 11). You never have to use these folders, but remember them if you ever misplace something. Public Documents Public Downloads
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Saving and Opening Documents There is a key to staying in control of your documents. It begins with saving a document. Accept the wisdom in the bromide “A place for everything and everything in its place.” A little discipline and thought in the beginning will save much anguish later. Any program that creates files probably lets you decide what to call them and where to put them, so when you start a new document, give that some thought.
Saving Your Document Figure 10-2 shows Vista’s simplified Save dialog box (we’ll get to why it says Save As in a moment). Perhaps the most important part is the File Name text box, but there are other important and useful options. For example, you see the breadcrumbs in the address bar for specifying where the file will go. As you know, the difference between Save and Save As is negligible for a brand-new, never-saved file. Once a file has been saved, Save will not show a dialog box again, whereas File ➝ Save As always will.
Figure 10-2: Windows Vista’s simplified Save or Save As dialog box. Less is more.
Notice how easy your life is if you go with the flow. Windows Vista or your application has a default folder, a default file type, even a default name, though it is hard to recommend you accept that much. All you have to do is click the Save button. Still, at the least, you should give this file a meaningful name. Click the Browse Folders button if you want to expand the dialog box to reveal more options (see Figure 10-3). At this point, the top portion of the dialog box is essentially Windows Explorer, which enables you to navigate with Folders and Favorite Links, as well as view, sort, group, and filter. Note the New Folder button in the toolbar. (A few buttons from XP are gone.) The bottom portion of this dialog box is the original box; click Hide Folders if you want to see the smaller box.
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Figure 10-3: The same dialog box expanded by the Browse Folders button (now Hide Folders)
The Save as Type option can usually be left alone, though you may want to explore the options. For example, the program Paint supports many different graphic file types, each with different uses.
NAMING DOCUMENTS So much of this is personal and subjective. Remember to take advantage of Windows Vista’s support of long names (up to 260 characters, though that includes the entire path, so the deeper in folders a filename resides, the shorter it has to be), uppercase and lowercase, and spaces. While some punctuation is allowed (such as dash, parentheses, and square brackets), the following symbols or punctuation cannot be used as part of a filename (though some may be part of a path): \ (backslash) / (regular slash) ? (question mark) : (colon) * (asterisk) “ (straight double-quote) > (greater than) < (less than) | (pipe or vertical bar)
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Don’t be stingy or verbose — find the happy medium. Extension names are vital. They connect documents to the programs that can work with those documents. If you change a file’s extension name, you break that connection to the program. This is why extension names are normally hidden, except when Windows Vista doesn’t recognize a file, in which case you see the extension name to help you identify it. You also recognize files by their icons and their file type information, as shown under the Type column in details view or on the Properties dialog box (right-mouse click and select Properties).
METADATA, ESPECIALLY TAGS Metadata, which is information about the document, such as the date a picture was taken or the author of a memo, has been a part of file systems for a while. Windows Vista exposes more of this data and enables you to change more of it. Especially important in this area are tags. Tags appear in Windows Explorer and can be used to search for files (as we will in the section on “Advanced Search” later in this chapter). Paint, the application in Figure 10-2, does not allow for tags. Snipping Tool, discussed in the previous chapter, does. In Figure 10-4, you can alter the Date taken (and/or time) and you can add tags in the fields directly below Save As Type (in fact, changing the type changes what metadata you can work with). We can expect more applications in the future to allow tag entry during the save process. If your application program doesn’t allow for tags during Save, it may allow you to enter tags through File ➝ Properties.
Figure 10-4: Metadata may appear in the Save dialog box for some applications.
You can change some metadata for some types of files directly through Windows Explorer. Figure 10-5 shows a portion of the Details pane at the bottom of the window for a selected file. You can click “Add a title” to type in the information. I have already clicked next to tags to add words that can be used by Search. When you change metadata, buttons for Save and Cancel appear in the Details pane.
Figure 10-5: Look in the Details pane for metadata, and click the “Add a tag” and “Add a title” options. You can also click the stars to rate the image.
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Note This feature is going to be huge. Tags and other metadata will become vital information for searching and managing documents.
Using Folders to Your Advantage One can easily start an argument with some people about how things should be organized. This person’s desktop is as neat as a pin, but don’t look at his closet or garage. Your neighbor hangs her tools on a pegboard with typed labels but can’t find last summer’s vacation photos. Don’t be afraid to create new folders or folders within folders. Although an empty folder or one with only one file in it is obviously a waste, a folder with hundreds of files in it may also be a waste; it depends on your sense of organization. My sense of organization seems to vary — sometimes very structured, sometimes very sloppy. Make sure you know more than one way to create a folder: from the context menu (including during File ➝ Save) or from the toolbar.
FAVORITE LINKS Favorite Links are in the Navigation pane on the left side of a File dialog box (Save or Open) and in Windows Explorer. In XP’s File dialog boxes, this was the Places bar, with large buttons. Favorite Links are areas Microsoft thinks you are likely to need to reach easily, so notice what they are. (Use the More >> link if you can’t see all the options.) Recent Places — As you would expect, this lists shortcuts to folders you have recently visited. This is sorted by name initially, but you can sort it like any other folder display. Recent Places doesn’t appear in Explorer, but it does appear in File ➝ Open or Save. With Recent Places, breadcrumbs, and Favorite Links, you have lots of new ways to navigate quickly without ever using the older method of expanding folders. Desktop — The desktop is extremely handy, at the top of any folder listing and accessible with Win+D. Computer — Lists all attached drives. Documents — Your Documents folder is a sensible place for anything that doesn’t fit one of the media categories. You’ll surely want new folders here. Pictures — Self-explanatory. Music — Ditto. Recently Changed — These are recently opened (not necessarily altered) files, initially sorted by date (newest at top). As an added bonus, these are files matching the “save as type” specified (plus shortcuts that might not match). Searches — This gives you access to the searches you’ve saved (coming up). Public — The public folders meant to simplify sharing.
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Habits are funny things. They make it easy to do something the way we’ve always done it and they make it harder to learn new ways that may — I only suggest they may — make things easier. Many XP users ignore the somewhat comparable Places bar and instead use the drop-down list at the top of the dialog box to go to exactly the same place. In Windows Vista, see if these Favorite Links help before you edit the breadcrumbs in the address bar (which are also very cool).
Tip Still unsure about Favorite Links? You can add links here by dragging and dropping folders into Favorite Links. Favorite Links also offers a context menu that enables you to “Open Favorite Links Folder.” Strangely, the context menu only appears if you right-click in a blank space below the last item in Favorite Links (but above Folders). If you click on any of the existing Favorite Links, you don’t get the option to Open Favorite Links. (In XP, these links were called shortcuts.) If you never save anything into Public or Music, then why not delete those shortcuts and reduce the clutter?
Caution We’re talking about Favorite Links, which maps to the folder C:\Users\(your name)\Links. Unfortunately, there is also a Favorites folder at C:\Users\(your name)\Favorites. Far more potentially confusing, Favorites has a Links folder under it at C:\Users\(your name)\Favorites\Links — and yet, that is not the Favorite Links folder. Instead, this second Links folder contains the links in the Internet Explorer Links toolbar.
Opening Your Documents You don’t necessarily create and save new things every time you work with a program. Often, you need to get back into an existing file. Obviously, it helps to know what you named that document and where you put it, although that isn’t essential.
WITHIN YOUR APPLICATION Many applications contain some variation of “Recent Documents,” usually under the File menu. Some programs will automatically reopen certain recent files. You may need to explore Options or Preferences or the program’s Help menus. Of course, there is always File ➝ Open, which results in a dialog box that is usually very close to the File ➝ Save dialog box. Again, you should take advantage of Favorite Links on the left, especially Recently Changed and Recent Places, as well as the breadcrumbs and other tools. Using File ➝ Open is the slowest way to open something that isn’t in the default document folder or one of the folders in Favorite Links. If you open every document this way, you’re ready to learn some new tricks.
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Tip Notice that Search is available in the File Open dialog box. This is especially useful because the search will include any folders under the starting folder (most likely, Documents). Search makes File Open more useful.
USING RECENT DOCUMENTS Under the Start menu, in the second column, there is “Recent Items,” which pops out a list of recently edited documents. While you can move your mouse over to the document you want, remember Start Search: In the Start menu’s Search box, type a few characters from the document’s name, metadata, or even contents. The first column lists documents (and programs, separately) that match your search text in some way. Many people abandoned My Recent Documents in XP because it showed only 15 items in alphabetical order. Windows Vista has similar limitations, but both versions have another way to access Recent Documents that may be less widely known. For each user, there is a folder called Recent that contains many more items.
Tip Press Win+R and then type recent and press Enter. Or use Start Search (the Win key by itself) and type the word recent and press Enter. This opens a window on the Recent folder, which may contain shortcuts to hundreds of documents going back months. (On one of my XP systems, there are over 300 shortcuts going back more than one year.) This window can be viewed, sorted, grouped, and filtered in all the ways supported by Windows Explorer. I sort and group by date modified so that the most recent files appear first (see Figure 10-6). I have included a shortcut to this folder in my Startup folder to open at every startup as a handy way to return to any recent item. You may see this as a privacy concern (you can delete any or all of these), but I see it as a great convenience. Curiously, in my tests, the shortcuts displayed in Recent do not exactly match the shortcuts displayed by the Recently Changed link under Favorite Links. You may find one or the other a better choice for you. I’ve added a shortcut to Recent to my Favorite Links, making it easy to explore both folders.
OPEN WITH Obviously, if you see the document name or icon in a window, you can click it to open it (single- or double-click, depending on the choice made in Chapter 6). You can also use the context menu to open the document using the Open With option, which lets you pick a different program from the default to open the document. The results could be garbage if you pick a wildly wrong program; but consider photographs, which open by default in the new Photo Gallery Viewer, but which you might want to open in an editor, instead.
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Drag the icon onto favorite links.
Figure 10-6: View your recent documents in Windows Explorer.
Figure 10-7 shows the Open With menu for an image file. SnagIt is an application I installed, so you won’t see it on your menu, but you may see others.
Figure 10-7: The Open With context menu
Figure 10-8 shows the Open With dialog box you’ll get using Choose Default Program from the context menu. Windows Vista separates recommended programs from other programs, though the choice is yours. Notice below the program list that “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” is checked by default. If you uncheck that, the selected program will not become the default but will be added to the shorter Open With context menu shown in the previous figure.
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Figure 10-8: The Open With dialog box
SEND TO The context menu for documents also has a Send To item with a lot of useful options: Compressed (zipped) Folder — Reduce the size of one or many files with this option. The new compressed folder will have the same name as the first file compressed. Use this for e-mail attachments beyond 100 KB or so. Desktop (create shortcut) — Creates a shortcut to open this file from the desktop. See Chapter 9, “Setup Programs,” for more information. Documents — This copies the selected file to your Documents folder (it does not move the file). Fax Recipient — Available if you have fax services installed and a fax modem or Internet fax service provider Mail Recipient — Attach the selected file(s) to e-mail (Drives) — CD/DVD, external hard disks, and flash drives will be listed individually for easy copying to those drives. You can add your own shortcuts to this context menu. For example, I need to open many different files in Notepad. By adding a shortcut to Notepad to this context menu, I can “send” any file to Notepad to open (see Figure 10-9). Similarly, if you never send a file to a fax recipient, you can remove that shortcut.
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Figure 10-9: Add or delete shortcuts on the Send To menu.
In XP, it was very easy to add a shortcut to Send To — Win+R, sendto. The old technique no longer works because the SendTo folder has moved to \Users\(your name)\AppData\Roaming\ Microsoft\Windows\SendTo (you could simply search for “sendto”; see “Searching for Files,” later in this chapter). Once you locate the SendTo folder, you can open that folder and drop shortcuts into it or delete unneeded shortcuts from it. Figure 10-9 shows the SendTo folder, where I’ve added a shortcut to notepad.exe (I used the New ➝ Shortcut option, in this case). Superimposed over the figure is the resulting Send To menu, with notepad in its alphabetical position (drives are always at the end of the menu). Keep in mind that with this, I can now send a JPEG to Notepad — a useless option. However, I can also send a Web page (HTML document) or other text file to Notepad, which is much more useful.
OPENING WITH DRAG AND DROP Under the right circumstances, drag-and-drop can be very handy for opening a document, if the application is already open. Some applications behave differently if you drop an icon into the main document window. Dropping the icon onto the title bar of the window usually opens that document. If you are editing several files of the same type, it can be convenient to open the folder in Windows Explorer and drag and drop each file as you need to open it. Web developers may benefit from using this technique to open their Web pages in several browsers and an HTML editor without ever resorting to File ➝ Open.
Tip If the application you want to drag and drop to is open but minimized, you don’t have to restore that window first. Drag the icon over the button in the taskbar. Do not release the mouse button until the window automatically restores, and then drag and drop onto the title bar (if necessary — anywhere in the window may work).
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Having many ways to open files is more than just practical — it’s fun.
Managing Existing Documents You use application programs to create and edit documents. However, you use Windows Explorer if you want to take a file from home to work (or vice versa), and to reorganize your files into folders.
Selecting Files If you are going to work with more than one file at a time, you need to select them all first. An amazing number of different ways to select files exists. Begin by using Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to work with. Pick a view that works best for you (Details, Thumbnails, whatever), and then arrange the files (by date or name or by any column heading). You may also want to group them or, new to Windows Vista, filter or stack them to make it easier to select groups of files at once. You can also collapse headings by double-clicking the heading or singleclicking the caret (^) at the end of the heading. In Chapter 6, we discussed changing the folder option from “double-click to open an item (singleclick to select)” to “single-click to open an item (point to select).” As a reminder, to change this option, use Organize ➝ Folder and Search Options ➝ General tab ➝ Click items as follows. Your choice for this option determines how you select objects. Is it with a single-click (the default) or just by pointing (my suggestion). In the techniques listed below, where I’ve written “select,” I don’t know whether you’ll be single-clicking or just pointing: One at a time with the Ctrl key as you select each file (don’t use Ctrl with the first file, just the others). This one gives you the most Ctrl, but takes longer when you want to select a lot of files. In a range by holding down the Shift key as you select the last file in the range. How you sort your files will greatly affect the value of this option. With a selection box by clicking and dragging over the files. Don’t select one file first, as you do with the previous options. Start over empty space and click and hold the left mouse button down as you drag a box toward the files you want to select. I usually find it easier to start to the right of the files and drag to the left. Files change color to indicate selection as the box touches the file name. (You do not have to completely enclose the file name in the selection box.) Single-click a heading. This selects all files in that group, so how you group (and sort) your files will affect this option. (This method is new in Windows Vista.) With Ctrl+A to select all files. You can also combine these methods, in which case you should hold down the Ctrl key as you add more files to the selection. You can remove files from the selection using Ctrl as well. Select a few files using any method and then hold down Ctrl as you deselect the files you don’t want selected.
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I often use an option that appears only on the menu bar, which is hidden by default. Tap the Alt key to display the hidden menu bar, and then use Edit ➝ Invert Selection. With this, if you have selected 3 of 10 files, the selection is “inverted” and the seven are selected instead. Repeat that command and you’re back to your original three. This is very convenient if you want to do one thing to one group of files and something else to all the others — invert the selection between commands. Sometimes it is easier to select the files you don’t want to work with (move, etc.); in that case, you can invert the selection to get the files you do want to work with. If only Windows Vista had a keystroke for this one. As long as I’ve brought up the hidden menus, look under Alt, Edit for two options: Copy To Folder Move To Folder Each of these commands opens a dialog box in which you navigate to a disk or folder (there is also a Make New Folder button). XP introduced these options.
Tip Windows Vista has another method for selecting files. This involves changing another folder option first: Organize ➝ Folder and Search Options ➝ View tab ➝ Advanced settings section ➝ Use check boxes to select items (near the bottom of the list). When you select a file (with single-clicking or pointing, if you’ve changed that setting), you’ll see a checkbox in the upper-left corner of the icon (or simply to the left for details, small icons, or list views). Click this checkbox to select the file and continue to click the checkbox for each additional file you want to select.
Copying and Moving Files Imagine a specific document, say, your resume, is in a folder. If you want to take it from home to work, you might need to copy it to a USB flash drive (or just e-mail it as an attachment). On the other hand, perhaps you saved a photo in the wrong folder and you need to move the photo to the right folder. These are everyday tasks. I trust you are already familiar with dragging a file from one place to another. As you may know, if you drag to another folder on the same disk, Windows Vista moves the file. If you drag from one disk to another, Windows Vista copies the file — that’s assuming you hold down the left mouse button as you drag. Hold down the right mouse button as you drag to receive a little menu with copy or move as options. Stay in control with the right mouse button. Windows Vista adds some nice visual feedback to this process. Whether you hold down the left or the right mouse button as you drag a file over the folders on the left of Windows Explorer, a little pop-up appears with an arrow and the word Move or Copy followed by the name of the highlighted folder (the destination or target). If you drag a group of files, you’ll see the number of files displayed near the mouse pointer as you drag. You may also see a red circle with a slash if you can’t copy or move to a particular destination. Some call it eye candy; I call it very useful feedback.
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As the copy or move executes, a small box pops up indicating the progress. If it displays long enough, you’ll see the total size of the files affected and an estimate of remaining time. There is a details button that will display each filename as it is copied or moved.
Tip The Send To option on the context menu for any file or folder also displays icons for disks, including flash drives.
Often, the new location you want to copy or move to isn’t very convenient to reach. You could open two copies of Windows Explorer and navigate in each, or you could stay in one window and use the Folders pane to navigate between the folders. One can get drag-and-drop to work under these circumstances, perhaps even easily with practice, but there are times when it makes sense to use copy or cut and paste with selected files: With the context menu — Right-click over the document and choose Copy or Cut (odd that Windows Vista hasn’t renamed this Move) and then again in the target location to Paste. With the keystrokes — Ctrl+C (copy) or Ctrl+X (cut); Ctrl+V (paste) in the new location. With the Menu Bar — Tap the Alt key, use Edit ➝ Copy or Edit ➝ Cut (for move). Navigate to the new location, tap the Alt key, and then choose Edit ➝ Paste. Of course, you can mix these up, using the context menu to copy, and the keystroke to paste. Each of these methods is valuable in certain contexts.
WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! During copy or move (cut) operations, you might see a dialog box like the one in Figure 10-10. This displays if there is already a file in the target location with the same filename as one you are copying or moving. Windows Vista offers some information about the two files, as well as three options in which the word Copy or Move will appear: Copy/Move and Replace — This will replace the file in the target location (destination folder) with the file you are copying or moving. Don’t copy/move — The file you want to copy or move stays in the original location and the target is unchanged. Effectively, this cancels the operation. Copy/Move, but keep both files — This will copy or move the file you want and rename it with an appended number, such as (2), so that both files can reside in the target location. This is new in Windows Vista and a terrific innovation.
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Leave the newer and larger file.
New name
Same response for all
Figure 10-10: The Copy/Move dialog box is larger and more explicit than in XP. Note the new option to copy without replacing the original file. (The copied file is renamed.)
As you study the dialog box, notice that the first option displays information about the file being copied or moved, and the second option displays the same information about the file that would be replaced (or not). This information is filename, location, size, and date modified. Windows Vista even identifies which file is newer or larger, because you often want to keep a newer file and a larger file has more data that you may not want to lose through replacement. When in doubt, take advantage of “Move, but keep both files.” Figure 10-10 also shows a checkbox to apply the selected option to all such conflicts in the current operation if there is more than one conflict (and a count of how many operations this will apply to). If you want to apply your choice to the next conflicts, you have to check this box before you make your other choice. If a lot of files are involved, confirming each and every one can be burdensome, though I’m inclined to recommend this as a safety precaution. Circumstances vary. There is a small change from XP as to what happens when you copy a file within the same folder (with drag and drop or copy and paste). Windows XP adds the words “Copy of” in front of the filename. Windows Vista adds “- Copy” after the filename. I wonder why Windows Vista doesn’t follow the same convention we saw a moment ago and add (2) to the filename instead of the word “copy.” If you copy the file again, the second copy is filename - Copy (2). Yes, it is literally the second copy, but it is the third instance of the same file.
Deleting and Restoring Files If you’re a pack rat, you’re likely to have bulging file cabinets, closets, sheds, garages, and computer drives filled with papers, clothes that will never fit again, broken appliances, and files you simply do not need. Yet some people cannot bring themselves to ever throw anything away, which is even more likely if they own immense houses or hard drives. If you can bring yourself to part with a document, deleting it is pretty easy. As you’d expect, Vista offers more than one way to delete selected files: Press the Delete key.
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Choose Delete from the context menu. Use Organize ➝ Delete. Use File ➝ Delete from the menu bar (tap Alt for the menu bar). Drag and drop the file(s) over the Recycle Bin. Each of these operations moves the selected file(s) into the Recycle Bin. To prevent that and truly delete the file(s), hold down the Shift key as you delete (you’ll get a delete confirmation dialog box). If you change your mind the moment you move a file to the Recycle Bin, you can find “Undo delete” (or copy or move, for that matter) on the context menu. Quick and easy! The Recycle Bin is your second chance. From it, you can restore anything that appears there, which may be something you deleted ages ago if you never empty the Recycle Bin (and why should you?). Files in the Recycle Bin can be sorted, grouped, and searched like any other location — I sort and group these files by date deleted (see Figure 10-11). Windows knows where the file came from and can put it back in the same spot (right-click over the file and choose Restore). If you want it back but in a new location, just drag it there or cut it from the Recycle Bin and paste it in the new location.
Empty
Restore All
Confirm?
Figure 10-11: The Recycle Bin, sorted and grouped by Date Deleted, and the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box
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The toolbar in Figure 10-11 shows two buttons, one of which has three variations: Empty the Recycle Bin — You never have to empty the Recycle Bin. If Windows Vista needs the space, it will automatically delete the oldest files in the Recycle Bin (the ones deleted the longest time ago). Restore This item The selected items All items. Think carefully before selecting Restore All Items. In the figure, that’s 47 items deleted over the past month. In the real world, it could be hundreds of files deleted over a much longer period. The figure also shows the Recycle Bin Properties. You can specify the amount of space to give to the Recycle Bin for each drive (including zero for drives you don’t want the Recycle Bin to work on). You can disable the Recycle Bin (“Do not move files to the Recycle Bin.”), and you can turn off the delete confirmation message.
Cross Reference Chapter 5 discussed techniques for backing up and restoring files.
Renaming Files It is quite easy to rename a file. Before you do so, consider that references to that file, such as in Recent Documents in Windows Vista or the application, may not work after the file is renamed — until you open it with the new name, and then all is okay. The context menu has a Rename option. If the file is selected, pressing the F2 key also renames. Note two cool things related to renaming. One is new in Windows Vista and the other has gone unnoticed by many in XP. The trick in XP and Windows Vista is that you can easily rename an entire group of selected files. Select your files one way or another. Begin Rename through the context menu or F2 key. Whatever you type becomes part of the filename for all the selected files, plus a sequence number. There are a couple of things to watch out for. First, be aware of which file Windows is going to rename first — it’s the file the mouse pointer is over, not necessarily the first file in the selection. Second, XP begins numbering what you and I might consider the second file as newfilename (1), so I always include (1) in the first filename. There is no point in getting fancy with things like (001) because the pattern isn’t followed; the second file is still newfilename (2). (At least it did recognize the 1 in the first file.) There’s good news concerning how Windows Vista handles this old technique. If you name the first file newfilename, the second file is newfilename (2). Smart. I’m still going to add (1) to the first file, but it works either way.
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The new rename-related feature in Windows Vista is that the extension name of a file is not selected when you begin to rename. This is a big deal because in XP, if the extension name shows, it is selected along with the rest of the filename, complicating the renaming as you try to avoid losing the extension name. Now, you can just start typing the new name, secure that the extension will not be overwritten (unless you go out of your way to do so).
Searching for Files The Find or Search function in prior versions of Windows was disappointing. It was slow, even with indexing, which itself seemed to slow things down. The options available, the speed and ease of use, all seemed inadequate after using the powerful and simple search functions available on the Web. This is precisely why so many people jumped at the chance to use Google Desktop Search. Windows Vista is much improved in the area of searching. We’ve already seen that a Search box appears on almost every screen, from the Start menu to Windows Explorer (use Ctrl+E to move the cursor to the Search box). The capability to search for files is close at hand wherever you are in the system. Searches and indexing are also faster and less of a burden on the system (granted, powerful systems). Indexing works in the background with a lowered priority. Best of all, perhaps, is that any search can be saved. When you access a saved search, its contents are always up-to-the-minute (said to be live or dynamic). Thus, repeating a search is as simple as clicking the Searches folder and the named search therein. To begin a search, use any available search box or Start ➝ Search. You may need to click the Advanced Search button to find more options. Advanced searching now supports multiple criteria and offers a fairly simple mechanism for combining those criteria. Let’s do a search that should work on any Windows Vista setup: 1. Open Windows Explorer (Win+E). 2. Move the cursor to the Search box (Ctrl+E). 3. Type the letter f and notice some files will be listed immediately. 4. Finish typing the word flowers and the list gets shorter as you type. I got the three files I was looking for with just “flow” (see Figure 10-12). Search results show file information in Details view, including the folder the file is in. You can switch views with the View button. You can do anything with the found files: open, move or copy, delete, rename — anything. One of the files I found is “Garden.” Obviously, the search was not just of filenames. Select Garden and look in the Details pane at the bottom of the window to see that this file has “flowers” as a tag. Tags will prove very useful in searches, but only if you add your own tags over time. Repeat these steps to search for “jazz.” None of the audio files found has “jazz” in its title, but in its genre. Search includes filenames and metadata.
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Figure 10-12: The new Search function
Note One vexing thing about doing a series of searches like this is that every time you enter the Search box with Ctrl+E or a mouse click, the previous text is not selected. If you escape or backspace over that text, you exit Search. So you have to select the previous text with the keyboard or mouse and type new text (don’t delete the old selected text first — that exits Search). Grrr.
Notice the toolbar in Figure 10-12 has two search options, and below the search results are two more search options. (If you select a file, more tools appear for that particular type of file.) The Search options are as follows: Save Search — This brings up a Save As dialog box like any other. Give it a name; note the Author and Tags metadata. More on saved searches in a moment. Search Tools — These are as follows: Search options — Opens the Search tab of Organize ➝ Folder and Search Options. The defaults are fine for most uses. The option to “Use natural language search” enables you to type today in the Search box to find files modified today (as one tiny demo). With the default option, typing today into the Search box only finds files with that word in the filename or metadata.
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Modify Index Locations — Allows you to select disks and folders to include or exclude from indexing, which speeds searches. The Advanced button lets you tailor by file type which files are indexed — more control than most of us need. Search Pane — Also under Organize ➝ Layout, the Search pane is really a toolbar above the regular toolbar. By default, search includes all file types. The Search pane presents buttons to restrict the search to the following types: e-mail, document, picture, music, and other. There is also a drop-down button for Advanced Search (described in the next section). Search in File Contents — This repeats the same search but extends it to include file contents, instead of just names and metadata. This increases the time of the search. (Use the red X at the end of the address bar to stop a search.) Advanced Search — This expands the Search pane from a toolbar to a pane containing specific fields to search (see Figure 10-13).
Figure 10-13: Advanced Search adds specific fields to search.
ADVANCED SEARCH If you need more searching options, use Advanced Search. Notice how the defaults and available fields change if you select different file types using the “Show only” option at the top of the Search pane. For example, if All is selected, there is an Authors field. Select E-mail and that morphs into To Names; for Picture, it is Title; for Music, it is Album. Be aware that you still use the original Search box for search terms that don’t fit one of these advanced fields. There is a synergy at work here between the general terms, the file types, and the
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advanced fields. The less specific a search is, the more files it will return, including files you don’t want. The more specific a search is, the fewer files found, possibly excluding the one you want. There is an art to searching. Starting from the Advanced Search screen, using “Show only: All” and no other options or criteria (what you are searching for), do this: 1. Type landscape in the original Search box (Ctrl+E). Notice this is the same fast instant search as before. “Desert Landscape” should be one of the files found. 2. Click in the Tags box and type landscape. Nothing changes automatically. Advanced search options require you click the Search button. 3. Click the Search button. “Desert Landscape” is not found. Notice that the original Search box displays “landscape tag:(landscape)”; you are searching for files with landscape in the filename or any metadata, and landscape in the tags. There are none of these. 4. Take “landscape” out of the original search box, leaving “tag:(landscape).” Click the Search button. Still nothing. You might not think that finding nothing is a valuable demonstration. Still, notice that tags are only useful in searching if you apply them to your files (as you create or edit them) and that criteria that work in one place may not work elsewhere.
Tip Open the Search window at any time with Win+F (for Find, not Search). You can type your search terms or expand Advanced Search (on the right side of the Search pane).
Though some of the specific fields in Advanced Search vary with file type, these fields are usually available: Location — At the top of the drop-down list is Everywhere. You can narrow the search to indexed locations, specific disks, or Choose Search Locations to select specific folders. Date — Also date modified or date created. Limits are as follows: any, is, is before, or is after. Pick a date by calendar. You cannot enter a word or terms like “today” or “last week” here, though you can use them in the Search box itself. With other file types, this may be date received or sent (e-mail), or date taken (pictures). Size — Limits are any, equals, is less than, or is greater than. When you type a number in the box, be aware this is a number of kilobytes (KB). So, if you are looking for something big, look for “is greater than” 1,000 (1 MB) or 1,000,000 (1 GB). Note the checkbox to “Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (might be slow).” Don’t use this unless you feel you must.
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As you play with criteria, click the Search button. Notice what happens in the original Search box. You’ll see your search constructed with keywords like these: size:>1,000KB date:<9/14/2004 tags:(whatever;something;else)
Tip You can actually enter your searches using this language, if that’s the kind of thing you like to do. There are a few benefits to typing your criteria into this box: This is instantaneous; you don’t have to click the Search button. You can use criteria the Advanced search doesn’t make available: size:>1 MB (huzzah!) date:yesterday (for files modified yesterday); even date:last week
Caution There is no “clear criteria” function. Although you can click the little X in the Search box, that does not actually clear specific choices under Advanced. In some cases, it is easiest to close this window and start Search over (Win+F).
SAVED SEARCHES You can save any search by using the Save Search button on the toolbar in the Search window. You can name your saved search anything. While you can actually save the search anywhere, you may want to save it to the default Searches location. If you are going to search using the same criteria more than once, the search may be worth saving, especially if that search involves complex criteria. After you have saved a search, selecting it from the Searches folder (or wherever you may have saved it) repeats that search. The results may be instantaneous.
Caution If you included non-indexed disks in your search, the search may run more slowly than it would for indexed locations. Add disks to the index through the Search Tools button in the toolbar of the Search window.
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Summary Almost everything we do with a computer involves documents. We create new documents and edit existing documents. Often, we venture out of an application and into Windows Explorer for more functions: copying, moving, deleting, restoring, and renaming. Windows Explorer has numerous useful and cool functions, many of which are new to Windows Vista. Searching has changed considerably in Windows Vista and is likely to become more valuable as we take advantage of metadata and saved searches. In the next chapter, we’ll network two or more PCs in the home or office so that we can share resources, including access to documents such as photos and music files.
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f you have two or more computers, they almost surely should be connected to a network (formally called a LAN, or local area network). Networks enable people to share files and other resources, such as printers or Internet connections. As with every computer topic, there are concepts and terms to grapple with, as well as hardware and software issues. Windows Vista supports many methods for connecting to networks, including wirelessly, broadband, and dial-up. Although there are many options for creating and configuring connections, the simplest wireless connections can be truly effortless. Don’t let the volume of text in this chapter discourage you: Take your laptop into the coffee shop and turn it on — you’re connected. We’ll start with a discussion of hardware. Then we’ll examine different methods for connecting to networks. We’ll end with techniques for sharing and securing resources, especially files.
Cross Reference Chapter 4, “Security Is Job One,” deals with the major security functions: Windows Firewall and Windows Defender. Chapter 12, “User Accounts and Family Safety,” takes you through setting up user accounts, which has relevance to networking.
Network Hardware In order to connect two or more computers, you need hardware, some of which you probably already own. The first order of business is to determine how to connect the computers and peripheral devices such as printers or modems. The options are wired or wireless. After we examine hardware options, we’ll move on to connecting to a network.
Wired Connections Wired networks involve an adapter for each computer, traditionally called a network interface card, or NIC (pronounced “nick”). These days, the NIC is more commonly part of the motherboard instead of a separate card. Wires run from these NICs to a hub or router, rather than directly between com- 217 puters. These connections are almost always based on the hardware requirements for Ethernet.
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Ethernet refers to the networking communication standard or protocol running over a particular type of cable (IEEE standard 802.3 over coaxial cable). On top of this, additional protocols (rules for communication) run — in particular, the big Kahuna of network protocols, the Internet’s TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).
Note I’m often reminded of the words of a friend: “I don’t want to build a watch; I just want to know what time it is.” There isn’t much watch-building in this chapter. In truth, you don’t have to recognize “Ethernet” or “TCP/IP” to network computers — that’s how easy things are, when they work. When things don’t work, you might want to know whether the watch requires winding or a battery.
There are advantages and disadvantages to wired connections: The disadvantage of stringing wire is obvious. If you never have to knock a hole through a wall or ceiling, consider yourself lucky. Obviously, wires limit your options for rearranging devices later. The speed of the connection may still be the primary advantage of the fastest Ethernet connection versus standard wireless connections. Wired connections are still believed to be more secure by some computer users. After all, wireless sprays everything out into a fuzzy sphere around the connection; someone sitting in the apartment below yours or in a car on the street may have access to your wireless connection. On the other hand, in an age where laser sensors can pick up conversations through the vibrations of a window pane, it’s not that hard to tap a wire. Further, we should be securing everything, including that wired connection, while recognizing we’ll never be completely secure.
Wireless Connections A wireless network also uses an adapter, though not a NIC. Wireless networks use radio signals to transmit and receive signals between devices. Some wireless devices use infrared radiation (IR) to send and receive information, but IR is not used for networking. Each device connecting to the network needs its own wireless adapter or a connection to a device that has one (as is often the case with a networked printer at home). This adapter is either built in or added on. In the latter case, a USB adapter may be the simplest option because you don’t have to open your computer’s case. (More on this in a moment.) Although two computers can talk to each other directly through their wireless adapters, the more likely arrangement in homes today will involve another device: a router that is part of your Internet connection. If you have an Internet connection that does not have built-in wireless, you can replace that connection with one that does, or connect it to an add-on router, or connect it to a PC and share that connection through the PC. Wireless has its advantages and disadvantages: The major advantage of wireless is fairly obvious: no need to run wires across the room or through walls or floors. Wireless is common for a laptop because you move it around, but
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wireless may be just as appropriate for a desktop computer. Conversely, laptops often have built-in wired NICs that enable them to connect that way when preferable. The disadvantages of wireless include concerns about security and signal strength. Will the wireless signal consistently reach from Point A to Point B with sufficient strength, especially through walls or ceilings? Conversely, is the signal so strong it will reach your neighbor or the street, heightening security concerns?
Speed Freaks The following table compares rated speeds for some common connection types. In a mixed environment, the slowest connection on the network will be the bottleneck and reduce the actual throughput. Connection Type
Rated Speed in Mbps (megabits per second)
56 K modem
.056
DSL (Internet connection)
.128 to 6
Cable (Internet connection)
.128 to 30
Bluetooth
1 to 3
Ethernet original
10
Wireless 802.11(g) (good option for most)
54
Fast Ethernet
100
FireWire
100 to 800
USB2
480
Wireless 802.11(n)
540
Gigabit Ethernet (Gig-E)
1,000 (up to 10,000)
The Grain of Salt Internet connections almost always involve different speeds for upload versus download (generally the faster of the two). Rated speed is like gas mileage: an ideal you may not achieve in the real world. Many factors degrade actual throughput. These numbers are all ultimately rather theoretical. There are online sites that attempt to judge your actual downloading and uploading speeds, including the following: www.dslreports.com/stest/ www.speakeasy.com/speedtest/ www.speedtest.net
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Love the One You’re With The starting point for planning a network is to consider what hardware you already have. Your DSL or cable modem may have wireless, USB, or even Ethernet ports. Your laptop probably came with wireless and Ethernet; your desktop probably came with Ethernet and no wireless. You can create a network using both wires and wireless — for example, two desktops wired together and one wireless laptop. That said, if you don’t already have wire strung around the house or small office, it is hard for me to recommend wire over wireless.
Tip How do you know whether or not you have Ethernet or wireless? Check the documentation that came with your computer. Check the manufacturer’s website for information on your specific model. Crawl under your desk and look: Ethernet looks like an extra-wide phone connection; wireless won’t have a port but it may have an antenna. There is a handy command for information about your configuration. Use Win+R (for the Run command), type cmd, and press Enter. This opens a command prompt. In the resulting window, type ipconfig and press Enter for a list of network adapters. Look for the words “Ethernet” and “wireless.” For more details, use ipconfig /all (we’ll use those details soon).
If you have a broadband Internet connection such as DSL or cable, one of your computers is surely already connected to the modem/router via USB or Ethernet (or maybe wireless). If it’s not connected, you’re wasting your money, so the question becomes one of how to connect other computers to the Internet. For most people, the convenience of not having wires is all that matters. If you are choosing wireless, you’ll have variations to consider. Most wireless connections use a standard called 802.11(g), which transmits at 54 Megabits/second, although there is a newer 802.11(n) that is up to 10 times faster but not widely successful so far. Notice from the “Speed Freaks” sidebar that 802.11(g) is slower than Fast Ethernet, USB2, or Gig-E (54 Mbps versus 100 Mbps, 480 Mbps or 1,000 Mbps, respectively). But all of those are faster than most Internet connections. Consider these scenarios (I can’t recommend any manufacturers here): If your Internet connection has wireless already — Get wireless adapters that support the same speed for each computer you want to connect to the Internet. USB will be easiest to connect. If your Internet connection does not have wireless — You can either replace your Internet connection with one that does have wireless or connect it to a wireless router. Again, you’ll match the speed standard for adapter cards for your computers. If you don’t have broadband — My wife and I shared a dial-up connection for a long time (with a perpetual busy signal for all callers). You could buy wireless adapters for each computer to network them directly or buy a wireless router for that purpose. The case for wires — If you will be moving a lot of files between machines, especially to share large media files, wired probably has the speed advantage, though faster wireless standards are coming.
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If you need speed for file transfers, buy a Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) or Gig-E (1 Gbps) router with a sufficient number of Ethernet ports for the machines you will wire together. Choose a router that also has 801.11(g) wireless built in — it is inevitable that you’ll want it. Run cable from each machine to the router. Your Internet connection can connect to any machine or directly to this router. In other words, if you download a large file, you won’t see a speed difference between a machine wired to the Internet connection versus one connecting wirelessly (unless you have a very fast Internet connection). However, if you transfer large files between two machines on your network, wired is faster than the standard 802.11(g).
Note Laptops usually come with both Ethernet and wireless. If you need to add wireless to a laptop, you can use USB, as I recommend for desktops. Some laptop owners don’t want an adapter hanging off the laptop (though unplugging the USB adapter guarantees you are disconnected from any network). If your laptop has an ExpressCard or PC Card slot, you can find wireless adapters for those slots; those adapters are less likely to be in the way of a mobile laptop user. Clearly, laptops need wireless for mobility. However, you may still “jack in” with Ethernet if that provides a faster or more stable connection. Wireless connections do get dropped or fluctuate in speed.
Caution Networking involves numerous issues that I can’t cover adequately here. The network can come together easily, but there are many potential pitfalls that can be a challenge to troubleshoot. I recommend you research the Web before networking more than a couple of machines or spending a lot of money. The following two books by Doug Lowe might be good starting points: Networking for Dummies (Wiley, 2003) and Networking All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies (Wiley, 2005).
For the devices you are connecting with wires, run the wires from each computer’s Ethernet port to the router (not directly to each other). For your wireless devices, install the wireless adapter and turn it on, if necessary. As with any hardware, you will need drivers. Though you may have obtained a disk with your hardware that implores you to install the driver first, I usually just plug it in and see if Windows Vista can figure it out. You’re likely to need to update the drivers online after you get connected.
Tip One aggravating part of configuring a wired network involves running back and forth between rooms. If you can work with the machines side by side, you’ll get less exercise.
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If your networking hardware is unrecognized, you may need a CD with drivers (or use another machine to download drivers to a flash drive). Windows Vista could not use my broadband connection until I installed a driver for the router/modem, which required using some other Internet connection (a case in favor of keeping that modem you think you’ll never use again). You may need the Device Manager to troubleshoot problems at this level. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ System and Maintenance ➝ System ➝ Device Manager (under Tasks) or Win+R, devmgmt.msc. Look under Network Adapters or Other Devices for your network card or adapter. Right-click and choose Update Device Driver. (For more information on this, see Chapter 7, “Working with Hardware.”)
Connecting to a Network Windows Vista is designed to connect to networks easily. Therefore, you may have connected before you opened this book. Still, there are options and settings you should examine and may need to change. We’ll begin with Start ➝ Connect To. This brings up a dialog box for you to “Select a network to connect to.” This option is also available through the pop-up that appears with a single tap or rightclick of the network icon in the notification tray (two overlapping monitors).
Choosing from Available Networks If you are using wireless, you may get prompts about connecting as soon as you turn on your computer or come into range of a wireless network. If you aren’t automatically prompted to connect to a network, use Start ➝ Connect To for a list of available networks. All available networks of any type will appear here (see Figure 11-1). We’ll first consider what to do if you see the network you want, then what to do if you don’t.
Figure 11-1: Select a network to connect to.
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Don’t despair if you see nothing more than “Windows cannot find any additional networks.” You may be successfully connected to your wired network. If you’re not going to use wireless, skip to the section “Network and Sharing Center.” The networks that are listed in “connect to” are grouped as Dial-up and VPN (virtual private network) or Wireless. You can display one group or the other or all; you can collapse a heading by double-clicking it or single-clicking the caret (^) at the end of the heading. Networks are identified as follows: Security-enabled network — This network requires something from you in order to connect. It may be a login (key or passphrase) or a security “token” you’ll have once you are a recognized and accepted user of the network. You have to obtain the login or passphrase from the administrator of the network. If this is your network, you need to configure your network router to create this key. See “Setting Up a Wireless Router or Access Point” later in this chapter. Secured connections involve an encryption type. The major choices are between WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the oldest and weakest standard, and at least four variations on WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). You will see different combinations of these among options throughout this chapter. When you are connecting to a network, you have no choice but to match the encryption used by that network. When you are setting a network up, you have some choice, but you have to be aware of what encryption standards are supported by the hardware that will be connecting to your network. Unsecured network — This network is easy to connect to; most networks in public places such as airports, libraries, and other hotspots are unsecured. You will be warned “Information sent over this network might be visible to others,” which could be said about any network. This is not cause for alarm but for awareness and caution (more to come). Choose Connect Anyway. Previously established connections can be configured to reconnect automatically without interaction. However, the first time you connect to a network, you have to choose it from a list of available networks or connect manually. To change options for a network, right-click over the connection and choose Properties (note the options to connect and to diagnose connection problems). The Connection tab of the Properties dialog box for a wireless connection includes a checkbox for “Connect automatically when this network is in range.” This option is very handy for the networks you frequently connect to at work and at home. (Properties are very different for the networks under Dial-up and VPN.)
Note The first time you connect to a network you may see a prompt to identify the Network location as Home, Work, or Public. Your choice sets the defaults we’ll examine in the “Networking and Sharing” section below. The “public” option sets the highest or most restricted security settings.
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Setting Up a Connection or Network If you don’t see a network you want to connect to, use the link to “Set up a connection or network.” That will give you the following options. You may never need some of these and most you would only use once for the first-time setup: Connect to the Internet — Choose an existing connection or create a new one. For a new connection, choose the type: wireless, broadband, or dial-up. For broadband or dial-up, you’ll need your user account information. For wireless, available connections will appear or you will have to set one up manually. Set up a wireless router or access point — This option is different from all the others, which connect to an established network. This one creates a network in your home or office, which other machines will connect to using one of the other options listed here. See the section “Setting Up a Wireless Router or Access Point,” later in this chapter. Manually connect to a wireless network — You won’t see this if you don’t have a wireless adapter. See the next section for more information. Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network — You won’t see this if you don’t have a wireless adapter. Like the router/access point option above, this one creates a network to which others will connect wirelessly, usually in a temporary arrangement in a public space (hence, “ad hoc”). See the “Setting Up a Wireless Ad Hoc Network” section later in this chapter. Set up a dial-up connection — See the “Setting Up a Dial-Up Connection,” section later in this chapter. Connect to a workplace — Choose an existing connection or create a new one. For a new connection, choose between an Internet connection and dialing directly. For an Internet connection, you’ll need your workplace Internet address. To dial directly, you’ll need a phone number for your business connection. For both, you’ll need your user name and password; a domain name is optional. All of this information comes from the administrator of the workplace network (sometimes called a virtual private network, or VPN).
MANUALLY CONNECT TO A WIRELESS NETWORK If you do not see a network connection you want, use the Refresh button in Connect To (two blue arrows above and to the right of the list of available networks). If you still don’t see the network you want, click the link to set up a connection or network. Then proceed with “Manually connect to a wireless network” (see Figure 11-2).
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Figure 11-2: Manually connecting to a wireless network
You’ll be prompted to “Enter information for the wireless network you want to add.” If you don’t know all of this information, just try the network name; if you don’t know that, you can’t connect. Get the information from the administrator of the network or from your own router configuration: Network name — Also called the SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is the network name determined by the person who set up the wireless connection (which could be you, later in this chapter). Security type — This option isn’t up to you; it is the security type used by the network to which you are connecting. If you aren’t sure what you need, try No Authentication and leave the remaining fields blank. Others types: WEP, WPA-Personal, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Enterprise, WP2-Enterprise, and 802.1x. Encryption type — Available options are determined by the previous setting. Use the default. Security Key/Passphrase — This isn’t available for some security types. This is another option beyond your choice when you are connecting; you have to get this information from the administrator of that network. When you set up a network, you have options (more on that soon). Display characters — Unchecked, the passphrase is masked by asterisks. Check this to see the actual characters, but consider who may be looking over your shoulder. Start this connection automatically — If this is checked, when you come into range of the wireless network, you will be connected automatically (which may or may not involve logging in). Use this for the wireless networks you connect to most often (work, home, some hotspots). Don’t bother with a one-time connection.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Connect even if the network is not broadcasting — Most networks broadcast their names or SSIDs to make them easy to identify. If a network does not broadcast its name (and presence), how can your computer connect to that network? By trying more or less constantly. The concern is not the obvious inefficiency of that method, but the fact that other networks can “hear” the name of the network you are looking for — and fake a response. Microsoft recommends against checking this. You’ll probably never need to check this.
SETTING UP A WIRELESS AD HOC NETWORK Most wireless networks involve infrastructure mode (or client-server) in which a router or server (an access point) controls access to the network. Wireless ad hoc mode (or peer-to-peer) is used to create temporary and short-range (30 feet) networks. A few people in a meeting might use ad hoc connections to transfer files. Two people in a coffee shop are more likely to use the coffee shop’s network (in infrastructure mode, though you won’t see that terminology in establishing the connection). However, they might bypass the house network and set up an ad hoc connection for direct sharing of files or other resources. Someone has to set up the ad hoc network, and then others have to join it. To set up an ad hoc network, follow these steps: 1. Use Start ➝ Connect To ➝ Set up a connection or network. 2. Under Choose a connection option, choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network.” 3. An information screen appears. Click Next to continue. Figure 11-3 shows the next screen that appears.
Figure 11-3: Setting up a wireless ad hoc network
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4. Give your network a name and choose security options: Network name — Anyone who wants to connect to your network will have to know its name or, at least, trust it. “Deathtrap” might not be good (depends on your crowd). Security type — If you want anyone to be able to connect, choose No authentication (Open). This makes it easy for anyone who discovers your network to connect. Are you confident about your other security measures? (Particularly, sharing — discussed later in this chapter.) For a more secure/private network, choose WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). WEP is not the most secure encryption but it’s the only option at this time. For some reason, this option does not include all the available choices described earlier for connecting to a wireless network. Security key/Passphrase — Anyone joining will have to enter the specified string of characters: 5 or 13 alphanumeric characters (case-sensitive); 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters, if you’re really cool. Leave this option blank if you chose No authentication above. Display characters — Check this if you want to see the key you typed. (Can anyone else see it?) Save this network — Check this if you want to use this network again in the future with less setup. This belies the notion of a “temporary” network. Make your choices and click Next. 5. A screen indicates the network is being set up and another appears when the network is ready for use. There is a link to the Network and Sharing Center (discussed later). Now you wait for someone to join your net. To join an ad hoc network, look for it in Start ➝ Connect To. You will need to recognize the ad hoc network name and trust the connection. You will also need the key if the network is secured.
SETTING UP A DIAL-UP CONNECTION You won’t use a dial-up connection to create a network at home or in an office. Dial-up is just used for an Internet connection. However, dial-up appears with other options for connecting to networks, so we’ll examine your options here.
Tip Once you get a taste of broadband, you can’t imagine going back to dial-up. Can you imagine your broadband connection failing some day? Dial-up is better than nothing. Hang on to one modem, just in case. Many laptops come with modems. While wireless is widespread, it isn’t as ubiquitous as the lowly landline. Consider setting up a dial-up connection to your ISP (local or 800 number).
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You’ll need a modem and a standard phone wire from the modem to the phone jack. Your ISP will provide you with several phone numbers you can use to connect, plus your account information and password. Use Start ➝ Connect To ➝ Set up a connection or network. Choose “Set up a dial-up connection.” On the next screen, enter the following information, most of which the ISP should have provided (see Figure 11-4): Dial-up phone number — This is provided by your ISP. User name — That would be you. Password — You can select Show Characters and Remember This Password. Both are less secure and more convenient. Connection name — Choose something you’ll recognize later in the connection list. Allow other people to use this connection — Even a dial-up connection can be shared. If you check this, then you may also want to check Remember This Password (above).
Figure 11-4: Dial-up information
Windows Vista will test the connection when you click Next. If you aren’t ready for the test (if you aren’t connected to the phone line), you can skip the test and then choose to set up the connection anyway. The next time you use Start ➝ Connect To, your dial-up connection will appear along with any others. Select the dial-up connection and click Connect. When you dial, you’ll get a connection dialog box with boxes for your user name, your password, and the phone number dialed. Use the Properties button (or, on the Connect To screen, right-click over the connection and choose Properties). Dialing and Redialing Options enable you to control what you are prompted for and more.
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Tip If you add a dial-up or workplace (VPN) connection, that connection will appear in the “connect to” list, of course, Oddly, you can’t delete the network directly from that listing, if you want to get rid of it. To delete a dial-up or VPN connection, use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Network and Internet ➝ Internet Options ➝ Connections tab (also under Tools ➝ Internet Options in Microsoft Internet Explorer). Under “Dial-up and Virtual Private Network Settings,” select the network you want to delete and click the Remove button. You can also click the Settings button for properties of that network connection. Also on this screen is “Never dial a connection,” which most users will want to select. You can still choose the dial-up connection manually, but the system won’t try automatically.
Setting Up a Wireless Router or Access Point What most people call a DSL or cable modem is really a router. A router is a very common device for connecting a small network to the Internet. The router accepts the incoming Internet connection (cable or DSL) and provides a connection to the network (or a single computer) via some combination of Ethernet, USB, or wireless. A router routes traffic between devices. Providers of DSL and cable connections try to make connecting to the router as easy as possible. To that end, the odds are that security settings are at their lowest to remove security as a possible impediment to getting connected. An alternate way to give your network access to the Internet connection or other resources is to set up an access point, through which other computers access a network (wired or wirelessly). If you are using your Internet connection as a router, you can probably configure it directly through a Web page. However, we’ll follow Windows Vista’s steps first: 1. Use Start ➝ Connect To ➝ Set up a connection or network. 2. Choose “Set up a wireless router or access point.” Click Next. 3. An introduction to the wizard appears. Click Next. 4. Detecting network hardware and settings — The system identifies the attached router to your computer. 5. If the wizard can configure your router, you will be prompted for the following (each on a separate screen): Give your network a name — Other users will connect using this name (up to 32 letters or numbers), also known as the SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is normally broadcast to simplify identifying the network.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Some people believe that broadcasting the name makes the network less secure. Not broadcasting the name is not really a security measure. It makes connecting to your network less convenient to the good guys and no less convenient to the bad guys. Help make your network more secure with a passphrase — The wizard generates a secure passphrase or key, which will be used by anyone who connects to your network. You can type your own phrase, in which case you want something complex that someone can actually remember and type. Do not use a simple password here. See Microsoft’s Password Checker at www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/ password_checker.mspx. There is a link to “Show advanced network security options.” You do not have to use this. The linked screen allows you to choose another security standard: WPA-Personal (the default), WPA2-Personal (the most secure of these), WEP (the weakest), and No Security (not advisable in this context, if ever). Consider what standards are supported by the other wireless adapters that will connect to this access point or router. Devices more than a few years old probably only support WEP or definitely don’t support WPA2-Personal. If you’re not sure, go with the default (back to the previous screen). If you cannot connect later, try WEP. If you still can’t connect, use No Security just to test whether a connection is possible (don’t leave it that way). File and Printer sharing options: Do not allow file and printer sharing — Others with network access will not be able to use your printer or files. This is secure but counterproductive within your network but more appropriate with a public network. Allow sharing with anyone with a user account and password for this computer — Other network users can use your printer and shared files, but you have to set up an account for them. Allow sharing with anyone on the same network as this computer — Anyone on the network can use your printer or shared files. I recommend this option for most small networks. Keep the custom settings I currently have — If this is selected, leave it selected; we’ll discuss the Network and Sharing Center soon.
6. Click Next. Your router is configured. (See “Manually Configuring Your Router” in the next section.) If Windows Vista cannot configure your router, it will offer you the option to manually configure the router through its administrative Web page or to go through all the preceding configuration steps to create a file with settings on a USB flash drive (which can be used to configure other Windows Vista or XP machines; it also can be used to configure the router if it supports updates via a USB flash drive).
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To connect to your newly configured router, other users will need to know the network name and the key/passphrase. They will look for the network name in Start ➝ Connect To. If they do not find the network name there, they will use “Set up a connection or network” and then “Manually connect to a wireless connection” to enter the network name and passphrase manually. (See the steps described earlier in this chapter.)
Manually Configuring Your Router Whether or not the previous wizard can configure your router, you may need to configure it manually for additional options. You’ll have to do this if the wizard can’t. Most routers use a Web page to provide the interface for configuring the router. This page has a numeric URL like 192.168.0.1, though your specific URL may be different. Check the router manufacturer’s website for information on configuring the router. Use a browser to access the router’s URL to run the configuration program. The same options the previous wizard prompted for are here, plus additional settings. Look for the following advanced settings in your router configuration: SSID — This is the network name others will see. SSID broadcast — Will people see your network name/SSID? Some people suggest disabling broadcast as a way of hiding your network. As mentioned earlier, the bad guys will find it anyway, while the good guys are inconvenienced. Don’t disable it. Channel — Wireless signals use channels; change channels if you experience interference (such as from a cordless phone). Channels range from 1 to 11. If your connections are dropped regularly or your connection speed is much lower than expected, try a different channel. (I change the channel, save the settings, run for a while to see if it is better, and repeat the process up to 10 times.) Security encryption standard Off — Only during testing to eliminate this as a problem. WEP — Only if you have older wireless adapters that only support WEP. WPA variants — In general, WPA is preferred. Which of its variants depends on the adapters that will connect. MAC Authentication — MAC in this context has nothing to do with the Apple Macintosh. MAC stands for Media Access Control. Devices that connect to networks, such as NICs and wireless adapters, have unique MAC addresses. If you enable this feature, you can block all clients except those you add to a list. Determine the MAC address for each network adapter on your network and add them to the router’s exception list. No security method is iron-clad and even MAC addresses can be spoofed. Still, this method makes it at least a little harder to connect to your network. (What about those houseguests with laptops? Learn to edit this list when you need to.)
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Tip Some USB and other adapters have the MAC address printed on the device. To find the MAC address for your network adapters, use the ipconfig command we used earlier in the chapter to find out which adapters are connected to your computer. Press Win+R, type cmd, and then press Enter. This opens a command prompt. In the resulting window, type ipconfig_/all. Locate the wireless adapter you want to add to the exception list and note its “Physical Address,” a sequence of six pairs of characters separated by dashes, like 00-0D-47-4B-D6-66 (hexadecimal). You do not need to add any Ethernet adapter MAC addresses. Another address this command displays is your computer’s IP (Internet Protocol) address. Every device on a network needs a unique IP address. On the screen, you’ll see IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.2 (or something similar, called a dotted quad — four sets of digits between 0 and 255, separated by dots). You’ll also see a longer IPv6 address, which is part of a newer standard needed to allow for trillions more addresses (we’ve used up so many of IPv4). Another command that you may find useful at this prompt is ping followed by an address. For example, ping 192.168.01 will tell you whether you are connected to that machine (use your router address). If
you get the message “request timed out,” you aren’t reaching that machine and have a connection problem. The ping command is often used to test Internet connections: ping www.wiley.com will tell you whether you have a working Internet connection (unless www.wiley.com is offline; try another URL).
802.11 mode — Mixed mode allows various “letter” standards. If all your devices use one standard, you can change the mode to that standard. Your router is also a firewall. You may find options here to block traffic by IP address or even URL. This is not the most convenient place for these controls.
Tip Changes to network settings may take a while to propagate through the network. So when you make a change on one machine, don’t run to another expecting to see the impact of those changes instantly. Patience is the key. You may also need to restart and wait. About the time you give up hope, things usually work.
Network and Internet As you have seen, there are many paths to the same place in Windows Vista. For the time being, ignore the more obvious Network option on the Start menu. Instead, use the following more formal route, though I doubt you’ll use if often, because there are shortcuts: Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Network and Internet. Under this umbrella are topics for this chapter and topics for other chapters.
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At this time, our interest is the Network and Sharing Center, under Network and Internet. This is more easily reached through the Network icon in the notification tray (single click or right-mouse click).
Network and Sharing Center Until this point, the discussion has been about getting connected to a network. Once you are connected, whether permanently to a wired network or temporarily to a wireless one, you may want to do more than access the Internet. A network enables you to share resources, including printers and files. You can let other network users access your files (e.g., let them see your photos or listen to your music) and they can share their files with you. In Windows XP, network settings tend to be scattered across a lot of different dialog boxes. In Windows Vista, many of these have been gathered into the Network and Sharing Center (see Figure 11-5). The top portion of the Network and Sharing Center shows the status of the network. You’ll see an icon for your computer. If you are connected to the network, there is a line between your computer and the network icon. If the network is connected to the Internet, to the right of the network icon is the globe. A red X through either of these lines indicates a problem to diagnose. Try clicking on the X.
Figure 11-5: The new Network and Sharing Center consolidates many but not all network functions.
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Below this tableau you’ll see the network name and type with a customize link. Click that link (see Figure 11-6).
Figure 11-6: Customize network settings
You’ll recall seeing these settings the first time you connected with this network. For your current network connection, you can rename the network. You can choose between public and private. You can change the icon. Public — Configures the network to restrict access for your safety in public places. A public network would most likely be in a public place, such as a library or your favorite coffee shop. In that environment, ease of access is secondary to security. Options are set to limit access by other machines. Private — Configures the network to facilitate discovery and sharing of resources. A private network is what you are setting up at home or work, in most cases.
Tip If you have a single computer connected to an external Internet connection, you probably have a network. If that is the case, make that network public — no one needs easy access to your resources.
When you are done with this screen (refer to Figure 11-6), click the Next button. The next screen provides links we don’t need at this moment. Click Close.
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In this middle section, below the graphic and network name and above Sharing and Discovery, you’ll see the type of access and information about the connection. Use the View Status link for more details, including duration (uptime) and speed. For wireless connections, there is also a Disconnect link.
Sharing and Discovery It sounds like something from the 1960s, but the Sharing and Discovery section of the Network and Sharing Center controls discrete kinds of sharing (refer to Figure 11-5 again). Without any sharing, a machine may appear in a list of networked devices but not actually be accessible. The whole point of networking is to share something, whether a device such as a printer, an Internet connection, or documents, music, photos, games, and more. Each of the following is a subsection of Sharing and Discovery. Use the small button with a triangle pointing down or up to expand or collapse each subsection.
NETWORK DISCOVERY When enabled, the Network Discovery option allows computers to discover each other over a network. Your computer can discover other resources and can be discovered by other computers. By default, the Network Discovery option is turned off for public networks and on for private networks. It would be reasonable to assume that if Network Discovery is off, your machine and the network are invisible to each other. However, that isn’t the case, as you’ll see in a moment.
Note If you don’t use the Windows Firewall, you’ll see a message here that “Windows has detected that you are using a firewall other than Windows Firewall.” In that case, options for network discovery and file sharing are grayed out. Presumably, your alternate firewall will control these options.
In the Network Discovery section, you’ll see the workgroup name that defaults to WORKGROUP. You probably don’t have to change this. However, if you are unable to see or be seen by other computers on the network, change the workgroup name to the same name for all members of the workgroup. To do so, use the Change Settings link next to Workgroup. This opens the Computer Name tab of the System Properties dialog box. You can also add a description of your computer here. Skip the Network ID button and use the Change button to change the workgroup name (expect to restart Windows Vista if you change the workgroup name). You can change the computer name as well on the next screen. (I don’t know why this isn’t all on the previous screen with the computer description.) See Figure 11-7.
FILE SHARING Most of the remaining options in the Sharing and Discovery section pertain to sharing files and folders. This one controls the big picture — will you allow files to be shared at all? By default, the File Sharing option is off for a public network and on for a private network. Turning File Sharing off slams the door on access to your files or other resources such as printers. Turn File Sharing on if you intend to share anything with other network users. You will still need to specify what you want to share.
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Figure 11-7: Changing the workgroup name, computer name, or description requires two screens.
Note Oddly, if File Sharing is on and Network Discovery is off, the Windows Vista machine will still be discovered by XP machines. I can’t tell whether this is a glitch or intentional.
PUBLIC FOLDER SHARING Windows Vista automatically creates folders for files that you want to share over the network. A folder called Public contains the following folders: Public Documents Public Downloads Public Music Public Pictures Public Videos Recorded TV (the phrase Public TV was already taken)
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In XP, these folders are called Shared instead of Public (Shared Documents, etc.). By default, the Public Folder Sharing option is off for both public and private networks. Windows Vista has simplified security setup by providing these public folders. If you want to share something, put it in one of these public folders and turn on sharing in this section of Sharing and Discovery. Of course, you can also put files anywhere, in any folder, and share that folder, as you will soon see. Here are three options: Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open files — Others on the network can open or use your files, but not make any changes. This is also known as readonly access. Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open, change, and create files — Others on the network can do more than view these files, including coping, deleting, and renaming them. Turn off sharing — No one on the network can access the public folders. Other users who log on to your computer can access these folders. Using the Public folders may make it easier to keep track of what is shared if you decide that items in the Public folders are shared, whereas items that aren’t in those folders are not shared. In fact, you can share items from any folder. There are disadvantages to the broad form of sharing: You have to move files into these folders (or copy, if you’re willing to have duplicates). Everyone accessing the Public folders has equal rights or limits. You must take additional measures if you want one person to be allowed to change files but another person not to be able to change files. In the next chapter, we’ll gain more control over sharing and permissions through user accounts.
PRINTER SHARING You are very likely to share one or more printers on a network. The setup of printers is covered in Chapter 7. There is no reason to turn off the Printer Sharing option here (unless you actually are not sharing a printer). There is also little reason to turn Printer Sharing on here, since you are more likely to do that as part of adding a printer. By default, printer sharing is off for both public and private networks. When you share a printer, if the File Sharing option isn’t already on, it is turned on as part of the process.
PASSWORD PROTECTED SHARING When the Password Protected Sharing option is on, anyone who wants to use your shared resources (printers, files) will have to log in from the remote computer. This means they must have a user account on your computer (or know your login information, which is not recommended). Although
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you can set up a user account for the purpose of logging in to share these resources, you can avoid that by turning this feature off. By default, Password Protected Sharing is on for both public and private networks. Frankly, I think Microsoft has made a mistake with this function. I believe it would be better if other users could access the public folders and printers without a password, even if this option is on. Instead, many people are going to choose to turn off this function just to make it easier to share the public folders and printers, removing this layer of protection from other folders that you might like to password protect. I believe the following would be better: Full — All resources require login (the current On). Partial — Public resources and printers do not require login. Off — No resources require login. Keep in mind that turning this option off does not open your whole computer to the whole world, just resources that have been explicitly shared and only to people on the network. I recommend you turn this off for sake of simplicity on your private network, knowing that I shame myself in the eyes of some.
MEDIA SHARING Media Sharing takes a different approach to sharing. Most sharing is based on specific folders, such as the public folders. Although it is possible to share one file in a folder and not another, the simplest sharing gives people equal access to all files in a folder. But media files (photos, music, TV) might actually be in a lot of different folders on your system, so the Media Sharing option gives other network users access to files by type, rather than location. We’ll come back to this option when we discuss Media Player (in Chapter 16). Until you use Media Player, leave this option off and put media you want to share in the appropriate public folder or other shared folder.
NOW WHAT DO YOU DO? Let’s sum this up with three scenarios: Out in a public place with your laptop — Connect to the network. Customize the main Network setting by choosing Public. Double-check that all the options under Sharing and Discovery are off except for Password Protected Sharing, which should be on. If you are not using your Internet connection, turn off or eject your wireless card. Allowing limited access — Whether at home or a small office, customize the main Network setting by choosing Private. Double-check that the following options are on: Network Discovery, File Sharing, Printer Sharing (if you have a printer to share), and Password Protected Sharing. People will have to log in to use resources you explicitly share. Easier access within the network — The options from the previous scenario should be on. Turn on Public Folder Sharing if you want to share those folders (you can share other folders instead of or in addition to). Turn off Password Protected Sharing if you want to make it easier for others on the network to access those explicitly shared resources.
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Other Network Functions Below Sharing and Discovery in the Network and Sharing Center (Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Network and Internet ➝ Network and Sharing Center) are two useful links, and in the Navigation pane are at least five more (refer to Figure 11-5). Show me all the files and folders I am sharing — This option runs a saved search for shared files. The first time you are on a new system, this list will probably be empty; we’ll change that in the next chapter. Use this if you need to identify which files you are sharing. Show me all the shared network folders on this computer — This is a very different display from the previous one. Here you will see all shared resources on this computer: the Public folders (if you enabled that option) and printers. View computers and devices (under Tasks) — This displays the entire network. Essentially, this is one step up from the previous link — you’ll see your computer and the others, so you can use either function and go up or down from there to the other function. You can get the same display by clicking on the network icon (a house by default) near the top of the Network and Sharing Center. This option to view computers and devices also appears under Start ➝ Network (that command I suggested you ignore earlier; now it is a little more useful). Click any icons to browse for shared resources on the network (see Figure 11-8).
Figure 11-8: Use Start ➝ Network to list all computers on the network.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Connect to a network — We examined this earlier in the chapter. Manage wireless networks — See the next section. Set up a connection or network — We also examined this earlier in the chapter. Manage network connections — Discussed two sections hence. Diagnose and repair — An automatic troubleshooter for your network connection. The diagnosis is a little lean (see Figure 11-9), but it may help. Actually, the screen shot is misleading; there are other suggestions that appear within the diagnostics, depending on specific circumstances, including options to enable or reset an adapter or send a report to Microsoft.
Figure 11-9: Windows Network Diagnostics
Tip You can easily access the Network and Sharing Center and a few other options by right-clicking over the network icon in the taskbar tray. (Look for two overlapping monitors.)
Managing Wireless Networks It seems like we’ve spent the last 20 pages managing wireless networks (among others). But there is another tool for this. Unlike Start ➝ Connect To, the Manage Wireless Networks window shows only wireless networks you have previously connected to or set up manually (no dial-ups, etc.). The networks appear here whether they are in range or not (they only appear on the Connect To list if they are in range). While you don’t use this screen to connect, you must use it to remove a previously added wireless network (something you can’t do from the Connect To screen). You also use this screen to rename a wireless connection and to rearrange them. If you are in range of two wireless networks, the one that is higher in this list is the one to which you connect.
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Open Manage Wireless Networks (see Figure 11-10) from the link in the tasks of the Network and Sharing Center.
Figure 11-10: Manage Wireless Networks
Let’s consider some of the actions you might take here. For most of these, begin by selecting a network connection from the list. Most of these actions appear on the toolbar or the context menu: Rename a network connection — If it helps. Properties — Only on the context menu. Properties are also available through the context menu in the Connect To dialog box. All of the options here have been discussed earlier. Remove a network connection — Use this if you no longer need to connect to that network. You may have accidentally added a network or done so as practice. Choose a preferred connection — Use Move up/down or simply drag and drop. You do not need to arrange every network. Change the order if two or more networks are in range at the same time; move your preferred choice above your less favored choice. Add — Only on the toolbar, this offers “Add a network that is in range of this computer” (opens the Connect To screen), “Manually create a network profile” (this is the only place I’ve seen the word “profile” but it seems insignificant), and “Create an ad hoc network.” We have already discussed these options in the context of Start ➝ Connect To ➝ Set up a connection or network.
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Managing Network Connections Finally, we come to one more place to examine and alter your network connections. This one is also at the end of a link from the Network and Sharing Center. Unlike Manage Wireless Connections, Manage Network Connections will display all network connections (dial-up, wireless, and wired), as shown in Figure 11-11. Well, not exactly so, because it doesn’t list the inactive wireless connections found in Manage Wireless Connections. The toolbar is nearly empty until you select one of your connections. Then the tools displayed depend on the type of connection. We have seen most of these options elsewhere.
Figure 11-11: Manage Network Connections
I would consider not even mentioning this one, except that it is the only place your wired connection appears (as well as in the notification tray). Think of how many wireless options we’ve seen. I don’t know if this suggests that wired is easier or less important than wireless. Find your way to this area for the following functions for your wired network: Disable Diagnose Rename Properties/Settings
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Summary Setting up a network is worthwhile when you have resources to share: printers, files, or an Internet connection. Connecting to a network can be as easy as plugging in a cable or wireless card. Issues arise as to how to share resources such as printers and folders as you find the balance between ease of use and security. When I started this chapter, I initially thought Windows Vista had done a much better job than XP in organizing network options. In the end, I think it is more visual, but not necessarily better organized. In the next chapter, we’ll address setting up user accounts and assigning permissions to individual users.
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indows Vista is designed to help people share computers and computer resources. Although many people have a computer all to themselves, there are also many who share their machine with family, friends, or co-workers. Whether you share your machine or not, you may still have reason to share files or other resources with others on a network. All of these activities involve user accounts. When you start Windows Vista for the first time, you create a user account for yourself. Unlike previous version of Windows, you do not have the opportunity during setup to create multiple user accounts — just your own. User accounts help to organize files and control who can access resources. On your primary hard drive, you will find a folder called Users, under which is a folder with your user name and another folder named Public. (We discussed sharing the Public folders in the previous chapter.) If there are other users — and we will add some in this chapter — those users have their own folders under C:\Users. As for family safety, if you are setting up a machine for children and feel the need, and right, to limit what they can do with that computer, you’ll need the new system-level parental controls, which are built upon user accounts. Parental controls are covered later in this chapter.
Tip Different users can customize their setups differently. Each can have his or her own preferences for background, screen saver, sounds, Sidebar, and other settings under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization.
User Folders Each user has the following folders by default (under \Users\username\): Contacts — Used by Windows Contacts to store the equivalent of an address book.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Desktop — The physical location that corresponds to the full-screen desktop you see when you start Windows Vista. Documents — The likely place to save most of your documents (except for specific file types below or the catchall Desktop). Downloads — The default location used by Internet Explorer (IE) for downloaded files. Favorites — IE’s folder for favorites, also known as bookmarks. Links — Not the links in IE, but the Favorite Links displayed in the Navigation pane of Windows Explorer. (Put a few useful shortcuts in here.) Shortcuts or links to many of these other folders are already in Links. You can delete the ones you don’t want. Music — Well, it’s getting pretty obvious by now, isn’t it? Pictures — Ditto. Saved Games — If a game allows you to save when you quit, that information is saved here. Searches — A key part of Windows Vista’s new search capabilities is saving searches as live, or dynamic, folders. Looking in this folder is a way of repeating a saved search. The results are kept current as you work with Windows Vista. Videos — Another well-named folder.
A few of these folders include shortcuts to sample files in the corresponding Public folders. For example, in your Music folder, there is a shortcut to Sample Music, which is a folder under Public Music. Each user has the same folders and shortcuts. You may want additional user accounts for family members, roommates, colleagues, visitors, or others. You may even want more than one account for yourself. Adding a user account duplicates this folder structure for the new user.
Note Even if only one person uses a machine, there will be at least two groups of folders under Users — that person’s and Public.
User Accounts and Family Safety Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ User Accounts and Family Safety (see Figure 12-1). You’ll find three functions here: User Accounts — Use this to view, create, or edit user accounts. See the next section. Parental Controls — Use this to configure parental controls, as described later in this chapter.
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Windows CardSpace — CardSpace manages digital identity cards. It is designed to work with some websites and online services. The idea behind CardSpace is to simplify providing information to websites. At this time, I don’t know of a single service that uses this function. But when Microsoft approaches potential customers and says one billion people have this on their computers, it should give them some marketing leverage.
Figure 12-1: User Accounts and Family Safety
User Account Types Before we create or modify accounts, let’s consider the two types of accounts we’ll see soon. The first account that is created when Windows Vista is installed or started for the first time — your account, presumably — is an administrator account. Any additional accounts can be an administrator or a standard user (called limited in XP). As an administrator, you can do anything with the system. You can change any setting, make any modification to the setup. The changes an administrator can make can affect all the users on a system. In contrast, a standard user can change anything that affects his or her own account, but not changes that might affect other accounts, such as uninstalling a program someone else installed (that could be bad). You can see there has to be an administrator, someone who can do anything. And you can see why you might want some users on your computer to be standard users, unable to make changes that would affect your account. If you’re going to use parental controls, the parent has to be an administrator and the child can’t be (unless the roles are reversed, and the child knows more than you do and is trying to protect you from yourself). These are actually very practical considerations. Unfortunately, under XP, the limited account type was too limited, and anyone stuck with such an account was sure to chafe under those limits at some point; it became reviled.
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The standard user type in Windows Vista is more than just a name change. This user type can really do anything he or she needs to with his or her own setup. This leads to an interesting suggestion: limit yourself. Even though your account is probably an administrator account, Microsoft recommends you create a second account for yourself of the standard user type and use that account for day-to-day operations. Why would they suggest that? Security. A hazard of being logged in as an administrator is that any process running while you are logged in has all the power of an administrator. This power is called permission or privilege (more or less interchangeable terms in this context). If some malware runs as an administrator, it has the privilege to change settings that affect all users of the system. By using an alternate, standard account, you make it harder for malware to attack the system.
Editing Your User Account Settings If you follow the link from User Accounts and Family Safety to User Accounts, you are working with your own account settings (see Figure 12-2).
Figure 12-2: Settings for your own account
Here you can do the following: Change your password — Use this to change your password. You will have to enter your current password and enter your new password twice. You can also enter a password hint that will appear if you need a hint to recall your password. Many security experts recommend changing passwords regularly, which is to say at least once in your life. Perhaps you originally created a weak password and now want to create a stronger one. See the sidebar “My Password Is Secret.” Remove your password — If you are the only one with access to your machine, you may find a password a nuisance. You can remove your password here, in which case anyone with access to your machine can do anything you can do with it.
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Ignoring that security mavens are apoplectic at this suggestion, there is a practical problem with this if you want to access your own files from another machine on the network. You can’t log in from another machine with a blank password, even if your account doesn’t have a password.
Tip You should be concerned about forgetting your password. You can create a password reset disk using the first task in the Navigation pane for User Accounts (“Create a password reset disk”). This link runs a wizard that creates a file called userkey.psw on any removable disk, including flash drives (but not external hard drives). If you are ever unable to recall your password, try anything on the login screen. After rejecting your attempt, the login screen will have a link to Reset Password. Choose that link to launch the Password Reset Wizard (very similar to the process used to create the reset file). You simply enter a new password twice and a hint (optional). You need a password reset disk as insurance. Put this disk in a secure location; it is a passkey for anyone to access your account without the password.
Change your picture — Move beyond the limited account icons offered when you first create your account. Associate a photo or other image with your account. This picture appears on the login screen and the Start menu. Windows Vista crops this image oddly, so use square images with the subject centered and a bit of space equally around the subject for best results. Recall that an image is also associated with your Contact record; changing it here or there changes it in all places. Change your account name — When you upgraded to Windows Vista, “dog tired” seemed funny at 3:00 A.M. You can change it here. Change your account type — You cannot actually change the type for the first account created under Windows Vista, which has to be an administrator account type. For any other account, the choice is between administrator and standard (fewer privileges, though more than the limited account type under XP). Manage another account — As it says, use this to create or modify other accounts. We’ll do this in a moment. Turn User Account Control on or off — There is a chance you’ve turned to this page before reading anything more in this book because you’ve experienced alerts called User Account Control (UAC) prompts. These alerts require a response from you to execute a function, even one you just initiated yourself. UACs are the cornerstone of Windows Vista security, guaranteeing that potentially harmful changes to the system cannot be initiated without your explicit permission, regardless of account type.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Browse through the various functions under the Control Panel. Everywhere you see the Windows logo shield is a function that initiates a User Account Control prompt. When an administrator account gets this prompt, you click Continue to go on after verifying you really want the function to continue. When a standard user account gets this prompt, it includes a prompt for the name and password of an administrator account; that information is necessary to continue. Once the system is set up, most users won’t need most of these functions. Microsoft claims that any functions that only affect one account should work for standard users, whereas functions that could affect more than one account will require an administrator.
Caution There is a real risk of growing inured to these UAC prompts and hastily clicking the Continue button. Every time you see one of these prompts, you should ask yourself, “Did I expect that?” Don’t reflexively approve a box out of nowhere — it may have been triggered by malware. An advantage of the standard account type is that you have to consider your response as long as it takes you to type in your administrator account information.
If the UAC prompts bother you, you can turn them off here. Just be very aware that Microsoft regards these prompts as vital to your security. Turning off UAC denies you the last line of security. Don’t do it without seriously considering that you may be enabling processes to be initiated secretly by Web pages, e-mail attachments, or other malware. A certain consequence of turning off UAC is that you’ll get a security alert every time you log in. You’ll also see a red security shield in the taskbar tray. Unfortunately, you won’t know whether this is just due to the UAC being disabled or some other security issue, unless you check the Security Center.
Tip As noted, UACs on standard accounts prompt for an administrator login. You can also run applications as an administrator by right-clicking over any application and choosing Run as Administrator (or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter with a program selected). If you are logged in to a standard user type account, you’ll be prompted for the user name and password of an administrator account. So you can accept the added safety of a standard user account, as Microsoft suggests, while still having access to the elevated privileges or permissions of an administrator as needed.
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My Password Is Secret Well, not literally the word “secret” or “password.” Nothing gets cryptologists to their feet like a debate about what makes a really good password (or “strong” versus “weak”). Still, some common passwords are obviously bad. But the best password in the world does you no good if you can’t remember it (or if you put it on a note stuck to your monitor). Here are a few suggestions: Avoid real words or names. Choose a memorable phrase. Example: I say this is one good password. Use the initial letters from the phrase. Example: istiogp. Mix case for those initials. Example: IsTiOgP. Mix numbers and letters. Example: 1sT10gP. Use special characters. Example: 1$T10gP!. Don’t use the same password over and over again. Change your most important passwords occasionally. Some say every month or so. Make it an annual event for your birthday or New Year’s. Keep a secure record of your most important passwords. A password also needs to be long enough, although there is debate as to just how long is long enough — probably no fewer than six characters. See the link “How to create a strong password” under the function to change your password in User Accounts. There are programs that will generate and store passwords for you. A good freebie is at www.anypassword.com.
Managing Other Accounts As mentioned earlier, Microsoft recommends that you create a second account for yourself and make that a standard account type. That should be the account you use most often. Whether you follow that advice or not, you may have reason to create other accounts: For specific users of the same machine — If your family, roommates, or colleagues use this same machine, give them their own space and keep them out of yours. These accounts can have completely different desktops, screen savers, etc. For network users who will access this machine over the network — If you enabled the Password Protected Sharing setting under Network and Sharing Center (discussed in the previous chapter), anyone who accesses your shared resources has to log in to them over the network. You don’t want to give them your account information to do that, so set up accounts for each person or, at least, a generic network user account for this purpose.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista For visitors or guests — If your computer is in the guest room, your guests might like to log in to check e-mail, etc. There is a guest account that is turned off by default. Turn it on or create a visitor account. For the lost and found — Laptop users are naturally very concerned about losing their laptops. Of course, you need good security, so someone can’t get into your user account. But how does someone know how to contact you if they find your laptop? Along with whatever physical label you place on the exterior, consider creating an account that is easy to log in to (name it “call me” or “reward offered”). Make the desktop background for this account a graphic with your contact information (e-mail address and, perhaps, a phone number), and put your contact information in a text file that opens automatically at startup. Further, use parental controls to lock this down so it can’t be used for anything other than sending you e-mail.
From Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ User Accounts and Family Safety, you may see the link to Add or Remove User Accounts under the larger User Accounts heading. If you are already on the User Accounts screen with the heading Make Changes to Your User Account, the wording is Manage Another Account. From the Manage Accounts screen, you can make changes to existing accounts or click the Create Account button. Let’s follow that link (see Figure 12-3): 1. Name the account and choose an account type — This name will appear on the Welcome screen and the Start menu. The length of the name is limited to 20 characters, so keep it short and sweet. 2. Standard user vs. Administrator — Read “User Account Types” earlier in the chapter and the link to “Why is a standard account recommended?” Microsoft suggests you make any additional users you create standard accounts. 3. Click the Create Account button.
Figure 12-3: The first screen of the Create New Account process
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This takes you back to the Manage Accounts screen without the opportunity to set other options, at which point you should click the icon for the new account to access the other options available (see Figure 12-4).
Figure 12-4: The Change an Account screen
Most of the options listed are the same ones you had for your own account. However, you can change the account type for this account (and you could not for that first account). You can also delete the account, whereas you cannot delete the first account until you create a new administrator account. Remember that there must always be at least one administrator on every machine that is not part of a domain (a large, centrally managed network). Curiously, if you do not create a password for the new account, the new user won’t be guided to create one when he or she logs in the first time. The new user will have to find his or her way into User Accounts to create his or her own password. (This is slightly different when initiated through Parental Controls.) You’ll also see an option to set up parental controls, which we will explore shortly.
Switching Users On the Start menu, the Shut Down menu that pops out from beside the padlock lists an option to Switch User (see Figure 12-5). When you use this option, you see the login screen displaying all the user accounts for this computer. Your account shows Logged On under your name and picture. Now you can log in to one of the other accounts. Whatever you were doing in your own account is temporarily suspended, waiting for you to switch back to your own account. It is possible to switch back and forth among several logged-on accounts. You will be prompted for the password for each account that has one.
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Figure 12-5: The Shut Down pop-up menu
If you shut down or abruptly lose power, the accounts that were logged on may lose data from open documents that haven’t been saved. Ideally, you should switch back to each account and log out from each using the Log Off option on that same little pop-up menu. You can safely put the machine to sleep or hibernate with multiple accounts logged on. When you resume, all accounts are still logged on.
Tip Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to display options that include Switch User, as well as Lock This Computer, Log Off, Change a Password, and Start Task Manager (also Ctrl+Shift+Esc). The Sleep button and Shut Down menu option also appear on this screen.
Sharing Resources In the previous chapter, you saw several broad ways to share resources through the Network and Sharing Center. When you use the functions in that center, you are granting all users equal access to your computer’s Public folders and printers. You may want to grant different privileges or permissions to different users. Perhaps your spouse should be able to make any changes to some of your files (but not others), while your children should not have access to those files. Perhaps you want to share your Music folder without having to copy or move all of those files into the Public folders, and you’d like to restrict some users from accessing some music (or photos, or videos, etc.). If you want to share some resources with some people, you can. From Windows Explorer, in any folder, right-click over that folder and choose Share. If the resource is already shared, you will choose between Change Sharing Permissions and Stop Sharing. If the resource has not been shared, or you choose the Change option for a resource that has been shared, you’ll see a dialog box labeled File Sharing, as shown in Figure 12-6.
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Figure 12-6: Specify the users you want to share with and what they can do.
This window contains a large box that could hold several lines of names, although typically it will only show your user name and a permission level of Owner. In the single line above the larger box (to the left of the Add button), you can click the drop-down menu for a list of existing user accounts. Along with your own account, you will see the following: Guest — The guest account is initially disabled. It has very limited permissions and is intended to allow someone to log in and connect to the Internet and not much more. Most home users don’t need a guest account unless they plan to let houseguests use their computer. You may not want to share anything with this account. Everyone — Everyone is just that: all current and future users. Well, who doesn’t “everyone” include? Be very hesitant to give Everyone too much in the way of permissions. Create a new user — Another way to the function discussed earlier in this chapter. Select one of the displayed users and click Add. Then, in the larger box, select that new user and click next to Permission Level for that user. These permission levels have nothing to do with the earlier account types (standard and administrator). Instead, each is a template for permissions. Each file can have very fine (“granular”) permissions set governing a specific user’s right to see, open, change, and delete the file. Here the options are as follows: Reader — A Reader has read-only permissions. He or she can open a file but cannot perform other functions such as copying, moving, renaming, or deleting. This would be a safe level for most accounts you want to share with. Contributor — A Contributor has read-only permissions for files created by others in the selected folder, and the permission to add, copy, and delete his or her own files. That is,
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Add a user in File Sharing (refer to Figure 12-6) by selecting the name in the list and clicking the Add button. Then click the Share button. You’ll see “Sharing items” for at least a few seconds. Then a screen appears indicating “Your folder is shared.” This screen displays a link to the folder you just shared, which you can e-mail to other users or copy to the clipboard for pasting. This link is only usable on the network. It is a UNC (Uniform Naming Convention) address in the form of \\server-name\sharedresource-pathname — for example, \\mark’s pc\music or \\accounting\forms\expenses\. (Note the double backslashes to start and the backslashes throughout — this ain’t no URL, it’s a UNC.) To see your shared folders, use Start ➝ (your user name, above Documents) ➝ Searches ➝ Shared by Me (also a link on the last File Sharing screen above).
Advanced Sharing and Security With this next step, we descend even deeper into the myriad layers of permissions down to the level of individual files. Even more subtle and complex permissions can be assigned and derived from context. Network administrators master these intricacies with time. Most small networks don’t require the exquisite control that can be developed with effort. In Windows Explorer, right-click over any folder. On the context menu for any folder, the Share option leads to the options we were just looking at (or Change Sharing Permissions and Stop Sharing, if this folder is already shared). From the context menu, click Properties and then the Sharing tab, if there is one. Here you’ll see a Share button that leads again to the File Sharing dialog box (refer to Figure 12-6). Instead, click the Advanced Sharing button, which leads to the Advanced Settings dialog box left over from XP. One option we see here but not in the earlier dialog box is to “Limit the number of simultaneous users to” some number from 1 to 10. This might keep the whole office from raiding your MP3s simultaneously. Click the Security tab in the folder’s Properties dialog box. Here you will see an expanded range of permissions instead of those broader templates described above (Reader, Contributor, Co-owner). Click the Advanced button for even more: Permissions, Auditing, Owner, and Effective Permissions. Is it just me or is it getting darker in here? The Owner tab may prove useful if the system seems to fight you over the ownership of any files or folders. I’m glad I don’t administer a network that requires this degree of finesse. And we haven’t seen Group Policy Editor (nor will we). My point in dragging you to these depths was to show you how far one can go in controlling file access, and maybe to raise a little sympathy for network administrators. There’s a reason they may seem too busy to explain why something didn’t work on a large network. At the same time, come back up to the top level of this topic: create user accounts primarily to organize files and allow individual customization of Windows Vista. Those user accounts will also allow you to control who accesses what, either very broadly, as with the options in Network and Sharing Center, or very, very narrowly, as do these most recent advanced settings and more.
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Practical User Account Basics Let’s go back to the basics. Consider these two scenarios.
Scenario 1 You share a computer with family members or housemates: Create separate user accounts for each family member (Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ User Accounts and Family Safety ➝ User Accounts ➝ Manage another account ➝ Create a new Account). No more than one other account should be an administrator (you may want one other administrator in case you aren’t there). All users can use the Public folders to share files with each other. No other sharing options are needed. We’ll move on to parental controls soon.
Scenario 2 People on your network need to share files with you (give and take). You have a couple of options to start: Use the Public folders. If you don’t want to create accounts for network users, turn off Password Protected Sharing in the Network and Sharing Center. You can create user accounts for the network users (with Password Protected Sharing on or off). Use the Public folders or create folders within your User account expressly for sharing (right-click over the folder, Share). In most cases, you want to limit the access of others; don’t share too much.
Caution Recall that changes made to network resources do not propagate instantly throughout the network. Be patient when assessing the effect of these changes on other computers. Consider restarting those other computers.
Parental Controls Parental Controls allow a parent, or any administrator, to set limits on computer activity for any standard account. To access Parental Controls, use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Security ➝ Parental Controls or Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ User Accounts and Family Safety ➝ Parental Controls (see Figure 12-7).
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Figure 12-7: Use Parental Controls to place limits on computer activity for any standard account.
Caution If you have any accounts with administrator privileges that do not have passwords, Windows Vista will alert you to that fact on the Parental Controls screen and every time you log in or use Parental Controls. This is a problem because anyone could log in to that unsecured administrator account and change the Parental Controls, which undermines the whole process. Make sure all administrative accounts have passwords. Note that the link in the alert box shown in Figure 12-7 will take you to the screen to add a password to an account.
Creating a New User To use Parental Controls, there must be more than one account. If you choose your own account, Windows Vista offers to create a new standard user and then set limits on that user’s activities. You can manually create a new account using the link “Create a new user account” on the Parental Controls screen. It is interesting that this is not the same process we went through in creating a new user account earlier. Those steps took you through different screens and different options. There are two options on the screen that comes up from Parental Controls ➝ Create New User: Type a name for the new user — Type in a new user name.
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Set a password at the next logon — If you uncheck this, the new user will not have to set a password — in which case, you should consider setting one yourself through the User Accounts function discussed earlier in this chapter. (Isn’t it odd that when you create a new user under Manage Accounts, this option doesn’t exist?) Click the Create Account button. The screen advances to the User Controls (see Figure 12-8).
Note You don’t have to create a new account immediately before using Parental Controls. I mean, you can create an account through the previously discussed User Account options and then use Parental Controls to modify that account. Either select an existing account or create a new one. If you choose an existing account from Figure 12-7, you go straight to the screen shown in Figure 12-8.
User Controls Use this screen to turn Parental Controls on or off and to tailor specific areas you want to place limits on for the user (refer to Figure 12-8).
Figure 12-8: Junior has strict limits on Web activity and games and when he can log in.
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This screen offers the following options: Parental Controls — On or off. Activity Reporting — On (usage reports) or off. We’ll look at sample reports later. Windows Settings — Turn Parental Controls on before you can access the following four areas. Each of these leads to a separate screen for detailed configuration. For orientation on each of the following options, the text right after the bullet is the link that appears on the User Controls screen; the text after the dash is the text that appears in the address bar, and the first line below the bulleted line is the major heading of the next screen. Windows Vista Web Filter — Web restrictions Which parts of the Internet can [user name] visit? Options are as follows: Block some websites or content or allow all websites and content. If you block some, you can create a list of blocked websites or allowed websites, restricting the user to only those on the allowed list (very limiting). You can block content automatically using Web filter restriction levels: high (allow only those approved for children), medium (block unrated sites), none, and custom (your choice of eleven categories, from alcohol to weapons). Make sure that the restrictions you choose don’t prevent the Home page from displaying. Change the Home page in Internet Explorer if they do (see Chapter 13). No automatic content filtering is completely reliable. Some objectionable content will get through or some harmless content will be filtered out. For example, when I browsed a site popular with children, where the ads would have been, an “unable to display” message appeared instead. I doubt those ads were particularly objectionable. IE itself has some content filtering (see Tools ➝ Internet Options ➝ Content ➝ Content Advisor). You could use IE’s controls if you don’t want to go so far as to set up parental controls. It seems unlikely you would need both. Parental controls will also apply to browsers other than IE. You can also block all file downloads with these Web Restrictions under Parental Controls. Time limits — Time restrictions Control when [user name] will use the computer — With this option, you can control the hours a child can log in to the computer (see Figure 12-9). Select one-hour blocks to allow or block access. Each day can have a different schedule. If the child attempts to log in during a blackout period, he or she will be told, “Your account has time restrictions that prevent you from logging on at this time. Please try again later.” The screen does not indicate when the next allowed time is. If the child is logged in already and the hour becomes one you’ve blocked, the child will be forced to log out.
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Figure 12-9: Control access by the hour and day.
Games — Game controls Control which types of games [user name] can play — Games can be blocked completely or selectively by game ratings. Specific games can be allowed or blocked. Allow and block specific programs — Application restrictions Which programs can [user name] use? [user name] can use all programs or [user name] can only the programs I allow. This mechanism is quite different from the Games selection, where you specify games to allow or to block. Here, you either allow access to all programs or you block access to all but those you identify as exceptions (to be allowed). If you want to allow Junior access to a few programs, find them in the list (or use the Browse button to locate and add unlisted programs) and check them; he’ll be blocked from all those that are not checked. On the other hand, if you want to block Junior just from running your financial program and allow him access to all others, you’ll have to Check All to allow all and uncheck just the financial program. Any programs not on this list will also be blocked, which may include programs that run automatically during startup. Test this thoroughly.
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Tip Use Switch User to test Parental Controls by switching to the child’s account, testing the limits, and switching back to your administrator’s account to further tailor those limits. Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete or the Switch User option on the Shut Down menu. This is much easier than logging out as parent, in as child, out as child, and back in as parent. I suggested earlier that laptop owners create a standard user account that anyone could log in to to find the owner’s contact information. It makes sense to use the Parental Controls on that account to limit the finder’s fun. You can really clamp down with the Application Restrictions.
Reports Under User Controls is an option for Activity Reporting. You can turn this on for some children and off for others. On the same screen is a link to View activity reports (see Figure 12-10).
Figure 12-10: The Activity Viewer
Note that the “Most Recent 10 Websites Blocked” includes www.pbs.org and Microsoft’s own www.live.com. This is testimony to the value of automatic Web filters.
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These reports are records of various events. As such, they may present too much detail, especially if you let events accumulate for a long time without review. Each user has the following categories, each of which has subcategories (many of which appear in Figure 12-10): Web Browsing — Visited, blocked, overrides, files downloaded System — Logon times Applications — Run and overrides Gaming — Games played Email — Received, sent, contact list changes Instant Messaging — Conversations, web cam, audio, games, file exchanges, link exchanges, text messages to cell phones, contact list changes Media — Media played General System — System events, only one of which I find interesting: Failed Logon Attempts — Shows any unsuccessful login attempts. Perhaps Junior is trying to get into his account after bedtime. Perhaps he is trying to get into your account. Under Parental Controls is a link in the Navigation pane to Family Safety Options. Here you can specify how often you want to receive reports: weekly, daily, or never.
Summary By setting up user accounts, you can control who can do what with the files and folders on your computer. A standard user account can do most of the things an individual needs to do without affecting all the other users. When you share documents and folders, you can specify what different user accounts can do — from just opening them as Readers to complete control as Co-owners. User accounts are also a key component of establishing parental controls, which enable you to limit what children can do and see with the computer. In the next chapter, we’ll begin to play with the Internet features of Windows Vista.
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or the record, the Internet describes the infinite network joining every computer in the solar system, or nearly so. The Internet provides the pathways and protocols for all manner of communication, especially browsing the Web and using e-mail. The World Wide Web is one large facet of the Internet, a collection of services that convey text and graphics from a server to the person browsing. In this chapter, we’ll connect to the Internet and the Web using Windows Vista Internet Explorer version 7.
Connecting to the Internet Internet connections come in two categories: dial-up and broadband. Dial-up connections involve a telephone modem (still typically built into a computer) and a phone line, which is tied up while you are connected. Most readers are well acquainted with the miseries of dial-up: dropped lines and slow connections. The soundtrack for many nightmares is that electronic hiss and babble you hear when you pick up a phone line the modem is using. I would say, “you used to hear…” but dial-up is still a necessity for many of us. If you are fortunate enough to have broadband, whether DSL (digital subscriber line), cable, or satellite, you know the twin joys of an always-on connection and greater speed, although it may never be fast enough. Broadband also involves a device typically called a modem, though different from a telephone modem and more appropriately called a router. The following table compares the speeds of the various connection types: Connection Type
Rated Speed in Mbps (megabits per second)
56k modem
.056
DSL
.128 to 6
Cable
.128 to 30
Wireless 802.11(g) (most common)
54
Wireless 802.11(n)
540
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An Internet service provider (ISP) provides you with a physical connection to the Internet, as well as an account to use that connection. There are many choices of ISPs, both locally and nationally. Many customers base their choice of ISP on some ratio of price and speed. Other factors include reliability (uptime) and customer support (Web-based and more). You might also consider what more is included with the service, such as how much Web space an ISP offers and how many e-mail addresses are available (although you can obtain both from other services once you have a connection). After you establish a connection, whether dial-up, wired, or wireless, Internet Explorer will automatically use that connection.
Wireless Connections on the Road As you travel from place to place with a laptop or other portable device, you will also make connections to Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) networks, particularly in public places such as airports and coffee shops (“hotspots”). Fortunately, establishing these connections is usually quite easy and safe. Use Start ➝ Connect To. Or most simply, look for the network icon in the icon tray (two monitors with a tiny globe); right-click over that icon for connecting to a network. Available networks should be listed. In fact, you may find a large number of connections available in some urban locations. Look for a familiar name, perhaps of the establishment you are in. If the network connection is unsecured, as most public networks are, it will be easy to connect to. Just click the network and the Connect button. You’ll see a warning; accept it. If Windows Vista prompts you for the type of network, choose Public for the most secure defaults. To verify the network type, see the Network and Sharing Center (from the network icon in the tray). If the network connection is secured, you’ll need some kind of key from the network administrator.
Cross Reference The details of setting up various kinds of network connections appear in Chapter 11. Additional security preparations are covered in Chapter 4.
Internet Explorer 7, a Web Browser A Web browser is a program that lets you see Web pages. You type a Web address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) into the address bar of the browser, and the Web page at that location is found and displayed (or rendered) by the browser. Internet Explorer (IE) is Microsoft’s Web browser (see Figure 13-1). The latest version of IE is version 7, which comes with Windows Vista. XP users will receive IE7 automatically through Windows Update. Not to wax too philosophical, but Web browsers have greatly altered what people expect from software. The stunning simplicity of links and the Back button has made people say, “This should be easy.” You see the influence of the browser as interface throughout Windows Vista: in Windows Explorer’s breadcrumbs, Forward and Back buttons, and links everywhere, including Favorite Links in the Navigation pane.
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Figure 13-1: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) displaying a blog
It is easy to underestimate the importance of a Web browser. That’s actually surprising, considering how important the Web itself is to many of us; but the browser is “just there” for many people, and as a program that is relatively easy to begin to use, it may be taken for granted. Web designers, conversely, know that “the browser rules,” which is to say the browser determines what you see. Different browsers may render the same page differently, much like a TV show looks different on a black-and-white TV versus a color TV (which makes me wonder how many readers have never seen a black-and-white TV). My point is that you should not take your browser for granted. There are good reasons to learn more about its capabilities and limits, including and beyond security. Be aware you have alternatives; several good browsers are available free. It is quite practical to use IE alongside Firefox (www.getfirefox.com), Opera (www.opera.com), and others.
Tip You don’t have to start IE first to enter a Web address to browse. On the Start menu (the Win key by itself), type the address into the Start Search box and press Enter. An older technique that also works in XP is to press Win+R, type the URL, and press Enter; or, in any window with an address bar or breadcrumbs, you can type the Web address into the address bar and hit the Enter key. If you are typing a standard www.something.com address into the address bar, just type the something — the domain name — and press Ctrl+Enter.
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Browsing with Internet Explorer You can start Internet Explorer from the Start menu or the Quick Launch toolbar (look for the blue “e” icon). The very first time you start IE, you will be prompted to review a few settings, including one to turn on an anti-phishing security feature. Phishing (fishing) in this context refers to websites and links that may look like they belong to legitimate sources but actually belong to crooks who set them up to steal information from you. The anti-phishing features are new in IE. You should not choose No or turn them off, but you could say “ask me later” until you’ve had more time to consider the benefits. Say OK and get it over with. When IE loads, it opens the default Home page. You will probably see www.msn.com first. By default, there is no menu at the top. Instead, from the top down you see the title bar and then the address bar (with Back, Forward, and History buttons to the left and Refresh, Stop buttons to the right and then the Search box). Below the address bar, you’ll see something like what is shown in Figure 13-2.
Figure 13-2: The Command bar and more
From the left, Figure 13-2 displays the following: The first gold star opens the Favorites Center (Alt+C) on the left, with buttons that let you switch among Favorites (also called bookmarks), RSS Feeds, and History. The button or keystroke pops up the Favorites Center over the page temporarily. If you want a frame to the side of the page with the Favorites, Feeds, or History, use the Pin the Favorites Center button to the right of History or Tools ➝ Toolbars and one of these: Favorites (Ctrl+Shift+I) History (Ctrl+Shift+H) Feeds (Ctrl+Shift+J) Once one of these displays in the left-hand frame, you can switch between them with the buttons at the top (or the keystrokes). Close this frame with the X next to History. The plus sign in front of a gold star displays Add to Favorites (Alt+Z), a menu for adding to and managing Favorites. Bypass this menu to add a favorite with Ctrl+D. The four squares of the Quick Tabs function (not shown in the figure but described in the next section) will appear if you have two or more tabs open. At least one tab will appear, with the designated Home page (MSN.com in the figure). A very narrow tab is used to add a new tab by clicking on it (or use Ctrl+T). A house icon loads the designated Home page (and begins the area called the Command bar). The triangle to the right of the house displays a menu:
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Home Page — Displays the Home page (same as clicking the house). Add or Change Home Page — Allows you to use this Web page as your only Home page; add this Web page to your Home page tabs; or use the current tab set as your Home page (see Figure 13-3). Remove — This removes default Home page(s). A hand is the panning tool for dragging the page (Alt+G — grasp), which is used with the Zoom In option in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (Ctrl+Plus or Ctrl+Minus on the number keypad) to pan around the zoomed-in page. An orange square for adding RSS feeds (Alt+J). RSS is defined later in this chapter. A printer icon for printing; the triangle shows more print options (Alt+R displays these options). A page icon for a longer menu pertaining to page functions such as New Window (Ctrl+N), Save, Send, and View Source. Most of these items were under the old File or Edit menus. A gear icon for tools to manage IE functions. >> (a chevron) for the Help menus.
Figure 13-3: Your Home page can be one or many pages. The top portion shows the dialog box for adding a Home page; the bottom portion shows the Home Page drop-down menu with options.
To see the page you are browsing in Full Screen mode, which hides the title bar, address bar, tabs, and Command bar unless the mouse is over them, press function key F11 (“fu11”). Press F11 again to restore the screen to normal. You might get an extra inch of vertical screen space with full screen.
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Tip If you miss the menus across the top, just tap the Alt key anytime for the menus — they’ll disappear again after you use them (or press Alt a second time). This works in Windows Explorer and Office 2007, too.
CUSTOMIZING THE COMMAND BAR Right-click anywhere along the line we were just discussing (from the gold star to the Tools), except over a tab, for a menu. The first three options are toggles to show or hide those bars. (Is there a lot of drinking at Microsoft?) Menu Bar — See the previous tip. Consider that you are giving up some space for the menus; most of those options are under the icons in the Command bar. Links — Links are like favorites, shortcuts to a page, but more convenient if this toolbar displays. With the toolbar displayed, add to the links by dragging and dropping the icon that appears to the left of any URL in the address bar (this is called the favicon for that site). Status Bar — Takes up space at the bottom of the screen but shows loading progress. Try hovering over, tapping, and double-clicking different sections of the status bar for pop-up blocker, add-ons manager, certificate manager, privacy report, and phishing filters. [Other installed toolbars] — If other toolbars (such as Yahoo’s or Google’s) are installed, you can show or hide them here. Lock the Toolbars — Checked (the default), the toolbars are locked. Uncheck this to drag the dotted handles of toolbars to resize or rearrange them. Use Large Icons — Larger icons in this section. Customize Command Bar — These are self-explanatory or easiy tested: Show All Text Labels Show Selective Test (default) Show Only Icons Add or Remove Commands — This option opens a dialog box with two columns. On the right are the buttons currently in the Command bar. On the left are available buttons. Select buttons on the left and click the Add button or select buttons on the right and click the Remove button. Select buttons on the right and click Move Up or Move down to rearrange these buttons.
BROWSING WITH TABS IE 7 has a new feature that would be revolutionary if it weren’t already in every competing browser. IE now supports tabs, which means that instead of having separate copies of IE for each address (with a
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button for each in the taskbar), you can have one IE window with multiple tabs appearing just above each Web page. Click the narrow blank tab to the right of the open tabs to open a new one (or double-click anywhere in the blank space to the right of the tabs or use Ctrl+T). Click the tabs to switch between them or use Ctrl+Tab. Figure 13-4 shows a new tab.
Figure 13-4: Tabs in IE allow multiple pages within one copy of the browser.
In the figure, note that the address “about:Tabs” displays information about tabs (duh!). Be sure to read the “Show more tab shortcuts” section. (In Figure 13-4, this section is expanded and the heading replaced with “Hide tab shortcuts.”)
Caution If you click “Don’t show this page again” (not shown in Figure 13-4), this page will never come up automatically again. There seems to be no way to reset this. You’ll have to type about:tabs in the address bar to see it again, so make sure you’ve learned all you need to from “Show more tab shortcuts” and “Learn more about tabs” before you kill this.
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You can type a URL in the address bar of this new tab (Alt+D). Use Enter or Ctrl+Enter or click on the arrow to the right of the address bar (this replaces the word “Go” from previous versions of IE and alternates with the Refresh button). As you expect, when you click on a link, it opens in the current tab, replacing the page the link was on. There are other options for opening the linked page. Right-click over any link for a context menu that includes the following (the alternative method is in parentheses): Open (click) Open in New Tab (Ctrl+click) Open in New Window (Shift+click) Click the X to the right side of a tab to close it or use Ctrl+W. You can also right-click over a tab and choose Close or Close Other Tabs (leaving this one as the only one open).
Tip Take advantage of Ctrl+click to open links in new tabs. When you browse a page that has multiple links you want to follow, open each in a new tab. This may reduce your waiting time, because you can read one page while others load. It also helps keep you from getting lost (or distracted). As you follow more and more links in any one tab, the other linked pages are still waiting for you in their own tabs. You don’t have to go all the way back to the first page and follow links from there.
You can drag open tabs left or right to rearrange them. Exquisite control of these new tab options is available through Tools ➝ Internet Options ➝ General Tab ➝ Tabs section ➝ Settings button (see Figure 13-5). Tabbed Browsing Settings include these options: Enable Tabbed Browsing — Checked by default. There’s no reason to uncheck it unless you miss IE 6. Warn me when closing multiple tabs — Checked by default, this is a safety precaution to prevent you from accidentally closing more than one tab. If you find the warning irritating, you can uncheck this — odds are good you’ll regret that eventually. If you see this warning when you close IE, you may have to click Show Options to display an option to open the current tabs the next time you start IE. This would be handy if you want to start the next session with all the same tabs open. You will also see an option “Do not show me this dialog again,” which unchecks this option about the warning. Always switch to new tabs when they are created — Off by default, new tabs will not “steal focus” but just open in the background. Check it and you will automatically switch to new tabs as they open. Enable Quick Tabs — Checked by default, there’s no reason to uncheck it. You don’t really miss IE 6, do you?
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Figure 13-5: The Tabbed Browsing Settings offer many options to control multiple tabs in IE.
You can display thumbnails of all open tabs in a single window at once by using the Quick Tabs feature. Click the button with four little squares to the left of the first tab or use Ctrl+Q. Click on any of the resulting thumbnails to switch to that tab; right-click over any thumbnail for a context menu. Figure 13-5 shows the Quick Tabs behind the Tabbed Browsing Settings dialog box. The triangle to the right of the Quick Tabs button lists every tab for another method for switching between them. Ctrl+Tab will also move between these open tabs. Open only the first home page when Internet Explorer starts — Off by default. If you set up multiple pages to open as Home and check this, only the first will open when IE starts (which seems to defeat the purpose of multiple Home pages; clicking the Home button will open them all). Open new tabs next to the current tab — Checked by default. If you are looking at tab one of two and open a link in a new tab (Ctrl+click), the resulting page will open on a new tab after one and before two. Curiously, if you were to open another link in a tab from that first page, it would open after the first new tab (just before the original number two), not directly after number one. This feature can be useful for clustering related pages. Remember that you can drag tabs into a new order.If you uncheck this option, new tabs open in order to the right of all open tabs.
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You can save all the open tabs as a Tab Group, a kind of favorite or bookmark that can open all the tabs at once. Click the Add button (a plus in front of a star) just left of the tabs (Alt+C); choose Add Tab Group to Favorites. The name you enter will appear in the Favorites listing as a folder, under which each address that is in a tab at the time you run this command appears as an item. You can open individual pages in the group or open them all using the arrow to the right of the group folder under Favorites. Figure 13-6 shows the Add Tab Group to Favorites dialog box superimposed over a group in the Favorites Center.
Figure 13-6: The Add Tab Group to Favorites option enables you to add all the open tabs as one group (seen in the background).
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Tip There is an alternative to Favorites within IE. You can create a new folder anywhere and put shortcuts to any Web pages into that folder. By creating folders inside folders, you can organize your shortcuts any way that suits you. One way to create a shortcut to a Web page is through the context menu when you view that page. Rightclick on the page and look for Create Shortcut. This always puts the shortcut on the desktop and requires confirmation. An alternative method is to click and drag the icon to the left of the address bar into any folder. Sometimes this is the icon for IE; sometimes it’s a custom icon called the favicon for that site. This creates a shortcut to that page in that folder. Another alternative is to right-click in a folder and choose New ➝ Shortcut. For the location of the item, type the Web address, including http:// — for example, http://www.mjhinton.com/vista/; you can also use Paste. The address may fill in automatically if you’ve browsed it before. Click Next and name the shortcut whatever you like. You can do the same with e-mail shortcuts: mailto:
[email protected] (that’s all one string of text beginning with mailto: and without any spaces). The advantage to creating shortcuts this way is it may be more flexible than the tools associated with Favorites. If you change your default browser, these links should work with the new browser without any other changes.
PAGE ZOOM Zoom in or out of a page with the drop-down triangle in the lower-right corner of the IE window (to the right of a percentage) — or click on that number to cycle through 100%, 125%, and 150%. Use Ctrl and the plus sign on the number keypad or Ctrl and the minus sign to zoom in or out, respectively. You can also hold down the Ctrl key as you turn the mouse wheel to zoom in or out. A very good change to note here is that IE 7 zooms the whole page, graphics and text. IE 6 only zoomed text, leaving graphics unchanged.
Improved Standards Support in Windows Vista The Web is an amalgam of services and protocols that control how information is relayed from one place to another. Standards also specify how data should be rendered by the user agent, a generic term for any program used to access the Internet, but specifically the browser in this case. An exciting aspect of the Web is that we’re all making it up as we go along and have been for almost 20 years. To be sure, there were standards in the very beginning (HTTP, the HyperText Transport Protocol, for example), but the capabilities and capacities of the Internet and computer technologies change rapidly, as do user expectations. We want more and we want new. Consider HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is the first language of Web page creation. At one time, all Web pages were written with this language, which was invented by Tim Berners-Lee.
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(Thanks, Tim!) Today, there are many competing and complementary languages, but HTML is still the glue that binds Babel together. At the dawn of the Web, early participants created an HTML standard. That standard identified how things should be done, defining terms and the actual code that would be used on a Web page. It suggested how that code could be displayed. The first browsers, such as Mosaic, hewed to a loose standard. Then, somebody wanted graphics. And somebody wanted to compete with the other browsers by doing things differently. Quickly, change got ahead of the process — standards couldn’t keep up, in some respects. Dear, sweet HTML has been frozen at 4.01 for more than seven years! People mock Microsoft for taking less time to create Windows Vista. As more and more people have moved into virtual space, they have demanded more consistency or predictability. They’ve demanded standards and that vendors follow those standards. Web designers hate that a given technique works differently in two browsers. Web visitors are sometimes oblivious to the intricacies, but they know a problem when they see one. At one level, it doesn’t matter whether standards are open (like HTML) or proprietary (like Acrobat PDF or Flash) as long as standards are sufficiently clear and adhered to. At the same time, proprietary standards belong to one entity and are more likely to cost money and be subject to arbitrary change (compare Windows or Macintosh to Linux). Open standards belong to the community and can be enforced and changed by the community. When you are a behemoth like Microsoft or Apple, you can establish some standards by fiat, and as a giant you may be arrogant enough to ignore other standards. The point of this disquisition is that Microsoft has taken some criticism for ignoring or abusing standards, particularly as they pertain to rendering Web content. The 600-pound gorilla may have been moved. Windows Vista and IE support several open standards more fully than ever before, though perhaps not yet perfectly.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) control the look of a Web page, with specifications for colors, fonts, and other aspects of presentation. CSS is an open standard overseen by the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org), the standards body responsible for HTML and other languages and standards. The W3C was founded more than 12 years ago by Tim Berners-Lee. If a browser does not support a standard such as CSS completely, then pages may look different in that browser than one would expect in a browser that is fully standards compliant. There are at least two problems for Web designers and consumers of the Web. First, even standards leave some room for interpretation — “compliance” isn’t as exact as one might wish. Also, CSS is evolving, as are all the tools of Web design and development, so compliance must be updated periodically as well. It is clear that Microsoft has heard the howling over IE’s poor compliance with standards, loudest from Web designers but also from consumers. As a visitor to a page, it may be hard to tell if it is weird by design (intentional or incompetent) or by fault of the browser (all the more reason to install and use more than one browser). Web designers certainly know the aggravation of seeing their careful designs “broken” in IE. With IE version 7, Microsoft claims to completely support CSS 2.1 (even as CSS 3 is in the works — see the problem?).
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If you will allow one more historical note, some of the criticism of IE and CSS ignores the fact that IE supported some CSS before the dominant browser of the day, Netscape. Supporting CSS — even if badly — was a bold move for Microsoft. When Netscape lurched to follow IE’s lead, it stumbled badly. In defense of both browsers, the CSS standard at the time left a lot open to interpretation (which is meant to foster innovation within the context of standards). Further, Opera (www.opera.com) is a browser that was created by one of the same people who wrote the CSS standard, Håkon Wium Lie. And the World Wide Web Consortium has its own browser, Amaya. Surely, these two follow the standard better than anyone. That hasn’t really translated into market dominance, although now in version 9, Opera is far from a failure. As any WordPerfect user or Amiga owner can tell you, being better isn’t a guarantee of popularity, though it may be consolation for unpopularity.
RSS RSS (Really Simple Syndication, among other interpretations) is the next great thing — maybe. RSS is a standard for publishing information from a website to its subscribers. Subscribers of RSS receive notice of new information as headlines and more. Consumers of Web-based news and blogs (Web logs) often use RSS to collect updated information without having to go to the source more directly. Fans of RSS love it dearly. In fact, they are a small percentage of Web users, which is not meant to denigrate them in any way, but to admire the early adopters of this “cutting edge” feature.
Note RSS is based on XML — eXtensible Markup Language — as are many new computer languages and file formats.
The obstacles to creating RSS are largely surmounted by automated tools for the creation of RSS feeds — batches of headlines, etc. For example, most blogging services, such as www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com, automatically generate RSS and related files. Subscribing to RSS Feeds The consumption of RSS involves subscribing to feeds. Subscribing has been simplified by having browsers “discover” feeds, something IE 7 does. IE notifies you of RSS availability through the universal orange icon with three curving lines that look like soundwaves. When RSS is available, this icon below the address bar turns from gray to orange and includes a gold starburst. Click that button. If more than one feed is available, select the one you want from the list that appears. Windows Vista formats the RSS feeds as a Web page like the one shown in Figure 13-7. At the top of the feed — the headlines and articles from the site — IE adds a box with links to “Learn more about feeds” and to “Subscribe to this feed.” (This box is not in Figure 13-7, because it does not appear on pages for feeds to which one has subscribed.) Click the link to subscribe to this feed or use the Add to Favorites button (Alt+Z), then Subscribe to this Feed. A dialog box opens with a place for the name of the feed and the folder in Favorites to which you want the feed added. Click the Subscribe button.
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Figure 13-7: RSS feeds are headlines and more associated with news and blogs.
You may find this feed page useful even without subscribing to the feed. On the right, IE adds a box with some easy-to-use functions. Surprisingly, these functions aren’t obviously links, so be prepared to click on the text anyway. The areas of this box divide the functions: Displaying — You’ll find a Search box to search the content of this page and links to All and New; these will be the same until you return to a feed that has few or no updates. Sort by — You can click on the words to sort these entries by date added, title, or author. Many blogs have one author. Filter by category — This is a powerful option. You’ll see categories used by the website or blog, and a count of entries in this feed that are in that category (one entry may be in more than one category). Click on a category to see only those entries that are in that category. Below the Displaying box are two more links that appear only after you subscribe to a feed: Mark feed as read — Use this link so that if you return to this page, none of the current entries will be considered “new” — you’ve read them. Marking entries as already read spares you from having to remember if you have already seen an entry.
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View feed properties — This opens the Feed Properties dialog box. You can change the name, the frequency of updates (the default is once per day), and specify the number of items to archive (the default is 200 entries). Another way exists to display a screen like the one shown in Figure 13-7. If you are browsing and see the RSS icon or, possibly, an XML icon on a Web page, you can click that icon. In IE6, that would have brought up a page full of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) that wouldn’t be useful to most people. IE7 more smartly reformats that XML and adds these links plus an easy link to Subscribe to This Feed. To see your subscriptions, open the Favorites Center on the left side of the screen (in what is still labeled the “Explorer Bar” in the menu bar of IE but which would be called the Navigation pane in Windows Explorer). Simply click the big gold star on the left side of the screen (Ctrl+Shift+J, or from the menu for Tools ➝ Toolbars ➝ Feeds). In the new pane, click the Feeds button. Then click on one of the feeds listed there. The associated RSS feed will appear in the main window to the right. Let’s walk through this with Google News: 1. Browse the website (http://news.google.com). 2. Click the RSS button in the Command bar. The triangle next to the RSS button reveals that Google supports two feed formats: RSS and ATOM. Choose RSS (clicking the button instead of the triangle will also select RSS). I have no opinion about the relative merits of the two formats. RSS is older and more widespread; ATOM is newer and adds new capabilities. Start with RSS. 3. IE’s RSS feed page appears. Notice immediately that this doesn’t look anything like the Google News page. Google didn’t create this page — IE did, using the RSS data that Google provides. Try the option to filter by category. Note the box at the top with a link to Subscribe to This Feed. 4. Subscribe to the feed. Use the link or Add to Favorites. 5. View your feeds. Use the link or the Feeds frame of the Favorites Center (Ctrl+Shift+J). 6. Click on the Google News feed. This page looks a little different. It no longer has the box that appeared at the top the first time you saw this page. At this point, you may wonder if the main difference between an RSS feed and a Web page is just a matter of formatting. No. Wait at least 15 minutes for Google News to update. Return to or refresh the feed (if you have left it onscreen, just click the Refresh button — two curvy blue arrows to the right of the address, or Ctrl+R or F5). You should see a new top story (Google News is good for this example because it updates so frequently). If you don’t see a new story, wait a little longer and refresh again. Big deal? Well, that box of options on the right now shows a different number for New versus All. The number for All will keep getting longer as IE archives the earlier feeds, which makes it very convenient to return to an old story (especially with the page’s Search box). You are creating your own offline library of news stories. Use the View Feed Properties link to control the size of the archive. Of course, Google News has a great archive and search function. However, these techniques can be applied to any website that offers an RSS feed.
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Cross Reference The Windows Sidebar has a gadget for displaying RSS feeds on the desktop (see Chapter 9).
The Downside of RSS? Let me put on my Web designer’s hat and tell you what I don’t like about RSS feeds. RSS feeds tend to homogenize information. The results don’t have to be bland, but what you see in a feed probably looks nothing like the original Web page. As a Web designer, I want you to see my design, which RSS strips away. Compare Figures 13-1 and 13-7. They show the same information, but Figure 13-1 shows the actual website, whereas Figure 13-7 shows the RSS feed as formatted by IE (other tools may format differently, but most drop the original formatting). The efficiency of RSS comes at the expense of Web design. Taking that Web designer’s hat off, I have to say IE’s implementation of RSS has features that make me go “Wow!” Up front, I admit I haven’t had enough interest in RSS to explore most of the tools already available. I don’t mean to say Microsoft has changed the world here, just that my interest in RSS is piqued like never before. IE and Windows Vista make accessing RSS feeds easier than ever. It remains to be seen whether this will make RSS truly mainstream.
IPV6 The Internet Protocol (IP) is a key element in the foundation of the Internet, often referred to with a companion, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), as TCP/IP. It is IP that defines the rules for IP addresses, among other things. IP addresses are used by any device connected to the Internet. The problem with IP is that every device — computer, printer, cell phone, refrigerator — that connects directly to the Internet must have a unique address. The demand for IP addresses has exploded; indeed, we will soon run out of IP addresses. So, for some time, a revised standard called IPv6 (the previous standard was version 4) has been in the works. IPv6 increases the length of IP addresses, thereby increasing tremendously the number available (from about 4 billion with IPv4 to a damn big number for IPv6). For a rough analogy, consider how many more phone numbers you can have with 10 digits than with 7. Of course, the problem is supporting a new standard without dropping the old standard. Support of IPv6 is more a feature of Windows Vista than IE specifically and helps broaden the base of IPv6 support.
Tip You can see your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Use Win+R, type cmd, and press Enter. In the new window, type ipconfig and press Enter. See Link-local IPv6 Address (like fe80:8ccf:39c1:44b4:626%9) and IPv4 Address (like 192.168.0.47).
Security in IE Windows Vista itself has many security improvements, such as an improved firewall. On top of that, IE contains specific features to improve security. Browsing the Web is the second most dangerous thing we do; opening e-mail attachments is the first.
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THE INFORMATION BAR The Information Bar appears under a wide range of conditions, including when a Web page tries to spawn a new window (pop-up), download a file, or load an add-on (such as Flash animation support, for example). The Information Bar appears below the tabs and above the content of the page; it is yellow and flashes. There is even an accompanying sound. Just in case you still miss it, a dialog box pops up the first time IE displays the Information Bar. See Figure 13-8. Follow the link to “Learn about the Information Bar.”
Figure 13-8: You’ll see this window pop up the first time the Information Bar appears at the top of a Web page.
If you click on the Information Bar, you can see the requested action (such as installing an add-on or downloading a file) and, optionally, allow the action. The question is: should you? Add-ons make it possible to view content (or perform functions) that are not a standard part of IE. Do you trust the source website? Do you need the function or file? See the “Managing Add-Ons” sidebar.
Caution An add-on can be used to infect browsers with spyware. If you go to a site that offers to install a special viewer or player so that you can view images or play audio or video, be suspicious. Of course, this is exactly what happens at a site that uses Flash or other legitimate add-ins. Do you trust the site that requires or suggests the add-on? Do you really need this content? When in doubt, say no. You can always say yes later.
Managing Add-Ons Add-ons, add-ins, and browser helper objects (BHO) are all terms used to describe functions that can be added to IE. An add-on might be a toolbar, such as Google’s or Yahoo’s. An add-on might display content other than text and static images, which are “natively supported” by browsers, especially multimedia content. Continued
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Managing Add-Ons (Continued) Adobe offers two very commonly used add-ons: Adobe Reader (formerly Acrobat Reader) — Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files are used by many websites for documents that don’t lend themselves to HTML — documents with complex layouts or uncommon fonts (e.g., IRS tax forms). Adobe Flash Viewer (formerly Macromedia Flash or Shockwave) — Flash is a sophisticated and powerful graphics and animation tool. Amazing things are possible with Flash, but so is crappy advertising.
Installing the Flash Viewer The first time you browse a page that uses Flash, the Information Bar will flash (ahem); and if you click on the Information Bar, you will see an option to install the Flash Player: 1. Choose the Install option. In some cases, you may be sent to the add-on Web page. 2. Wait for the security warning and accept the installation. 3. After the installation, you can view Flash objects as a part of a Web page.
Installing Adobe Reader Adobe Reader is handled a little differently. The first time you click on a link for a PDF file, IE will ask if you want to Save the file (by downloading it) or find a program online to open it: 1. Click the Find button. 2. Click the link for Acrobat Reader on the Web page with Microsoft Windows File Associations that appears in a new tab. You can also browse www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html if you want to install Acrobat Reader before you need it. 3. On the Adobe Reader page, click the download link. A file download security warning dialog box appears and the Information Bar flashes. If you click on the Information Bar, the options are to download the file or read “What’s the Risk?” and “More information.” The file download option allows the following: Run — This downloads the file to a temporary location and deletes it after running. Save — I prefer to save such downloads so I can run them again later if I need to reinstall the download (on this machine or another). When the download is complete, you can run the program, open the folder, or close the dialog box. Run the program after you save it. Cancel — Use Cancel if you have any misgiving or doubts or don’t have time for this now. 4. After you run the installation, you can view Adobe Acrobat PDF files in IE.
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Disabling or Deleting Add-Ons Use Tools ➝ Manage Add-ons ➝ Enable or Disable Add-ons. In the Manage Add-ons dialog box, select an add-on. Under Settings, you can enable or disable. Under Delete ActiveX, you can delete. An add-on that is disabled or deleted obviously won’t help you view the associated content.
Finding More Add-Ons Use Tools ➝ Manage Add-ons ➝ Find More Add-ons. This opens www.ieaddons.com (you could browse it directly). See also www.enhanceie.com for more. Don’t overdo this. It makes more sense to download add-ons as you need them.
BLOCKING POP-UPS Websites sometimes open new windows known as pop-ups. Although pop-ups are not always bad, they are often in the way, irritating, or distracting. IE automatically blocks most pop-ups. It may display a very small icon in the status bar, the Information Bar, and/or play a sound when pop-ups are blocked. If either the icon or the Information Bar is displayed, you can click on either for more information. You can also use Tools ➝ Pop-up Blocker to turn this on or off or to change settings (you can exempt specific sites from blocking). Use Tools ➝ Pop-up Blocker ➝ Pop-up Blocker Settings. From here you can do the following: Add URLs for sites where you want pop-ups allowed. Turn off the sound the blocker plays. Turn off the display of the Information Bar for pop-ups (but not other causes). Set the level: Low — Allows pop-ups from secure sites. Medium (default) — Blocks most. High — Blocks all. There are third-party pop-up blockers that may offer different features (I use the one on the Google toolbar). Two pop-up blockers are likely to interfere with each other, so if you add a new one, turn off the one in IE. Use Tools ➝ Pop-up Blocker ➝ Turn Off Pop-up Blocker.
PROTECTED MODE Protected mode is a feature of Windows Vista whereby programs are segregated from the core or “kernel” and prevented from making direct changes to the system. This is sometimes referred to as running a program in a sandbox — that is, its own space apart from everything else.
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Protected mode is enabled in IE by default. It is hard to imagine circumstances where you’d want to disable it, but you’ll see how in a moment. There is an ironic consequence to Protected mode. If you use Page ➝ View Source, the source of the page will open in Notepad. However, IE will first warn you that “A website wants to open web content using this program on your computer,” indicating that Notepad will run outside Protected mode. I can’t imagine HTML in Notepad is a security threat. This feature just complicates the Web designer’s very common activity of viewing the source of Web pages to see the HTML. See how irritating safety can be? Fortunately, there is a checkbox for “Do not show me the warning for this program again.”
ANTI-PHISHING Generally, phishing applies to a kind of “social engineering” in which people try to get you to give them information. If someone calls you on the phone and says he’s from your bank and needs some account information to provide some service, you probably know not to give him any information. He’s phishing. Phishing has moved into e-mail, with scams that pretend to be from account services of banks, eBay, PayPal, and other institutions advising you to log in to a particular Web page with your account information. These e-mails and pages sometimes look very believable, but they are in fact shams; they are traps to capture your information. Anti-phishing efforts involve reporting on whether a site really is legitimate. Is that really the site you think it is? Although analyzing a page for characteristics typical of phishing is possible, IE also uses lists of known scam sites and known legitimate sites. To work with this, use Tools ➝ Phishing Filter.
SECURITY SETTINGS
See Tools ➝ Internet Options ➝ Security tab to customize these features (see Figure 13-9).
Figure 13-9: The Security tab in IE
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IE uses a concept of zones for security. These zones are as follows: Internet — Everything outside of the next three zones. Local intranet — Internal websites; websites that are part of the local network. Unlikely at home. Trusted sites — You can manually add websites to this zone. Restricted sites — You can manually add websites to this zone. Each of these zones can have different security settings. Trusted sites could have lower settings and restricted sites could have higher settings. Unfortunately, because you have to add sites manually to trusted or restricted zones, they aren’t very convenient. Concentrate on the settings for the Internet zone because those settings apply to the vast majority of sites you’ll browse. I generally use the default security level for each zone.
Tip I strongly recommend that you not uncheck the option to Enable Protected Mode; it is a safety feature that shouldn’t create any problems with legitimate processes.
If you want to explore the Custom Level button, look at the defaults and Reset to High; check again, and reset to Medium; check again. More than likely, you’ll do well with Medium-high (the default). Many of the Security settings offer a choice among Enable (less safe?), Disable (more strict), and Prompt. If you are curious, choose Prompt, but be prepared to be prompted often at some sites. Many of the custom security settings apply to functions that add programming capabilities to the browser so that it can do more than standard Web functions but, in doing so, give a Web designer or programmer power for bad as well as good. These programming languages aren’t bad, but can be misused in ways that HTML cannot: ActiveX — Microsoft Java — Sun .NET Framework — Microsoft Scripts — Various Imagine you needed a mortgage calculator on a Web page. These functions could be used for that. They could also be used to introduce malware into your computer. The challenge is to accept the good while keeping out the bad.
PRIVACY SETTINGS
Select Tools ➝ Internet Options ➝ Privacy tab to customize these features (see Figure 13-10).
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Figure 13-10: The Privacy tab in IE 7
Again, the defaults may suffice. The Sites button allows you to specify sites to accept or block. The Advanced button lets you override the handling of cookies set by the default level. Cookies are small text files that can’t really do anything but deliver information stored in them back to the sites that created them in the first place. Originally, cookies were meant to help visitors and site managers preserve information between sessions (when you last visited the site). Unfortunately, cookies have been misused, especially by advertisers, to create a record of your movements between sites that feature those advertisers’ ads. The Settings button in the Pop-up Blocker section enables you to add sites from which to allow pop-ups. Pop-ups are useful or essential at some sites. You may want to turn off the Information Bar for pop-ups and the sound that plays when a pop-up is blocked.
OTHER SECURITY OPTIONS
In Tools ➝ Internet Options ➝ Content, you can access the Parental Controls discussed in Chapter 12. The Content Advisor allows you to screen sites based on ratings. The main problem here is that most sites are unrated, but you may want to explore available rating systems through the buttons under Content Advisor ➝ General. On the Advanced tab is a Security section. People are most likely to enable the option to empty the temporary Internet Files folder when the browser is closed. These temporary files are normally kept to speed up the display of a site the next time you visit it, but that’s a privacy concern for some.
Tip How do you know if your browser is really secure? You can test it with a free online service. One of these is the “browser security test” at http://bcheck.scanit.be/.
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Searching The odds are good that you’ve been browsing the Web for years and you already have a favorite search engine. IE has a Search box in the upper-right corner of the window, as in Windows Explorer (Ctrl+E). You can type search terms in that box and press Enter to begin a search with the default service, Windows Live Search (www.live.com).
Note Windows Live is Microsoft’s portal for a wide array of Web-based services. It is presently a hodgepodge of services as Microsoft explores opportunities in this area. Throughout Windows Vista, Microsoft nudges you toward its services without explicitly blocking others.
The first time you search, the Information Bar may ask you whether you want to set Live Search as your search provider. At any time, to change the default search service, click the triangle to the right of the Search box on the top far right of the window. Choose Find More Providers. This takes you to a Web page listing providers. You can click on the links for any of these search service providers to add that provider to the list of available providers, and you can have as many providers as you want. A dialog box will appear for you to confirm your choice; you can also make this your default search provider using the checkbox. Figure 13-11 shows both the Add Search Provider dialog box and the resulting search options.
Figure 13-11: The prompt to Add Search Provider and the resulting search options
Tip To search for text on the current page, use Ctrl+F (or choose Find on this Page from the Search drop-down menu).
Printing Before printing, you should choose Preview from the Print drop-down menu (or from the context menu). There really ought to be a keystroke or button for Preview; it is a very useful feature.
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In Preview, you can easily switch between portrait and landscape, access print settings, toggle headers and footers on or off (change the headers or footers under Settings). You have myriad options to view full page versus full width or multiple pages. If you view one page as a full page, there are handles you can drag to change margins (or change them under Settings). Finally, by default, there is Shrink To Fit (fitting the full width, not necessarily the full length); you can change that to a different percentage to shrink or enlarge the page (see Figure 13-12).
Figure 13-12: The Print dialog box (Ctrl+P) superimposed over the Preview window
To print all or part of a Web page, use the Printer button in the Preview window or in the Command bar. The Print dialog box (Ctrl+P) gives you all of the expected options for selecting printers and pages.
Tip To print just part of a page, click and drag over that area to select it before starting to print. In Print Preview, be sure to select “As selected on screen” (instead of “As laid out on screen”) between Page View and Shrink To Fit — that option only appears if content on the Web page is selected before entering Print Preview. In the Print dialog box, choose Selection under Print Range.
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The Options tab of the Print dialog box has these options: Print frames — Some Web designers divide the screen into frames and place a menu in one frame and the content of the site in another frame (just as one example). You’ve probably seen framed sites, though they are not very popular. This option is grayed out for all sites except those which have frames. The graphic on the screen is very helpful in understanding the options: As laid out on screen — The printout will look like the screen if the content fits the page width. Use the Shrink To Fit option or switch to landscape. Only the selected frame — If you clicked in one frame before starting to print, that’s the only frame that prints. All frames individually — IE will print each frame separately. If the page has two frames side by side, the left frame will print on one piece of paper and the right frame on another; more frames mean more pages. This not only ruins the look of the site but is often a waste of paper. Too bad it’s the default. Print all linked documents — Talk about wasting paper! If you check this option, every page that the current page links to will be printed. If the current Web page has 10 links, you’ll get 11 printouts — and who knows how long each one will be. See the next tip. Print table of links — This one is cool. After the Web page prints, a separate page prints with a table of every link on the Web page, in two columns. The first column is the text of the link and the second column is the URL. This can provide useful documentation in some cases.
Tip If you are using print options you aren’t sure about, such as Print All Linked Documents, you should be concerned that you may end up wasting a lot of paper. For testing, choose the Microsoft XPS Document printer. This creates a file instead of using paper. You’ll be prompted for a filename and location. After “printing,” open that file (it opens in IE) and see if you like what you’ve “printed.” If you like it, you can print from that document or return to the original Web page to print from there.
Summary Windows Vista Internet Explorer version 7 proves that Microsoft has listened to customer complaints, suggestions, and concerns. The pared-down interface, which disappears in full-screen mode (F11), gives more space to the Web pages themselves. The new tabs enable easier browsing of multiple websites at once. Improved support for standards such as CSS mean IE users are less likely to see
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the Web differently from users of other browsers, while the ease of use of the RSS support may bring millions of new users to that method of digesting Web content. Under it all, security functions such as Protected Mode, the phishing filters, and the Information Bar will keep IE users safer than before from the threat of spyware. In the next chapter, we’ll examine other Internet-related programs in Windows Vista.
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n the previous chapter, we worked with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the browser included in Windows Vista. In this chapter, we will examine other Internet- and Web-related applications in Windows Vista, including the following: Windows Contacts Windows Mail Windows Calendar Each of these programs may provide all you need to keep in touch with family, friends, and coworkers.
Windows Contacts Windows Contacts isn’t actually a program. Instead, Windows Contacts takes the idea of an address book and turns it into a folder. Files in that folder are the records of the contacts.
Adding Contacts Begin with Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Contacts. This opens the Contacts folder under your user name, which should have an item for your own contact information already set up. This contact record is mostly empty, so you may want to start by opening it and filling in the desired information (see Figure 14-1). When you are ready to create a new contact, the toolbar and context menu in Contacts have an option for New Contact. Along with the information on the Name and E-mail tab, each contact has tabs for Home, Work, Family, Notes, and (digital) IDs. You don’t have to fill in any fields other than one of the name fields and an e-mail address. Each contact can have multiple e-mail addresses, and one can be designated as preferred. Unlike some other address book programs, Windows Contacts does not let you specify whether the recipient can receive HTML-formatted text versus plain text. Fortunately, most recipients can handle HTML these days. Notice that Home and Work have fields for Web addresses. These URLs can be used to jump from Contacts to the specified Web page. 291
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Figure 14-1: I’ve begun to fill in my own Contact information.
To associate a picture with the contact, click anywhere on the generic icon to the right of the contact information on the Name and E-mail tab. Click Change Picture, and browse to a picture. Once you have added the contact, you can use the E-mail button to write him or her. If you rightclick over the contact, the context menu has an option labeled Action that includes a function to Call the Contact (assuming you have a modem installed and configured and a phone number in the contact’s record). When you send e-mail to a contact, Windows Vista uses the default e-mail program, which is Windows Mail initially. (More on Windows Mail shortly.) Obvious places for improvement in Contacts would be to integrate IM (instant messaging) and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
Note For the record, instant messaging enables text exchanges that are more interactive than e-mail; VoIP is used to place phone calls over the Internet. Windows Vista does not include IM or VoIP. In fact, XP’s IM program, Windows Messenger, is no longer included. However, there are many services that provide free IM or VoIP (often, both), including www.skype.com, www.google.com/talk/, and www.aol.com.
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A record of contact — date e-mail sent, for example — would also enhance Windows Contacts. I’d like to be able to easily list every e-mail message sent to or by this contact. Although we can do that with advanced search options and save that search, it’s not quite as automatic as it could be.
Working with Selected Contacts Recall that any folder can be sorted, grouped, filtered, and stacked in Windows Explorer (see Chapters 2 and 10). You can use that fact to select different combinations of contacts to send e-mail. For example, after you have added a few records to the Contacts folder (Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Contacts): 1. Display the Company column heading in Contacts. Right-click over any column heading in Contacts and choose More. Scroll down and check the box next to Company (repeat for any other relevant fields — for example, Business state or province). 2. Sort by Name (or any column heading, by clicking on the column heading). Now you are looking at a sorted list of all of your contacts. 3. Filter by a specific company. Click the triangle beside Company and check the name of the company you want to filter by. You can select more than one company; a checkmark appears to the right of the filtered column heading to remind you of the filter. Now you only see contacts from that company (see Figure 14-2).
Figure 14-2: Contacts filtered by Company; send one e-mail message to selected contacts.
You could repeat step 3 for other columns. For example, if you display the State column heading (for Home or Business), you could filter by any states as well as company, resulting in the display of contacts from a given company who are in a selected state. You can work with the filtered contacts individually, or you can select any or all and then click the E-Mail button to send one e-mail message to all. This technique may be more flexible and spontaneous than Contact Groups (discussed next), as long as contacts have data in the fields/columns you want to filter by.
Contact Groups A Contact Group is a mailing list. Sending e-mail to a Contact Group sends that e-mail to each contact in the group.
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Use the toolbar button to create a New Contact Group (see Figure 14-3). Name the group. You can also enter address information on the Contact Group Details tab. Remember you can filter the contacts by column headings, so you may want to enter group information such as city, state, or company name.
Figure 14-3: Create a Contact Group for a mailing list.
You can add e-mail addresses to this group in any of these ways: Click the Add to Contact Group button and select existing contacts to include (you can select as many contacts at once as you wish). Click the Create New Contact button for someone new you also want as a separate contact. Type the Contact Name and E-Mail address at the bottom of the form and click Create for Group Only; this person will not have a contact record separate from the group.
Tip Create a Contact Group but don’t bother to add any contacts. Close that group. Drag and drop contacts over the group icon to add those selected contacts to the group.
To send e-mail to everyone in the group, select the group and click the E-Mail button. Be aware that some e-mail service providers limit how many addresses you can send to at one time. Your e-mail program may also have limits. Test with a small number of contacts in a group; research your ISP before creating a large group (100 contacts or more).
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Caution E-mail sent to a Contact Group or by selecting multiple individual contacts displays all the e-mail addresses to each recipient. For privacy reasons and spam control, some people would rather you not do this. Your e-mail program may make it easy to change from To to Bcc (blind courtesy copy), whereby recipients’ addresses are hidden from each other. Put your own address for the To. You cannot control this from the Contact Group or individual contacts.
Importing and Exporting Contacts Use the Import button in the toolbar to set up new contacts using data from other e-mail or contact programs. The import format you choose here is actually determined by the other program and the format you chose when you exported from it: CSV (Comma Separated Value) — CSV files separate data with commas (just as the name says). Most programs can export or save to CSV. You will have to “map” the incoming fields to existing Contacts fields one at a time, which is very tedious for more than a few fields. If all you are importing are name, e-mail address, and phone, it might be worth the effort. LDIF (Lightweight Directory Interchange Format) — LDIF is not as widespread as CSV. However, the incoming data is automatically mapped to the Contacts fields. This is your best option for importing a large number of records. vCard (VCF file) — vCard originated as an electronic business card format. Some people attach a VCF file as a part of their e-mail signature to simplify adding their contact information to compatible programs. You can import such an attachment this way. Windows Address Book File (Outlook Express contacts) — If you used Outlook Express under XP, your contact information is in a file with the extension name .wab. You can import this file directly. (On systems where Windows Vista is an upgrade to XP, this file is imported automatically.) Use the Export button to convert your contacts into a format suitable for other programs. Note that all contacts are exported, not just the selected ones. Export formats are as follows: CSV — CSV will create a single text file with all the contact records; the first record contains the field names. This is probably your better option. VCF (vCard File) — As with Contacts, each record is a separate file. You are prompted to choose a location for the export; create a new folder in that location for these records.
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Tip If you are copying contacts from one Windows Vista machine to another, you can drag any or all contacts to a disk or over a network connection. There is no need to export/import between Windows Vista machines.
Windows Mail Windows Mail replaces Outlook Express (or, is arguably the renamed update to Outlook Express). Windows Mail is the default e-mail and newsgroup program unless you select another program. Microsoft Outlook is a large commercial application that manages e-mail, contacts, and scheduling. Windows Mail, like Outlook Express, is a far simpler and free program included with Windows just for e-mail. Outlook Express and its parent, Microsoft Outlook, have been attacked often or used in malware misdeeds (see Chapter 4). Microsoft has attempted to improve security throughout Windows Vista, including in Windows Mail. Time will tell how successful they are. Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Mail. Before you can send or receive e-mail, you will have to configure at least one e-mail account. Note that Windows Vista does not provide e-mail accounts, just a mechanism for using an e-mail service.
Note If you do not have an e-mail account at home, school, or work, there are free accounts on the Internet. You’ll need an account that supports POP3 (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). Some Web-based e-mail services such as MSN Hotmail or Yahoo! mail do not support those protocols and will not work with Windows Mail. One free Web-based e-mail service that does support POP3 is Gmail (www.google.com/mail).
Setting Up an Account The first time you run Windows Mail, a wizard will take you step-by-step through setting up an account. To configure an account after that first time, use Tools ➝ Accounts. (Notice these oldschool menus that cannot be turned off — not quite the new Windows Vista style.) Click the Add button to set up a new account, or the Properties button for an existing account. Figure 14-4 shows the Internet Accounts screen you’ll use to add or change accounts after the first-time wizard.
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Figure 14-4: Use Tools ➝ Accounts to add or change an account after the wizard runs.
On the Internet Accounts screen in Figure 14-4, let’s add an account. Each of these screens has links to help information. 1. Click the Add button. If you are opening Windows Mail for the first time, the wizard that runs automatically skips this and the next step. 2. Select Account Type: E-mail Account — We’ll choose this. All of the following steps are for setting up an e-mail account. Select E-mail Account and click Next. Newsgroup Account — A newsgroup is an Internet service used as a kind of bulk-mail exchange. The venerable newsgroup predates forums and blogs. There is a newsgroup for every topic, no matter how exotic. Don’t start your exploration of newsgroups here. Instead, see www.google.com/ groups/. Web-based groups have the advantage of not clogging up your hard drive — some groups are very active. Microsoft automatically includes a newsgroup with Windows Mail. From the main screen (after you’ve finished the steps we are just starting), click on Microsoft Communities. In the next screen, use Show Available Newsgroups, but don’t turn on Communities. The Newsgroup Subscriptions screen will list hundreds of Microsoft newsgroups you can subscribe to. Directory Service — This enables you to specify an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) server. LDAP servers can provide an organization with a centralized mechanism for maintaining contact information. To continue with this, you’ll need a server address from your company or service provider.
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3. Your name. Type your display name as you want it to appear in the outgoing message. Click Next. 4. Internet E-mail address. This is your existing e-mail address for home, work, or school (
[email protected]). If you do not already have an e-mail address, you can’t make one up here. Find a service provider. 5. Set up e-mail servers. The specific information required here depends entirely on your service provider. You need to get this information from them. Incoming e-mail server type — POP3 is most common, whereas IMAP allows more options. Generally, POP3 moves the mail from the server to the client (your machine); all the management of the e-mail is done locally. If you have a choice, IMAP may be preferable if you will be accessing one account from more than one machine, because it supports more options for managing and organizing e-mail on the server. Incoming e-mail server name — This could be mail.your_provider’s_domain_ name.com (for example, mail.mjhinton.com).
Outgoing e-mail server name (SMTP — Simple Mail Transport Protocol) — This could be the same as incoming. Outgoing server requires authentication — This is a security option that some servers require to reduce the chances that someone else can misuse your e-mail service. It means the e-mail program has to log in before sending e-mail (a sensible precaution — still not your choice, but the service provider’s). 6. Internet Mail Logon. This is the information used to log in to your account. E-mail username — How do you log in to your e-mail service? Password — How do you prove who you are? Remember password — If you don’t check this, you’ll be prompted anytime Windows Mail sends or receives e-mail. However, if you are concerned about someone misusing your account, don’t check it. 7. Congratulations (literally the text on the screen at this point). “You have successfully entered all of the information required to set up your account.” Before you click the Finish button, there is a checkbox for “Do not download my e-mail at this time.” If you leave this unchecked (the default), when you click Finish, Windows Mail will log in to your account and download all e-mail. While there is nothing wrong with that, I prefer to check this (don’t get my mail). Then I’ll look at other options before I begin the download. If you started from the Internet Accounts screen instead of the first-time wizard, close that screen. You will be looking at your Inbox (see Figure 14-5), with a friendly welcome from Microsoft.
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Figure 14-5: Windows Mail and the Inbox
Note You can return to the Internet Accounts screen at any time with Tools ➝ Accounts. Use this to add other new accounts or remove accounts you no longer need. Select an account and click the Properties button to change any of the settings we just went through (though the dialog boxes are laid out quite differently and there are more options here).
Adjusting the View In Windows Mail, use options under the View menu to change the display: Current View — Used to choose between showing all messages or hiding read or ignored messages. Define Views to create filters to show or hide messages based on criteria such as who the message is from or text in the subject. (See “Message Rules,” later in this chapter.) Sort By — Determines how to sort messages and in what order; by default, messages are sorted by date and time received in descending order, so most recent messages are at the top. You can sort by several other fields in messages. Columns — Select the columns to display for the message list. Layout In the Basic section, select the parts you want to see. By default, all but the Folder Bar display.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista You can customize the toolbar from here (or right-click over the toolbar). Add or Remove buttons from the toolbar. Consider adding the button that hides or shows the Preview pane. You can also rearrange these buttons to make things easier for you to use. Preview Pane — The Preview pane shows the contents of a message that is selected. Although you can turn it on or off through View ➝ Layout ➝ Preview Pane, it is more convenient to add the Preview button to the toolbar so that you can toggle Preview on and off as needed. To add the button, right-click over the toolbar and choose Customize. Scroll down the left column until you see Preview (buttons are in alphabetical order). Select Preview and click the Add button. In the right column, you can select any button you want to remove and click Remove. You can also move a selected button up or down (which is actually left or right in the horizontal toolbar). I prefer keeping Preview at the right end if the window is wide enough to show it.
Caution Do not preview a message if you do not know and trust the source of the message. Hide Preview before selecting messages to delete or junk.
Creating E-Mail To create a new e-mail message, click the Create Mail button, or use File ➝ New ➝ Mail Message (Ctrl+N). This is the New Message window (see Figure 14-6). You’ll need to enter an address next to To. You can type in an address (Windows Mail may automatically try to complete what you type). You can also click on the book or text next to any of the two or three address boxes. This will bring up a list of all records from Windows Contacts; you can select any recipients from this list.
Figure 14-6: The New Message window
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Note that Find in this contacts window does not work as a Windows Vista user might expect. We’ve come to expect that typing into a search box will reduce the list to matching items. Instead, you click the Find button to open another dialog box where you enter criteria and choose from those found records before returning to the current window. So last century. Recall the discussion in “Windows Contacts” for working with selected contacts. You can also enter or select addresses for Cc: (Courtesy copy — addresses will be seen by all recipients).
Tip Windows Mail’s New Message window does not initially show a box for Bcc: (Blind courtesy copy — recipients’ addresses will not be seen by other recipients). To get the Bcc: box, in the New Message window, use View ➝ All Headers.
Enter a subject, and then in the main body of the window, type your message. You can get pretty fancy in composing e-mail. There is a tool for selecting fonts. (Does the recipient have the same fonts you have? If not, he won’t see your selected font.) You can make things bigger or smaller and appear in cool colors. If you are really into it, you can use Format ➝ Apply Stationery (or Message ➝ New Message Using ➝ Select Stationery). If this is your thing, you can go farther with these features on your own. That said, it is nice to bump up the font size a little and use bold, italics, and a little color here and there. You can paste text or graphics into the body of an e-mail message. To attach a file of any kind, use Insert ➝ File Attachment or the paperclip button. Navigate to the file you want to attach (you can select more than one file at a time). You can also drag and drop files to the message window.
Tip If you want to attach more than a few files or any really big files, consider compressing them first. In Windows Explorer, select your files. Right-click and choose Send To ➝ Compressed (zipped) Folder. A new file will be created with the same name as one of the selected files. Windows Vista treats this as a folder, but it is a Zip file. Attach the Zip file to your e-mail.
Other options under the Insert menu include the following: Text from File — As it says. Select a text file and that text will be pasted into the e-mail. Picture — As you would expect, this smartly defaults to your Pictures folder. I often use paste or drag-and-drop, instead. After you insert a picture, right-click over it for Properties, particularly alignment and spacing. Horizontal Line — A line across the width of the message. My Business Card — This option requires setup from the main menu in Windows Mail (you can’t set this up here).
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Use Tools ➝ Options. On the Compose tab, under Business Cards at the bottom, check Mail and then pick your contact record from the drop-down list. Click the Edit button if you need to see or update your contact information. Once this has been set up, in the New Message window, use Insert ➝ My Business Card. Signature — As with the previous option, you have to set this up from the main menu in Windows Mail. Use Tools ➝ Options. On the Signatures tab, click the New button. Click the Rename button to give it a meaningful name. I recommend you use the text box next to Edit Signature. You can fancy it up with the Advanced button. The File option uses a text file (as from Notepad), not your contact record. Once you have added a signature, you can check “Add signatures to all outgoing messages” at the top of the Signatures screen. Alternately, back in the New Message window, you can use Insert ➝ Signature. Hyperlink — The easiest way to add a URL to an e-mail message is to type or paste it into the message. That’s all you need to do. You might use the menu function if you wanted a link that said something other than the text of the URL. For example, you could type my webpage into the message, select that text, and then use Insert ➝ Hyperlink. In the box, type or paste the URL. Now “my webpage” is a link to that URL. This is more work than necessary (just type my webpage is www.mjhinton.com/vista/), plus it goes against the security recommendation against clicking links in e-mail.
Sending E-Mail After composing a message, if you are connected to the Internet, you can send it immediately with the Send button, File ➝ Send (Alt+S), or you can send it later (File ➝ Send Later). E-mail that is not sent immediately is stored in the Outbox until it is sent. A copy of e-mail that has been sent is normally stored in the Sent Items folder.
Receiving E-Mail By default, e-mail is retrieved automatically when you start Windows Mail and every 30 minutes thereafter. (You can change that through Tools ➝ Options ➝ General.) You can also use the Send/Receive button or Tools ➝ Send and Receive; both methods enable you to select just to send or just to receive and from which accounts, if you have more than one set up.
Tip You may want to exclude an account from processing when you send or receive all. Use Tools ➝ Accounts, select the account to change, and click the Properties button. On the General tab, uncheck the option to “Include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing.” While you’re here, click the Advanced tab and note the options under Delivery. If you access the same account from more than one computer, you way want to check the option to “Leave a copy of messages on server.”
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LOCAL FOLDERS Local folders include your Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Drafts, and Junk E-mail. Create your own folders to organize your messages. Use File ➝ New ➝ Folder to add folders under Local Folders or your Inbox. You can drag messages from your Inbox into folders you create. You can also use Move to Folder or Copy to Folder from the context menu for a message. Message Rules (filters) can also move or copy messages into folders. One of the highly touted differences between Windows Mail and the older Outlook Express (OE) has to do with how each stores individual messages. OE stores messages in large archive files. Therefore, you must use OE to work with individual messages. Windows Mail, on the other hand, stores messages individually as actual files in real, not virtual, folders on the hard disk. As such, you can search, copy, move, delete, or back up individual messages outside of Windows Mail. If you use Windows Explorer to find these files, you’ll notice that the filenames are somewhat odd-looking combinations of letters and numbers, not plain text. Windows Mail does not make the subject line of the message the name of the file. However, if you use Search in Windows Explorer, you do see the subject line as the title; there’s a useful switch going on in search, though one wonders why the files aren’t just named as one might expect. So look for messages in Mail or with Search. Digging through folders yields less clear results. You’ll see the specifics for moving these folders later, under “Options.”
SEARCHING E-MAIL As elsewhere in Windows Vista, a Search box is displayed in the upper-right corner of Windows Mail. You can click in the box or use Ctrl+E to get there. Type your search terms. Messages in the selected folder that match your terms will appear, whereas those that don’t match are hidden. Clear the search text (or click X next to the terms) and all messages reappear. If you type enough of a sender’s name, you’ll see just the messages from that sender. If you type text that appears in a subject line, you’ll see just those matching messages. These simple spontaneous searches are quite fast and can be very useful for finding messages. For example: 1. Click in the Search box (Ctrl+E). 2. Type microsoft. The default first message that Microsoft automatically includes is found. 3. In the Search box, type msoe (the sender e-mail address of that same message). Now try entering welcome. All of these find that same message. Be aware of some limitations to this search. There is no advanced search; that box is it. This is a full-text search, so you can’t limit the search to just senders or just subject; everything is searched. Finally, and in my mind most frustrating, you cannot start search at the top (Local Folders), nor can you select multiple folders to search. Therefore, you must search one folder at a time; each time you click on another folder, your search terms are cleared and must be reentered. You have to know where to look and exactly how to look for it. There is at least one way around these limitations: Use Windows Explorer to search for messages. Open Windows Explorer Search (Win+F) and type your search text. Of course, Windows Explorer
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contains advanced search options not found in Windows Mail. Take advantage of them if you need advanced searching of e-mail. Let’s search for that same Welcome message using Windows Explorer Search: 1. Open Windows Explorer Search (Win+F). These steps could also be performed with Win+E, but that doesn’t display the buttons in the Search pane by default and may start the search in the wrong area. 2. Type microsoft in the Search box. As soon as you start typing, files are found, but too many. 3. In the Search pane (the buttons above the toolbar), click the E-mail button. Now you should only see e-mail with “microsoft” somewhere in the message. 4. In the Search box, replace microsoft with msoe (part of the sender e-mail address). Try welcome. All of these should find the same message. To this point, this method isn’t superior to Search within Windows Mail. 5. Clear the Search box with the little x in the Search box. (Don’t close the window.) 6. Click the Advanced Search button at the end of the Search pane (just below the Search box). 7. In the box labeled From Names, type microsoft. Click the Search button. If you don’t see From Names, make sure the E-mail button is selected next to Show Only, just below the address bar. This should find the same Welcome message. 8. Replace microsoft with msoe. Click the Search button. Oops, that didn’t work, though it should. 9. Don’t clear the Search box or From Names. Type welcome in the Subject box. Click the Search button. That should work and find the same Welcome message. Now you are using complex or multiple criteria. You can see there are also date options. You can search for a message from Mark about Vista written between 5/19/2002 and 9/14/2004. The downside of the Advanced Search is that you have to keep clearing some settings and you have to click the Search button. The upside is that you can have multiple criteria, which is not possible with Search within Windows Mail. You’ll notice that the choices you make in the Advanced Search area insert terms into the Search box, like fromname:(microsoft) subject:welcome. If you don’t mind typing, you can use these search commands manually for the best of both worlds — the speed of regular search (no Search button required) and the complex criteria of Advanced Search. Wow.
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JUNK MAIL AND PHISHING As e-mail is received, Windows Mail will automatically classify some of it as junk mail or a phishing attempt (phishing expedition?). Control junk mail through Tools ➝ Junk E-Mail Options (see Figure 14-7).
Figure 14-7: Junk mail and phishy messages can be handled automatically.
Junk mail is moved automatically into the Junk Mail folder. You can adjust the level of protection from the first Options screen. I do not recommend you check the option to permanently delete suspected junk; junk filters often flag good messages while letting bad ones through. Use the Safe Senders tab to create a “whitelist” of senders that will never be labeled junk, using individual e-mail addresses or just domains. Use Blocked Senders to create a blacklist of senders or domains to block. The International tab enables you to block by country of origin or language (encoding) of the message. Use the Phishing tab to screen for potential risks. You may want to check the option to “Move phishing E-mail to the Junk Mail folder.”
MESSAGE RULES Message rules can perform actions on incoming e-mail automatically based on various criteria. You might delete mail from someone you don’t like, or move mail with a particular word in the subject into a specific folder.
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One way to create a message rule is to select a message and then use Message ➝ Create Rule From Message. This will open the New Mail Rule dialog box (see Figure 14-8): 1. Select the Conditions for your rule. Which part of the message should be examined: From line, To line, Subject, body, or other conditions? 2. Select the Actions for your rule. Move, copy, delete, forward, highlight in various ways, reply automatically? 3. Rule Description. This section restates options in the first two sections and provides links to change variables. For example, if you choose the From line in the first step, a link will display here to specify the e-mail address you are looking for. 4. Name of the rule. Give this a descriptive name so you can recall what it does if you need to run it manually or edit it later.
Figure 14-8: Use the New Mail Rule dialog box for handling messages.
Most message rules process automatically on incoming mail. However, you can apply a rule anytime or see and manage all your rules through Tools ➝ Message Rules ➝ Mail. From here, you can create new rules and modify or apply existing rules. You can also change the order in which rules are processed, or uncheck a rule to keep it from processing.
Options Use Tools ➝ Options to further configure Windows Mail. I’ll highlight just a few possible changes here: General Tab — Control the sound that is played when e-mail arrives and how often Mail checks for new mail.
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Read — Consider unchecking the option to “Mark messages after displaying for 5 seconds.” When this is checked, if you preview a message for five seconds, it is marked as read. I prefer to mark them manually. Send — If you use a dial-up connection, uncheck Send Messages Immediately, unless you want to dial-up every time you send a message. It may be better for a dial-up user to collect messages in the Outbox and send them as a group. Everyone should consider unchecking the option to Include Message in Reply. Most recipients don’t need their entire message quoted to them. Spelling — “Always check spelling before sending” is not checked by default. Check it. Advanced — Click the Maintenance button. On the next screen, click the Store Folder button. This is the folder where your e-mail is stored. I use the Change button to store messages in a new folder under Documents for e-mail. You’ll have to restart Mail for the change to take effect. I like having easy access to these messages outside of Windows Mail (or other mail programs). I had stronger arguments in favor of this in XP, particularly because Outlook Express buries your messages deep and they might not get backed up. Windows Vista does a better job with this.
Tip Windows Mail does not have an option for compressing or archiving old messages. They just keep piling up until you delete them. However, if you drill down to C:\Users\(your name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\ Windows Mail, you’ll find folders that correspond to the folders in Windows Mail. (You may have moved these folders using Advanced ➝ Store Folder button.) Your individual e-mail messages are in these folders. Unfortunately, they have unintelligible filenames. You can drag files out of these folders (you should not be running Windows Mail when you do this) and move e-mail messages into other folders (you could have folders for specific years or months). I have a folder called email archive. You can even compress these folders. If a message is not under the folder specified in Advanced ➝ Store Folder, it is not shown in Windows Mail, but you can still open it with Mail, and search for it with Windows Explorer Search (Win+F).
Windows Calendar Windows Calendar is a new program from Microsoft that enables you to schedule events and tasks and share calendars with others. Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Calendar. When you start Calendar, you will see three vertical panes. On the left, the Navigation pane is composed of three sections: Date, with a month-at-a-glance calendar; Calendars, with your name as one; and Tasks.
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On the right is the Details pane (though it is called the Preview pane in other Windows Vista programs). In the middle is some variation on a calendar, with the current date highlighted. Figure 14-9 displays the opening Calendar page.
Figure 14-9: The Calendar. The two side panes can be turned off to display one big calendar.
Changing the View Like Mail, Calendar has old-style menus at the top. Use the View menu to change the look of Calendar: Toggle the Navigation pane (Ctrl+I) and Details pane (Ctrl+D) on and off. Use the first four options to change the Calendar display among the following (you can use Ctrl+Shift plus a number): Day (+1), Work Week (+2), Week (+3), and Month (+4). You can Go to Date (Ctrl+G) and return to Today (no keystroke, but there is a Today button on the toolbar). Use View ➝ Contacts to open Windows Contacts.
Options Use File ➝ Options to configure Calendar. In the Calendar section, you can specify which day to start the week and workweek and what range of hours should appear for a day.
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In the Appointments section, you specify defaults for how long the average appointment lasts and how long before the appointment you want a reminder. I recommend you leave the default reminder as none. If you create a new appointment within the default reminder period, you get a reminder in the middle of creating the appointment. You will be able to specify a reminder as you create the appointment. In the Tasks section, you control when completed tasks are hidden, what time of day you want a once-a-day reminder of tasks, and the color of overdue tasks.
Adding an Appointment If you want to add an appointment for a day that is visible in the calendar, just double-click that day; otherwise, use the New Appointment button in the toolbar, File ➝ New Appointment, or Ctrl+N (see Figure 14-10).
Figure 14-10: The Details pane for an appointment
Caution Make sure the Details pane (Ctrl+D) is displayed before adding an appointment or task. Without the Details pane, you can only edit the description of the appointment or task.
The first few times you create an appointment, you may accidentally create it on the wrong day; Calendar assumes the last selected date (or today) as the one you want. You can avoid this by going to the date first, but you can also change the date in the Details pane. Type a brief description for the appointment on the calendar or in Details. You can specify a location, a related URL, the start and end time (and date, if you need to change it) for an appointment (or All-day), the recurrence (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or advanced/custom), and when you want a reminder. Appointments can span days.
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You may have to scroll down the Details pane to see all of the options at the bottom. There is a Participants section with a button for Attendees. When you click the Attendees button, a window pops up with all of your contacts, any of whom you can select, and then click OK. Oddly, the selected attendees do not appear in the Attendees box (you can manually type names there) but in the Invitees box below. If you click the Invite button, an e-mail message is addressed to all the selected invitees, with an attached ICS (Internet Calendaring and Scheduling) file for the appointment. Amazingly, you must deal with the new e-mail message now; that is, you cannot leave it open and return to the Calendar. At the bottom of the Details pane for an appointment is a Notes box. (This doesn’t appear in Figure 14-10.) This is all a bit short of a contacts management system (and what do you expect from something included with the operating system?). It is not easy to tell whether you have actually sent invitations; there is no easy mechanism for tracking responses. I’m not griping — just imagining the features of the next version.
Adding a Task To add a new task, use the New Task button on the toolbar, File ➝ New Task, or Ctrl+T (see Figure 14-11).
Figure 14-11: The Details pane for a task
As with an appointment, there is room for a description, a URL, and a reminder. The task can have Start and Due dates (optional), Priority, and can be checked as Completed. There is also an area for Notes. One might expect tasks to remain hidden until their start date arrives, but tasks appear on the task list as soon as you add them.
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Tasks that pass their due date without being marked as completed are colored red (color is specified under File ➝ Options). Tasks checked as completed will remain in the task list unless you change another option in the same section of Options.
Creating a New Calendar When you first start working with Calendar, every appointment and task is automatically part of a calendar created for your user name. One calendar may be all you need, but it is also possible to create additional calendars. That’s especially useful because you can hide or show and share calendars separately. You might want one calendar for work and another for personal matters. You might want a separate calendar for some group you belong to. The question is: Will you ever want to work with one category of appointments or tasks separately from all the others? If so, make that a separate calendar. Use File ➝ New Calendar. In the Navigation pane, you’ll see a new calendar ready for a new name. In the Details pane, you can change the name and the color used for appointments and tasks in that new calendar.
Tip Once you have two or more calendars, pay attention to which calendar new appointments and tasks are being added. You can select the calendar you want for appointments or tasks in the Details pane.
In the Navigation pane, if you uncheck a calendar, you will not see its appointments or tasks until you check it again. This makes it very easy to work with groups of activities separately.
Creating a New Group You may want to create a new group if you are going to have multiple calendars for that group. Unchecking a group hides all of its calendars at once. For example, imagine you schedule appointments for people in two different departments of an office. Each person should have a separate calendar. Groups aren’t required, but if you create a new group for each department (File ➝ New Group), you can put all of one department’s calendars under one group, with a separate group for the second department. Now you can display or print appointments for one department (one group checked, one unchecked) or the whole office (both groups checked).
Note Surprisingly, creating a new group in Calendar does not create a corresponding group in Contacts (add that to the wish list). You may want to do so yourself, if you will need to send e-mail to members of the group about the calendar.
You can drag calendars between groups to move them. When I created a group and dragged my original default calendar into that group, I could not drag it out so that it wasn’t in any group, as it
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was originally. Further, I was not able to delete that group because deleting the group would delete all the calendars in the group and there has to be one calendar. In the end, I had to search for the calendar folder and delete the Settings.xml file to wipe out everything. My advice is to stay away from groups until you have enough calendars to justify groups to organize those calendars.
Sharing Calendars The common file format for exchanging calendars is the iCalendar format (files usually have the extension name .ics for ICS — Internet Calendaring and Scheduling). If you intend to share information with others in a way that allows them to easily work with that information in their own calendar programs, you’ll need ICS files.
SENDING CALENDARS VIA E-MAIL
A simple way to send someone a calendar is as an e-mail attachment. Use Share ➝ Send via E-mail, which will create a blank e-mail message with the currently selected calendar as an ICS attachment. You cannot send selected appointments or tasks or a range of dates, just a whole calendar. This may be a reason to create separate calendars. (To send a calendar with a single appointment, select that appointment and use the Invite function.) There is some question as to whether the recipient will be able to handle the attached file. If they have Windows Vista, and Windows Calendar, they should be able to. If they have another calendar program, they may be able to.
PUBLISHING A CALENDAR In order to publish a calendar on the Web, you need a host with Web space (as you would for Web pages) that supports a service called WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning). If you do not have such support, I don’t have a recommendation at this time. I expect Microsoft will see an opportunity here and provide such support through www.live.com. Use Share ➝ Publish to see the place your URL would go. If you use the Browse button to select a local folder (such as the desktop), the ICS file will be created there. This could be used to share calendars over a network.
SUBSCRIBING TO A CALENDAR
You can subscribe to any ICS file on the Web. Use Share ➝ Subscribe. Type in the full URL for the ICS file, then Next (for practice, try http://www.mjhinton.com/vista/vista.ics). Windows Calendar will create a new calendar for this subscription. Name that calendar and pick a color for its appointments. As a subscriber, you cannot change the file on the Web. Make sure you don’t leave this calendar selected in the Navigation pane or you won’t be able to create new appointments (until you select another calendar). Subscribed calendars are read-only. If you want to subscribe to a calendar published to the network, enter the full path (or copy and paste it). There is no Browse button here.
IMPORTING AND EXPORTING A CALENDAR
Use File ➝ Import to import an ICS file into Calendar. In the process, you can create a new calendar or add this data to an existing calendar.
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Use File ➝ Export to create a new ICS file for use with other programs. All appointments and tasks in the selected calendar will be exported.
Note I’ll end by mentioning a few other alternatives to these programs that I have some experience with:
Thunderbird (www.getthunderbird.com) — This is a free, open-source e-mail program I have used for years, part of the Mozilla project that gave the world Firefox (a great browser). Thunderbird is not vastly different from Windows Mail (which looks better). I may actually switch. (How’s that for a tepid endorsement. I like Thunderbird more than that.) Sunbird (www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/) — This is a calendar program, also from the Mozilla project. Decent. Gmail (www.google.com/mail/) — Google Mail is Web-based mail, which has the advantage of being accessible from anywhere. Google Calendar (www.google.com/calendar/) I really like Google Calendar, and it solves the problem of publishing the calendar to the Web. However, sharing the calendar is less than intuitive, and local, offline access to the calendar becomes the problem.
Summary You’ll probably use at least one of the tools in this chapter to keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues. Windows Contacts can be your address book, though it seems like the kernel of a good idea not yet fully implemented. Windows Mail is a decent little program that may carry the weaknesses, or just the taint, of its predecessor, Outlook Express. Perhaps the best thing about e-mail is the integration of e-mail searching within Windows Explorer — and that isn’t limited to Windows Mail. Windows Calendar is a decent little program in need of easier Web publishing. Each of these programs has some interesting and useful tools and may be all you need (which is not meant as an insult). There are much more powerful, integrated applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, if you need more. In the next chapter, we’ll explore Windows Vista’s cool new tool called Photo Gallery. You’ll love it.
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indows Photo Gallery is a new media application appearing for the first time in Windows Vista. Although the name says “Photo,” Windows Photo Gallery displays both your photos and videos. You can also use Photo Gallery to tag and rate your photos and videos as a way of categorizing and organizing them. Tags can also be used to search for photos or videos. Using Windows Photo Gallery, you can view your photos and videos by date, by tags, and by ratings. You can edit your photos as well. You can view slide shows (and some interesting new effects). You can even burn your photos and videos to CD or DVD from Photo Gallery. Photo Gallery is included with Windows Vista Home (without videos or themes, described later), Home Premium, and Ultimate, but not Business or Enterprise.
Note Windows Photo Gallery displays photos and videos. Most of the tasks you can perform in Photo Gallery apply to both photos and videos. If something described in this chapter applies to both photos and videos, I’ll write “images” so that I don’t have to keep typing “photos and videos.” When you see the word “photos” or the word “videos” alone, assume the discussion applies just to that type of image.
Browsing Images Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Photo Gallery to launch Gallery (as I will refer to it from here on). The images that are displayed are sample files from the Public Pictures or Videos folders, plus any images you have added to your own Pictures or Video folders. Initially, images from other locations (such as external drives or other folders) will not display. We’ll add those shortly. Take a moment to explore the Gallery screen (see Figure 15-1). There is a large area showing thumbnails. These thumbnails can be sorted and filtered in many different ways simply by selecting various options from the Navigation pane. Across the top of Gallery, as with most Windows Vista applications, are buttons for various tasks. We’ll work with all of these in time: File Fix Info
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Along the bottom of the Photo Gallery screen are tools for browsing and editing selected images. We’ll discuss this toolbar in the section “The Big Toolbar.” Down the left, in the Navigation pane, are groups of categories and subcategories for selecting which photos or videos to display. Click a subcategory such as Flowers (under Tags), or a date, or a rating of stars, and notice the change in which thumbnails appear. Try another category. Each choice filters the images, omitting those that don’t match your selection criteria.
Figure 15-1: Windows Photo Gallery
Keep in mind that when you see the same photo under various categories, there is actually only one copy of that photo, not one per category. Change, rename, or delete that photo from any place you see it — there is only one. (Well, more on that in a moment). The categories in the Navigation pane are as follows: All Pictures and Videos — Self-explanatory. Initially, thumbnails are sorted from the most recently taken to the oldest. Subcategories are Pictures (photos) or Videos.
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Tags — Tags are used to label files (any files, not just images). Any file can have multiple tags, which you can use to find or filter files. Options under Tags are Create a New Tag, Not Tagged, Flowers, Landscape, Ocean, Sample, and Wildlife. The latter five are just for demonstration; you can add and remove any tags. (In Figure 15-1, you’ll notice I added a category for book — the initial exclamation mark sorts it to the top of the tags — and selected that tag to show 10 items marked with that tag.) Date Taken — Self-explanatory. Cameras record the date (and time) taken for each photo. If you have photos taken in 1999, a 1999 subcategory will appear; if you don’t, it won’t. I couldn’t find a way to sort newer years first under the Date Taken heading, though the thumbnails are sorted newest to oldest. This means that in 20 years, you’ll have to pass over 19 years to get to 2027. (No, I don’t really believe anyone will be using Windows Vista 2025, but some of us have 10 years of digital photos already; I tend to be most interested in the newest.) Ratings — Images can be rated from 1 star (not so good) to 5 stars (the best). There is also “Not Rated.” That category could be useful to quickly locate images you haven’t yet rated as you attempt to rate them all (don’t feel you have to).
Tag Synergy There is a cool feature to these subcategories that isn’t very obvious. You can choose more than one at once and what you get will depend on whether your selections are in one category or not: 1. Click one of the subcategories under Tags and notice which pictures appear. 2. Hold down the Ctrl key as you click on a different option under Tags (for example, Flowers or Landscapes). The result will be all pictures belonging to either subcategory under Tags. 3. For a different example, click under Date Taken on a date (you may have to expand the year by clicking the triangle next to the year). Ctrl+click on a second date. Images taken on either date appear. You could create a third example by clicking on one rating and Ctrl+clicking on a second. You aren’t limited to just two criteria; Ctrl+click additional choices under the same heading. Each time, you find more images because you are using more criteria within that one heading. 4. Clear your selection by clicking All Pictures and Videos. 5. Now click a subcategory under one category and Ctrl+click a subcategory under a different category (for example, Landscape under Tags and five stars under Ratings). The images shown will be those that match both criteria. Multiple selections in a single category will always show more images, whereas multiple selections between categories will usually show fewer images (because fewer images match all the selected criteria). You can keep going with the example. If you also Ctrl+click four stars, you’ll see Landscapes with five- or four-star ratings, increasing the number of images shown.
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As you hover over a thumbnail, a larger one will pop up over the image, unless you are already browsing the largest. You’ll notice headings dividing and grouping these thumbnails. As we have seen in Windows Explorer and elsewhere, the heading counts the items in that group. You can single-click on a heading to select every item in that group. You can click on the upward- or downward-pointing triangle at the far right to collapse or expand that group of thumbnails (or double-click anywhere else on the heading to do the same thing). Notice the tiny four-part icon to the left of the Search box above the thumbnails. Click that button or right-click over an empty area in the thumbnails (not on a thumbnail) for a context menu that arranges these thumbnails with the following options (the wording and order of options is not identical between the four-part icon and the context menu, but you’ll see what I’m talking about): View — Thumbnails (default), Thumbnails with Text (date and time taken), and Tiles (including filename, date and time taken, file size, dimensions in pixels, star rating, and caption). Tiles display the most information at one time. Group By — There are too many options to list here (see Figure 15-2), including variations on date, size, and more. Sort By — Fewer choices than Group By, with variations on date, size, and more.
Note Permit a nerdy aside: In Windows Explorer you sort and group by the same column heading (or field, if you will). You cannot sort by name and group by date, for example. However, in Gallery, you can sort and group by different column headings (fields). Choosing “Sort by Date taken” with “Group by File size” produces a very different listing from “Sort by File size” with “Group by Date taken.” Play with this. The default grouping is auto. Now that I’ve seen this in Gallery, I want sorting and grouping separated in Windows Explorer! (Consumers are never satisfied.)
Also on the context menu or four-part icon is Table of Contents, which adds a column between the thumbnails and the Navigation pane. The contents of that column vary with the heading selected in the Navigation pane. For example, if the Table of Contents (TOC, for short) shows and the Tags heading is selected, the TOC will show each tag with a little box under it. The number of boxes indicates relative differences in tags — e.g., three boxes under Landscape means there are more pictures tagged with Landscape than Ocean, with two boxes. More important, whereas the tags in the Navigation pane filter out, or hide, images without a selected tag, TOC does not — all the pictures show in one continuous column. The menus also display the following: Refresh — Refresh or redraw the screen. Most of the time, the screen stays current. However, if images seem out of order, use Refresh (F5).
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Select All — Select All images currently displayed in the main thumbnail window, before some action such as tagging or deleting. All the other techniques you know for selecting objects work as well.
Figure 15-2: The context menu within the thumbnail area (not on a thumbnail). The tiny button left of the Search box offers some of the same options.
Right-click over a single thumbnail for a very different context menu. A few options, such as Copy, Delete, and Rename, are old friends. A few of the new options include the following: Open With — Choose a program for viewing or editing this image. Set as Desktop Background — Make this photo your wallpaper or background. Change Time Taken — An odd option to alter the timestamp of an image by a number of hours (minutes won’t change) — this must be meant for compensating for time zone differences. Compare this with the discussion of the Info pane in the next section. We’ll consider other options on this context menu later.
The Info Pane The Info pane is an area to the right of Gallery (called the Preview pane in Windows Explorer). Display it by clicking the Info button in the toolbar at the top of the window. The Info button is not a toggle, although it should be! To close the Info pane, click the X in the upper-right corner of the pane.
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If no thumbnails are selected, the Info pane shows summary info for the current view. If one or more thumbnails are selected, the Info pane shows information about the selected images (see Figure 15-3).
Figure 15-3: The Info pane and a selected thumbnail
You can change the following data for one or more selected images through the Info pane: To rename the file, click the filename and type a new name. If more than one image is selected, they will be renamed newname, newname (1), newname (2), etc. Careful: undo is not available. Notice the first file will not have a number, and the second will be (1). If you rename groups of files through Windows Explorer, you can avoid this oddity. To change the date the image was taken, click the date and type a new date or select using the calendar icon to the right. To change the time the image was taken, click the time and type or select a new time. In the Info pane, you can edit any part of the date and time, unlike the odd hourly limit from the context menu (above). We’ll never be able to trust datestamps or timestamps again. You cannot click the size and change it here. To assign a rating, click the stars. To add tags, click Add Tags (Ctrl+T) and type tags, one at a time, for the image(s). Tags can consist of more than one word with spaces between, but if two or more words are entered at once, that creates one single tag. If you want two or more tags, add each tag one at a time. To add text to each image, click Add Caption at the bottom of the pane. Most of us might call this a “title.” In Figure 15-3, I have already replaced “Add Caption” with “Lucky is gentle” (it’s true).
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Caution Be aware that if some of the selected images already have data for any of these areas, such as tags or captions, you’ll be changing that data as well as adding data to images that have none.
All these options can also be seen and changed by viewing Tiles instead of thumbnails. We’ll examine tags, ratings, and other metadata soon.
The Big Toolbar At the bottom of the screen is a large toolbar (see Figure 15-4). This toolbar has controls for browsing through your images and making a couple of common edits. You can also use it to start a slide show (more on that soon).
Magnifier
Previous
Reset
Slide Show
Next
Rotate Clockwise
Rotate Delete Counterclockwise
Figure 15-4: The big toolbar
Note So what is the name of this toolbar? We can’t just call it the Gallery toolbar, because of the toolbar at the top of the screen (or is that a menu bar, or something in between?). I’d like to call it the Preview toolbar, but it shows in normal gallery view. I’d like to call it the Slide Show toolbar, but it doesn’t show during slide shows. I’d like to call it the Edit toolbar, but fewer than half its buttons edit. Curiously, the only Microsoft reference I found for this is the Navigation Bar. While that is apt, it’s awfully close to the Navigation pane to the left. Let’s just call it the big toolbar in this chapter.
From left to right, these tools are as follows: Magnifier (plus or minus on number keypad) — Changes the size of thumbnails or tiles. Click the little triangle for a slider to dynamically adjust size. In Preview (next section), this control zooms in and out of the selected image.
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Caution Will you be prompted to confirm this deletion? That depends on properties for the Recycle Bin. In Windows Explorer, right-click over Recycle Bin and choose Properties. See “Display delete confirmation dialog.” If that is checked, you’ll be prompted when you delete files, including in Gallery; unchecked, you’ll see no prompt. There is no undo for deletion in Gallery. You’ll have to open the Recycle Bin to restore deleted images. If you are a former XP user familiar with XP’s Windows Picture and Fax Viewer to preview photos, be aware that the keystrokes for rotating images have changed. Also, in XP, only one copy of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer can be open at a time. In Windows Vista, multiple copies of preview can be open at once. Finally, the slide show feature does not have a toolbar in the upper-right corner. Use the context menu for controls or the Esc key to exit.
Previewing Images At some point, you will want to see larger versions of your images; Gallery calls this larger view preview. To preview pictures from Gallery, you have three options: Double-click a picture. Select a picture and press Enter. Right-click a file and choose Preview Picture.
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To enlarge the image, resize or maximize the window. Open or close the Info pane as you like. To return to the regular thumbnail view, click the button for Back to Gallery in the upper-left corner of the screen or simply press the Esc key. Don’t close preview — that closes Gallery. The big toolbar appears in preview. Most of the buttons have the same function in gallery or preview. The Magnifier zooms in and the Reset button toggles between fit to screen size (Ctrl+0 [zero]) and actual size (Ctrl+Alt+0 [zero]).
Note Preview is available without starting Gallery first. In Windows Explorer, if you open an image, it will open in preview (that can be changed — right-click over any image and choose Open With ➝ Choose Default Program). If you don’t close preview but open another image, you have two (or more) copies of preview running at once (not a problem).
Playing a Slide Show At any time, you can click the big button in the middle of the bottom toolbar or press F11 for a fullscreen slide show of all or selected images. Arrow keys will move to next or previous images. There are three speeds for the show: slow, medium (the default), and fast (from the context menu or the toolbar). Use Exit or the Esc key to return to Gallery or preview. If you have adequate video hardware, videos can also be a part of a screen show. Keep reading. By default, Slide Show presents each image full screen. Transitions from one image to the next are immediate or fade, depending on your setup. Slide Show also supports themes in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions. Themes are screen templates that can present more than one image at a time over various backgrounds and have different transitions associated with them. During a slide show, move your mouse a bit and click the right mouse button. If you see a toolbar, you have themes and other options, but no context menu. If you don’t see a toolbar, you have a context menu but fewer options and no themes. To have access to Slide Show themes (or see videos in slide shows), you have to have adequate graphics hardware. Or do you really? See the sidebar “Enable Slide Show Themes” to learn about the hardware requirements and how to trick Gallery into enabling themes on some machines. If you do see a toolbar with Themes at the left end, click on that word for a menu of available themes. The first five themes on this menu present one full-screen picture at a time. The following options determine transitions and color: Classic — The immediate “snap” transition seen on XP. Fade — Images fade in and out to transition. Pan and zoom — Images move and zoom in and out. This one makes me sick.
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The next seven themes present multiple images simultaneously over a background image or color. These themes are as follows: Album Collage Frame Glass Spin Stack Travel Forgive me for not trying to describe these in any detail other than to say you’ll see more than one image at a time, most images will not be full screen, and transitions will be more exciting. If you have the Slide Show toolbar with Themes, you also see a gear button for the following settings: Slow Medium (default) Fast Shuffle Loop (default) Mute (for videos) If you don’t have support for themes, your context menu during a slide show has the preceding options except for Mute.
Note Videos in slide shows are a cool idea, especially because so many digital cameras also take videos. This makes it easier to enjoy everything you capture on vacation. However, if you have marginal hardware, the videos may not run as smoothly as you like, especially in Slide Show. Or the sound may be a problem (mute it). You may want to use the Pictures selection instead of All Pictures and Videos in the Navigation pane before starting a slide show (if you have determined videos are a problem).
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Enable Slide Show Themes The basic slide show displays each photo full screen and does not play videos; transitions are immediate. However, if your graphics card meets the requirements, you can apply themes to your screen saver, as well as include videos. Those requirements reflect a rating of 3 or higher for the Graphics component of your Windows Experience Index (see Chapter 8). As it happens, you can lie to Gallery about that score, although if you have a low score, the lie may get you nowhere. I tested this on a system that had a real Graphics score of 2.9 (oh so close to 3). Without the following trick, that machine would not show themes; with it, it did. I also tested this on a machine with a Graphics score of 1.9 (so far from 3); the trick didn’t work. The trick, a hack, involves editing the Registry, which is a huge database of configuration settings. If you have never edited the Registry before, this particular edit is pretty easy. However, there are risks in working directly with the Registry — this is Windows’ DNA. Don’t play around in the Registry; the wrong change may stop everything from working. It would be wise to know something about System Restore and Safe mode, just in case (see Chapter 5). Here’s what you do: 1. Exit from Gallery. 2. Press Win+R, type regedit, and then press Enter. This starts the Registry Editor. 3. In the left column, click to expand each of these levels: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows Photo Gallery\Slideshow. Select Slideshow on the left. Instead of manually expanding items on the left, you can use Edit ➝ Find (Ctrl+F). Search for Photo Gallery; uncheck Values and Data, leaving only Keys checked in the Find box. The search will take a while. When it stops, expand Photo Gallery by clicking the little triangle beside it; click on Slideshow. Verify that the path that displays in the lower-left corner of the Registry Editor matches the path in the previous paragraph (starting with Computer\HKEY_Current_User and ending with Slideshow). 4. On the right, you should see the words Loop, Mute, Shuffle, and Speed. If you do not, you’re in the wrong place. If you do see these values, right-click anywhere below the existing values and choose New ➝ DWORD (32-bit) Value. The text “New Value #1” will be highlighted; if it isn’t, right-click over the text and choose Rename. Change that text to WinSATScore (match my case: capital W; capital SATS; the rest is lowercase), and then press Enter. 5. Right-click WinSATScore and choose Modify. 6. Under Base, choose Decimal (see Figure 15-5). 7. Under Value data, enter 300 (this is the equivalent of a WEI Graphics score of 3.00). 8. Click OK to close the Edit DWORD dialog box. 9. No need to save. Close Regedit (like any other program).
Continued
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Enable Slide Show Themes (Continued)
Figure 15-5: Hacking the Registry to get slide show themes
When you restart Gallery, click the Slide Show button. When you move the mouse, a toolbar should appear with the word Themes to the far left. If it does not, either your Registry edit was wrong or your machine just can’t handle themes. Consider a graphics card update. If you sense something is wrong after this change, go back through Regedit and delete the WinSATScore (right-click over it and choose Delete) — and nothing else. My thanks to Karen Wong, Program Manager for the Photo Gallery project, for publishing this tip on the Microsoft Photography Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/), a resource I recommend to you.
Adding Images to Gallery Until this point, we’ve only seen images from a few folders in Gallery, possibly no more than the samples included with Windows Vista. There are several ways to add images to Gallery. Once you’ve added images, you can work with them using all the available tools.
Moving or Copying Images to Photos or Videos Folders You have a folder under your user name called Pictures and another called Videos. The Public folder has subfolders called Public Pictures and Public Videos. By default, these folders are not shared with the network, though any of them can be. The Public folders have a very simple function for sharing in the Network and Sharing Center. If you store images elsewhere on your computer, you can copy or move them into one of these four image folders and Gallery will display them immediately.
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Adding Folders to Gallery You may want to store your photos in some other location, such as an external hard drive, but be able to view them in Gallery. Use File ➝ Add Folder to Gallery. The images are displayed in Gallery but remain in their original folders. No copies are made. An alternative method is to browse to the folder you want to add to Gallery, using Windows Explorer. Open any image in the preview function. The preview will have a button in the upper-left corner to “Add Folder To Gallery.” (If this folder is already part of Gallery, the button reads “Go To Gallery.”)
Importing from a Camera, CD/DVD, or Scanner In many cases, if you connect your digital camera or scanner to your computer and turn it on, Windows Vista will detect the camera automatically and install the appropriate driver. Try this before manually installing drivers or other software that comes with your camera. AutoPlay should start after your camera or scanner is detected. You’ll be prompted about how to handle this device. If Windows Vista defaults to “View pictures using Windows Media Center,” you should change the choice to “Import pictures using Windows.” You may also want to check the option to “Always do this for pictures.” (You can also change AutoPlay in the Control Panel; one option is to be prompted every time.) If AutoPlay does not start or offer the Import Pictures option, within Gallery, use File ➝ Import from Camera or Scanner. Your camera may not appear as a camera, but it should at least appear as a removable disk. Your scanner should appear as a separate device. Regardless of how the importation is started, a small dialog box will appear showing the first image and a text box for an optional tag. Enter an appropriate tag but keep it short; this will become part of the folder name and each image’s name as well. Click the Import button to proceed. You can add extra tags later. You will see the progress as pictures are copied from the camera to a new folder in your Photos folder (see Figure 15-6). At any time you can check the box to Erase After Importing. That option will remove the images from the camera after they are copied to the disk.
Figure 15-6: Importing pictures and videos
When the importing is done, a pop-up message will direct you to the Recently Imported items in the Navigation pane. This is the easiest way to review the imported images.
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Caution From XP or other programs, you may be used to selecting which pictures to copy from your camera. Windows Vista does not give you that option; it copies all pictures. However, the next time you run Import, it will skip pictures already imported and only copy newer photos, if any. In that sense, it doesn’t matter whether you let Windows Vista erase photos after importing or not. However, letting Windows Vista erase the photos or doing so manually from time to time will prevent your camera’s memory card from filling. You don’t need to keep all of your photos on the camera unless you’re going to copy them to another machine.
How these imported files are named and other options can be controlled before you connect your camera by using File ➝ Options ➝ Import tab (or the Options link on the first Importing Pictures and Videos screen) to open the Import Settings dialog box (see Figure 15-7).
Figure 15-7: Settings for importing images from a camera
In the Import Settings dialog box, you can configure different settings for cameras, CDs/DVDs, or scanners. Options include the following: Import to — To which folder should new images be copied? Your Pictures folder is the default. Folder name — A new folder will be created inside the destination folder (above). By default, the new folder name will consist of the date the images are imported (year-monthday) followed by the tag you enter during importation. Other options include various combinations of date taken and the tag.
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File name — By default, each file will be named with the tag followed by a sequential number starting with 001. Imagine the complaints at Microsoft from the programmers who wanted to start with 000. Your options are limited to the default, the original filename on the camera (which consists of some characters and sequence numbers) or the same original filename within folders as they are organized on the camera (an unlikely option for most of us). An example displays the cumulative effect of your choices. Prompt for a tag on import — Uncheck this if you don’t want the prompt for a tag. If you uncheck this, you won’t have a tag for file and folder names. Your folder will just have the date for a name, and your files will have sequential numbers: 001.jpg, 002.jpg, etc. Always erase from camera after importing — Check this if that’s what you want. You also have this option during the importing. Rotate pictures on import — Some cameras record the orientation of the camera (portrait or landscape) for each image. Gallery can read that information and rotate those portraits to display properly. Uncheck this to leave photos unrotated. Of course, you can rotate them manually later. Open Windows Photo Gallery after import — Uncheck if you don’t want to open Gallery after importing images. But you probably do, so you can view your images and add other tags. Change default autoplay options — Use this to change whether Import runs automatically for each camera, scanner, or CD/DVD. If you aren’t able to get your camera or scanner to work directly with Gallery, even after looking for new drivers at Windows Update and the manufacturer’s website, then use the device’s own software to copy images to the hard drive. You should still be able to browse those images with Gallery if the images are in one of the supported file formats and in one of Gallery’s folders.
Renaming Images You can rename images within Gallery or by using Windows Explorer. You can even select a group of images to rename at once. Take care to sort your images appropriately before selecting just the images you wish to rename. If you rename using Windows Explorer, the new name will be the first part of each file. (You won’t type .jpg; I’m including it as a part of the full filename.) The first file will be newname.jpg, the second newname (2).jpg, the third newname (3).jpg. The first file doesn’t have a number, but the others do. To avoid having one file without a number, name the first file newname (1).jpg (or rename it as such after the others are renamed). (This trick does not work in Gallery.) There is no way to force the three-digit sequential numbering that happens automatically upon importing. You can see it’s best to get the name right during importation.
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Editing Metadata for Images You’ll recall from Chapter 10 that metadata is data about data — it is data about a file that is not actually part of the content or purpose of that file. In Gallery, the tags, ratings, and captions you see in the Info pane or elsewhere are all metadata. An image does not require this metadata, but you can enhance your experience with images by adding some metadata to some images. Metadata can be stored as a part of a file, depending on the file format. If Photo Gallery is unable to record some metadata in a file for any reason, it will store that metadata in its own database. That data would not be available to other programs.
Adding Tags and Ratings to Images You can add tags to images in several different ways: During importing — It is probably best to get in the habit of tagging images as you import them from your camera. Unfortunately, you can only add one tag during the importation (recall that a single tag can consist of multiple words with spaces between). If your imported images would benefit from additional tags, find the discipline to tag them immediately after importing from the Recently Imported category. Ratings cannot be added during importing. Drag and drop — To add a tag to one or more images, select any or all images and drag and drop the selection onto a tag in the Navigation pane. Repeat for other tags if those images need more tags. This works only for existing tags, so you may want to use the Create a New Tag item under Tags first. This also works with the ratings. Drag and drop over the number of stars you want to assign to a group of images. (Sure, they all deserve five stars!) Using the Info pane in Gallery — Select one or more images and click the Add Tags option in the Info pane (one tag at a time). Context menu — Select one or more images and right-click over one for the context menu and the option to Add Tags. This actually just opens the Info pane and places the cursor in the Add Tags box.
Renaming, Removing, and Deleting Tags You can rename a tag anytime. Right-click over the tag in the Navigation pane and choose Rename. The new name can be completely different from the old or only slightly different. Every image that had the old tag will have the renamed tag. You may want to remove a tag from an image. With one or more images selected, right-click over a tag in the Info pane to see Remove Tag. This will remove that tag from the selected images but leave the tag in the Navigation pane. You can also drag and drop one or more images onto Not Tagged to remove all tags (not just one).
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To delete the tag from the Navigation pane, right-click over the tag and choose Delete. Any image that had that tag will no longer have it. There is no undo for this, so if you change your mind, you’ll have to re-create the tag and tag the files again.
Using Tags You’ve already seen the most obvious use for tags in the Navigation pane of Gallery to view just those images that have a particular tag or tags (Ctrl+click for additional tags). You may also see the potential problem of having dozens or hundreds of tags in a long column sorted alphabetically. If you make really good use of tags, you may soon have too many. Avoid using a tag one time or just a few times; instead, use tags that can apply to more than a few images. For example, don’t create a tag like “September Vacation.” “Vacation” is a more flexible tag, likely to apply to several occasions, and you can still cull just your September Vacation by choosing Vacation under Tags and September under the year the images were taken.
Grouping Tags You can create subtags. That is, tags can be dragged onto another tag, making the tag you drag a child (or sublevel) of the tag you drop it onto (the parent or top-level tag). One advantage of this is that you can collapse the top-level tag. In this way, 100 tags under five top-level tags wouldn’t take up any screen space at all, except when expanded. Before you try this, note that there is no undo for this. Once a tag has been dragged onto another, it can never be dragged back to the top level of tags (though it can be dragged to another parent). To explore this, I suggest you create two new tags, and then drag one of those you just created and drop it onto the other tag. You may see a tiny tooltip that says “move” during the process. Your parent tag will have the little expansion triangle to its left. Click that to see the child tag you just dropped onto the parent. Now assign these new tags to a couple of images any way you want. If you click on the child — the lower, nested — tag, you’ll see only those photos tagged with that child tag. If you click on the parent — the one above the child — you’ll see photos tagged with the parent tag and also those tagged with the child tag. If you have a parent tag with images you want to see without seeing all the images in all the child tags, right-click on that parent and choose “Select top-level tag” to display only those images with that one tag, none of the children. Try this with your practice tags. As a practical application, imagine a top-level or parent tag called “vacation,” with child tags for specific trips, or three levels such as Vacations ➝ Wyoming ➝ Seedskadee, or a top-level tag called “pets” with subtags for Lucky, Miss Kitty, and Baby. You’ll see that these tags have applications outside of Gallery.
Removing (versus Deleting) Folders and Files from Gallery If you select one or more thumbnails and hit the Delete key, click the Delete X in the big toolbar or right-click and choose Delete, it should come as no surprise what happens: The selection is deleted
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from the disk. (You should find the deleted file(s) in the Recycle Bin, but in Gallery you won’t see Undo delete.) If you don’t want specific images to display in Gallery but also don’t want to delete them from the disk, move them into a folder that is not included in Gallery. There is no way to block or omit specific images from an included folder. You already know that if you delete a tag, you don’t delete any images, just the tag that they share. At the bottom of the Navigation pane is a list of folders included in Gallery. Right-click over a folder for two very different options: Remove from Gallery — The images in this folder will no longer display in Gallery. However, the folder and files are still in the original location. Any tags, ratings, or captions you added to images in this folder will still be associated with those files, but these files will no longer be in Gallery. Delete — The folder and all of its contents, including other subfolders and images, will be deleted.
Editing Photos Gallery is a great tool for browsing images. However, it is also a tool for editing photos (not videos). With any photo selected, click the Fix button in the toolbar. Graphics in PNG or BMP format will display as thumbnails and in slide shows, but they cannot be fixed using this tool. Videos display as thumbnails but cannot be fixed with this tool.
Figure 15-8: Mi esposa — auto-adjusted and cropped
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Cross Reference We’ll edit videos and make movies in Chapter 17.
Backup Copy By instinct, you might want to save a copy of your file before making changes. That isn’t necessary. While you are on the Fix screen, you can undo any changes. There is no save or commit function — you are changing the original image. When you click Back to Gallery, your changes are saved (close the window and your changes are lost). However, Gallery automatically creates a separate backup copy for photos you edit. If you want your original back later, choose the edited file, click the Fix button, and then click the Revert button (normally Undo) to revert to that original photo before all edits. This automatic copy is intended to make your life easier. Microsoft says there is no need to make your own copy before editing a photo because of the automatic copy. However, there are other reasons to consider making your own copy before editing. First, you may want both the original and the edited photo. With the automatic copy, you can only have one or the other, not both. Second, you might edit a picture today and then again later. Revert will return you to the photo as it was before the most recent edit, not the original photo. Finally, JPEG uses a so-called lossy compression, meaning some data is lost each time a JPEG is edited. Although you might not notice a photo has been edited once or twice, cumulative edits will probably degrade the photo quality. To make a copy of a photo while in the Fix window, use File ➝ Make a Copy. Again, Microsoft suggests this is unnecessary in most cases. I do recommend you try editing a photo you don’t care about without making a copy first. Then test the undo and revert options we are about to discuss. You may find this liberating.
Cross Reference You should also explore other options for backing up and restoring files discussed in Chapter 5.
Undo and Redo At the bottom of the tools in the Fix window, if you click the Undo button, you undo the last step taken (Ctrl+Z). Click again to undo the one prior to that. You can click the triangle next to Undo to see a list of all the steps taken so far. From this list, you can undo a series of changes, including all (Ctrl+Shift+Z). As you undo changes, the Redo button becomes available with analogous options (Ctrl+Y to redo the last thing undone; Ctrl+Shift+Y to redo everything). Use the menu to see the list and redo a series of changes.
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Tools for Editing Photos The Fix tool (see Figure 15-8) provides the following photo-editing functions: Auto Adjust — Auto Adjust automatically adjusts (of course) five qualities of a photo: brightness, contrast, color temperature, tint, and saturation. Try it. If it doesn’t work, you can undo the change or further modify manually. Adjust Exposure — Click the Adjust Exposure button to expand its options. This gives you manual control over brightness and contrast. Under Brightness, slide the handle to the right for a brighter photo or to the left for a darker photo. Under Contrast, slide the handle to the right to increase the difference between lighter and darker areas or to the left to decrease that difference. The effect of contrast is that increased contrast (right) may make the photo sharper or more vivid; decreased contrast (left) may make the photo less sharp, more muted. Adjust Color — Click the Adjust Color button to expand its options. Color has temperature (warmer reds versus cooler blues), tint (a dominant color), and saturation (vividness of color). Each can be tweaked by the sliders in this section. To create black-and-white or sepia (the yellowish brown of old photographic prints) from color, slide Saturation all the way to the left. Crop Picture — Click the Crop Picture button to expand its options. A box appears over part of the photograph. You can drag that box and resize it by dragging the little square handles. Position and size this box over the subject of the photo. You crop a photo to remove unwanted parts. You might have a photo of a friend with something distracting in the background or with too much space to one side. Crop the photo to omit everything but the friend. Cropping can greatly improve photo composition. It also may result in a smaller file because with a smaller area, you are saving fewer bytes. Cropping is essential for photos that end up on the Web. Fix Red Eye — Red eye is obvious. We’ve all taken photos of people with that odd red reflection of the flash from the back of the eye. (It’s “green eye” for other animals.) Click the Fix Red Eye button. Then draw a small box (the smaller the area, the better) around one of the problem eyes. When you release the mouse button, Gallery will attempt to fix the red eye. Repeat for other eyes. If you try to do two eyes at once, you may get odd changes to the face. These are very simple tools for very common photo editing tasks. You may already have a favorite tool or you may need more than you can get out of these. At any time, you can open a photo in another editor using the Open button or Open With from the context menu. If you find yourself fixing a lot of your photos, learn more about your camera, which has its own tools for adjusting settings before you take the picture. You may want to compare Gallery’s editing tools with those in Media Center. See the “Editing Photos with Media Center versus Photo Gallery” sidebar in Chapter 17.
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File Formats Of the file formats supported by Gallery, you should know about the strengths and weaknesses of two formats, JPEG and TIFF.
Note Many photo file formats are supported by Gallery, including BMP, JPEG, JFIF, TIFF, PNG, and WDP. Notably, the RAW format used by some cameras is absent but will be added soon. Photo Gallery automatically checks for updates when it starts, so as RAW and other “codecs” (compression-decompression tools) become available, Gallery will alert you. (Control this feature with File ➝ Options ➝ General tab ➝ Automatic updates section. There is a Check for Updates button, too.) GIF is a very common graphic file format — but not for photos, so it is not supported. Video formats supported include ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, MPEG, and WMV. Support for videos depends upon Windows Movie Maker being installed. Movie Maker is not included in Home Basic. See www.webopedia.com for any unfamiliar acronyms.
JPEG OR JPG Joint Photographic Experts Group (abbreviated either JPEG or JPG) is the universal format for photographs on the Web and in e-mail. Most digital cameras produce JPEGs, although they may also produce other formats. JPEG supports a range of compression. It accomplishes this compression by throwing away some data — this is what is meant by lossy. With less compression, a photo is better and the file is larger (more data). With more compression, at some point the photo deteriorates and the file is smaller (less data). There is a lot of room between the two extremes of none or too much compression.
TIFF OR TIF Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated either TIFF or TIF), is a lossless format — that is, no data is ever discarded. As such, compression is limited and files can be huge. (Newer cameras produce huge JPEGs, too.) The JPEG format is best if you are sending a photo via e-mail, and it is really the only choice for photos on the Web. The TIF format, on the other hand, is better for editing purposes and printing very large images.
CONVERTING FORMATS WITH PAINT For taking photos, if you have a large capacity storage card, your preference should be for TIF, RAW (once support is added to Gallery), or JPEG, in that order. For exchanging with others, the preference would be JPEG, unless you know the recipient needs TIF files. (If so, zip those files before e-mailing.) Gallery does not convert or export files to other formats. After selecting the Fix button, you can choose Make a Copy, but the copy will be in the original format.
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To convert from one format to another, you need some other program. If you have no other option, use Paint: 1. Select an image to convert. 2. On the toolbar at the top of Gallery, click the Open button. 3. Choose Paint (or use Choose Program if you have another choice). Your image is opened in Paint. You can use Paint’s editing tools to modify or annotate the image. 4. Use Paint’s File ➝ Save As command. Change the Save as Type option (Bitmap, GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF). 5. Close Paint. Gallery remained open during this process, unless you closed it.
Printing Photos You can print photos on your own printer or order prints online.
Caution Be certain that you have selected only those photos you want to print. During a test, I had every photo selected and Gallery was happy to print all 200 or send them for online printing — 200 prints in the mail! It might be just as bad to print 200 photos on your own printer.
On Your Own Printer To use your own printer, click the Print button and then the Print option (Ctrl+P). You can print to any printer, including Microsoft XPS Document Writer (comparable to Adobe Acrobat PDFs) or Fax. Select the printer, the paper size, and the quality of photo (the more dots per inch the better, but the photo will cover a smaller area). Along the right edge of Print Pictures are options controlling how many photos per page to print. As you select each of these, you’ll see a preview of your selected photos in this arrangement. The layouts are as follows: Full page photo — Prints 1 picture per page 4×6 inches — Prints 2 pictures per page 5×7 inches — Prints 2 pictures per page 8×10 inches — Prints 1 picture per page
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3.5×5 inches — Prints 4 pictures per page Wallet — Prints 9 pictures per page Contact sheet — Prints 35 pictures per page. Includes filenames below each print Along the bottom of the screen, you can select multiple copies and to “Fit picture to frame” (smaller photos will be enlarged, which may look odd).
Tip Take advantage of the Microsoft XPS Document Writer print option. This creates a file you can save anywhere. Open the file; it will open automatically in Internet Explorer, although it is not a Web page, HTML document, or XML document. Examine the result of printing (use the whole page button in the lower-right corner of the screen). This will save paper as you figure out what all these print options mean. If you like what you see, you can print directly from the XPS document or return to Gallery to print. Printing from the XPS document may save time. It also enables you to print pages selectively and reprint easily.
Through a Photo Service You can also order prints of photographs online, either through Gallery or through various Webbased services. Even many local stores that print film will accept online orders, including drugstores and grocery stores, often for pickup in an hour, for a small charge per print. To order through Gallery, use the Print button, and then select the Order Prints option. At this writing, Shutterfly is the only service listed, but Print checks for new services each time you use the Order Prints option. I have read that Microsoft intends to allow you to add local services yourself, which would make this more appealing to me. Choose a service and click the Send Pictures button. A privacy warning may appear. If you click the Send button, a Web page for the service will open with pricing and other ordering information.
E-mailing Images To e-mail photos or videos, select the image or images and click the E-mail button. For photos, an option will appear to choose the size of the photos, in pixels wide by pixels high (a pixel is a dot). If you are sending photos to be viewed onscreen, select Medium (1024w×768h) or smaller. 640×480 (the size literally called “Smaller”) works well with most e-mail applications. If you want the recipient to be able to print or edit the image, Original Size will be best. After resizing your photo, Gallery will open a new e-mail message with the file(s) attached. This process does not embed the photo in the message, as you can through your e-mail program’s Insert command or by dragging and dropping. However, those other options may not resize the photo to an appropriate size for e-mailing.
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It is best not to e-mail a video of more than a few seconds’ length. Video files tend to be very large and large attachments take time and may pose other problems, including limits on attachment size for the sender or recipient. However, if you insist, select a video and click the E-mail button. A new e-mail message is created with the video as an attachment. Note the file size.
Tip It’s great fun to send and receive photographs in e-mail, especially if they aren’t too large. Many services are available on the Web for uploading photos to a site where they can be viewed through a browser. These sites can be public or private, membership or general access. Basic accounts are often free. After you upload your pictures to your account, you can send the address for your account (or specific photo, group, or slide show) to friends who can view those photos at their convenience, leaving their inbox lighter. My favorite is www.flickr.com (free, though I use the “professional” service). See www.flickr.com/photos/ mjhinton/. There are similar services for videos, most famously www.YouTube.com and http://videos .google.com. Some of these will also convert your videos to more than one format for ease of use by more visitors.
Burning Images to Disk If you have a CD or DVD recorder, you can burn images to disk. First, select the pictures you want to put on a CD/DVD, and then click the Burn button. Your choice is between two types of disks: Data Disc — For use with a computer. Some non-computer DVD players may be able to read this disk. (Note: I recognize the custom of spelling optical disks as “disc.” I prefer not to practice that custom, except to match some of Microsoft’s nomenclature.) Video DVD — This will launch Windows DVD Maker (not in Home Basic or Business) and copy the selected images into a project in that application. I think DVD Maker is a great program. The resulting show is a bit like the themes for Slide Show (more options). The resulting video can be viewed on most DVD players. Instead of the Burn button, you can use the Make a Movie button, which copies the selected images into a project in Windows Movie Maker (not in Home Basic). Movie Maker has more options than DVD Maker but is not quite as easy to use.
Cross Reference We’ll look at DVD Maker and Movie Maker in Chapter 17.
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Burning a Data Disk Select Data Disc to create a disk for viewing on a computer (though some DVD players may also show it). If there is no disk in the recorder, Gallery will prompt you for one. If the disk needs to be formatted, that process will happen before copying the files. Gallery will prompt for a disk title, which defaults to the current date. You are limited to 16 characters. If you choose Show Formatting Options on the title screen, you have a choice between Microsoft’s relatively recent Live File System (and several versions of that) or Mastered. Live File System is more flexible, treating the disk like a hard disk or flash drive, including full support for recording and deleting (depending on the actual disk in the drive). Mastered is an older technique whereby all files are held in temporary storage and written to disk at once. Individual files cannot be deleted (even if the disks themselves support that). For use with your own system, use Live File System. If you are going to give the disk to someone else, look at the information under “Change version” and “Which CD or DVD format should I choose?” There are so many possibilities of disk types and recorder capabilities that you will surely need to experiment and risk wasting a few disks. The first time through, go with the defaults. (See the sidebar “Disc-o Inferno” in Chapter 17.) Curiously, Import from Camera or Scanner may automatically begin after copying is complete. Gallery detects a disk full of photos, ignoring that it just created that disk. You should cancel Import if it starts under these circumstances.
Working with Images Outside of Gallery You can do many things with your images without using Gallery. You can even change or use the metadata directly from Windows Explorer.
Using Photos as a Screen Saver You saw that in Gallery you can make any photo your desktop background or wallpaper (right-click over the file and choose the option). You’ll find that same option outside of Gallery for any photo you see through Windows Explorer. Better still, you can use your photos as a screen saver. Use File ➝ Screen Saver Settings. In the Screen Saver dialog box, choose Photos as your screen saver, then click the Settings button. In Settings, you can use all the photos and videos from any folder. However, you can also use tags or ratings to select photos to include or omit. As you start to type, matching tags will be listed for selection. Unfortunately, you can only select one tag. Your Photos screen saver could show only five-star Landscapes or photos tagged “New Mexico.” You can even use a tag to omit photos (say, “billboards”) from your images. In the bottom portion of the Photo Screen Saver Settings dialog box, you’ll see a message or an option: This computer’s video card can’t play themes — See the discussion of themes under “Playing a Slide Show” earlier in this chapter. Use this theme — A drop-down lists all the themes discussed in the earlier section plus Random. If you choose Random, each time the screen saver begins, it will use a different theme (the theme will not change during one session of the screen saver).
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Regardless of theme support, you can also set the speed of transition between images and have them shuffle or not.
Using the Details and Preview Panes in Windows Explorer Open Windows Explorer (Win+E) and browse any folder containing photos (Public Pictures will do). Select a photo. If you do not see information across the bottom of the window, use Organize ➝ Layout ➝ Details Pane. If you do not see a larger thumbnail to the right side of the screen, use Organize ➝ Layout ➝ Preview Pane. Don’t bother with Preview pane if you are viewing extra large icons. The Preview pane does not provide the options found in Gallery’s Info pane. However, the Details pane does provide access to the same metadata: date and time taken, tags (separate multiple tags with semicolons), and ratings.
Using Properties In Gallery and in Windows Explorer, the context menu for an image has a Properties option, which, when selected, opens the Properties dialog box. Figure 15-9 shows Properties superimposed over the selected photo; note the Details pane as well. On the Details tab of the Properties dialog box, you’ll find some of the metadata for the image, which can be edited on this screen. You’ll find much more metadata than Gallery displays, including camera and lens information (data your camera may automatically record). Not all of this metadata is editable.
Figure 15-9: The Details tab of Properties in front of the Details pane for the same image
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There is also a link on the Details tab to Remove Properties and Personal Information. Click this to open another dialog box used to create a duplicate file without metadata (all possible or selected metadata). Removing metadata from images or documents may be wise before sending them to other people. However, be aware that cameras create unique fingerprints in the process of capturing images.
Note In the Tags area of the Details tab of the Properties dialog box, you can enter multiple tags at once, separating them with semicolons. You can do the same thing in the Details pane of Windows Explorer. You have to wonder why you can use a semicolon to enter several distinct tags at once outside of Photo Gallery but not in the Info pane or during importing. Ask Microsoft. If you absolutely must enter multiple tags while in Gallery, you can open the Properties for that image and use the semicolon on the Details tab. Recall that you can also drag selected photos to one tag and then to others to quickly assign multiple tags.
Metadata in Search Tags and other metadata can be used in searches. Using Windows Explorer to examine the Sample Pictures folder, type the word landscape in the search box (Ctrl+E). Some photos should appear. Add the word flowers and you may see the Waterfall photo, which has both tags. Take “landscape” out of the search, leaving “flowers,” and a different set of photos instantly appears. Here you are using tags to search the current folder and subfolders. Choose Advanced Search and you’ll also be able to search using date, size, author, and filename (but not rating). We know there is a lot more metadata. What if you want to search for all photos taken with a particular camera or lens or at a specific exposure? I assume the search function will evolve as more people use metadata.
Summary Windows Photo Gallery is a new application, first introduced in Windows Vista (not in Business or Enterprise). Gallery has simple but effective tools for browsing and organizing your photos and videos, especially using metadata such as tags and ratings. Use Gallery to view photos individually or through a slide show. Gallery’s modest editing tools enable you to touch-up your photos. (In fact, Gallery is one of my favorite programs in Windows Vista.) In the next chapter, we’ll explore the analogous tool for music: Windows Media Player.
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M
edia Player is one of the tools in Windows Vista for playing music and videos. Media Player organizes music and video files by album and artist, with additional classifications of genre, year released, and ratings. In this chapter, we’ll explore the following: Library Playlists Ripping, burning, and syncing Online music stores, including URGE
Starting Windows Media Player As with most programs, there is more than one way to start Windows Media Player: From the Start menu — Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Media Player. From an associated file — Open any music or video file. From a Quick Launch icon — This may not exist until your first use of Media Player. From AutoPlay — Insert a music or video CD or DVD. AutoPlay options can be configured through the Control Panel.
Note Some keyboards have buttons for media playback. You may be able to start and control Windows Media Player from there.
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First-Time Setup The first time you start Media Player, a screen appears to determine the initial settings for Media Player, including how to handle information downloaded from the Internet. Your options are as follows: Express Settings — Set Media Player as the default music and video player. Allow downloading of CD/DVD information and media usage rights. Send anonymous usage data to Microsoft’s Customer Experience Improvement Program. URGE will be configured as your initial online store. Custom Settings — Customize privacy, playback, and online store settings. If you choose the Express Settings, you’ll move directly into Media Player. You can change any settings later on using the Privacy tab or one of the other tabs of the Options dialog box for Media Player. We’ll discuss URGE, the online store, later. Your choices in setup don’t commit you to using URGE. If you choose Custom Settings, you’ll see four successive screens: 1. Select Privacy Options Display media information from the Internet (checked) Update music files by retrieving media information from the Internet (checked) Download usage rights automatically when I play a file (checked) Send unique Player ID to content providers (unchecked) Support Customer Experience Improvement Program (unchecked) Save file and URL history in the Player (checked) 2. Configure your desktop Add a shortcut to the desktop (unchecked) Add a shortcut to the Quick Launch bar (checked) 3. How do you want to use Windows Media Player 11? [Choose one.] Make Windows Media Player 11 the default music and video player (unselected) Choose the file types that Windows Media Player 11 will play (unselected) 4. Choose the online store that you want to set up now. You can set up additional stores later. [Choose one.] URGE (MTV, VH1 and CMT) (unselected) Don’t set up a store now (unselected)
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Around the Screen Once you are in Player (as I will refer to Media Player from here out), take a look around the screen. You are in the Library (with Colonel Mustard and the candlestick). In the center, you may see a message about adding items to the Library. Hold off for a moment.
Menu Buttons Across the top are the following buttons, as illustrated in Figure 16-1 (and discussed throughout this chapter): Now Playing Library (your initial location) Rip Burn Sync URGE (not shown in Figure 16-1) Sign In (not shown in Figure 16-1)
Figure 16-1: A slice of Windows Media Player
(Am I the only person who thinks of Viking raiders when I hear “rip, burn, and sink (sic)”? What’s next: sacking, pillaging, or plundering a DVD? “URGE” is meekly modern in comparison.) These buttons behave a bit differently from other Windows Vista button menus, most of which have a triangle to the right for additional options. Player’s buttons have the triangle for additional options at the bottom of the button. Click more toward the middle or top of each button and the screen changes; click in the narrow band along the bottom and more options appear. Would it have killed Microsoft to make these buttons more consistent with Windows Vista? Of course, Player
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predates Windows Vista by years and plays on other versions of Windows. (Windows Media Player 11 is also available for XP.) Directly under the button toolbar, on the far left, is the equivalent of the breadcrumbs in Vista’s Windows Explorer. As with Explorer, if you click on text, you jump directly to that area of Player; if you click on triangles, a list appears of other options at that level of Player. For example, clicking on the word Library in this sequence jumps to the Library, just as if you clicked the Library button above. Clicking the triangle in the breadcrumbs immediately right of Library lists subcategories of the Library (refer to Figure 16-1). Observe that clicking the triangle below the Library button provides a completely different list of options; these are Library functions, whereas the breadcrumbs provide Library subcategories. To the right of the breadcrumbs is a small three-paned button for Layout Options. Click it to reveal the following options: Show or Hide Navigation Pane — The Navigation pane shows by default on the left side, as with most Windows Vista programs from Microsoft. It lets you, well, navigate through your files. Show it or hide is, as you like. Show or Hide List Pane — The List pane is hidden by default. Show it and it appears on the right, for playlists, among other options, depending on which screen you are on. Show or Hide Classic Menus — You can continue to hide the classic menus (File, View, Play, Tools, and Help). Use Ctrl+M to toggle the classic menus in their traditional place horizontally. If you’re weaning yourself from the classics, tap the Alt key when you need a fix (or right-click in the empty space to the left of the Now Playing button). The display is a little different from classic (vertical instead of horizontal). Choose Columns — Look at the information that is available under this option. Uncheck any columns you don’t want to see; check those you do. Two that I add are Play Count and Date Last Played. Columns can be resized and dragged to change order. Click columns to sort by that heading; right-click for more options. To the right of the Layout Options button is the View Options button, which may not appear immediately. If you click the main part of the button, you cycle through available views, changing what information appears in the main window. If you click the right-hand third of the button, you can pick a view directly. The available views are most often Icon, Tile, or Details. However, only when Recently Added or Songs are selected will you find Expanded Tile instead of Tile. Farther right is the Search box (use Ctrl+E to jump the cursor to it), which behaves much as we have come to expect in Windows Vista; type jazz to see an example. Search is instantaneous, as you type. Search for any part of an artist’s name, song, or album title — any of the metadata. To the right of Search is an arrow button that looks a lot like a back button (if the List pane isn’t showing). However, it toggles the display of the List pane on the far right, which is also an option on the Layout Options button. (Windows Photo Gallery calls this the Info pane, whereas Windows Explorer calls this the Preview pane; the function is similar in each.)
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Navigation Pane In the Navigation pane on the left side of the screen, you see categories for the Library (where you are at the moment): Playlists — Playlists are, as the name suggests, lists of tunes or videos to play as a group. Playlists are the mixed tape of the twenty-first century. We’ll explore playlists after we add some more music to the Library. Library — The Library is the central repository for all your music and videos. The Library can be viewed and sorted in various ways. Each subcategory under Library groups the same data in different ways (by Artist, Album, etc.). Click through each of these subcategories. Use the View Options button to change the view in each of these subcategories. URGE — URGE is an online music store. We’ll explore online music purchases later. [Portable Player] — If you have a portable media player (such as an MP3 player) connected to your computer and recognized by Player, you’ll see its name listed last in the Navigation pane. More on this in the “Syncing Media Files” section. [Shared Media] — If you use Media Sharing, you may see other network users’ libraries listed last in the Navigation pane. See “Thank You for Sharing,” later in the chapter.
Player Controls At the bottom of the screen is the toolbar for Player controls (see Figure 16-2). From left to right, these buttons are: Shuffle, Repeat, Stop, Previous or Rewind, Play or Pause (big round button), Next or Fast Forward, Mute, and a slider for Volume. If you click and release Previous, you get the previous media file; click and hold for Rewind; likewise for Next and Fast Forward.
Figure 16-2: The controls for Media Player are at the bottom of the screen.
Note the overall similarities between Media Player and Photo Gallery (previous chapter).
Library During the time it takes for an overview of the Player, it has also been scanning the Music and Videos folders under your user name and under Public. In Public Music ➝ Sample Files, Player has found music Microsoft provides (David Byrne is out, Jazz and World Music are in). If you haven’t changed anything yet, Player displays the found music in columns, beginning with album covers on the far left and ending with Composer on the far right.
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If you just can’t wait another moment, you can double-click any album cover or click the big button at the bottom center of the screen to play something. That button then becomes the Pause button.
Adding Files to the Library At some point, you are likely to want to add your own music to the Library. You can do this by adding files that are already on your hard drive or by ripping music from disks. Let’s add first, then rip.
Note All discs are disks but not all disks are discs. Know what I mean? I do appreciate the precision of disc as only meaning optical media, not magnetic media: CDs and DVDs versus hard disks. On the other hand, disk covers it all, even solid-state flash “disks” with no moving parts. I stopped writing “disc” a long time ago, but this book keeps pulling me back to the formal documentation you’ll see elsewhere. The result is sure to be some inconsistency.
If you already have tunes on your hard drive, you can copy or move them into one of the default Music folders, where Player will discover them automatically. If you want to leave those files in their current location, use the drop-down menu below the Library button. Choose Add to Library. When you add a folder to the Library, you tell Player to monitor that folder — that way, as new media is added to that folder, Player will find it automatically. The Add To Library dialog box offers two options to begin: “My personal folders” and “My folders and those of others that I can access.” The second option extends the search to other users on the same computer and to network drives. We’ll deal with sharing media over the network later; for now, choose the default, “My personal folders.” Click the Advanced Options button on this same screen. You’ll see the specific folders that are being monitored, either automatically or manually (see Figure 16-3).
Figure 16-3: The Add To Library dialog box
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It may seem odd that any folders you added manually to Photo Gallery will appear here, too. Media Player plays videos and Photo Gallery also has limited support for videos, so Player picks up some information from Photo Gallery. Everything is so helpful in Windows Vista! (Sarcasm.) You can manually remove any folders that were manually added. This will have no impact on Photo Gallery. Automatically added folders cannot be removed, but they can be ignored, which accomplishes the same thing. There is a change here from Windows XP. In XP, there are separate functions for adding a folder versus monitoring one. You can add media from a folder without monitoring future changes. To accomplish the same thing in Windows Vista, you must add the folder to the Library, let its items be added, and then take that folder away from the list of folders being monitored. Click the Add button and browse to a folder that has music or video files. In the dialog box that appears, select the folder and click the OK button. You will see that folder listed under Monitored Folders. (The type is “manually added.”) When you click OK in the Add to Library dialog box, another dialog box appears as Player searches that folder (and any under it) for media files. You can wait for that process to finish or simply close the dialog box. In the Library, click the Recently Added category to see the files you have just added.
Creating Playlists A playlist is a collection of tracks and videos that should be played together. Playlists can be created automatically and manually. Technically, you never have to create a playlist; just play everything from the Library. Create Playlist (manually) — Click the Library button and then choose Create Playlist. The List pane appears with a new playlist name (type something). Drag items into this pane to add them to the new playlist (or right-click over an item for an option to add it to a playlist). When you are done, click the Save Playlist button. Your list appears under Playlists in the Navigation pane. Click the playlist to see the items in it or double-click it to play those items. Create Auto Playlist — This option enables you to specify criteria to automatically select items for the new playlist. Almost any metadata concerning media items can be used as criteria to filter your music; complex criteria can be compounded. For example, under the Library button, click Create Auto Playlist. Name the playlist. Click next to the first big green plus sign next to “Click here to add criteria.” Date criteria include date added or last played. You could select tunes based on the number of times played (“play count”), including breakdowns for morning, afternoon, evening, weekdays, or weekends. As an example, if you choose date added, you’ll see: “Date added to Library Is After Last 30 Days” (note the odd capitalization). You can click on “Is After” and “Last 30 Days” to adjust those choices. You can continue in this fashion to add other criteria, to include other media files and to restrict the playlist duration, number of items or size. Unlike a manual playlist, Auto Playlists automatically update each time they are run, finding new items added to the Library that match your criteria (see Figure 16-4). Take advantage of Auto Playlists if you frequently add new media files.
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Figure 16-4: Auto Playlists automatically update as new media is added or discovered.
More Options Click the little drop-down triangle on the Library button on the toolbar and then choose More Options to open the Library tab of the Options dialog box. These are your options: Sharing — This opens the Media Sharing dialog box. You have an option to look for media shared by others; check this option and Media Player will automatically look for shared media. A separate option allows you to share your own media with others on the network; check this and another dialog box will open to control sharing settings. See the sidebar “Thank You for Sharing.” Update library by monitoring folders — Simply opens the Add To Library dialog box (refer to Figure 16-3). Automatic media information updates for files — Controls retrieving media data (artist and album information), renaming and rearranging files in keeping with Rip settings (later), and storing ratings as file metadata (for use outside of Player). If Windows does not have the correct media information (especially likely for older tunes from mixed CDs, tape, or vinyl), right-click over the album and choose Find Album Information (online). A window to metaservices.windowsmedia.com opens and attempts to match the album; you may have to choose from several. At the bottom of the listing are options to refine your search or edit track information yourself before adding the information to the Library. You can manually edit media information in the Library anytime. Single-click twice (slower than a double-click, which will play the tune) over the information you want to change and type the new information. Or use the context menu for an item to choose Edit or Advanced Tag Editor.
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Note Media Player has an Options dialog box with 11 different tabs and countless options (see Figure 16-5). Each button in the button menu has an option labeled More Options that leads to a specific tab; from there, of course, you can visit any other tabs, including those such as Privacy and Security that don’t have a direct link to them. If for some reason you want to open the options the old way, you can use the classic menu to find Tools ➝ Options.
Figure 16-5: That’s a lot of options.
Tip You’ll notice in the Library a heading for Recently Added. Unfortunately, the tracks listed there are sorted by Album Title by default. As a result, if you add a song this morning and again this afternoon, you won’t be able to tell which tunes are most recently added. Let’s fix that and look at changing columns in the Library while we’re at it. Starting from Music ➝ Library ➝ Recently Added: 1. Click the Layout Options tool near Search or right-click over any column heading. 2. Select Choose Columns. The Choose Columns dialog box appears with checkmarks next to the columns currently listed. 3. Scroll down to Date Added and check the box next to it. 4. With Date Added highlighted, click the Move Up button. This actually moves the column to the left; I like it as far up/left as it goes, right next to Album Art, which cannot be moved. Add (check), remove (uncheck), and rearrange any columns. Click OK. 5. Back in Library ➝ Recently Added, click on the Date Added column heading to sort the most recently added tracks to the top of the list.
Tip You could also make an Auto Playlist for this: Right-click over Playlists. Choose Create Auto Playlist. In the dialog box, name the playlist. Click the first green plus sign. Choose Date Added. You’ll see two links: Is After and Last 30 Days. Click on Last 30 Days and choose Last 7 Days or Yesterday (for today’s tunes).
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Thank You for Sharing We dealt with most aspects of sharing files and resources in the networking chapter (Chapter 11). There are two different ways to share media files. As with any other files, you can share specific folders (your Music folder, for example). Someone on the network who wants to play your media files would use the same Add to Library function we looked at earlier and browse the network to find media folders. This method of sharing media files is no different from sharing any other files. One advantage of this method of sharing is that the files you add will appear in your own library like any local files. For example, if you have Frank Zappa’s Weasels Ripped My Flesh on your hard drive and another network user has Freak Out!, your list by Artist will include all the songs from both albums.
One disadvantage of this method is a potential problem if the networked files are not online (for example, the other person’s computer is shut down). If you are playing shuffled (random) tunes, Player may try to play one of the networked tunes. Failing, it will skip to the next; failing repeatedly, Player will ask if you want to remove these songs from your library. Another disadvantage is the possibility of duplicates in the library, if the same songs appear in more than one Library (as with the sample music). The alternative is to share your library instead of specific folders or files. Windows Vista doesn’t express it this way but calls it Media Sharing. Library ➝ Media Sharing opens the first Media Sharing dialog box (left side of Figure 16-6). On that first screen, you’ll find checkboxes for the following: Find media that others are sharing — Allows Windows Vista to search the network for anyone who has used the next checkbox to share media files. If this is enabled and media is found, you’ll get pop-up notification, at which point you can accept or reject the shared media. Share my media to — If you share your media, others on the network can find and share it.
Figure 16-6: Two Media Sharing dialog boxes (left is first, right is second)
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Your specific options under this choice depend on who is on the network at the moment you look at this. One option is “Other users of this PC” (local user accounts for people who actually sit at your machine). You will also see other machines currently on the network, if they have checked the “Find media” option. Each of these machines can be individually allowed, denied, or customized. If you click the Settings button on the first screen, the screen that appears on the right side of Figure 16-6 appears. Here you have control over which of your media files others can access: Share media as — This is the name others will see when their machine notifies them it has found your media. Media types — Check or uncheck boxes to share Music, Pictures, or Video. Star ratings — Choose between all ratings or so many stars or higher. Be aware that most media in your library is automatically rated. Parental ratings — Choose between all ratings or only unrated music, pictures, or video. There doesn’t seem to be any coordination between Media Player and the Parental Controls under User Controls, though you could use those Parental Controls to prevent a child from using Media Player altogether. (See the “Allow and block specific programs” option in Chapter 12.) Allow new devices and computers automatically (not recommended) — Recall that the previous screen listed connected devices (left side of the figure). If another machine comes online later, you will be prompted to include the new machine (or not). If you check this, you will not be prompted and new machines will discover your shared media without further input. Consider that if you use traditional folder sharing, someone else on your network can play any tune in the folders you share and not in those you don’t share. If you use Media Sharing and configure things correctly, others can hear only your tunes rated four stars or higher (if you choose those restrictions) from anywhere on your system. This is a very different approach. One advantage of this newer method is that playlists can be shared. Also, this method of sharing works with media devices other than computers, such as Microsoft Xbox 360. Finally, “Media Sharing,” as opposed to the more traditional file and folder sharing, gives you more specific control over what is shared — for example, you can share by star rating or parental rating. One more difference, which you can decide is an advantage or disadvantage, is that the newer Media Sharing method produces notifications on the machines of other users on your private network — they will see a pop-up the next time they log in asking if they want to access the files you are sharing. The older method does not send notification; network users have to use Add to Library and discover the shared folders on their own, if you don’t spread the word. The disadvantages (to some people) include separation of tunes by location — yours versus other people’s, which are listed separately in the Navigation pane. However, you can create playlists that include tunes from any source or location.
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Now Playing The Now Playing screen can be used to display the album cover for the current tune, or various visualizations (this is your CPU on acid.). See Visualizations under the Now Playing button. There are fewer visualizations in Version 11 (no more Penoptic Vox). If you’re never bored enough to try them all, I’m not going to distract you now; I’m happy with Album Art (covers). If you need more, you can download visualizations or plug-ins. To see lists of installed visualizations, use Now Playing ➝ Visualization ➝ Options. For plug-ins, use Now Playing ➝ Plug-ins ➝ Options. Both of these options open the same Plug-ins tab in the 11tabbed Options dialog box because visualizations are a type of plug-in. You won’t find much there at this time. There are links on the Plug-ins tab to look for plug-ins or visualizations on the Web (you also saw a Download item on the respective menus for Visualizations and Plug-ins). Plug-ins add features to Media Player, primarily for rendering other media types or adding digital effects to media. Begin your investigation with the link to look for more plug-ins, which takes you to a Microsoft Web page with a URL too long to print here. I have no opinion about most of these, but I will point out the frequent references to Media Player 9 (not 11) and XP (not Vista). This is not to say these will not work with Media Player 11 on Windows Vista or that there won’t be some great plug-ins when you look. On the Now Playing screen, the List pane can be displayed on the right or closed. If displayed, it lists the items in the current playlist (or all items), the album cover, and star rating (which you can update anywhere you see it). The Now Playing button in the List pane includes options to shuffle the list or sort it. Sort by song title, artist, album, release date, rating, and filename. Filename? That could be useful if the song title is part of the filename, especially if Media Player can’t discover the title otherwise, as happens sometimes when tunes are ripped from vinyl. Suggestions: Hide the List pane and resize Player just large enough to show the album cover. Get your groove on.
Enhancements Use Now Playing ➝ Enhancements ➝ Show Enhancements to open a panel at the bottom of Now Playing for tools for tweaking sound and video. I suggest you start with SRS WOW Effects and then use the Graphic Equalizer to get more out of your speakers.
More Options From the Now Playing screen, More Options opens the Player tab of the Options dialog box. Here you can control automatic updates for Media Player, including new codecs (compressor/decompressor — used to play different file formats). Player plays most common music types, but you may have special tastes or, certainly, new media types will arise. When music files come out as MP5 instead of MP3, that will require the MP5 codec. Allowing Player to automatically download codecs will take care of this. In the meantime, be suspicious of websites that insist you need a different codec to play their special files; it could be a way to sneak in spyware. Player settings include the following: Keep the Player on top of other windows — Not recommended for full-size windows; ideal with “skins” (covered soon).
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Allow Screen saver during playback — When you’re leaning back listening to tunes for a while, do you want to see Media Player or your screen saver? Add media files to library when played — This might be useful for media you don’t manually Add to Library — downloaded media, for example. Connect to the Internet — To download media information. Start the mini Player for filenames that contain this text — A new option. It is very hard to imagine how this will be useful.
Compact Skinny Mini Player Media Player has several forms. Like any window, it can be maximized, minimized, or in between. In between, Player can be resized from a screenful to something much smaller. Like Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, and many other windows, Player can be more than maximized: it can be full screen (F11 or Alt+Enter), where nothing but the visualization shows (but not for album art). There are three more variations on reducing the size of Player: Compact mode Skin mode Mini Player mode
Compact Mode versus Full Mode Full mode, the default interface for Media Player we have been examining so far, is not full screen (F11 or Alt+Enter). Full mode is the opposite of compact mode it has the full set of menus and more. In the lower-right corner of Media Player are two buttons. One looks like a window with an arrow pointing up and to the right — that’s full screen. The other has an arrow pointing down and left to a short line — that’s compact mode. Compact mode reduces Player to what you see in Figure 16-7, just controls and a title bar. It is indeed compact. You can use this with the Always on Top option, if you wish. Click the same button (the arrow pointing down and left), not the other button, to restore to full mode (not full screen).
Figure 16-7: Compact mode is just that, but not as small as possible.
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Skin Mode Skins transform the look and feel of an application, often quite radically. Prior versions of Player shipped with at least half a dozen different skins. At this time, Player only has two: Corporate, which looks so last century, and Revert (see Figure 16-8), which is an okay mini-player with an extreme transparency level when you mouse away from it. You can use Always on Top with skins, as well. Prior versions of Media Player switched to the selected skin whenever you used the compact mode button, which was called skin mode. Now, choosing a skin is a little harder and using compact does not don that skin. To switch skins, you have to use the classic menus by right-clicking over an empty part of the button toolbar, by tapping the Alt key alone (to pop up the classic menus vertically for one command), or by using Ctrl+M (to toggle the classic menus in their traditional place horizontally). In the classic menus, use View ➝ Skin Chooser. Select one of the skins and click the Apply Skin button. Voilà! Skins always have a tiny button for returning to full mode (in the figure it is just left of the minimize button), or you can right-click over the skinned Player for the option. From the Skin Chooser screen, click the button for “More Skins” to go online to a Microsoft website with hundreds of skins.
Figure 16-8: The Revert skin
Mini Player Mode Mini Player is a toolbar that appears in the taskbar when you minimize Player. You should be prompted about this the first time you minimize Player. You can also enable or disable mini Player by right-clicking over the taskbar and using Toolbars ➝ Windows Media Player. (That option won’t do anything until you minimize Player.) This Media Player toolbar has all the essential controls in the smallest space of all (see Figure 16-9). Song information appears as you hover over the toolbar or as songs change. You can even have a tiny video or visualization window appear (but not album covers). Click the restore button to return to whatever mode you were in before minimizing.
Figure 16-9: The Windows Media Player toolbar in the taskbar
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Ripping CDs/DVDs When you copy music from a CD/DVD to your hard drive, you rip the disk, er, disc. Click the Rip button. Before you rip anything, use More Options under the Rip button. This opens the Rip Music tab of the Options dialog box, as illustrated in Figure 16-10.
Figure 16-10: The Rip Music tab of the Options dialog box
Rip music to this location — Specify the folder you want music copied to. Each CD/DVD will create a new folder for the artist (if one doesn’t already exist) under the folder you select here. By default, it is your Music folder. Under the artist folder, a new folder with the CD/DVD title will be created. Click the File Name button. This is a very important option that determines the names automatically created for each file as it is copied (see Figure 16-11). The problem with the default choice of track number and song title is that the filename provides no indication of the artist. This is because the artist is part of the folders created for the ripped tunes. However, if you copy these tunes to other locations, you usually do not copy the folder structure as well, so you end up with filenames that are less useful in other contexts and terrible for sorting (02 - Telescope Eyes). Your MP3 player may display this filename, where track number is useless and artist would be welcome. I recommend unchecking Track Number and checking Artist, leaving Song Title selected. I prefer Song Title first (use the Move Up or Move Down buttons) and a dash as separator (Telescope Eyes - Eisley), but I’m not trying to run your life.
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Figure 16-11: The File Name Options dialog box
Rip settings — With these selections you determine the quality of the music copies. On the one hand, we all want top quality. On the other hand, the highest quality usually produces the largest files and may be wasted on your tiny, tinny desktop speakers. These formats also affect which other software or devices can play your music. Older MP3 players probably do not support the latest Window Media Audio (WMA) variants. You may need to make several test copies. If you have a lot of disk space, choose one of the lossless formats and assume you can convert to another format if you need to. Better to throw away data later than at the moment of capture. If you only want to deal with file formats once, use MP3 (a lossy, compressed format), knowing that there are better quality formats that are less universal. See the sidebar “Audio File Formats” for more information. There is a separate Audio quality slider. When you choose your format, the slider is set automatically. For the lossy formats, which throw some data away, you can move the slider to further adjust how many kilobits per second are recorded (bigger numbers mean better quality, even if you can’t hear the difference — and bigger files).
Audio File Formats The audio file format determines what software and what devices can play the file. More importantly, the file format and bit rate together determine the quality of the recording and the size of the file. The first issue is lossless versus lossy (you may recall this from a discussion of image file formats as well). Lossless keeps every bit; lossy compresses a file by tossing some data that we hope we won’t
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miss. Lossy quality declines as we compress the file more or after repeated editing, if more data is lost each time. The Rip Music tab of the Media Player Options offers these formats: Windows Media Audio (default) Windows Media Audio Pro Windows Media Audio (VBR - Variable Bit Rate) Windows Media Audio Lossless MP3 WAV (Lossless) Compare the two lossless formats (WMA Lossless and WAV). WMA Lossless requires up to 411 MB to record a CD; WAV requires 600 MB (about the capacity of a CD, by no coincidence) — obviously 6 GB for 10 CDs. Do you have the space? In contrast, the default MP3 uses about 10% of the space required by WAV (57 MB). Can you hear the difference? The second issue is bit rate, the rate of recording as kilobits per second (kbps). All of the lossy formats available above support a range of bit rates. More kpbs mean more data, larger files, and higher quality — to a point. For near-CD quality, don’t go below 128 kbps. Your first concern might be whether you can play a given file format on your MP3 player or elsewhere. Newer MP3 players support some of the WMA formats, but not necessarily all. Test several different formats by ripping the same song several different ways. Listen for differences, compare file sizes, and make sure the tune plays on any device you use.
To begin ripping, insert a music CD/DVD. AutoPlay may begin, offering a choice to rip the music; if not, start Media Player yourself. From within Player, click the Rip button, and then use the checkboxes next to each tune to select those to copy or click the checkbox in the column heading for Album to select all. Finally, click the Start Rip button in the lower-right corner of the screen. Depending on the speed of your CD/DVD drive, it may take a few minutes to rip the entire CD/DVD. You can do other things in the meantime, including playing other tunes or even tunes from the disk you are currently ripping.
Note I had device driver problems when burning CDs and syncing with an MP3 player. Even the latest drivers did not help. If you run into similar problems, visit your device manufacturer’s website for Vista-compatible drivers. If you can’t find any, notify the manufacturer that you expect updated support.
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Rip Your Vinyl Long ago, music was distributed on huge vinyl disks called LPs (long-playing) or smaller 45s (referencing RPM — in contrast to a slow hard disk at 5,400 RPM). These analog disks were played on a record player using a needle. You can still find these platters in thrift stores and the garages of most baby boomers. It is relatively easy to convert these ancient disks to digital form. First consider whether it is worth pursuing, with so many tunes on CD or online. Second, are those old disks really playable? To rip vinyl, you’ll need a phonograph (the analog media player) and a cable to run from the phonograph’s output to your sound card’s input (often from two channels to one, using a Yconnector). So much for the hardware. For the software side of the solution, many commercial programs allow analog-to-digital recording. A very popular and free open-source program that includes this functionality is Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). See the “Audio File Format” sidebar as you decide which format to record your music to. Now you can show those kids next door a thing or two by cranking up In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby. As for those 8-tracks, it may be time to dump ‘em.
Burning CDs/DVDs Burning is the opposite of ripping (or would that be stitching?). You burn CDs/DVDs when you create a disk with tunes or other media files. Before you burn your first disk, use Burn ➝ More Options, which opens the Burn tab of the Options dialog box. There are three sections to this dialog box and some important options within: General Burn speed — Fastest is the default. Some burners cannot keep up with Windows. If you produce an unusable disk, try a slower burn speed. Automatically eject the disc after burning (checked) — When the disk is done, out it comes. Audio CDs Apply volume leveling across tracks on the CD (checked) — This is meant to spare the listener from disks on which some tunes are much louder than others. This seems unlikely if the tunes come from the same CD, more likely if you ripped tunes from vinyl, radio, or the Internet. I’m suspicious of the process, but it may be just right for you.
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Data Discs Add a list of all burned files to the disc in this format — Playlists can be transferred from one machine to another in one of two file formats: WPL (Windows Playlist) or M3U (Music Playlist, originally from Winamp but widely used). This depends on whether the disk is going to a Windows user (WPL) or not (M3U). Use media information to arrange files in folders on the disc (checked) — Files will be put into folders for Music, Pictures, TV, and Videos. Fit more music on the disc by converting to a lower bit rate — “Do not convert” is selected and recommended. Converting increases burn time; converts MP3s and WAVs to WMA. Close the Burn options with OK or Cancel. To burn a disk, click the Burn button on Media Player’s button toolbar. Using the triangle under Burn, choose Audio CD for a disk that should play in most CD players or Data CD for a disk that will work with any computer and some newer CD players. You can get many more songs on a data CD without any additional compression. A blank Burn List appears in the List pane on the right. You can drag items from the list in the middle of the screen, which can be selected using any of the options in the Navigation pane (by Playlist or any Library category) and sorted by any column heading. If you exceed the capacity of a CD, Player will add a Next Disc heading with excess files listed under it; Player will burn multiple disks in succession. You can drag and drop to rearrange the burn list or click the Burn List button to shuffle or sort. When you are ready to burn, insert a blank disk and click the Start Burn button at the bottom of the List pane.
Tip Create a playlist from the tunes you’ve selected to burn: Burn List ➝ Save Playlist As. Use this new playlist to re-create the burned disk or as the starting point for another.
Syncing Media Files Syncing two devices means making them identical, so that new, deleted, renamed, and otherwise changed files on one device end up the same way on a second device. In the context of Media Player, you sync an MP3 player or other portable media device (let’s call it the device) to your Library. If you have added, changed, etc., files in your Library, your device can be synced to match those changes. If the device is bigger than your Library, it can have a duplicate of your Library. If the device is smaller than your Library, then you’ll have to decide what part of the Library (a playlist, for example) to sync to.
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To use Sync, start Media Player before you attach your device. Instead, you could plug in the device and select Media Player from the options displayed by AutoPlay. Either way, we’re in Media Player at this point. Media Player evaluates the device. You must have a recent device or recent driver for an older device, or your device will be ignored (check the manufacturer’s website).
Tip Your USB flash drive may work for these steps (mine did). You could use the flash drive to take your media files from one computer to another (for playing from the drive — remember copyright laws). Or you could just practice so you are ready for your new MP3 player. I should mention here that Media Player won’t sync with iPod or Microsoft Zune (later in this chapter).
The first-time setup of Sync can take two forms: Automatic sync setup — If your device has 4 GB or more of storage and your entire Library will fit in the available storage, Media Player automatically syncs the entire Library to the device. Manual sync setup — If your device has less than 4 GB or your Library won’t fit on the device, you’ll have to configure a manual sync.
Note Automatic and manual are troublesome words here. Once you have manually set up Sync, it can be set to run automatically every time you connect the device — so it was manual setup for automatic sync. As long as the device is bigger than 4 GB and bigger than your Library, you have the most automatic of all conditions. But you can manually modify that automatic setup.
If you look at the drop-down for the Sync button in Media Player’s toolbar before you plug in a device and after, you’ll see quite a difference. Media Player hides many options until you connect a compatible device (see Figure 16-12). If you don’t see any or all of the following, your device is not recognized. In the following list, [device] will be replaced with the name of your device. Sync [device] — This syncs the device(s) manually. It is grayed-out (unavailable) until you use Set Up Sync under the [device] menu below. Shuffle [device] — This takes the files currently on the device and changes their order. You can shuffle without further setup. Sync ‘Now Playing’ to [device] — This adds the current selections in Now Playing to the device.
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Figure 16-12: The Sync menus
[device] — This is a menu with the following options: Start Sync — This may seem redundant with the first option above until you realize that you can connect multiple devices to Media Player at once, in which case the first command is Sync All Devices, and each device has a separate menu with its own Start Sync. Shuffle — Ditto the previous. Sync Previously Skipped Files — If media files among the selected files were skipped in previous syncs, those files will be synced. Format — This will erase the contents of the device. End Sync Partnership — It’s been fun but now it’s over. If you no longer want this device to sync, this will stop it. (Sync is a part of the Offline Files and Sync Center. See Chapter 18.) Set Up Sync — This one option has at least three screens, depending on conditions: If Media Player can automatically set up sync, you’ll be prompted for a name for the device and nothing else. When you click Finish, the syncing of your entire Library begins. If there are already files on this device that haven’t been synced before, you will have to choose between erasing those files or ignoring them. (Sync will not copy them to your hard drive because of copyright concerns, though you can manually copy them outside of Media Players.) If you have previously set up your device, when you return to this option, you can turn off automatic syncing and select playlists to use for syncing, as well as the Shuffle option. Advanced Options — Use this to control the conversion of files in the background and to specify a location for temporary files. Refresh Devices — This checks for attached devices, in case Media Player didn’t detect them already. Use this if most of these menus don’t appear when you attach your device.
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Figure 16-13 shows the Media Player with the device selected in the Navigation pane; the device is either a mirror of your entire Library or of a subset. Your device
Figure 16-13: A device attached to Media Player
Using an Online Music Store Prior versions of Media Player had the capacity to connect you to online music services. Although URGE appears prominently in two places in Media Player, you do have other choices. Among the services available are these: www.audible.com
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www.emusic.com www.urge.com www.walmart.com
I tested the last three. To choose a service other than URGE or see what services are available, click the triangle below URGE in the toolbar and choose Browse all Online Stores. If you choose a different service, the URGE button is replaced by a button identifying that service; call it the Store button, generically. Services vary in conditions and costs. The Store button also has Microsoft’s Media Guide (www.windowsmedia.com), which is more an entertainment information service than a store. The shopping functions in Media Player and Media Center run Internet Explorer (IE) within those programs. You will be viewing Web pages within Media Player (or Media Center, next chapter). Some of these pages use Adobe Flash Player for animations and special effects. Most also use Microsoft ActiveX to download and install software on your computer. If you haven’t already installed Flash in IE or if you have disabled ActiveX (it is enabled by default), change that before you explore shopping in Media Player or Media Center (www.adobe.com; we installed Flash and saw ActiveX in Chapter 13).
Note Copyright holders want to control the distribution of copyrighted material. Digital rights management (DRM) is the term for a wide range of technologies used to combat piracy or the free distribution of copyrighted material. Most music services use some form of DRM, and most of these are not interchangeable or compatible with each other. Your rights vary with service and subscription type, but you may be restricted in your ability to copy songs to CDs or MP3 players. Be very clear about your rights and responsibilities and all fees involved.
eMusic One characteristic that distinguishes eMusic is that is doesn’t use any DRM scheme — the songs are yours without restrictions (beyond copyright law itself). 1. Use the Store button to Browse all Online Stores. Chose eMusic. 2. eMusic’s first screen introduces the free trial (but only limited pricing information). A note indicates tunes can be played on iPods or any MP3 player. 3. Click the Free Trial button to start. You’ll have to enter new account information (before seeing any of eMusic’s offerings). Enter your name, address, and desired password (secure or complex passwords are advisable with any online commerce site). Click continue.
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4. Enter credit card information and choose a plan. Click Continue. eBasic includes 40 downloads per month for $9.99. eMusic Plus includes 65 downloads per month for $14.99. eMusic Premium includes 90 downloads per month for $19.99. 5. Choose e-mail newsletter preferences. Click Continue. 6. Your 14-day trial begins (25 downloads), after which your credit card will be billed, unless you cancel. 7. Browse through the collection and click songs to download. A positive feature of eMusic is that it does not require you to download software before you select tunes. A negative, for me, is that I couldn’t find anything I wanted to download. I found a lot of artists I knew, but most of the collections seemed to be live or obscure. That’s my take.
CANCELING EMUSIC 1. In Media Player, select eMusic from the Store button. 2. On the eMusic screen, choose Your Account. 3. On the Account options screen, choose Change Account Status. You can also upgrade your account here to another plan. 4. On the Cancel Account screen, identify your reason (switching to another service, not enough popular music, other choices). Click Continue. 5. Wait, don’t go! (They say.) How about 20 downloads per month for $5.99? You actually have to scroll down (not obvious) to click No Thanks. Then you’re done and your account is canceled.
Tip If you are looking to discover new music, the way we used to on the radio, check out www.pandora.com, part of the Music Genome Project. Pandora lets you pick an artist and it plays some tunes by that artist mixed with selections from artists Pandora identifies as similar. These tunes stream to Internet Explorer much as they would on a radio (without commercials). It’s cool.
Wal-Mart Music Downloads I tried Wal-Mart after URGE, but I’m mentioning it first because it was so much easier to work with. From the screen listing all online services, choose Wal-Mart Music Downloads. The store site loads almost immediately (see Figure 16-14).
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Figure 16-14: Wal-Mart Music Downloads
One thing I like about Wal-Mart that distinguishes it from some services is that you don’t have to subscribe; you simply buy tunes and CDs (collections of music files, not physical discs). After perusing the Home page, I searched for Julieta Venegas. The Search results quickly listed individual songs available for purchase as well as albums, each with clear pricing and an Add to Cart button. Clicking the Add to Cart button for the first time opened my browser outside of Media Player. The new screen indicated I needed a Download Manager and Security Update (actually, DRM isn’t really for my security); it predicted how long the download would take. I accepted the End User License Agreement. The next screen said, “Please wait for the brief setup to complete.” Make sure that this page opens in Internet Explorer, not another browser, and that you have ActiveX enabled in IE. After the installation of Wal-Mart’s Download Manager, I returned to Media Player, added some selections to my shopping cart, and checked out. The next screen clearly indicated that new users should click a button and create an account. I entered my name and a new password. The next screen offered two-click Rapid Checkout versus Shopping Cart; I stayed with the latter. As account setups go, it was quick and easy. To that point, I had not entered any credit card information. I reviewed my cart and checked out. I had to sign in with my new account, at which point I entered payment information and address. One final look at the cart, with another opportunity to change or cancel. Click the Purchase & Download button. The download began with an icon in the notification tray. Wal-Mart’s screen helpfully pointed that icon out as well as provided links to answers to question such as “How long does it take to download a song?” and “How do I play a song I’ve downloaded?” Each track was available for play as soon as it completed downloading.
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FINDING ALBUM INFORMATION Surprisingly, the CD I downloaded from Wal-Mart did not show an album cover in Media Player. The fix was relatively easy: 1. Locate the album in Library — Select Music ➝ Library ➝ Album, and then search for the album title. 2. Right-click over the album and choose Find Album Information — This launches a separate window as Media Player searches metaservices.windowsmedia.com. 3. Select the correct album — More than one may be listed. You can search again, if necessary. Use the checkbox to apply the selection to all tracks. If this process doesn’t work, you can manually edit track information (two single clicks or rightclick and choose Edit).
URGE URGE is an online music store (comparable to Apple’s iTunes) created by MTV, VH1, and CMT (Country Music Television). URGE is promoted by Media Player 11, though it isn’t installed with it (and other stores can be accessed under the menu below URGE). URGE organizes music along the same lines as the rest of Media Player: Playlists, Artist, Album, Songs, Genre (12,000 hours of electronica, but fewer than 1,000 hours of metal), Year, and Rating. It also adds Charts, Downloads, and Radio (see Figure 16-15). You’ll never have to leave your cubicle again.
Caution Do not download the URGE software until you read this. The screens you will see in URGE require the Adobe Flash Player (in Internet Explorer). I did not have Adobe Flash Player installed when I downloaded and installed the URGE software on one test system. After waiting forever for the download, the installation failed for lack of Flash. Player reported that the installation failed and that I would have to download the URGE software again. I had an URGE, all right. I ignored the error message and exited Player. I used Internet Explorer to install the Adobe Flash Player add-in. On returning to Media Player, things still didn’t work. Yes, I had to download the URGE software three times (35 MB each time). What an awful start. (Why can’t Microsoft let you save that download to the location of your choice?)
The first time you click on URGE from the toolbar or the Navigation pane, you will be prompted to download and install the online store software, which will run within Media Player. The End User License Agreement (EULA) appears in a window in front of Media Player; you must click I Accept to continue (or I Decline to cancel). Accepting this EULA does not establish an account. If you accept the EULA, downloading begins immediately. Two large files are downloaded. (I hope these files are included with Windows Vista when you get it.) After downloading and installation are completed, you will see the URGE screen in Media Player (refer to Figure 16-15).
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Figure 16-15: The URGE screen
Note What’s in a name? URGE is always written in all uppercase but it doesn’t seem to be an acronym or initialism.
Playing a New Zune Just as we put this book to bed, Microsoft has released its new portable media player, Zune, Microsoft’s response to Apple’s iPod. Zune plays music (Windows WMA, MP3, and others) and video (.WMV, MPEG4, and others), and displays photos (JPEG) on a three-inch display (320 × 240 pixels). Zune has a 30 GB hard drive. The innovation Zune brings to a crowded market is wireless networking with simplified peer-topeer connectivity for the purpose of sharing media files between Zunies (my neologism). Coming soon: Zune viruses. It’s too soon for me to say what Zune will do to URGE. However, Zune has its own store, Zune Marketplace, and its own software, which looks a lot like Media Player. I can’t imagine that Microsoft won’t at least offer Zune as an alternative to URGE within Media Player, but at this time, Microsoft says no.
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PlaysForSure? A question raised by the release of Zune is what happens to PlaysForSure, a system of digital rights management (www.playsforsure.com). PlaysForSure is a logo used to identify compatible digital rights management systems. URGE is a part of the PlaysForSure collective, as is Windows Media Player. As a comparison, Apple iTunes uses Apple’s own proprietary DRM. So, Mac owners can download tunes from www.itunes.com and copy them to their iPod and play them. However, those tunes won’t play on Windows Media Player, because Media Player doesn’t support the same DRM. So what? Well, Zune is not a PlaysForSure product. This raises concerns about one’s ability to play previously purchased music that uses PlaysForSure. Moreover, it raises reasonable questions about Microsoft long-term support of PlaysForSure and, arguably, URGE. By the time you have this book in your hand, the dust may have settled and things may be clearer. I urge you to do a little more research before committing to any online service.
Summary Computers have become the new jukebox and entertainment center. We use our computers to obtain and play music and video, whether ripped from CD or downloaded from a music service. Media Player 11 organizes the music and videos on your computer, network, and MP3 player. Media Player helps you classify and find your music, by category or search. Use Media Player to copy music to and from CDs or MP3 players and to manage online music purchases. In the next chapter, we’ll look at Media Center, which combines the functions of Media Center and Photo Gallery.
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indows XP Media Center Edition was only sold pre-installed on computers with additional media features such as TV tuners. As the name says, Media Center gives you access to all your media files: photos, music, video, even recorded and live TV, on hard disk, CDs, and DVDs. Microsoft designed Media Center to work at the distance of a TV screen. Similarly, Media Center has to work with the limited controls one finds on a TV remote control, even one designed specifically for it. The latest version of Media Center is included with the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. You can use some of the Media Center’s features without any special hardware, but some other features are only available with additional hardware, such as a TV tuner. Now Media Center is part of Windows Vista editions that may not ever be used with a TV. Will it be as useful on your desktop? How does it compare to other media applications such as Windows Media Player and Windows Photo Gallery? Let’s find out. Later in this chapter, we’ll also discuss two other media-related programs included in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate: Windows DVD Maker — Use this to burn a show comprised of slides and video to DVD. Windows Movie Maker — Use this to create or edit video files, which can be made from stills and audio files.
Tip Media Player may have special appeal to people with motor disabilities. The use of the up, down, left, right, and Enter keys effectively reduces the motions necessary to perform tasks. These motions can be accomplished with a keyboard, keypad, TV remote, joystick or mouth stick, among others. Parents might set up Media Player for young children because of the fewer movements required to use it and to try to limit the child’s exposure to other programs available in Windows Vista. Of course, it won’t take a child long to figure out how to exit from Media Center and gain access to everything else.
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Opening Media Center for the First Time Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Media Center (not Media Player). As with Media Player, the first time you run Media Center, you see a screen to run Express Setup, Custom Setup, or Setup Later. Choose Express. If you do choose the Custom Setup, you will respond to screens for required and optional setup options. Required setup includes options for joining an online support function and enhanced playback, which downloads media information. Optional setup includes adjusting display, speakers, and setting up the library. All of these options can be modified later through functions we will be examining.
Note Media Center is a resource hog and runs at a higher than normal priority, which grants it more of available resources. As a result, Media Center does not multitask as easily as most programs.
Media Center works in the background to monitor standard media folders (your Pictures and Videos folders and those under Public). This takes a little time. You don’t have to wait, but you may get messages about needing to run Library Setup when you first explore Media Center. You can actually ignore those messages until you are ready to add media files. Media Center runs full screen, completely replacing the desktop, taskbar, Start menu, and other windows. This interface was designed for a TV screen 10 feet or more away from the user (couch potato meets mouse potato). The look of Media Center is very different from the rest of Windows (see Figure 17-1).
The Crux of the Interface The main screen consists of two intersecting menus. Vertically, you scroll through categories of media: Pictures + Videos Music TV + Movies Online Media Tasks (covered in the next section) Horizontally, each category has its own subcategories, detailed below.
Note Media Center eschews capitalization in many places one would expect to see it. For example, none of the subcategories are capitalized. In this chapter I capitalize most functions and screens, even if Microsoft does not.
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Figure 17-1: Media Center is very different from other programs.
As you move the mouse, additional controls appear, and then disappear a few seconds after you stop moving the mouse. You can also use the arrow keys or a compatible TV remote control. At the top and bottom of the vertical media menu are arrows for scrolling the list up or down (the centered, highlighted item is the current one). The vertical menu wraps around in a continuous circle of options. To the left and right of the horizontal category menus are arrows for scrolling left or right; the intersection of these two menus represents the current item; pressing the Enter key will choose that one. Oddly, the horizontal submenus do not wrap around; you must move back and forth between options. In the upper-right corner of the screen, you will see the time or controls to minimize, maximize/ restore, or close. Use the Restore button to force Media Center out of full-screen mode (as I’ve done for the figures in this chapter). The Maximize button will put Media Center back in Full Screen mode. Note that F11 does not switch Media Center in and out of full screen mode, but Alt+Enter does (one out of two in common with Media Player).
Tip If you want Media Center to always run full screen, use Tasks ➝ Media Only ➝ Yes. With this, there is no minimize button and Alt+Enter no longer works. However, Alt+Tab still switches to other programs and Win+D still minimizes all, including Media Center. If you could disable task switching and lock this option with parental controls, you might have the perfect babysitter.
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The upper-left corner shows a Back button for retracing steps, and the Media Center icon (which returns you to the main screen). The backspace key on the keyboard also moves you back through previous screens. In the lower-right corner of the screen, a toolbar will appear if you are using a pointing device instead of the keyboard. This toolbar is for controlling the playing of media files (very similar to Media Player and Photo Gallery). Toolbar functions from left to right are as follows: TV on/off; channel selection/up/down; stop playback; rewind; previous; play/pause (large center button); next; fast forward; mute; volume down and up.
Tasks Use the Tasks menu for any of the following: Settings — This is located to the left for whatever reason and is our next topic. Shutdown — If you see an X on a red background in the upper-right corner of the screen, you can close Media Center with that (which is not really a Shutdown option). Or use the other true Shutdown options to Log Off, Shut Down, Restart, and Sleep. Burn CD/DVD — See the section “Burning CDs/DVDs” later in this chapter. Sync — Transfer media files to a portable media player. Add Extender — A device other than a PC that will play media files (for example, an Xbox 360). Media Only — Full screen mode with no option to minimize or restore the window.
Settings Although you can use parts of Media Center immediately without any further setup, you’ll eventually need to set some additional things up, so we’ll examine these settings now. Scroll through the vertical menu to Tasks, and horizontally to Settings. Here, your options are as follows: General TV Pictures Music DVD Extender Library Setup
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Each of these settings has a variety of options. You won’t find the familiar drop-down lists or menus we see everywhere else in Windows. Instead, you scroll through such lists one item at a time using “+” or “-” onscreen with the mouse or the spacebar (or using a remote control). For most changes, there is a Save or Cancel button. If you navigate away from an area you have changed (with backspace, for example), you’ll be prompted to save or cancel your changes.
GENERAL There is nothing urgent under the General settings, unless you can’t stand the sounds you hear every time you highlight or select something. (Microsoft ought to allow you to customize these sounds through the Sounds control panel, but at this time they don’t.) Startup and Window Behavior — Controls whether Media Center starts when Windows Vista starts and is always on top of other windows, as well as certain notifications. Visual and Sound Effects — Controls transition visual effects and sounds (uncheck “Play sounds when navigating Windows Media Center,” if you wish), and sets color scheme and video background color. Program Library Options — Controls the interaction of programs in the Program Library with the Media Center. These programs are mostly the games included with Windows Vista, as well as Burn CD/DVD. Windows Media Center Setup — Sets up an Internet connection, TV input (requires a tuner) and output, and speakers. Run Setup Again resets any changes made so far. There is an option here to join a wireless network (if you have a wireless adapter). You do not need to use this if you have already set up a wireless connection as discussed in Chapter 11. This is an alternative to the techniques covered in that chapter. Parental Controls — Sets up a four-digit access code, and restricts access by TV Ratings and Movie/DVD Ratings. You can turn on TV blocking and use common TV ratings to block access. The advanced option enables different ratings for language versus other content. You can turn on Movie Blocking and choose a standard rating as well as block unrated movies. There is no advanced option for movies. Automatic Download Options — Downloads media information, such as CD album art and guides. Optimization — Schedules unspecified optimization tasks to run at a time you will not need Media Center but the computer will be on and Media Center loaded. About Windows Media Center — Displays version information, terms of service, and credits. Privacy — Links to a privacy statement and controls some privacy settings concerning what kind of information is shared with Microsoft. (These settings were among the few required settings in the initial custom setup.)
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TV Ins and Outs There are two separate TV functions in Media Center. You can display live TV on your computer screen, if you have a TV tuner (TV In). Also, you can display your computer screen on a TV, with the proper connection and cable (TV Out). TV In — Your computer’s graphics card may have a built-in TV tuner. If you upgrade your graphics card, you might consider this option (some include a remote control). You can also obtain a USB TV tuner. A TV tuner enables you to display live TV on your computer, full screen or in a window. It is a requirement if you want to record TV onto a computer, although any computer with Media Center can play back TV recorded on another machine. TV Out — Whether you have a TV tuner or not, you can use a TV as an additional monitor. You’ll need a graphics card with a TV-compatible connection, a TV with the same type of connection, and a cable to run between them (wireless versions of these connections are becoming available). A laptop with a wireless mouse is ideal for this. Just set the laptop on top of your TV and cable the two together. Connect the TV to your graphics card, turn the TV on, and tune it to one of your video channels (not a regular TV station). In Windows Vista, use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Personalization ➝ Display Settings (or press Win+R, type control desktop, press Enter, and then select Display Settings). If your TV doesn’t show as an additional monitor, try a different video channel on the TV. If your TV does show, select it and click “Extend the desktop onto this monitor.” You may need to adjust other settings as well. Some graphics cards require you to select TV as an option through the Advanced Settings under Display Settings.
TV Media Center’s TV functions enable you to watch and record TV programs, making your computer a personal video recorder (PVR): Set Up TV Signal — Configures your tuner. This option and the next also appear under Windows Media Center Setup. Configure Your TV or Monitor — Adjusts your TV or monitor for best display. If you have more than one monitor, specify which monitor to use for Media Center. Audio — Chooses between stereo and secondary audio program (SAP), which may be a second language or a commentary track. Closed Captioning — Turns captioning on, off, or on when muted, and enables you to choose between two captioning methods.
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PICTURES Most of these options distinguish Media Center’s slide show from the one in Photo Gallery: Show pictures in random order Show pictures in subfolders Show caption Show song information during slide show Transition type (animated, cross fade, or none) Transition time (2 to 60 seconds) Slide show background color (white, gray, or black)
MUSIC While music is playing, your screen can display lines and colors that change with the music: Visualizations — The same eye candy available in Media Player: Alchemy, Bars and Waves, and Battery. Select any, all (not an option in Player), or none. Visualization Options — Starts visualizations when music plays, and shows song information (also under Pictures Setup).
DVD Each DVD has its own menus to control the first two features, so you may not need to set these within Media Center: DVD Language — Features separate settings for subtitles, audio track, and menu. Defaults to the default language for the disk. I hope you don’t have to choose Vietnamese; it will take 70 clicks of the plus sign, showing the problem with this method of plus-and-minus menu navigation without a drop-down list. Closed Captioning — Captioning is on, off, or on when muted. Select one of two captioning methods. This is separate from the similar option for TV. Remote Control Options — Features program skip and replay buttons to skip chapters, skip forward and back, and change angles. You can program channel up and down buttons to do any of the same three functions. Requires a compatible remote control.
EXTENDER A Windows Media Center Extender is a device that plays media files. It can be a TV set-top box, an Xbox 360, or an audio device. (Some have suggested the media player, Microsoft Zune, should be a Media Center Extender, but it is not at this time.) If you have such a device, connect it to the computer and proceed. The extender should have an eight-digit setup key you’ll enter.
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LIBRARY SETUP The first screen of Library Setup offers a choice either to add a folder to watch or to stop watching a folder (see Figure 17-2).
Figure 17-2: The first screen in Library Setup
Choosing to add a folder leads to the next screen, where you specify to watch a folder on this computer (local), another computer (network), or both. Choosing this computer or both leads to a screen listing local drives and folders. If you choose another computer or both, the next screen automatically lists shared network folders containing media files. The final screen lists the folders, local or networked, that you selected. Clicking the Finish button displays the message “Adding Media.” You can wait or you can click OK to continue, in which case the media will be added as a background process while you continue with other matters.
Tip You can access Settings and Library Setup from any of the libraries through the context menu. Use the right mouse to click throughout Media Center for other options, such as Details or Delete.
Pictures + Videos The Pictures + Videos portion of Media Center organizes and presents both photographs and videos (as does Windows Photo Gallery).
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Note Both Photo Gallery and Media Center display photos and slide shows. Both have editing tools (see the sidebar “Editing Photos with Media Center versus Photo Gallery”). The slide shows in these two programs have different options. Media Center can play music and photos at once, whereas Photo Gallery does not play music, although you could certainly run Media Player at the same time.
Picture Library — The first time you open the Picture Library, if you haven’t already used the Settings above, Media Center scans the default photo folders. The Picture Library can be browsed by Folders, Tags, or Date Taken. There is also an option to Play Slide Show: Play All — Starts a slide show using all photographs. Video Library — Browses videos by folders or date taken (not tags).
Editing Photos with Media Center versus Photo Gallery You can edit pictures within Media Center’s Photo Library, as well as in Photo Gallery (with some differences; compare Figure 17-3 with Figure 17-4). In Media Center, right-click over a photo and choose Picture Details (Rotate is also an option here). The menu that follows Picture Details includes Rotate (yes, again), Print, Touch Up, and Delete, plus options to Play Slide Show and browse to the next or previous photograph. Choose Touch Up.
Figure 17-3: Media Center’s picture-editing tools
Continued
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Editing Photos with Media Center versus Photo Gallery (Continued) The Touch Up menu (see Figure 17-3) includes Red Eye adjustments, Contrast, and Crop, as well as Preview, Save, and Cancel. Note a few differences here from Photo Gallery: Auto Adjust — Photo Gallery will automatically adjust your image, although you can adjust it further after that. Media Center does not have an option to automatically adjust your image. On the other hand, the Red Eye and Contrast adjustments are more automatic in Media Center than in Photo Gallery. Red Eye — Photo Gallery has you draw a small box around each eye. Media Center does not, which may change more than just the eyes. Contrast — Photo Gallery supports a range of separate adjustments to contrast, brightness, color temperature, tint, and saturation. Media Center performs one contrast adjustment. Crop — Photo Gallery places a box on the image that you can manually resize and drag anywhere (see Figure 17-4). Media Center places a box on the image, but you cannot directly adjust the box. Instead, you use separate controls, including arrow keys, to move the box, and plus and minus keys to resize the box. Media Center is less direct than Photo Gallery. Finally, Photo Gallery automatically creates a copy as you work on the original. You can undo steps in a series or all at once. If you change your mind about edits — even a long time later — you can revert to the original picture. Media Center, by contrast, uses a more traditional Save or Cancel. Once your changes are saved, they cannot be undone by Media Center (although other backups may exist outside of Media Center). All in all, Photo Gallery is a better tool for editing photos, which should come as no surprise. However, Media Center may be all you need, depending on how much control you want over the process.
Figure 17-4: Photo Gallery’s picture-editing tools
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Music Just as Media Center and Photo Gallery overlap in most photographic tasks, Media Center and Media Player both play music. Ultimately, the issue is which interface you prefer. In Media Center, right-click over any song for a context menu that includes Play, Add to Queue, Delete, Edit (song title, artist name and star rating), or Burn (to CD/DVD). Music Library — Media Center automatically scans the folders monitored by Media Player, including any you have added there. If you haven’t identified folders for Media Player to monitor or you want different folders monitored by Media Center, you should use the Library Settings (right mouse click within Music Library ➝ Library Settings). From the Music Library, you can play all or select tunes by categories (albums, artists, genres, songs, composers, or years). Playlists include any you’ve created in Media Player, plus Auto Playlists (including predefined Auto Playlists lacking in Media Player). Auto playlists group music, pictures, TV, and video by four- or five-star ratings, addition within the past month, and most played. On this screen, you can type a letter or part of a name (song title or artist depending on which listing is displayed) to jump to that item. The letter you type appears, large, in the lower-right corner of the screen. You can type several letters from a title to jump directly to it (if you pause a moment, the letters disappear and this search feature resets for a new title). You can play any album or song. You can also select Add to Queue, which doesn’t play it immediately but sets it up to play in turn after previous selections added to the queue.
Tip Although most Windows users are also using a mouse, many of us use keyboard alternatives. One alternative that I never use elsewhere but which seems more useful here is the context menu key on the keyboard — probably the least used key after Scroll Lock. On a standard keyboard, this key is between the right-hand Win Logo key and the Ctrl key. Tap this key to bring up a context menu. When you use a mouse to select something, it is usually easy enough to click the right-mouse button for the menu — why take your hand off the mouse? Because you can do everything in Media Center with a few keystrokes, this key suddenly seem more sensible — why take your hand off the keyboard?
Play All — A separate option on the main screen plays all music in the Music Library. Radio — Requires a radio tuner. Search — Searches songs by metadata.
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Now Playing + Queue While media is playing, the Now Playing screen appears. Its appearance depends on the type of media being played. If you return to the main Media Center screen during playback, a new item has been added to the vertical menu between Music and TV + Movies: Now Playing + Queue, with a thumbnail of the currently playing item. Select the thumbnail to see the full Now Playing screen. For videos and TV, the Now Playing screen shows the video or the Finished menu (Done, Restart, Delete). For music, Now Playing shows the album cover, track number, title, artist, and track time. Large, faded numbers count down the remaining time in the current track. A menu includes the following options: View Queue — From the Queue screen, you can edit (change order, remove from queue), clear queue (of all tracks), save as a playlist, shuffle, repeat (also on the previous screen), and burn to disk. Visualize — World Peace. Or groovy screen squiggles. Play Slide Show — A slide show of your picture library plays along with the music. Shuffle — Click or press to turn shuffle on, mixing the order of music, or off (the default), to play in the original album or selection order. Repeat — Click or press to turn on repeat for an endless loop. If repeat is off (default), play ends with the last selected track. Buy Music — Do not attempt to use this option if you have not previously installed Adobe Flash Player in Internet Explorer (see Chapter 13); it will fail to load more than an ugly error message (use the Windows Media icon button in the upper-left corner to escape this problem). If you do have the Flash Player installed, you may still get a message that this screen was “not designed for Windows Media Center.” This should be very embarrassing for Microsoft. You can choose View Now to begin your shopping experience, which doesn’t have anything to do with whatever was in Now Playing. From the shopping screen, use the Media Player button to return.
Note There is a tight relationship between Media Center and Media Player when music or a video is playing. If you use Media Center to play music and then start Media Player, you’ll find the same music in the Now Playing screen. If you choose a different song in Player, Now Playing + Queue changes in Media Center as well. It’s not that I want to play two tunes at once, but this intertwining is limiting. You can, in fact, view different photos or videos in Media Center and Photo Gallery at once. Or start a video in Media Center while Media Player is playing music, and both video and music will play (along with sound from both). In spite of this connection between the two, it seems Media Center does not use Media Player’s Media Sharing function.
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TV + Movies These options will record or play back TV, as well as play recorded DVDs: Recorded TV (default) — Plays recorded TV shows or other videos. Play DVD — When you insert a commercial DVD, AutoPlay may prompt you to choose between Media Center and Media Player for playback. You can also initiate DVD playback from this menu item. Set Up TV — Requires a recognized TV tuner.
Online Media Online Media is currently woefully undeveloped. One can only hope that will change in the near future. Program Library — The Program Library includes games that can be played within Media Center. Additional categories suggest Microsoft plans other add-in programs and services. The implication of games under Online Media is that you can connect to other players. However, at this time, none of these games has an online option. I have to say I don’t know why one would prefer to play Hearts, for example, through the Media Center instead of the Games Center, er, Games Explorer. In fact, games running “through” Media Center don’t have menus at the top of the screen (though the missing menu becomes the context menu) and there are some other interface differences. Perhaps worst of all, you have the added burden of Media Center, so a game such as Chess Titans, which demands a lot of video memory, may not even run, though it would run if Media Center weren’t loaded.
Burning CDs/DVDs From Media Center, you can burn a CD or DVD with photos, music, recorded TV shows, or videos. To initiate a burn, use Tasks ➝ Burn CD/DVD. If you right-click over a file, you may find Burn as an option on the context menu. Select a Disc Format (see the “Disc-o Inferno” sidebar). Some options apply solely to CD or DVD, some to both: Audio CD — Burn music files to CD for use in a CD player. Data CD/DVD — Allows you to mix all types of media files: recorded TV, music, pictures, and videos. Media Player will also play the completed disk. Each item appears as a separate file with its original filename.
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After you select a format and choose Next, the Name This DVD screen appears. After you name the disk and click next, you’ll see the Review & Edit List, as shown in Figure 17-5.
Figure 17-5: The Review & Edit List before DVD burning
It may take some time to assemble the list of items to include in the burn. Once the list appears, you can rearrange the order of items on the list, omit any items, rename items, add more items, or clear all. When you are ready to continue, click the Burn DVD button. Media Center will display “Initiating Copy. Would you like to burn a disc with these files?” Click Yes to continue. You will see an indication of burn progress as a percentage. You can wait or you can click OK to work on other things while the burn continues in the background (which certainly won’t make it happen any faster). It may take a while before you get an indication of progress. Prior to burning, Media Center copies all the files to a temporary location and verifies you have permission to copy files (in the case of copyrighted material with Digital Rights Management enabled). When the burn is done, the disk will eject and Media Center will display an indication that the burn is complete. Buttons allow you to burn another or indicate you are done.
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Disc-o Inferno As you know, there are CDs and there are DVDs. CDs store up to 700 MB, whereas DVD capacities start at 4.7 GB and increase from there. (The current maximum is about 60 GB for HD DVD.) Several issues are at play when you record a disk: The drive — Beyond the question of whether you have a CD or DVD drive is the issue of what types of disks the drive can work with. Not every drive supports every kind of disk, though you can count on a CD drive not recognizing a DVD, whereas a DVD drive should always recognize a CD. The disk — When you buy blank disks for recording, you want disks your drive is capable of working with (duh!). Most drives are capable of working with several types of disks, though not necessarily every available disk type. The disk type is more important than the brand.
Recordable disks enable you to add files in multiple sessions, though some older audio players do not play all sessions. You cannot remove files from a recordable disk and free the space those files occupied; deleting files merely makes the files inaccessible. Rewritable disks are more like hard disks and flash drives; you can write files in multiple sessions and deleting files frees the space those files occupied. CDs come in Recordable (CD-R) and Rewritable (CD-RW). DVDs come in single-sided and dual-layer (or multi-layered) versions. DVDs also have Recordable and Rewritable, but there are still more variations on Rewritable (-RW, +RW, and -RAM). The format — Here the broad choice is between data disks and audio or video disks. A data disk — CD or DVD — will work with most computers; you will almost always be able to store more media time (minutes of music or video) on a data disk than an audio or video disk — but such a disk may not play on non-computer devices. An audio disk will also play on most computers, as well as work with non-computer CD and DVD players. A video disk will work with a computer and a non-computer DVD player. However, even data disks can be recorded in different formats that will affect compatibility with older computers. The software — Within Windows Vista, you’ll have a choice as to which program to use. Each of the following programs can burn a CD or DVD: Windows DVD Maker Windows Explorer Windows Media Player Windows Media Center Windows Movie Maker Windows Photo Gallery Unfortunately, these programs are not identical in the options they offer for recording. You may want to explore and experiment.
Continued
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Disc-o Inferno (Continued) The choice — You want the disk with highest capacity that is compatible with the device that will write the disk and any device likely to read it (don’t worry about CD Audio if you don’t have an audio CD player, for example). If you are sending a disk to someone else, find out how they will play it. AutoPlay — When you insert a blank CD or DVD, AutoPlay settings determine what happens automatically, if anything. By default, AutoPlay will list options available for the blank disk, such as burning with Media Player or Media Center (see Figure 17-6). You can pick one, but if you have already started a burn operation from one of these programs, you will probably want to cancel the AutoPlay menu.
Figure 17-6: AutoPlay for a blank DVD
Windows DVD Maker Of all the tools in Windows Vista that will burn DVDs, Windows DVD Maker offers the most options nicely balanced with ease of use features. This is one of my favorite features in Windows Vista; it’s very cool. Use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows DVD Maker (not Movie Maker). DVD Maker uses projects to organize the DVDs you create. You start in a new project automatically.
Note I was not able to run Windows DVD Maker on some systems that otherwise ran everything in this book adequately (except for features such as the transparency of Aero Glass). An error message indicated DVD Maker requires Windows Vista video drivers with DirectX9 support, but a trip to Device Manager and Windows Update assured me I had the best drivers available. It isn’t clear to me how this program can demand features that the graphically intense games do not.
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After an informational splash screen (uncheck the box if you want to see it again), click the button to Choose Photos and Videos. This opens DVD Maker’s spartan workspace. Across the top are a few buttons, below which the items you add will appear. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see displayed the amount of time your selections add up to out of available time (150 minutes for a standard 4.7 GB DVD), the Disc title (the current date appears but you can enter any text up to 32 characters), and a link to Options (the default options will be fine for your first project). Begin your first DVD project by clicking the Add Items button. Navigate to the appropriate folders for the media files you want (including audio, picture, and video formats).
Tip Media Center allows you to record video or music and pictures, but not all three, onto one disk. Unlike Media Center, DVD Maker allows you to select all three types of media files for one project. The DVD made with DVD Maker will play the music during the picture slide show. The music you select does not play during the videos, which may have their own soundtracks.
In the Add Items to DVD dialog box, you can select multiple files at once (Ctrl+A for all; Ctrl+click for multiple selections, among other selection methods). On the main project screen, each video you add appears as a separate item. However, your selected pictures will appear as a single item, a folder labeled Slide Show (with a count of the pictures and the duration of the slide show), as shown in Figure 17-7. To work with the individual photos, double-click the Slide Show folder.
Figure 17-7: A Windows DVD Maker project with videos and pictures
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On the screen listing each picture, you can remove any of the items and reorder them with the Move Up and Move Down buttons (also on the context menu). You can also add pictures or videos while on this screen (videos will appear on the main project screen, not in the listing of pictures in the slide show).
Caution From the screen listing each individual picture, do not click the back arrow, which will take you back to that initial splash screen. Use the small yellow button with a green up arrow (Back to Videos).
You can repeat the Add Items process as many times as you like, keeping an eye on the unused time remaining on the DVD, shown in the lower-left corner. Saving your work periodically (File ➝ Save) is always wise. Project files are saved by default in your Videos folder, although you can save them anywhere. When you are ready to look at options, click the Options link from the main project screen. Your options include the following: Choose DVD playback settings — Start with DVD menu; Play video and end with DVD menu; Play video in a continuous loop (no menu unless the DVD remote’s menu button is used). DVD aspect ration — 4:3 for standard screens; 16:9 for wide screens. Video format — NTSC in the United States; PAL is an alternative used in some countries. DVD burner speed — Fastest (default); slow it down if disks fail to burn. Temporary file location — The default is fine, unless you have a second disk that is faster and has more free space. When you are ready, save your project for good luck and click the Next button. The next screen is labeled Ready to Burn Disc and has a Burn button (see Figure 17-8). However, look at all your options before burning your bridges — I mean, your DVD. On the right-hand side of this screen, a menu displays Menu Styles (in a drop-down list that has no other selections; perhaps other options will appear in the future). Below the Menu Styles button are different styles for the main DVD menu. These are templates for the DVD menu. You do not have to make this choice first, but because it influences other options, it is a good place to start. Across the top of the screen, after the usual File menu (save frequently), you’ll see the following: Preview — Use Preview to see your project before you burn it. This gives you a chance to change your mind about menu styles and transitions (under Slide show). Menu Text — The Menu Text screen lets you select any font for the menu, as well as font color, bold, and italic. Here you can change the disk’s title and the labels that appear on the Play button, Scenes button, and Notes button, as well as add a note (up to 256 characters) that will display when someone clicks the Notes button.
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Figure 17-8: The screen before you burn. Note the Menu Styles.
Click Change Text to keep your changes or Don’t Change to toss changes. Customize Menu — The Customize Menu screen also allows you to change the menu font (just as the previous option does). For some menu style templates, the first video in the project appears behind the menu as the background video; you can select any video (even one that isn’t part of the project). A second video appears on some menu style templates as the foreground video (or this may be grayed out). If you wish, select an audio file to play when the menu displays (this will loop, so consider how obnoxious the wrong choice might be). You can also change the shape and style of the Scenes button, which displays thumbnails of the videos and slide show. Your options here are determined by your Menu Style choice. Slide Show — Select music to play while the pictures appear as a slide show. Keep an eye on both the music length and the slide show length. Pictures do not loop; if you check “Change slide show length to match music length,” the length of time each picture displays will be adjusted (you may need shorter music or more pictures). Other options control picture length (if you haven’t checked the previous option), transitions between pictures, and other effects. These can be cool or nauseating, depending in part on the slide show’s length.
Note As you make changes, DVD Maker shows small thumbnail previews of the menu screen. These can take a while to regenerate. You do not have to wait for previews to render before saving the project or burning the disk. Preview may appear slower and jerkier than the resulting DVD. Don’t let it discourage you.
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When you are ready, insert a disk in your burner and click the Burn button. If the disk already has something on it, the system will ask for another disk (if it is not rewritable) or offer to delete the current files (if the disk is rewritable). DVD Maker will not add this new project to the existing content of the disk. A small dialog box will track progress and inform you when the disk is complete, at which time you can burn another copy of the same disk or close DVD Maker. See Figure 17-9.
Figure 17-9: A composite of a sequence of three messages from DVD Maker
Tip If your burner supports rewritable disks, use them to test projects. You can keep using the same disk over and over (it is erased each time). If you need a non-rewritable disk, you can burn that after your tests.
Windows Movie Maker Windows Movie Maker enables you to edit videos, or still pictures, plus audio, into a movie with transitions, narration, and titles. If you have a digital video camera, you can import video from your camera using the Import menu. You can also import video, pictures, and audio from any disk. To start Windows Movie Maker, use Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Movie Maker.
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Note I had the same problem with Windows Movie Maker that I had with Windows DVD Maker on some systems that otherwise ran everything in this book adequately (except for features like the transparency of Aero Glass). An error message indicated that DVD Maker requires Windows Vista video drivers with DirectX9 support, but a trip to Device Manager and Windows Update assured me I had the best drivers available.
Movie Maker’s screen consists of the Tasks pane on the far left (which can alternate with the Collections pane); the Contents pane in the middle (empty at the start); the Preview monitor on the far right; and, at the bottom, the Storyboard, which alternates with a timeline. An easy way to get a taste of Movie Maker is to click the Import Media button in the upper-left corner of the screen to import some pictures (at least a half dozen). Your imported media occupies the Contents pane in the middle of Movie Maker. Each file in the Contents pane is considered a clip. Movies are made by adding clips (photos, videos, or audio files) to the Storyboard. You can drag any clips down to the Storyboard or left or right on the Storyboard to determine the order in which the clips appear. Delete clips by dragging them off the Storyboard panel (or use the context menu or the Delete key). To add all of your imported media at once to the Storyboard, select all (Ctrl+A) and Add to Storyboard (Ctrl+D).
Tip Instead of adding items to the Storyboard manually, use the AutoMovie button to quickly place all of your imported media onto the Storyboard. AutoMovie will also add transitions and effects automatically.
Movies can have effects, which apply to selected clips. One familiar effect is to zoom out from some area of a clip to show the full clip. To display all available effects in the Contents pane, click Effects in the Task pane (or choose Effects from the button above the Contents pane). Effects are added to clips in the Storyboard; drag and drop the effect you want onto the clip. A star appears in the lower-left corner of a clip to which an effect has been applied. A description of that effect appears if you hover the mouse over that star. Similarly, you can apply transitions between clips. An example of a transition is a wipe, where a line moves across the screen, replacing one clip with another. In the Tasks pane, select Transitions (or choose Transitions from the button below Publish Movie). Available transitions appear in the Contents pane (as do Effects or Imported Media). Drag and drop transitions onto the squares to the right or left of a clip. (If you drop the transition directly on the clip, that transition will apply first to the left box, then to the right box.) The selections you make of effects and transitions can enhance or detract from the movie you are making. Experiment, but don’t show everyone your experiments. In the Tasks pane, click Titles and Credits to add frames with text (you can format fonts) — see Figure 17-10. Remember to use File ➝ Save Project periodically as you work. Use the Play button in the Preview monitor to test your work.
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Figure 17-10: An added title frame appears in the storyboard (lower-left) and preview (upper-right).
When you are ready to publish your movie, there are two ways to start. In the Tasks pane, there is a heading “Publish to” with five destinations: this computer, DVD, recordable CD, e-mail, and digital video camera. The alternative is to use the Publish Movie button, which will open a screen with those same choices. (In other words, the Tasks options are one step more direct.) After selecting the destination for your movie, you can specify quality settings: best, compress, or other formats. Publishing is slow. A very short movie can take 10 minutes to write to disk. When you are done creating a movie, you can view it in Media Player (default), Media Center, or Photo Gallery.
Summary Early users of Windows XP Media Center Edition were often big fans of its functions. It may be that including Media Center with PCs that lack additional features, such as TV tuners and remotes, diminishes the appeal of Media Center. If you are running Media Center on a desktop, you may not appreciate it compared to other media options. If you are running Media Center through a large TV, it may appeal more, though you should be aware that you could also use Media Player, Photo Gallery, or any other Windows Vista program on a TV. This is the end of our fun with Windows Vista (kidding). In the next chapter, we’ll examine running Windows Vista on a laptop or Tablet PC, including handwriting and voice recognition.
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On the Road: Laptops, Tablet and Mobile PCs
P
ortable computers enable us to take our computing environment with us almost wherever we go. Increasingly, we use mobile devices that get smaller with each generation. Computing on the go is easier than ever. Although the term laptop may seem misapplied to some of the largest devices in that category, it is a convenient catchall for computers, from the handheld “palmtops,” recently renamed as Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC), to the more traditional desktops. Increasingly, we are also carrying portable devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, smartphones, and MP3 players. Microsoft refers to the smallest computers as Mobile PCs. These Mobile PCs run a special version of Windows (or the manufacturer’s operating system). With these devices comes a need to synchronize data between the devices and information on our PCs — for example, contact information from a cell phone or music and playlists from a media player. In this chapter, we’ll examine features of particular interest to the mobile user, including the following: Security Power options Handwriting and speech recognition Synchronization Windows Meeting Space
Note In spite of the title of this chapter, much of the content is relevant to any computer user. Power-saving features apply to desktops as well as laptops, as may handwriting, speech recognition, and the rest.
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Tablet PCs Tablet PCs differ from other laptops in that they use a pen for input and do not always have a keyboard. Tablet PCs fall into two categories: Convertibles — Most convertibles are laptops with screens that swivel to cover or reveal a keyboard. In one mode, a convertible may look just like any other laptop. Swivel the screen, and it looks and works as a Tablet PC. Slates — Slates usually do not have a keyboard, except as an add-on device. Slates can be thinner and lighter because they don’t convert into regular laptops. Windows XP has a separate edition for Tablet PCs. The unique features of the Tablet edition of XP include handwriting support (both as digital ink and converted to text) and speech recognition. With Windows Vista, Tablet PC features have been absorbed into the basic operating system. This will make these features available to more users than just those with specialized tablets. That said, you may still need special equipment to get the most out of these features (such as a pen for input or a headset with microphone for speech). Furthermore, the tablet-specific features, such as handwriting recognition, are greatly improved in Windows Vista.
Note I’ve been using a convertible Tablet PC for more than a year, after shopping for one for several years. I think a Tablet PC in portrait mode is the perfect device for reading and looking at photographs. There are times when writing by hand or tapping on a tiny onscreen keyboard seem too much trouble, but sitting in my favorite chair with the tablet in my lap is the perfect way to pass hours browsing the Web. When I did a clean installation of Windows Vista Ultimate on my Tablet PC, almost everything worked without problems. The one thing I lost was programmability of the tablet’s special buttons. Enabling those buttons again will require a driver update that is not yet available from my tablet manufacturer.
Security Keeping your data safe becomes even more critical when your computer can be snatched or you can just as easily leave it at the coffee shop. (See Chapter 4 for a more complete discussion of security.) Consider these points: Physical security — You may want a special cable to lock your Mobile PC to a secure object. There are also alarms that detect separation between a laptop and a device you carry. Biometrics — Some Mobile PCs have fingerprint readers.
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Password security — You should have a strong password for your Windows Vista account to prevent anyone from logging in. Data encryption — You may want to encrypt certain files or folders or the entire hard drive with BitLocker (available only in the Enterprise or Ultimate editions of Vista).
Tip Your user account can have a password hint. Make your hint your phone number, including area code, or your e-mail address. That way, someone trying to log in will have a way to reach you.
More Power to You Mobility requires portable power — batteries. Batteries need to be managed to extend available power for as long as possible before recharging or replacing. This is referred to as battery life, which is something of a misnomer. The time between getting up and going to bed is not your “life,” except in the most philosophical sense. Eventually, all batteries lose their ability to take or hold a charge; this is a battery’s usable life span or longevity. This issue starts with the manufacturer of the laptop and the battery. There is an amazing range in the length of battery life. Some of the worst batteries run for barely more than an hour. Some of the best may run four or more hours. Though you can influence this, you can’t completely overcome a bad or weak battery. Consider this as you shop for a laptop. You may also want to consider a spare battery for times when your battery runs out of power and you can’t connect to direct power.
Tip In addition to a spare battery, when you travel, take the power cord so you can use your laptop and recharge it. Buy a power inverter for your car, so you can run and recharge the laptop or tablet as you drive.
Your laptop probably has its own tools for conserving power. Windows Vista also has tools for this purpose (see the upcoming “Power Options” section).
Mobile PC Recognizing that users of portable computers need functions that a desktop user may not, Microsoft has created or enhanced tools for mobile devices. The new Mobile PC category in the Control Panel is a collection of functions for laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices. Mobile PC appears in the Control Panel only if your computer is a mobile device — desktop users won’t see it. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Mobile PC.
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Under Mobile PC, you will find the following functions, each of which we will examine more closely: Windows Mobility Center Power Options Personalization Tablet PC Settings Pen and Input Devices Sync Center Of these functions, most also appear under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound. Sync Center also appears under Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Network and Internet. Windows Mobility Center only appears under Mobile PC.
Windows Mobility Center The Mobility Center appears only if your system is battery powered. You can access the Mobility Center through Mobile PC on the Control Panel, through the Battery Meter, or more directly with Win+X. The Mobility Center consists of “tiles” controlling settings to which a Mobile PC user needs quick access (see Figure 18-1). Note that most tiles have an obvious button or slider, but the smaller icon in each tile is also a button to related settings. Manufacturers of Mobile PCs may add their own tiles to the Mobility Center.
Figure 18-1: The Mobility Center (Win+X)
The default tiles include the following: Display brightness — Brightness adjusts automatically according to power settings (covered in the next section). If you need to manually increase or decrease screen brightness, use this option. Volume (and mute) — Adjusts or mutes sound.
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Battery Status (and plans) — Also handled by the Battery Meter. (See the “Battery Meter” section after “Power Options.”) Estimates remaining time and percentage of battery power, as well as allowing you to switch power plans. Wireless Network — Displays the status of the connection. Turns wireless on or off. Screen Orientation (rotation) — Rotates the screen in 90-degree increments. This is especially important to Tablet PC users who are more likely to switch between landscape and portrait. External Display — Connects to an external display. Sync Center — See “Offline Files and Sync Center” near the end of this chapter. Presentation Settings — Use this during a presentation to override other settings: screen saver, volume, desktop background, and power options. This is meant to spare you the embarrassment of your vacation slides showing during a presentation. Turn on during a presentation; turn off for normal life. Click the little projector icon to customize these settings.
Power Options Sleep is a new power mode in Windows Vista, replacing XP’s standby. In sleep mode, your computer powers down to a very low energy state (which Microsoft equates to the power consumption of a night light). Move the mouse or touch the keyboard and your system resumes normal operation almost instantly — with windows, applications, and documents open as you left them before sleep. (On some laptops, you may have to push the power button to wake the computer.) Hibernation mode goes one step further in writing the contents of memory — open programs and data — to a file on disk and turning off all power consumption. Reviving the system from hibernation requires a normal press of the power button (laptop or desktop). It takes a bit longer to wake from hibernation than sleep, but still far less time than a normal startup, with the same advantage as sleep of returning instantly to any open applications and documents. The waters are muddied a bit by something called hybrid sleep. When hybrid sleep is enabled (as it is by default), your system saves the contents of memory exactly as hibernation does, but does not power off. You have the faster resumption of activity from sleep with the hibernation file serving as a backup, so to speak, if the power is turned off. This is intended to be the best of both worlds and the new “off.” If hybrid sleep is not supported by your hardware or is disabled, by you or the manufacturer of a mobile PC, the system will sleep or hibernate, but sleep will not create the file associated with hibernation. A power outage during non-hybrid sleep may mean loss of data (from open documents that haven’t been saved); disabling hybrid sleep increases the odds of lost data. Unfortunately, outside of the advanced power options, you won’t see the word “hybrid,” and “sleep” could mean either type. In XP, hibernation is a great feature for any computer user, but especially for laptops. Although it may be hidden in Windows Vista, hibernate as an explicit choice isn’t completely gone, as we’ll see when we dig deeper into power options.
Tip Send your friends scrambling for their online dictionaries by referring to hibernation as estivation (but only at the proper time of year).
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POWER SWITCHES Your desktop and laptop have physical power switches that can turn the computer on and off. Laptops also have a switch built into the lid so that closing the lid acts as a physical power switch. The Start menu has a virtual power switch: the button with the circle and vertical slash. What actually happens with each of these switches can be determined through power options. To the right of the virtual power button on the Start menu, the smaller downward-facing arrow reveals the full range of choices, including sleep but usually not hibernate.
Caution If you see Hibernate on the Shutdown menu, take that as a warning that hybrid sleep is disabled or unavailable.
POWER PLANS
Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Mobile PC ➝ Power Options (Win+R, powercfg.cpl). The main screen displays existing power plans (also known as profiles or schemes), including Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance (see Figure 18-2). You can switch between existing plans simply by clicking the radio button next to the one you want. The links in the Navigation pane lead to specific changes that are incorporated into power plans. Although you can modify any existing plan, let’s begin by creating a new plan.
Figure 18-2: Power plans
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Choose the “Create a power plan” link on the left. The Create a Power Plan screen (see Figure 18-3) gives you a choice among the three standard plans. Pick one to serve as a template for your new plan. All options can be adjusted, so in a sense it doesn’t matter which one you start with. However, you’ll reduce the number of settings you have to change by picking the existing plan closest to your goal. Farther down the screen, enter a unique name for your new plan, and then click the Next button.
Figure 18-3: Creating a power plan
In the next screen, Edit Plan Settings, you find the tip of the iceberg in these settings: Turn off the display Put the computer to sleep Adjust display brightness (appears only on battery-operated devices) For laptop users, each of these three options will have separate options for On Battery and Plugged In. Desktop users have more limited options. The default selections depend on which standard plan you start with. The range of options for settings is from 1 minute to 5 hours (in preset increments) or never. Make your choices and click the Create button. Your new plan appears on the Power Options screen with the others and is selected. The standard plan that served as your template has been moved under the heading Hide Additional Plans.
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Although you could stop here, choose Change Plan Settings under your new plan. The same options you saw a moment ago appear, as well as a new link: “Change advanced power settings.” Click that link. The Power Options dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 18-4. Your active plan is selected, but you can choose any plan from the list. There are many options that you can adjust in this dialog box.
Figure 18-4: Advanced settings for Power Options
If your computer is battery operated (including desktops with USB UPS — uninterruptible power supply), you’ll find two options under all the following settings: On Battery and Plugged In. For example, you might want your display to shut off after a few minutes on battery but never when plugged in. Desktops without UPS will not have these extra options. Overall, you should be more aggressive in power-saving choices on battery. Note that where I’ve written “after N minutes” below, you can specify any number of minutes; the earlier drop-down selection limited you to preset minutes or hours. A few of the following settings appear only on certain devices, particularly those that are battery powered. If you are unable to change some of these settings, there is a link to “Change settings that are currently unavailable” (for example, the password on wakeup option). Additional settings Require a password on wakeup — Do you want to be prompted to log in after sleep or hibernation? At home, I don’t; on the road, I do. So this is set to No on my desktop machine. For the laptop, it is No when plugged in (I’m probably at home) and Yes when on battery (I’m probably on the road). I create a separate power plan on the laptop for longer trips, where it is Yes to both.
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Hard disk Turn off hard disk after N minutes — On a laptop, the hard disk is a major power consumer. If the hard disk powers down, it will resume fairly quickly anytime it is needed. Wireless Adapter Settings Power Saving Mode — If your adapter has a physical power switch, that may be the easiest option when you aren’t using the adapter at all. Or use the option in Windows Mobility Center to turn wireless off. When the wireless adapter is actually in use, I want maximum performance. (The other options are three levels of power savings.) Sleep Sleep after N minutes — Set the number of minutes of inactivity to wait before automatically sleeping (desktop or laptop). I suggest you wait a longer time plugged in (especially for a desktop machine) and a shorter time on battery, to save power sooner. Allow hybrid sleep (if supported by your computer) — The default is Yes and almost certainly should be unless you have some compatibility problems with hybrid. If your hardware cannot support this option, it won’t appear here. If you really miss seeing hibernate as an option on the Shutdown menu, you can deliberately disable hybrid sleep. The Shutdown menu will now have Hibernate between Shut Down and Sleep (which will no longer create the hibernation file that is a safety feature of hybrid sleep — a dangerous option). Hibernate after N minutes — On a desktop system, hibernate is set to never, because hybrid sleep provides similar resumption in less time. However, you can have both. On a laptop, the On Battery option may be set to 1080 minutes. After sleeping 18 hours, the laptop will hibernate. In repeated tests with a laptop, a fully charged battery lost less than 20% of power over a 12-hour period. Still, I suggest you reduce this delay to no more than 60 minutes (sleep after an even shorter period). USB settings — Enable or disable suspension of USB devices. Power buttons and lid — Options include shut down, hibernate, and sleep. Lid close action (laptops only) — This controls the behavior of the system when you close the lid of your laptop. This setting has do nothing as an option. That would be an unwise choice, unless you’ve carefully considered the previous sleep and hibernation options. When you open the lid, touch the power switch. What happens then depends on the shutdown option you used: instant on from sleep; almost as fast return from hibernation; or full boot process after a complete shutdown. Power button action — This is the physical switch, not the Start menu virtual button. This setting also has do nothing as an option; the power switch will still turn the computer on, but not off. That may be a good choice in a public environment such as a
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista class, computer lab, or library, where people instinctively reach for the power button, especially if the screen is dark. Start menu power button — By default, this is sleep. It’s your choice for the option you want to have most accessible. Desktop users may want to take advantage of having two switches (physical power and Start menu power button) and set each to shut down a different way. I set my power switch to hibernate and the Start menu power button to sleep. Laptop users have the third choice of the lid switch. They then have easy access to three different ways of powering down. Conversely, if you find two or three different results troubling, then set all these options to your favorite choice and it won’t matter which way you go. The result will be the same (with the Shut Down menu providing alternatives if you ever need them). PCI Express Link State Power Management — Options are Off, Moderate Power Savings, and Maximum Power Savings (the default). PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) is a specific type of bus (motherboard or system board connection); PCI Express is a newer, higher-speed standard on the latest machines. These settings allow Windows Vista to manage the power requirements of this bus and attached devices. I know no argument for moderate; only use off if you can trace a problem to a PCI Express device. Processor power management (if supported by your computer) — As a percentage from 0% to 100%. “Throttling back” the CPU from 100% is a way to reduce power demands and heat. I’m not sure how Windows Vista chooses between these states. Minimum processor state — The default for on battery and plugged in is 5%. I wonder what happens if you set it to zero. Maximum processor state — For a desktop: 100% is recommended. Unless your laptop is overheating when plugged in, the same. On battery: you’ll get more battery life with a lower maximum but you’ll also get less processing power; drop it until you notice (the default is 50%). Search and Indexing Power Savings Mode — Search depends on automatic index, which runs continually in the background. Your options here are High Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver, for on battery and for plugged in. If you are squeezing every drop out of your battery, use Power Saver. Plugged in would surely warrant High Performance. Display Turn off display after N minutes — If you use a screen saver, you should set it to kick in before this option does.
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Adaptive display — If this option is on (default), Windows Vista will extend the delay for turning off the display if you repeatedly turn on the display with the keyboard or mouse. Display brightness (battery-powered devices only) — Reducing screen brightness conserves power at the expense of legibility. You can quickly adjust brightness through the Mobility Center (Win+X). Multimedia settings When sharing media — Recall from Chapter 17 on Media Center that you can share media files over the network. If you power down, those files won’t be available. Does that matter to you or anyone on the network? You can prevent sleep, allow it, or allow a state called Away Mode in which the computer is almost asleep but not quite, leaving access to shared resources. Battery (battery-powered devices only) — These options determine how the system should respond to low and critical battery levels, which are percentages of full power. The earlier “after N minutes” settings were strictly time-related, regardless of remaining power; these settings are strictly power-related, regardless of elapsed time. The order of these options is not entirely logical. Critical battery action — This option determines the shutdown type (sleep, hibernate, or shut down) when the battery drops to critical level (which is determined two settings later). I recommend hibernate. Low battery level — Here you specify the percentage of remaining battery power that should trigger the low battery notification and action. Critical battery level — What percentage of remaining battery power will trigger critical battery action (no notification)? If you set this percentage too high (say, 50%), you’ll get the critical battery action too soon (arguably). Set it too low (1%), and you won’t have any reserved power. Low battery notification — Do you want a low battery notification to pop up over the taskbar? This can be a vital reminder to save work and get to a plug. How late is too late? (That determines the “Low battery level” above.) Low battery action — This option can shut down (sleep, hibernate, or shut down) your battery-powered PC when the battery drops to the level you set above. By default, this action is Do Nothing. You’ll receive notice, but nothing happens until you reach critical level. Consider changing this to sleep, and critical action to hibernate.
Tip If you want to delete a power plan you’ve created, you must choose another plan first. Then “Change plan settings” for the plan you want to delete. You cannot delete the default plans.
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BATTERY METER The Battery Meter or Power Icon appears in the taskbar tray on portable systems and desktops with a recognized UPS. If the system is plugged in, the Battery Meter indicates recharging; unplugged, it will report approximate remaining battery power in a tooltip. Single-click the Battery Meter in the taskbar tray for a pop-up menu to switch power plans, to access the power options discussed above, or to open the Windows Mobility Center (see Figure 18-5).
Figure 18-5: Single-click the Battery Meter in the taskbar tray for this menu.
Tip If you don’t see the Battery Meter (or don’t want to see it), right-click over the taskbar and choose Properties. Select the Notification Area tab, and check or uncheck the Power option under System icons. If this is grayed out, the system doesn’t recognize that you are capable of running on battery.
Personalization Back in Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Mobile PC, after Power Options, you’ll see Personalization. We examined these settings for appearance, background, screen saver, sounds, mouse pointers, themes, and display settings in Chapter 6. Let’s go on to Tablet PC Settings. See the “Working with Handwriting and Digital Ink” sidebar.
Tip Tablet PC users will notice on the Desktop, in Windows Explorer, and elsewhere, that icons have a small checkbox in the upper-left corner. Use this to select multiple icons, clicking the box for each, before an operation (copy, delete, etc.) on those selected objects. This option is available for any Windows Vista user, but isn’t on by default on a desktop PC. Turn the feature on or off through Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Appearance and Personalization ➝ Folder Options ➝ View tab ➝ Advanced settings, and select “Use check boxes to select items.”
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Working with Handwriting and Digital Ink When Microsoft announced its intention years ago to begin working with handwriting, many people wondered why. Most of us admit we have terrible handwriting. Although many people who work with computers are also at least adequate typists, typing is not always the easiest way to record information, especially in a mobile setting. Typing during a meeting or class can be very distracting for others (as can the physical barrier of a raised screen). Balancing a laptop on your knees on a bus or plane is certainly a challenge. Of course, so is trying to type or write by hand as the bus rattles around a corner. Moreover, we know that if computers are going to become even easier for everyone to use in the widest range of locations, we have to be able to function without keyboards on occasion. When most people think about handwriting and computers, they think of conversion through character recognition. However, in many cases, handwriting doesn’t have to be converted to be useful. Think of a simple note or grocery list. If you can read your own handwriting — I hear you laughing — then why convert? Even longer meeting or class notes may be fine left in your original handwriting as “digital ink.” It would be reasonable at this point to bring up the need to search through those notes. Wouldn’t that require conversion? Surprisingly, no. It is possible to search through handwritten digital ink. There are a few applications that enable you to write by hand, and the list is growing. Though these have been used primarily by owners of Tablet PCs in the past, they may be useful to anyone. For example, the Sticky Notes came from the Tablet PC. So did the Snipping Tool (screen captures).
Get a Pen You may have tried to write with your mouse in an application like Paint. It’s not easy. If you don’t have a Tablet PC, which comes with a pen, you can add a pen to any desktop or laptop. I like to use graphics tablets, which have a wireless pen and pad together. These have been marketed especially to people who work with drawing applications, but I’m left-brained and still love mine. There is one crucial difference between writing on a Tablet PC and using a pen-enabled desktop machine. Tablet users write directly on the screen, while desktop users will write on an attached tablet in most case. That distance between where you write and where you see the writing can feel awkward at first. However, you’ll adjust quickly to using a pen for menus and other tasks normally done with a mouse.
Tablet PC Settings Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Mobile PC (or Hardware and Sound) ➝ Tablet PC Settings to control the use of a pen with a Tablet PC (see Figure 18-6).
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Figure 18-6: Tablet PC Settings
Tabs and options include the following: General tab Handedness — Options are right-handed (menus slide to the left) and left-handed (menus slide to the right, which is what we normally see). When applications ignore this setting, a right-hander covers those menus with his or her hand. Calibration — Select an orientation (portrait versus landscape for primary and secondary display). Click the Calibrate button for calibration (click each of four corners to calibrate). This may improve the accuracy of your pen taps. (Desktop users should not use this function.) Handwriting Recognition tab — The following two options are new in Windows Vista and improve handwriting recognition by adjusting to your specific handwriting. The earlier version of XP for Tablet PCs did not learn from the user. Together these are real improvements to handwriting recognition. Use the personalized recognizer — When this is enabled (as it is by default), you can use the Tablet Input Panel (TIP — see the section “Table Input Panel Settings”) to train the handwriting recognizer. In the TIP, use Tools ➝ Personalize Handwriting Recognition. This opens a window with two functions: “Target specific recognition errors” (perhaps the recognizer always has trouble with a letter combination) and “Teach the recognizer your handwriting style” (the equivalent of teaching the speech recognizer: you write samples for the recognizer to analyze). Automatic Learning — With the previous option, you train the recognizer directly. With this option, you let the recognizer study the spontaneous changes you make in the TIP. As you fix recognition problems, the system learns. I assume these options are here for some privacy concern. Or perhaps they consume CPU cycles. Both should be enabled for most users.
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Display tab Screen Orientation — Primary or secondary, landscape or portrait. The Mobility Center also controls orientation. Specify the sequence in which orientation is changed as you press your Tablet PC orientation button. Other tab — The options here open linked dialog boxes. Pen and input — Access to the Pen and Input Devices dialog box, which opens separately (see the next section). Tablet PC Input Panel options — Go to the Input Panel Settings/Options dialog box, which opens separately (see the section “Tablet Input Panel Settings”).
Pen and Input Devices Tablet PCs use pens for handwriting, of course, but the pen is also used instead of a mouse to select, click, double-click, right-click, and click and drag. The Pen and Input Devices settings determine what happens when you tap your pen or make a gesture from a new category called flicks. Access these settings from the Other tab on Tablet PC Settings or through Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ Pen and Input Devices (see Figure 18-7).
Figure 18-7: Pen and Input Devices
Pen Options tab Pen actions — Select one of the following and click the Settings button to adjust and test speed and tolerance (how far the pen tip can move and still be considered this particular pen action).
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Single-tap equals single-click. Double-tap equals double-click. Press and hold equals right-click (context menu). Start Tablet PC Input Panel has no mouse equivalent. We’ll look at the Input Panel in a moment. Use this option (off by default) to enable a gesture to bring up the Input Panel. I find this rapid side-to-side gesture difficult. Pen buttons — Some pens have a button on the side (some buttons are rockers with multiple positions). Some pens also have an “eraser” at the opposite end from the tip. Use the pen button as a right-click equivalent (checked) — Uncheck if you don’t want the context menu with a button click. You can still press and hold for the context menu. Use the top of the pen to erase ink (where available; checked) — Uncheck to disable the eraser function (if you have one); as a result, you may be able to write with either end. Pointer Options tab Dynamic feedback — Determines the visual feedback with variations on taps (single-tap, double-tap, press pen button, press pen button and tap) — each has a different mouse pointer. I find these very useful, though you have to see this tab to know what each means. Pointer options — “Show pen cursors instead of mouse cursors when I use my pen” (checked). For example, when you use a pen, the “mouse pointer” (actually, the pen pointer) is a little diamond. If you want the “real” mouse pointer (arrow), uncheck this box. Flicks tab — Flicks are pen movements that trigger actions. These flicks are programmable (defaults are noted below); you can program any flick in the direction of the eight compass points (north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest). These actions are assigned to one of the eight flicks: back, copy, delete, drag down, drag up, forward, paste, toggle undo. The following actions are available but not assigned to any flicks (you would have to replace one of the defaults): none, cut, open, print, redo, save, scroll down, scroll up, toggle Alt key, toggle Ctrl + Alt keys, toggle Ctrl key, toggle Shift key, toggle Windows logo key. Use flicks to perform common actions quickly and easily (checked) Navigational flicks (selected). Flick up for drag up; flick right for forward; flick down for drag down; flick left for back. Navigational flicks and editing flicks. Same as above plus these editing flicks: flick northeast for copy; flick southeast for paste; flick southwest for undo; flick northwest for delete. Sensitivity — Adjust the sensitivity between relaxed and precise to make help Windows Vista recognize your flicks as such.
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Display flicks icon in the notification area — If flicks are enabled, you can have an icon in the notification tray (it looks like a pen in hand with arrows radiating away). Singleclick that icon for a pop-up reminder of what the flicks are, double-click the icon for this dialog box and right-click the icon for options controlling flicks. I recommend you leave this checked, if you use flicks. Follow the “practice using flicks” link.
Tablet Input Panel Settings The Tablet Input Panel (TIP) provides you with alternative ways of entering text or mimicking keystrokes without a keyboard. The TIP has three forms (see Figure 18-8). Switch between them with the buttons in the upperleft corner of the TIP. Notice that all three forms have buttons (keys) on the right side for common functions. Writing Pad — Print or write script. Character Pad — Enter characters one at a time in the boxes provided by this form (script or print). Keyboard — Tap your pen on the onscreen keys to “type” your text. For key combinations such as Win+D or Shift+X, tap the modifier key first (Shift, Alt, Ctrl, Win). It will stay down until you tap another key. Along with some fairly familiar keys in the right-hand keypad, Writing Pad and Character Pad have three special buttons at the bottom. Each adds a smaller pad of special keys to the left of the main pad. Num — This adds a number keypad very much like the one on the far right side of most keyboards. Sym — This keypad has all the punctuation marks and symbols of a keyboard. Web — This adds buttons to help construct URLs: http:// www. .com .net .org .edu . (dot/period) / (slash/wack) .gov
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Tip Recall that in Internet Explorer, Ctrl+Enter inserts www. before anything you enter in the address bar and .com after; I often use the TIP keyboard for this.
The keypad to the right of the virtual keyboard has a few special keys: PrtScn — Prints the screen (copies the screen to the clipboard). Func — Changes number keys to function keys (F1–F12). ScLk — Changes keys to single function; without Shift, just the lowercase options; with Shift, all the shifted options. This is not quite the same as Caps (Caps Lock).
Character Pad
Keyboard
Special keys
Writing Pad
Choose pad
Figure 18-8: The Tablet Input Panel: Writing Pad, Character Pad, and Keyboard
In the Writing Pad or Character Pad, as the TIP interprets your handwriting, the interpreted words appear below the line. You can click those words to correct them if necessary (which will teach the TIP). If you reach the end of a line, the TIP will automatically expand to an additional line. Click the Insert button to insert your interpreted text wherever the cursor is. Use the Tools menu to position the TIP. When the TIP floats, it moves into view when needed and out of view when unneeded, floating in front of other windows. When the TIP is docked at the top or bottom of screen, it is always visible. These options can make a big difference in how useful you find the TIP. Experiment with them.
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Use Options under Tools to access the following: Settings tab Insert button — Position the Insert button to the left side (default) or right side below the writing area. Insert text with a tap of Insert (default) or just by pointing to Insert. AutoComplete (checked) — This suggests matches from previous text, filenames, e-mail addresses, and URLs. Restore defaults — If you make changes (or aren’t sure you have), use this to put settings back to the default. Opening tab — These options control the appearance of the TIP tab and icon. The TIP tab appears along the left or right edge of the screen when the TIP floats (the tab does not appear when the TIP is docked at the top or bottom of the screen). The TIP icon may appear in the taskbar. Actions that open Input Panel — Open TIP by tapping (default) or just pointing at the tab or icon. Input Panel icons and tab — Show an icon near text entry areas (checked). Show an icon in the Taskbar (checked). Show a tab (checked) when the TIP floats. Float the tab to the left (default) or right and slide the TIP from the tab (checked). Writing Pad tab — The Writing Pad is a free-form space for script or printing. Appearance — Set the thickness of the ink or the lines in each stroke; choose from three fine points, medium, and three marker thicknesses. Fine or finer are probably best for writing. Automatic text insertion (unchecked) — If you want to automatically insert characters as they are recognized instead of tapping or pointing at the Insert button, check this and adjust the pause before insertion. I prefer the control of tapping the Insert button when I’m ready. New writing line — This controls how close to the end of the line you get before a new line appears. Character Pad tab — The Character Pad is a form with space for individual characters. You can write script or print characters in each space. Using the character pad is likely to be slower than the Writing Pad but may be less prone to misinterpretation. Learn to switch between the two as needed. Appearance — As with Writing Pad appearance, this is the thickness of the ink or characters. Thinner may be better. Handwriting recognition — Not quite the same as “automatic text insertion” in Writing Pad. Normally, Character Pad converts handwriting to text as you move from one character square to the next. Check this option to make the conversion happen after a pause, even if you haven’t moved on to another space.
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Part IV: Working with Windows Vista Gestures tab — Gestures are pen movements not used to create characters. For example, the XP Tablet PC edition recognizes a horizontal “Z” gesture across text you’ve already written as strikethrough indicating you want that text “struck” or deleted. Windows Vista recognizes more gestures to achieve the same effect: “M” or “W” (vertical strikethrough), circular and angled scratch-out. Four more gestures from handheld devices are recognized in the Writing Pad or Character Pad, each of which is drawn as wide as two characters. Drag left equals pressing the Backspace key; drag right equals a space; drag down and sharp left equals pressing the Enter key; and drag left and sharply down equals pressing the Tab key. For Enter and Tab, the horizontal part of the gesture should be twice as long as the vertical part and the change in direction should be exactly square (90 degrees).
Note Gestures differ from flicks. Gestures apply only within the Writing Pad or Character Pad of the TIP (and some applications), whereas flicks apply outside the TIP. Flicks are somewhat programmable (from a limited list); gestures are not.
Advanced tab — The Password security slider controls what is displayed in the TIP when the cursor is in a recognized password field. All options but Low automatically display the keyboard function of the TIP. With Medium-high (the default) or High, as you type on the onscreen keyboard, the keys will not be highlighted (as they are normally). This is meant to make it harder for someone who is watching you to tell what you’ve “typed” into a password field.
Digital Ink Applications Windows Vista includes a few programs that accept handwriting (beyond any drawing application like Paint): Snipping Tool — Allows you to capture, edit, and annotate screens as files or in e-mail. Sticky Notes — Places a stack of notes on your screen for handwritten or audio notes. InkBall — A game in which you draw lines to deflect balls into a pocket. Windows Journal — Windows Journal is a cool tool that emulates a legal pad for notes (see Figure 18-9). Although it is far less capable than OneNote (described next), it is actually very good for taking notes. Notes can be highlighted, flagged, searched, and copied as text to other applications. If you need to share Journal documents with anyone who has Windows but not Vista or the Tablet Edition of XP, search www.microsoft.com/downloads/ for Journal Viewer, a program that lets other Windows users view (but not edit) Journal files.
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Figure 18-9: Windows Journal is a simple program for handwritten notes.
Microsoft OneNote — Microsoft OneNote is a personal information manager (PIM) that can be purchased separately or with Microsoft Word and Excel as part of the Home & Student Edition (see Figure 18-10). OneNote enables you to take handwritten notes and collect snippets of information from any document or Web page, as well as images, audio, and video. Your notes are organized into sections and notebooks. Notes can be flagged in various ways. Audio is synchronized to notes. You can search your handwritten notes or convert them to text. It is the ultimate notetaker’s tool and ideal with a pen (though you can also type into OneNote with a keyboard).
Figure 18-10: Microsoft OneNote is to Journal as Word is to WordPad.
For Windows XP Tablet Edition, Microsoft released the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC, which has programs meant to show off the tablet environment. Included are Ink Crossword and Ink Art. I like Ink Desktop, which lets you write anywhere on the Desktop — great for a quick note.
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Unfortunately, at this writing, the Experience Pack will not install under Windows Vista, and previously installed versions of Ink Crossword and Ink Desktop do not run (although Ink Art seems to work).
Speech Recognition for All Star Trek popularized the notion of talking to computers and computers that talk back. The notion is intriguing and logical as well as easily lampooned. At the same time, “talking to yourself” has lost much of its stigma thanks to cell phones and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). It’s not as crazy as it used to be.
Tip Get a microphone. A USB headset with attached microphone is a good option. Test your microphone volume easily by opening Sticky Notes, clicking the round red Record button, and saying a few words or commands. If you playback at a reasonable volume but cannot hear your words clearly, there may still be a hardware problem. See the website for the manufacturer of your microphone for tips and new drivers.
As with handwriting, the right equipment will make this feature more useful. Also as with handwriting, be prepared to spend time training the system.
Recognizing Speech Just as one can leave writing as unconverted ink, one can also record speech without recognition. Sound Recorder is one of the applications that allows this (Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝ Sound Recorder). Speech recognition goes further. It turns the spoken word into either text (dictation) or commands to be executed. In this case, some training is necessary, for you and the computer. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Ease of Access ➝ Speech Recognition Options. Start Speech Recognition — Before you start speech recognition, you should use all the other options you see. This option will start recognition (which will also turn on automatically every time Windows Vista starts, unless you turn that setting off). You’ll see the speech recognition tool or monitor, which displays text feedback in response to your speech. Set up microphone — Begin with this option. The Microphone Setup Wizard runs, in which you select the type of microphone you have (headset, desktop, or other). As a step in this wizard, you read a phrase off the screen to assess voice volume. As long as the volume indicator is anywhere in the green, you are probably okay. Take Speech Tutorial — You need this and the next two options. The tutorial will show you some of the things possible and talk you through some practice.
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Train your computer to better understand you — Here, you will read text from a series of screens to help train the recognizer. The more of these text examples you read, the better. Open the Speech Reference Card — This is actually a help file listing spoken commands. In fact, say “What can I say?” to open this card anytime the speech recognizer is listening.
Commands versus Dictation Talking to your computer effectively requires adequate hardware, configuration of the software, and training for both you and the computer. In particular, articulate and enunciate clearly. One of the things to get used to is switching in and out of speech recognition. Once you have speech recognition running, say “start listening” to activate it and “stop listening” to pause (though, of course, it is actually still listening for you to say “start listening” again). You can use speech recognition just for commands or just for dictation, but you are likely to use it for both. Until you get familiar with the Speech Recognition Card, you can expect some potentially funny or frustrating results whereby your commands are transcribed or your dictation is executed. Think of it as a game or as training a pet.
Troubleshooting Speech Recognition Although the results of dictation can be funny, misunderstandings can also be very frustrating — even more so if your commands aren’t understood. While patience and humor are important, be certain your microphone is working well. If you switch microphones, rerun the option to set up your microphone. Also, be certain the input volume for the microphone is high enough. Select Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ Sound, and click the Recording tab. Select your microphone and click the Properties button. In the resulting Microphone Properties dialog box, click the Levels tab. The slider should be close to 100% and the Mute button should not be selected. Figure 18-11 shows a composite with the Microphone selected in the background and the Levels tab for that microphone; above both is the Speech Recognizer, listening (until you say “stop listening.”).
Figure 18-11: Crank it up!
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If you are sure the hardware is okay but you are still having problems, use the Speech Recognition Option to “Train your computer to better understand you.” You can repeat that process several times. If Speech Recognition is listening, say “What can I say?” to “Open the Speech Reference Card” (as it appears under Speech Recognition Options). The context menu of the microphone icon for Speech Recognition as it appears in the taskbar tray has an option to Open the Speech Dictionary for more direct training word by word.
Offline Files and Sync Center Synchronization is the process of duplicating files between devices. On the one hand, you might want to synchronize music or video files with your portable media player. On the other hand, you might need access to network files when you aren’t connected to the network. In that case, you will also need to reconcile changes made to those files while you are disconnected. The Sync Center provides one location to manage synchronization of multiple devices. You can also sync through individual programs such as Media Center or Media Player without using the Sync Center.
Offline Files Imagine you have a folder with a few memos or letters on your desktop machine. You want to work with those same files on your laptop when you are away from the office. Of course, you could just copy those files from one machine to another — that is not synchronization. A potential problem arises if you make changes to one or more of those files on your laptop. Now the laptop files and the desktop files are “out of sync.” Again, you could take matters into your own hands and copy the changed files from the laptop to the desktop, replacing the older desktop versions. This is not a particularly onerous task when it involves just a few files. You can automate this process using Offline Files, a feature also found in XP, and the new Sync Center. Begin by browsing your network (Start ➝ Network). Browse a machine other than the current one on your network. The items you see here are shared resources, including printers, which are irrelevant to this discussion. Locate a shared folder and right-click. On the context menu, you should see Always Available Offline. Click that menu item and then right-click again; a checkmark now appears next to that item. That folder is now included among Offline Files. The phrase “always available” may be more meaningful here. If you are connected to the network, you will work directly with the original files in that folder. If you are disconnected (or the other machine is), you will still have access to those files — they are offline, but always available. Of course, you are working with a copy of the original files when the originals are offline, but it is actually helpful to pretend that isn’t so. A couple of things may make this approach preferable to the less automated approach of just manually copying files, as described in the first part of this section. Consistent location — The file you want is always in the same place. Under the manual approach, you must choose between the original on a network drive and the copy on your local drive.
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Forget copying — Once you identify your offline files, Windows Vista can automatically handle reconciling changes. Under the manual approach, you must copy the original to the local drive and remember to copy it back later (if you made changes). All this could be done without ever looking at the Sync Center. The Sync Center enables you to identify files and folders to synchronize between a laptop and a desktop or a network drive. Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Mobile PC (or Network and Internet) ➝ Sync Center (or Win+R, mobsync.exe). If you haven’t used the steps above to make a folder “Always Available Offline,” the Sync Center may be empty, in which case you should use the link to “Set up new sync partnerships” under Tasks in the Navigation pane. On the next screen, if you are on a network, you are likely to see Offline Files (see Figure 18-12). This is a “sync partnership” that is created automatically. You may also find your MP3 player listed here if you have used Sync in Media Player or Media Center.
Figure 18-12: The Sync Center
If you followed the earlier steps, double-clicking Offline Files should show the folder you made always available. It is here, in the Sync Partnership Details, that we find more advantages over the manual approach. Sync all/Sync — From this screen, you can click the Sync All button above the list of available items. You can also select any of those items and click Sync to update just the selected item(s). Schedule — Clicking the Schedule button gives you options to create, edit, or delete a schedule. Choose “Create a new sync schedule.” The next screen identifies which items to synchronize. Choose any, then click the Next button. Files can be synchronized: At a scheduled time — And repeated every N minutes, hours, days, weeks or months) On an event or action — Log on, idle time, locked, or unlocked Options can be selected for scheduled synchronization to set conditions on starting or stopping sync (mostly related to whether the machine is idle and “awake” and on external power — see Figure 18-13).
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Figure 18-13: Schedule synchronization for a time or an event
Caution You may be tempted to sync your entire Documents folder (or User folder) between your laptop and desktop. Remember that offline files involve copies — you are duplicating these files. This process may work best with folders set up specifically for this purpose. Be aware that synchronization can result in a problem called sync conflicts. For example, if you change a file on your laptop and change the file on your desktop, those changes may not be reconcilable. Windows Vista will ask what you want to do.
Tip Use Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Network and Internet ➝ Offline Files for some useful information and controls not found elsewhere. (You can also open the Start menu and type offline to jump to this program.) The General tab will enable or disable the offline files function. The Disk Usage tab shows you how much space is allocated for offline files and how much is used. You may need to change the limit.
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Synchronizing Media Files The Offline Files of the previous section are networked files that might change during a period in which your device is not connected to the network. With most portable devices that are not Mobile PCs, you won’t have the issue of reconciling file changes; you simply want those devices updated with new files. If you have a portable media player, you might want media files you have recently added to your Media Library to be added to the player as well. For this, you could use the Sync function found in both Media Player and Media Center. However, you can also use Sync Center to manage this. You might favor Sync Center for this if you have multiple devices that need syncing or if you want the synchronization to take place automatically when you attach the portable device.
Windows Mobile Device Center With some devices, such as cell phones, you aren’t necessarily just syncing files — you may need to sync content, such as contact data. Many of these devices also play media files. Some even run small programs, particularly games. To manage this mix, Microsoft produced the Windows Mobile Device Center to run on those mobile devices. Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) replaces ActiveSync. WMDC enables you to sync your devices and data. It can create the “partnerships” managed by the Sync Center.
Note Windows Vista is rife with redundancy and overlap. This can be a good thing, enabling you to access to similar functions through different programs. There may also be a marketing purpose behind some of this; for example, the Home Basic edition doesn’t have Media Center, but it does have Media Player, so the Basic user has some of the same functionality, though obviously not all of it. In the case of synchronizing files, we have Media Player, Media Center, Sync Center, and Mobile Device Center to consider, along with third-party tools, including those that come with your portable devices. You may not find all four of Microsoft’s programs on your computer or you may not find that all four support a particular device. If you do find support in more than one Center, see if one is a better fit for your needs. Few people complain about finding three types of lettuce at one salad bar — and those who do often dine alone.
Tip Microsoft created a PowerToy for XP called SyncToy. Don’t let the diminutive “toy” turn you away from a great tool for duplicating files between locations. You should check out SyncToy (search www.microsoft .com/downloads/). What I especially like about SyncToy is a choice among several very distinct types of synchronization (made more subtle by your choice of which of two folders is the one to sync the other to). Some of these options are missing from Sync Center and Mobile Device Center.
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Meeting Space Meeting Space allows multiple computer users to spontaneously network and share open applications. This goes beyond the ad hoc networking discussed in Chapter 11. Beyond that function, Meeting Space provides the means of sharing presentations and demonstrations.
Tip Meeting Space is a very promising tool for enabling people to interact in a presentation. However, it lacks an instant messaging (IM) feature. You may want to use an IM program in conjunction with Meeting Space.
Let’s go through the steps of setting up Meeting Space. 1. Launch Meeting Space with Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Windows Meeting Space. A dialog box begins the process with a warning. (Click the link to see details.) Click Yes to continue. 2. Set up People Near Me. People Near Me is the name of the function that connects you to Meeting Space. Enter your display name. An option will automatically sign you in to People Near Me when Windows Vista starts (checked). Choose how to allow invitations (anyone, trusted contacts, or no one). 3. Start or join a meeting. On the primary Meeting Space screen, choose between starting a new meeting, joining a meeting nearby or opening an invitation file. We’ll go through each of these. 4. Start a new meeting. Click the option to start a new meeting on the main Windows Meeting Space screen (see Figure 18-14). Name the meeting. Enter a password of eight characters or more. If you are not currently networked, use the Options link to create an ad hoc network. The Options link also allows you to control whether people near you will see this meeting as available. The screen for your new meeting has areas to share a program or your desktop, invite people, and add a handout. 5. Share a program or your desktop. This is what the participants will all see and share. You’ll see a warning about sharing the desktop and suggesting you select a specific open program to share. Your shared application will display below the Windows Meeting Space title bar. You’ll see “You are sharing” and buttons to stop or pause sharing and give or take control of the session. If you are sharing a single application, you probably should maximize that application; otherwise, participants will see black space around the window.
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Figure 18-14: Start a new meeting.
In spite of the warning about the sharing the desktop, you should do so to simplify switching between programs. When you share a single program, you have to stop sharing that one before you can share another. When you share your desktop, you can start, switch between, and quit any programs anytime. Keep in mind that if you give control to other participants, they can also start any program. The Meeting Space screen will identify the program you are sharing. Links allow you to see how the session looks on other participants’ machines (use this to confirm everything is okay) and to stop sharing. 6. Invite people. In the main Meeting Space screen, click the Invite people link. If the invitation box is empty, there may not be anyone in the area currently signed in to People Near Me. The Invite others button allows you to send an invitation via e-mail or instant message. These options create a file you will send to others with instructions to launch Meeting Space on their machine and open the attached invitation file. All participants have to be on the same network. At this point, let’s go through the steps of joining a meeting: 1. Start Windows Meeting Space. 2. Join a meeting. You may see the meeting listed on the right side of the Meeting Space window. If not, click the link to open an invitation file. Enter the password when prompted.
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3. Observe the presentation. On the left side of the Meeting Space screen, you will see the program the meeting convener has shared. (You may want to maximize your Meeting Space window.) You can see whatever the convener is doing within that application. At the top of the screen, a button indicates the convener is in control. Click that button to request control. If the convener uses the “Give Control” button, your screen now displays “You are in control.” (Don’t let it go to your head.) You can do whatever you want within that application while you are in control. If the meeting convener shared his or her desktop, you can open any application. Use the control button to return control. The person who created the meeting can take control anytime with the control button (Win+Esc). 4. Share handouts. Any participant in a meeting can share any files. These are called “handouts” but can actually be any file type. In the main Meeting Space window, use the Handouts section to share. Select the files you want to share. These files will appear in this area on each participant’s screen (see Figure 18-15). Anyone can open those handouts anytime. You will be warned about the risk of opening other people’s files — do they have good anti-malware practices? Participants can save handouts using the Meeting button in the main Meeting Space window.
Figure 18-15: Meeting Space on a participant’s screen
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Anyone can use the Meeting button to leave the meeting at anytime. The person who created the meeting can also pause it or stop it. If the convener leaves the meeting without stopping it, that meeting goes on with the remaining participants. To share a different program, the person who created the meeting has to stop sharing the current program. Then any participant can start sharing a program.
SideShow On the cutting edge, SideShow refers to Windows Vista’s support of secondary displays to show information. Such a display is referred to as a “device,” and the information displayed is referred to as a “gadget.” At this time, there are no SideShow devices. However, one version would have a small display on the outside of a laptop to show meeting information. See Start ➝ Control Panel ➝ Hardware and Sound ➝ SideShow for the installed gadgets (one for Windows Mail Inbox and one for Windows Media Player) as well as any recognized devices.
Summary Windows Vista includes features of interest to Tablet PC and portable device users. Some of these features will also be useful to the desktop user: Power options such as sleep and hibernate Handwriting as digital ink Speech recognition Synchronization between devices Windows Meeting Space In the next chapters, we’ll move beyond Windows Vista to look at Microsoft Office 2007 and likely future developments for Windows Vista.
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Microsoft Office 2007 Chapter 20
The Future of Vista
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icrosoft Office 2007 is the latest version of the venerable office suite used by millions around the world — in particular, Office’s prime component, Microsoft Word. Although Office 2007 is not a part of Windows Vista, nor does it require Windows Vista (it will run on XP), there is at least one good reason to consider it here: Office 2007 has many innovations of its own, which could transfer to the operating system if they prove popular. (Or is that two reasons?) For example, we’ve seen that Windows Vista hides the classic menus (File, Edit, etc.) that have been a standard feature of Windows from the beginning (as well as other operating systems, such as the Apple Macintosh). Further, those menus have been replaced by a simpler toolbar that adapts to context. Office 2007 also hides the old menus and replaces them with a toolbar, but one that is far showier and more dynamic. Is this the face of the next version of Windows? MS Office deserves a few books of its own (and will get them). Our attention here focuses on some sweeping changes and how they relate to Windows Vista. In the process, I am certain I will leave out useful features lost in a high-flying overview.
Note Microsoft Office often comes pre-installed on new systems — you may already have it. Other users will buy it to install on XP or Windows Vista. In the interest of getting to “what’s new” more quickly, I’m saving some details about editions and installation for later in this chapter. We’ll just dive in. If you don’t have Office yet, use your imagination until you finish the chapter.
The New Office Interface Office is almost as widely used as the ubiquitous Windows. Perhaps even more so than Windows, Office is stuffed full of features that are rarely used. Take no offense if you are one of those who use every single function. Feature-rich or feature-bloat is in the eye of the beholder. Certainly, the challenge in using a large program with many functions is finding them or reaching them quickly and easily. Over the years, personalized menus and proliferating toolbars have been part of the solution — or part of the problem. Office 2007 has undergone a major makeover intended to simplify access to features without sacrificing those features. It is no less rich in capabilities than earlier Office suites, and may make many 427
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of those features more easily available. The downside is that the most immediately noticeable change is likely to be jarring to those who were most comfortable with the old interface. Later, we’ll examine the different editions of Office 2007, which comes in many different combinations of programs. All editions include two programs: Microsoft Word, the word processing program, and Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet for calculations. These two programs feature the interface changes we’ll examine. Of the rest of the programs that may be included in a given edition or package, some will have the new look and some will not. The new features of Office 2007 you’ll read about in the following sections include the following: The Office Button Key Tips Program Options The Quick Access Toolbar The Ribbon Toolbar The New “Shadow” Mini Toolbar Live Preview
The Office Button In Microsoft Word, Excel, and some other Office programs, a large round button displays in the upper-left corner of the screen featuring the four-lobed Office logo. This is the Office Button. Click it for a two-column vertical list of common tasks and Recent Documents (see Figure 19-1).
Figure 19-1: The Office Button and the menu that appears when you click it
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Don’t let the shape of the button mislead you. You can click all the way up into the corner pixel for the menu. This is a big target. The location of this button is noteworthy and groundbreaking. Since the earliest versions of Windows, most programs have displayed a program icon in the upper-left corner of the window, at the left end of the title bar. Since the earliest versions of Windows, that icon has provided access to a very short menu of window functions (Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and Close). It is likely that many Windows users are unaware of this menu and that very few actually use it. With the new Office Button, Microsoft gives this location a new purpose. If you need the older functions, Alt+spacebar will still display the old menu. I don’t mean to gush, but this is one of those major changes we might see spread throughout the system. Now that Microsoft has changed the rules for this little, previously static spot, other companies are free to make their own innovations.
Note Many of my examples are based on Word, but most of these features apply to Word, Excel, and some other programs in Office 2007.
Once you start to use Word or the other Office programs that sport the Office Button, the list of Recent Documents will become useful. You can click a document name to open it, or type the number corresponding to the document name. Each document in the list of Recent Documents has a pushpin to the right. Click that to “pin” that file permanently to the list. Pinned document names will not disappear as newer documents are opened. Click the pushpin a second time to unpin that file so that it will eventually disappear from the list as newer documents take its place. With this pin, you can craft a list of documents to which you always want easy access. This is another big change for ease of use. The other items under the Office Button include the following: New — Opens the huge New Document template dialog box. Choosing My Templates reverts to an older style of template dialog box. Use Ctrl+N to bypass this dialog box for a blank document. Open — You can use this to open a document, but we have so many other ways, including the beefed-up Recent Documents. Save — During save, give the file a name and location (use the Browse Folders button to change from the default location). Add metadata for authors and tags — these will be very valuable with Windows Vista’s enhanced search capabilities. Click to Save Thumbnail. Use the Tools button to access Save Options, General Options (passwords for this document), and more.
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Tip If you don’t click Save Thumbnail, you’ll only get the generic Word (Excel, etc.) icon in Windows Explorer, even for View Extra Large Icons (where this thumbnail can be very useful in identifying documents). It is surprising that Office doesn’t default to saving the thumbnail. Checking Save Thumbnail once makes it the default for other new documents (much easier than in Office 2003, where you have to modify the Normal template). If you need a thumbnail for an existing document, open that file and use Save As; check Save Thumbnail.
Save As — Avoid the triangle to save as the new file format, while optionally changing the filename and/or location. Use the triangle for other options: Word 97–2003 Document will allow the document to be opened by an older version of Word. (Older versions cannot open the new file format.) Use the Other Formats option for more alternatives, particularly Rich Text Format, which is especially useful if you are sending a file to someone who may not have Word. (Microsoft wants their name and address.) Print — The Print menu includes Print, which opens the full dialog box, Print Preview, and a new option: Quick Print (no dialog box; it uses the defaults). Prepare — Prepares the document for distribution: Properties — Take advantage of this option to enter more metadata: title, subject, category, status, and comments. You can use this metadata in searches outside of Office. Inspect Document — If you are sending the file to someone else, you may want to remove some data, such as comments and hidden text. Use this to find the data and optionally delete it. Encrypt Document — Add a password to secure access to this document. Restrict Permission — This involves Information Rights Management (IRM), which requires an authentication service (free trial). Add a Digital Signature — This also requires an added service. Mark as Final — Saves the file as read-only. Run Compatibility Checker — Checks for features that older versions of Office don’t support. Only necessary if you are going to save the file in an older format for sharing with the older version. Send — Includes the capability to send files by e-mail as an attachment or via Internet fax service. Publish — Includes a new option to publish as a blog entry (Word 2007 only). See “Blogging with Word.” Close — Closes the current document while leaving the Office program open (Ctrl+W).
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Key Tips Key Tips refers to what Microsoft also calls badges to identify a sequence of keystrokes you can perform without a mouse. In Word or other Office programs with the new Ribbon toolbar, press and release the Alt key. You’ll see the badges — little boxes with letters or numbers. Press the key in one of the badges; for example, “F” (no need to shift) for the Office Button (which replaces the old File menu). On the Office Button menu, you will see more badges; press “S” for Save. These Key Tips badges prompt you for the letters you can use to execute commands. For another example, press and release the Alt key. Press the “F” key for the Office Button menu. Notice you can press “P” for Print (Ctrl+P does the same thing) or “W” for the menu of Print alternatives (but Crtl+W is different altogether); “A” for Save As, or “F” for the menu of Save As formats. You don’t have to release the Alt key; you could press Alt+F or Alt, F. After that first letter or number (with or following Alt), just press the next appropriate letter or number from the badges displayed. Like most features described under “accessibility,” this one could be valuable to anyone. This is another function that could be extended throughout the operating system.
Program Options At the bottom of the menu that appears after clicking the Office Button, you will see a button for program options (in Word, Word Options; in Excel, Excel Options; etc.). Per se, Program Options aren’t new. However, the interface has changed for the better. On the left side are various categories of options. The default selection of Popular collects options from other areas based on Microsoft’s perception of which options are most often used by customers (see Figure 19-2).
Figure 19-2: Word Options under the Office Button
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The presence of a tiny “i” in a circle indicates that an informational tooltip will appear if you hover anywhere over that line (no need to hit the little symbol). Although this is a very different arrangement from Options in prior versions of Office programs (cleaner, more space), most of these options appeared in earlier versions. Here are a few standouts (I will note which options are unique to Word or Excel): Popular — Gathers those options Microsoft understands to be most frequently changed. When creating new workbooks (in Excel only) — Include this many sheets. New files in Excel have always had three sheets by default (why?). I set this to 1. Proofing ➝ Use contextual spelling (in Word only) — The textbook example for this is “I will see you their.” If contextual spelling is enabled, “their” will be flagged as a misspelling (in that context). Microsoft cautions that this function is very memory intensive; by default, it is off if you have less than 1 GB of RAM. Save — Documents created with earlier versions of Office programs open in compatibility mode and will be saved in their original format (if possible). New documents in Word, Excel, and others are saved in a new file format. Those new file formats cannot be opened in older versions of Office. For individual files, you can use Save As to save in an older format. You can also use this option to make the older format the default for all new files, although I can’t recommend that to most users, because the new format offers some benefits. See “XML Documents” later in this chapter. Advanced ➝ Display ➝ Show this number of Recent Documents — The old limit was nine; the new limit is as many as your screen allows. (As noted above, you can pin documents to this menu for easy access.) Show all windows in the Taskbar — Leave this checked (the default). This did not work as I expected. I thought unchecking this would show one button in the taskbar that could be used to switch between open files. Indeed, only one button shows — and you would never know any other documents are open. You have to use the View tab in the Ribbon to “Switch Windows,” although you can also use the Recent Documents list on the Office Button; that won’t help you view a document that hasn’t been saved yet. At startup, open all files in (Excel only) — Allows you to specify the full path of the folder. All Excel files in that folder will open when Excel loads. Advanced ➝ Editing options ➝ (in Excel only) Automatically insert a decimal point (specify number of digits) — If you set this to two, when you enter “150,” you get “1.50.” Customize — This is one way to add or remove commands from the Quick Access Toolbar (more soon). Add-Ins — Supplemental tools pertaining to smart tags and the Document Inspector, used to check the document for revision marks, comments, and hidden text, among others
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Trust Center — Settings for privacy and security Resources ➝ Get updates — Stay up-to-date. Ironically, this launches the Office update website no longer used by Vista, so you are advised by that site to run Windows Update under Control Panel, which launches automatically at that point. Why not just bypass the website? Run Microsoft Office Diagnostics — Performs diagnostics on your computer and Office setup; takes about 15 minutes to run. Activate Microsoft Office — Required to use the program. You probably activated during installation. If not, click the link here to activate the program.
The Quick Access Toolbar To the right of the Office Button, in the title bar itself, is the new Quick Access Toolbar (reminiscent of the Quick Launch toolbar in the taskbar). By default, this mini-toolbar has the following buttons (shown left to right in Figure 19-3): Save (Ctrl+S) Undo (Ctrl+Z) Redo (Ctrl+Y)
Figure 19-3: The Office Button and the Quick Access Toolbar
Recall the earlier discussion of Key Tips; these apply to the Quick Access Toolbar as well. Press Alt+1 or press and release the Alt key and type a 1 for the first button in the toolbar (Save in the default setup). You can move the Quick Access Toolbar (I’ll refer to it as QAT — a good Scrabble word) below the Ribbon (next section) by right-clicking over the QAT and choosing Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon. You can return it to its original spot in the title bar (which is a very efficient use of space) by right-clicking and choosing Show Quick Access Toolbar Above the Ribbon. You can customize the QAT several different ways. Begin with the little downward-pointing triangle under a line just to the right of the QAT. Clicking this displays a menu labeled Customize Quick Access Toolbar, which has a short list of likely commands. Those with checkmarks display (unless you uncheck them); those without, do not (unless you check them). This is an easy way to add Quick Print and Print Preview to the QAT, both of which I recommend adding. Near the bottom of that menu is More Commands. You could also right-click over the QAT and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar. Both options lead to Customize in the Word Options
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dialog box. Here, you can choose almost any function from the drop-down list (the default is Popular Commands — look at All Commands). Select the desired function in the left column and click Add. Select the function you want to remove in the right column and click Remove. Change the order of the buttons in the QAT by selecting an item on the right and using the little triangles to move that item up or down, which translates to left or right on the horizontal QAT. It is also possible to add functions directly from the Ribbon, as you will soon see. This is yet another feature we should see in other programs: a customizable mini-toolbar per program.
Note Each Office program that has the QAT has its own version. If you customize it in Word, you’ll see the generic QAT in Excel, unless you also customize it there.
There appears to be no way to disable or hide the QAT. Get used to it. Although on a wide screen you could have dozens of buttons, it may be most efficient to keep the number of buttons below a dozen (entirely up to you). I have removed the three defaults (I use the keystrokes instead) but have added Quick Print, Print Preview, and Save All.
The Ribbon Toolbar Toolbars in Windows Vista have absorbed some of the features of menus as iconic replacements for simple text such as File, Edit, etc. This is also true in Office 2007, which prominently features the new Ribbon toolbar. The Ribbon organizes tasks as tabs and might be thought of as a context toolbar, in which the toolbar changes according to context (see Figure 19-4).
Figure 19-4: The Ribbon is a tabbed toolbar with functions in groups. This is Word’s version.
Note The Ribbon appears in Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook (only in some contexts).
Most programs have toolbars. Those that have more than one toolbar usually require that you turn the toolbars on and off according to your needs. Office 2003 has about two dozen different toolbars that can be dragged and placed all over and customized extensively. Just gathering these toolbars in
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one location using tabs to switch between them is an improvement (a feature familiar to users of Dreamweaver, among other programs). Too many toolbars make it very difficult to find the one button you need right now. The Ribbon attempts to display just the tools appropriate to the context. Dynamic toolbars — the Ribbon — make Office 2007 different from most programs, at the very least those in the older Office suites. Revolution or gimmick, it may take some time to adjust. Click each tab to get a quick sense of how many functions are organized this way. Each tab has groups of commands with labels at the bottom. To the right of some labels is a little arrow pointing down to the right. Pause over each little arrow for a preview of the window or dialog box that will appear if you click the little arrow. In some cases, such as with the clipboard, this opens a floating Task pane that can be moved, docked left or right, and resized. In other cases, such as Font, this button opens a dialog box. The Font and Paragraph dialog boxes are virtually unchanged from older versions of Word; they look a little outdated in the slicker interface. Initially, the following tabs appear in the Ribbon (differences between Word and Excel are noted): Home — Gathers the tools Microsoft thinks you’ll need first or most often. In Word: clipboard functions; font and paragraph properties; styles; and find and replace (under Editing). To those, Excel adds groups for alignment, number formatting, and cell editing. Insert — Inserts shapes, pages, tables, illustrations, links, headers and footers, text boxes, and symbols. Page Layout — Applies themes, changes page setup and background options, formats paragraphs, and arranges objects. Very fancy formatting is available with a few clicks. References (in Word) — Inserts tables of contents, footnotes, citations, bibliographies, captions, indexes, and tables of authorities. Formulas (in Excel) — Shows the Function Library, Names, Auditing, and Calculation Options. Mailings (in Word) — Creates envelopes or labels; works with mail merge. Data (in Excel) — Exposes Sort & Filter; external database connections; data tools and outlining. Review — Contains the proofing tools, comments, track changes, compare two documents, protect this document. View — Provides various document views (print layout, full screen reading, Web layout, outline, and draft); shows or hides a ruler and more (thumbnails and document map give you a way to quickly jump between pages); zooms pages; and manages windows (the Split option enables you to work in different areas of the same document). As you perform certain tasks — for example, drawing — new tabs appear to the right of the View tab (for example, Drawing Tools). To help draw your attention to the added tab, a label appears above it in the title bar. (Will title bars even have room for titles in the next version?)
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Tip There are several ways to minimize the Ribbon, leaving just the tabs (looking rather like old-fashioned menus). You can either double-click any tab (repeat to restore), use Ctrl+F1 (repeat to restore), or right-click over the Ribbon and choose Minimize the Ribbon. You cannot completely hide or remove the Ribbon, nor can you customize it. The Ribbon is controlled through XML files. We can expect customization — at the very least, the capability to add your own tabs — in a future update, third-party program, or hack. (Again, I am reminded of the highly customizable toolbars of Dreamweaver.)
Tip You can add any function from the Ribbon to the QAT by right-clicking over that function and choosing Add to Quick Access Toolbar. In the QAT, you can right-click over any icon to Remove from Quick Access Toolbar. You can add an entire group, such as Clipboard, to the QAT by right-clicking over the group’s label at the bottom of the group. Clicking the button in QAT will expose the whole group.
The New “Shadow” Mini Toolbar Office has a new shadow Mini Toolbar (see Figure 19-5). The word “shadow” refers to its initial appearance. This Mini Toolbar is meant to give you quick access to the most common functions used with selected text, primarily font options.
Figure 19-5: The Mini Toolbar as it appears in Word
Select some text in Word or Excel and hover over that selection for a moment. A faint shadow of a toolbar will appear near the selected text. As you move the mouse pointer toward that faint toolbar, the toolbar grows more opaque. Conversely, if you move away from the toolbar, it disappears. For fun, circle your mouse pointer around the selection; the toolbar will fade in and out as you do so.
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The Mini Toolbar also appears above the context menu when you click the right mouse button. Entertainment aside, this toolbar saves you a trip to the Ribbon. At present, it is not customizable. After living with it for a while, if you decide you do not want to see the Mini Toolbar, select the Office Button ➝ Word Options ➝ Popular ➝ “Show Mini Toolbar on selection” and uncheck that option.
Note In the preceding paragraph, where “Word Options” appears, I could have written “Excel Options” for that program. Office documentation generalizes this to “Program Options.”
Live Preview Another new feature in Office 2007 is called Live Preview, which coincidentally can be turned off in the same place as the Mini Toolbar (not that I’m suggesting you do so). With Live Preview, selected text appears reformatted before you actually make your choice. To see Live Preview in action, type a sentence that reaches most of the way across the page (see Figure 19-6); if your line of text is too short, it will be hidden by the next step. Select that line of text (up to an entire paragraph, for demo purposes). In the Ribbon, on the Home tab, in the Font section, click the drop-down list of Fonts. Move your mouse pointer over different font names without clicking. If you can see your selected text in the document, you’ll see it change to each of these fonts. This is Live Preview. This also works with font size and styles, but not with most of the other font options. It also works with Page Layout ➝ Themes. The change you see is temporary until you click on the font you want. This “temporary” effect is meant to be beneficial, but it is very easy to accidentally “lose” the change by not clicking your choice. When you move your mouse away, the text reverts to its original condition.
Figure 19-6: Live Preview previews the effect of some, but not all, formatting.
This is a very interesting idea that is hampered by the fact that the tool you use to select formatting obscures the text behind it. In some cases, you won’t see any of the preview because it is all taking place behind a panel of format options. If the document would move to show you the selected area, this would be more useful. Or how about transparency for the panel à la Vista Aero Glass?
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XML File Format XML (eXtensible Markup Language) has become a lingua franca of computer applications. More clearly, XML sets a standard for marking and structuring data that is intended to simplify the exchange of data. Consider the old problem posed by proprietary data formats. There was a time when a file created in program X could not be read by program Y. If information from the program X file needed to be processed in program Y, you might have to copy and paste, reenter, or convert that information, always at a cost of time and a risk of loss or inaccuracy. As people began to work with more programs and want more interoperability, programs had to have built-in converters. MS Word has a converter for WordPerfect files, for example. Or a program might have a way to export to other formats, just as Word will export to HTML and others. There is something of a holy grail in developing a universal format in which data can be used by any program. XML is a step in that direction, using pure text files that any program can read or write to structure data within metadata. Metadata is data about data. Consider this fragment: Mark. Not very useful, whereas “author=Mark” is more useful and we could call “author” metadata about Mark — it assigns a meaning to the data. That’s not an XML example, but this is closer:
Mark
Better still:
Mark Hinton
In that fragment of an example, you get a sense of XML’s relationship to HTML (they have the same parent: SGML — Standard Generalized Markup Language). HTML is the accomplished older sibling, with XML brought up to avoid the same mistakes, especially in terms of flexibility and adaptability. You also see that although the main concern of both languages is “machine readability,” both are eminently comprehensible (to some). XML is very hot right now. It seems as though every file format is being defined in terms of XML. We’ve seen instances in the past where people have gone overboard embracing a tool. At one time, a spreadsheet was all you needed, and then databases were the rage. I don’t mean to disparage XML in this comparison, just to note that one tool doesn’t solve every problem, whether it’s a screwdriver or a Swiss army knife. This discussion relates directly to Windows Vista. Throughout Windows Vista, data is stored in XML files, from RSS feeds to Contacts. Microsoft is XML-happy (not that there is anything wrong with that). Now XML defines the default format for the suite of tools in Microsoft Office 2007, replacing the Microsoft proprietary formats. It may take a while to see the benefits of this, but it is either another necessary step toward a brighter future or just another company jumping on the XML bandwagon. Of course, when Microsoft jumps on a bandwagon, they often call the tune everyone dances to. End stretched metaphor (with apologies to contradancers everywhere).
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Microsoft argues that XML offers distinct advantages over the older file formats: Smaller files — With its tags, XML looks wordy, but text is always highly compressible. Easier data recovery — The modular nature of these files enables recovery of whole sections even if others are unrecoverable. By contrast, many files are unrecoverable if just the wrong byte is damaged. Detection and control of macros — Files with macros enabled must use a different file extension name (adding an “m” to the extension). Privacy improvements — Properly tagged data can more easily be stripped from a file. Integration and interoperability — The specific promise of XML. On the matter of interoperability, there is modularity in XML. A program other than Word could read a Word document and work with a portion of it that is distinguished by XML tags — say, a graphic or a math formula. This may prove to be a much better idea than the older method of “embedding objects” from other programs. In effect, the data doesn’t belong to any specific program and can be read and worked with by any program. Office 2007 uses the new file formats by default. To distinguish these files from older files that can still be used, the new files have an x at the end of their extension names: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx. As a technical aside, as I see it, Windows Vista marks the first widespread abandonment of the historical three-character extension — consider the extensions .theme and .contact as prime examples. As early as Win95, long extension names were supported, but I believe it has taken 10 years to escape the custom as extensively as Windows Vista now does.
Microsoft Office Editions Microsoft Office is a suite of separate applications (some of which can be purchased as stand-alone programs). Microsoft sells various suites that combine these applications differently. All of the suites include Word (word processing) and Excel (mathematical spreadsheet). Most include Outlook (e-mail and calendar management) and PowerPoint (presentations). Be aware of the features offered in whichever suite you buy (see Table 19-1). If someone else installed the suite, they may have opted to skip installing some components. These programs are roughly listed according to how many suites they are a part of (more suites, higher up). One exception is OneNote, because it’s cool and it is in the suite most individual buyers should consider (Home & Student).
X
OneNote — notes
$499
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
$299
$279
$329
$539
X
Volume
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
OEM=Original Equipment Manufacturer (this edition comes pre-installed on new systems). Volume=Volume licensing.
Upgrade price
$679
$449
X
X
X
X
X
X X
Suite price
$399
X
X
X
X
X X
X $149
X
X
X X
Groove — collaboration
Communicator — communication
Business Contact Mgr — guess
InfoPath — database
X
X X
X
Volume
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
$229.00 $109.95
$229.00 N/A
Volume
$199.00 N/A
$229.00 $109.95
$169.00 $99.95
$229.00 $109.95
$99.95 N/A
$109.95 N/A
$229.00 $109.95
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Publisher — printing
OEM
X
Outlook — e-mail/contacts
X X
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X X
Excel — spreadsheet
440
Word — word processing
Basic Home & Standard Small Professional Ultimate Professional Enterprise Single Upgrade Student Business Plus
Program — Task
Table 19-1: Microsoft Office Features
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Here are a few notes about these programs regarding the new interface features we’ve been examining: None of the suites is purely new; each edition has some program with the old interface. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have the new Office 2007 interface. Outlook has the Office 2003 interface in the main program window and the Ribbon in other windows, such as for reading and writing e-mail. There is no coordination between Outlook’s Contacts and Windows Vista’s Contacts. OneNote has the Office 2003 interface. However, OneNote 2007 has a new feature called notebooks, which gives an extra level of organization for notes (each file can have multiple notebooks). Access has the Quick Access Toolbar but not the Ribbon. InfoPath and Publisher have the Office 2003 interface.
Installing Office 2007 (Office 12) As with almost any program you install these days, Office 2007 offers two installation paths. Express installation involves the least interaction (use the Install Now button on the screen where you choose the installation you want). Express installs default programs, which vary depending on the edition, leaving some additional functions uninstalled. Some of those uninstalled features have an option called “Installed on First Use,” which will prompt you for the installation CD/DVD the first time you use such a feature (unless the installation files are on your hard drive). This can be rather disruptive. Choosing Customize for the installation lets you observe which components are not installed and change options to install or not (Not Available), as well the On First Use option. Change those components you know you need from the Installed on First Use option to the Run from My Computer option (see Figure 19-7).
Note Express does not install a couple of shortcuts that prior versions of Office always have. These are the New Office Document and Open Office Document shortcuts that usually appear under Start ➝ All Programs. If you want those shortcuts, use Custom ➝ Office Shared Features ➝ New and Open Office Documents Shortcuts ➝ Run from My Computer.
The first time you start one of the Office programs, you will see a Privacy Options screen, which informs you about privacy matters (such as user and machine identification). Privacy Options can be set immediately or dealt with later.
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Figure 19-7: The Customize button from the setup screen gives you access to Installation Options.
A Few Noteworthy Features At the outset, I said this was a big-picture overview with coverage of interface changes. I think it is especially important to consider how the changes in Office 2007 may apply to future updates of other programs, especially Windows. However, I want to highlight a few new features specific to Word and Excel: Blogging in Word Setting default paste options in Word and Excel A few Excel standout features This is the kind of catchall category that dismays editors, who reasonably favor structure and thoroughness. I hope you don’t mind shifting gears a few times.
Blogging in Word Word 2007 includes support for blogging. If you’ve just gotten back from deep space, a blog (from Weblog) is a specialized website with frequently updated content that is arranged chronologically, newest at the top of the home page, older as you move down the page, with archives for past months. Blogs are sometimes referred to as journals, but increasingly blogs provide news and opinions from and for the masses. Blog posts or entries are usually created using an online form within a Web browser, though there are some offline editors as well.
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Blogging requires an account with a service provider. One of the most popular services is www.blogger.com, which is supported by Word’s blogging function. You must set up your account
before you can use Word to create or edit blog entries; you’ll need your account user name and password. Some bloggers manage their own blogs on their own websites using specialized software instead of a service (for example, www.wordpress.org). Hosting your own blog takes a bit more comfort with technical matters and takes a little longer to set up (though not that much extra time overall).
Note Experienced bloggers may not find anything special in Word’s blogging support (although I don’t think any other blogging tool has grammar check). Word may be just the right tool for some bloggers. If you haven’t tried blogging, the world is waiting.
SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT You will need to set up an account with a service provider and enter account information in Word before you can use Word for blog posting. However, the tools for account setup don’t appear until you create or publish a post, so we’ll start with that. You can use Word to create a blog entry in one of two ways. With a new or existing Word document, use the Office Button ➝ Publish ➝ Blog. This will copy the content of the open document into another document with the Blog and Insert tabs on the Ribbon. Alternatively, use the Office Button ➝ New ➝ Blog Post for a blank blog entry with the same tabs in the Ribbon. If no account has been set up, Word will automatically prompt you for new account information at some point, or you can set up the account without any prompting from Word. (This is also required if you want to set up more than one blog account — bloggers often have several blogs.) On the far left of the Ribbon, in the Blog section of the Blog Post tab, you’ll see Manage Accounts. Click that button. The Blog Accounts dialog box appears with buttons for New, Change, Set As Default, and Remove. Click the New button. In the New Blog Account dialog box, choose your blog provider from the drop-down list. Figure 19-8 shows this progression: a blog entry in the background, the Blog Accounts dialog box, and the New Windows Live Spaces Account screen in the front at the bottom. While we’re squeezing this figure for everything it’s worth, notice the Blog Post group in the Ribbon (top left of Figure 19-8) Word supports accounts with these blog services: Windows Live Spaces — No surprise here; Microsoft is brilliant at marketing. See http://spaces.live.com for account information. After you establish a Live Spaces account (nerd alert: your Passport account works), from your account home page use Blog ➝ Options ➝ E-mail publishing. You have to enter an address from which you could e-mail to your blog — this is required even though Word will not use that address, so you could use a bogus address. Farther down the screen, enter a Secret Word, which Word will use; that secret word is used to create another e-mail address that is also irrelevant to using Word. Be sure to save your changes. This screen did not give me any error messages when I left out the first e-mail address, but it didn’t work until I put it in.
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Figure 19-8: Enter your blog account information (obtained from a blog service).
Back in Word’s blog account setup for Windows Live Spaces, you’ll need to know your Space Name (created during account setup) and your Secret Word (just saved a moment ago). Blogger — Using Word with Blogger doesn’t require any changes at Blogger once you have an account. You will need to know your User Name and Password. SharePoint Services — This is Microsoft’s collaboration service, which may be used inhouse in larger business operations. Community Server — Community Server is a commercial alternative to SharePoint. It exists as a server program you can install on your own server or as a hosted service. See www.communityserver.org for more information. Other — If your blog host provides access to the MetaWebLog or Atom API (application programming interface) through a URL, you can use that URL. I was not successful with WordPress, but it is only a matter of time before other interfaces are developed. After selecting your service provider, click Next. On the next screen, enter your User Name (or Space Name) and Password (or Secret Word). Some service options may also require a specific URL for posting to the account (Blogger and Live Spaces do not require more than the account information).
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When you click OK on the New Account screen, Word will prompt you for Picture Options if you haven’t already used that button on this dialog box.
Note In Word, images are the blogging function’s Achilles Heel: Word cannot upload pictures directly to any blogging service. While Word can upload pictures to some other Web space, many people will not have separate space for this. Until this changes, that may be a deal buster for anyone who plans to use images in blog posts. (And who won’t?) One way around this deficiency would be to use Word to create, edit, and post your blog entries without images. Then log in to the blog service, edit a blog post, and use the service’s own image-handling tools to upload your images.
After you respond to the Picture Options dialog box (more than likely with “None – don’t upload pictures”), Word immediately attempts to log in to the service. If it fails, you are forced to cancel. Unfortunately, Word does not keep the account information you entered, and you will have to set up this new account all over again — another unforgivable “feature.” This account setup allows for multiple blogs, and many bloggers have more than one. In a household, every family member and the dog may have a blog. You can set up each through the same process.
CREATING AND PUBLISHING A BLOG POST As noted at the beginning of the account setup, you can start a blog post one of two ways: Office Button ➝ Publish ➝ Blog — This will copy the contents of the open document into another document with the Blog and Insert tabs on the Ribbon. Office Button ➝ New ➝ Blog Post — This creates a blank blog entry with the same tabs in the Ribbon. Below the Ribbon and above a horizontal line, enter the title for your blog post (or blog entry — the words are interchangeable in this context). Below the line, enter the content of the post. You can type or copy and paste content. The Blog Post tab in the Ribbon includes the Blog group (see Figure 19-9) as well as other formatting options, styles, and proofing tools such as Spell Check.
Figure 19-9: The Blog Post tab and Blog group
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Before you get too fancy, create a simple, minimal entry for testing. In my tests, Live Spaces had more trouble with font formatting than did Blogger (ironic, if you think about it). In the Blog section of the Ribbon, click the Publish button. (If you haven’t already set up your account information, you’ll have to now.) If you are successful, the date and time of publishing will appear near the title (see Figure 19-10). If you are unsuccessful, you should get an error message. Make sure you set up the account information correctly and that your post has a title and some content.
Figure 19-10: A published blog post
To see your post, click the Home Page button; your page will open in a browser. Users of Windows Live Spaces must click the blog link on their Home page to view the blog itself.
EDITING A BLOG POST To edit the remote copy of an existing post, use the Open Existing button in the Blog section of the Ribbon. (Unfortunately, you may have to first use New ➝ Blog Post to get to the Blog screen and Ribbon.) The Open Existing Post dialog box appears with post titles listed by date modified (newest at the top). Click the post and then OK. Make any changes and click Publish to update the blog. You must log in to the conventional blog interface on the Web to delete or make other changes not supported by Word.
Tip If you save your blog post locally, you have a backup and you can more easily edit it by opening the local copy, which may appear in the Recent Documents listing.
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Setting Default Paste Options You have probably had the experience of unexpected results while pasting text from another place, including another document or even another application, such as your browser. That happens because Word copies formatting by default — even formatting from other applications. If that’s what you want, we’re done here. However, if you ever need the text but not the formatting, read on. One way to prevent formatting from copying is to use Home ➝ Clipboard ➝ Paste Special (on the Paste drop-down menu — Alt+Ctrl+V). Paste Special presents various options. For example, Unformatted Text will be text only. Formatted text (RTF) (Rich Text Format) will have some formatting, such as bold, but not necessarily all formatting, which can be a useful option. Other available options depend in large measure on the format of the copied text. An easier option is to use the Paste Options button that appears when you paste formatted text; this looks like a tiny clipboard. Click that little icon for four options (one new in Word 2007): Keep Source Formatting Match Destination Formatting Keep Text Only Set Default Paste This fourth option is new in Word (Excel 2007 only has the first two options) and the reason for this section. Now you can set the behavior you prefer as the default and use Paste Special for any other options. Set Default Paste takes you to the same cut, copy, and paste settings you can reach through Office Button ➝ Word Options ➝ Advanced. You can actually set different defaults for pasting from among the three types of pasting listed above, depending on the source and destination of the pasting: Pasting within the same document Pasting between documents Pasting between documents when style definitions conflict Pasting from other programs Three of these four default to Keep Source Formatting; when style definitions conflict, the default is Use Destination Styles. If keeping the source formatting is often a problem when you copy, change any or all of these to Keep Text Only. Pasted text will pick up the formatting in the area where it is pasted. That same section of the Advanced Word Options where we change the default paste option has a different option to Show Paste Options Buttons (that little clipboard icon); uncheck this if you don’t use the button. See Figure 19-11 for examples of the result of pasting each of these three ways. Match Destination Formatting preserves Rich Text Formatting — minimal things such as bold, italics, and underlining — but not style or other font information (such as font name or size).
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Figure 19-11: Thoroughly pasted
A Few Excel Standout Features Excel, the Lotus-killer, is a columnar algebraic calculator — I mean, it’s a spreadsheet with columns and rows. The 2007 version of Excel expands the available workspace to over 1,000,000 rows by more than 16,000 columns, using up to 2GB of RAM. Besides a massive workspace, Excel has a few other new or improved features I’d like to draw your attention to.
Themes Use Page Layout ➝ Themes to quickly apply formatting to a page (see Figure 19-12). Office 2007’s new Live Preview lets you view the effect before you select a theme to apply. As you move your mouse over the themes, you see the impact these themes will have on your data if you choose one.
Figure 19-12: Apply themes to your worksheet.
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Calculated Columns If you have ever had to copy a formula down a column because you inserted a row or added rows to the bottom, you’ll appreciate calculated columns. When properly set up, if you add or insert new rows, formulas in columns will copy automatically to the new cells in the same column. To take advantage of this feature, you must define the range of cells as a table, including at least one cell for a formula. Select the range (blank or with data) and use Insert ➝ Table ➝ OK. If any formulas were in that range already, they should have been copied up and down the column. If there were not any formulas, when you enter a new formula, it should be copied up and down that column. You can enter the formula in any row in the table and it will be copied up or down as necessary. The best feature of this function is that if you insert a row or enter numbers in a row immediately below the defined table, the table expands to include that new row and the formulas are automatically copied.
Conditional Formatting Conditional formatting in Excel 2007 is greatly expanded from the function in Excel 2003. Conditional formatting changes the way data is displayed and prints based on some condition (value is greater than X, for example). This can make highlighting exceptions easier. To use conditional formatting, select a range of data (including column headings) and choose Home ➝ Styles ➝ Conditional Formatting (see Figure 19-13). Select one of the available rules and enter appropriate data. Live Preview works here, making it easier to experiment with.
Figure 19-13: Excel’s Conditional Formatting option
Filtering Filtering has also been expanded from the function in Excel 2003. Filtering is like conditional formatting in that you can select a range and rules for filtering (such as greater than X). Where conditional formatting styles cells by these conditions, filtering hides rows based on these conditions. 1. Select a range of data. 2. Use Home ➝ Editing ➝ Sort & Filter.
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3. Click Filter to enable filtering for the selected range. 4. Click the arrow that now appears at the head of any column in that range (the column you want to filter by). 5. Use Number Filters to specify the rule to apply to filter the values (see Figure 19-14). Rows containing data in that column that matches your filter will continue to display; other rows will be temporarily hidden from displaying and printing. 6. Clear the filter by clicking the same arrow in the column heading and choosing Clear Filter; rows will reappear. You’ll note some similarity between Excel’s filtering and the new filter function in Windows Explorer. This is another reason to expect features within Office to influence Windows.
Figure 19-14: A filter hides rows while conditional formatting styles cells.
Other Tools in Office 2007 Several utilities are included with most of the Office suites. If you don’t find these under Start ➝ All Programs ➝ Microsoft Office ➝ Microsoft Office Tools, they may not have been installed. You can install them from the CD/DVD later, if you want to use them. Clip Organizer — In Word 2007, the Insert ➝ Clip Art function opens the Clip Art task pane, which you can use to search through and browse clip art included with Office. The separate tool called Microsoft Clip Organizer serves the same purpose. As a separate program, Clip Organizer shows more thumbnails and individual collections at one time. Document Imaging — Document Imaging works with your scanner to scan images into a new document. It also gives you tools for editing, annotating, and highlighting TIFs (Tagged Image Files). These features are not that special — even Paint lets you open TIFs (and save to other formats).
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Whatever other useful features Document Imaging may offer, look at it if you need Optical Character Recognition (OCR). If you need to convert a paper document into something you can edit, begin by scanning that document with Document Imaging. (If you prefer to use another scanning program, save the file as a TIF.) In Document Imaging, use Tools ➝ Recognize Text Using OCR (or the button with the eye below the Help menu). A pop-up window will indicate OCR is at work, but there is no further feedback — the pop-up disappears when it is done. Use Tools ➝ Send Text To Word to paste the text into a new Word document (the button with the W). The results may require cleanup, but the time that takes may be less than would be required to reenter the text from the printed page. Document Scanning — Your scanner probably came with its own scanning software. However, Clip Organizer, Document Imaging, and this program, Document Scanning, all scan. Picture Manager — Picture Manager has features very similar to Photo Gallery, including various automatic and manual editing tools. The cropping function is different; I prefer Photo Gallery’s but I also prefer Picture Manager’s cropping to Media Center’s. I might similarly rank Red Eye Removal, except I like the red eye mouse pointer in Picture Manager. (By itself, that’s no reason to recommend the program.) Look at Picture Manager if you need either of two less common features: resize (for e-mail or Web use) and compress (also for e-mail or Web use). Other tools for these tasks can be found, but these two functions are very easy to use in Picture Manager and may already be on your computer. Microsoft Office Diagnostics — These diagnostics can be run from the Office Button ➝ Word Options ➝ Resources or separately from the Office Tools. The diagnostics take about 15 minutes to run five categories of tests: memory diagnostic, update diagnostic, compatibility diagnostic, disk diagnostic, and setup diagnostic.
Summary I’ve made no attempt here to provide a complete look at Office 2007 or even a sweeping overview of the entire suite. Instead, I have highlighted a few new features that set Office 2007 apart from earlier versions, just as some changes in Windows Vista make it very different. These include the following: The Office Button Quick Access Toolbar The Ribbon Shadow toolbar New XML file format In the next chapter, I’ll put on my sunglasses and theorize about the future of Windows Vista.
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efore you leave forever, let’s end with a top ten list of features I think are the best and a look at the near- and longer-term future of Windows.
The Top Ten Features of Windows Vista Here are ten great new features of Windows Vista, more than half of which may change the way you do things every single day: 1. Search the Start menu. 2. Customized links in the Navigation pane. 3. Sort, Group, and Filter objects. 4. Breadcrumbs. 5. Search everywhere — Control Panel, Windows Explorer. 6. Tags and metadata. 7. Sidebar and gadgets. 8. Snipping Tool. 9. Windows Mobility Center. 10. Two applications: Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker. Notice that the first six items are systemwide features that are quite simple to access in Windows Explorer (as well as File ➝ Save and Open dialog boxes). The first eight are included with every edition running on any hardware. I don’t want to misrepresent Windows Explorer as the most improved or most important improvement — many people would put security ahead of Explorer. The first thing people will notice (and complain about) are the “missing” menus. Yet, in addition to the first six items in my list, we have the column headings that are always present, instead of only in Details view, as in XP. (Countless times in XP, I switch to Details, sort, and switch to Thumbnails — and, yes, I do know
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about the unintuitively named “Arrange” menu.) These column headings simplify access to sort, to a much improved Group function, and to filters, which are unimagined in XP. And I really should add to that list the improved headings in Group. These headings now give a count, they collapse and expand, and they can be used to select all items within the group. The Navigation pane is improved in two ways. First, the Favorite Links are simpler than XP’s Task pane and customizable. Second, by merging Tasks and Folders into one pane, you don’t have to toggle between them — another thing I do repeatedly in XP. You can tell by my emphasis that I spend a lot of time managing files in Windows Explorer. I know that many people do not and may even dread doing so. These changes should help them, too. If that’s not your thing, there are all the visual improvements too easily dismissed as eye candy. Why shouldn’t the screen you look at so much be pretty? If you never saw Windows 3.1, google some screen images. It was so utilitarian that Windows 95 made people go “ahh.” With the right horsepower (the rub), Windows Vista is gorgeous and that’s good. Number 11 on my list should be improvements to Help. The screens you access through Start ➝ Help and Support are much better than ever before. Perhaps more important, many screens in Windows Vista feature clearly worded links to Help. Two improvements still needed in Help: the cursor should be in the Search Help box automatically (Ctrl+E does not work here), and bookmarks or history for retracing steps beyond one session (I’d like a little checkbox to “add to my list,” a list I could search, sort, group, and filter).
What’s Old Is New Again When Windows 3.0 came out, people said the command-driven interface was over. “DOS is DEAD,” they said. Windows and the Mac proved the future was “point and click.” And yet, for more than 20 years, the DOS command line has been available — and frequently used — and still remains in Windows Vista. Even the Macintosh has a command line (Unix), while the third major alternative personal computer operating system is Unix’s love child, Linux (granted, with several slick graphical interfaces). If I had to pick one new feature in Windows Vista that will most improve my life, it might be the Start Search box — definitely not the cool eye candy of Aero Glass. Press the Windows logo key, type a few letters and hit Enter — bang, you’re rolling. It surprises me that something so retro is so useful, but it really is. Maybe the best of the old ways belongs in the future. It is good to have more than one way to do things. An OS that lets you type, click, write, and talk may be better than a monolithic interface.
The Future of Windows Vista It will be interesting to look back in January 2008 at the Year of Vista. We know that millions of people will begin working with Windows Vista for the first time in 2007. Microsoft claims the combination of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 will “reinvigorate” the computer market, which hasn’t been exactly stagnant. There may be some arrogance in such a prediction, but Microsoft is a market force to be reckoned with, like it or not.
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The Rate of Uptake How quickly will Windows Vista be accepted? In November 2006, Microsoft began shipping Windows Vista to business customers. People in IT departments might resist being the first to upgrade to such a new product. At the same time, they know an upgrade is inevitable, so many will begin working with Windows Vista as soon as they can to get experience with it. Plus, techies love new stuff. Starting in late January 2007, nearly every new PC will come with Windows Vista. (All the more reason for those who support other users to get moving as soon as they can.) This surely means tens of thousands of new Windows Vista users will materializes in short order. Most new computers sold in November and December 2006 came with a coupon for a discounted or free upgrade to Windows Vista. How quickly will those folks upgrade? Although it is hard to imagine anyone is still using Windows 3.1 — and I’ll hear from him or her, though probably not by e-mail — there may be people who haven’t upgraded to XP. The hardware requirements for Windows Vista are very much an issue, more so than any prior version of Windows, in my opinion. Windows Vista will run under widely different circumstances, but what you get will also differ. The holdouts — no insult intended — will be those who don’t need a new computer (yet) and don’t get a discounted or free upgrade. Will they buy Windows Vista? If they hear good things about it, they will. It’s anybody’s guess, but Microsoft is predicting over 100,000,000 units of Windows Vista in use by the end of 2007. That’s more than 250,000 copies of Windows Vista every day.
Resistance I’m not talking about resisting Windows Vista itself but resisting some of its features. When XP was new, everyone wanted to know how to turn off various features and make XP work like older versions of Windows. The same phenomenon — a natural resistance to change — will grip many new Windows Vista users (though you’re probably not still reading this book if you are one of them). There are many reasons for Windows Vista being different from XP. Explore those differences for a while before you downgrade Windows Vista into an XP clone.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Not only has Microsoft spent five years or more developing Windows Vista, but a year of that time was spent with millions of beta testers. No other version has had the benefit of so much testing and input. Still, you don’t have to be Nostradamus to see a Service Pack (SP) or two in the future. Windows Vista SP1 will be out before the end of 2007 — sooner, if it encourages more people to upgrade. At the same time, Microsoft’s Windows Update allows for more or less continuous updating. Service Packs may not actually be necessary for much longer.
Vienna Waits for You A giant like Microsoft has to have very long-range plans, even a decade out, while, at the same time, remaining flexible enough to adapt to change. For planning purposes, Microsoft uses the codename
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Vienna for the next version of Windows, with a delivery date sometime after 2010. Whether Vienna proves to be a radical overhaul or is dismissed as “Vista SP3” or, worse, “what Vista was supposed to be” (something people say about Vista vis-à-vis XP), change is inevitable and innovation is the best kind of change.
Thinking Aloud Predicting the future is a fool’s errand, so let me try. It’s easier to make big, sweeping, long-term predictions than near-term ones. We all know 3D is coming: the immersive interfaces so well described by William Gibson, et al., in which you literally grasp data and move through it, where a meeting is no longer a physical act, and animated avatars are our agents. But what about the next five or ten years? At this point, let me abandon all pretense of certainty and simply predict some things that strike me as likely. Stick a copy of this in your wallet and pull it out in ten years for a laugh or a gasp. Prediction #1: You won’t have a wallet in 10 years. More seriously, I think there are a few things we can say about the impact of Windows Vista and Office 2007 today and in the near term. First, the beta age is well established. Like everything else, software is never really finished; it is always a work in progress. The most amazing thing about the development cycle of Windows Vista was not that it was drawn out, but that so many people got to witness, participate in, and contribute to that evolution. There is a great convergence of fast connections, powerful machines, and interested and experienced people providing feedback. Cooperation is not Microsoft’s innovation, but it shows that the same model that works for an individual with a little shareware or freeware utility can work well for the largest companies. Cooperative community development has been the life’s blood of the open source movement, but even corporations benefit from reducing the distance between customers and developers. Look at all of Microsoft’s official blogs plus countless unofficial blogs opening the process to more people than ever. That doesn’t stop the day Windows Vista goes on sale. XML will continue to grow as the language for data structuring and exchange. XP marked the acceptance of the browser as the standard for all computer interaction, and Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer became conjoined twins. XML on the desktop shows further advancement of the Web as the Way. Windows Vista lags behind the frantic adoption of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) and other “Web 2.0” technologies. On the Web, we expect functions to be slick and fast and relatively simple to interact with. One could argue that Microsoft has this front covered with their rapidly expanding services under www.live.com. Metadata will become even more important; more of it will have to be automatically captured (where did this document come from? who has seen it?). Why should you have to tag a photo with “flower” — can’t the OS recognize a flower when it sees it? Even the concept of a document may become more fluid as data becomes more modular. If you need the same text or image in two documents, should there be two copies of that text or one? Bloggers are leading the way in recycling content and adding value simply by connecting things. Eventually, we won’t think about files or storage (especially, location), just about data. “Show me the pictures I took on vacation; send my expenses to accounting; play that song I heard yesterday — no, the other one.”
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What about the future of personal computers themselves? Hardware will continue to become more powerful and cheaper (for that power). My first computer hard drive was a used 200 MB disk that cost $600. I recently bought a 500 GB drive for $250; that’s 50 cents per GB versus $3,000 per GB. Hardware may not be cheap, but you get more for less every year. If you think the same isn’t true of software, I paid $60 for an add-in that would give Word 2.0 a Print Preview function. Do you even need a personal computer if all the data you want can be accessed from any machine, anytime? If every TV, every cell phone, every refrigerator is connected to the Internet, who needs a PC? Or an operating system? How long before virtualization of operating systems can take place on a cell phone? It seems absurd that a cell phone could have enough processing power or RAM, but the earliest PCs ran at 4.77 MHz (newer chips run 500 times faster) and had less than 64K of RAM (kilobytes, not megabytes or gigabytes). Logins and passwords will be largely replaced by biometrics (including voice recognition). Voice commands will become effective and popular. We will talk to computers like a personal assistant — “Remind me to call my sister in a couple of days.” Let me mention a few companies and products: Kaypro, Ashton-Tate (dBase), Wordstar, and Visicalc. Are Microsoft’s or Windows’ days numbered? Well, everything changes and passes on. Ten years ago, I used Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, and AOL. Those companies aren’t gone, but they’re very different from more than a decade ago. Could it be that AOL — a company that made billions selling what it gives away today — offers the best model for a future Microsoft? More important to guessing the future: Ten years ago, I’d never heard of Google or Skype. A year ago, I hadn’t heard of YouTube. Everything you do will leave a record somewhere. Not a moment of your life will go unrecorded and every byte will be accessible forever. A hundred years from now, archaeologists and anthropologists will mine the Web like a global trash heap. We’ll be the best known of all the Ancients.
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fter you buy Microsoft Windows Vista, what options do you have for installing it?
Install Windows Vista alone — As an upgrade over XP or as a clean installation. This is the most likely arrangement for most readers who have no need for two operating systems. Don’t look back. Set up dual booting — XP or other operating system in one partition, Windows Vista in another. If you need to keep XP (or another operating system) for any reason but also want Windows Vista, this is a good option if you have two partitions already. If you have only one partition, you need a trusted partitioning tool first (and complete backup). This option is also available to Intel-based Macintosh users with Apple’s Boot Camp. Use virtualization — Virtualization refers to creating a virtual computer that runs inside a real computer. Think of virtualization software as running an operating system (OS) as if it were any other application. Virtualization software turns an entire computer (operating system, applications and data) into one giant file. Need XP? Run the XP virtual computer. Need Windows Vista? Run it virtually. The first two situations are explored in Chapter 3. Here, we’ll examine the third option.
Virtualization Virtualization has been in use for years, though more likely in large enterprises, especially for Internet and Web server applications and software development and testing. Recent developments have made virtualization more available to individuals, especially because some of these products are now free. Some people believe that virtualization will become a larger part of everyday computing. At this moment, I’d say it isn’t for everyone or even most people, but it may be perfect for you. As with most computer solutions, there are hardware and software components we’ll examine.
Software License Issues Keep in mind that most programs have a license that limits you to installing that software one time 459 on one machine for use by one person. There are exceptions to this, especially open source software
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and freeware. However, you can be sure that Microsoft doesn’t want you installing one copy of Windows repeatedly — virtually or otherwise. In fact, the Windows Vista license agreement varies with edition. You are not allowed to install most editions virtually, unless you are a member of Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN — http://msdn.microsoft.com/) or have a Microsoft TechNet subscription (http://technet .microsoft.com/). Most people can legally install retail copies of the following editions in virtual machines: Business Ultimate Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, and the EU editions may not be installed virtually except by MSDN members or TechNet subscribers. The Business and Ultimate editions can be installed one time in a virtual machine or on a physical machine (but not both at the same time). You cannot install an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) copy of any edition of Windows Vista on another machine, virtual or physical. That OEM copy is locked to that machine. The Enterprise edition is not available by retail, but by volume license between a company and Microsoft. Enterprise can be installed one time on a physical machine and up to four times in virtual machines on that same real machine. Isn’t this a deal-killer, regardless of other technical issues? Not necessarily. For example, if you buy Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, you have a license to install it on one machine. That can be a real computer or a virtual one, just not both. Moreover, if you upgrade the real machine to Windows Vista, you still have a license to run XP (assuming you bought it — not true for XP included with most systems); you could run that licensed copy virtually. If you are interested in learning about and using Linux, there are countless distributions available under general open source licensing. (Be aware: There are also commercial “distros” — distributions — you can’t use way without paying for additional licenses.) As for your application software, it has its own licensing restrictions, but most commercial programs are meant to be installed one time, whether on one physical or one virtual machine. Check the specifics of your software.
Virtual Hardware Well, the hardware has to be real — so far. You need a reasonably powerful setup to run a virtual computer. You need the hardware the second OS normally requires, plus some overhead for the virtual software and the host OS. RAM — No less than 500MB (the more the better) Hard disk — No less than 20GB free for the virtual machine As it happens, a machine that can run Windows Vista with Aero can probably also run virtual software.
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Virtual Software You download, install, and configure the virtual software. You run the virtual software — a virtual machine manager (VMM) — which creates a virtual machine (VM). The VMM controls access by the VM to your processor, RAM, and hard disk. You run your setup disk for Windows (or Linux) and install the new OS into this VM (this is now considered the guest OS running under the host OS of your physical machine). Every time you want to use the new guest OS, you run the virtual software to “boot” the virtual machine. From the perspective of the OS inside the virtual machine, it is the only OS running on a generic machine. VMMs offer other features that may make them appealing to you. Save State — This is the equivalent of hibernation. You tell the VMM to “pause” the VM. The next time you start the VM, everything is exactly as you left it — no need to shut down and restart the VM. Snapshots — You may be able to save the current state of the VM at any point in the process, without having to exit the VM. This could allow you to roll back to any one of many previous conditions. This is a kind of system-wide undo that surpasses System Restore. Undo or Discard Changes — At the end of a session with a VM, the VMM may offer you the option of discarding any changes you’ve made during that session, returning the VM to the condition before you started the most recent session. This is a kind of “global undo” that even System Restore can’t match. Conversely, you can commit your changes.
Caution An OS or other software may refuse to install or run virtually. There are no guarantees here and there are potential problems.
Tip Recall that XP and Vista allow you to adjust the priority of processes. You might do this to boost the priority of the VMM or reduce the priority of other tasks. Once you have your VMM installed and running, use the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to adjust priorities. On the Applications tab, right-click over the VMM and choose Go To Process. If the process moves up and down in the list, click Image Name to sort and keep it in place. Right-click over the process for the VMM and Choose Set Priority. (Vista users will have to choose Perform Administrative Tasks first.) Above Normal may be all you need (or Below Normal, if you are reducing the priority of a competing process).
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Why Bother? What good is virtualization? Well, if you are reading this, you may already have your own answer. Beyond the “cool” factor (cough-nerd-cough), here are some reasons.
Practice Okay, this may seem extreme, given how quick and easy it is to install Windows Vista. However, you could actually set up a VM just to see what is involved in installing Windows Vista. You would go through every step and when you are done, you could actually delete the virtual machine and do it for real. Similarly, you might set up a VM as a place to install new software you aren’t willing to install on your regular machine for whatever reason. The VM becomes your testing platform or playground; you can experiment without messing up your “real” computer.
Test a New Operating System Upgrading to a new OS is a commitment that takes time. Granted, upgrading to Windows Vista will take less time than any other version of Windows. But after the initial installation, you will spend some time getting used to the OS and installing or updating software. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the old OS around while you break in the new one? If licensing allows it, install the new OS onto a VM running on the old OS. A downside of this is if you decide you like the new OS and want to replace the old one. At this time, there isn’t an easy technique for swapping them, although it seems Complete PC’s image backups could be useful here. You’ll end up reinstalling the new OS, directly replacing the old OS. Installing an OS more than once is not everyone’s idea of a good time. Others may view it as a fresh start.
Keep an Old Operating System What happens if you have an old program that doesn’t run in your new OS? Windows Vista allows you to adjust the environment in which programs run, but what if it just doesn’t work? You could install a legitimately licensed copy of XP into a virtual machine (problem ahead) for the purpose of running that old program. Or maybe you just hate to say goodbye to XP forever. The problem is that there is no easy way to migrate your old OS into a VM, other than through backup and restore.
Security A VM is largely isolated from its host OS, sandboxed by the VMM. If a VM gets a virus or spyware or is otherwise corrupted or trashed, you can wipe out the VM to get rid of the problem. Hopefully, you won’t have any data on the VM that you haven’t backed up elsewhere.
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Software, Documentation, and Training Development If you create, test, or document software, or train others to use software, a VM can provide you with that out-of-the-box state of software we often need to be able to return to easily (by discarding changes).
Caution If you activate Windows Vista, as you must within 30 days, and you later install your copy on a different machine (virtual or physical), you may have to contact Microsoft. The license allows you to reinstall a retail copy of Windows Vista as many times as necessary on the same machine. Further, you can legally install a retail copy of Windows Vista on a replacement machine if it is removed from the previous machine. However, any time you move Windows Vista from one machine to another, you have to reactivate that copy. If the new setup is sufficiently different from the old, you may have to contact Microsoft as part of the activation. (This is for copy protection.) So if you know you are not going to keep your virtual machine and that you are just practicing or testing for fewer than 30 days, don’t activate Windows Vista.
Tip If you install Windows Vista in a virtual machine, you may want to take advantage of a “feature” most users should not use. During installation, you don’t actually have to enter your product key when asked for it. If you leave the product key blank and click Next, after a warning screen, you’ll get a screen to “select the edition of Windows that you purchased,” which lists all the editions except Enterprise or the EU variants. Microsoft clearly states you should either enter the product key (which determines the edition) or select the edition you actually bought, but, in fact, you can select a different edition (if you are willing to lie that you purchased that specific edition). Understand: I’m not suggesting you lie. Further, in the long run, you have to claim the edition you purchased or purchase the edition you claim (consider the Ultimate price). This will become an issue within the 30-day activation period. This tip is not a suggestion for stealing a different edition. Most readers should definitely enter the product key and activate at the same time. However, if you need to test drive the Business edition or the Ultimate edition — the only retail editions that can legally be run virtually by general users — this should be legitimate so long as you don’t otherwise violate licensing restrictions (single copy / single machine) and properly activate the edition you own or delete the VM before the activation period ends. This tip is especially useful to Enterprise users and TechNet/MSDN subscribers, because they are licensed to install multiple copies.
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Virtual CD/DVDs A key part of every VM is a virtual hard disk. This is literally a file on the host computer that the guest OS treats as a hard drive. Such files can be almost any size. A virtual CD or DVD is actually a separate matter. Virtual CD/DVDs have application outside of the topic of virtual machines but also have relevance to VMs. Virtual CD/DVDs have been around longer than VMs. Like a virtual hard disk, a virtual CD/DVD is really just a file on the host computer that is treated by the host or guest as if it were a physical disk — in this case a CD or DVD instead of a hard disk. These files are called “image files” because they duplicate the layout of a CD/DVD. A common version of this type of file has the extension name of .iso (from standards set by the International Organization for Standardization — no, I am not being dyslexic). The ISO file format came about as part of the process of burning a CD/DVD. Writing directly to a CD/DVD while assembling the files you are writing increases the odds of a glitch that will render the new disk — er, disc — an otherwise useless coaster. Instead, an image of the new disc is created on the hard drive and then that image is burned in one fell swoop. So if you’ve ever burned a disc, you’ve probably created an ISO in the process. ISOs have extra significance because a disc, like a disk, can boot your system. Thus, ISO became the medium for distributing freely distributable OSes like Linux, as well as non-bootable images of really large installation programs like the one for Microsoft Office. During the beta testing phase of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office, ISO image files were the means for distributing new builds (versions) to testers. Testers have had the choice of using the ISO to burn a real disk or using software to “mount” the ISO as if it were a physical device — a virtual CD/DVD — and running the setup program from this mounted image. The problem is that Windows doesn’t yet have native support to mount an ISO. Many programs can burn an ISO to disc; fewer can mount that image. The three programs mentioned in this appendix as VMMs have the ability to mount an ISO as a virtual CD or DVD. Microsoft has an unsupported and undocumented program for mounting virtual CD/DVDs separately from VMM software. They don’t make it easy to find; perhaps it will be included in updates to their VMMs. Sadly, the current version of Microsoft’s virtual CD/DVD mounting tool doesn’t run under Windows Vista, but it can be used in XP. There are some freeware and shareware programs that also support mounting ISOs, which may run under Windows Vista. One I have used with Windows Vista is Virtual CloneDrive from www.slysoft.com. Download Microsoft’s Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel at http://download .microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/ winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe. (Yeah, that’s a nasty URL; you can do a Web search on “Microsoft mount ISO” to find this link; I’ll include a link at the book’s Web site, too — www .mjhinton.com/vista/). Run the downloaded executable file to uncompress a folder with
the necessary files.
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Some documentation on the Web indicates you have to copy a .sys file into the Windows folder. That is not my experience in XP. Follow these steps to use Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel to mount a CD/DVD drive: 1. Open the folder that appears after you run the .exe you downloaded. 2. Run VCdControlTool.exe. 3. Click the Driver Control button. 4. Click the Install Driver button. 5. Browse to the same folder you started in to select VCdRom.sys, the device driver that makes this work. 6. Click the Start button and then OK to close that Driver Control dialog box. Back on the first screen, click the Add Drive button. 7. Finally, click the Mount button and browse to an ISO file and select it. In Windows Explorer and elsewhere, you will see a new “drive.” Now you can refer to that file by a drive letter as if it were a real disc from which you can copy files or run programs. You can see the process is awkward, but actually very useful. The next time you use the VCdControlTool, you may only need to click the Remount button. One more use for ISOs: create an ISO on your laptop from a CD/DVD and leave the disc at home (test it first). Recognize that you must legally own the real disc for any ISOs you use this way. You’ll find that running software from an ISO is much faster (and quieter) than running it from a disc.
Virtual PC Virtual PC 2007 is a free program from Microsoft that enables you to run one OS (the guest) inside another (the host). This is the ideal option if you intend to run Windows Vista virtually on an XP host system or vice versa. Follow these steps to installing Virtual PC 2007 and creating a virtual machine for Windows Vista. 1. Download Virtual PC 2007 from www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/. 2. Install Virtual PC by running the downloaded installer. 3. Start Microsoft Virtual PC. You’ll see the Virtual PC Console. 4. The first time you run Virtual PC, the New Virtual Machine Wizard will run automatically (you can run it manually, as well by choosing New). Click Next to begin.
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5. Use the default option “Create a virtual machine” on the Options screen. The other options are: Use default settings to create a virtual machine — This doesn’t give you the options you need. Add an existing virtual machine — You could use this later if you reinstall Virtual PC. Click Next. 6. Name your new virtual machine and browse to determine a location (optional). The default location is My Documents \ My Virtual Machines. Click Next. 7. Choose the operating system you are installing. To install Windows Vista as the guest OS, choose Windows Vista from the drop-down menu. To install Windows XP, choose it. To install Linux, use Other. Your OS selection sets hardware defaults you’ll see displayed on this same screen. Do you have the required RAM and disk space? Click Next. 8. Allocate RAM for the VM. Use the recommended RAM. You can adjust this later (as you can most of these settings). Your other choice is “Adjusting the RAM.” If you select this, you can specify less than the recommended RAM, but consider whether it will be enough for the guest OS. Think about the Windows Vista minimum RAM requirement of 500 MB. (Slightly less actually works.). Choose Next. 9. Select the option for a new virtual hard disk. The alternative is an existing virtual hard disk, which you could use if you set up a second VM. 10. Enter a name for the virtual hard disk and select a location for the virtual hard disk (or use the default). This can be the same name and location as you chose in step 6 above, but it does not have to be. You want your fastest hard drive with the most free space. Step 6 creates a configuration file (.vmc) and step 10 creates a hard disk file (.vhd). Both need to be named and stored somewhere. This screen also displays the maximum VHD size and a recommended size that you can adjust. Windows Vista needs no less than 15 GB; 20 GB is a good choice. You may not need much more than that unless you expect to install large applications. Choose Next. 11. Click Finish on the screen that displays “Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard.” You can also use the Back button at any time in this process. A new item appears in the Virtual PC Console for the VM you just created (Figure A-1). A message displays “Not running.” (Later, it may say Paused or Saved.) The Console lets you remove a VM, create a new one (with the wizard), adjust settings for a VM, and start a VM.
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Figure A-1: The Virtual PC Console
12. Select your new VM in the Console and click Settings. 13. Review each of the Settings (Figure A-2). You set some during creation; others are simply defaults. You don’t have to change any, but note a couple you might consider.
Figure A-2: Settings for your virtual machine
Hard Disks 1,2, and 3 — You created #1 in the earlier wizard. You could create two more virtual hard disks, though I haven’t need to. Undo Disks — If you enable undo disks, you have the option at the end of a session to commit or discard changes. This requires more space and more time during commit. Networking — If you have more than one network adapter, identify the one(s) you want the VM to have access to. Shared Folders — Shared folders can be accessed by the VM and the host, allowing an easy transfer of files between the two. Unfortunately, you can’t use this until you install VM Additions (soon), which you can’t install until you’ve installed the guest OS (sooner). Come back to this later.
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Appendix A: Virtual Windows Display — By default, the display will adjust to requirements of the guest. During installation of Windows Vista, the screen will resize a few times. (It’s okay.) You can use this to control the display, but it isn’t necessary. Close — Leave the defaults. You can eliminate some options or automatically choose one on shutdown, but wait until you have a sense of what each choice really means. When you are done with Settings, click OK.
14. Check Virtual PC’s Options. Select File ➝ Options, and then browse the options. In particular, note Keyboard ➝ Current host key. This is the key you must press to get out of the guest OS (click in the window to get into it). Remember this or you’ll be trapped in the guest! The default is the right-hand Alt key. 15. Install the guest OS. Insert the installation disk into the drive. If AutoRun starts, cancel it — this would install onto the host. In the Virtual PC Console, select your VM and click the Start button. If you get a memory error, you can go into the Settings for the VM and trim RAM, though that reduces the performance of the VM. If you get a message to “Insert Boot Media,” make sure the installation CD is in the drive. In the VM window (not the Console), use the CD menu to confirm the VM is using the correct physical drive (or mount an ISO). If the installation runs, follow through to the end before continuing with these steps. 16. Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions after you have completed installing the guest OS. Choose this command under the VM’s Action menu. The Additions improve performance of the VM and allow easier transitions between the VM and the host. 17. Exit from the VMM. Under the Action menu, you have several options: Pause — Like standby; the VM is loaded and ready for Action ➝ Resume. Reset — Like Restart; a cold reboot of the VM. Close — End the session. You can Save state (like hibernation) or Turn off. If you enabled Undo Disks in the Settings, you also have options for committing or discarding changes. In future sessions, start Virtual PC, select your VM and click the Start button. I like to run the VM in a window, but you can run Full Screen. Install other software, use the machine like a real computer — it is, virtually. Although you can multitask the VM and run other programs in the real computer at the same time, performance may suffer. Close the VMM when you are done.
VMware VMware is the premier commercial package for virtualization with various editions. A free version of VMware Server is available. The VMware package is a big download and may be overkill. I think Virtual PC is a great solution for most individuals. For the record, Microsoft also has a server version of its VMM: Virtual Server. As a server product, VMware has many more options than Virtual PC.
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Follow these steps to download VMware Server and to create a VM: 1. Download VMware Server from www.vmware.com. You also must obtain a registration serial number from the same site. (You won’t be able to run VMware Server without a serial number.) 2. Install VMware Server. Use the Custom installation option. If you don’t need the extra features, change most to “Do not install.” Install the first option and the utility (Diskmount) option. 3. Run VMware Server. Select local host when prompted. 4. From the VMware Server Console, select New Virtual Machine. This runs the New Virtual Machine Wizard. Click Next to continue. 5. Select the Appropriate Configuration. While Typical may work, choose Custom to follow along. 6. Select a Guest Operating System. This depends on what you will be installing into the new virtual machine. Choices exist for different editions of XP and other versions of Windows. I chose Windows Vista here. 7. Name the Virtual Machine. Specify an appropriate name and location (on your fastest hard drive with the most free space). 8. Set Access Rights. Private (the default) means only your user name can access the file; uncheck for access by other users. 9. Startup/Shutdown Options. The default of “User that powers on the virtual machine” is fine. However, if you choose “Local system account” or “This user” (you’ll have to enter name and password), then you can use the Startup and Shutdown options that allow you to automate the VM startup and shutdown. That’s not vital if you plan to manually start and shutdown the VM. 10. Number of processors. What a question! You can’t say two unless you have two, but you could cut back to one in that case — but why? Give your virtual machine all the power you have. 11. Memory for the Virtual Machine. The more memory the better unless you discover you run out of memory for other tasks. 12. Network Type. To keep the machine isolated from the Internet, select “Do not use a network connection.” Go with the default “Use bridge networking,” unless you have reasons for another choice. Be aware that the default and Network Address Translation (NAT) connect this guest OS to the Internet — with attendant risks. 13. Select I/O Adapter Types. Go with the defaults unless you know better. 14. Select a Disk. Use “Create a new virtual disk” (default), unless you’ve done this before. 15. Select a Disk Type. Use the default “SCSI (Recommended).”
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16. Specify Disk Capacity. Disk size should be no less than 16 GB; 20 GB is better if you have it free. Consider whether you are going to install other applications with the OS that may require even more space. Check “Allocate all disk space now.” Unchecked, the disk is dynamic and grows as needed, but does so very slowly. I couldn’t get Vista to install in that case, but it took 8 hours to fail. For “Split disk into 2GB files” — I really don’t know, but I’d say no. 17. Specify Disk File. Whatcha gonna call your new pet? (Extension is .vmdk — virtual machine disk.) 18. Click the Finish button. It takes a while to create the new disk file. This is the empty virtual hard drive onto which you will install your guest OS. 19. Install Windows Vista (or other OS). Insert the OS installation disk into the CD/DVD drive. If it autostarts the installation, cancel that. In VMware Server Console (Figure A-3), start your VM (green triangle). You should soon see the VMware boot screen, then an indication that Windows is loading. (You are booting the disk in the VM.) As with Virtual PC, you’ll need a key combination to bust out of the VM. For VMware, Ctrl+Alt gets you out. Similarly, VMware has its own version of Additions to improve the functionality of the VM.
Figure A-3: VMware’s console
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Deleting Virtual Machines If you no longer need to run a virtual machine, you can delete the files associated with it (a small configuration file and a huge VHD), although be sure to back up any unique and irreplaceable files first. If you’re completely through with the adventure, uninstall the VMM as well.
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Index A access point, wireless network setup, 229–232 Accessories, 173–175 Calculator, 176 Character Map, 176 Command Prompt, 177–178 Games, 185–187 Notepad, 176 Paint, 176 PRTSCN, 180 Run, 177–178 Snipping Tool, 178–180 Sticky Notes, 183–184 Ultimate Extras, 184–185 Windows Sidebar, 181–183 Wordpad, 176 Aero Glass, 25, 110 anti-virus software, 66–69 Anytime Upgrade, 10 AppData folder, 195 Appearance and Personalization Folder Options General tab, 125–126 View tab, 126–127 folders properties, 128–129 searches, 129–130 fonts, 130 Personalization desktop background, 112 Display Settings, 116–117 mouse pointers, 115–116 Screen Saver, 113–114 sounds, 114–115 Theme, 108–109 window appearance, 109–112 window color, 109–112 applications, opening documents, 200 audio file formats, 358–359 autoplay, external storage, 143–144
B Back Up Files Wizard, 85–88 restoring from, 89–91 Backup and Restore Center, 80 Back Up Files Wizard, 85–88 Backup Status and Configuration, 92–93 Complete PC Backup, 81–84 restoring from, 84–85 Backup Status and Configuration, 92–93 backups Back Up Files Wizard, 85–88
full versus partial, 79–80 maintenance and, 159 upgrades and, 39–40 BitLocker Drive Encryption, 75–76 booting Advanced Boot Options, 97–98 dual, 101 from installation disk, 98–100 burning CDs/DVDs, 360–361, 383–386 burning images to disk, 338–339 Business edition, 6
C Calculator, 176 camera, importing images from, 327–329 CardSpace, 247 CDs burning, 360–361, 383–386 importing images from, 327–329 ripping, 357–360 Character Map, 176 Clip Organizer, Microsoft Office 2007, 450 color, Display Settings, 117 color schemes, 111 command prompt, 177–178 Complete PC Backup, 81–84 restoring from, 84–85 Computer link, 199 Computer Management, 169 Contacts folder, 245 Contact Groups, 293–295 contacts adding, 291–293 exporting, 295–296 importing, 295–296 selected, 293 Control Panel Appearance and Personalization, Personalization, 108–118 Classic View, 106 Ease of Access Center, 124–125 Home screen, 106 introduction, 105 copying files, 206–208 cost for Vista, 9–10 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 32-bit system, 11 64-bit system, 11 dual-core processor, 11 multiple, 11 CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), 276–277
473
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Index • D–F
D
E
desktop icons, change, 117 overview, 19–20 Desktop folder, 246 Desktop link, 199 Details Pane, 340 device drivers, 135–136 installation and, 48 Device Manager, 145–146 maintenance and, 169 dial-up connection setup, 227–229 digital ink, Mobile PCs, 405, 412–414 DirectX10, 11–12 Disk Cleanup, maintenance and, 160 Disk Defragmenter alternatives, 160 maintenance and, 160 Disk Management, maintenance and, 169 Display Settings color, 117 desktop icons, 117 font size, 118 monitors, multiple, 116 screen resolution, 117 Document Imaging, Microsoft Office 2007, 450 Document Scanning, Microsoft Office 2007, 451 documents files copying, 206–208 deleting, 208–210 moving, 206–208 renaming, 210–211 restoring, 208–210 selecting, 205–206 metadata, 198–199 naming, 197–198 opening within application, 200 drag and drop, 204 Open With option, 201–202 recent documents, 201 Send To option, 203–204 saving, 196–199 Documents folder, 246 Documents link, 199 DOS, 5 command line, 454 Downloads folder, 246 drag and drop, opening documents, 204 dual boot, 101 installation and, 40–41 DVDs burning, 360–361, 383–386 importing images from, 327–329 ripping, 357–360
Ease of Access Center, 124–125 EFS (Encrypting File System), 74–77 e-mail. See also Windows Mail images, 337–338 eMusic, 365–366 encryption, files, 74–77 Enterprise edition, 7 error-checking, maintenance and, 159 Ethernet, 218 Excel calculated columns, 449 conditional formatting, 449 filtering, 449–450 themes, 448 exporting contacts, 295–296 external storage adding, 143–145 autoplay and, 143–144
F Favorite Links, 199–200 Favorites folder, 246 file formats, images, 335–336 files copying, 206–208 deleting, 208–210 encryption compressed folders, 73–74 EFS (Encrypting File System), 74–77 moving, 206–208 removing, from Windows Photo Gallery, 331–332 renaming, 210–211 restoring, 208–210 searches, 211–215 selecting, 205–206 filtering in Windows Explorer, 28–30 firewall. See Windows Firewall flash drives, ReadyBoost and, 133 Flip, 25–26 folders AppData, 195 Favorite Links, 199–200 Program Files, 195 removing from Windows Photo Gallery, 331–332 user folders Contacts, 245 Desktop, 246 Documents, 246 Downloads, 246 Favorites, 246 Links, 246 Music, 246 Pictures, 246 Saved Games, 246
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Index • F–I Searches, 246 Videos, 246 Users, 194–195 Windows, 195 Windows Photo Gallery, 327 fonts, 130 full backups, versus partial, 79–80
G gadgets, 181–183 games Chess Titans, 186 FreeCell, 186 Hearts, 186 InkBall, 186 Mahjong Titans, 186 Minesweeper, 186 Purple Place, 186 Solitaire, 186 Spider Solitaire, 186 grouping in Windows Explorer, 28–30
H handwriting, Mobile PCs, 405, 412–414 hard drive, 12 hardware Device Manager, 145–146 networking wired connections, 217–218 wireless connections, 218–219 new external storage, 143–145 pointing devices, 140–141 printer installation, 137–140 second monitor, 141–143 plug and play, 132–133 virtual, 460 Hardware and Sound Control Panel, 131 Hibernate mode, 24 High Contrast, 124 Home Basic edition, 6 Home Premium edition, 6
I images (Windows Photo Gallery) backups, 333 browsing, 315–319 burning to disk, 338–339 copying to folders, 326 e-mailing, 337–338 file formats, 335–336 Fix tool, 334 importing, 327–329 moving to folders, 326
previewing, 315–319 printing to printer, 336–337 to service, 337 ratings, 330 Redo, 333 renaming, 329 tags, 330 deleting, 330–331 grouping, 331 removing, 330–331 renaming, 330–331 Undo, 333 importing contacts, 295–296 images, 327–329 Information Bar, IE 7, 281 input devices, Tablet PCs, 407–409 installation clean dual boot, 40–41 new partition, 40–41 device drivers and, 48 disk, booting from, 98–100 Microsoft Office 2007, 441–442 printers, 137–139 preferences, 139–140 properties, 139–140 programs, new, 187–188 steps for, 43–48 upgrades, 40–41 Windows Easy Transfer and, 48–52 Internet connecting to, 265–266 networking and, 232–233 Internet Explorer Anti-phishing filter, 70 Protected mode, 70 Internet Explorer 7, 266–267 command bar, 270 CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), 276–277 Information Bar, 281 IPV6, 280 Page Zoom, 275 phishing, 284 pop-up blocking, 283 printing, 287–289 privacy settings, 285–286 protected mode, 283–284 RSS (Really Simple Syndication, 277–280 searches, 287 security, 280–286 security settings, 284–285 tabs, 270–275 IPV6, 280
475
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Index • J–O
J JPG files, 335
K Key Tips, Microsoft Office 2007, 431 keyboard, On-Screen, 124
L LeakTest, firewall, 65 Links folder, 246 Live Preview, Microsoft Office 2007, 437–439
M Magnifier, 124 Mail. See Windows Mail maintenance, 159–163 media, improved options, 4 Meeting Space, 420–423 menu buttons, Windows Media Player, 345–346 metadata, 198–199 searches and, 341 Microsoft DOS, 5 Microsoft Office 2007 Clip Organizer, 450 Document Imaging, 450 Document Scanning, 451 editions, 439–441 Excel calculated columns, 449 conditional formatting, 449 filtering, 449–450 themes, 448 installation, 441–442 Key Tips, 431 Live Preview, 437–439 Microsoft Office Diagnostics, 451 Mini Toolbar, 436–437 Office Button, 428–430 Picture Manager, 451 programs, 431–433 Quick Access Toolbar, 433–434 Ribbon toolbar, 434–436 Word blogging in, 442–446 default paste options, 447 Microsoft Office Diagnostics, Microsoft Office 2007, 451 Mini Toolbar, Microsoft Office 2007, 436–437 Mobile PC option, 395–396 Mobile PCs, 393 digital ink, 405 handwriting, 405 media files, synchronizing, 419 Meeting Space, 420–423 offline files, 416–419
power, 395 security, 394–395 SideShow, 423 Windows Mobile Device Center, 419 Mobility Center, 396–397 personalization, 404–405 power options, 397 battery meter, 404 power plans, 398–403 power switches, 398 modems, 265 monitor, second, 141–143 mouse, properties, 141 moving files, 206–208 Music folder, 246 Music Library, Windows Media Center, 381 Music link, 199
N naming documents, 197–198 Narrator, 124 Navigation pane, Windows Media Player, 347 Network and Sharing Center introduction, 233–234 Sharing and Discovery File Sharing, 235–236 Media Sharing, 237–238 Network Discovery, 235 Password Protected Sharing, 237–238 Printer Sharing, 237 Public Folder Sharing, 236–237 networking connecting, selecting available network, 222–223 connections, setup, 224–229 dial-up, setup, 227–229 hardware wired connections, 217–218 wireless connections, 218–219 Internet and, 232–233 security-enabled networks, 223 speed, 219 unsecured networks, 223 wireless ad hoc, setup, 226–227 manual connection, 224–226 new PC purchase, 37–38 NIC (network interface card), 217 Notepad, 176 Notification Area, personalization, 120
O Office Button, Microsoft Office 2007, 428–430 offline files, Mobile PCs, 416–419 online music stores eMusic, 365–366
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Index • O–S URGE, 368–369 Wal-Mart Music Downloads, 366–368 On-Screen Keyboard, 124 Open With option, 201–202 opening documents within application, 200 drag and drop, 204 Open With option, 201–202 recent documents, 201 Send To option, 203–204 Organize button Details Pane, 32 metadata, 32 Navigation Pane, 32 Preview Pane, 33 Search Pane, 32
PrintScreen, 180 Problem Reports and Solutions, 155–156 maintenance and, 159 Program Files folder, 195 Programs and Features Center turning features on/off, 189 uninstalling programs, 188–189 properties mouse, 141 printers, 139–140 shortcuts, 173–175 PRTSCN, 180 Public link, 199
P
R
Paint, 176 Parental Controls, 246 introduction, 257–258 reports, 262–263 user controls, 259–262 users, new, 258–259 partitions, installation and, 40–41 passphrase, wireless networks, 230 password changing, 248 removing, 248 pens, Tablet PCs, 407–409 phishing, 70, 268, 284 Windows Mail and, 305 photos properties, 340–341 as screen saver, 339–340 Windows Media Center, 379–380 Picture Manager, Microsoft Office 2007, 451 Pictures & Video, Windows Media Center, 378–380 Pictures folder, 246 Pictures link, 199 Pin to Start Menu, 171 Play folder, 18 PlaysForSure, 370 plug and play, 132–133 pop-ups, blocking, 283 power, Mobile PCs, 395 preferences, printers, 139–140 Preview Pane, 340 printers preferences, 139–140 properties, 139–140 printing Internet Explorer 7 and, 287–289 photos to printer, 336–337 to service, 337
477
Q Quick Access Toolbar, Microsoft Office 2007, 433–434
RAM (random access memory), 12 adding, 133 ratings, images, 330 ReadyBoost, 12, 133–135 ReadyDrive, 12 recent documents, 201 Recent Places, 199 Recently Changed link, 199 Reliability and Performance Monitor, 167–169 renaming files, 210–211 reports Problem Reports and Solutions, 155–156 System Diagnostics Report, 156–158 restoring from Back Up Files Wizard, 89–91 from Complete PC Backup, 84–85 files, 208–210 previous versions, 93–94 to restore point, 94–96 Ribbon toolbar, Microsoft Office 2007, 434–436 routers, 265 wireless networks manual configuration, 231–232 setup, 229–232 RSS (Really Simple Syndication), 277–280 Run, 177–178
S Saved Games folder, 246 saving documents, 196–197 metadata, 198–199 naming, 197–198 Scandisk, 160 alternatives, 162 scanners, importing images from, 327–329 screen resolution, 117 screen savers, photos as, 339–340
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Index • S–T
searches Advanced Search option, 213 advanced searches, 213–215 e-mail, 303–304 improved functionality, 4 Internet Explorer 7, 287 metadata, 341 Save Search option, 212 saved searches, 215 Search in File Contents option, 213 Search Tools option, 212 Searches folder, 246 Searches link, 199 security enhancements, 3 file encryption, 73–77 introduction, 57 malware protection, 66 Mobile PCs, 394–395 prompts, 16 safe behavior, 66–67 spyware, 69–73 virus protection, 66–69 Security Center Firewall, 59–62 introduction, 58 Malware Protection, 66 Windows Update, Automatice Updates, 62–65 selecting files, 205–206 Send To option, 203–204 sharing resources advanced, 256 Contributor permission, 255 Co-owner, 256 Everyone, 255 guest account, 255 introduction, 254 Reader permission, 255 Remove permission, 256 ShieldsUp!, firewall, 64 shortcuts Add to Quick Launch, 172 Create Shortcut, 172 Create Shortcuts Here, 172 creating, 171–173 Pin to Start Menu, 171 properties, 173–175 Send To Desktop, 172 Sidebar, 181–183 overview, 19–20 SideShow, 423 Sleep mode, 24 slide shows (Windows Photo Gallery) playing, 323–326 themes, 325–326
Snipping Tool, 178–180 sorting in Windows Explorer, 28–30 speech recognition, 414–416 spyware, 69–73 stacking in Windows Explorer, 28–30 Start menu, 21–25 personalization, 121–123 Pin to Start Menu, 171 startup, 158 Sticky Notes, 183–184 switching users, 253–254 syncing media files, 361–364 System Configuration, startup and, 158 System Diagnostics Report, 156–158 system restore point creating, 96–97 restoring to, 94–96 System Restore, restoring to resore point, 94–96 System screen, 149 opening, 150
T Tablet PCs, 394 input devices, 407–409 pens, 407–409 settings, 405–407 TIP (Tablet Input Panel), 409–412 tags, images, 330 Task Manager applications and, 163–164 key combinations, 166 networking and, 165 performance and, 165 processes and, 164–165 services and, 165 users and, 165 Task Switcher. See Flip taskbar icon tray, 21 Notification area, 21 overview, 20–21 personalization, 119–120 Quick Launch toolbar, 21 Tasks menu, Windows Media Center, 374–375 DVD, 377 Extender, 377 General, 375 Library Setup, 378 Music, 377 Pictures, 377 TV, 376 themes, Excel, 448 thumb drives, ReadyBoost and, 133 thumbnails, Flip, 25–26 TIF files, 335
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Index • T–W TIP (Tablet Input Panel), Tablet PCs, 409–412 toolbars introduction, 27 personalization, 120–121
U Ultimate edition, 7 Ultimate Extras, 184–185 UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs), 393 upgrades Anytime Upgrade, 10 backups, 39–40 installation, 40–41 paths, 40 Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, 35–37 URGE, 366–368 user accounts, 246–247 account name, 249 multiple, 251–253 password changing, 248 removing, 248 picture, 249 scenarios, 257 switching users, 253–254 types, 247–248 User Accounts and Family Safety, 246 account settings, editing, 248–251 account types, 247–248 user folders Contacts, 245 Desktop, 246 Documents, 246 Downloads, 246 Favorites, 246 Links, 246 Music, 246 Pictures, 246 Saved Games, 246 Searches, 246 Videos, 246 users, switching, 253–254 Users folder, 194–195
V video subsystem DirectX10, 11–12 shared memory, 11 Videos folder, 246 Views button, 27–28 vinyl records, ripping, 360 Virtual PC, 465–468
virtualization license issues, 459–460 reasons for, 462–465 virtual hardware, 460 virtual machines, deleting, 471 Virtual PC, 465–468 virtual software, 461 VMware, 468–470 virus protection anti-virus software, 66–69 maintenance and, 159 Vista cost, 9–10 future of, 454–456 new features, 7–9 top ten features, 453–454 VMware, 468–470
W Wal-Mart Music Downloads, 366–368 Web browsers, Internet Explorer 7, 266–267 command bar, 270 CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), 276–277 Information Bar, 281 IPV6, 280 Page Zoom, 275 phishing, 284 pop-up blocking, 283 printing, 287–289 privacy settings, 285–286 protected mode, 283–284 RSS (Really Simple Syndication), 277–280 searches, 287 security, 280–286 security settings, 284–285 tabs, 270–275 Welcome Center Back button, 17 breadcrumbs, 17, 18 Forward button, 17 Play folder, 18 Search box, 17 session history button, 16 Work folder, 18 Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), 266 Windows family tree, 5 Microsoft DOS, 5 post-95, 5 pre Win 95, 5 pre-Vista, 5 Windows 95, 5
479
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Index • W
Windows Calendar appointments, adding, 309–310 calendars new, 311 sharing, 312–313 groups, new, 311–312 options, 308–309 tasks, adding, 310–311 view, 308 Windows Contacts Contact Groups, 293–295 contacts adding, 291–293 exporting, 295–296 importing, 295–296 selected, 293 Windows Defender, startup and, 158 Windows DVD Maker, 386–390 Windows Easy Transfer, 48–52 Windows Experience Index, 151–154 Windows Explorer AppData folder, 195 Details Pane, 340 documents and, 193–196 filtering, 28–30 grouping, 28–30 opening, 26 Organize button, 31–33 Preview Pane, 340 Program Files folder, 195 sorting, 28–30 stacking, 28–30 status bar, 33 toolbars, 27 Users folder, 194–195 Views button, 27–28 Windows folder, 195 Windows Firewall Advanced Security, 61–62 settings Advanced, 61 Exceptions, 61 General, 60 testing firewall, 64–65 Windows folder, 195 Windows Mail accounts, setup, 296–299 Advanced, 307 creating e-mail, 300–302 General tab, 306 junk mail, 305 local folders, 303 message rules and, 305–306 phishing, 305 Read, 307
receiving e-mail, 302–306 searching e-mail, 303–304 Send, 307 sending e-mail, 302 Spelling, 307 View menu, 299–300 Windows Media Center burning CDs/DVDs, 383–386 introduction, 371 Music Library, 381 Now Playing screen, 382 Online Media, 383 opening, 372 Pictures & Video, 378–380 screen, 372–374 Tasks, settings, 374–378 TV & Movies, 383 Windows Photo Gallery comparison, 379–380 Windows Media Player Compact Mode, 355 Full Mode, 355 library, adding files, 348–349 menu buttons, 345–346 Mini Player Mode, 356 Navigation pane, 347 Now Playing screen, 354–355 online music stores, 364–365 eMusic, 365–366 URGE, 368–369 Wal-Mart Music Downloads, 366–368 Player controls, 347 playlists, creating, 349 ripping CDs/DVDs, 357–360 setup, first-time, 344 Skin Mode, 356 starting, 343–344 syncing files, 361–364 Zune and, 369–370 Windows Mobile Device Center, 419 Windows Movie Maker, 390–392 Windows Photo Gallery Big Toolbar, 321–322 file formats, 335–336 files, removing, 331–332 folders adding, 327 removing, 331–332 images backups, 333 browsing, 315–319 copying to folders, 326 Fix tool, 334 importing, 327–329 moving to folders, 326 previewing, 322–323
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Index • W–Z ratings, 330 Redo, 333 renaming, 329 tags, 330 tags, deleting, 330–331 tags, removing, 330–331 tags, renaming, 330–331 Undo, 333 Info pane, 319–321 Navigation Bar, 321–322 slide shows playing, 323–326 themes, 325–326 tags, 317 thumbnails, 316–318 Windows Media Center comparison, 379–380 Windows Sidebar, 181–183 Windows Update maintenance and, 159 options, 63–64 Web site, 64–65 Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, 35–37 wired networks, 217–218 wireless networks, 218–219 access point, setup, 229–232 ad hoc, setup, 226–227
connections, 242 file sharing, 230 manual connection, 224–226 printer sharing, 230 router manual configuration, 231–232 setup, 229–232 Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), 266 Wong, Karen, 326 Word blogging in account setup, 443–445 editing, 446 posts, creating, 445–446 default paste options, 447 WordPad, 176 Work folder, introduction, 18
X XML (eXtensible Markup Language), 438–439
Z Zip files, 73 Zune, 369–370
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