The Windows 98 interface is very similar to the Windows 95 interface with one major exception: the integration of Web content on the desktop. If you have upgraded from Windows 95, you should have no trouble working in Windows 98. If you have upgraded from Windows 3.x, the transition will require a slightly steeper learning curve, but the basics are all the same and the transition should be relatively painless.
This chapter examines the Windows 98 interface and explores the ways in which you can use Windows 98 to perform common tasks, such as starting applications and working with documents. The chapter includes the following topics:
Inside Windows 98 targets intermediate to advanced users, so this chapter assumes you have a handle on mouse fundamentals. Experience with Windows 95 or a graphical user interface (GUI), such as those found in OS/2 and many versions of UNIX, is helpful but not necessary.
TIP: This chapter doesn't cover basic user interface concepts, such as moving the mouse pointer, types of mouse pointers, or working with menus and dialog boxes. Some of the interface components and concepts in this chapter are explained in brief just to give you an overview of the Windows 98 interface. These concepts are covered in greater detail where appropriate elsewhere in Inside Windows 98. If you are familiar with Windows 95, many of the topics covered in this chapter will already be familiar to you. The majority of the chapter is intended for users who are new to the Windows 95/Windows 98 interface.
The Windows 98 interface consists of two key features: the desktop and the Taskbar (see Figure 6.1). The desktop essentially is a blank surface on which all other Windows components appear. The Taskbar provides various pieces of status information about your PC and enables you to start applications and switch among running applications.
FIGURE 6.1 The primary components of the Windows 98 interface are the desktop and the Taskbar.
The Windows 98 default desktop includes My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Recycle Bin, among other objects. Before you read about these objects, you need a brief introduction to folders. Later sections explain folders in more detail.
The objects on the desktop named My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Recycle Bin are examples of folders. Folders provide a uniform means of organizing and displaying information. If you have used any recent operating system such as DOS (including Windows 3.x), UNIX, or OS/2, you no doubt are quite familiar with the concept of directories. Directories enable you to organize the data on your disks in a meaningful way. The Windows files, for example, reside in a number of different directories, usually all under the main \Windows directory.
One type of Windows 98 folder is nothing more than a graphical representation of a directory on a disk. The objects that appear in the folder window are the files that reside in the directory. Figure 6.2 shows this type of folder window.
FIGURE 6.2 Folders provide a graphical view of the contents of a directory.
Windows 98 supports special folders that don't represent a directory on the disk but contain other types of objects. These folders are actually container objects for applications and other objects not necessarily related to files. The My Computer folder is an example of this type of folder.
The relationship between folders and directories is explained in greater detail in the section "Working with Folders" later in this chapter.
My Computer provides quick access to all resources on your PC, including your local hard disk, remote disks mapped to drive IDs on your PC, the Control Panel, the Printers folder, and the Dial-Up Networking folder. Figure 6.3 shows the contents of My Computer on a typical PC.
All the disk resources available to your PC, locally or through disk mappings to remote network disks, appear in My Computer. To view the contents of a local hard disk, for example, just open My Computer and double-click on the disk's icon. Depending on how you configure your folder windows (explained in "Working with Folders" later in this chapter), the contents of the open folder change to show the contents of the newly selected object, or a new folder window appears on the desktop to show the contents of the selected object. If you double-click on the drive C icon, for example, the contents of drive C appear in the new folder window.
FIGURE 6.3 My Computer gives you quick access to most of your PC's resources.
In addition to displaying an icon for each local floppy and hard disk drive, My Computer displays an icon for each remote network drive mapped to a logical drive ID on your PC. If you connect logical drive F to a remote server, for example, My Computer displays an icon for drive F. Selecting the network drive's icon opens a window that displays the contents of the remote disk, just as opening a local drive displays its contents.
My Computer also contains the following four folders:
Inside Windows 98 covers details about the Control Panel as appropriate throughout the book. Chapter 10, "Customizing Windows 98," discusses customizing the Windows 98 interface and includes an exploration of many of the controls in the Control Panel folder.
Chapter 8, "Printing and Managing Printers," explores the Printers folder, explaining how to print, how to specify printer options, how to control the print queue, and other printing issues.
Chapter 18, "Automating Tasks," covers the Task Scheduler and other resources within Windows 98 that enable you to automate tasks.
Chapter 21, "Using Dial-Up Networking and Direct Cable Connection," explains the Dial-Up Networking folder and Remote Access Services in detail. If you think you might want to provide or use remote services, Dial-Up Networking can help you with remote e-mail, LAN access, and other workgroup services.
TIP: Renaming My Computer on your system is easy. Perhaps you prefer a name like "PC" or your PC's network machine name. To change the name of the My Computer folder (or any other folder), click once on the folder to select it. Then click once on the title text below the icon. This highlights the current folder name, and you can enter the new name. You can include spaces and punctuation characters in the folder name. Refer to Chapter 7, "Managing Files and Folders," for more information on using long filenames to name files and folders.
The Network Neighborhood folder (see Figure 6.4) provides quick access to the PCs and printers on your network. It displays the resources available in your workgroup. The Entire Network folder, whose icon appears in the Network Neighborhood folder, gives you access to the resources shared by servers and PCs outside your workgroup.
As you learn in more detail in Part VII, "Networking," Windows 98's strategy for providing access to network resources, such as files and printers, makes accessing and using those resources much easier. The Network Neighborhood icon is a key element of that strategy. When you open Network Neighborhood, you see icons for each of the computers that are part of your workgroup, with the name of each computer under its icon. To view the resources a particular computer shares, simply double-click on its icon, and an open folder (a folder window) appears on the desktop, displaying the resources the selected computer shares (see Figure 6.5). Shared disk resources appear as folders, with the names of the shared disks serving as the names of the folders. Shared printers appear as printer folders, with the shared printers' names serving as the folder names.
FIGURE 6.4 The Network Neighborhood provides quick access to network resources, including file servers and printers.
FIGURE 6.5 A remote computer's shared resources appear together in its Network Neighborhood folder.
This method of resource access is easy because you no longer have to associate a local drive ID with each shared disk resource you want to access. You simply open the remote computer's folder, open the shared folder to display its contents, and choose the application or file you want to use. This can save time when you want to access a single file or application on a server you seldom use.
TIP: You can easily create a shortcut to a remote computer or its shared resources on the desktop. When you need to access the remote computer's shared resources, you simply open the shortcut folder and the resources are immediately available. Creating shortcuts is covered in "Creating and Using Shortcuts" later in this chapter.Quick access to network resources carries over into the standard file dialog boxes. If you choose File | Open to display an application's Open dialog box, you can enter a unified naming convention (UNC) name to a resource, instead of first having to associate a drive ID with the remote disk. To open a file named report in a shared directory named docs on a server named fred, for example, you would enter \\fred\docs\report in the File Name text box.
One key use of your computer is to run applications and create and manage documents. Windows 98 makes opening applications and documents easy and adds flexibility in letting you customize the way you access your frequently used applications and documents.
At the bottom of the desktop is the Taskbar (see Figure 6.6). You use the Taskbar to start applications, open documents, and manage running applications. The tray, which sits at the right edge of the Taskbar when the Taskbar is at the bottom of the desktop, also serves as a status bar.
FIGURE 6.6 The Taskbar provides access to applications and status information.
At the left of the Taskbar is the Start button, which when clicked opens the Start menu (see Figure 6.7). Until you customize the desktop, the Start menu is the primary mechanism you use to start applications and open documents. The Start menu includes a set of standard menu items, which are discussed in the following sections.
The Programs menu item displays a hierarchical menu of program groups, such as Accessories and Startup. If you upgrade a copy of Windows 3.x to Windows 98, Setup migrates all your Program Manager groups to items in the Programs menu. Windows 95 programs and their Start menu entries also migrate during upgrade. To open a program, select the menu item for the appropriate group from the Programs menu. A menu of the objects in the group appears. To start the application, select its menu item.
TIP: You don't have to click on a menu to open it. Just move the cursor over the menu item to highlight the item; then let the cursor rest on the item for a second. The menu opens automatically. If you prefer, you can click on the menu to open it immediately.
Windows 98 includes a set of accessory programs for doing simple word processing, maintaining addresses and phone numbers, and performing other common tasks. You can find these accessories in the Programs | Accessories menu (see Figure 6.7). For example, to start WordPad, a simple word processor, choose Start | Programs | Accessories | WordPad.
FIGURE 6.7 Windows 98 includes several accessory programs for general productivity as well as system maintenance.
The Accessories menu also contains other types of menus, including the following:
NOTE: The contents of your Accessories menu could be slightly different, depending on the items you have installed on your computer.
The Programs menu is not limited only to those items it contains when you first install Windows 98. When you install a new application, a menu item is added to the Programs menu. If you install Microsoft Office, for example, a menu item named Microsoft Office appears in the Programs menu. The Microsoft Office menu then lists all applications you have installed as part of Microsoft Office.
The Favorites menu points to the \Windows\Favorites folder and typically contains links to Web pages. You can add any object to the Favorites folder, however, and those objects will appear in the Favorites menu. You also can create folders within the \Windows\Favorites folder to help organize your favorite Internet and local resources.
The Start menu contains a Documents menu that gives you quick access to documents with which you have recently worked (see Figure 6.8). If you double-click on a document in a folder, for example, the document's parent application opens and loads the selected document. The name of the selected document is then added to the Documents menu. If later you want to open the document again, just choose Start | Documents and choose the document from the menu. The Documents menu keeps track of the last 15 documents you opened.
FIGURE 6.8 The Documents menu gives you quick access to recently used documents.
NOTE: In addition to tracking documents, the Documents menu also keeps track of disk folders you open.
The Settings menu gives you access to the Control Panel, Printers folder, and Taskbar. Choosing the Control Panel item in the Settings menu opens the Control Panel. Another way you can open the Control Panel is to open the My Computer folder and choose the Control Panel folder. The objects in the Control Panel are explained at appropriate points throughout Inside Windows 98.
Choosing the Printers menu item in the Settings menu opens the Printers folder. As explained earlier in the section on My Computer, the Printers folder contains icons for each of the printers available to your PC. You can open the Printers folder from My Computer as well. Chapter 8 explains printing and working with the Printers folder.
Choosing the Taskbar & Start Menu item in the Settings menu opens a dialog box you can use to customize the Start menu and Taskbar. These topics are explained in the section "Customizing the Taskbar and Start Menu" later in this chapter.
The Find menu item in the Start menu enables you to search for files on your PC or on the network, for computers on the network, the Microsoft Network online service for topics, and the Internet. Applications such as Microsoft Outlook add their own items to the Find menu. Find is excellent for tracking down information, and it eliminates the need to open Explorer (or File Manager, as in Windows 3.x) to search for a file. Find's capability for locating computers on the LAN and information on the Internet and Microsoft Network adds to its usefulness.
Chapter 7 covers using Find to locate files and folders, and Chapter 26, "Peer Resource Sharing and Security," explains using Find to locate computers on the network.
Windows 98 has an extensive Help system. If you need help using Windows 98, choose Start | Help. Windows 98 displays a dialog box you can use to search the Help index for Windows 98 and get information about specific topics.
TIP: For help using a Windows application, choose an appropriate selection from the application's Help menu.
The Run menu item enables you to start applications that do not appear elsewhere in the Programs menu or on the desktop.
To run an application, enter the path to its executable file in the Open combo box. Run maintains a list of the applications you have opened recently in the Run dialog box. If you have opened the application recently, open the drop-down list to see whether the application's path appears. Select the application and then choose OK. If you don't know the path to the application or prefer not to type the path, choose the Browse button and use the Browse dialog box to locate the application's executable file.
In addition to items that enable you to open applications and documents, the Start menu also includes an item to shut down your PC. Rather than simply shutting off your PC after you finish using it, you should use the Shut Down item in the Start menu to shut down Windows and your PC. When you choose Shut Down, Windows 98 displays the Shut Down Windows dialog box. The four option buttons in the dialog box are as follows:
The Start menu includes an item that enables you to close all programs and log on as a different user. Choose Start | Log Off to log off of Windows, close all programs, and log on using a different user ID. If you share a PC with another user, you should choose this option when you are finished using the PC. Windows 98 will restart with a logon dialog box displayed so the next user can log on to the system.
The Taskbar, on which you find the Start menu, serves as a task switcher and status bar. The Taskbar enables you to switch quickly and easily among your running applications and control the way those running applications appear on the desktop.
The default location for the Taskbar is at the bottom of the desktop. You can configure the Taskbar, however, to appear at the right, left, or top of the desktop. You also can configure the Taskbar to hide automatically when not in use. When the Taskbar is hidden, moving the cursor to the edge of the desktop at which the Taskbar is located brings it back into view. The section "Customizing the Taskbar and Start Menu" later in this chapter explains how to change the location and behavior of the Taskbar.
All running applications appear as buttons on the Taskbar. A foreground application's button appears pressed. Background applications' buttons appear raised. To switch to a particular application, simply click on its button in the Taskbar and the application moves to the foreground. To use the Taskbar to open an application's Control menu, right-click the application's button in the Taskbar. The Control menu appears near the application's button.
TIP: If you prefer a quicker method of switching programs than the Taskbar, hold down Alt and press Tab; then release Tab but keep Alt down. A small dialog box appears containing icons for all open applications, folders, and other objects. Continue to hold down Alt and press Tab to cycle through the icons, and choose the icon for the object you want to use. When the icon you want is highlighted, release Alt. The selected application moves to the foreground. Other keyboard shortcuts are explained later in the section "Using the Keyboard."
Windows 98 includes four predefined toolbars that can appear on the Taskbar. These toolbars include the following:
To use an item in a toolbar, just click on the item's icon. You also can control the way the toolbar appears. Just right-click on a blank area of the toolbar and choose one of the following items from the context menu:
In addition to residing on the Taskbar, toolbars can float on the desktop. To move a toolbar to the desktop, click on the vertical bar at the left of the toolbar and drag it to the desktop. To redock the toolbar on the Taskbar, drag it into position on the Taskbar.
You also can dock toolbars on the top or sides of the display, giving you greater flexibility in positioning them. You can size them as desired and make them hide automatically when not in use. To dock a toolbar at the side or top of the display, simply drag it to the desired side and release it. Right-click on the toolbar and choose Auto Hide to have the toolbar automatically hide when you aren't using it. The toolbar will reappear when you move the pointer to the edge of the display where the toolbar is docked. Choose Always on Top if you want the toolbar to remain fixed on the desktop and always be visible. When you maximize a program or folder window, that window will not obscure the toolbar.
You can easily create your own toolbars for inclusion on the Taskbar. You can assign a folder or an Internet URL as the contents of the toolbar. If you use a folder, the folder can reside on your local computer or elsewhere on your LAN. Any valid Internet address will also work.
Right-click on any area of the Taskbar and choose Toolbars | New Toolbar to display the New Toolbar dialog box (see Figure 6.9). Browse for and select the folder you want to use as the toolbar or type an Internet address. If you specify an Internet address, Windows 98 will connect to the Internet. When you drag the Internet resource to the desktop, the resource is displayed in a resizable browser window.
FIGURE 6.9 Use the New Toolbar dialog box to create your own custom toolbars.
TIP: You can add items to a toolbar simply by adding items to the folder it represents. If you use a network folder as a toolbar, for example, new items will appear in the toolbar as other users on the network add items to the folder. To view new items in a toolbar, right-click on the toolbar and choose Refresh.
The Taskbar can help you quickly organize all open windows on the desktop. Assume you have a couple of folder windows and an application window open and you want to view all of them. Just right-click on the Taskbar and choose Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically. Windows 98 arranges the open windows on your desktop accordingly.
Another arrangement method is to cascade all open windows so that the windows overlap. To cascade all open windows, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Cascade.
NOTE: When you choose Tile Horizontally, Tile Vertically, or Cascade, Windows 98 organizes only the windows currently open on the desktop. Minimized windows are not affected.
After you tile or cascade the windows on the desktop, you can switch back to the original view. Assume you have three open windows--all of them maximized (which means you can see only one). You right-click the Taskbar and choose Tile Horizontally. A few minutes later you want to maximize them all again, returning them to the arrangement you had before you tiled them. After you tile or cascade windows with the Taskbar, a menu item labeled either Undo Cascade or Undo Tile appears in the Taskbar's object menu. Choose this menu item to restore the windows to their original locations and states.
When you work with more than one application or window, minimizing all the windows so you can work with shortcuts and other objects on the desktop can eat up time. If you're running four maximized applications, for example, you have to minimize each one so you can access your shortcuts and other objects on the desktop. To quickly minimize all open windows, click the Show Desktop button on the Quick Launch toolbar.
TIP: If you are using a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, hold down the Windows key and press M to minimize all applications. Another way to quickly minimize all applications is to right-click the Taskbar and choose Minimize All Windows.
At the right edge of the Taskbar (if your Taskbar is at the bottom of the desktop) is the tray, which contains various status indicators. For example, the current time appears at the far right of the tray (see Figure 6.10). If you place the cursor over the time indicator, a ToolTip (a small text box) appears at the cursor to display the day and date. Other status indicators behave the same way--rest the cursor on the indicator for a second and a ToolTip appears with additional status information.
FIGURE 6.10 Status indicators appear in the Taskbar tray.
Other status indicators can appear in the tray, depending on your system's configuration. If your system contains PCMCIA devices, for example, a status indicator for the PC card slots appears in the tray. If Power Management is enabled, a battery indicator appears in the tray to indicate remaining battery charge. When you use Dial-Up Networking to connect to a remote LAN or PC, a Dial-Up Networking indicator appears in the tray, indicating Dial-Up Networking session activity.
Double-clicking on a status indicator in the Taskbar typically provides additional information about the selected item. Double-clicking on the time indicator, for example, opens the Day/Time Properties dialog box (see Figure 6.11), which you can use to set the system's date, time, and time zone. Double-clicking on the Dial-Up Networking status indicator opens a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 6.12, which shows you the status of the modem and information about bytes transferred.
FIGURE 6.11 Use the Day/Time Properties page to set the system date and time.
FIGURE 6.12 The Dial-Up Networking status dialog box provides statistics about the current Dial-Up Networking session.
TIP: When you have unread mail in your Inbox, an envelope icon appears in the tray. Double- clicking on the envelope opens the Inbox so you can read the new message(s).
Now that you've had a general introduction to the Windows 98 interface, you're ready to examine some of the interface components in more detail and learn to customize them to your needs. The following section explains the use of folders in more detail, including how to open applications and documents from a folder.
You read earlier in this chapter that folders are a major component of the Windows 98 interface. Folders are really nothing more than standard windows that serve as containers for objects such as files. When you open a folder, it looks like a window. When you close a folder, it looks like a folder icon. Folders can contain files, other folders, and other types of objects.
A key point to understand about folders is that they actually come in two basic types: those Windows 98 uses to display the contents of a directory and those, like the Control Panel, that actually are applications and present their information in a standard folder window. As a user, however, the distinction between these two types of folders is transparent--you work with the contents of both types of folders in the same way.
Another key point about folders lies in their relationship to directories. A standard folder is nothing more than a graphical mechanism for displaying the contents of a directory. Microsoft has just changed some terminology in Windows 98; what was called a directory in the DOS and Windows 3.x realms is now called a folder. Therefore, a folder can contain other folders, just as a directory can contain subdirectories. When you open a folder, you see the contents of the directory it represents; the files that reside in the directory appear as icons in the folder window. Any subdirectories appear in the folder as additional folders.
NOTE: Throughout Inside Windows 98, the terms directory and folder are used interchangeably. Some folders, however, such as the Control Panel and Printers folders, are not directories. These special folders are actually special container objects that appear and function like a standard folder.
A folder window is very similar to other application windows--it has a border, menu, title bar, control menu, and other controls. Figure 6.13 shows a typical folder window.
FIGURE 6.13 A typical folder with its components labeled.
The following section explains how to turn on some of the optional components shown in Figure 6.13.
Windows 98 lets you do quite a bit to modify the appearance of a folder. By default, folder windows contain two toolbars and a menu bar. The default view includes the Standard Buttons and Address Bar toolbars, explained shortly.
To display a folder's toolbar, choose View | Toolbar, and select the desired toolbar from the cascading menu. The Standard Buttons toolbar contains a number of tools you can use to select a folder, move up to the current folder's parent folder, change the way information appears in the folder, and control the folder in other ways. Figure 6.14 shows the tools in the Standard Buttons toolbar. You also can determine a folder tool's function by resting the cursor on the tool for a second and reading the resulting ToolTip.
FIGURE 6.14 Use a folder's toolbar to control the appearance and function of the folder window.
The following list explains the function of the tools in the Standard Buttons toolbar:
The Address toolbar, which also appears by default, enables you to quickly enter a URL, UNC pathname, or local pathname to view the contents of the specified item. If you want to view the folder C:\My Documents, for example, just type C:\My Documents in the Address toolbar and press Enter. You can browse to Internet sites just as easily by entering the URL in the address box. Enter the name of a remote LAN resource as a UNC pathname to view its contents. For example, entering \\Server\Shared\Docs would display the share named \Shared\Docs on the remote computer named Server.
TIP: If you are familiar with both Windows 95 and Internet Explorer, you'll quickly realize that the new Windows 98 folder interface merges the Internet Explorer interface with the desktop. This merger offers a quick way to access Internet resources as well as local and LAN resources through a single interface.
You also can choose View | Toolbars | Links to display the Links toolbar. This toolbar contains frequently used Internet resources. These links are stored in the folder \Windows\Favorites\Links. You can add additional links to the toolbar by placing shortcuts and other objects in this folder.
Another useful feature of the Explorer interface turned off by default is the Explorer bar. You can configure the Explorer bar to show your Search page, your Internet favorites, browse history, or broadcast channels. Figure 6.15 shows the Explorer bar displaying the Favorites list. To specify an option, choose View | Explorer Bar, and select the content you want displayed in the Explorer bar. For more information on configuring these Internet Explorer-related items, refer to Chapter 23, "Using Internet Explorer 4.0."
FIGURE 6.15 This Explorer bar is showing the Favorites list.
To display a folder's status bar, choose View | Status Bar. The status bar displays information about objects currently selected in the folder.
TIP: To rename a folder or file, click on the object to select it; then click on the object's description (which appears underneath the object's icon). Type the new name and press Enter. If you change the name of a folder, you actually change the name of the directory it represents. (This association between folder name and directory name doesn't have any bearing on or relationship to the names of special folder objects such as My Computer or Control Panel.)
If you are experienced with Windows 95 or other GUIs, selecting and working with objects in a folder will be second nature to you. To open an ap- plication or a document, double-click on its icon. If you double-click on a document and the document type is properly associated with its parent application, the application opens and displays the selected document.
TIP: If you have installed an application under Windows 98, the application's document type(s) should be properly registered with Windows. See Chapter 7 for more information on registering file types with Windows.
You also can select and work with multiple objects. You can use a selection box, for example, to select multiple objects. To do so, place the cursor in a blank area of the folder background (not on an icon) and drag the cursor. As you drag the cursor, a dashed box appears (see Figure 6.16). Enclose in the box all objects you want to select. You also can use the mouse and keyboard in combination to choose multiple objects. Hold the Ctrl key and click on objects to select them one at a time. Hold the Shift key and click objects to select a range of objects.
FIGURE 6.16 You can use a selection box to select multiple items.
What you do with multiple objects after you select them depends on the types of the objects. You can select multiple application icons, for example, and then press Enter to open all of them. If you select only documents, pressing Enter opens the parent application(s) for the documents and loads the documents into the application(s). If you want to delete multiple objects, use your preferred selection method and then press the Delete key.
TIP: To open multiple applications using the mouse, select the applications' icons, hold down the Ctrl key, and double-click a blank area of the folder background (not an icon).
For information on using the keyboard to select and open objects, refer to the section "Using the Keyboard" later in this chapter.
Sooner or later you will want to create your own folders. Creating a folder is easy: right-click in the object where you want to create the new folder and choose New | Folder from the resulting menu. Windows 98 creates a new folder with the name New Folder. Select the folder and click on its name to highlight the text. Enter the name you want for the folder.
To create a folder inside another folder, right-click on the blank background anywhere inside the folder. Then choose New | Folder. To create a folder on the desktop, right-click on the desktop and choose New | Folder.
When you create new folders, remember that you're actually creating directories. If you create a folder named Frannie's Weekly Reports in the C:\ folder, you're actually creating a directory named Frannie's Weekly Reports in the root directory of drive C. If you create a folder on the desktop, you're creating a directory in the C:\Windows\Desktop directory.
You can move an object from one folder to another in Windows 98 simply by dragging the object from the first folder and dropping it in the second fol-der. If you want to move a document file, for example, open the folder that currently contains the file and open the folder in which you want to place the file. Then drag the file's icon from one folder to another. The file moves accordingly.
You also can copy objects between folders. To copy an object, hold down the Ctrl key while you drag the object from its original folder to its new folder; then release the object. Windows creates a copy of the object in the second folder.
TIP: You also can copy objects between folders using the Clipboard. Select one or more objects in a folder and press Ctrl+C to copy a list of the items to the Clipboard. Then open the folder in which you want to copy the objects and press Ctrl+V to copy them to the folder. If you want to move the objects rather than copy them, select the objects and press Ctrl+X; then open the folder in which you want to place them and choose Ctrl+V. Using the Clipboard to copy and move objects enables you to copy and move objects without keeping both the source and destination folders open at the same time.
Another method for moving and copying objects gives you other options. You can use the right mouse button (called right-dragging) to drag an object. When you right-drag an object from one location to another and then release the object, Windows displays a menu similar to the one shown in Figure 6.17. This menu gives you the option of moving or copying the object. You also can create a shortcut to the object. Shortcuts are explained later in this chapter in the section "Creating and Using Shortcuts."
FIGURE 6.17 Right-drag an object if you want the option of copying, moving, or creating a shortcut to the object.
TIP: To copy or move multiple objects, select the objects, right-drag one of the objects to the new location, and then choose, according to your need, Move Here, Copy Here, or Create Shortcut(s) Here.
You can read more about copying and moving objects in Chapter 7.
A critical concept in Windows 98 is that almost all objects have properties associated with them; for example, a file's properties include its type, name, size, modification date, attributes, and other information. You can easily change some of these properties, such as the file's attributes. You can't change certain others, however, such as the time the file was created; you can only view these properties.
Other objects also have properties. The desktop, for example, has many different properties you can view and set. These properties include the screen saver, color scheme, video drivers, resolution, and much more. (See Chapter 10 for an explanation of how to set the desktop's properties and customize Windows 98 in other ways.)
The easiest way to view an object's properties is to right-click on the object, which brings up a context menu for the object (see Figure 6.18). The contents of the context menu vary according to the type of object selected, but there are many similarities between context menus for various types of objects. This section explains the Properties item in the context menu. Other context menu items are explained elsewhere in this chapter and in other chapters.
FIGURE 6.18 Use the context menu to work with an object and set its properties.
After you choose Properties from an object's context menu, one or more property sheets appear on the display to enable you to view and set the object's properties. Figure 6.19 shows the property sheet for a typical file, and Figure 6.20 shows the property sheet for the desktop. You can use the controls in the object's property sheet to set the object's properties as appropriate.
FIGURE 6.19 Property sheet for a typical file.
FIGURE 6.20 Property sheet for the desktop.
You can use folders to help you access most applications and documents you use regularly. You can copy, move, find, and delete objects easily. Sometimes, however, you need a broader picture of your PC's resources, or you need to see a hierarchical view of those resources.
Windows 98 includes an application called Explorer that provides that hierarchical view of your PC's resources (see Figure 6.21). You can open multiple copies of Explorer to view the objects in different folders or on different computers.
FIGURE 6.21 Explorer enables you to browse and manage your PC's resources.
To open Explorer, choose Start | Programs, and select Windows Explorer. If you want to open a full Explorer view of a folder--on the desktop or in another folder--hold down the Shift key and double-click on the folder. Explorer opens with selected folder contents on display. You also can right-click on the Start menu and choose Explorer to open it.
For detailed information on using Explorer, refer to Chapter 7.
In addition to containing files, folders, and special objects such as the Control Panel, a folder can contain a shortcut. (You also can place a shortcut on the desktop.) A shortcut is a special type of file linked to another object. You can think of a shortcut as a pointer to an object; when you double-click on the shortcut, Windows 98 checks the contents of the shortcut file to determine the object with which the shortcut is linked. Then Windows 98 opens that object. If you create a shortcut to the Control Panel on the desktop, for example, double-clicking on the Control Panel shortcut opens the Control Panel.
Shortcuts are extremely useful and are the primary mechanism you can use to customize your desktop to give yourself quick access to the applications, documents, and Internet resources you use most often. Do you need to open files from a particular disk and folder? Create a shortcut on the desktop to that folder. Do you often access files in a particular volume on a server? Create a shortcut on the desktop to that volume. Do you use one or two applications often and want to have quick access to them? Create shortcuts on the desktop to the applications' executable files.
TIP: You don't need to map a local drive letter to a remote disk resource to open that resource. You can use the remote computer's UNC pathname to create a shortcut to another user's machine or a server. When you double-click on the shortcut icon, a folder opens, displaying the resources the remote computer shares, including all shared disks and printers.
You can create a shortcut in a folder, on the desktop, or in the Start menu. There are a few different ways to create shortcuts, the easiest of which is to right-drag the object for which you want a shortcut into the location where you want the shortcut created. To create a shortcut on the desktop to drive C, for example, open My Computer; then right-drag the C drive icon onto the desktop. When you release the icon, Windows 98 displays a pop-up menu with two items: Create Shortcut(s) Here and Cancel. Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here to create a shortcut to drive C. When you double-click on the shortcut icon, Windows 98 opens a folder that displays the contents of drive C.
To create a shortcut in a folder, right-drag the object into the folder, release the object, and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. To create a shortcut of an object in a folder, right-click on the object and choose Create Shortcut. Windows 98 creates a shortcut in the folder to the selected object. You then can drag the shortcut into another folder or onto the desktop to relocate the shortcut.
TIP: Some objects can't be moved or copied, but you can create a shortcut to the object. For example, you can't copy the Control Panel onto the desktop, but you can create a shortcut on the desktop to the Control Panel. Windows 98 prevents you from copying entire disks to your desktop. If you right-drag a disk icon from My Computer to the desktop, for example, the only choice that appears in the object menu is Create Shortcut(s) Here.
An important point to understand about copying, moving, and shortcuts is this: You can copy or move a file onto the desktop, just as you can create a shortcut on the desktop to that file. If you copy a file to the desktop, you actually copy it to the \Windows\Desktop directory. If you move the file to the desktop, you move it to the \Windows\Desktop directory. The same holds true for folders: If you copy or move a folder to the desktop, you move or copy an entire directory and all of its contents (including subdirectories) to the \Windows\Desktop directory. You probably won't want to copy or move objects to the desktop very often. Instead, you'll want to create shortcuts on the desktop to those objects.
WARNING: Take care that you don't move objects from remote network computers to your own computer unless you're absolutely sure you want to remove the object from the remote PC and place it on your PC. It's easy to move an important file from another computer onto yours and accidentally delete it from your PC. To be safe, create a shortcut to the file instead of moving or copying it.
To help you understand the ways in which you can create shortcuts, the following list summarizes the three most common methods:
If you work regularly with certain network resources, you should consider creating shortcuts on the desktop or in a folder to those remote network resources. If you often use applications on a particular server, for example, you can create a shortcut on the desktop to the server. When you double-click on the shortcut icon, a folder window opens displaying the resources the server shares.
The easiest way to create a shortcut to another user's computer or to a server is through the Network Neighborhood folder. Open Network Neighbor-hood and locate the computer for which you want to create a shortcut. When you locate the computer, right-drag its icon onto your desktop and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here.
TIP: If you often print to a particular network printer, consider creating a shortcut on the desktop to that printer. When you need to manage print jobs on that printer, you can double-click on the shortcut icon to quickly open a queue folder for the printer. For more information on working with network printers, refer to Chapters 8 and 26.
You can easily create shortcuts to Internet resources such as Web and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites. To do so, right-click on the desktop or in the folder where you want the Internet shortcut and choose New | Shortcut from the context menu. When the Create Shortcut Wizard appears, type the URL of the Internet resource, such as http://www.microsoft or ftp://ftp.microsoft.com. Then click on Next. Specify a name for the Internet resource shortcut and click on Finish.
As with most other types of objects in Windows 98, shortcuts have various properties associated with them. By changing a shortcut's properties, you control the way in which the shortcut functions.
To change a shortcut's properties, right-click on the shortcut's icon to display its context menu; then choose Properties. Shortcut property sheets include two property pages: General and Shortcut. The General property page provides information about the shortcut file, such as its name, modification date, and other file-related information. As with other files, you can set the file attributes of the shortcut file using the General page of the Shortcut property sheets.
The Shortcut page of the Shortcut property sheets (see Figure 6.22) enables you to set properties that control the way the shortcut works. For example, you can associate the shortcut with a different file, specify a startup directory, assign a shortcut key to the shortcut, and change the icon associated with the shortcut.
FIGURE 6.22 Control a shortcut's properties through its property sheet.
To associate the shortcut with a different file, enter the path to the particular file in the Target text box. If you move the file with which the shortcut is associated to a different directory, for example, specify the new path to the file in the Target text box.
To specify a startup directory (a directory that becomes active when you open the object associated with the shortcut), enter the path to the startup directory in the Start in text box. If you create a shortcut to your word processor, for example, and want a specific document directory to be active when you start the word processor, enter the path to the document directory in the Start in text box.
You also can assign a keyboard shortcut to a program shortcut. Assume that you create a shortcut to your word processor and you want the word processor to open whenever you press Ctrl+Alt+W or another key sequence of your choice. To assign the keyboard shortcut to the program shortcut, click in the Shortcut key text box; then press the key combination you want assigned to the shortcut. Whenever you press this key combination, the shortcut activates and opens its associated file.
To control the way a shortcut opens its associated file, select one of the three options from the Run drop-down list. You can open the object in a normal window--maximized or minimized. If you have programs you want to have available in the Taskbar, for example, but don't want to use them as soon as you double-click on their shortcuts, select the Minimize option from the Run drop-down list.
TIP: If you're familiar with Windows 3.x, you can see similarities between a shortcut's properties and a Program Manager program item's properties. They essentially perform the same functions, enabling you to control the way an application or document opens.
Shortcuts are files containing information that links them to other files. Somewhere along the line, you might need to find the file with which a shortcut is associated. You might have a shortcut on the desktop to an application, for example, and want to browse for other files in the same directory, but you don't know the original file's location. To quickly find the file with which a shortcut is associated, right-click on the shortcut's icon to display its context menu and choose Properties. When the property sheet appears, click on the Shortcut tab to show the Shortcut page. Next, choose the Find Target button. Windows 98 opens a window that displays the contents of the folder in which the original file resides.
As with most aspects of Windows 98, you can control the appearance and behavior of the Taskbar and Start menu to suit your preferences. You can add new items to the Start menu to enable you to access applications and documents quickly, and you can relocate the Taskbar if you want it somewhere other than at the bottom of the display. The next section explains how to customize the Taskbar.
By default, the Taskbar appears at the bottom of the desktop with the Start button at the left of the Taskbar and the tray at the right. You can easily change the location of the Taskbar so that it resides at the right, left, or top of the desktop rather than at the bottom. To relocate the Taskbar, drag it from its current location to its new location at one edge of the desktop. When the Taskbar is near its new location, Windows 98 shows the Taskbar in its new location. Release the mouse button and the Taskbar moves to the new location. Figure 6.23 shows the Taskbar located at the right edge of the display.
FIGURE 6.23 You can relocate the Taskbar to any one of the four sides of the display. Here it's displayed at the right edge.
TIP: To drag the Taskbar, place the tip of the mouse pointer on any blank area of the Taskbar, hold down the left button, and drag the Taskbar to its new location.
When you move the Taskbar to the left or right edge of the desktop, the Start button moves to the top of the Taskbar. The tray is located at the bottom of the Taskbar. The buttons of any running programs appear horizontally below the Start button.
In addition to controlling the location of the Taskbar, you can change how and when it appears on the desktop. By default, the Taskbar is always visible. If you prefer, you can hide the Taskbar to keep it from covering parts of your application windows when you're not using it. To set the Taskbar's properties, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties, or choose Start and then Taskbar. Either method displays the Taskbar property sheet, as shown in Figure 6.24.
FIGURE 6.24 Use the Taskbar property sheet to control the Taskbar's appearance and behavior.
The Taskbar Options page includes the following four check boxes that control the way the Taskbar appears and functions:
You can add your own items to the Start menu to make the items easily accessible. You also can remove items from the Start menu. For example, you can remove a program folder from the Programs menu without actually deleting the folder or its contents, which enables you to minimize the number of items on the Programs menu without deleting the objects it references.
Adding an item to the Start menu only requires that you place a shortcut to the item or the item itself in the appropriate folder under the \Windows\Start Menu folder. All you have to do to delete an item is remove the object from the appropriate directory under \Windows\Start Menu.
NOTE: If your system is configured to provide a separate desktop and environment for each user, the Start menu items are located in \Windows\Profiles\user\Start Menu, where user is the Windows logon name of a particular user. For the purposes of this chapter, the Start menu items are assumed to be in \Windows\Start Menu. For more information on configuring Windows 98 to support multiple users and desktops, refer to Chapter 10.
When you choose Start, Windows 98 displays in the Start menu all the objects contained in the \Windows\Start Menu folder. Any new items you add to the folder automatically appear in the Start menu. If you add a shortcut to the \Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder, for example, that shortcut appears in the Programs menu.
Although you can add and remove items from the Start menu manually, Windows 98 automates the process to simplify it. Essentially, this automation consists of a wizard that automates creating and deleting shortcuts. To add an item to the Start menu, choose Start | Settings | Taskbar, or right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties. When Windows 98 displays the property sheet for the Taskbar, click on the Start Menu Programs tab to display the property page shown in Figure 6.25.
FIGURE 6.25 Use the Start Menu Programs property page to add items to or remove items from the Start menu.
To add an item to the Start menu, choose Add. Windows 98 displays the Create Shortcut dialog box shown in Figure 6.26. In the Command line text box, enter the path to the file or other object for which you want to create a shortcut, or choose the Browse button to browse for the object. After you locate the object and its entry appears in the Command line text box, choose Next.
FIGURE 6.26 Specify the command or select a program to associate with the new item.
Windows 98 then displays the Select Program Folder dialog box (see Figure 6.27), which provides a hierarchical view of the folders referenced in the Start menu. Locate the folder in which you want to place the new shortcut and click on Next to return to the Create Shortcut dialog box. If you like your selections, choose Finish. Windows 98 creates the shortcut in the specified directory, which causes it to be displayed in the appropriate place in the Start menu.
FIGURE 6.27 Select a program folder in which to place the new item.
To remove an item from the Start menu, display the Start Menu Programs page and choose Remove. Windows 98 displays the Remove Shortcuts/ Folders dialog box. Locate the folder or shortcut you want to remove; then choose Remove. Windows 98 removes the selected folder or shortcut.
WARNING: If your Start Menu folder contains folders in addition to shortcuts to folders, removing a folder removes all objects it contains--just like deleting a directory and its contents. Be certain you really want to remove a folder before you remove it from the Start Menu folder.If you do remove a folder and then realize you didn't want to, look in the Recycle Bin for it. Move the folder from the Recycle Bin back into its original location in the Start Menu folder.
The Advanced button on the Start Menu Programs property page provides a nonautomated method for creating, moving, and deleting shortcuts. Essentially all the Advanced button does is open the Explorer with the Start Menu folder displayed in Explorer. You then can use Explorer to create, remove, and move shortcuts and folders in and out of the Start Menu folder.
Windows 98 includes a selection of file viewing utilities called Quick Viewers. Quick Viewers enable you to view the contents of a document without opening the document's parent application; for example, you can view the contents of a Microsoft Word document without opening Word.
To preview a document using a Quick Viewer, select the document in a folder or in Explorer and choose File | Quick View. Or right-click on the document icon and choose Quick View from the context menu.
If the Quick View item doesn't appear in the File menu or context menu, the system doesn't contain a Quick Viewer for the selected document type, or a proper association doesn't exist between the document type and the appropriate viewer. The Quick Viewer document associations are stored in the Registry in \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QuickView. For more information on the Registry, read Chapter 12, "Managing Windows 98 Configurations."
When you choose Quick View, Windows 98 opens a viewer appropriate to the selected document type. Figure 6.28 shows a Microsoft Word document displayed by a Quick Viewer.
FIGURE 6.28 A Word document displayed in a Quick Viewer window.
You can use a Quick Viewer to view the contents of a document. In this mode you can't edit the document. To edit the document, choose File | Open File for Editing. Or click on the Open File for Editing button on the Quick Viewer toolbar. Windows 98 opens the source application and loads the selected document.
You might have some applications or documents you use every time you turn on your PC. To have those applications or documents open and ready when your PC boots, Windows 98 includes a Startup folder. All items in the Startup folder open automatically as soon as Windows 98 boots and you log on. If you place a shortcut to your spreadsheet application in the Startup folder, for example, the spreadsheet program opens as soon as Windows 98 starts.
To start an object automatically when Windows 98 starts, simply create a shortcut for the object in the Startup folder. You can open the Startup folder and right-drag an object into the folder to create the shortcut, use the Create Shortcut Wizard (choose Start | Settings | Taskbar), or use any other method for creating shortcuts. However, you should avoid copying objects to the Startup folder to make them start automatically. For example, don't copy your spreadsheet program's executable file to the Startup folder. Instead, use a shortcut to the spreadsheet application. Using shortcuts rather than duplicating objects can save a considerable amount of disk space.
NOTE: You can bypass the Startup folder during startup so that its contents do not start automatically. If you are not using a network or user profile (Windows 98 does not display a logon dialog box), press and hold down the Shift key while Windows 98 is starting. When the desktop appears, release the Shift key. If you are using a network or user profiles, enter your username and password when the logon dialog box appears. Then press and hold down the Shift key and choose OK to begin startup and logon. When the desktop appears, release the Shift key.
You can designate any folder as your startup folder. To specify a different folder, first open the Registry Editor. Open HKey_Current_User\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. Or choose Edit | Search and search for the string Startup. Edit the Startup value to point to the folder you want to use as your startup folder. The next time you start Windows 98, the objects in the specified folder will start automatically.
If you don't like to use a mouse, your mouse quits working, or you simply prefer to use the keyboard for certain tasks, some keyboard shortcuts can help you navigate in Windows 98. The following list provides some tips on using the keyboard rather than the mouse to do a variety of tasks in Windows 98:
Microsoft has incorporated support into Windows 98 for the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, incorporating special shortcut keys you can enter on the keyboard to quickly access Windows 98 features and control the Windows 98 interface. The following list explains these shortcuts:
Previous versions of DOS and Windows include an UNERASE feature that enables you to retrieve files you have erased. Windows 98 includes something similar, called the Recycle Bin--a standard folder in which Windows 98 places files you delete. The Recycle Bin appears as a trash can icon on the desktop. When you have items in the Recycle Bin, the icon appears as a trash can with papers in it. An empty trash can icon indicates an empty Recycle Bin.
When you delete one or more files, Windows 98 places the files in the Recycle Bin instead of immediately deleting them. The files remain in the Recycle Bin until you empty it. To empty the objects from the Recycle Bin, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin. Windows 98 prompts you to verify that you really want to delete the items in the Recycle Bin. If you choose Yes, Windows 98 empties the Recycle Bin, permanently deleting the objects it contains. Choose No to cancel the operation. If the Recycle Bin is open in a window, choose File | Empty Recycle Bin to empty it.
By default, Windows 98 places deleted objects in the Recycle Bin, but you can control how Windows 98 handles objects you delete from each disk. To specify how the Recycle Bin is used, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties. Windows 98 displays the property sheet shown in Figure 6.29.
FIGURE 6.29 Control the behavior of the Recycle Bin through its property sheet.
TIP: To immediately delete items even when the Recycle Bin is configured to store deleted files, hold down the Shift key when you delete the objects. Instead of moving the items to the Recycle Bin, they are immediately deleted.
The following list explains the controls in the Global property page for the Recycle Bin:
NOTE: Windows 98 dynamically resizes the Recycle Bin folder as necessary. Therefore, specifying a size with the Maximum size of Recycle Bin doesn't automatically allocate a specific amount of space to the Recycle Bin--it simply sets a maximum amount of space that can be used in the Recycle Bin to store deleted files. If the Recycle Bin is empty, no disk space is used other than the space used by the Recycle Bin folder itself (which is minimal).
In addition to the Global page, the Recycle Bin property sheet includes pages for each of the hard disks in your system. If you choose the option Configure drives independently, the controls in the disk sheets are enabled, which enables you to control how the Recycle Bin handles files that are deleted from each disk.
The settings you can specify on each disk property page match corresponding settings on the Global page. The only difference is that the settings on the disk pages apply only to their associated disks; settings on the Global page apply to all disks.
TIP: Each disk contains a Recycled folder. When you delete one or more files from drive C, the files are placed in the Recycled folder on drive C. Files deleted from other drives are placed in the Recycled folders on those drives. The Recycled folder is located in the root directory of a disk.
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