Windows XP Outline

Windows XP Outline
The Desktop
You can put an icon on the desktop for My Computer (or any other program such
as MS Office programs)
Open the Start menu.
Right click on My Computer (or another program) and drag it to the desktop.
Click on Create Shortcuts Here
The Start Menu
Sections of the start menu
Adding a program to the start menu
Right click on the program on you desktop or in a folder and pick Pin to Menu.
Making the icons larger or smaller on the Start menu.
Right click on the Start button.
Click Properties
Click on Customize.
Click on Large Icons or Small icons

Moving an items up or down in the Start menu
Open the Start menu.
Click on a program and drag it to another location by holding the mouse button
down.
Sorting the items in the Programs list.
Right click in a blank area of the list of programs and select Sort by name.
A user might want to move Accessories beside All Programs in the list so it is
easier to select.
The Task Bar
Moving the Taskbar
You can drag the taskbar to the top or either side of the screen. Click on the taskbar and
hold down the left mouse button. Drag the task bar to the top or sides of the screen.
Start Quick Launch Icons for open programs System Tray
Button Toolbar
For each program that you open, an icon is placed on the Task bar. To quickly
switch between programs, click on the program’s icon on the task bar. If you
open several instances of the same program, similar windows are grouped onto
one button. A number indicates how many instances of the program are open.

Click on that button on the Task bar and move the cursor up the list to the
instance of the program you want to activate and click on it.
Example – 2 instances of Word are open. Click on either one to open one of the files.
Right click on the Word icon on the Task bar and select Close Group to close all
instances of the Word program in one click.
Opening and Minimizing Programs from the Task Bar
To switch between minimized and open view, click an icon on taskbar. If multiple
instances of a program are open, click on the program icon on the task bar and when a
pop up list with the different instances appears, slide the cursor up to the instance you
want to use.
The Quick Launch Tool Bar
Programs with an icon on the Quick Launch Tool Bar can be opened with a single
click. Drag a program icon to the Quick Launch Tool Bar to add it there.
Unlock the taskbar it if you can’t add icons to the tool bar.
To unlock the Task Bar, right click in a blank area of the task bar (where there are
no icons) and click on Lock the Taskbar to remove the checkmark.
To add the Quick Launch toolbar to the task bar once it is unlocked, right click in
a blank area of the task bar. Select Toolbars; Select Quick Launch
Click on the Show Desktop
desktop.
icon on the Quick Launch toolbar to get to your

Working with Windows
Maximizing a window or Reducing its Size.
To switch between a maximized window and one that is not full screen, you can
double-Click anywhere in the top blue bar. You are not limited to clicking on the
Maximize icon or the Restore Down icon.
Easy Access to Frequently used Files and Folders
Create a folder with shortcuts to frequently used documents
The System Tray
Click on the icon in system tray to see all the icons in the tray. You may need
to do this to get to the volume control. As long as you hold the cursor over the
system tray, it will remain open. Move the cursor off the system tray and it will
automatically retract.
You can make the volume control always available.
Right click on blank area of task bar and select properties.

Click on Customize.
Highlight Volume
Select Always show from the drop down list.
You can make the taskbar wider (to show 2 rows of icons) To do this, hold the cursor
over the top edge of the task bar. When the cursor turns into a 2-headed arrow, drag
upward till the Taskbar becomes 2 rows wide.

To change the amount of space allowed for the Quick Launch toolbar, click on the dotted
line, hold down the mouse button, and drag left or right.
Search
Start the Search Program Shortcut: Windows + f Wait about 2 seconds and type the
letter l. This brings up the search for files and folders dialog box. The Windows key
looks like a 4-colored flag. It’s on the task bar.
Switch between open programs
Use icons on the taskbar or
Use Alt tab to cycle through open programs
The display
You can change the display settings to change the size of your icons.
Right click on an open area of the desktop.
Select Properties
Settings

In the Screen resolution area of the window, drag the slider to the right or left to increase
or decrease the resolution. Click OK. The higher the resolution, the smaller your icons
will be.
The Desktop
You can create an icon on the desktop for My Computer or any other program
such as the MS Office products.
To do this, click on Start; scroll till your mouse is over the program you want to
place on the desktop; hold down the right mouse button and drag the program to
the desktop. Select Copy Here to create a copy of the shortcut on the desktop.
Viewing the desktop when you have several applications open
When you have one or more programs open and want to see the desktop, click on
the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar or press Windows+d
Changing the icon for a shortcut.
Right click the current icon.
Select Properties; Change icon

Press Browse. Browse to
c:\windows\system32\shell32.dll.
Select one of the icons and click
OK. If you have other icon files
on your computer, you may also
browse and find them.
Deleting Files
The Recycle Bin is actually a storage folder. Files that are in the Recycle bin
(like paper you put into your wastebasket) can be retrieved and restored to your
computer.
When you Empty your Recycle Bin, then files can no longer be retrieved.
Delete files by dragging them to the Recycle Bin.
To permanently delete a file from you computer, hold down the Shift key as you
drag the file to the Recycle bin. The file will be completely removed from your
computer and you will not be able to restore it. If you hold down the shift key
when dragging a file to the Recycle Bin, the file doesn’t ever get put in the
Recycle bin folder.
TIP! When you drag a file to the Recycle Bin from a network drive (whether
or not you hold down the shift key), the file is permanently deleted
immediately. Be careful when deleting from network drives!
To restore a file to your computer from the Recycle Bin, double click on the
Recycle Bin to open it.

Highlight one or more items that you want to restore in the list of files on the
right. Click Restore the selected items from the tasks on the left.
Cleaning Up Your Desktop
To rearrange icons on the desktop, right click on an open area of your desktop.
Point to Arrange Icons By

Select from several options including Name, Type and Auto Arrange.
There is an Unused Desktop Icons Folder on your desktop. Windows periodically moves
icons that you haven’t used for 60 days into that folder. You can request that Windows
do this at any time.
Right click on an open area of your desktop.
Point to Arrange Icons By
Click Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard
The wizard will guide you through selecting icons to be moved from the desktop
into the Unused Desktop Icons folder.
Protecting your Computer
Running System Updates
To run system updates, select the Control Panel from the Start menu.
Select Windows Update.
Click on Pick Updates to Install

Click on Critical Updates and Service Packs
Click on Review and Install Updates.
Other Ways to Protect Your Computer
It is recommended that you download and run weekly:
Spybot
Stinger
Ad-Aware.
The link to get to these programs is:
http://shares:10081/compserv/admin/Learning%20Tree.htm
Your Computer Name and other System Properties
To see system properties, click on Windows+Pause key
Click on various tabs to get information about your hardware or computer name.

Adding A Printer to Your Printers Folder
From the Start Menu select Printers and Faxes
Select Add a Printer
Select Next. Select A network printer or a printer attached to another computer.
Click Next. Click Next again.

Click Find Now. Select a printer from the list at the bottom of the screen and click OK.

Decide whether you want this new printer to be your default printer and make the
appropriate choice.
Working with Files and Folders
Backing Up Your Files
You can use the Explorer window to backup your files.
Open Explorer
Double click on folders on the left till you see the folders you want to back up in
the right panel.
Use the scroll bar in the left pane to scroll down to the point where you can see
your H: drive.
Highlight the folders you want to back up in the right pane. To do this, click on
the first one, hold down the Ctrl key and click on all other folders you want to
back up.
Highlight
folders here.

Drag the items to your H: drive (in the left pane) and release the mouse button.
All files in the folders will be copied from your C: drive to your H: drive into
folders of the same name. If you already have folders with these names on the H:
drive, you will be asked if you want to overwrite folders. Usually you will want
to overwrite older files on the H: drive with more recent versions from your C:
drive.
Synchronizing files
You can set up your computer to access your network files when you are offline. This is
especially if you take your laptop computer away from the office or if the network is
down.
To do this:
Open My Computer
From the Tools menu, select Folder Options
Select the Offline files tab
Select Enable Offline Files if it isn’t already checked
Select Synchronize all offline files before logging off to get a full
synchronization.
Once you have enabled synchronization, you must select the files that you want to
make available offline. To do this:
Open My Computer
Double click on the network drive with your files to view its contents.
Click on the file or folder you want to make available offline.
On the File menu, select Make Available Offline.
Folder Options
In the control panel, select Tools; Folder Options
Select the View tab.
Here you can choose to :
Clear the check box on Hide extensions for known file types. This will
allow you to see file extensions such as .doc on Word files and .xls on
Excel files.
Show hidden folders and files
Sometimes files (such as templates) are stored in folders that are hidden by
default. This can make it hard to find these files. By showing hidden
folders, this problem is eliminated.

Make all folder open with the same settings
When you look at a folder several views are available from the View menu. You
can set the view to Details, List, Tiles, Icons, or Thumbnails (for graphics).
Details View
In this view you can click on the Headings (Name, Size, Type, or Data Modified)
to sort on that field.

List View
Icons View
Tiles View
Thumbnails View
If you want to have all folders open up the same way by default, set a folder (any
folder) to the view you prefer. Then from the window shown above, click on the
Apply to All Folders button.

Zipped Folders
Windows XP offers an easy way to compress (zip) files so that storage space
required for the files is reduced. It may also be necessary to zip files to make
them small enough to send as email attachments.
To create a zipped folder:
Create a folder to store the files you want to zip. (You can right click on your
desktop; select New; select Folder).
Drag the files you want to compress into this folder. Close the folder.
Right click on the folder and select Send To; Then select Compressed (zipped)
Folder.
The new folder will have the same
name as the original folder with the
extension of .zip added to it. You can
now delete the original folder and the
files in it.
To unzip the files and restore them to their original state, double click on the .zip folder.
Click on Extract all files under Folder Tasks.

Follow the steps in the Extraction wizard. You will need to supply a location for the
expanded files. Click the Browse button to find a location for the unzipped files. Click
Next.
Click Finish.
Using a CD to Store Files
Start by inserting a blank CD into the CD drive. The following window opens up. Select
the option Open writable CD folder using Windows Explorer and click OK
A window will open showing the contents of the CD in the drive. (There are no folders
or files listed yet since we started with a blank CD). Browse to find the files and folders

that you want to copy to the CD. To browse and see your drives and folders, click on the
Folders icon .
With the Folders showing on the left, you can browse to find the files to copy. Click on
the + signs in the directory tree to expand folders and double click on folders to open
them. Files and subfolders in the location selected on the left will appear in the right
hand pane.

When you see the files and folders you want to copy in the right pane, select them. To
select multiple files that are contiguous (adjacent in the list), click on the first item you
want to copy, hold down the Shift key, and click on the last item. All items in between
will be highlighted to show they are selected. To select multiple files that are not
contiguous , click on the first item you want to copy, hold down the Ctrl key and click on
each other file or folder you want to select.
Click on the
icon again to see the list of File and Folder Tasks.
Click on Copy the selected items in the left pane.
Select the destination. In this case the CD is in drive D: so I clicked on that. Click on
Copy.

The copying window will indicate approximately how long the process will take.
At this point the files have been copied to a temporary storage location. They have not
yet been copied to the CD. You can still choose to add other files to the list to be copied
or remove items from the list. The following message pops up at the bottom of the
window.
To see what is waiting to be copied, click on the balloon icon. The files and folders that
are ready to be copied are displayed. The note in the Location column, indicates that the
files are still waiting to be written.

At this point you have several choices. You may add more files to the list, remove some
of the files now on the list, remove all of the files on this list to start over, or write the
files on the CD.
To remove all these files from this list (this does not remove them from their original
location), click on Delete temporary files in the CD Writing Tasks pane on the left.
To remove one file from the list, right click on its name and select Delete from the drop
down list that appears.
To select more files to record, browse to find them by repeating the steps provided above.
To write the files on the CD, click on Write these files to CD in the left pane.
The CD Writing Wizard starts and prompts you for a name to label the CD. Select one
and click Next.

The writing process will begin. An indicator will let you know approximately how long
the process will take. When it is complete, the CD will eject from the drive.
If you put the CD (with files recorded on it) into the drive again, a window will open
showing the contents of the CD. The note in the Location columns now says Files
Currently on the CD.
You can again browse and select files to be copied to the CD. You may continue to add
files to the CD as long as it has free remaining disk space. Look in the Details area of the
left pane to see the Free Space that remains on the CD. Repeat the steps at the beginning
of this section to add more files to the CD.

Control Panel
Internet Options

Setting your homepage
Deleting temporary internet files and cookies

Show all buttons or commands in Menus
Depending on your settings, you may see all or a subset of menu options when you open
a menu. To always see all options (which many people prefer), you must turn off a
feature called personalized menus.
Personalized menus simplifies the Programs menu by hiding items you haven't used
recently, while keeping all of your programs easily accessible.
You can still gain access to hidden programs by clicking Start, pointing to Programs,
and then clicking the down arrow at the bottom of the menu.
To turn off Personalized Menus so you see all menu options each time you click on a
menu:
1. Right-click the Start button, and then click Properties.
2. On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start menu, and then click Customize.
(see the graphic below)
3. Under Advanced Start menu options, clear the Use Personalized Menus check
box.
4. Click OK. You can now switch back to the regular Windows XP menu by
clicking on Start Menu (rather than Classic Start menu)
Note that you have easy access to My Computer, the Control panel, and a number of
other programs from the new XP menu.

Older Classic Menu
New Windows XP Menu
Using Task Manager to Stop a Crashed Program
When a program hangs or stops responding, there are several things you can try.
• Press the Esc key
• Cycle through all the active programs by pressing Alt Tab multiple times.
When you get back to the hung program, see if it responds.
• Right click the program’s icon on the task bar and select Close.
• Use the Task manager to stop the program.
o Right click on a blank area in the task bar and select Task Manager
or press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys and click on Task Manager.
Click on the Applications tab. Highlight the hung application.
Press End Task
These steps may allow you to close the hung program without disturbing other
open programs. You may then restart the problem program.
If all else fails, you may need to reboot your computer.

Using Windows Explorer
Backing up your files to another directory
Open Windows Explorer by right clicking on the Start button and
selecting Explore. In order to copy files (for backup or any other reason), you
must double click folders in the left pane until you see the folders/files to be
copied in the right pane. In the figure below, I double clicked on the My
Documents folder so that its contents appear in the right window pane.
Once you see the folders/files to be copied in the right pane, scroll in the left pane
using the scroll bar until you can see the folder where you want to copy items.
Select the items in the right pane that you want to copy***. Right click and drag
the items to the destination folder on the left. When the destination folder is
highlighted, let go of the mouse button. From the menu, select Copy here.
***Selecting items in Explorer
To select all items in a window, press Ctrl + A.
To select several non-adjacent items, click on one of the items. Press the Ctrl key
and hold it down. Click on each other item.
To select several adjacent items, click on the first item. Press the Shift key and
hold it down. Click on the last item in the list.

Notes on Copying and Moving Files/Folders
By default, if you select files and drag them to another folder on the same drive,
the files will be moved. If you select files and drag them to another folder on a
different drive, the files will be copied.
If you select files, right click and drag them to another folder (on the same or a
different drive) you will be asked whether you want to copy or move the files.
Explorer Tips
To expand all folders under the selected folder, press NumLock + *
In a very long list of file/folder names, you can quickly move to a file name that
starts with a selected letter by clicking any file in the list and pressing the first
letter of the file/folder you are trying to locate. The selection will move to the
first file with the letter you typed.
Moving up a level in the directory structure
This step can be used in any open dialog box. If you are clicking down several
layers in the directory structure and want to move back up to a higher level, click
on the Up One Level icon
level higher. In the figure below, click on the
folder C:\.
. The default folder will become the folder one
icon would make the default
Capturing Graphic Information from the Screen
Periodically it is useful to be able to capture the information on a screen. This can
be done by pressing the Print Scrn key (to capture the entire screen) or Alt + the
Print Scrn key to capture the active window. Images captured in this way are

stored on the Clipboard. From there they can be pasted onto a web page, into a
Word document, into a Paint document, or into other programs.
If you open the Microsoft Paint program and paste the picture into it, you can use
Paint tools to edit it. To paste an image from the Clipboard into a document
created in another application, click in a document to make it active. From the
Edit menu select Paste.
Locking the PC when you will be away from Your Desk
Because your mail and files are available to anyone who walks up to your PC
once you have logged in, it is important to lock your computer when you will be
away from your desk. Locking and unlocking is much faster that logging off.
All documents and applications remain in the state they were in when you locked
the computer. They do not have to be restarted. To lock your PC,
simultaneously press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys. Press Enter.
When you return, unlock your PC by pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys again
and entering your password.