Table of Contents

Introduction     1
About This Book     1
How to Use This Book     2
And What about You?     3
How This Book Is Organized     3
Windows Vista Stuff Everybody Thinks You Already Know     4
Working with Programs and Files     4
Getting Things Done on the Internet     4
Customizing and Upgrading Windows Vista     4
Music, Movies, Memories (and Photos, Too)     5
Help!     5
The Part of Tens     5
Icons Used in This Book     6
Where to Go from Here     6
Windows Vista Stuff Everybody Thinks You Already Know     7
What Is Windows Vista?     9
What Is Windows Vista, and Why Are You Using It?     9
Should I Bother Switching to Windows Vista?     11
Improved security     11
New Internet Explorer version     12
New Media Player and Media Center     14
DVD burning     14
Calendar     14
Easier searching for files     14
Vista looks prettier     15
Can My PC Still Run Vista?     16
Can I Make Windows Vista Look and Feel Like Windows XP?     17
The FiveFlavors of Vista     18
The Desktop, Start Menu, and Other Windows Vista Mysteries     21
Being Welcomed to the World of Windows Vista     22
Fiddling around with user accounts     23
Keeping your account private with a password     25
Working on the Desktop     27
Cleaning up a messy desktop     29
Jazzing up the desktop's background     29
Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin     31
The Start Button's Reason to Live     32
The Start menu's prime real estate     34
Starting a program from the Start menu     35
Customizing the Start menu     36
Bellying Up to the Taskbar     38
Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them     39
Clicking the taskbar's sensitive areas     40
Customizing the taskbar     41
The taskbar's crazy toolbars     42
The Sidebar     44
Logging Off from Windows     45
Basic Windows Mechanics     47
Dissecting a Typical Window     48
Tugging on a window's title bar     49
Typing in a Window's Address Bar     51
Finding Vista's hidden menu bar     52
Choosing the Right Button for the Job     53
Quick shortcuts with the Windows Vista Navigation Pane     54
Working with the Details pane     56
Moving inside a window with its scroll bar     57
Boring borders     58
Filling Out Bothersome Dialog Boxes     58
Poking the correct command button     59
Choosing between option buttons     60
Typing into text boxes     60
Choosing options from list boxes     61
Drop-down list boxes     62
Check boxes     63
Sliding controls     64
Maneuvering Windows Around the Desktop     64
Moving a window to the top of the pile     65
Moving a window from here to there     65
Making a window fill the whole screen     65
Closing a window     66
Making a window bigger or smaller     66
Placing two windows next to each other     67
Making windows open to the same darn size     67
Flipping Through Files, Folders, Floppies, and CDs     69
Browsing Your Computer's File Cabinets     70
Getting the Lowdown on Folders     72
Peering into Your Drives and Folders     75
Seeing the files on a disk drive      75
Seeing what's inside folders     76
Creating a New Folder     78
Renaming a File or Folder     80
Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders     81
Getting Rid of a File or Folder     81
Copying or Moving Files and Folders     83
Seeing More Information about Files and Folders     84
Writing to CDs and DVDs     87
Buying the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs for burning     88
Copying files from or to a CD or DVD     89
Working with Floppy Disks and Memory Cards     92
Working with Programs and Files     95
Playing with Programs and Documents     97
Starting a Program     97
Opening a Document     99
Saving a Document     101
Choosing Which Program Opens a File     102
The wrong program loads my file!     102
No program will open my file!     105
Taking the Lazy Way with a Shortcut     106
The Absolutely Essential Guide to Cutting, Copying, and Pasting     108
The quick 'n' dirty guide to cut 'n' paste     108
Selecting things to cut or copy     109
Cutting or copying your selected goods     110
Pasting information to another place     111
Windows Vista's Free Programs!     113
Writing letters with WordPad     113
Keeping appointments with Calendar     114
Finding symbols like ??[Copyright] with Character Map     115
Briefly Lost, but Quickly Found     119
Finding Lost Windows on the Desktop     119
Locating a Missing Program, E-mail, Song, Document, or Other File     121
Finding a Missing File in a Folder     123
Sorting, Grouping, and Stacking Files     125
Finding Lost Photos     127
Finding Other Computers on a Network     128
Finding Information on the Internet     128
Saving Your Searches     129
Commanding Vista's Big Search     129
Fine-Tuning Vista's Searches     130
Adding places to Vista's index     130
Rebuilding the index     131
Printing Your Work     133
Printing Your Masterpiece     133
Adjusting how your work fits on the page     135
Adjusting your printer's settings     137
Canceling a print job     139
Printing a Web page     140
Installing new fonts     141
Troubleshooting your printer      143
Getting Things Done on the Internet     145
Cruising the Web     147
What Is the Internet?     147
What's an ISP, and Why Do I Need One?     149
Setting Up Internet Explorer the First Time     150
Navigating the Web with Microsoft Internet Explorer     155
Moving from Web page to Web page     155
Making Internet Explorer open to your favorite site     158
Revisit favorite places     159
Finding things on the Internet     160
The Web Page Says It Needs a Weird Plug-In Thing!     162
Saving Information from the Internet     163
Saving a Web page     164
Saving text     165
Saving a picture     165
Downloading a program or file     166
It Doesn't Work!     168
Removing Unneeded Plug-ins     168
The Pages Won't All Fit on My Screen     170
Internet Explorer Now Fills My Entire Screen!     170
Sending and Receiving E-mail     171
Using Windows Mail     171
Setting Up Your E-Mail Account     174
Composing and Sending an E-Mail     177
Reading a Received E-Mail     179
Sending and Receiving an Attachment      182
Finding Lost Mail     183
Managing Your Contacts     185
Reducing Your Spam     187
Safe Computing     189
Understanding Those Annoying Permission Messages     189
Assessing Your Safety in Security Center     191
Changing the firewall settings     193
Changing Windows Update settings     195
Avoiding viruses     196
Staying Safe on the Internet     197
Avoiding evil add-ons and hijackers     198
Avoiding phishing scams     200
Avoiding and removing spyware and parasites with Windows Defender     202
Using parental controls     203
Customizing and Upgrading Windows Vista     207
Customizing Windows Vista with the Control Panel     209
Finding the Right Switch in the Control Panel     210
System and Maintenance     212
User Accounts and Family Safety     212
Security     212
Changing Windows' Appearance (Appearance and Personalization)     213
Changing the desktop background     213
Choosing a screen saver     215
Changing the computer's theme     216
Changing the screen resolution      217
Changing Network and Internet Connections     219
Setting the Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options     220
Hardware and Sound     220
Adjusting Vista's volume and sounds     221
Installing or setting up speakers     222
Adding a printer     224
Installing or adjusting other items     226
Adding new hardware     228
Adding or Removing Programs     229
Removing or changing programs     229
Adding new programs     231
Add/remove parts of Windows Vista     231
Modifying Vista for the Physically Challenged     232
Options for Laptops (Mobile PC)     234
Additional Options     234
Keeping Windows from Breaking     235
Creating a Restore Point     236
Tuning Up Windows Vista with Built-in Maintenance Tools     236
Backing up your computer     237
Finding technical information about your computer     242
Freeing up space on your hard drive     243
Empowering your power button     244
Setting up devices that don't work (fiddling with drivers)     245
Cleaning Your Computer     247
Cleaning your mouse      247
Cleaning your monitor     248
Cleaning your keyboard     248
Sharing One Computer with Several People     249
Understanding User Accounts     250
Setting Up or Changing User Accounts     252
Switching Quickly between Users     253
Changing a User Account's Picture     255
Setting Up Passwords and Security     256
Connecting Two or More Computers with a Network     259
Understanding a Network's Parts     260
Setting Up a Small Network     262
Buying parts for a network     262
Installing a wired network     264
Connecting Wirelessly     267
Setting up a wireless router or access point     267
Setting up Windows Vista to connect to a wireless network     268
Connecting to and Sharing Files with Other PCs on Your Network     272
Sharing a Printer on the Network     274
Troubleshooting a Network     276
Music, Movies, Memories (and Photos, Too)     277
Playing and Copying Music in Media Player     279
Stocking Media Player's Library     279
Browsing Media Player's Libraries     283
Understanding Media Player's Controls     284
Playing CDs     285
Playing DVDs     287
Playing Videos and TV Shows     288
Playing Music Files (MP3s and WMAs)     290
Playing Internet Radio Stations     290
Creating, Saving, and Editing Playlists     291
Copying CDs to Your PC     292
Burning Music CDs     294
Copying Songs to Your Portable Player     295
Buying Music and Movies from Online Stores     297
Working with Media Center     299
Browsing Media Center's menus     300
Getting the most out of Media Center     301
Fiddling with Photos and Movies     303
Using Your Computer as a Digital Shoebox     303
Dumping the camera's photos into your computer     304
Browsing your photos with Windows Photo Gallery     307
Viewing a slide show     310
Fixing photos     311
E-mailing photos     317
Printing pictures     318
Creating, Editing, and Viewing Digital Movies and Slide Shows     320
Import video, pictures, and music     322
Edit your movie     325
Save your edited movie or slide show     328
Saving a Movie or Slide Show to a DVD with Windows DVD Maker      329
Help!     331
The Case of the Broken Window     333
Vista Keeps Asking Me for Permission!     333
Restoring Calm with System Restore     334
Reviving Messed Up or Deleted Files     336
Undeleting accidentally deleted files     336
Retrieving previous versions of files and folders     337
Retrieving a Forgotten Password     338
My Folder (Or Desktop) Doesn't Show All My Files!     339
My Mouse Doesn't Work Right     339
My Double-Clicks Are Now Single Clicks!     340
Making Older Programs Run under Windows Vista     341
I Can't Find the Menus!     342
My Computer Is Frozen Up Solid     342
The Printer Isn't Working Right     343
Strange Messages: What You Did Does Not Compute     345
Activate Windows Now     345
Check Your Computer Security     346
Do You Want to Get the Latest Online Content When You Search Help?     346
Do You Want to Install (Or Run) This File?     347
Do You Want to Save Changes     348
Do You Want to Turn AutoComplete On?     348
Installing Device Driver Software     349
The Publisher Could Not Be Verified      349
Video Card Does Not Meet Minimum Requirements     350
Windows Cannot Open This File     350
Windows Needs Your Permission to Continue     351
You Don't Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder     352
Moving from an Old Computer to a New One     353
Preparing to Move into Your New PC     354
Choosing how to transfer your old information     354
Installing your old PC's programs onto your new PC     355
Transferring Information Between Two PCs with Windows Easy Transfer     356
Disposing of the Old Computer     363
Help on the Windows Vista Help System     365
Consulting a Program's Built-in Computer Guru     365
Finding the Information You Need in Windows' Help and Support Center     367
Summoning Windows Vista's Troubleshooters     369
The Part of Tens     371
Ten or So Things You'll Hate about Windows Vista (and How to Fix Them)     373
I Can't Stand Those Nagging Permission Screens     373
I Can't Copy Ripped CDs and Purchased Music to My iPod     374
The Menus All Disappeared     375
Parental Controls Are Too Complicated     375
The "Glass" Effects Slow Down My Laptop     376
I Can't Figure Out How to Turn Off My PC     376
Windows Makes Me Log On All the Time     377
The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing     378
I Can't Keep Track of Open Windows     378
I Can't Line Up Two Windows on the Screen     379
It Won't Let Me Do Something Unless I'm an Administrator!     379
I Don't Know What Version of Windows I Have     380
My Print Screen Key Doesn't Work     380
Ten or So Tips for Laptop Owners     381
Adjusting Your Laptop's Settings Quickly     381
Choosing What Happens When You Close Your Laptop's Lid     383
Adjusting to Different Locations     384
Changing your time zone     384
Dialing a modem from a new location     385
Connecting to a wireless Internet hotspot     386
Backing Up Your Laptop Before Traveling     386
Upgrading to Windows Vista     387
Index     391