Move your files to a new computer, or get your old PC ready for Vista
The thing that's made Windows For Dummies so successful is that it's packed with the basics you need to make Windows work. This book gets you through all the Windows Vista tasks and tripwires, including starting programs, finding files, navigating the new see-through interface, staying safe while you cruise the Internet, and much more.
Discover how to
- Find files when they?re hiding
- Hook up with another computer
- Make Vista work like XP
- Block Internet bad guys
- Share a PC without sharing your files
- Fix problems yourself
Move your files to a new computer, or get your old PC ready for Vista
The thing that's made Windows For Dummies so successful is that it's packed with the basics you need to make Windows work. This book gets you through all the Windows Vista tasks and tripwires, including starting programs, finding files, navigating the new see-through interface, staying safe while you cruise the Internet, and much more.
Discover how to
- Find files when they?re hiding
- Hook up with another computer
- Make Vista work like XP
- Block Internet bad guys
- Share a PC without sharing your files
- Fix problems yourself
![Windows Vista For Dummies](http://vs-images.bn-web.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.12.2_temp1)
![Windows Vista For Dummies](http://vs-images.bn-web.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.12.2_temp1)
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Overview
Move your files to a new computer, or get your old PC ready for Vista
The thing that's made Windows For Dummies so successful is that it's packed with the basics you need to make Windows work. This book gets you through all the Windows Vista tasks and tripwires, including starting programs, finding files, navigating the new see-through interface, staying safe while you cruise the Internet, and much more.
Discover how to
- Find files when they?re hiding
- Hook up with another computer
- Make Vista work like XP
- Block Internet bad guys
- Share a PC without sharing your files
- Fix problems yourself
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781118043899 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Wiley |
Publication date: | 02/09/2011 |
Series: | For Dummies Books |
Sold by: | JOHN WILEY & SONS |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 432 |
File size: | 24 MB |
Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
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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