Windows Vista For Dummies Table of Contents

Part I: Windows Vista Stuff Everybody Thinks You Already Know

Chapter 1: What Is Windows Vista?

• What Is Windows Vista, and Why Are You Using It?
• Should I Bother Switching to Windows Vista?
• Improved security
• New Internet Explorer version
• New Media Player and Media Center
• DVD burning
• Calendar
• Easier searching for files
• Vista looks prettier
• Can My PC Still Run Vista?
• Can I Make Windows Vista Look and Feel Like Windows XP?
• The Five Flavors of Vista

Chapter 2: The Desktop, Start Menu, and Other Windows Vista Mysteries

• Being Welcomed to the World of Windows Vista
• Fiddling around with user accounts
• Keeping your account private with a password
• Working on the Desktop
• Cleaning up a messy desktop
• Jazzing up the desktop’s background
• Dumpster diving in the Recycle Bin
• The Start Button’s Reason to Live
• The Start menu’s prime real estate
• Starting a program from the Start menu
• Customizing the Start menu
• Bellying Up to the Taskbar
• Shrinking windows to the taskbar and retrieving them
• Clicking the taskbar’s sensitive areas
• Customizing the taskbar
• The taskbar’s crazy toolbars
• The Sidebar
• Logging Off from Windows

Chapter 3: Basic Windows Mechanics

• Dissecting a Typical Window
• Tugging on a window’s title bar
• Typing in a Window’s Address Bar
• Finding Vista’s hidden menu bar
• Choosing the Right Button for the Job
• Quick shortcuts with the Windows Vista Navigation Pane
• Working with the Details pane
• Moving inside a window with its scroll bar
• Boring borders
• Filling Out Bothersome Dialog Boxes
• Poking the correct command button
• Choosing between option buttons
• Typing into text boxes
• Choosing options from list boxes
• Drop-down list boxes
• Check boxes
• Sliding controls
• Maneuvering Windows Around the Desktop
• Moving a window to the top of the pile
• Moving a window from here to there
• Making a window fill the whole screen
• Closing a window
• Making a window bigger or smaller
• Placing two windows next to each other
• Making windows open to the same darn size

Chapter 4: Flipping Through Files, Folders, Floppies, and CDs

• Browsing Your Computer’s File Cabinets
• Getting the Lowdown on Folders
• Peering into Your Drives and Folders
• Seeing the files on a disk drive
• Seeing what’s inside folders
• Creating a New Folder
• Renaming a File or Folder
• Selecting Bunches of Files or Folders
• Getting Rid of a File or Folder
• Copying or Moving Files and Folders
• Seeing More Information about Files and Folders
• Writing to CDs and DVDs
• Buying the right kind of blank CDs and DVDs for burning
• Copying files from or to a CD or DVD
• Working with Floppy Disks and Memory Cards

Part II: Working with Programs and Files

Chapter 5: Playing with Programs and Documents

• Starting a Program
• Opening a Document
• Saving a Document
• Choosing Which Program Opens a File
• The wrong program loads my file!
• No program will open my file!
• Taking the Lazy Way with a Shortcut
• The Absolutely Essential Guide to Cutting, Copying, and Pasting
• The quick ’n’ dirty guide to cut ’n’ paste
• Selecting things to cut or copy
• Cutting or copying your selected goods
• Pasting information to another place
• Windows Vista’s Free Programs!
• Writing letters with WordPad
• Keeping appointments with Calendar
• Finding symbols like © with Character Map

Chapter 6: Briefly Lost, but Quickly Found

• Finding Lost Windows on the Desktop
• Locating a Missing Program, E-mail,
• Song, Document, or Other File
• Finding a Missing File in a Folder
• Sorting, Grouping, and Stacking Files
• Finding Lost Photos
• Finding Other Computers on a Network
• Finding Information on the Internet
• Saving Your Searches
• Commanding Vista’s Big Search
• Fine-Tuning Vista’s Searches
• Adding places to Vista’s index
• Rebuilding the index

Chapter 7: Printing Your Work

• Printing Your Masterpiece
• Adjusting how your work fits on the page
• Adjusting your printer’s settings
• Canceling a print job
• Printing a Web page
• Installing new fonts
• Troubleshooting your printer

Part III: Getting Things Done on the Internet

Chapter 8: Cruising the Web

• What Is the Internet?
• What’s an ISP, and Why Do I Need One?
• Setting Up Internet Explorer the First Time
• Navigating the Web with Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Moving from Web page to Web page
• Making Internet Explorer open to your favorite site
• Revisit favorite places
• Finding things on the Internet
• The Web Page Says It Needs a Weird Plug-In Thing!
• Saving Information from the Internet
• Saving a Web page
• Saving text
• Saving a picture
• Downloading a program or file
• It Doesn’t Work!
• Removing Unneeded Plug-ins
• The Pages Won’t All Fit on My Screen
• Internet Explorer Now Fills My Entire Screen!

Chapter 9: Sending and Receiving E-mail

• Using Windows Mail
• Setting Up Your E-Mail Account
• Composing and Sending an E-Mail
• Reading a Received E-Mail
• Sending and Receiving an Attachment
• Finding Lost Mail
• Managing Your Contacts
• Reducing Your Spam

Chapter 10: Safe Computing

• Understanding Those Annoying Permission Messages
• Assessing Your Safety in Security Center
• Changing the firewall settings
• Changing Windows Update settings
• Avoiding viruses
• Staying Safe on the Internet
• Avoiding evil add-ons and hijackers
• Avoiding phishing scams
• Avoiding and removing spyware and parasites
• with Windows Defender
• Using parental controls

Part IV: Customizing and Upgrading Windows Vista

Chapter 11: Customizing Windows Vista with the Control Panel

• Finding the Right Switch in the Control Panel
• System and Maintenance
• User Accounts and Family Safety
• Security
• Changing Windows’ Appearance (Appearance and Personalization)
• Changing the desktop background
• Choosing a screen saver
• Changing the computer’s theme
• Changing the screen resolution
• Changing Network and Internet Connections
• Setting the Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options
• Hardware and Sound
• Adjusting Vista’s volume and sounds
• Installing or setting up speakers
• Adding a printer
• Installing or adjusting other items
• Adding new hardware
• Adding or Removing Programs
• Removing or changing programs
• Adding new programs
• Add/remove parts of Windows Vista
• Modifying Vista for the Physically Challenged
• Options for Laptops (Mobile PC)
• Additional Options

Chapter 12: Keeping Windows from Breaking

• Creating a Restore Point
• Tuning Up Windows Vista with Built-In Maintenance Tools
• Backing up your computer
• Finding technical information about your computer
• Freeing up space on your hard drive
• Empowering your power button
• Setting up devices that don’t work (fiddling with drivers)
• Cleaning Your Computer
• Cleaning your mouse
• Cleaning your monitor
• Cleaning your keyboard

Chapter 13: Sharing One Computer with Several People

• Understanding User Accounts
• Setting Up or Changing User Accounts
• Switching Quickly between Users
• Changing a User Account’s Picture
• Setting Up Passwords and Security

Chapter 14: Connecting Two or More Computers with a Network

• Understanding a Network’s Parts
• Setting Up a Small Network
• Buying parts for a network
• Installing a wired network
• Connecting Wirelessly
• Setting up a wireless router or access point
• Setting up Windows Vista to connect to a wireless network
• Connecting to and Sharing Files with Other PCs on Your Network
• Sharing a Printer on the Network
• Troubleshooting a Network

Part V: Music, Movies, Memories (and Photos, Too)

Chapter 15: Playing and Copying Music in Media Player

• Stocking Media Player’s Library
• Browsing Media Player’s Libraries
• Understanding Media Player’s Controls
• Playing CDs
• Playing DVDs
• Playing Videos and TV Shows
• Playing Music Files (MP3s and WMAs)
• Playing Internet Radio Stations
• Creating, Saving, and Editing Playlists
• Copying CDs to Your PC
• Burning Music CDs
• Copying Songs to Your Portable Player
• Buying Music and Movies from Online Stores
• Working with Media Center
• Browsing Media Center’s menus
• Getting the most out of Media Center

Chapter 16: Fiddling with Photos and Movies

• Using Your Computer as a Digital Shoebox
• Dumping the camera’s photos into your computer
• Browsing your photos with Windows Photo Gallery
• Viewing a slide show
• Fixing photos
• E-mailing photos
• Printing pictures
• Creating, Editing, and Viewing Digital Movies and Slide Shows
• Step 1: Import video, pictures, and music
• Step 2: Edit your movie
• Step 3: Save your edited movie or slide show
• Saving a Movie or Slide Show to a DVD with Windows DVD Maker

Part VI: Help!

Chapter 17: The Case of the Broken Window

• Vista Keeps Asking Me for Permission!
• Restoring Calm with System Restore
• Reviving Messed Up or Deleted Files
• Undeleting accidentally deleted files
• Retrieving previous versions of files and folders
• Retrieving a Forgotten Password
• My Folder (Or Desktop) Doesn’t Show All My Files!
• My Mouse Doesn’t Work Right
• My Double-Clicks Are Now Single Clicks!
• Making Older Programs Run under Windows Vista
• I Can’t Find the Menus!
• My Computer Is Frozen Up Solid
• The Printer Isn’t Working Right

Chapter 18: Strange Messages: What You Did Does Not Compute

• Activate Windows Now
• Check Your Computer Security
• Do You Want to Get the Latest Online
• Content When You Search Help?
• Do You Want to Install (Or Run) This File?
• Do You Want to Save Changes
• Do You Want to Turn AutoComplete On?
• Installing Device Driver Software
• The Publisher Could Not Be Verified
• Video Card Does Not Meet Minimum Requirements
• Windows Cannot Open This File
• Windows Needs Your Permission to Continue
• You Don’t Currently Have Permission to Access This Folder

Chapter 19: Moving from an Old Computer to a New One

• Preparing to Move into Your New PC
• Choosing how to transfer your old information
• Installing your old PC’s programs onto your new PC
• Transferring Information Between Two PCs
• with Windows Easy Transfer
• Disposing of the Old Computer

Chapter 20: Help on the Windows Vista Help System

• Consulting a Program’s Built-In Computer Guru
• Finding the Information You Need in Windows’
• Help and Support Center
• Summoning Windows Vista’s Troubleshooters

Part VII: The Part of Tens

Chapter 21: Ten or So Things You’ll Hate about

• Windows Vista (and How to Fix Them)
• I Can’t Stand Those Nagging Permission Screens
• I Can’t Copy Ripped CDs and Purchased Music to My iPod
• The Menus All Disappeared
• Parental Controls Are Too Complicated
• The “Glass” Effects Slow Down My Laptop
• I Can’t Figure Out How to Turn Off My PC
• Windows Makes Me Log On All the Time
• The Taskbar Keeps Disappearing
• I Can’t Keep Track of Open Windows
• I Can’t Line Up Two Windows on the Screen
• It Won’t Let Me Do Something Unless I’m an Administrator!
• I Don’t Know What Version of Windows I Have
• My Print Screen Key Doesn’t Work

Chapter 22: Ten or So Tips for Laptop Owners

• Adjusting Your Laptop’s Settings Quickly
• Choosing What Happens When You Close Your Laptop’s Lid
• Adjusting to Different Locations
• Changing your time zone
• Dialing a modem from a new location
• Connecting to a wireless Internet hotspot
• Backing Up Your Laptop Before Traveling

Appendix: Upgrading to Windows Vista

Index