Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows XP in 24 Hours

By Greg Perry

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Wake Up with Windows XP
  • Hour 1. Taking a Bird's-Eye Look at Windows XP
    • Windows XP Simply Works Better
    • Windows XP Comes in Several Flavors
    • Do You Have the Necessary Hardware?
    • Getting a Feel for Windows XP
    • Mouse Around
    • Windows XP Knows Multimedia
    • Make Sure You Understand Windows Controls
    • Taking the Taskbar to Task
    • The Start Menu: Your Windows Cockpit
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • Hour 2. Getting Started with Windows XP
  • Hour 3. Managing the Windows XP Interface
  • Part II: Morning Windows Desktop Exploration
  • Hour 4. Working with the My Computer Window
  • Hour 5. Navigating Files with Windows Explorer
  • Hour 6. Calling for Help
  • Hour 7. Improving Your Windows Desktop Experience
  • Part III: Early Afternoon Windows Exploration
  • Hour 8. Installing Programs with Windows XP
  • Hour 9. Finding Files, Folders, and Friends
  • Hour 10. Using the Desktop Accessories
  • Part IV: Late Afternoon Internet Integration
  • Hour 11. Surfing the Web with Internet Explorer
  • Hour 12. Tying Windows into the Web
  • Hour 13. Networking with Windows XP
  • Hour 14. Managing E-mail and Newsgroups with Outlook Express
  • Part V: An Evening with Advanced Windows
  • Hour 15. Exploring Your Hardware Interface
  • Hour 16. Understanding Printing and Fonts
  • Hour 17. Using Windows on the Road
  • Hour 18. Giving Windows XP a Tune-Up
  • Hour 19. Managing Your Hard Drives
  • Hour 20. Tinkering with the Advanced System Tools
  • Part VI: Having Fun at Nighttime
  • Hour 21. Using Media Player
  • Hour 22. Picturing Windows XP Graphics
  • Hour 23. Making Movies with Windows XP
  • Hour 24. Advanced Windows XP Tips
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Differences Between the Windows Home and Professional Edition
  • Appendix B. Glossary
  • Appendix C. Answers to Quizzes

Make Sure You Understand Windows Controls

Before getting into specifics of Windows operations in the upcoming hourly lessons, make sure that you have a fundamental grasp of routine Windows operations. As you work with Windows XP, you'll see all kinds of windows appear and disappear.

A Window such as the one shown in Figure 1.7 is sometimes called a dialog box. Dialog boxes contain various controls with which to manage Windows XP. These controls can be command buttons that you click with your mouse to start or cancel a task; check boxes with a check mark, indicating an item you selected by clicking the mouse over the box; and option buttons that you select from a choice of options.

If a dialog box contains a dropdown list, you can click the list's down arrow to open the list and see the options that appear. Some dialog boxes contain multiple tabbed pages so that you can read and select from two or more pages of controls within the same dialog box.

Figure 1.7 Dialog boxes often contain several controls that select options and determine behavior.

There are three ways to select an onscreen command button:

1. Click the button with the mouse.
2. Press Tab to highlight the buttons in succession. Shift+Tab moves backward. You will know that a button is highlighted by its darker outline around the button. Moving the highlight between onscreen controls is called changing the focus. As soon as the focus (the dotted highlight) appears on the button you want to select, press Enter to activate that button.
3. If a key's caption begins with an underlined letter, press Alt plus the underlined letter to trigger the button's action. This combined keystroke is called a hotkey. (Windows XP hides a dialog box's hotkeys until you press the Alt key on your keyboard.) Press Alt and, when the underlined hotkeys appear, you can press any button's underlined letter to trigger that button's action.

Certain windows use check boxes to indicate yes or no possibilities.

There are three ways to check (or uncheck) a check box:

1. Using the mouse, click either the check box or the message next to the check box.
2. Move the focus to the check box text (by pressing Tab or Shift+Tab) and press Enter.
3. Press Alt plus the hotkey of the check box's message.

In Hour 2, "Getting Started with Windows XP," you learn how to open and change to new windows without closing an existing window completely; it will be out of your way, but you will be able to return to it whenever you want.

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