In this chapter:
Windows NT makes your life easier--well, at least the part that can be handled by a computer.....
Unless you've been living in a cave for the past six years, you've heard of Windows. If you've had a computer on your desk anytime in the 1990s, chances are you used Windows 3.1. If you bought a new computer for home or work in the past year, it probably came with Windows 95 preinstalled. Now you're face-to-face with Windows NT 4.0, the latest member of the family of computer operating systems called Windows.
So what is Windows NT? The two letters tacked onto the end of the name stand for New Technology. As that bold label suggests, this is not the Windows that most people have been using for the past few years. Yes, Windows NT 4.0 can run most of your old MS-DOS and Windows programs, but the software that's actually doing the work is very different.
Windows NT was designed for use by big corporations, so it does some things very well: password protection that would have Tom Clancy taking notes for his next novel, for example, and the ability to run for weeks on end without crashing. Not surprisingly, the things it doesn't do so well--games and multimedia, for example--are distinctly un-businesslike.
Despite these fundamental differences, though, this is still Windows. Windows NT, like MS-DOS and Windows 95, is a computer operating system--a complex program that helps you organize the work you do with your PC every day.
The most obvious part of Windows is the graphical user interface--the colorful screen and those small, sometimes puzzling pictures referred to as icons. Once you learn how to move the mouse pointer around the screen, Windows lets you do just about anything by pointing at an icon and clicking a button on the mouse. Those clicks tell Windows to get to work on your behalf. Behind the scenes, beneath the surface and just out of sight, Windows acts as your personal executive staff, complete with the PC equivalent of file clerks, messengers, security guards, administrative assistants, and a full-time maintenance crew. Best of all, you're the boss. Every time you tap a key on your keyboard or click the mouse, this staff swings into action to carry out your requests.
Where do you begin? The most important pieces of Windows are right where you can see them, on the Windows desktop. This desktop works just like the one in your office. You keep the most important work right on top, where you can get to it quickly. Less urgent things get tucked away in folders and filing cabinets.
When you're ready to continue working on that letter you started writing yesterday, just tell Windows the name of the file the letter is stored in, and the letter will pop up, ready for you to start typing. Are you ready to toss out some old files? Just dump them into the Recycle Bin and the housekeeping staff will take care of the rest. When you need to connect a new modem or a laser printer to your computer, it's no problem--there's a Wizard on the premises to handle most of the hard work. Windows can find a lost file for you, help you keep your company's books, even send a message to a co-worker in the next office or a friend halfway around the world, assuming you're connected to some sort of e-mail system.
Windows makes your life easier--well, at least the part that can be handled by a computer. Inside, it has a collection of specialized programs that work together to keep you as organized as you want to be:
Imagine how chaotic your office would be if your office manager quit tomorrow. The FedEx driver would be wandering the halls looking for someone to sign for all those packages. Telephones would be ringing off the hook. You'd be out of coffee by 9:30.
Without an operating system, things inside your PC would get just as dis- combobulated, just as fast. Fortunately, the Windows NT operating system is there to act as a ruthlessly efficient office manager. Windows knows every part of your PC, inside and out, so it can send your work to the right place. (When you ask your PC to print a file, you want it to go to the printer and not the trash can, right? That's the operating system's job.) It also knows all the rules for storing and retrieving files, so you can find your work without a hassle.
The icons and menus in Windows make it easy for you to ask your PC to do some work. The operating system is the part that actually does the work. One without the other would be nearly useless, but together they're an unbeatable combination.
If you could sweep all the clutter off your desk and spread the computer screen out in front of you, it would be easy to see why the Windows user interface is called the desktop. It's a smooth, flat surface that works a lot like the top of your real desk. It's where you'll keep the tools you need to work with your computer--not a stapler and scissors, but your word processor and spreadsheet programs, plus the folders full of files created by such programs. Any projects you're working on right now--letters, proposals, budgets, and so on--can sit on the desktop if you'd like, or you can tuck them back into their folders and put them neatly away when you're done.
Thanks to the graphical user interface, you don't have to memorize complicated commands (and you don't have to deal with surly error messages when you accidentally mistype a command). Instead, you point to a picture or an entry on a plain-English list, click the mouse once, and let Windows handle the details.
Where do you start? Well, assuming Windows NT is already installed on your PC, you just turn on your computer. When you press that power switch, a complicated sequence of events starts up.
On August 24, 1995, Microsoft threw a pull-out-all-the-stops party to introduce
Windows 95. If you were anywhere near a TV or read a newspaper that week, you couldnít
miss it. And you probably heard that Rolling Stones song, ìStart Me Up,î a bazillion
times.
Windows NT may look a lot like Windows 95, but there are some important differences.
And Windows 3.1, which was around long before either of these newcomers, is dramatically
different from both. Hereís a thumbnail sketch of all three Windows versions.
Youíll still find Windows 3.1 in use in a lot of places, perhaps even in your
own company. Before you can run Windows 3.1, you have to run MS-DOS. When naming
files and directories, youíre limited to eight letters, plus a period and three more
letters at the end. Getting Windows 3.1 to work on networks is like trying to herd
cats. Installing new hardware works best if you have a computer expert and a witch
doctor handy.
Windows 95 was designed especially for home users and for people in small offices.
It works great on notebook (portable) computers, itís easy to connect with networks,
and the Plug and Play features make it a lot easier to add a new piece of hardware.
Itís not very secure, though; anyone who can get his hands on your keyboard can poke
around on the hard disk without too much trouble. And Windows 95, like Windows 3.1,
sometimes just stops working, usually when you can least afford it.
At first glance, Windows NT looks just like Windows 95. The Start button works
the same way, for example, and the My Computer and Network Neighborhood icons perform
the same functions. Windows programs have an identical look and feel, although it
takes more memory and more disk space to accomplish the same tasks with Windows NT
than with Windows 95.
If your network administrator set up Windows NT on your PC, chances are itís more
protected from intruders than it would be if you were using Windows 95. You can lock
up your computer so that no one can snoop around on your hard disk unless they know
the password. And Windows NT is much less likely to crash than any version of Windows
before it.
Starting up Windows is like opening your office in the morning. You have to go in and turn on the lights, make a fresh pot of coffee, and get the copy machine warmed up before you can do any real work. Windows has a lot of the same sort of housekeeping to do. There's a long, long checklist that Windows goes through before it lets you get to work, so it's normal for startup to take a little while. Here's what's going on:
Plain English, please!BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. There are a few essential chores that your computer has learned, like how to store a bit of information in a place where it can be found again. The BIOS holds the instructions that tell the PC how to perform crucial tasks like this. On most PCs, the first thing you see after turning on your PC is the copyright information about the BIOS.
Q&A: What if my computer won't start up properly?
It is plugged in, isn't it? The monitor's turned on, too, and you've checked the brightness and contrast controls? If you pass those checkpoints, try to restart your computer by pressing the on-off switch. When you see the startup menu, press the spacebar to have Windows use the settings that worked the last time you started the computer. If you still can't get things started, it's time to call in a computer expert.
These days, we're surrounded by pictures and graphic images. Everywhere you look--on road signs, on bottles and cans, even in newspapers and magazines--we're replacing words with pictures. Because Windows is graphical--that is, it relies on pictures rather than words--it's chock-full of tiny images, called icons, which are intended to make it easier to use.
Icons are used absolutely everywhere in Windows NT, so it pays to learn what the different types of icons mean. The contents of an icon might be just about anything--a letter to the IRS, a digitized picture of the Mona Lisa, even a recording of Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "I'll be back!" Once you learn what an icon means, it really can act as a quick and easy way to start a program or perform a task. Just as in the real world, some symbols are instantly recognizable (a skull and crossbones means poison, a red circle and line through a cigarette means "no smoking," a wheelchair means this parking space is reserved for the handicapped). The meaning of many Windows icons, like the printer and calculator, will be obvious at a glance.
If you compare your Windows desktop to the real one in your office, it's easy to find things that work the same way.
Officially, the small pictures you see are called icons. We'll discuss each one in more detail in the next section.
Anything that could go on paper--letters, budgets, presentations, and so on--can be stored as a file on your PC.
Windows lets you organize your files--everything from quick notes to formal reports--inside the PC equivalent of manila folders.
Itís pronounced ìgooey,î and the acronym stands for the most obvious part of Windowsñits
graphical user interface.
A user interface is simply the way you communicate with a machine. Your microwave
oven has a simple user interface. The 12 buttons on your telephone are the interface
between you and your voice-mail system. And nobody can figure out the interface of
the average VCR.
Some computers use a command-line interface, where you type commands
at the computerís keyboard (and it beeps back at you when you type a command wrong).
Windows is much easier to use because it lets you tell the computer what to do by
pointing at pictures on the screen. You donít have to memorize a whole manual full
of commandsñyou just point at what you want on the screen and push a button on your
mouse.
When you put it all together, you get a graphical user interface. The pictures on
the screen are the graphics, youíre the user, and Windows provides the interface
between you and the computer.
Why do we need a user interface, graphical or otherwise? Because something has to
control the computerís operating system, which actually runs the commands and does
the work. You donít really need to know much about your computerís operating system,
as long as you know where all the controls are. Think of how your car works: You
probably know nothing about how your transmission works, but you tell it what to
do when you use the shift lever.
Computer experts can do dazzling tricks with command-line interfaces, but theyíre
almost impossible for average people to use. Thatís why GUIs are rapidly showing
up everywhereñon cable TV boxes, in cars, even on refrigerators and washing machines.
Folders and files are stored on disks, which act just like file cabinets (and seem to fill up just as quickly).
Your office equipment claims a few icons here as well. Printers and modems, for example, get special icons that let you adjust their settings.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather give my PC a friendly name like Calvin, Hobbes, or Jean-Luc. I might prefer an informative name like "Ed's Notebook PC." Unfortunately, someone at Microsoft decided that my computer (and your computer and, in fact, everyone's computer) would start out with the same dull, generic name: My Computer...sigh.
We'll figure out how to change your computer's name later. For now, let's look at the useful tasks you can accomplish when you double-click the My Computer icon. This is your window on the most important pieces of your system--the disk drives, the printers, and all the knobs and levers that make it run smoothly. What can you do here? Plenty.
Fig. 1.1
This is My Computer, the place to turn when you want to find a file, set up a printer, or change your PC's settings.
How much free space is left on your hard disk? Find out with My Computer. This is the place where you can ask Windows to attach an electronic "label" to your disks, as well, so that the next time you insert a floppy disk you know it contains budget data before you even open it. From here, you can turn on file sharing, so that someone else on the network can use the files on your hard disk. It's also where you turn off sharing so that Bob in Accounting can't poke around in your hard disk ("No way, pal. Uh-uh. You're not sharing this hard disk.") And it's one of many places in Windows where you can find a file, copy a file, or delete a file.
Imagine how awkward life would be if you had to schlep your monitor down the hall every time you wanted to show someone this quarter's budget spreadsheet. That's why printers are the most important pieces of computer hardware, next to your PC, and that's why they get their own folder in the My Computer window. There's a built-in wizard that walks you, step-by-step, through the process of setting up a new printer. After it's been set up, this is the place you'll change the settings (maybe you added a new paper tray or moved it down the hall). With a few clicks here, you can share your printer with other people on a network; if they're not suitably grateful, you can stop sharing, too. Windows lists the names of all the files you've sent to the printer (each file listed is considered a "print job"); from here, you can cancel backed-up jobs before they ever make it to the printer (in case you change your mind about printing a particular file).
The icon called Control Panel might look like a folder, but it's really more like the hood of your car. Pop open the Control Panel by double-clicking its icon, and you can fine-tune just about anything in your PC. Some of the options are incredibly useful. For example, this is where you set the clock your computer uses to keep track of what time you saved a file or sent a message.
You might never look at all the Control Panel options, but it's nice to know that Windows has a round-the-clock maintenance crew.
Fig. 1.2
This is where you'll turn for the simplest of tasks, like resetting your computer's clock. You might have the tougher jobs, such as installing a new piece of hardware.
Here are just a few of the simple, useful tasks you can perform from here:
If you learned to use a PC with MS-DOS on it, you might feel temporarily disoriented
when you first dive into Windows NT. Thatís normalñthe feeling will pass. There are
Windows equivalents for all those old DOS commands.
But if you really want to return to the familiar DOS environment, Windows gives you
a choice of two command lines. Both are accessible directly from the Start menu.
The first looks just like the familiar DOS prompt. Click the Start button, then click
on Programs and choose Command Prompt from the menu. The C:\ prompt in this window
does everything a DOS user would expect, and then some. Unlike old-fashioned DOS,
which insists on filling up your entire screen, the Windows NT Command Prompt shows
up in a window that you can resize and move to fit your screen. You can type the
name of any programñDOS or Windowsñand it will start right up. You can also run some
of your older DOS programs, although some of them wonít work properly with Windows
NT.
The other option for anyone who wants to just type a DOS command is the Run command,
also found on the Start menu. The Run command gives you a tiny box, big enough to
hold a single command, plus a Browse button that lets you search for a specific file
to run.
For some tasks, a command prompt is genuinely the fastest way to get the job done.
But if youíre like most people, the longer you use Windows, the less youíll find
yourself craving the comfort of a C:\ prompt.
If you're connected to a local area network (and most Windows NT users are on a network when they're in the office), all the computers you're allowed to use get their own icons in your Network Neighborhood.
Whoever runs your company network has designated certain computers as file servers. These PCs have been set aside to store files and run programs that groups of people on the network can use and share. Icons for each of these computers show up in your Network Neighborhood.
In the Network Neighborhood, you'll also find icons for all the computers in your workgroup, including yours. Dig a little deeper and you can see whether the owner of a PC has put a "Share Me" sign on any folders or printers. For example, if Bob in Accounting wants you to look over this month's payroll report, he could put the report in a folder, call it "Payroll Reports," and tell Windows that it's OK if you look at it. Now, when you explore the icon for Bob's PC in the Network Neighborhood, you'll see that shared folder.
You can share things, too. If you have a laser printer hooked to your PC and you want your assistant to use it, you tell Windows that it's fine for other people to use it and your PC and printer will show up in their Network Neighborhoods.
You'd have to be in a coma to miss the Start button. You turn on your PC, and there's the word Start, as big as life, all alone on the bottom of the screen. We'll get to the Start button later, in Chapter 8. For now, though, let's move over a few inches.
The Start button sits on the taskbar, which runs along the entire bottom of the screen and works a lot like a handyman's tool belt. When you're doing a home improvement project, that belt saves you a lot of steps. After you've finished using a hammer or screwdriver, you don't put it back in the toolbox--you hang it on the belt so you can get to it quickly the next time you need it.
The Windows taskbar works the same way: As you work, you open folders to find files, then start programs to work with those files. As you set one program or folder aside to work with a new window, Windows doesn't put the old window away immediately. Instead, Windows adds a button to the taskbar for each program or folder you're using. When you need to reuse a folder or a program, just check the taskbar to find it fast. We'll look at the taskbar in more detail in Chapter 8.
TIP: Because it's possible to move or hide the taskbar, yours may appear somewhere other than the bottom of the screen; it may even seem to be missing. Don't worry about it. If you want to move it or make it visible again, look at the tip near the end of Chapter 7.
When you're trying to keep track of a complicated project, you use every organizational trick in the book. All your loose papers go into manila folders. You rubber-band thick reports together so they won't be accidentally separated. If the paperwork gets thick enough, you stuff the whole mess into a filing cabinet drawer.
Windows lets you do the exact same thing--only much neater and much faster.
With Windows, it's easy to stay organized. When you write a new letter, for example, you give it a plain-English name, like Thank-you letter to Bill Karow, April 15. Each letter goes in the appropriate folder, which also has a plain-English name like April Letters.
And like a great executive assistant, Windows is smart enough to be able to find items that you lost. As long as you know some detail, no matter how small, about the file or folder you've lost, Windows can help you find it. Even if you accidentally threw the file into the Recycle Bin (no trash cans here!), there's a fighting chance you can get it back.
CAUTION: If you've thrown away a file by mistake and you want it back, stop! Before you do anything else, double-click the Recycle Bin. See Chapter 7 for step-by-step instructions on what to do to retrieve the file.
To turn off your computer, first click the Start button, then choose Shut Down from the menu. If you have any files you've been working on that haven't been saved yet, Windows will ask you if you want to save them. Just like the startup process, shutting down takes some time, but eventually you'll reach a screen that says it's OK to turn your PC off and quit for the day.
Q&A: I usually shut down my computer by just pressing the power switch. Is that OK?
No, it's never OK to press the Off button unless you've first used the Shut Down command (found on the Start menu). Windows keeps track of all sorts of important information in the background while you work. When you use the Shut Down command, Windows makes sure that that information is saved properly. If you turn off the power before shutting down, you risk losing data.
Everybody has a unique way of organizing offices and desktops. Some people like to be surrounded by four-foot stacks of paper; others can't get a thing done unless their desktop is clean enough to eat off of. You can set up your Windows desktop to look and feel just like the one in your real office.
On the Windows desktop, you can rearrange objects to your heart's content. As long as there's free space, you can set a new object down on the desktop (or even on top of another object). Unlike your real desktop, you can even change the colors and put different labels on most of the objects on this desktop. You can throw away almost anything, too, if you don't need it and don't want it cluttering up your desktop.
Plain English, please!Computer gurus (and guru-wannabes) like to talk about objects, because that word sounds so much better than things. It doesn't matter what you call them, though; if you can see something on the screen, it's an object. The most important fact is that objects that look similar usually act alike, too. So once you learn how one part of Windows works, you can apply that same knowledge later to another, similar object.
If you just started Windows for the first time, your Windows desktop is sparkling clean right now. Whether it stays that way is up to you. If you thrive on a little chaos in your working life, go ahead and make this desktop as cluttered as your real desk.
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