In this chapter:
Sometimes you just need directions. Other times you need a search-and-rescue party...
There are two ways to ask for help. There's "Excuse me, I seem to be a bit turned around here. I wonder if you could help me find my way back to the folder I was just in." And then there's "HELP!!!!!" No matter where you're lost, Windows has a built-in information system that can give you the quick answer you need, when you need it.
That's the big question, isn't it? Windows does so many different things that it's impossible to cover them all in a book like this one. In a week-long training course, you'd barely scratch the surface. In fact, even if you could convince someone to pay you to become a Windows expert, it would be months of full-time work before you covered everything, much less figured it all out.
Fortunately, you don't need to convince your boss to rewrite your job description. Because so many parts of Windows work the same way, it's possible to figure a lot of things out by simply guessing what to do next.
The answer when you're not sure how something works is to ask for Help. Don't worry, there's plenty to go around.
There's an extensive library of helpful reference material in Windows, mostly stored in a group of files in the Help folder, which is inside the Windows folder. Although these files are organized like books, they actually work more like videotapes. Without a VCR to use as a player, your videotapes are just big hunks of black plastic. Likewise, without a Help "player," your Help files are just digital gibberish.
When you ask for help, Windows starts up its version of a VCR, running a program called WINHELP.EXE. Then it pops in the tape, loading the most appropriate volume for what you're trying to do right now. If you click the Start button and choose Help, you'll open the master Help file, a huge document that gives you a close-up view of everything in Windows.
Open Windows Help, and you'll see one of these three views. In Windows, Help works
just like a shelf full of well-organized books.
TIP: It sounds strange, but there's even help for using Help. To get more information, choose Help from the Start menu. Click the Contents tab, double-click How To, and then Use Help to see the specifics.
If you're on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise, you can just say, "Computer!" Here on earth, though, there are four ways to signal Windows that you need a little assistance:
Most of the manuals that came with my software are covered with a thick layer of dust because the answers I need are usually easier to find with a couple of mouse clicks. There's no magic involved--just a little common sense. The next time you're feeling stuck, follow these suggestions to get unstuck in a hurry:
Most Windows programs use this built-in help system, so after you learn how to
use it, you're well on your way toward being able to find Help in any program.
The best kind of help is the sort that's right there when you need it. In Windows, this is called context-sensitive help. Think of it as a way to get specific directions. Opening the main Windows Help system is a bit like unrolling a map of the United States--interesting, but not very detailed. Context-sensitive help gives you a close-up map of the neighborhood you're standing in right now.
For example, let's say you're having trouble hearing the sounds coming out of your multimedia PC. You've found the Multimedia icon in the Control Panel window. You click the icon. Now what? If you need an explanation for any of the terms in the Multimedia Properties dialog box that appears, just point to the label that has you baffled, then right-click. You'll see the words What's This? pop up. Click again to see an explanation like the one in Figure 4.1.
There's a profound difference between context-sensitive help and the more general variety. Most of the time, Help takes you to the front of the book, where you have to start searching. But context-sensitive help looks around, tries to figure out where you might be stuck, then puts up detailed information about what you're doing right now.
Fig. 4.1
Can't figure out what that button does? Right-click anywhere in a dialog box to get "What's this?" help. The information that pops up is usually a slightly more detailed explanation than the simple label.
Inside a Windows Help file, there are all sorts of secret passageways to extra information. When you see any of these special buttons or type treatments, you can click for more information or jump directly to where you want to go.
Fig. 4.2
You can pop up quick definitions of unfamiliar terms. On most computers, these links appear in green underlined text. When the pointer turns to a finger, it's OK to click.
Fig. 4.3
Jump buttons let you open the dialog box or run the program you're reading about, with a single mouse click.
Fig. 4.4
Other buttons and demos illustrate key tasks or point you to other parts of the Help system.
Let's say you created a folder called "Hot! Income Tax Files," where you kept all of last year's financial records. It's April 16 and you've filed your tax return; now you want to rename the folder "Last Year's Tax Files" and copy it to a floppy disk, but you can't remember exactly how to do it. Try these steps, and remember: you can follow the same general path to find the answers to any how-to question about Windows.
The Windows Help file starts out with a handful of broad sections. Click the Start button, choose Help, and select the Contents tab. By double-clicking How To, then Work with Files and Folders, we eventually drill down to a list of topics that includes Changing the name of a file or folder and Moving a file or folder. That sounds promising, doesn't it? But it's not the only way to get the answers.
TIP: When you open a Help "book" for the first time, each section has an icon to its left that looks like a closed book. When you double-click a topic, the icon changes to an open book, and you'll see additional icons, for books and pages, just below it.
Click the Index tab and type a word. Let's try move. You don't even need to type all the letters--as you hit each key, the selection bar in the Help list jumps to the first entry that begins with what you've typed so far. After three characters, you've reached moving, files or folders. When you double-click here, you get more choices, including an option to learn how to accomplish the same task by dragging and dropping. Pick an item from the list and click the Display button to read the Help topic. If that screen doesn't have the answer you were looking for, click the Help Topics button and try it again.
Both the Table of Contents and the Index depend on someone else to organize the Help book. Murphy's Law of Help predicts that the question that has you stumped won't be covered in either place. This is when you'll be grateful that Windows Help can find a word or a phrase anywhere in the Help file.
The first time you click on the Find tab, you'll see a dialog box like the one in Figure 4.5. Don't be alarmed. Before Windows can find the word or phrase you type, it has to rearrange every word in the file into an alphabetical list called an index. You choose whether to create a simple index or a thorough one.
Fig. 4.5
Before you can find a word or phrase in a Help file, Windows asks you to choose the type of index you want to use.
After you've created the index, just start typing in the box at the top of the Find tab. Topics that match the words you enter will appear in the list at the bottom. Highlight the topic that looks most promising and click the Display button to read the Help text.
When you're having trouble finding the help you need, follow this list of handy tips:
Fig. 4.6
When you see a button labeled Related Topics, click to see a list of answers to similar questions.
Sometimes when you're working with Windows, things go wrong--and the solution isn't always obvious. If you're experiencing real problems with Windows, you don't need advice, you need step-by-step troubleshooting assistance. There are two places to look: Troubleshooting Tips (look on the Contents tab of the main Windows Help file), and in the ReadMe files, which are used extensively in Windows and Windows programs.
Plain English, please!Why are they called ReadMe files? It's a time-honored tradition in the software industry. The folks who made the manuals had to finish before the folks who made the program, and sometimes there were last-minute changes in the program that didn't match the printed manuals. To include a file called Readme (or README.TXT) was the answer, with last-minute changes noted here.
TIP: Look for Readme files, not just for Windows, but for everything. Try clicking the Start button and using Find Files to search for files anywhere on your hard drive that have the letters READ in their names.
There usually is. Sometimes you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, and it drives you crazy. For example, if you regularly send print jobs to a laser printer somewhere on your company's network, you'll understand how useful it can be to check your place in the print queue.
You could open My Computer, then open the Printers Folder, then open a window on the printer you want to check. But if you look in the Printing chapter of the Windows Help book, it suggests a faster, easier way: Drag the printer icon to your desktop and create a copy there. Now when you want to see whether your print job is done, you can just double-click the icon.
Most of the Windows Help files have a Tips and Tricks section. Look here for other time-saving suggestions.
TIP: How do you follow along with a complicated set of instructions? Click the Keep Help On Top option (it appears whenever you press the Options button). When this feature is turned on, the Help instructions will "float" over whatever you're doing until you close the window or uncheck the Keep Help on Top option.
Fig. 4.7
To avoid covering up Help screens, use the Keep Help on Top option.
Q&A: I keep looking up the same things over and over. Isn't there an easier way to find the info I need repeatedly?
Don't reinvent the wheel! When you learn something that isn't in Help, use annotations to save your comments. It's especially useful if someone else (like a PC support person at your company) modifies your system. Press the Options button, then choose Annotate. You'll see a small window where you can type a note to yourself or to anyone else who uses your PC. When you see a green paper-clip icon in a Help screen, click it to read the annotation.
If you're having a hard time learning something, you can print out the help topic and keep it alongside your PC until you get the hang of it. When you see a particularly helpful Help screen, click the Options button and choose Print topic from the pop-up menu. If you'd rather incorporate the instructions into your own note, use the mouse to highlight the helpful material, then right-click and choose Copy. Now you can paste the copied material from the Windows Clipboard into your document or into a mail message.
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