Welcome to WinStrux Learn, Windows 95 Getting Started, the easiest way to learn Windows
95.
Hi, I'm Anne Christensen and it's my pleasure to help you explore and understand the many
new features and capabilities of Windows 95.
With me today are the software guys from WinStrux, Keith White and Tom Jaffe.
Keith and Tom are former Microsoft Windows product managers.
Combined they spent 12 years at Microsoft marketing Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows
Forward Groups and Windows 95.
They've traveled the world teaching Windows to the Microsoft sales force and to over 100,000
Microsoft customers of all skill levels.
Hey, they taught me.
Today Keith is working with Windows 95 out of the office and Tom is using Windows 95
at home.
We'll hear from both of them as we take you through Learn Windows 95 Getting Started.
Now this video tape is organized into 10 modules that correspond to the 10 chapters in the
quick reference booklet included with your video.
You can watch the entire tape in one sitting or you can stop after any of the modules and
follow the simple steps in your booklet to reinforce what you've learned.
Now each module in the booklet is color coded.
The beginning of each module on this tape is also color coded so you can quickly fast
forward through the tape to find the topic that you want to review.
Okay, are you ready?
Let's get started.
Okay, guys, I see a lot of new icons and buttons in the Windows 95 user interface.
Can you tell me what these things do?
Sure, Anne.
At the top of the screen you're going to see an icon labeled My Computer.
Now when you double click on it, it opens to show you all the disk drives on your system.
With My Computer you can browse and start files that may be located on a floppy disk,
a hard drive, or a CD-ROM drive.
Now if you're also connected to any other computers on a network, they're going to appear
in My Computer as well.
Next you'll see the network neighborhood.
The network neighborhood allows you to locate and connect to other computers and printers
on your network.
You'll see this icon only if your PC is connected to a local area network.
So don't worry if you don't see this network neighborhood icon on your PC.
Now the next thing you'll see is the inbox.
This is Microsoft's combination electronic mail and fax program.
Now Microsoft Exchange, which is the email piece of it, lets you send and receive email
from all different types of sources, including CompuServe or the internet.
Now Microsoft fax is the fax piece of it.
It allows you to send and receive faxes straight from your computer.
Now the great thing about this universal inbox idea is that it lets you send and receive
all different types of information in one place, the inbox.
Now being environmentally conscious and politically correct, Microsoft created a recycle bin
rather than a trash can to discard the files that you don't want anymore.
So whenever you delete a file, it's not actually erased from your hard drive, but it's moved
over to the recycle bin.
Now if you need to retrieve a deleted file, just open the recycle bin with a click of
the mouse and easily retrieve it.
Now you've probably heard about online services such as CompuServe, Prodigy, or America Online.
Microsoft has a similar online service called the Microsoft Network.
Now through the Microsoft Network, you can do tons of stuff.
You can send and receive email over the internet through the inbox.
You can get the latest news, travel, and Microsoft product information, or you can browse catalogs
and purchase products right from your computer.
So basically the Microsoft Network is an electronic shopping mall of information as well as products.
Exactly.
It's a lot of fun to shop around the Microsoft Network, and we'll show you how to use the
Microsoft Network and the inbox in much more detail in our Windows 95 advanced video tape.
So while you two are shopping, I'd like to introduce you to the most significant change
in the Windows 95 user interface, and that is the start button and the task bar.
The start button replaces the Windows 3.1 program manager and makes it much easier to
find and start your programs, open your documents, and customize your system.
The task bar shows you which programs are running on your desktop, and it makes it very
easy to switch between them.
Okay, that was a quick overview of the Windows 95 user interface and desktop.
So to review from top to bottom, my computer, where you can access all the disk drives and
other network PCs your computer's connected to.
Network neighborhood, your gateway to other computers connected to your network.
The inbox, your mailbox on the desktop where you can send, receive, and read all kinds
of electronic mail and faxes.
The recycle bin, which holds your deleted files ready for retrieval if you need them.
The Microsoft network, which gives you access to Microsoft's own online service.
The start button that, as its name suggests, is the place to start doing just about anything
you want to do on your computer.
And the task bar, where you can see all of the programs you're running and switch between
them with a click of the mouse.
Now that you know your way around the desktop, you're ready to get started with the start
button.
Okay, let's first take a quick look at what's on the start menu, then we'll review each
item in more detail.
The first item we'll see on the start menu is programs.
Programs allows you to view your program groups, such as Microsoft Office, and select the program
you want to launch, such as Microsoft Word.
The next item on the start menu is documents.
Now Windows 95 will remember the last 15 documents you used so that you can quickly find them
here and load them.
Settings, this is where you'll access the control panel, printers, and task bar to make
it easy to set up your PC to work the way you want it to work.
Find is a new tool that makes it really easy to find a file on your computer, or it'll
even find information out on the Microsoft network.
Doesn't matter where that information is.
And help, this is significantly improved in Windows 95, and it'll answer just about any
question that you may have.
Next you'll see run.
Now this lets you start programs and open files by just typing in the name of whatever
it is you want to run.
Finally there's shutdown, and this is what you'll use to exit Windows 95 to make sure
you don't lose important information.
Alright, now that we're acquainted with each item on the start menu, we'll look at each
icon again to show you how to use them and how to customize your own start menu so that
you can get Windows 95 to do everything you want it to do.
Not just the easiest way, but also the fastest way.
So the first thing you'll want to do is launch a program.
So let's open Word for Windows.
To do this I click on the start menu and go up and choose programs.
Notice a number of groups and programs appear on the right.
Now you'll also notice that these are the same groups that you had in Windows 3.1.
You'll select the group that contains Word, which in this case is the Microsoft Office
group, and then select the Microsoft Word icon.
No double clicking and just one click of the mouse to start Word.
Okay, since we've just started Word, let's take a look at the program's appearance.
In the upper right hand corner of any program running under Windows 95, you'll see three
buttons, minimize, maximize or restore, and close.
The minimize button on the left shows a line at the bottom of a box.
The box represents your screen and the line is your task bar.
So when you click on the minimize button, the open window minimizes into the task bar.
Let's do that again.
This time notice the animation when you click on the minimize button showing the window
moving into the task bar.
Now when a program is minimized in Windows 95, its window is just shrunk down into a
tiny rectangle in the task bar to make room for other windows to run on your desktop.
But it's still running.
For example, if we were running a fax program and we minimized it into the task bar, we'd
still be able to receive faxes because the program is still running in the background.
It's not closed.
Now with a single click, you can bring the program back up in a window.
The middle button shows a picture of two windows open at the same time.
Now this means that if you click this button, it will reduce the window down to its previous
size so you can see and access the desktop or other programs at the same time.
Notice now that the picture on that button shows one big window.
So to maximize your program so that it covers the entire screen, just click that button
one more time.
The button with the X in the upper right hand corner is the close button.
This button lets you quickly close a window or exit a program with a single click.
Now as you can see by this dialog box, you don't have to worry about accidentally clicking
on the close button.
If you haven't saved your work, Windows 95 will ask you if you want to do so so you
won't lose any work.
Now it's important to note that when you minimize a program, it's still running and you can
see it on the task bar.
But when you close a program, it's removed from your desktop and from the task bar because
it's no longer running on your system.
And for those of you who are used to working with Windows 3.1, you can still close documents
and programs by double clicking in the control menus in the upper left hand corner of the
program.
Now Windows 95 automatically changes the look of these two buttons as well to represent
the document icon and the program icon.
Now the documents function on the start menu is also new to Windows 95.
Let's say you've been working on a memo or a spreadsheet and the next time you want to
continue working on that document, wouldn't it be nice to go directly to it rather than
having to remember what program you're using and where you stored the file?
Now to reopen the document, just click on the start button, go up and select documents,
and from the list, the file you'd like to work on is right there.
Notice that the one I've selected even has a word for Windows icon next to it to make
it easier to find.
The documents item keeps track of your 15 most recently used documents.
One thing that you might find confusing about the documents list is that sometimes a document
that you've used will not be registered on the list.
That's because older, pre-Windows 95 programs don't know how to report this information
to Windows 95.
For example, if we open a document in PowerPoint 4.0, which is not a Windows 95 program, such
as this file called default, it will not show up on the documents list.
But if you open that same document by double clicking on it from the My Computer icon,
it will show up in the list.
Okay, we've now learned about programs and documents.
The two start menu items you'll use most often and how they'll help you be more efficient.
But in Windows 3.1, I had the programs that I use most often grouped in a window that
was always open so I could just double click to start the program I needed.
Is there a way to make the programs that I use most often easier to access from the start
menu?
Sure.
It's easy to customize the Windows 95 start menu to work the way you prefer to work.
Let's take a look.
Now, Microsoft Excel is a program that I use all the time, so I like to add it to the start
menu so it's easier for me to access.
To customize the start menu, click on the start button.
Now select settings, select taskbar because the start menu is on the taskbar, and this
pops up with the taskbar properties dialog.
We'll discuss this later in more detail.
But for now, I want to choose the start menu programs tab.
Now, I want to customize my start menu by adding an item to it, so I'll click on add.
Now I can either type in the full name and path to the program here, or we can click
on browse to search for the program that I'd like to place on the start menu.
Let's browse for Excel.
I'll click browse, double click on office, double click on the Excel directory, select
the Excel icon, and then click on open.
Choose next, and we'll tell it where on the start menu we want the icon to appear.
Notice I could have placed it in any of the groups or under the program menu.
We'll choose next and type in the name as we'd like it to appear.
The name can be anything we like.
Let's type in Microsoft Excel, and this will put Excel at the very top of the start menu
which will make it really easy and fast for us to get to it.
Now, let's click on the start button, and we can see that Microsoft Excel is at the
top of the start menu.
To start Excel, we simply select it.
That's a lot easier and faster than moving through all the menus on the start button.
And you can also add documents or folders to the start menu.
It's not limited to just programs.
That's pretty slick.
But you know, too many icons and groups can make the start menu difficult to manage.
Because when I install a new program, it adds a bunch of icons that I never use, like help
files to my group.
Is there a way to remove them so I only see the icons that I care about?
There sure is.
You can remove any of the unnecessary icons by clicking on the start menu, going to settings,
and choose taskbar.
Now go back up and click on the start menu program tab.
This is the same screen we saw earlier, but this time we're going to click remove.
We now see a list of all the groups and icons in the start menu.
Let's scroll through it to find the items we want to remove.
Let's select the Microsoft office group.
See, there's all those help files we were talking about.
If I don't want them on the start menu, I just select each of them and choose remove.
It's important to note that we have not actually deleted these files off the hard disk.
They're just taken off the start menu.
Let's take a minute here guys to explain why you're not deleting files permanently when
you take them off the start menu.
Sure.
You see, each program or file listed in the start menu is only a shortcut or pointer that,
as the name implies, points to a file that's on your hard disk.
It's kind of like a road sign that directs you to a city.
You can remove the sign, but the city will still be there.
In the same way, you can remove the pointer, but the file will still be on your hard disk.
To sum up, the start button lets us launch programs and open documents with just a click
of the mouse, and we can customize the start button menu to make it work in a way that's
most comfortable and efficient for you.
Now that was a lot of information, so if you need to review, you can follow the steps in
your booklet or rewind the tape and watch us again.
Now in a few moments, the software guys and I will take you on the next big step on your
exploration of the Windows 95 desktop, the taskbar.
You know guys, one of the best things about Windows is that you can run more than one
program at a time, but to be honest, with Windows 3.1, I rarely ran more than one program
because it was so hard to switch from one to the next.
You're not alone, Ann.
Only a small fraction of Windows 3.1 users ran more than one application at a time.
Well that's why I think the taskbar is the best ease of use feature in Windows 95.
Now the taskbar shows you which programs are running, and it lets you switch programs with
just one click of the mouse.
Let's open Word from the start menu.
We'll go to Programs, Office, and Word.
Notice a button appears on the taskbar showing Microsoft Word.
Also notice, even though Word is full screen, the start button and the taskbar are still
visible, so I can always go back and open a new program or document with one click of
the mouse.
Let's go back to the start menu and launch Microsoft Excel.
Notice that when Excel opens, it also adds a new button to the taskbar.
Now Word is still open and running, and to get to it, I'll simply click once on the
Word button on the taskbar.
To switch back to Excel, I'll click on its button.
It's just like changing channels on your TV set.
So how do I share information between these programs, like putting an Excel chart inside
of a Word document?
Let me show you.
First, we need to go to Excel and select the chart.
To do that, I just click on it, go up to the Edit menu, and choose Copy.
Let's move over to Word.
Remember, to do this, we just click on the taskbar.
And now I'll click in the place where I want to paste the chart.
Now choose Edit, Paste.
That looks great, Keith.
And you didn't even have to touch the keyboard.
So now what happens to the buttons on the taskbar if I open more programs?
Well you can open lots of programs at the same time under Windows 95.
But as you do, the buttons on the taskbar get smaller and smaller.
So if you want to see all the buttons on the taskbar more clearly, you can simply increase
the size of the taskbar.
To do this, place your mouse pointer at the edge of the taskbar until it turns into a
two-headed arrow.
Hold down the mouse button and drag the taskbar up to the size that you want.
Now if you want to get more vertical screen space, you can simply move the taskbar to
the side of your screen by pointing and clicking on any open space inside the taskbar and then
dragging it over to the side.
To move it back to the bottom, click again on any open space on the taskbar.
Now just drag it to the bottom of your screen.
Now I like to have as much screen space as possible when I'm working on a document.
The taskbar takes up about a half an inch of space on the bottom of my screen.
Is there any way to remove it?
Let me show you a tip to hide the taskbar and only bring it up when you need it.
Click on start, settings, and taskbar.
Now I want taskbar to go away when I'm working in a program, so I'll select auto hide.
Now back in my program, the window is full screen and the taskbar is gone.
But whenever I move the mouse to the original location where the taskbar was, which in this
case is at the bottom of the screen, the taskbar reappears.
Now you may have noticed some other settings in that taskbar dialog box that Tom just brought
up.
Now I'm the type of user who runs a lot of different programs and I like to have most
of them listed on my start menu.
So to make room for this list, I need to select the next item on the taskbar options dialog
called show small icons in start menu.
Notice that the start menu shows smaller icons and doesn't say Windows 95 along the side.
Once it's smaller, I can now add even more programs to the start menu, making them all
easier to start.
So let's review.
The taskbar makes it easy to work with several programs at the same time and we can customize
it in order to work the way we want to.
Tom, Keith, and I will be right back to show you how to control your computer using the
control panel.
With Windows 3.1, I had to go to a number of different places to set up and customize
my system.
There was the control panel, the Windows setup, the network setup.
Is this any easier in Windows 95?
You bet, Ann.
With Windows 95, all this has been merged into a single control panel that's much easier
to use.
Think of the control panel kind of as a toolbox where you can go to set up or customize your
system.
Let's take a quick tour.
To get to the control panel, click the start menu, then click settings, then select control
panel and a collection of icons will appear on your screen.
That's a lot of icons, Keith.
Don't worry.
For now, in this getting started tape, we'll just take a look at the items you're most
likely to want to use.
These include adding new hardware with the add new hardware icon, installing or removing
software with the add remove programs icon, and configuring your mouse settings with the
mouse icon.
Great.
Let's take a look at how we can add new hardware to our computer.
Windows 95 makes it really easy with a technology called plug and play.
Most new hardware devices are compatible with the plug and play technology, which means
that Windows 95 will automatically recognize and install the right driver for your hardware
device.
You don't have to do anything.
That's about as simple as it gets.
But what about for devices that aren't plug and play compatible?
Windows 95 makes that easy as well with a technology called wizards that steps you through
the process of installing hardware on your system.
Now, the Windows 95 wizards are like having your own expert helping you accomplish a task.
Let's take a quick look at how a wizard can help us install a sound card.
Now, a sound card is a piece of hardware.
The first step is to install it securely into an open slot inside your PC.
Next, double click on the add new hardware icon in the control panel.
The first screen tells us that the wizard will help us quickly install the new hardware
on the computer.
When we click the next button, it asks us if we would like Windows 95 to try to detect
the new hardware automatically or if we'd like to select it ourselves from a list.
In this case, we know exactly what we're installing, so we'll choose to select it ourselves.
Next, we see a hardware list and we can choose the type of device we want to install, CD-ROM,
mouse, modem, or printer.
Let's choose sound video and game controllers to install our new sound card.
Next, the wizard asks us to choose the manufacturer and type of sound card.
If our sound card isn't listed, you simply select have disk and insert the floppy disk
that came with your new card.
We have a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro, so we'll select Creative Labs on the left
and Sound Blaster Pro on the right.
Now it asks us if we would like to install using the standard settings and we can say
yes and it asks us for the appropriate disks.
Well, that was easy.
Thanks to the wizard.
Now, what about the same type of thing for software?
I'd like to remove some programs since I'm running low on disk space.
How do I get the whole program off my hard drive?
Windows 95 thought of this too.
Through the add remove programs icon, it makes it really easy to uninstall or remove all
of the components of a Windows program from your hard drive.
But remember, it only works with the new 32-bit programs, so some of you might not use this
feature for a while.
As you can see in the list, whenever a 32-bit Windows program is installed, it's required
to register itself with Windows, so when you need to uninstall it, you can just select it
from this list and click remove.
There's another function in this dialog box that you might find useful right away, the
Windows Setup tab.
Windows 95 includes lots of components and it's possible that you didn't set up all the
parts when you first installed Windows.
For example, now that we have a sound card, we'll want to install the multimedia components
that came with Windows 95.
So let's click on multimedia and then we'll click on details to see all the components
available and which ones are installed.
To install any of these components, all you need to do is put a check mark next to the
item by clicking in the box.
Then click OK.
Now if you're running low on disk space, you can remove or uninstall some Windows components
you might not need, like the online user's guide which takes up a lot of disk space.
To remove it, we go to accessories and choose details.
Let's scroll for the online user's guide.
To remove it, we click on the box to remove the check mark.
Then click OK.
Great.
Now we have a new sound card and we've opened up some more hard disk space.
What else can we do to customize our system?
Well, with the mouse icon, you can set up different functions for your mouse under the
pointers tab.
Here's something everyone will enjoy, a new animated hourglass that flips over when the
sand has all passed to the bottom.
Now to set this up, click on the pointers tab, select busy, and then click on the browse
button down here.
This will give you a list of pointers you can associate with your mouse under those
file types.
So choose animated cursors, then choose hourglass.
Now instead of getting a dull static hourglass when your computer is busy, you can watch
the new hourglass fill up with sand and flip over when it's done.
Now another item in the mouse dialog that those of you who have portable PCs may find
valuable is called pointer trails.
On some laptops, you know how it's hard to see the mouse sometimes when you move it?
Well, this will fix it.
Under the motion tab, select the show pointer trails button and watch how the mouse pointer
now has trails following it as you move it around.
So you'll be able to see the mouse pointer all the time.
Most new PCs come with multimedia capabilities built in, and Windows 95 can let you really
take advantage of them.
Did you know that if you have a sound card and a CD-ROM drive, you can play music CDs
on your computer, and your PC can play music CDs at the same time that you're working on
something else?
Now that's what I call multitasking.
You can set the options for your sound card and CD-ROM drive in the multimedia icon in
the control panel.
Double click on the multimedia icon, choose the CD music tab, and tell it which drive
is a CD-ROM drive.
Now select the audio tab and set the volume at the level you want.
Once you've set it up, when you want to play a music CD, just go to start, program, accessories,
multimedia, and select media player.
Select device and choose CD audio.
Now click the play button.
And don't forget, if you play CD music all the time, you can move media player to your
start menu.
Now playing music is fun, but most of us have to deal with something a little more mundane,
like setting up a printer.
Maybe for you software guys it was easy, but it seemed like with Windows 3.1, I struggled
with my printer all the time.
In control panel, you'll find the printers icon.
This is the same folder that appears when you select settings, and then printers from
the start menu.
Let's take a look at the printer setup wizard.
Click on the add printer icon to bring up the wizard setup screen.
Our printer is local.
In other words, it's connected directly to the back of our PC.
Next, we see a list of printer manufacturers on the left and their corresponding models
on the right.
We have an HP LaserJet 3 printer, so I'll select HP on the left, and we'll scroll and
click LaserJet 3 on the right.
Next we have to choose the port that the printer is connected to.
Typically this is LPT-1.
Next, it asks us to name the printer.
The default name is OK with me, and we'll print a test page just to make sure it's
all set.
And that's all there is to it.
Now we're ready to print from any program inside of Windows.
Now there are plenty of other things that you can do in the control panel, like finding
all kinds of technical information, such as how much memory or what kind of processor
you have.
We'll go into much more detail on these in the advanced tape, so don't worry about those
now.
Just remember that the control panel is sort of your one-stop shopping for all the settings
you need to customize your computer.
Next, after this short color-coded break, we'll take you on a search for the lost files.
Have you ever saved a file, then a few days, or weeks, or even months later, needed to
call it up again and had no clue where you put it?
Uh-huh, been there, done that.
Well, Windows 95 has a great new tool that I know I'll be using all the time called
Find.
This is a great tool.
It's on the Start menu, and it gives me three ways to find what I want.
You'll see I can search for my files or folders by name, the date I last saved it, or by the
contents when I can't remember the name or the date.
In addition, I can search not only my own hard drive, but for other computers on my
local or wide area network, and even for information on the Microsoft network.
Now, about six or eight months ago, I was thinking about buying a car, and a friend
of mine gave me a file that had information about cars in it.
I can't really remember where I put it, but that's not a problem.
If I could remember the name of the file or where I put it, it'd be pretty easy to find.
I would just enter the name or location here and start the search.
But the only thing I remember is that it was about cars and that I last saved it about
eight months ago.
So let's go to the Date Modified and look for files saved during the past eight months.
I'll click on the During the Previous button and type in 8 for months.
Under the Advanced tab, we'll enter that the file contains the word cars in it.
The word cards doesn't have to be in the name, it just has to be in the body of text in that
file.
Now, when we click OK, Find starts searching through all my files on my hard drive.
Since Find in Windows 95 is a 32-bit program, I can work on something else while Find is
searching behind the scenes.
But Find works pretty quickly, as you can see.
It found three files with the text cars in it that I had saved some time during the last
eight months.
Since I'm not sure which file is the one that I want, I'll click on that magical Right Mouse
button.
Time out.
Did you say Right Mouse button?
I thought that was just there for left-handed people.
Actually, the Right Mouse button is one of the key new functions of Windows 95.
Now, the Right Mouse button brings up shortcut menus of the most likely options that you'll
want to choose for the specific item that you're clicking on.
You'll notice that you can right-click on just about anything, documents, programs, icons,
and it brings up a menu with the common things that you'll most likely want to do with that
item.
Go ahead.
Give it a try.
Right mouse click on a few things and see what it'll do for you.
Okay.
Let's try it with the files I have here in the Find dialog box.
Now, I'll right mouse click on this file and select Quick View from the shortcut menu.
Quick View lets me quickly see what's in the file without starting the whole program up
that created it.
Hey, lucky guess.
This is a file I need.
And to start Word for Windows with this file loaded, I just click on the Word icon here
in the Quick View window.
So when you can't remember where you put a file, start your search with the Find function
on the Start menu and Windows will do the work for you.
In our next module, we'll show you how to get out of just about any bind by using online
help.
Since the software guys aren't always going to be handy, it's a good thing that Microsoft
has improved the online help in Windows 95.
Online help covers lots of topics and it's written in a concise step-by-step format telling
you how to do whatever it is that you need to do.
To start help, click on the Start button and choose Help.
The content screen shows you a number of books that you can open by double clicking on them.
Now, let's say you need help setting up a new printer.
You can find this topic by looking in the How To Book, then looking in the Set Up Hardware
Book and finally selecting Setting Up a Printer.
But what if you can't find a selection to answer your question?
Another way to search is in the index screen.
Here you can just type in a word like printers.
This brings up a list of all the topics relating to printers and we see one here called Setting
Up a Printer.
The instructions once again tell us to click the display button and up comes the step-by-step
instruction window.
Now notice how the help window stays visible so you can continue reading it while you're
carrying out its instructions.
Notice the button with the colored arrow in the help window.
It's called the Jump button.
The instructions tell us to click on it to start installing a printer.
So let's do that and it automatically brings up the printer setup wizard that will also
take you through the task of setting up your printer step-by-step.
This type of integration with the help system extends throughout the Windows 95 product
so you don't even have to know where to find the functions it calls out.
Help will take you there automatically.
Now another great feature of help that will make it easier for you to get the information
you need is called the What's This button.
You'll notice this button in many dialog boxes such as the display dialog box.
Now look for the button with a question mark in the upper right-hand corner of this box.
Click on the What's This button, then click on any of the objects in this box and Windows
95 help will explain to you what this object is.
For example, when I click on the monitor screen, help tells us how to preview a wallpaper.
So now we can go to the wallpaper list and choose the one we want to see and how it will
look on the screen.
Online help is always available either through the start menu or through a What's This button
in a dialog box.
Now that we've explored the start menu, it's time to revisit the desktop to show you ways
to work even more productively.
Let's go back to the Windows 95 desktop and explore the different icons there.
We briefly introduced them before.
Now we're going to find out more about what's behind them and what they can do for you.
Okay, we'll start back at the top of the screen where we have the My Computer icon.
My Computer makes it easy to search through and organize your files.
Let's double-click on My Computer to open it up.
We now see pictures representing the floppy drive A and another picture representing the
C or hard drive.
If you have a CD-ROM drive or you're connected to another computer through your network,
they'll appear here as well.
We also see the control panel and printers folders, the same folders we found earlier
in the start menu's settings command.
And this is just another way to access them.
For this section, we're going to focus on the local hard drive icon where you can view
all your files and organize them.
Now I'm not exactly sure I know what you mean by organize your files.
It's just like regular paper you'd store in a file cabinet.
You wouldn't just stuff all your papers into a box because you wouldn't be able to find
the information when you needed it.
Now when you organize a file cabinet, you usually label the drawers, put some dividers
inside each drawer, then file your papers in Manila folders inside the dividers.
You should use the same approach when you're organizing directories, subdirectories and
files on your hard drive.
My Computer lets you organize your files in the same manner by directories, which are
like the drawers, by subdirectories, which are like dividers and folders, and finally
your files.
Now once you've set this up, you can move files from one directory to another in order
to keep them organized in just the way you want them.
Right now I want to find my file on cars and move it to a folder that contains my favorite
things.
So next time I'll remember where I put it.
From the search we did earlier, I remember that the file was in the Word directory.
To find it, I double click on my C drive.
Notice that this opens up another window with the contents of my C drive in it.
Also notice that a button will appear on the taskbar for each new window I open.
Let's double click on the Win Word directory.
And here's my file.
That does work just like a file cabinet.
It does.
Now let's move my car file to a folder called Favorite Things.
Actually, there's no such folder on my hard drive.
No problem.
Let's create one.
To do this, I'll just click on the taskbar to go back to my C directory.
From the file menu, I'll select New and then Folder.
I'll type in Favorite Things.
Now I'll go back to my Win Word folder, select the car file, go up to the Edit menu and choose
Cut.
I'll switch back to my C drive via the taskbar and double click on my new Favorite Things
folder.
Then choose Paste from the Edit menu.
We're done.
Here's a tip for moving the file by drag and drop.
Just position the window where the file currently resides so that you can also see the window
where you want the file to go.
Now just click on the file that you want to move and hold down the mouse while you drag
it to the destination window and then release the mouse.
So far, we've been looking at my computer while in the large icon view, which is similar
to the way a Macintosh looks to those of you who are Mac enthusiasts.
But you can customize my computer to work the way you feel most comfortable.
Using the View menu, we can make the icons smaller if we need to fit more of them on
the screen.
To do this, we go to the View menu and choose Small Icons.
Now the files are organized going across the screen.
Or we can choose the List view to get the files and folders arranged in a list from
the top to the bottom.
You can even add details which tell the size and type of each file as well as when you
last modified the file.
In this view, we can sort any of the columns to make it easy to find a file in a long list.
Can you give us an example?
Sure.
To find the newest documents, see this bar at the top title Modified?
It's also a button.
If you click on it, the newer files rise to the top of the column.
Click on the Name button and the files are sorted alphabetically.
Here's another tip from the software guys.
If you hold down the Control key when you're clicking on the title bar, it'll sort in reverse
order.
Now that we know how to find files, the next thing you'll need to know is how to copy,
move, and delete files.
To move or copy a file, right-click on the file and notice the menu items Cut and Copy.
If you want to move the file without making a new copy, in other words, so there's only
one copy of it on your PC when you're done, then choose Cut.
If you want to copy the file and then leave the original in place, say as a backup, then
choose Copy.
You can always delete the extra file later.
Here's another way to cut, copy, and paste.
My computer has a toolbar at the top with several buttons.
If you don't see the toolbar, just click on the View menu and choose Toolbar.
Now let's drag out the window so you can see all the buttons.
You can click on the scissors icon to cut, the icon with two pages to copy, and on the
picture of the clipboard to paste.
Now that we have a copy of the file, how do we place it where we want it to go?
To place the copy somewhere else in your system, move the mouse to the toolbar and click the
down arrow to show a list of all the drives on your system.
Now you can scroll up and down this list to choose the drive where you want to place the
file.
Now let's choose our three and a half inch floppy by clicking on it.
Now don't forget to have a disk in your floppy drive, and now we'll choose Edit, Paste.
But there is an easier way to copy a file to a floppy disk.
If you right mouse click on the file, notice that the menu that pops up includes a Send
To option.
If we select Send To, you'll notice my three and a half inch floppy drive is located there.
If I select it, it goes right to the floppy drive.
Now let me review, guys.
Moving or copying a file is a four-step process, right?
Step one, click on the file you want to move.
Step two, select Cut or Copy from the toolbar or Edit menu.
Step three, navigate through my computer and click on the place where you want the file
to go.
And step four, select Paste from the toolbar or Edit menu.
But what if you want to move or copy several files at the same time?
If you want to select a list of files, just click on the file at the top of the list,
hold down the Shift key, and then click on the file at the bottom of the list, and all
your files are selected.
Or you can select files anywhere in your list by holding down the Control key and clicking
on the items that you want.
If you want to delete files, all you have to do is select all the files that you want
to delete, press the Delete key, and then move to the Recycle bin.
Here's another tip.
You can easily move or copy files between folders by dragging and dropping them rather
than using a menu.
Now drag and drop simply means clicking on a file and continuing to hold down the mouse
button while you move or drag the file from one folder or drive to another folder or drive.
Then release the mouse button to drop the file into the second folder.
Let's copy my car file from the directory to the floppy disk.
Now I've already arranged my window so I can see both the file in its current location and
its destination, the floppy drive A. I click on the file car, which is on my hard drive,
and again continuing to hold down the mouse button, I drag it across to its destination,
in this case the A or floppy drive.
You can drag and drop a file to the desktop too.
Why would you want to do that?
Because when a file is on the desktop, all you have to do to launch it is double click
on it.
But, beware, because when you drag and drop a file to the desktop, the default action
is to move the actual file to the desktop.
As you can see, when I move this file to my desktop, the file disappears from the directory.
Now if I were to delete the file icon from my desktop, I would be deleting the actual
file itself.
However, if you drag and drop while holding down the right mouse button, you can choose
to move or copy the file to the desktop, or you can create a shortcut like this.
So what's a shortcut, Tom?
Well a shortcut is like a pointer that points to the original file.
Now when you double click on the shortcut item, it launches the original file or program.
Shortcuts are generally your best option for putting your most often used files or programs
on your desktop, because when you want to clear some of the clutter from your desktop,
you can just select the shortcut items that you don't want anymore and hit the delete
key.
Since the shortcut is just a pointer, you don't have to worry about deleting the actual
file.
Well, whether you're using the menus and toolbar in my computer or drag and drop, Windows 95
lets you get organized.
But our next topic is just as big an improvement, making Windows 95 easier to use.
You can now create long descriptive file names with up to 255 characters.
No longer are you limited to 8-letter file names like finclin95.doc that you might forget
in a week.
Keith, can you tell us more about these long descriptive file names?
Long file names are great.
Now you need to be careful, okay?
If you've created a file in a new 32-bit Windows 95 program, you can name it anything, up to
255 characters when you save it.
But when you want to rename an existing file that was created in a pre-Windows 95 program,
there are two ways to go about it.
Using my computer, let's find the file.
We double-click on our C drive and then double-click on our favorite things folder.
We'll select the file we want to rename and then select rename from the file menu.
Or let's take that old finclin95 file and name it something that makes sense.
We'll right mouse click on it, select rename from the shortcut menu.
Now we can type in 1995, financial, plan, and we're set.
Now if you use a new Windows 95 program, this new name will appear inside of the program
as well.
However, be careful, older Windows programs won't handle the long file names.
But Windows 95 takes care of that for you.
They automatically are shortened to eight letters when you open the file in an old pre-Windows
95 program.
To avoid confusion, you might want to find out what the eight letter name for a long
file name would be after Windows 95 shortens it.
To do this, right click on the long file name and choose properties.
Now you can see the long file name and the corresponding MS-DOS eight letter name.
So now you'll know what to look for if you need to bring this file up when you're working
with an older program.
So what happens if you give long file names to more than one document that all begin with
the same first eight characters?
For example, suppose you want to put on a big graduation ceremony after you've mastered
Windows 95 basics.
And you create three documents with long names like graduation invitation, graduation announcement,
and graduation gift thank you letter.
But Windows 95 will give all three documents the same first six characters followed by
a tilde and then a number.
So those three documents will be named graduate tilde one dot doc, tilde two dot doc, and
tilde three dot doc respectively.
Thanks Keith.
Remember to take full advantage of long file names, you need to have a Windows 95 program.
So that's one reason why you may want to upgrade some of your programs.
Well, we've learned about organizing, moving, copying, cutting, and pasting files from the
Windows 95 desktop.
Next we'll talk about deleting and retrieving files.
Well, we have only one more object on the desktop to discuss in greater detail and that's
the recycle bin.
Have you ever deleted a file by accident or even on purpose but later you really, really
wish you could get that file back?
The recycle bin protects you from losing information.
When you delete a file in Windows 95, it isn't really erased from your hard disk, it's just
moved to a different directory that Windows creates in your hard drive called the recycle
bin.
Now if you double click on the recycle bin on your desktop, you'll see all the files
that you have deleted to date.
To get a file back, all you need to do is select the file, choose restore from the file
menu, and it will place the file back in the folder it was deleted from.
Another way to restore a deleted file from the recycle bin is simply to right click on
it and select restore from the shortcut menu.
Let's say you don't want the file restored to its original folder, you'd rather have
it placed somewhere else.
You can select the file, select cut, and paste it where you want it to go.
Or I bet you've guessed by now, simply drag and drop the file to the folder where you'd
like it to be restored.
Now when you install Windows 95, the recycle bin by default takes up 10% of your hard drive.
When the recycle bin gets full, the oldest files get deleted first, permanently.
So for most of us, 10% of our hard disk space is more than enough to allocate to the recycle
bin.
So if you're running out of hard disk space, you can regain a few megabytes by reducing
the size of the recycle bin.
To reduce the recycle bin size, right mouse click on the recycle bin icon, choose properties
from the shortcut menu.
Here you can set the size of the recycle bin or choose not to use the recycle bin at all.
Now of course, if you decide to disable the recycle bin, any files that you delete will
be physically and permanently deleted from your hard drive at the time you delete them.
Here's one more tip for the recycle bin.
To delete a file or folder quickly and easily from the desktop, simply drag and drop it
into the recycle bin.
All right, I hope all of you will do the right thing and recycle all your old files using
the recycle bin.
Keep the environment clean.
And in a few moments, we'll be back to show you how to customize your desktop.
I'm sure many of you spend lots of time in front of your PC, maybe even too much time.
But if you're going to do it, you might as well enjoy it.
How about adding a little splash to your screen with wallpaper and colors to give your PC
your own distinctive personal feeling?
Now this is something that you're really going to want to do and it's very easy.
Just go to the display dialog box from your desktop.
You can click on the start button, select settings from the menu, then control panel,
and double click on the display.
Or since we're teaching the easiest way to use Windows 95, simply right mouse click on
an empty space on the desktop and choose properties from the shortcut menu.
The first tab is the background tab.
This allows you to add patterns or wallpaper to the background of your desktop.
There are a number of patterns included with Windows 95 and by selecting them, we can see
how they'll appear on your screen.
I think I'll go with the setup wallpaper.
Now another cool thing you may want to do is set up a screen saver that will display
still or moving graphics on your monitor after your computer has been idle for a set period
of time.
Screen savers are fun but they can also serve as reminders that time is passing and they
can hide on screen information from others when you're away from your desk.
To set up a screen saver, click on the screen saver tab in the display properties dialog.
Select the type of screen saver you want from the list.
Notice as you select the screen saver, it shows what it will look like in the window.
Now let's choose scrolling marquee because here we can create our own message that will
scroll across the screen.
Click on settings and let's type in a good positive message.
How about, I am becoming a Windows 95 expert.
Let's format the text, 72 point red should do the trick.
While I'm here, I'll set up a password so nobody can access my system if I step away.
I just put a check next to the password protect box, then click on change.
I'll type in my password, finally I need to set the idle or wait time before the screen
saver appears.
I'll set it for 10 minutes so that if I'm away from my desk for that long, the scrolling
marquee will appear.
And to get back into my system, I have to enter my password.
As you've seen, customizing your desktop is more than just making it look the way you
want.
You can actually boost your productivity and protect your sensitive information while you're
working on it.
Well, it's time for another short break before we talk about the last thing you'll want to
do with your computer.
We're almost done.
And when you're done working with your computer for the day, what's the last thing you need
to do?
The last thing you'll need to do is to shut off your computer.
So when you're through using Windows and you're ready to turn off your computer, you should
always use the shutdown feature from the start menu to exit Windows.
There's two reasons why this is very important.
First, if you've forgotten to save your work, Windows will remind you to do so so you won't
lose any of your work.
And second, Windows opens a number of temporary files that it needs to close before you exit.
If you just turn off your PC, then all these temporary files will be left on your hard
disk and they'll take up valuable disk space.
So to close out of Windows, click on the start menu and choose shutdown.
Windows will give you four choices at this point, but for now, just stick with the one
at the top that asks, are you sure you want to shut down your computer?
You probably won't use the other three choices very often, but we'll tell you more about
them in the Windows 95 advanced tape.
The shutdown process takes a few seconds, so Windows will post a message on your screen
asking you to wait while it's making sure it's okay to turn off your PC.
Finally, you'll get the message, it's now safe to turn off your computer.
Phew, we're done.
Well, almost.
We should take a minute or two to review what we've covered in Learn Windows 95 Getting
Started.
We've learned there are a lot of great reasons to use Windows 95.
It lets you work the way you want to work, do more things better with your PC than ever
before, be more productive, and have more fun.
We've also learned all about the Windows 95 user interface, how to start programs and
open documents through the start menu, and how to customize the list of programs and
documents that appear in the start menu.
How to switch quickly from one program to another using the task bar.
Using your computer, work the way you want it to with a control panel.
How to find and organize your files.
How to use the Windows online help system.
How to work with your files on the desktop.
And finally, how to safely shut down your system when you're done using Windows 95.
Plus, some of our favorite tips for getting the most out of Windows 95, like right mouse
clicking.
Wow, that's a lot of amazing stuff we've learned today.
And after this, you'll find you are definitely on your way to mastering the basics of Windows
95.
Just refer to the handy reference guide we've included with this tape to refresh yourself
on most of the basic functions you need to know to start getting the most out of Windows.
Now, when you're ready to learn more advanced topics, you can watch our Learn Windows 95
Advanced Features videotape, which goes into more advanced topics, such as...
Sending and receiving faxes, accessing the internet and the Microsoft network, running
and customizing MS-DOS-based programs, optimizing your system, connecting to a network, and
a lot more.
And in our Learn Windows 95 Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts, the software guys cover topics
such as...
Customize your system to work the way you want it to, optimize your PC's performance,
work more efficiently, troubleshoot and fix common problems, and do just about everything
faster and easier.
You'll find Learn Windows 95 Advanced Features and Learn Windows 95's Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts
at local retail outlets, or you can order your tapes by calling 1-800-242-4842.
Until then, it's been great showing you around the new Windows 95 desktop and learning all
that cool stuff from the software guys at Winstruck.
See you next time!