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Exploring the Interface


Learning to use a new product generally involves some painful decisions on the part of the user. You always need to decide what to keep and what to throw away. When I started making the move from DOS to Windows, for example, I had to make a painful decision about my word processor. I was still using DOS enough that it would've been nice to have a word processor available there. Yet trying to make my DOS word processor work from within Windows was an exercise in frustration. Besides the problems of using my old word processor, making the move also meant converting all those files to the new format. Talk about a nightmare! I eventually decided to use the Windows version exclusively and rely on a small text editor for taking notes while working in DOS. It actually worked out to my advantage, because the text editor was a TSR that allowed me to take all my notes without ever leaving the main application I was working with.

Moving from Windows 3.x to the latest version of Windows NT involves similar decisions on the part of the user—albeit for different reasons. My current word processor works just fine under Windows NT. I won't have to replace it anytime soon to make it do what I need it to. It's a pain having to translate any long file names that I run across so that I can figure out which file to load, however. In other words, I might have several chapters for a book with a long file name, such as Chapter 1 - Introducing a New Topic. This title ends up looking like CHAPTE~3.DOC when I go to open it under the Windows 3.x version of Word for Windows. Of course, using the file-naming technique I introduced in Chapter 1 helps, but it doesn't do much in situations where people send me files with file names that aren't recognizable in the 8.3 format.

You need to consider other things when making the move as well. Will that old Windows 3.x version of a product give you the same performance as a new Windows NT version? In many respects, it will, but checking out the differences between Word for Windows (a 16-bit application) and Word for Windows NT (a 32-bit application) shows that the NT version will always perform some tasks better. I send a lot of long documents to the printer, for example. NT actually returns control to me a lot faster than its Windows 3.x counterpart, and I seldom notice any slowing while the print cycle proceeds. The reason for this improved performance is simple: Windows NT allows you to use applications that provide 32-bit support. In addition, these applications normally hand off tasks such as printing and background pagination to a lower priority thread. The application doesn't worry about the task again until it's complete. We'll discuss threads later. For now, all you need to know is that they enhance your system's performance in a variety of ways by organizing its use of resources better.

Some of your decisions will even affect the Microsoft-supplied utilities you use. The version of Microsoft Paintbrush supplied with Windows 3.x, for example, provides support for both BMP and PCX files. This is a very handy feature to have available because you can use this program to make quick transitions from the Windows format to the more common PCX format that many applications support. The version of Microsoft Paint provided with Windows NT supports only BMP files. You no longer have the option of using PCX files. This is a real loss in some situations. Unfortunately, the differences don't end here. Paintbrush provides only OLE 1 support, while Paint provides OLE 2 support (and 32-bit support at that). It's a no-win situation unless you keep both utilities handy, which really doesn't make sense either. The bottom line is that every transition involves compromise. You'll likely find this true for the transition from Windows 3.x to Windows NT as well.



Note: Microsoft might or might not fix the problems associated with using the OLE 2 features of Paint in the released version of the product. Currently, you can't use the Copy and Paste Special method of inserting an object into a compound document using Paint. You must use the newer Insert Object method of inserting the object from the client application. (We'll cover the differences between these two methods in Chapter 10, "Graphics NT Style.") This could seriously affect how people use this handy utility. I often grabbed a piece of a PCX file and used it in another document. Paint doesn't allow me to do this very easily.

This chapter continues where we left off in Chapter 1. It gives you a bird's-eye view of what you can expect from Windows NT. This includes the new utilities as well as a quick look at the internal workings of Windows NT. Of course, we'll cover more specific details of some of these items in later chapters. Right now, just sit back and enjoy the view of a new operating system.

Explorer: Borrowed from Windows 95


The first thing that every Windows NT user will notice is the new interface—it's actually borrowed from Windows 95. Windows NT enjoys a new and cleaner look that every user will come to enjoy using. In fact, I'm often surprised at just how cumbersome Windows 3.x feels when I need to use someone else's machine. Explorer is the replacement for Program Manager that just about every user wanted from the very beginning. (The fact that Program Manager was a poorly designed interface was highlighted by the proliferation of alternative desktop products on the market.) It offers something for everyone and in a way that makes it simultaneously powerful and easy to use.



Note: You can probably use your current Windows NT alternative interface under the new version, but you'll want to update it when an Explorer-specific version becomes available. Most of these older interfaces can't offer the full support they provided under the old version of Windows NT because they don't know how to work with the new interface. You may find a lack of support for the new context menu and for objects in general, for example, when using these older interface alternatives.

In the last chapter, we took a quick look at Explorer and some of the data views it offers. Viewing information is only the tip of the interface iceberg. To really use an interface, you need to get inside and work with it. Your data has to be accessible at all times without getting in the way.

Let's begin our tour of Explorer by examining how it's organized. Figure 2.1 shows the two-pane configuration of Explorer and the Large Icons view. On the left side of the display is the directory tree. You need to make note of several features of this directory tree for future reference. The first thing you'll notice is that the tree doesn't represent a single drive or even the contents of all the drives; it's more of a "machine tree" than anything else. This "machine tree" is divided into three elements:

Figure 2.1. The Explorer display is easier to understand when you break it into its components.



Looking Ahead: We'll look at other aspects of Explorer in future chapters. Read Chapter 5, "Startup Shortcuts," if you want some additional tips on optimizing your work environment using Explorer.

Now that you have some idea of what the left pane contains, let's look at the right pane. Clicking any of the objects in the left pane displays its contents in the right pane. If you click a drive icon, you will see the folders and files that the drive contains in the right pane. Click Network Neighborhood and you'll get a view of all the machines attached to the network. You can also use the icons in the right pane to open a file or folder. Double-click a folder and you'll see what it contains. Double-click a file and you'll perform the default action associated with that file.

You can use Explorer in a number of ways to organize your data. Each tool provides a different method of viewing and working with your data. Let's begin with one of the first tools you'll need to use under Windows NT—the context menu. The following sections look at the various ways you can use Explorer to enhance your productivity by organizing your data.

Objects and the Context Menu


Every object you use in Windows NT provides a context menu. If you have a doubt as to what something is, how to configure it, or just about anything else you can do with that object, a simple right-click will answer your question. Figure 2.2 shows a typical context menu. Don't let its simplicity fool you. There's a lot more here than meets the eye.

Figure 2.2. The context menu is one way to discover exactly what you can do with an object.

Every context menu for a file or folder contains five or six major sections. Each section tells you something about the object associated with that menu. The following paragraphs outline each section and its purpose (there are actually seven sections listed, but you won't find any context menus that use them all):



Note: Windows NT takes a different approach to displaying the results of file compression than Windows 95 does. Windows 95 retains the uncompressed size of the file but increases the size of the drive to compensate for any space savings realized during compression. In other words, the file looks the same as it did before, but the drive looks bigger. Windows NT shows the compressed file size but doesn't adjust the size of the hard drive. This method gives you a more accurate representation of the file-compression process because you can determine exactly how much of a space savings you get.



Tip: It's often handy to create additional destinations such as the desktop, project folders, and network drives for this section of the context menu. Always make these destinations practical. In other words, don't add another directory listing to this rather important list. All you need to do is add destinations that you use on a daily basis.



Tip: You don't have to send objects to the Recycle Bin if you don't want to. Simply select the object you want to delete and then press Shift+Del to erase it permanently (as far as Windows is concerned). Even if an object gets erased by accident, you can usually unerase it using The Norton Utilities for some length of time after you permanently erase it. (The time interval varies by the amount of empty space on your drive and the amount of use that drive gets.) Because the Recycle Bin's space is limited, you'll always want to reserve it for objects you might need later.

Figure 2.3. Every object in Windows NT has a Properties dialog box that differs from object to object.



Peter's Principle: Learning by Doing: A Fun Way to Increase Your Windows NT Knowledge

You'll want to spend some time right-clicking various objects on your system to see what type of context menu options they provide. It also pays to spend a little time looking at the Properties dialog boxes for various objects, even if you don't use certain objects very much. Windows NT provides a variety of methods to access each of the configuration dialog boxes on your system, and most of them appear in these context menus or within the Properties dialog box. If you think—as I do—that changing common configuration items using the Control Panel is a waste of time, see if Windows NT provides a faster method for doing so.

There are two things to remember when you experiment with your system. First, always click Cancel instead of OK when backing out of a Properties dialog box to avoid making inadvertent changes to your system. Second, clicking outside of a context menu closes it without performing any action. In most cases, the safest place to click is the desktop.


Some objects on your system include some very specialized context menu entries. If you right-click the Recycle Bin, for example, you'll see an option to empty it. Right-clicking on the desktop provides a New option that you can use to create new files. (You see the same menu option if you right-click on a blank area of Explorer.)

Using the Explorer Toolbar


The context menu isn't the only new tool that Windows NT provides. You'll also enjoy the capabilities provided by other parts of this application. The toolbar, shown in Figure 2.4, is one feature I use quite a bit. With a single click, it allows me to change the view I get.

Figure 2.4. The Explorer toolbar contains controls that perform a variety of tasks.

The following paragraphs describe the various toolbar features:

Figure 2.5. The Go to a Different Folder listbox allows you to quickly move between major areas of your machine. It also shows the directory tree leading to the currently selected object.

Figure 2.6. You can use the Map Network Drive dialog box to map a local drive to a network location.

Figure 2.7. Use the Disconnect Network Drive tool to remove one or more drive maps.

Update Selection: Used with Briefcase to update just the link for the selected (highlighted) files.


Explorer as an Information Center


I started this section by saying that Explorer contains three distinct sections: drive, configuration, and ancillary. We didn't go into much detail about these sections at the time because I wanted to talk to you about some of the tools that Explorer provides. It's important to know that the sections exist, but it's even more important to know how to use them to build an information center.

What do I mean by an information center? Think of it this way: Explorer can provide access to everything you need as a user to work with Windows. Unlike previous versions of Windows, there aren't separate utilities hanging around just waiting for you to find them. I like the Explorer approach because all the tools you need are always present. This new user interface approach requires some new strategies on your part as well, however. The following sections tell you all about using Explorer as an information center—your one stop for everything related to your computer from a user perspective.



Note: You probably won't see every one of the entries I discuss in your Explorer display. It all depends on what options you have installed and the type of equipment you machine supports. I installed the maximum number of features so that I could show you what they looked like. Your security level will also affect what you see. Obviously, I gave myself a maximum level of access. In many situations, the network administrator won't give a user that level of access. Even if you don't see a particular entry, it might still exist. The limiting factor may be your access to it.


The Control Panel

A lot of people are still used to the way they accessed the Control Panel under Windows 3.x. It was a pain because you had to minimize your applications and open a specific folder to access the various configuration programs. I was surprised to see just how many different ways you can access the Control Panel or its components under Windows NT. Even Explorer provides a method of access, as shown in Figure 2.8.

Figure 2.8. You can access the Control Panel or its components from many places in Windows NT, including Explorer.

The number and types of icons (now called applets) you'll find here vary with the applications and equipment you've installed. Items such as the Printer folder will always appear in your Control Panel. On the other hand, you won't always see an ODBC folder or some of the other specialty items the Control Panel provides. We'll take a detailed look at these applets later in the chapter.

Printers

Using a Printer under Windows NT is a lot easier than with previous versions of Windows, even though the actual controls look about the same (many printers have a few additional controls). The good news is that Windows NT provides what I call quality modes for many older printers, and the printing speed in the standard modes is a lot faster. You'll also notice less of an impact on other applications while processing print requests in the background—a nice change from Windows 3.x, where my foreground application would actually stop at times if I got decent print speed.

I have an older Epson LQ-850. This printer is capable of 360x360 graphics printing; I could get, at most, half that resolution from previous versions of Windows. It was pretty frustrating when I needed the capability of a dot matrix to print through multipart forms and had to give up some quality to do it. Imagine my surprise when Windows NT offered the higher quality print mode. The 360x360 resolution really makes a big difference in the appearance of graphics output from this printer.

As with just about everything else, you can control your printers from Explorer by accessing the Printer folder. It usually appears right below the Control Panel folder in the system hierarchy. Figure 2.9 shows how the Printers folder looks when accessed from Explorer.

Figure 2.9. The Printers folder offers a way to control print jobs, configure your printer, and add new printers—all in one location.



Looking Ahead: Chapter 15, "Fonts and Printing," covers all the details of managing your printers. It also looks at the process of adding a new printer to your system. The second half of this chapter looks at the details of using fonts to dress up your output.

This folder shows two icons—the minimum you should see if you have any printers installed. You'll always see one icon for each printer installed on your machine. Double-clicking that folder (or right-clicking and selecting Open) shows you any print jobs the printer is currently processing, as Figure 2.10 shows.

Figure 2.10. Opening a printer icon shows the jobs it's currently processing.

You can also configure your existing printers in this dialog box. All you need to do is right-click and select the Properties option to display the dialog box shown in Figure 2.11. We'll cover this dialog box in detail in Chapter 16, "Multimedia Under Windows NT." Suffice it to say that Windows NT provides a lot more in the way of printer control than previous versions of Windows.

Figure 2.11. The Printer Properties dialog box contains everything needed to configure your printer.

The only nonprinter icon in this folder is the one you use to add a new printer. Windows NT makes this process a lot easier than its predecessors did. Microsoft has gone to great effort to make this process easier than ever before. The Printer Wizard will dazzle you with its ease of use, especially if you went through any nightmare configuration sessions with previous versions of Windows. We'll explore the process of adding a new printer in Chapter 15.

Network Neighborhood

Think of Network Neighborhood as a dynamic extension of Explorer for a network. Figure 2.12 shows a typical Network Neighborhood folder. As you can see, My Machine gets replaced by the Entire Network icon. No longer are we looking at the local machine, but at all the resources you can access on the network as a whole.

Figure 2.12. Network Neighborhood provides a hierarchical view of the entire network and all the resources you can access on it.

You might also see other entries at the same level as the Entire Network. These are machines you can access on peer-to-peer or client/server networks. You can always access your own resources, so you'll always see your machine listed here. In this case, there are two workstations and one file server on the network. Notice that you can see only the shared drives for the machines—not any drive that's local. I also found it interesting that not every shared resource appears on the tree. You have to actually select the drive to see any resources beyond drives. Figure 2.13 shows a printer resource on the MAIN machine in addition to the four shared drives that show up in the tree listing.

Figure 2.13. Always check the machine in question if you want to see all the resources; the directory tree shows only shared drives.



Tip: At first glance, it might seem like a waste of effort to list your machine along with everything else in Network Neighborhood. There's one good reason to do so, however. Here, you can see at a glance every resource you're sharing with the rest of the network. Instead of forcing you to look through the directory tree for these elements, Microsoft thoughtfully placed them here.

You need to know a few interesting things about Network Neighborhood that make it different from the rest of Explorer. First, you can't access the properties for the Entire Network. Unfortunately, this means that you can't disable the war and poverty settings. All joking aside, the Entire Network's simply a placeholder for Network Neighborhood; it doesn't exist as a concrete object.

Below the Entire Network are entries for each network you're currently connected to. In most cases, you'll see the actual workgroup or domain name rather than the name of the network vendor or product. This list changes as your connections change. You can look here to see whether a problem is application- or network-related. An application error, such as the inability to open a file, might look like a network error for a variety of reasons. If you look in the Entire Network folder and see the connection, however, it's very unlikely that the connection is the problem. Chapter 25, "Hardware Problems," and Chapter 26, "Windows NT Maintenance Programs," contain tips that will help you locate and fix other problems with the hardware or software on your machine.

If you attach to a peer-to-peer network, the machine names appear before each network entry in the Network Neighborhood hierarchy. Below the machine entries, you'll see a list of the drives you can access. The method for listing other types of network machine names and their resources differs according to the network. Figure 2.12 shows a NetWare 4.x network using NetWare Directory Services (NDS) instead of bindery emulation. The tree icon shows the NDS part of the network. I'll cover client/server networks like NetWare in more detail in Chapter 22, "Client/Server Networking."

Network Neighborhood works the same as the rest of Explorer from a user perspective. Of course, you can't change the properties of network resources in most cases. All the Properties dialog box will tell you is the name of the resource and what type of network it's connected to.

Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin works the same in Explorer as it does on the desktop. You can drop things into it, examine its contents, empty it, or restore a file that it holds to its original (or another) location. The Explorer copy of the Recycle Bin comes in handy if you see a file you want to erase and the desktop copy is covered by another application. We partially examined this topic previously, but let's take a complete look now. Figure 2.14 shows the Recycle Bin. As you can see, it looks just like any other folder in Windows NT.

Figure 2.14. Items in the Recycle Bin look just like they would anywhere else.



Tip: Files in the Recycle Bin continue to take up space on the drive. Windows NT moves deleted files to the Recycle Bin—a special folder—until you erase them for good. The short (or old DOS) file names are changed to allow multiple files of the same name in the Recycle Bin. If you find that you're short on hard drive space, you might want to see if there's anything in the Recycle Bin you can get rid of.

In most cases, your bin won't contain anything. Files in the Recycle Bin look just like files anywhere else. You can move objects in the Recycle Bin to other areas of Explorer to unerase them. Until you do unerase them, the Properties dialog box won't tell you much except the file's name and the date you deleted it.

The context menu for objects in the Recycle Bin looks a little different, as shown in Figure 2.15. One of the really handy items I found on this list was Restore. You can select one or more files and then restore them by selecting this entry. Another handy option is Delete. This allows you to select just one or two Recycle Bin entries and delete them for good without disturbing the rest of the entries.

Figure 2.15. The context menu for files in the Recycle Bin might look different, but it does contain some handy entries for managing erased files.

Briefcase

The Briefcase is one of the best Windows NT features for mobile users. It allows you to pack everything you need for a project into one folder and then move that folder around, just like the briefcase you carry to and from work. We looked at some of the specifics of this particular part of Windows NT in Chapter 1. Figure 2.16 shows the Explorer view of the Briefcase.

Figure 2.16. Briefcase looks just like any other Explorer folder.

Briefcase adds one option to the context menu of items it holds. The Update option allows you to update a file from its original copy on your hard drive. This is one of the steps you need to take before packing your briefcase to go on the road.

The Startup Folder


Windows 3.1 originated the idea of a Startup folder. It's a good idea, too. Instead of filling WIN.INI with LOAD= and RUN= entries that become a confused, tangled mess, the Startup folder allows you to maintain a certain level of order. (Of course, some applications still insist on using this antiquated method of automatically starting an application, so Windows NT has to support it.)

Think of the Startup folder as a sort of AUTOEXEC.BAT file for your Windows applications. Windows automatically looks in this file during the boot process and launches anything it finds there. Under Windows 3.x, some types of files didn't work very well. I found it difficult to automatically open any kind of data file, for example, even when it was associated with an application. Under Windows NT, you can stick just about anything in the Startup folder and expect it to work properly.



Peter's Principle: Getting a Great Start in the Morning

A lot of people are under the impression that the Startup folder is only for loading applications. Other people feel that you should place only certain classes of applications there, such as screen savers. Although putting your screen saver in the Startup folder is a good idea, using the Startup folder for this purpose alone doesn't really make full use of this resource.

Because I was used to the Windows 3.x way of doing things, it never occurred to me how useful this particular folder was until I started setting up my desktop. Placing a shortcut to the Startup folder on your desktop is a great idea because you can put things in there that you'll need the next morning. (Microsoft buried this folder so far in the directory tree that you'll quickly tire of trying to use it if you don't take this step.) If I'm working on a proposal over the course of a few days, for example, I'll stick a shortcut to the master file in Startup. That way, it automatically opens when I start my machine the next day.

Adding objects to the Startup folder can really boost your productivity. Instead of spending the first 15 minutes of the morning getting set up, you can start your machine, get a cup of coffee, and be ready to work when you return. Making Windows NT more efficient is largely up to the user now. Most of the tools are there; all you need to do is use them.


Like everything else in Windows NT, you'll find the Startup folder in Explorer. Unfortunately, it's buried deep in the directory tree. If you look in the folder


\WINNT\profiles\<your name>\Start Menu\Programs

you'll see the Startup folder shown in Figure 2.17. Another, faster way to access the folder is to right-click the Start menu icon on the Taskbar and select the Explore option. This displays a two-pane version of Explorer that you can use to get to the Startup folder faster.

Figure 2.17. The Startup folder is buried in the Windows NT hierarchy under the Start menu.

An Accessory and Game Overview


Windows NT has a lot more to offer than just Explorer. A whole new group of utility programs are available to make life a lot easier for the user. In the past, most of these applications were supplied by third parties, but today you get them as part of the operating system package. The following sections look at some of the new accessory and game programs provided with Windows NT.



Looking Ahead: This overview will only include accessory and game type applications. I discuss maintenance programs in Chapter 26 and security-related programs/features in Chapter 23, "Security Issues." You'll find the backup programs in Chapter 26 as part of the maintenance discussion. The communications programs appear in Part V, "A Look Outside" (Chapters 17 through 20). Most of the standard communications application information appears in Chapter 18, "Talking to the Outside World." You'll want to spend some time checking out the Internet Explorer coverage in Chapter 19, "Surfing the Net."


Microsoft Exchange


In days past, you had to use one program to access your company e-mail and another to get your on-line e-mail. In fact, depending on your on-line services, you might have ended up working with three or four applications just to maintain contact. Once you got past the contact hurdle, you had to figure out how to get everything to work together.

Microsoft Exchange, shown in Figure 2.18, acts as a central repository for all your e-mail, no matter where it comes from. Of course, this product has its limitations—at least for the short term. For one thing, it supports only Microsoft Mail and an Internet connection right now. In the very near future, however, you'll see Exchange support for other on-line services, such as America On-Line and CompuServe. (There are also rumors that Microsoft will merge Exchange and Explorer so that you'll be able to access any data source from one utility—even if that data source is on the Internet.)

Figure 2.18. Microsoft Exchange might offer a centralized communication capability, but it falls short of actually providing it.

The Exchange interface is fairly simple. It looks a bit like the Explorer interface (as do a great many things under Windows NT). You access Exchange using the Inbox icon on the desktop. The left panel contains what looks like a directory tree. This tree uses the Microsoft Exchange icon as the root object, however. Below this object is the Personal Information Store folder, which contains four folders. These four folders include Deleted Items, Inbox, Outbox, and Sent Items. Their purposes are fairly straightforward.

The toolbar contains all the tools you'll need in most circumstances. It includes the following tools:

Help: Provides on-line help for Exchange.

In addition to the toolbar, you might notice that the individual column headings provide some functionality. If you move the mouse pointer between two headings, it turns into a double-headed arrow. This allows you to resize the column heading as needed. Right-clicking on a column heading displays a context menu. The context menu allows you to sort the list of messages in ascending or descending order by that column. You can right-click on the Sent column to sort your e-mail by date, for example. Exchange places an up or down arrow in the column you select for sorting.

Accessories


Windows NT doesn't add very much when it comes to accessory applications. The multimedia offerings are much the same as you got with Windows 3.x. They consist of a multimedia player (media player), (sound) recorder, mixer (volume control), and CD player.

Windows NT also includes some of the other familiar utilities from previous versions of Windows, including the calculator and WinPopUp. Conspicuously absent, though, are Cardfile and Calendar. Because Windows 95 doesn't include these accessories, I doubt that Microsoft will add them to Windows NT either. Obviously, both products were rather limited, but I would have liked to see some kind of a replacement effort made.

You'll really like one of the new utilities. It allows you to configure the various international settings. Windows NT doesn't automatically install this feature; you need to install it separately using the Add/Remove Programs utility. The icon for this application appears on the Taskbar, as shown in Figure 2.19.

Figure 2.19. An icon for one of the new Windows NT utilities, International Settings, appears on the Taskbar.

You can use the International Settings utility in a number of ways. The first way is to click the Taskbar icon to display a list of installed languages. You can select which language you want to use from the list. This makes it easy to switch from language to language as needed.

The second way to use the International Settings utility is to right-click the International icon and select the Properties option. This displays the Keyboard Properties dialog box shown in Figure 2.20. As you can see, this dialog box allows you to change the currently selected language. It also allows you to add support for additional languages.

Figure 2.20. Use the International Settings properties option to gain quick access to the Keyboard Properties dialog box.



Tip: Even if you don't use more than one language, adding the International Settings utility to your Startup folder can make you more productive. I use it to gain quick access to the Keyboard Properties dialog box without going through the Control Panel. The Speed tab of this dialog box contains settings I can change as needed to make the system more comfortable to use.


Fun and Games


Windows NT provides some entertainment as part of the package. You've already seen several of the games in previous versions of Windows. Just about everyone has played the Solitaire game shown in Figure 2.21, for example. It has remained unchanged since the days of Windows 3.x. In fact, it was one of the first Windows-specific games that I owned. This particular game has been around for so long that it hardly requires any explanation. Suffice it to say that it works just like the card game you probably spent hours playing before the Windows version became available. Obviously, Solitaire doesn't provide some of the handier features (like cheating) provided by third-party products. That certainly hasn't stopped most people from grabbing a game or two as time permits.

Figure 2.21. Solitaire is an old favorite from the days of Windows 3.x.

FreeCell, another card game, has been around since the very first version of Windows NT. It didn't see the light of day much under Windows 3.x (unless you installed Win32S support), but it has become a part of Windows 95. Figure 2.22 shows what this game looks like. In this particular case, you need to move the cards from the playing area to the storage area in the upper right corner of the window. The game ends when you have moved all the cards from the playing area to the storage area.

Figure 2.22. FreeCell was one of the first 32-bit games offered with Windows NT.

As with regular solitaire, you can place the cards in order using alternating colors in the playing area. A red four would go on top of a black five, for example. One advantage of this game is that you get to see every card—nothing is hidden. The challenge is to get the cards moved around.

FreeCell gets its name from the four free cells in the upper left corner of the window. Right now, there's one card in this area: a five of spades. If you use up all four slots and there are no more legal moves in the playing area, the game is over—you've lost. Some people have told me that you can theoretically win every game of FreeCell. I've yet to master every game, but I can win the majority of them.

The latest version of Windows NT offers something a bit more exciting than card games, though. It's a pinball game called 3D Pinball—Space Cadet. As you can see in Figure 2.23, it includes all the usual bells and whistles. This extremely addictive game works much like the arcade version of a pinball machine.

Figure 2.23. Space Cadet is more than an interesting game—it's downright addicting.

Space Cadet includes all the things you'd expect to find in a commercial quality game. Up to four players can get involved in a game. The various controls are user definable, but as with many commercial games, people will complain because you can't use the two Shift keys to control the paddles. There are also keys to control bumping—a major part of any pinball-playing experience. You'll even find a high score list to keep track of any really great games.

The Control Panel


Few people ever get comfortable with the Control Panel. You access it to change a major hardware or software configuration item and then leave. You don't come back to it until your system needs adjustment again. You don't visit the Control Panel on a daily basis.

The reason I brought up this point at the beginning of this discussion is simple: This lack of contact with the Control Panel is probably the reason why people almost forget that it's there. I've personally spent hours trying to figure out how to change some setting in there. It's not just that the Control Panel is difficult to use or illogically laid out, but too few people have experience with it.

Figure 2.24 shows a typical Control Panel setup. No two Control Panel setups are alike, however. The Control Panel usually contains a set of default icons and a bunch of icons related to your particular system configuration. I still remember the Purple Logitech Mouse icon in Windows 3.x. I didn't need it with Windows NT, so you don't see it installed.

Figure 2.24. The Control Panel is a deep, dark secret to some people, and none too familiar to everyone else.

Now might be a good time to check out some of the applets in the Control Panel. Some of them will seem familiar because we've already talked about them elsewhere in the book. Others will be new because we haven't really covered them yet. The following list provides an overview of the Control Panel's contents:



Note: As of this writing, some types of IDE bus mastering adapters also appear within the SCSI Adapter applet. If you have a bus mastering adapter and need to configure it, check here for configuration settings. I found this particular applet counterintuitive to use because of the name Microsoft uses for it. Hopefully, they'll change this at a future date.

Your setup might have more or fewer applets than mine did, but this list should give you a good idea of what the common applets do. If you have a few additional icons, the vendor documentation should tell you what types of configuration tasks you can use them for. Returning to the Logitech Mouse example, the applet associated with this device allows you to change the way the mouse behaves. More specifically, you could assign a macro to an unused key. I always used my middle mouse button for pasting and my right mouse button for cutting. Fortunately, Windows NT has removed some of the need for this additional applet.

Warning: Some applications insist on installing a custom applet in the Control Panel. In most cases, Windows NT ignores any incompatible applets it doesn't need in order to work with the hardware or software you installed. If you do get into a situation where the old driver gets loaded and affects system stability, call the vendor to see whether there's an easy way to remove the applet. In most cases, you can eliminate the problem by deleting a few lines of text from SYSTEM.INI.

What other kinds of applets can you expect to see in the Control Panel? This is limited only by the types of applications and hardware you install. A few examples include a digitizer pad, CAS-compliant fax, and data-capture boards. You'll probably see special applets for certain types of network connections. Most mail packages require an entry here. It's surprising to note that applications such as 1-2-3 might place an applet here to manage their data connections. (Most applications use ODBC now, so you'll see more options in the ODBC applet rather than more applets.)

Customizing Icon Displays


Some people fail to realize that the Control Panel is just another form of Explorer—albeit a somewhat specialized form. You saw how to access the Control Panel from Explorer earlier in this chapter. The display even looks the same as the other displays. There is nothing strange about Explorer's capability to interact with the Control Panel.

What that section really shows you are all the similarities. There are a few differences between a standard Explorer interface and the Control Panel, too. I think the most obvious difference is that you can't manipulate Control Panel objects in the same way that you can other objects. The context menu shown in Figure 2.25 reveals this fact. Notice that just about the only thing you can do with a Control Panel object is open it or create a shortcut. Even the Properties option is grayed out.

Figure 2.25. Objects in the Control Panel don't provide much flexibility through the context menu.

There are other display differences, too. A standard Explorer display provides four methods of displaying objects; the Control Panel also provides these methods. When it comes to arranging these objects, however, you have only two choices, as shown in Figure 2.26. In actuality, you'll probably never even rearrange these icons. There are so few to look at, most people leave them just the way they are.

Figure 2.26. The methods you can use to arrange Control Panel objects are fairly limited.

Look again at Figure 2.26. Did you notice the Refresh option? Every time you add a new application or piece of hardware and want to see whether it added a new Control Panel icon, you can use this command to refresh the display. Unlike with Explorer, closing the Control Panel might not force it to display any new icons you add. Using this command ensures that you get an accurate picture.

If you just leave the Control Panel alone, you might never see some of the nice features it provides. Use the View | Details command to change the way in which Control Panel icons are displayed. Normally, you would see a list of files, their date of last modification, size, and so on. Figure 2.27 tells a completely different story. As you can see, the Control Panel displays a description of each of the applets instead of simply showing their statistics. This is a very handy feature if you ever see an applet you can't figure out.

Figure 2.27. Descriptive information about each applet is about the last thing you'd expect to see in a Details view, yet here it is.

I never thought I'd use the Control Panel's shortcut option either, but I did. After reading the last few pages, you've probably figured out that there's no fast method to access all the applets in the Control Panel. You can right-click on the desktop and change your display settings. Right-clicking the My Computer icon will grab the System applet for you. But what if you want to change your system sounds? You have to go to the Start menu or use some other means to bring up the Control Panel and then the applet.

Placing a shortcut to the applet on the desktop is one of the best ways to optimize your setup. Just think: Any time you needed to change your system sounds (or any other configuration item), you can just double-click the icon on the desktop. The problem is in how to create the shortcut. If you use the context menu entry, Windows will ignore you or display an error message saying that it can't create the shortcut.

To make this task a little easier, right-click on the applet and drag it to wherever you want the shortcut to appear. After you release the mouse button, Windows displays the context menu. All you need to do is choose the Create Shortcut Here option.



Tip: Don't get icon-happy. Crowding your desktop with unneeded icons is one sure way to decrease efficiency. Instead of spending your time working, you'll spend it looking for the icon you need. Try to keep the number of icons on your desktop to five or 10. Any more than that and you'll start crowding yourself out.


Customizing Your Desktop


You probably don't have a "formal" desk at work. In fact, I'll bet that it's customized to meet every need you have. It's a sure thing that your desk reflects the way you work. No one forced you to place the stapler in the upper right corner.

Windows used to tell people how to set things up. It had a very formal way of arranging things that made some people feel extremely uncomfortable. In fact, it's this very formality that made some people go out and get a third-party replacement for Program Manager, the old "desktop" in Windows 3.x.

Windows NT doesn't force you to do things its way. Someone at Microsoft must have followed Burger King's lead by allowing people to have it their way. The Explorer interface is so flexible that I doubt any two people will ever have the same desktop under Windows again. The desktop, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, is the area where everything else in Windows goes. It's not like the background you used to have under Windows 3.x. The Windows NT desktop is an object just like everything else.

The Windows NT desktop has some changes that you might not think about right away. Remember in Chapter 1 when I told you to start right-clicking on everything? You can right-click on the desktop. It has a context menu (see Figure 2.28), just like everything else in Windows NT. I won't go into detail about the contents of the context menu right now; all that information appears later. Suffice it to say that there are plenty of nice surprises when it comes to arranging things under Windows NT.

Figure 2.28. The Windows NT desktop is an object, just like everything else. It even has its own context menu.

I'd like to briefly mention two entries: Arrange Icons and Line Up Icons. Arrange Icons allows you to rearrange your desktop in a specific order. It works just like the same entry under Explorer. (See how everything seems to have a bit of Explorer in it?) You can rearrange your icons by name, type, size, or date. Personally, I find the type and name orders the most convenient.

Some people detest all the standard arrangements, so they just stick the icons in the order they want them. If you're not one of these people, you might find that the Line Up Icons option is custom tailored for you. It allows you to keep the icons in the order you want them but arranges them into neat rows and columns. This option provides a sort of "grid" effect that allows you to keep your desktop neat but arranged in the order that you want to see it.

The following sections look at the desktop as a whole. They are meant as a guide to things you can do to make your desktop more usable, but I probably won't stop there. Think of this section as the most common tricks that people use to optimize their Windows NT environment. This is the "must do" checklist you should look at when trying to get the most out of your setup.

Taskbar


A major part of the new look in Windows NT is the Taskbar. This is the gray bar at the bottom of Figure 2.29. You could think of the Taskbar as Windows NT's replacement for Program Manager, but you'd be selling it short. The Taskbar can do a lot more for you than that. The Taskbar is the central control area for most of the things you'll do under Windows NT. It contains three major elements: a Start menu, a Task List, and a Settings area (also known as the Taskbar Tray).

Figure 2.29. This is a typical Taskbar, but don't be fooled: It can take a variety of forms.

Before giving you a full description of each of the major elements, I want to show you a few ways you can configure the Taskbar itself. The Taskbar starts out at the bottom of the display, but you don't have to leave it there. With Windows NT, you can always change your desktop to suit your needs. Figure 2.30 shows what happens when you grab the Taskbar with the mouse pointer and move it toward the right side of the display. Windows NT lets you place the Taskbar on any of the four sides of your screen.

Figure 2.30. You can move the Taskbar. The gray rectangle shows where the Taskbar will appear when you let go of the left mouse button.

Like the other objects under Windows NT, the Taskbar also provides a Properties dialog box (simply right-click on the Taskbar and select the Properties option to display it). This dialog box has two pages. One controls the Start menu setup, and the other controls the Taskbar itself. The four settings on the Taskbar tab enable you to change how it reacts. You can remove the Taskbar from view by removing the checkmark from the Always on Top field, for example. The Show Clock field enables you to clear more space for applications on the Taskbar by removing the clock from view. My personal favorite is the Auto Hide field. Figure 2.31 shows what happens when you select this option. The Taskbar appears as a thin gray line at the bottom of the display. The second the mouse cursor approaches it, the Taskbar resumes its normal size. This enables you to get rid of the Taskbar to clear space for application windows yet keep it handy for when you need it.

Figure 2.31. You can use the Auto Hide feature of the Taskbar Properties dialog box to remove the Taskbar from sight until you need it.

Right-clicking on the Taskbar displays a few other object-specific options as well. All of them affect the way in which Windows NT organizes the applications currently displayed on the Taskbar:


The Start Menu

The Start menu normally appears on the far-left side of the Taskbar. It contains a complete listing of all your applications, access to some system settings, and a few other things thrown in for good measure. Figure 2.32 shows how the Start menu looks. Notice that it has seven main entries.

Figure 2.32. The Start menu replaces Program Manager as the means to start applications installed on your machine.

The following paragraphs describe each entry in detail.

Figure 2.33. Windows NT help screens provide procedures you can use to get the job done and to access the applications required to do it.


The Taskbar Buttons

The Taskbar proper contains one icon for each application currently running on the machine. This group of buttons replaces the Task Manager found in Windows 3.x. Instead of using the Alt+Tab key combination to switch from application to application, you can now choose an application much as you would select a television station using a remote control. All you need to do is click the appropriate button.

You should be aware of a few features. For one thing, the buttons shrink in size as needed to accommodate all the running applications. You can increase the size of the Taskbar to hold two, three, or even more rows of buttons if you so desire. Placing the mouse cursor near the edge of the Taskbar produces the same double arrow you use to resize other objects under Windows NT. Of course, the buttons will only get so big, and then they stop growing.

Another feature is the capability to obtain more information about the application by simply placing the mouse cursor over its button. After a few seconds, Windows NT displays a long title for the application and the foreground data file. The same principle holds true for other items on the Taskbar. Holding the mouse cursor over the time indicator, for example, shows today's date. In some cases, the information you receive from a button is less than awe-inspiring. For example, the Volume icon displays a single word: Volume.

The Settings Area

The Settings area of the Taskbar (also known as the Taskbar Tray because it looks like a tray for holding icons) usually contains two or more icons. Each icon can serve multiple purposes, depending on what piece of hardware it's supposed to control. The two most common entries in this area are the Clock and Volume icons. In the preceding section, I explained how each of them reacts when you position the mouse cursor over their respective icons.

The Volume icon does a couple of things, depending on the action you take. A single click produces a master volume slider. You can use this to adjust the volume of all sounds produced by the sound board. Double-clicking the same icon displays the Volume Control dialog box, which provides detailed control of each input to your sound board. It also includes a master volume slider. Right-clicking the icon displays the context menu. In this case, it displays only two entries. The first takes you to the Volume Control dialog box; the second displays the Audio Properties dialog box. We'll take a better look at the Volume controls later in this book.

The Clock icon provides similar functionality. A double-click displays the Date/Time Properties dialog box. A right-click shows the context menu. Detailed information about the Clock appears later in this chapter.



Note: Several other interesting icons can appear in the Settings area. One of them enables international users to adjust their settings with ease. There's a special icon for PCMCIA-equipped machines. It displays the current bus status and the type of card plugged into the bus. Portable users will appreciate the battery indicator that appears in this area. With a quick click of the mouse, you can check your battery status before it becomes critical.


Desktop Settings


Everyone looks at desktop settings in one way—as improving the appearance of their computer. For the most part, they're right. Just changing the color of something under Windows won't make it work better—at least most of the time. Configuring your desktop for a pleasing appearance might not provide much in the way of a direct efficiency increase, but it'll affect the way you view your system. A new piece of wallpaper or a change of colors can greatly affect the way you view your machine. Any positive change in attitude usually translates into improved efficiency. I find that changing my wallpaper and my display colors from time to time gives my computer that "new" feel that everyone needs occasionally.

There are other reasons for a change of configuration. In Chapter 3, "Performance Primer, "we'll learn that wallpaper, although attractive to the eye, chews up valuable memory. You might run into a situation where memory is at a premium. Giving up your wallpaper is one way to get the memory you need in order to complete a specific task.

Eye strain is also a common problem among computer users. Let's face it: Sitting eight hours in front of what amounts to a television at close range won't do anyone's eyes much good. If you're like me, though, you probably spend more than eight hours a day staring at that screen. Somewhere along the way, you'll want to make your icons and text bigger to reduce eye fatigue. Changing your desktop settings to improve readability is a very practical use of this feature.

Selecting Wallpaper

Wallpaper is one of those personal items that every computer user wants to customize. Windows NT makes changing your wallpaper even easier than it was under Windows 3.x. All you need to do is right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. You should see the dialog box shown in Figure 2.34.

Figure 2.34. You can use the Background page of the Display Properties dialog box to change your wallpaper.

This dialog box has three major sections. The first contains a monitor. Changing any of the wallpaper or pattern settings immediately affects the contents of this display. The monitor gives you a thumbnail sketch of how your background will appear.

The next section contains a listing of available patterns. You can choose one of the existing patterns or create your own. To change a pattern, click the Edit Pattern button. Windows NT will display a bitmap editor similar in function to those used by most paint programs.



Tip: Patterns are a memory-efficient way to dress up a system. Because a pattern uses only two colors, it's a lot faster to draw and doesn't consume many system resources. If your system is short on memory, but you'd still like an interesting background, consider using patterns instead of wallpaper.

The Wallpaper listbox defaults to the files found in your main Windows folder. Of course, you don't have to use these files. Click the Browse button if you want to look in other folders on your drive. There are two ways to display wallpaper. You can center it on the background (the best choice for pictures) or tile it (the best choice for patterns).

Screen Saver

There is a very healthy third-party market for one particular item: screen savers. Some Windows users buy screen savers in bulk. You can find them in stores and on just about every BBS in existence. Unless you own an older system, using a screen saver probably isn't necessary—just fun. I own a Star Trek screen saver for the "fun" element, even though it isn't necessary.

Windows NT also provides a screen saver feature. It isn't as fun as some of the screen savers on the market, but it gets the job done. You'll find it on the Screen Saver page of the Display Properties dialog box shown in Figure 2.35.

Figure 2.35. You can use the Screen Saver page of the Desktop Properties dialog box to change your screen saver and its settings.

Just like the Wallpaper selection, this dialog box contains a miniature view of your monitor. You can use it as a thumbnail sketch of what the display will look like when you configure the screen saver. The Screen Saver field allows you to choose from one of the screen savers in the SYSTEM folder. If you decide to use a third-party screen saver that uses the Windows format, you need to place the file in the same directory as the others or Windows won't see it.

After you select a screen saver, you can use the Settings button to change its settings. In most cases, the settings affect how Windows NT displays the screen saver. It might change the number of lines you see or the number of colors, for example.

The Wait field allows you to change the number of minutes Windows NT waits before it activates the screen saver. All you need to do to turn off the screen saver is move the mouse cursor or press a key.

You can also password-protect your screen saver. This allows you to leave the room without any fear that someone will use your machine while you're gone because you have to type a password to turn the screen saver back off after it comes on. I like the third-party screen savers that automatically restore their current condition even if you turn the machine off and reboot. Unfortunately, the Windows NT screen saver doesn't provide this feature, so you can circumvent password protection by rebooting the machine. Of course, this does have the advantage of resetting the display so that no one knows what you were working on before they rebooted the machine. Rebooting the machine also means that whoever wants access to your machine will need a password for it because Windows NT always displays a password screen.

The final button, Preview, allows you to see what the display will look like when Windows NT turns on the screen saver. I've used this as a quick way to hide my display when someone walks into my office and I don't want them to see what's on my display. It's a quick solution to a potential problem. Of course, you'll want to be very careful around the mouse and keyboard if you use this method. Unless you enable the Password option, your display will clear if you bump the mouse or tap a key on the keyboard.

Palette

The Appearance page of the Display Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 2.36, allows you to change the actual appearance of your displays, not just the desktop. I find that this particular dialog box is a lot easier to use than its Windows 3.x counterpart was, even though the two dialog boxes look similar. All you need to do is click on the picture of the display to select an item.

Figure 2.36. You can change the colors and fonts used by your display with the settings on the Appearance page.

Windows NT does provide a feature you couldn't get under Windows 3.x. The older versions of Windows allowed you to change the font used to display text only with a great amount of fiddling with the WIN.INI file. Windows NT moves all this information into this dialog box and gives you a lot more flexibility to boot. I have several configurations with "tired eye"-sized text settings. You can individually change the size of the menu and title bar text. Everything that has text also has a setting for the font and type size here.

Changing an entry consists of making listbox selections. This dialog box has six of them. The first three selections affect the contents of the item itself and include the item name, size, and color. The size, in this case, is the size of the window or another display element. You can change the width of a menu bar using this option, for example. The second three selections control the text used within that display element. These settings include font style, size, and color. You may select any installed font as your display font, but most people find that the MS Serif or MS Sans Serif fonts work best on displays. They were specially designed for this purpose. I occasionally use Arial and find that it works pretty well.

This dialog box also contains a listbox for selecting from existing color schemes, a Delete button for removing the schemes you no longer want, and a Save As button for adding new schemes.

Adding Pizzazz!

Windows 95 shipped without one feature that you'll find bundled with the new version of Windows NT: the Plus! page of the Display Properties dialog box shown in Figure 2.37. As of this writing, it isn't clear whether Microsoft intends to bundle the entire Plus! Pack with Windows NT. However, even this piece of it is a very welcome addition.

Figure 2.37. You had to buy these Plus! Pack features separately with Windows 95; they come bundled with Windows NT.

The Plus! page is divided into several functional areas. The top area allows you to change the appearance of the My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Recycle Bin icons. One button allows you to change the icon; a second allows you to return the icons to their default settings. Unfortunately, this page of the Display Properties dialog box still won't allow you to change the names of the various items; you'll still have to resort to other methods to get the job done in some cases.

Look at the next section. It contains five checkboxes designed to improve the appearance of your display. The first tells Windows NT to use large icons. Generally, this option makes the icons about twice the size they normally are. I find that this is a helpful option if you use large icons in Explorer and need a little extra help at the end of the day. The second option displays the contents of a window as you drag it. I'm not sure what this feature is supposed to do other than dress up the display a bit. It actually slows object dragging by a noticeable amount on some machines and doesn't really help all that much. The third option tells Windows NT to use shading to smooth on screen fonts. I find that this is another eye-fatigue preventer and leave it on as a general rule. You'll need to experiment to see whether it actually helps on your display. The fourth option tells Windows NT to display icons using all the colors it can. Normally, Windows NT displays icons using 16 colors. Finally, you can tell Windows NT that you want it to stretch your wallpaper to fit the screen—a handy feature if you change your display resolution during the day or need to display wallpaper that doesn't normally fit the screen.

Resolution

Changing your display resolution under Windows 3.x was a nightmare. You had to get out of Windows, use the Setup program to make the change, and then reboot and hope that you hadn't accidentally overwritten anything important. In some cases, you even had to dig up a copy of your installation disks to supply the font Windows needed.

The Settings page of the Display Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 2.38, allows you to change your display resolution, the number of colors, refresh rate, and the standard font with ease. Unlike Windows 95, most Windows NT systems require a reboot after you change the settings on this page. The lack of Plug and Play support under Windows NT reduces the flexibility of this otherwise helpful feature.

Figure 2.38. You can change your display resolution using the controls on the Settings page.

If you're ever in doubt as to the capabilities of your display, you can always click the List All Modes button. This button displays a dialog box listing all the display modes supported by your display adapter and monitor combination. You can also test any setting changes by using the Test button. (In fact, Windows NT will display a message box saying that you didn't test the changes you made if you don't use the Test button.) What you'll see in this case is a test screen showing how colors and text will look in the new configuration. You'll also see how the screen size compares to a standard 640x480 screen size.

There is one other button on this page, but we'll look at it in Chapter 4. I'll use it to check the results of adding a new monitor to our system. I won't go through this particular part of the display settings for right now. All they change is the monitor and display adapter type.

Clock


We took a quick look at the Clock earlier when talking about the Taskbar. Unlike the Clock utility provided with Windows 3.x, this clock actually affects the way the system reacts. You can actually use it to affect the CMOS setting and, therefore, the time stamp on all your files. Of course, it'll also affect any events you might schedule and anything else that relies on the clock.

The Clock properties consist of a single checkbox on the Taskbar Properties dialog box named Show Clock. The only thing this entry does is display or not display the clock on the Taskbar. In most cases, you'll want to keep the clock displayed because there's nothing to be gained from shutting it off.



Tip: When you display the clock, it shows only the current time. You can use the mouse cursor to also display the date. Simply move the mouse cursor over the Clock icon for a few seconds, and the clock will display the current date as well.

Double-clicking the Clock icon displays the dialog box shown in Figure 2.33. This is the same dialog box the help button activated. It contains a calendar and a clock. You use them to change the system settings.

The second page of this dialog box, Time Zone, allows you to change the current area of the world (see Figure 2.39). It's the same dialog box you saw when you completed the installation of Windows NT. Setting this dialog box is self-explanatory. The daylight savings time checkbox allows the computer to automatically adjust the time for you.

Figure 2.39. The Time Zone page of the Date/Time Properties dialog box allows you to change the area of the world that you're located in.

Working with Desktop Objects


Making your desktop efficient is very easy under Windows NT. The first thing you need to do, though, is throw away those outdated application-centered ideas that Windows 3.x encouraged. You need to learn to work with data—the way you should have learned to work in the first place. After all, what's more important—the tool that creates an object or the object itself? The end result is the most important goal in working with Windows.

The following sections provide you with some ideas on how to arrange your desktop to make maximum use of the new Windows data-centric approach. This is by no means the only way to pursue the problem, but it's the way that many people are starting to work with this new product. Try this approach and then modify it to meet your needs.

We'll start by looking at the methods of moving data around. Remember that Windows NT uses objects. Everything is an object of some sort. Objects are easy to copy, cut, and paste. You can move them around just like any object in the physical world. Once we get done looking at data-movement techniques, we'll take a quick look at the methods you can use to organize that data on your desktop.

Making Copies


Many people use cutting and pasting to move data around. You cut the data from the place where you no longer need it and then paste it to a new location. Windows NT supports cut and paste for objects as well. All you need to do to move a file from one location to another is cut it and then paste it. The beauty of this approach is that the copy of the file is now on the ClipBoard. This means that you can make as many copies of it as you want. Of course, anything you can cut, you can copy. Copying the object means that you leave the original in place and create copies where needed. Figure 2.40 shows the context menu for a folder. Notice the Copy, Cut, and Paste entries.

Figure 2.40. Every object that you can copy, cut, or paste has entries for these tasks on its context menu.

Obviously, you can't paste a file on top of another file. You can paste a copy of a file on the desktop or within a folder, however. If you take a logical, real-world approach to moving objects under Windows NT, you'll never run into problems getting objects to work.

Creating New Objects


Everywhere you can paste an existing object, you can also create a new object. The desktop, Explorer, and most Windows NT folders have a New option on the context menu, as shown in Figure 2.41. This menu option displays a list of file types that Windows NT can produce automatically.

Figure 2.41. The desktop and other storage objects allow you to create a new object by selecting it from a list of choices on the New menu.

Notice that one of the entries is a folder. You can always place a folder within another object normally used for storage—even another folder. Using folders helps you organize your data into more efficient units. We'll see later how you can combine these elements to make your desktop an efficient place to work.

Using a Template


One of the problems with the New submenu of the context menu is that it always creates objects of a default type. Take Word for Windows. If you create a new Word for Windows object using the selection on the context menu, that new object will use the Normal stylesheet. What you really wanted was the Accounts stylesheet, but there isn't a fast way to create a document using the current system.

I got around this problem by placing a folder named Templates on my desktop. Inside are copies of each of the sample files I use to create new documents. If you write a lot of letters that use the same format, for example, you might want to use your word processor to create a document that contains everything that normally appears in a letter. Now all you need to do is place a copy of the letter template in your Templates folder. Every time you need to write another letter, right-click on the template for it in your Templates folder and drag the template to a new destination, such as a project folder. When the context menu appears, select Copy to create a copy of your template. This template approach to creating new documents can greatly reduce the time you need to start a task. You can create enough copies of a template to satisfy project needs in a few seconds. Using the template also means that all your settings will be correct when you enter the document for the first time.

There are several ways you can use a template document. You can right-click, choose Copy, right-click on your project folder, and choose Paste from the context menu. Another method is to drag the template while pressing the mouse key. When Windows asks what you would like to do, choose Copy from the menu.

Creating Work Areas


Now that you have some idea of how to move and copy data, let's look at a more efficient way to work with it. I've started using a new method of organizing information because of the way that Windows NT works. You can follow several easy steps to get any project started:

  1. Create a main project folder on the desktop.

  2. Open the folder and place one folder inside for each type of data that you plan to work with. When writing this chapter, for example, I created one folder for the word processed document, another for the electronic research information, and a third for the graphics files.

  3. Open the first data folder. Create a copy of your template and then create as many copies as you'll need of that template within the data folder.

  4. Rename the data files to match what they'll contain.

  5. Close this data folder and repeat steps 3 and 4 for each of your other data folders.

  6. Complete your project by filling each data folder.



Tip: Using a particular method of creating new data files for all your data might not work because of the way the application is designed. In other cases, as with the screen shots in this book, the data file is created in a different way than normal. My screen shots are all captured from a display buffer. I don't need to create a blank file to hold them because the screen-capture program does this for me. Always use the data-creation technique that works best with the applications you use.

Figure 2.42 shows one way to arrange your projects. It contains a main folder, a few data folders, and some notes about the project. Of course, this is still only one approach to managing your data. The trick is to find the method that works best for you—one that reflects the way you get your work done.

Figure 2.42. One way to arrange your data for easy access. Windows NT provides almost unlimited possibilities.

By now, you're wondering why you should go this route. After all, the old method of managing your data seemed to provide just about the same results as the method I've outlined. This new technique offers several advantages that you just can't get using the application-centered approach:


On Your Own


Explorer is one of the cornerstones of the new Windows NT interface. It allows you to move around your machine—and the network, for that matter—in a way that was impossible under Windows 3.x. Spend some time getting used to the interface and trying out the various display modes. Click on the column headings in the Detail view to see how Explorer rearranges the file names.

Context menus are also an important part of Windows NT. Try right-clicking on all the objects you see. See how the context menus vary from object to object. Don't forget that even the desktop is an object with a context menu. Make sure that you click on the desktop to close its context menu without selecting anything.

Open Explorer and check out each of the special sections we talked about in this chapter. Try to identify each section and its purpose without referring back to the discussion. Also, look at some of the unique capabilities provided by your machine. See whether there are any special applets in the Control Panel, for example. You'll also want to check out your machine's network capabilities.

Use the tools provided on the Tools page of the Drive Properties dialog box to perform maintenance on your machine. Start by scanning the disk for errors. Then perform a backup of your system to prevent devastating data loss. Finally, use the Disk Optimizer to enhance system performance.

Spend some time customizing your desktop for optimum efficiency. See which wallpapers or other aesthetics you can change. Remove any features that might slow performance if you're using a memory-constrained system. Try out the screen saver and password options as well.

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