10 Minute Guide to Outlook 97 - A - Windows 95 and Windows NT Primer Windows 95 and Windows NT are graphical operating systems that make your computer easy to use by providing menus and pictures from which you select. Before you can take advantage of either operating system, however, you need to learn some basics that apply to both of them. Fortunately, Windows 95 and Windows NT operate very much alike. (In fact, they're so similar I'll refer to them both just as Windows throughout the remainder of this appendix.) If the figures you see in this primer don't look exactly like what's on your screen, don't sweat it. Some slight variation may occur depending on your setup, the applications you use, and whether you're on a network. Rest assured, however, that the basic information presented here applies no matter what your setup may be. A First Look at Windows You don't really have to start Windows because it starts automatically when you turn on your PC. After the initial startup screens, you arrive at a screen something like the one shown in Figure A.1. Parts of the Screen As you can see, the Windows screen contains a lot of special elements and controls. Here's a brief summary of those elements: The Desktop consists of the background and icons that represent programs, tools, and other elements. The Taskbar shows a button for each open window and program. You can switch between open windows and programs by clicking the taskbar button that represents the program you want. (The program you are currently working in is highlighted in the taskbar.) Figure A.1 The Windows screen. The Start button opens a menu from which you can start programs, get help, and find files. To use it, you click the Start button, and then you point or click to make a selection from each successive menu that appears. (When you point to a selection that has a right-pointing arrow beside it, a secondary--or cascading--menu appears.) The icons that appear on your desktop give you access to certain programs and computer components. You open an icon by double-clicking it. (An open icon displays a window containing programs, files, or other items.) The mouse pointer moves around the screen in relation to your movement of the mouse. You use the mouse pointer to select what you want to work with. You'll learn more about these elements as you work through the rest of this Windows primer. Timesaver Tip: Also Appearing: Microsoft Office If your computer has Microsoft Office installed on it, the Office Shortcuts toolbar also appears on-screen. It's a series of little pictures strung together horizontally that represent Office programs. Hold the mouse over a picture (icon) to see what it does; click it to launch the program. See your Microsoft Office documentation to learn more. You may have some other icons on your desktop (representing networks, folders, printers, files, and so on) depending upon what options you chose during initial setup. Double-click an icon to view the items it contains. Using a Mouse To work most efficiently in Windows, you need a mouse. You will perform the following mouse actions as you work: Point To position the mouse so that the on-screen pointer touches an item. Click To press and release the left mouse button once. Clicking an item usually selects it. Except when you're told to do otherwise (i.e., to right-click), you always use the left mouse button. Timesaver Tip: Southpaw Strategy You can reverse these mouse button actions if you want to use the mouse left-handed. To do so, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Mouse. Then click the Buttons tab of the Control Panel dialog box and choose Left-handed. Double-click To press and release the left mouse button twice quickly. Double-clicking usually activates an item or opens a window, folder, or program. (Double-clicking may take some practice because the speed needs to be just right. To change the speed so it better matches your "clicking style," choose Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Mouse. Then click the Buttons tab of the Mouse Properties dialog box and adjust the double- clicking speed so that it's just right for you. Drag To place the mouse pointer over the element you want to move, press and hold down the left mouse button, and then move the mouse to a new location. You might drag to move a window, dialog box, or file from one location to another. Except when you're told to do otherwise (i.e., to right-drag), you drag with the left mouse button. Right-click To click with the right mouse button. Right-clicking usually displays a shortcut (or pop-up) menu from which you can choose common commands. Controlling a Window with the Mouse Ever wonder why the program is called "Windows"? Well, Windows operating systems section off the desktop into rectangular work areas called "windows." These windows are used for particular purposes, such as running a program, displaying options or lists, and so on. Each window has common features used to manipulate the window. Figure A.2 shows how you can use the mouse to control your windows. Timesaver Tip: Scrolling for Information If your window contains more information than it can display at once, scroll bars appear on the bottom and/or right edges of the window. To move through the window's contents, click an arrow button at either end of a scroll bar to move in that direction, or drag the scroll box in the direction you want to move. If you're using the professional version of Office 97, you'll also have enhanced scrolling available to you via your "Intellimouse"--a new mouse by Microsoft that includes a scrolling wheel. Using this mouse is described in all Que books that cover Microsoft Office 97 and its individual applications. Figure A.2 Use your mouse to control and manipulate windows. Using Menus Almost every Windows program has a menu bar that contains menus. The menu names appear in a row across the top of the screen. To open a menu, click its name (after you click anywhere in the menu bar, you need only point to a menu name to produce the drop-down menu). The menu drops down, displaying its commands (as shown in Figure A.3). To select a command, you simply click it. Figure A.3 A menu lists various commands you can perform. Usually, when you select a command, Windows executes the command immediately. But you need to keep the following exceptions to that rule in mind: If the command name is gray (instead of black), the command is unavailable at the moment, and you cannot choose it. If the command name is followed by an arrow (as the selections on the Start menu are), selecting the command causes another menu to appear, from which you must make another selection. If the command is followed by an ellipsis (...), selecting it will cause a dialog box to appear. You'll learn about dialog boxes later in this primer. Timesaver Tip: Shortcut Keys Key names appear after some command names (for example, Ctrl+O appears to the right of the Open command, and Ctrl+S appears next to the Save command). These are shortcut keys, and you can use them to perform the command without opening the menu. You should also note that some menu names and commands have one letter underlined. By pressing Alt+the underlined letter in a menu name, you can open the menu; by pressing the underlined letter in a command name, you can select that command from the open menu. Using Shortcut Menus A fairly new feature in Windows is the shortcut or pop-up menu. Right-click any object (any icon, screen element, file, or folder), and a shortcut menu like the one shown in Figure A.4 appears. The shortcut menu contains commands that apply only to the selected object. Click any command to select it, or click outside the menu to cancel it. Navigating Dialog Boxes A dialog box is Windows way of requesting additional information or giving you information. For example, if you choose Print from the File menu of the WordPad application, you see a dialog box something like the one shown in Figure A.5. (The options it displays will vary from system to system.) Figure A.4 Shortcut menus are new in Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. Figure A.5 A dialog box often requests additional information. Each dialog box contains one or more of the following elements: List boxes display available choices. Click any item in the list to select it. If the entire list is not visible, use the scroll bar to see additional choices. Drop-down lists are similar to list boxes, but only one item in the list is shown. To see the rest of the list, click the drop-down arrow (to the right of the list box), and then click an item to select it. Text boxes allow you to type an entry. Just click inside the text box and type. Text boxes that are designed to hold numbers usually have up and down arrow buttons (called increment buttons) that let you bump the number up and down. Check boxes enable you to turn individual options on or off by clicking them. (A check mark or "X" appears when an option is on.) Each check box is an independent unit that doesn't affect other check boxes. Option buttons are like check boxes, except that option buttons appear in groups and you can select only one. When you select an option button, the program automatically deselects whichever one was previously selected. Click a button to activate it, and a black bullet appears inside of the white option circle. Command buttons perform an action, such as executing the options you set (OK), canceling the options (Cancel), closing the dialog box, or opening another dialog box. To select a command button, click it. Tabs bring up additional "pages" of options you can choose. Click a tab to activate it. From Here If you need more help with Windows, you may want to pick up one of these books: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 95 by Paul McFedries Easy Windows 95 by Sue Plumley The Big Basics Book of Windows 95 by Shelley O'Hara, Jennifer Fulton, and Ed Guilford Using Windows 95 by Ed Bott The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows NT 4.0 Workstation by Paul McFedries Using Windows NT 4.0 Workstation by Ed Bott

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