The Secret Guide to Computers: Windows 95, 98, & Me

Starting

Microsoft has improved Windows.

In 1995, Microsoft invented Windows 95.

In 1998, Microsoft invented Windows 98.

In 1999, Microsoft invented Windows 98 Second Edition (Windows 98 SE).

In 2000, Microsoft invented Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me).

Windows 98 SE and Windows Me are both very similar to Windows 98. The differences are miniscule. That’s why Microsoft charges just $60 to upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows Me. Most industry experts laugh at “Windows Me” and say the upgrade is worth even less than that.

Why did Microsoft’s chairman, Bill Gates, call it “Windows Me”? Cynics say Windows Me stands for “I should have called it Windows 98 Third Edition, but I called it Windows Me so you’ll give more money to Me.”

Make sure your computer has enough RAM:

Windows 3.1 requires 1M of RAM to run at all, 8M to run well.

Windows 95 requires 4M of RAM to run at all, 16M to run well.

Windows 98&SE require 16M of RAM to run at all, 32M to run well.

Windows Me requires 32M of RAM to run at all, 64M to run well.

Windows Me price

Windows Me lists for $209. When you buy a new computer, Windows Me is usually included by the computer’s manufacturer at no extra charge.

If your computer has Windows 95, you can upgrade to Windows Me for $109. If your computer has Windows 98 or Windows 98SE, you can upgrade to Windows Me for just $60.

Those prices are from Microsoft; add shipping and tax. Some discount dealers charge $10 less.

What’s in this chapter

This chapter explains Windows 95 and 98. If you’re using Windows 98 SE or Windows Me, follow my instructions for Windows 98, which is similar.

Alternative chapters

If you plan to keep using an ancient version of Windows (such as Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, or Windows 3.11), turn to the next chapter instead, which is called “Windows 3.1 & 3.11”. If you’re not using Windows at all — if you’re using just MS-DOS or a Mac — turn to the MS-DOS or Mac chapters.

Turn on

When your computer contains Windows 98 (or 98 SE or 95 or Me), here’s how to start using it.

If you have a printer, make sure a cable runs from it to the computer.

Turn on the computer, without any disks in the floppy drives; then immediately turn on the printer. (For details, read “Prepare to operate” on page 94. For free help, phone me anytime at 603-666-6644.)

The computer says “Microsoft Windows 98” (or “Microsoft Windows 95” or something similar).

If the computer says “Add New Hardware Wizard” (for example, because it detected that you attached a new printer), press the ENTER key several times (typically 5 times), until the computer stops saying “Add New Hardware Wizard”.

Eventually, the screen’s bottom left corner says “Start”.

Position the mouse

Look at the computer’s mouse. The mouse’s tail is a cable that runs from the mouse to the computer. The area where the tail meets the mouse is called the mouse’s ass.

The mouse’s underside — its belly — has a hole in it, and a ball in the hole.

Put the mouse on your desk and directly in front of your right arm. Make the mouse lie flat (so its ball rubs against the desk). Make the mouse face you so you don’t see its ass.

Move the arrow

Move the mouse across your desk. As you move the mouse, remember to keep it flat and facing you.

On the screen, you’ll see an arrow, which is called the mouse pointer. As you move the mouse, the arrow moves also. If you move the mouse to the left, the arrow moves to the left. If you move the mouse to the right, the arrow moves to the right. If you move the mouse toward you, the arrow moves down. If you move the mouse away from you, the arrow moves up.

Practice moving the arrow by moving the mouse. Remember to keep the mouse facing you at all times.

If you want to move the arrow far and your desk is small, move the mouse until it reaches the desk’s edge; then lift the mouse off the desk, lay the mouse gently on the middle of the desk, and rub the mouse across the desk in the same direction as before.

Click on Start

The most important part of the arrow is its tip, which is called the hot spot. Move the arrow so its hot spot (tip) is in the middle of the word “Start”. When you do that, you’re pointing at the word “Start”.

On the top of the mouse, you’ll see 2 or 3 rectangular buttons you can press. The main button is the one on the left. Tapping it is called clicking. So to click, tap the left button.

While you’re pointing at the word “Start”, click (by tapping the left button). That’s called clicking “Start”.

When you click “Start”, Windows 98 shows you this Start menu:

Windows Update

Programs 4

Favorites 4

Documents 4

Settings 4

Find 4

Help

Run

Shut Down

(Windows 95 omits “Windows Update” and “Favorites”.)

Shut Down

On that Start menu, the bottom choice says “Shut Down”. Whenever you finish using Windows 98 (or 95), click “Shut Down” (by pointing at “Shut Down” and then tapping the left mouse button).

Practice that now! Click “Shut Down”.

In Windows 98, the computer asks, “What do you want the computer to do?” (In Windows 95, the computer asks instead, “Are you sure?”)

Press the ENTER key. Wait while the computer tidies the info on your hard disk.

Then, if your computer is modern, it will turn its own power off.. If your computer is older, the computer will say “It’s now safe to turn off your computer” and wait for you to turn it off.

Accessories menu

Make the Start menu appear on the screen.

In that menu, notice that the word “Programs” has the symbol “4” next to it. That symbol means that if you choose “Programs” from the Start menu, you’ll see another menu.

Try it: point at the word “Programs”. Windows 98 shows you this Programs menu:

Accessories 4

Internet Explorer 4

Online Services 4

StartUp 4

MS-DOS Prompt

Windows Explorer

(Windows 95 sometimes omits “Internet Explorer”, and it says “Microsoft Exchange” and “The Microsoft Network” instead of “Online Services”.) If you bought extra programs, the menu mentions them too.

From that menu, choose “Accessories”, by pointing at it. Windows 98 shows you this Accessories menu:

Communications 4

Entertainment 4

Games 4

System Tools 4

Calculator

Imaging

Notepad

Paint

WordPad

(Windows 95 says “Multimedia” instead of “Entertainment”, says “Fax” and “HyperTerminal” and “Phone Dialer” instead of “Communications”, and omits “Imaging”.)

Calculator

The accessories menu includes a “Calculator”. To use the calculator, get the accessories menu onto the screen (by clicking “Start” then “Programs” then “Accessories”) and then click “Calculator”. You’ll see the Calculator window, containing a picture of a pocket calculator.

How to calculate

To compute 42+5, click the calculator’s 4 key (by using the mouse to point at the 4 key and then clicking), then click 2, then +, then 5, then =. The calculator will show the answer, 47.

Instead of using the mouse, you can do that calculation a different way, by using the computer’s keyboard. Try it! On the computer’s keyboard, tap the 4 key, then the 2 key, then (while holding down the SHIFT key) the + key, then 5, then =. The calculator will show 47.

Try fancier calculations, by pressing these calculator buttons:

Button Meaning

+ plus

- minus

* times

/ divided by

= total

. decimal point

C clear

Backspace backspace

If you’re using Windows 95 (instead of 98), the backspace button is labeled “Back” (instead of “Backspace”).

Standard versus scientific

You can choose two kinds of calculators. A standard calculator is small and cute: it does just arithmetic. A scientific calculator is big and imposing: it includes extra buttons, so you can do advanced math.

The first time you (or your colleagues) ask for the calculator, the computer shows a standard calculator (small and cute). If you want the calculator to be scientific instead, choose Scientific from the View menu. (To do that, click the word “View”, then click the word “Scientific”.) Then you’ll see extra buttons, such as these:

Button Meaning

x^2 squared

x^3 cubed

n! factorial

pi pi (which is 3.1415926535897932384626433832795)

If you click the 7 button and then say “squared” (by pressing the x^2 button), the computer will multiply 7 by itself and say 49 (which is called “7 squared”). If you click the 7 button and then say “cubed” (by pressing the x^3 button), the computer will do “7 times 7 times 7” and say 343 (which is called “7 cubed”). If you click the 7 button and then say “factorial” (by pressing the n! button), the computer will multiply together all the numbers up to 7 (1 times 2 times 3 times 4 times 5 times 6 times 7) and say 5040 (which is called “7 factorial”).

If you’re using Windows 98 and click the pi button,

the computer will say 3.1415926535897932384626433832795.

If you’re using Windows 95, the pi button is capitalized (so it’s labeled “PI”)

and it’s less accurate: it says PI is 3.14159265359.

The scientific calculator also contains buttons that help you handle big exponents, logarithms, trigonometry, statistics, hexadecimal numbers, and assembly-language programming. I’ll explain the mathematical concepts behind those buttons later, on page 388 (exponents), 389 (logarithms), 402 (trigonometry), 565 (hexadecimal numbers), and 575 (assembly-language programming). If you’re adventurous, just go push buttons and see what happens: no matter which button you press, the computer won’t blow up!

After making the calculator be scientific, you can make it become standard again by choosing Standard from the View menu.

In the Calculator window’s top right corner, a square button has an X on it. That’s called the X button (or the close button).

When you finish using the Calculator window, click that button. It closes the Calculator window, so the Calculator window disappears.

WordPad

When you buy Windows 95 or 98, you get a word-processing program free! That word-processing program is called WordPad. It’s one of the Windows accessories. To use it, get the accessories menu onto the screen (by clicking “Start” then “Programs” then “Accessories”) and then click “WordPad”. You’ll see the WordPad window.

In the window’s top right corner, you see the X button. Next to the X button is the resize button. Clicking the resize button changes the window’s size.

Try clicking the resize button: see the window’s size change! Try clicking the resize button again: see the window’s size change again!

If the window is small, clicking the resize button makes the window become huge so it consumes the whole screen. If the window is huge and consumes the whole screen, clicking the resize button makes the window become small.

If the window consumes the whole screen, the window is said to be maximized. If the window is smaller, the window is said to be restored to a small size.

Click the resize button if necessary, so that the WordPad window consumes the whole screen (and is maximized).

Now that the WordPad window consumes the whole screen, you can easily do word processing: you can easily type words and sentences. Try it! Type whatever sentences you wish to make up. For example, try typing a memo to your friends, or a story, or a poem. Be creative! Whatever you type is called a document.

Use the keyboard

Read the section called “Examine the keyboard”, which is on page 94. Here are more hints that will help you type.…

Capitals To capitalize a letter of the alphabet, type that letter while holding down the SHIFT key. (One SHIFT key is next to the Z key; the other SHIFT key is next to the ? key. Each SHIFT key has an up-arrow on it.)

To capitalize a whole passage, tap the CAPS LOCK key, then type the passage. The computer will automatically capitalize the passage as you type it. When you finish typing the passage, tap the CAPS LOCK key again: that tells the computer to stop capitalizing.

BACKSPACE key If you make a mistake, press the BACKSPACE key. That makes the computer erase the last character you typed. (The BACKSPACE key is in the top right corner of the keyboard’s main section. It’s to the right of the + key, and it has a left-arrow on it.)

To erase the last two characters you typed, press the BACKSPACE key twice.

Word wrap If you’re typing near the screen’s right edge, and you type a word that’s too long to fit on the screen, the computer will automatically move the word to the line below. Moving the word to the line below is called word wrap.

ENTER key When you finish a paragraph, press the ENTER key. That makes the computer move to the line underneath so you can start typing the next paragraph.

If you want to double-space between the paragraphs, press the ENTER key twice.

TAB key If you want to indent a line (such as the first line of a paragraph), begin the line by pressing the TAB key. The computer will indent the line a half inch.

Nudge a phrase To move a phrase toward the right, press the TAB key several times before typing the phrase. To move a phrase down, press the ENTER key several times before typing the phrase.

Alt symbols You can type these alternative symbols:

128 Ç 144 É 160 á 225 ß

129 ü 145 æ 161 í

130 é 146 Æ 162 ó 227 ¶

131 â 147 ô 163 ú

132 ä 148 ö 164 ñ 230 µ

133 à 149 ò 165 Ñ

134 å 150 û 166 ª 241 ±

135 ç 151 ù 167 º

136 ê 152 ÿ 168 ¿ 246 ÷

137 ë 153 Ö

138 è 154 Ü 170 ¬ 248 °

139 ï 155 ¢ 171 ½ 249 •

140 î 156 £ 172 ¼ 250 ·

141 ì 157 ¥ 173 ¡

142 Ä 158 P 174 «

143 Å 159 ƒ 175 » 253 ²

For example, here’s how to type the symbol ñ, whose code number is 164. Hold down the Alt key; and while you keep holding down the Alt key, type 164 by using the numeric keypad (the number keys on the far right side of the keyboard). When you finish typing 164, lift your finger from the Alt key, and you’ll see ñ on your screen! Try it!

Windows copied that chart from DOS. But Windows goes beyond DOS by letting you also use this fancier chart:

0192 À 0224 à

0161 ¡ 0193 Á 0225 á

0130 ‚ 0162 ¢ 0194 Â 0226 â

0131 ƒ 0163 £ 0195 Ã 0227 ã

0132 „ 0164 ¤ 0196 Ä 0228 ä

0133 … 0165 ¥ 0197 Å 0229 å

0134 † 0166 ¦ 0198 Æ 0230 æ

0135 ‡ 0167 § 0199 Ç 0231 ç

0136 ˆ 0168 ¨ 0200 È 0232 è

0137 ‰ 0169 © 0201 É 0233 é

0138 Š 0170 ª 0202 Ê 0234 ê

0139 ‹ 0171 « 0203 Ë 0235 ë

0140 Œ 0172 ¬ 0204 Ì 0236 ì

0173 0205 Í 0237 í

0174 ® 0206 Î 0238 î

0175 ¯ 0207 Ï 0239 ï

0176 ° 0208 Ð 0240 ð

0145 Ÿ 0177 ± 0209 Ñ 0241 ñ

0146 ’ 0178 ² 0210 Ò 0242 ò

0147 ¡ 0179 ³ 0211 Ó 0243 ó

0148 ” 0180 ´ 0212 Ô 0244 ô

0149 • 0181 µ 0213 Õ 0245 õ

0150 – 0182 ¶ 0214 Ö 0246 ö

0151 — 0183 · 0215 × 0247 ÷

0152 ˜ 0184 ¸ 0216 Ø 0248 ø

0153 ™ 0185 ¹ 0217 Ù 0249 ù

0154 š 0186 º 0218 Ú 0250 ú

0155 › 0187 » 0219 Û 0251 û

0156 œ 0188 ¼ 0220 Ü 0252 ü

0189 ½ 0221 Ý 0253 ý

0190 ¾ 0222 Þ 0254 þ

0159 Ÿ 0191 ¿ 0223 ß 0255 ÿ

For example, here’s how to type the symbol ã, whose code number is 0227: while holding down the Alt key, type 0227 on the numeric keypad.

Scroll arrows

If your document contains too many lines to fit on the screen, the screen will show just part of the document, accompanied by two arrows at the screen’s right edge: a scroll-up arrow (5) and a scroll-down arrow (₆).

To see a higher part of your document, click the scroll-up arrow (5).

To see a lower part of your document, click the scroll-down arrow (₆).

Insert characters

To insert extra characters anywhere in your document, click where you want the extra characters to appear (by moving the mouse’s pointer there and then pressing the mouse’s button). Then type the extra characters.

For example, suppose you typed the word “fat” and want to change it to “fault”. Click between the “a” and the “t”, then type “ul”.

(When you’re using Windows, notice that you click between letters, not on letters.)

As you type the extra characters, the screen’s other characters move out of the way to make room for the extra characters.

While you’re inserting the extra characters, you can erase nearby mistakes by pressing the BACKSPACE key or DELETE key. The BACKSPACE key erases the character that’s before the mouse’s pointer. The DELETE key erases the character that’s after the mouse’s pointer.

Split a paragraph

Here’s how to split a long paragraph in half, to form two short paragraphs.

Decide which word should begin the second short paragraph. Click the left edge of that word’s first letter.

Press the BACKSPACE key (to erase the space before that word), then press the ENTER key. Now you’ve split the long paragraph in two!

If you want to double-space between the two short paragraphs, press the ENTER key again. If you want to indent the second paragraph, press the TAB key.

Combine paragraphs

After typing two paragraphs, here’s how to combine them, to form a single paragraph that’s longer.

Click at the end of the first paragraph. Press the DELETE key several times, to delete unwanted ENTERs and TABs. Now you’ve combined the two paragraphs into one!

Then press the SPACE bar (to insert a space between the two sentences).

Movement keys

To move to different parts of your document, you can use your mouse. To move faster, press these keys instead:

Key you press Where the pointer will move

right-arrow right to the next character

left-arrow left to the previous character

down-arrow down to the line below

up-arrow up to the line above

END right to the end of the line

HOME left to beginning of the line

PAGE DOWN down to the next screenful

PAGE UP up to the previous screenful

Here’s what happens if you press the movement keys while holding down the Ctrl key:

Keys you press Where the pointer will move

Ctrl with right-arrow right (to the next word or punctuation symbol)

Ctrl with left-arrow left (to the beginning of a word or punctuation)

Ctrl with down-arrow down to the next paragraph

Ctrl with up-arrow up to the beginning of a paragraph

Ctrl with PAGE DOWN down to the end of the screen’s last word

Ctrl with PAGE UP up to the beginning of the screen’s first word

Ctrl with END down to the end of the document

Ctrl with HOME up to the beginning of the document

Buttons

Near the top of the screen, you see these buttons:

Here is each button’s name:

If you forget a button’s name, try this trick: point at the button (by using the mouse but without clicking), then wait a second. Underneath the button, you’ll see the button’s name; and at the screen’s bottom left corner, you’ll see a short explanation of what the button does.

To use a button, press it by clicking it with the mouse. Here are the details.…

Underline Here’s how to underline a phrase (like this). Push in the Underline button (which says U on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want underlined. Then pop the Underline button back out (by clicking it again).

Bold Here’s how to make a phrase be bold (like this). Push in the Bold button (which says B on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want emboldened. Then pop the Bold button back out (by clicking it again).

Here’s how to make a phrase be bold and underlined (like this). Push in the Bold and Underline buttons (by clicking them both). Then type the phrase. Then pop those buttons back out (by clicking them again).

Italic Here’s how to italicize a phrase (like this). Push in the Italic button (which says I on it) by clicking it. Then type the phrase you want italicized. Then pop the Italic button back out (by clicking it again).

Color Here’s how to change a phrase’s color. Click the Color button. You’ll see a list of 15 colors (plus “White” and “Automatic”). Click the color you want. Then type the phrase you want colorized. Then click the Color button again and click “Black”.

Alignment While typing a line, you can click one of these alignment buttons: Center, Align Left, or Align Right.

Clicking the Center button makes the line be centered,

like this line

Clicking the Align Right button makes the line be at the right margin,

like this line

Clicking the Align Left button makes the line be at the left margin,

like this line

Clicking one of those buttons affects not just the line you’re typing but also all other lines in the same paragraph. When you click one of those buttons, you’re pushing the button in; that button pops back out when you push a different alignment button instead.

When you start typing a new document, the computer assumes you want the document to be aligned left, so the computer pushes the Align Left button in. If you want a different alignment, push a different alignment button instead.

Clicking an alignment button affects the entire paragraph you’re typing, but the paragraphs you typed earlier remain unaffected. To change the alignment of a paragraph you typed earlier, click in the middle of that paragraph and then click the alignment button you wish.

When you start typing a new paragraph, the computer gives the new paragraph the same alignment as the paragraph above, unless you say differently (by pressing one of the alignment buttons).

Here’s how to create a centered title. Press the ENTER key twice (to leave a big blank space above the title). Then press the Center button (so the title will be centered) and the Bold button (so the title will be bold), type the words you want to be in the title, and press the ENTER key afterwards. Congratulations: you’ve created a centered title! Next, make the paragraph underneath the title be normal: make that paragraph be uncentered (click the Align Left button) and make it be unbolded (click the Bold button, so the Bold button pops back out).

Bullets While you’re typing a paragraph, you can push in the Bullets button (by clicking it). That makes the computer indent the entire paragraph and also put a bullet (the symbol ·) to the left of the paragraph’s first line. That’s called a bulleted paragraph.

After you’ve typed a bulleted paragraph, any new paragraphs you type underneath will be bulleted also — until you request an unbulleted paragraph (by popping the Bullet button back out).

Font Size

Left of the Bold button, the screen also shows a box containing the number 10. That’s called the Font Size box. The 10 in it means the characters you’re typing are 10 points high.

If you change that number to 20, the characters will be twice as high (and also twice as wide). To change the number to 20, click in the Font Size box, then type 20 and press ENTER. Try it! Any new characters you type afterwards will be the size you chose. (Characters typed earlier don’t change size.)

You can make the font size be 10 or 20 or any other size you like. For best results, pick a number from 8 to 72. (If you pick a number smaller than 8 or bigger than 72, the result is ugly.) The number can end in .5; for example, you can pick 8 or 8.5 or 9 or 9.5 or 10.

Time

While you’re using Windows 95 or 98, the screen’s bottom right corner is a box that shows the time, like this:

┌───────┐

│10:45PM│

└───────┘

If you move the mouse’s arrow there, the date will flash on the screen briefly.

Double-click

To get more details about the time and date, double-click that time box. To double-click the box, move the arrow to the box, then tap the mouse’s left button twice quickly, so the taps are less than .4 seconds apart.

While tapping the left button twice, make sure the mouse remains still. Don’t let the mouse jiggle, not even a smidgin! While double-clicking, your desk should be like Christmas Eve, where “not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse”.

Double-clicking is also called opening. Double-clicking the time box is called “opening the time box”.

Double-clicking the time box makes the computer show you a calendar for the entire month, with today’s date highlighted in blue. You’ll also see the face of a traditional clock, with an hour hand, minute hand, and second hand that all move. You’ll see the time zone, such as “Eastern Daylight Time”.

Reset

If the calendar, clock, or time zone are wrong, here’s how to reset them.

To change the year, click the 5 (or ₆) symbol that’s next to the year. To change the month, click the ₆ symbol that’s next to the month, then click the correct month. To change the date, click the correct date.

To change the time, click the part of the time that you want to change (the hours, minutes, seconds, or AM/PM), then click the 5 or ₆ symbol nearby. To change the time zone, click “Time Zone”, then press the keyboard’s right-arrow key (or left-arrow key) several times, until your time zone is chosen, then click “Date & Time”. To see immediately the results of changing the time or the time zone, click “Apply”.

Finish

When you finish using that clock/calendar window, click “OK”.

Paint

To paint pictures, get the accessories menu onto the screen (by clicking “Start” then “Programs” then “Accessories”) and then click “Paint”. You’ll see the Paint window.

Make sure the Paint window consumes the whole screen. (If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize the window by clicking the resize button, which is next to the X button.)

Move the mouse pointer to the screen’s middle. Then drag (move the mouse while holding down the mouse’s left button). As you drag, you’ll be drawing a squiggle.

For example, try drawing a smile:

To do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the smile to begin (at the smile’s top left corner), then depress the mouse’s left button while you draw the smile. When you finish drawing the smile, lift the mouse’s button. Then draw the rest of the face!

When you draw, you’re normally drawing in black. At the screen’s bottom, you see 28 colors: red, yellow, green, etc. To draw in one of those colors instead of in black, click the color you want.

Near the screen’s top left corner, you see these buttons:

Free-Form Select Select

Eraser Fill With Color

Pick Color Magnifier

Pencil Brush

Airbrush Text

Line Curve

Rectangle Polygon

Ellipse Rounded Rectangle

To use a button, push it in by clicking it. When you start using Paint, the computer assumes you want to use the Pencil, so it pushes the Pencil button in. If you want to use a different tool, click a different button instead. Let’s start with the most popular choices.…

Brush

To draw a fatter squiggle, click the Brush button. Then put the mouse pointer in the screen’s middle, where you want the squiggle to begin, and drag! Try it now!

Eraser

To erase a mistake, click the Eraser button. Then drag across the part of your drawing you want to erase. The part you drag across will become white.

Airbrush

To vandalize your drawing by using a can of spray paint, click the Airbrush button. Then put the mouse pointer where you want to begin spraying, and drag!

Line

To draw a line that’s exactly straight, click the Line button. Then put the mouse pointer where you want the line to begin, and drag to where you want the line to end.

If you hold down the SHIFT key while doing that dragging, you’ll force the line to be perfectly simple (perfectly vertical, perfectly horizontal, or at a perfect 45-degree angle).

Ctrl key

While holding down the Ctrl key, you can tap the Z, S, P, N, or O key. Here are the details:

If you make a mistake, zap the mistake by press Ctrl with Z. That makes the computer zap (undo) your last action. To zap your last two actions, press Ctrl with Z twice. To zap your last three actions, press Ctrl with Z three times. “Three times” is the limit of what you can zap: you cannot zap the last four actions.

To save your painting (copy it onto the hard disk), press Ctrl with S. Then type whatever name you want the painting to have, and press ENTER. Afterwards, if you edit your document further, save that editing by pressing Ctrl with S again.

To print your painting onto paper, press Ctrl with P. Then press ENTER. If your printer can’t print colors, it will substitute shades of gray.

To start working on a new painting, press Ctrl with N.

To open a painting (use a painting that you saved earlier), press Ctrl with the letter O. The computer will show you a list of the paintings you saved earler; click the painting you want, then press ENTER, which makes the computer put the painting onto the screen and let you edit it.

X button

When you finish using Paint, click the X button (at the screen’s top right corner). That closes the Paint window, so the Paint window disappears.

Did you save?

Before the computer obeys Ctrl N, Ctrl O, or the X button, the computer checks whether you saved your painting. If you didn’t save your painting, the computer asks, “Save changes?”

If you click “Yes”, the computer copies your painting’s most recent version to the hard disk.

If you click “No” instead, the computer ignores and forgets your most recent drawing efforts.

Advanced buttons

You’ve learned how to use the easy buttons (pencil, brush, eraser, airbrush, and line). Here’s how to use the other buttons, which are more advanced.

Rectangle To draw a rectangle whose sides are exactly straight, click the Rectangle button. Then put the mouse pointer where you want the rectangle’s top left corner to be, and drag to where you want the rectangle’s opposite corner.

If you hold down the SHIFT key while doing that dragging, you’ll force the rectangle to be a perfect square.

Rectangle variants Instead of clicking the Rectangle button, try clicking these variants:

If you click Rounded Rectangle instead of Rectangle, you’ll force the rectangle’s corners to be rounded (instead of sharp 90-degree angles). If you hold down the SHIFT key while dragging out the rounded rectangle, you’ll create a rounded square.

If you click Ellipse instead of Rectangle, you’ll force the rectangle’s corners to be very rounded, so the rectangle looks like an ellipse (oval). If you hold down the SHIFT key while dragging out the ellipse, you’ll create a perfect circle.

If you click Text instead of Rectangle, the rectangle will temporarily have dashed lines instead of solid lines. After creating that dashed rectangle, type whatever words you want inside the rectangle. Then click outside the rectangle. The dashed lines will disappear, so you won’t see a rectangle, but you’ll still see the words you typed.

Polygon To draw a polygon (a shape that has many straight sides and corners), click the Polygon button. Then put the mouse pointer where you want the polygon’s first corner to be, and drag to where you want the second corner. Click where you want the third corner, click where you want the fourth corner, click where you want the fifth corner, etc.

At the last corner, double-click instead of click. The double-clicking makes the computer complete the polygon: it makes the computer draw the final side back to the first corner.

Curve To draw a curve, click the Curve button. Then put the mouse pointer where you want the curve to begin, and drag to where you want the curve to end. Then take your finger off the mouse’s button.

You temporarily see a straight line. To turn that line into a curve, bend the line’s middle, by pointing at the line’s middle and dragging that midpoint in the direction you want to bend it. (While doing that dragging, try wiggling the mouse in all four directions, until the line bends close to the way you want.) Then take your finger off the mouse’s button.

To bend the line more, and even create a second bend (arc) in the line, drag again. (You get just two chances to bend the line.)

Fill With Color After you’ve drawn a closed shape (a rectangle, square, rounded rectangle, rounded square, ellipse, circle, or polygon, or “a squiggle that forms a loop so it ends where it started”), here’s how to fill in the shape’s interior (middle), so the interior becomes colored instead of white:

Click the Fill With Color button, then click your favorite color (from the 28 choices at the screen’s bottom), then click in the shape’s interior.

If you click outside the shape instead of inside, you’ll be coloring the shape’s exterior.

Pick Color In the middle of your drawing, if you see a color that you’ve used and like, here’s how to use it again:

Click the Pick Color button. Click in the middle of your drawing, where your favorite color is. Then draw some more shapes; they’ll be in the color you picked.

Select Here’s how to alter part of your drawing.

First, say which part of your drawing to alter, by using one of these methods.…

Method 1: click the Select button. Draw a dashed rectangle around that part of your drawing: to do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the rectangle’s top left corner to be, and drag to where you want the rectangle’s opposite corner.

Method 2: click the Free-Form Select button. Draw a loop around that part of your drawing: to do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the loop to begin, and drag until you’ve drawn the loop. (The loop will temporarily turn into a rectangle, but don’t let that bother you.)

Then say what to do to that part of your drawing. You have these choices:

To delete that part of your drawing, press the DELETE key.

To move that part of your drawing, point at the rectangle’s middle and drag that part of your drawing to wherever you want.

To copy that part of your drawing (so that part appears twice), point at the rectangle’s middle and, while holding down the Ctrl key, drag that part of your drawing to wherever you want the second copy to be.

To rotate that part of your drawing, press Ctrl with R, then click “Flip vertical” (to flip that part upside-down) or “Flip horizontal” (to see a mirror image of that part) or “Rotate by angle” (to stand that part on its end). Click “OK”.

To invert the colors in that part of your drawing, press Ctrl with I. In Windows 98, that makes black becomes white, white becomes black, yellow becomes blue, blue becomes yellow, green becomes purple, purple becomes green, red becomes greenish blue, and greenish blue becomes red. (In Windows 95, the color changes make less sense.)

To widen that part of your drawing, press Ctrl with W. (If you’re using Windows 95 instead of 98, then double-click in the first % box.) Type 200 (to make that part of your drawing twice as wide) or 300 (to make that part three times as wide) or whatever other percentage you wish. Click “OK”.

My Computer

While you’re using Windows 95 or 98, the screen’s top left corner usually shows an icon (little picture) entitled “My Computer”.

Right-click My Computer

To discover secrets about your computer, right-click the “My Computer” icon. (That means click it by using the rightmost button instead of the left button.)

You’ll see a shortcut menu. The menu’s bottom choice is “Properties”. Click the word “Properties” (by using the left mouse button).

You’ll see a message about your computer’s properties. For example, on one of my computers the message says —

System:

Microsoft Windows 95

4.00.950a

Registered to:

Russ Walter

The Secret Guide to Computers

32295-OEM-0005556-34353

Computer:

Quantex Microsystems, Inc.

Pentium(r)

16.0MB RAM

That means I’m using just Windows 95 (not Windows 98), I’m using version 4.00.950a (which is newer and better than version 4.00.950 but not as new as version 4.00.950 B), the computer is registered to me & my company, the computer was manufactured by Quantex Microsystems, the computer’s CPU chip is a Pentium (which is a registered trademark of Intel), and the computer contains 16 megabytes of RAM chips.

On one of my newer computers, the message says —

System:

Microsoft Windows 98

4.10.1998

Registered to:

User

...

24498-OEM-0070275-56731

Computer:

AuthenticAMD

AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor

Intel MMX(TM) Technology

64.0MB RAM

That means I’m using Windows 98, I haven’t registered the computer yet, the computer’s CPU chip is manufactured by AMD instead of by Intel but uses Intel’s MMX technology, and the computer contains 64 megabytes of RAM chips.

What message does your computer show? When you finish admiring the message, click “OK”.

Windows 98’s custom style

If you’re using Windows 98 (instead of 95), you should do this:

Click “Start” then “Settings” then “Folder Options”.

Click “Classic style” then “Apply”.

Click “Custom” then “Settings” then “For all folders with HTML content”.

Click “OK” then “Close”.

That procedure gives your computer the best custom style, so you can follow the instructions in this chapter and in Microsoft’s manuals and tutorials.

Your computer and your copy of Windows 98 probably came with that procedure done already, but do it again to be sure. If you’re sharing the computer with friends, ask their permission before doing the procedure.

Double-click My Computer

To see different secrets about your computer, double-click the My Computer icon. You’ll see the My Computer window.

That window contains an icon for each disk drive. For example, if your computer has a floppy drive called “A:”, a hard drive called “C:”, and a CD-ROM drive called “D:”, you’ll see a “Floppy A:” icon, a “C:” icon, and a “D:” icon.

The window also contains a Printers icon and a Control Panel icon. It might also contain a Dial-Up Networking icon. (If you’re using Windows 98, it also contains a Scheduled Tasks icon.)

Manipulate your hard disk

To find out about your hard disk, click the “C:” icon, which is in the My Computer window. Then the My Computer window changes:

If you’re using Windows 95, the bottom right corner of the My Computer window will tell you how much of the disk’s capacity is still unused (free).

If you’re using Windows 98, the left part of the My Computer window is a pie chart showing the disk’s total capacity, how much of it is used up, and how much of it is still unused (free).

To find out more about your hard disk, right-click the “C:” icon (so you see a shortcut menu), then choose “Properties” from that menu (by clicking “Properties”). You’ll see a fancy pie chart showing the disk’s total capacity, how much of it is used up, and how much of it is still unused (free). When you finish admiring that chart, click “OK”.

If you double-click the “C:” icon, you’ll see the C window, which lists files that are on the hard disk. Make sure the C window consumes the whole screen. (If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize the C window by clicking the resize button, which is next to the X button.) If the hard disk contains more files than can fit on the screen, view the remaining files by pressing the ₆ and 5 buttons, which are at the screen’s right edge.

For each file, you see the file’s name and a tiny picture (icon) representing the file.

If the file’s a document, its icon looks like a notepad (or else a page whose top right corner is bent).

If the file’s an application program, its icon looks like a window.

If the file’s a folder containing other files, its icon looks like a yellow manila folder. If you double-click that icon, a new window shows you what files are in the folder. (When you finish admiring the new window, close it by clicking its X button.)

If you click a file’s icon, here’s what happens:

If the file’s a document or program, the screen’s bottom shows you how many bytes are in the file.

If you’re using Windows 98, the screen’s left shows you the file’s MS-DOS name, the file’s type (“Document” or “Application” or “Folder”), the date when the file was last modified, and (if the file’s a document or application) the file’s size (rounded).

Double-clicking a program’s icon will make the computer try to run the program; don’t do that unless you’ve read instructions about how to run the program successfully! Double-clicking a document’s icon will make the computer try to use that document: the computer will try to run the program that created the document, but sometimes the computer can’t correctly deduce which program created the document.

View menu While you’re viewing icons, you can change their appearance by clicking the word “View”, which gives a View menu. From that menu, choose either Large Icons (to make the icons as large & lovely as when you bought the computer), Small Icons (to make the icons small, so you fit more of them on the screen), List (to make the icons small and organized so you begin by reading down the left column), or Details (to make each icon small and accompanied by a comment showing the file’s size and the date when the file was last modified). Usually you’ll be happiest if you choose “List”.

New folder To create a new folder, click “File” (which is at the screen’s top left corner), so you see the File menu. From that menu, choose “New”, then click “Folder”.

A new folder will appear. Type a name for it (and press ENTER).

Close the C window When you finish examining the files that are on hard disk C, close the C window by clicking its X button.

Manipulate floppy disks

To analyze a floppy disk that contains info, put the floppy disk into drive A. Then double-click the “Floppy A:” icon, which is in the My Computer Window. You’ll see the A window, which lists the files that are on the floppy disk.

Make sure the A window consumes the whole screen. (If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize the A window by clicking the resize button, which is next to the X button.)

If the floppy disk contains more files than can fit on the screen, view the remaining files by pressing the ₆ and 5 buttons, which are at the screen’s right edge.

For each file, you see the file’s name and an icon representing the file. When you finish examining them, close the A window by clicking its X button.

Format a floppy disk If you buy a new floppy disk that doesn’t contain any info yet, that disk must be formatted. Probably the disk’s been formatted for you by the disk’s manufacturer; but if the disk hasn’t been formatted yet, you must format it yourself. Warning: formatting a disk erases any info that was on the disk.

To format a floppy disk, put the disk into drive A. In the My Computer window, right-click the “Floppy A:” icon. Left-click “Format”, then “Start”, then “Close”, then “Close” again.

Duplicate a floppy disk If you have a 3½-inch 1.44M floppy disk that contains info, and you have a 3½-inch 1.44M floppy disk that’s blank, here’s how to copy all info from the first disk to the second so the second becomes an exact duplicate of the first.

Put the first disk (which contains info) into drive A. In the My Computer window, right-click the “Floppy A:” icon. Click “Copy Disk” and press ENTER. When the computer tells you, put the blank disk into drive A (after removing the other disk) and press ENTER. The computer will say “Copy completed successfully”. Click “Close”.

When you finish using the My Computer window, close it by clicking its X button.

File’s shortcut menu

When you turn on the computer, Windows 95 and 98 make the screen show the Start button, the My Computer icon, the Recycle Bin icon, and several other icons.

Suppose you’ve created a document by using WordPad or Paint.

In Windows 95, your document’s icon is probably on the screen already.

Windows 98 makes your screen show a folder called “My Documents”; your document’s icon is buried in that folder.

If you’re interested in a file, make that file’s icon appear on the screen. If the file you’re interested in doesn’t have an icon on the screen yet, here’s how to make the icon appear. If the icon is in a folder that’s on the screen (such as Windows 98’s “My Documents” folder), double-click the folder’s icon. If the icon is not in a folder on screen, do this:

Double-click the My Computer Icon. Then double-clicking the “C:” icon (if the file’s on the hard disk) or the “Floppy A:” icon (if the file’s on a floppy disk in drive A). Then you see icons for many files and folders. If you still don’t see the file’s icon but the file’s in a folder, make the file’s icon appear by double-clicking the folder’s icon.

Once the file’s icon is on the screen, right-click on the file’s icon. You’ll see the file’s shortcut menu, which offers these choices:

Open

Send To

Cut

Copy

Rename

Properties

(For some kinds of files, the shortcut menu offers extra choices also.)

Here’s what each choice means.…

Properties

If you choose “Properties”, the computer tells you the file’s name, the folder it’s in, the file’s size, the file’s MS-DOS name, the date when the file was last modified, the date when the file was last used (accessed), and other info about the file. When you finish admiring that info, click “OK”.

Rename

If you choose “Rename”, the computer lets you change the file’s name. Type a new name (and press ENTER).

Shortcut Instead of right-clicking the file’s icon and then choosing Rename, you can left-click the file’s icon and then left-click the file’s name.

Open

If you choose “Open”, the computer opens the file, so it does the same thing as if you double-clicked the file’s icon:

If the file’s a folder, the computer opens the folder and shows what’s inside.

If the file’s a program, the computer runs the program.

If the file’s a document, the computer uses the document (by running the program that created the document).

Send To

If you choose “Send To” and the file’s on the hard disk, the computer lets you send a copy of the file to a floppy disk. After choosing “Send To”, put the floppy disk into drive A. Then click the “Floppy A” icon.

Exception: on some computers (such as the Windows 95 computer I bought from Quantex), “Floppy A” is not one of the choices. To fix that error and make “Floppy A” become one of the choices, do this:

Close all windows (by clicking their X buttons). Double-click the My Computer icon, then the “C:” icon, then the Windows icon, then the SendTo icon. From the File menu, choose New, then Shortcut. Put a floppy disk into drive A. On the keyboard, type “a:” (and then press the ENTER key twice). Close all windows (by clicking their X buttons).

Copy

If you choose “Copy”, the computer lets you copy the file anywhere you wish!

After choosing “Copy”, right-click where you want the copy of the file to appear. For example, you can:

right-click on a blank place next to the file (so the copy’s icon will appear next to the original’s icon),

or right-click on a folder’s icon (so the copy will be inserted into that folder),

or open a new window & right-click on a blank place in that window,

or right-click on a blank place that’s not in any window.

Then click “Paste”. The copy will appear.

Each copy takes up space on the disk. For example, if the original file is 1 megabyte long, the copy will be 1 megabyte long also, so the original file plus its copy will consume a total of 2 megabytes.

Paste Shortcut If you click “Paste Shortcut” instead of “Paste”, the copy will not consume a megabyte; it will consume just a few bytes telling the computer to refer to the original file for details. In that case, the copy is called a shortcut. The shortcut’s icon has a bent arrow on it, to emphasize that the shortcut just points back to the original file.

If a file’s icon is hard to get to (because the file’s in a folder that’s in another folder that’s in another folder), create a shortcut to it by doing this:

Right-click the file’s icon, then choose “Copy”, then close all windows (by clicking their X boxes).

Right-click on a blank place in the middle of the screen, then click “Paste Shortcut”.

A shortcut to the file’s icon will appear where you clicked.

To access the file, just double-click the shortcut’s icon.

Copy from floppy disk to hard disk Here’s how to copy a file from a floppy disk to your hard disk.

Put the floppy disk into drive A. In the My Computer window, double-click the “3½ Floppy (A:)” icon. Right-click the icon of the file you want to copy. Click “Copy”.

Close the “Floppy A:” window (by clicking its X box). Double-click the “C:” icon.

Which of the hard disk’s folders do you want to copy the file to? Either right-click that folder’s icon, or right-click on a blank place in that folder’s window.

Then click “Paste”.

Cut

If you choose “Cut”, the computer lets you make the file vanish from its current location and reappear in a new location. After choosing “Cut”, right-click at the place where you want the file to reappear, then click “Paste”.

Deleting files

Here’s how to delete a file: click its icon, then press the DELETE key, then the ENTER key.

Try it!

Go ahead: try that procedure! To be safe, delete a file that’s unimportant, such as a short, junky document you created by using WordPad or Paint.

While you’re in the middle of using WordPad, here’s the easiest way to delete a WordPad document:

Click the Open button, so you see a list of WordPad documents and their icons.

Click the document you want to delete.

Press the DELETE key, then the ENTER key.

While you’re in the middle of using Paint, here’s the easiest way to delete a painting you created:

Press Ctrl with O, so you see a list of paintings you created and their icons.

Click the painting you want to delete.

Press the DELETE key, then the ENTER key.

Deleted immediately?

If you use say to delete a file from a floppy disk, the computer deletes the file immediately. But if you try to delete a file from the hard disk instead, the computer does not delete the file immediately; instead, the computer moves the file to the Recycle Bin, which holds hard-disk files you said to delete.

Peek in the Recycle Bin

To discover what’s in the Recycle Bin, double-click the Recycle Bin icon. (It’s at the screen’s left edge.) You’ll see the Recycle Bin window, which shows a list of files you said to delete. (If you don’t see a file list, the Recycle Bin is empty.)

To see lots of info about the files in the Recycle Bin, make sure the Recycle Bin window is maximized (so it consumes the whole screen), and make sure you’re seeing the Details view (by clicking “View” then “Details”).

To see even more details about a certain file, right-click the file’s icon and then click “Properties”. When you finish admiring the details, click “OK”.

Restore or delete? If you change your mind and do not want to delete a certain file, right-click the file’s icon and then click “Restore”. That makes the computer pull the file out of the Recycle Bin and put the file back to its original location on the hard disk.

If, on the other hand, you really do want to delete a certain file, click the file’s icon and then press the DELETE key; then press ENTER. The file will disappear.

To delete all files from the Recycle Bin, click “File” and then “Empty Recycle Bin”; then press the ENTER key. Everything in the Recycle Bin will disappear.

Close When you finish admiring the Recycle Bin window, click its X box.

Avoid the Recycle Bin

You’ve learned that to delete a file, the usual procedure is to click the file’s icon, then tap the DELETE key, then tap the ENTER key. If the file was on the hard disk, that procedure moves the file into the Recycle Bin.

Notice that the procedure involves tapping the DELETE key. If, while you’re tapping the DELETE key, you hold down the SHIFT key, the computer deletes the file immediately instead of moving it to the Recycle Bin.

Tricks

These tricks will make you a pro.

System tools

To improve the way your computer acts do this: double-click the My Computer icon, then right-click the “C:” icon, then click “Properties”, then click “Tools”.

ScanDisk To make sure your hard disk contains no errors, click “Check Now”.

Then click either “Standard” or “Thorough”. If you click “Standard”, the computer will give your hard disk a standard checkup, which takes about a minute. If you click “Thorough”, the computer will give your hard disk a more thorough checkup, which takes about an hour. (Those times are just approximate. The exact times depend on how fast your computer & hard drive are and how much info’s on your hard disk.)

After clicking “Standard” or “Thorough”, press ENTER. The computer will check your drive for errors, by using a program called ScanDisk.

If the computer says “ScanDisk found data in lost file fragments”, click “Discard” and then “OK”.

When the computer finishes checking your drive, it will say “ScanDisk Results”. (If you’re lucky and there are no errors, the computer will also say “ScanDisk did not find any errors on this drive.”) The computer will also tell you how many bytes are on the disk. When you finish reading those messages, press ENTER twice.

Defrag To make your hard disk run faster, click “Defragment Now”. If the computer gives you a choice between “Start”, “Select Drive”, “Advanced”, and “Exit”, click “Start”.

That makes the computer rearrange the info on your hard disk to let the computer access it faster. For example, if one of your hard disk’s files is fragmented (split into several fragments that are scattered across the disk), the computer will try to defragment (defrag) the file to make it consist of a single big chunk that the computer can access faster.

When the computer finishes rearranging your hard disk’s files, the computer will say “Defragmentation of drive C is complete.” Press ENTER.

Close When you finish using the system tools, close the window by clicking its X box. Then close the My Computer window by clicking its X box also.

Start menu

When you click the Start button (at the screen’s bottom left corner), Windows 98 shows you this Start menu:

Windows Update

Programs 4

Favorites 4

Documents 4

Settings 4

Find 4

Help

Run

Shut Down

You’ve already learned about “Programs” and “Shut Down”.

Two of the choices — “Windows Update” and “Favorites” — deal with the Internet. Windows 95 omits those choices. I’ll explain the Internet on pages 208-230.

Let’s examine the other choices.…

Documents If you choose “Documents”, the computer shows you the Document menu, which is a list of the last 15 documents you used. (If your computer is new and you haven’t used 15 documents yet, the list is shorter.)

Windows 95 shows the list in alphabetical order (from A to Z).

Windows 98 shows the list in chronological order (from oldest to newest).

To use one of those documents, click it. Then the computer runs the program that created the document, and the computer lets you use the document. When you finish using the document, close its window (by clicking its X box).

Suppose you delete one of those 15 documents (by double-clicking My Computer, then double-clicking “C:”, then clicking the document’s icon, then pressing the DELETE key; or by double-clicking Windows 98’s My Documents folder, then clicking the document’s icon, then pressing the DELETE key). Even though you’ve deleted the document, it remains mentioned in the Document menu. So although the Document menu lists the last 15 documents you mentioned, those 15 documents don’t necessarily still exist!

Find To use a file that’s on your hard disk, the traditional method is to double-click the My Computer icon, then double-click the “C:”, then double-click any folders that the file is in (until the file’s icon appears), then double-click the file’s icon. To use that procedure, you must double-click many times (especially if the file is buried in a folder that’s in another folder that’s in other folders), and that procedure works just if you already know which folders the file is in. Such hunting for your buried treasure can be hard work!

Here’s a faster way to unearth the file.…

From the Start menu, choose “Find”. Then click “Files or Folders”. You’ll see the Find Files window.

Then type the file’s name — or whatever part of the name you can remember. For example, if you want to search for a file that might be called “Lovers” or “My Love” or “To My Lovely”, just type “Love”.

At the end of your typing, do not press ENTER yet; instead, examine the Look In box.

If the Look In box contains “C:”, the computer will look through your entire hard disk; if the Look In box contains “My Documents” instead, the computer will look through just the My Documents folder. If you don’t like what’s in the Look In box, change it by clicking its down-arrow and then click the choice you wish.

When the Look In box contains what you wish, press ENTER.

The computer will search your entire hard drive for any files having that name. It will show you a list of all such files. To see the list fully, maximize the Find Files window by clicking its resize button (which is next to the X button), so the window consumes the whole screen.

If no file in that list interests you, close the window by clicking the X box.

If one of those files does interest you, double-click it. Then the computer will start using it.

If the file’s a program, the computer will run the program.

If the file’s a document, the computer will run the program that created it.

If the file’s a folder, the computer will show you what’s in the folder.

Run Here’s a faster way to tell the computer to run WordPad: from the Start menu, choose “Run”; then type “wordpad” and press ENTER.

To run Paint instead of WordPad, type “mspaint” instead of “wordpad”. To run the Calculator, type “calc” instead.

When you buy a program, it typically comes on a disk (a floppy disk or a CD-ROM disk). The instructions for copying it onto your hard disk might say to run a program called “install” or “setup”. To obey such instructions, do this:

Put the floppy disk or CD-ROM disk into your disk drive. Choose “Run” from the Start menu.

If the program came on a floppy disk, type “a:install” or “a:setup” (whichever they said to type). If the program came on a CD-ROM disk and your CD-ROM drive is called “D:”, type “d:install” or “d:setup” (whichever they said). If the program came on a CD-ROM disk and your CD-ROM drive is called “E:”, type “e:install” or “e:setup” (whichever they said).

At the end of your typing, press ENTER.

Settings To change the way your computer acts, do this: from the Start menu, choose “Settings”, then click “Control Panel”. You’ll see the Control Panel window. For Windows 98, that window contains these 23 icons:

32bit ODBC, Accessibility Options, Add New Hardware, Add/Remove Programs, Date/Time, Desktop Themes, Display, Fonts, Game Controllers, Internet, Keyboard, Modems, Mouse, Multimedia, Network, Passwords, Power Management, Printers, Regional Settings, Sounds, System, Telephony, Users

(Windows 95 says Power instead of Power Management, says Joystick instead of Game Controllers, omits 4 icons (32bit ODBC, Desktop Themes, Telephony, and Users) but adds Mail-and-Fax.)

For your first experiment, double-click the Mouse icon.

You’ll see the Mouse Properties window. To modify the mouse’s motion, click “Motion”. Then if you put a _a in the “Show pointer trails” box (by clicking it), you’ll see a trail of mouse pointers whenever you move the mouse. To make the trail be long and obvious, make sure the slider is dragged toward the right, to the “Long” position.

The long trail helps you notice the mouse pointer more easily. It’s useful when you’re giving a presentation to a group of people and want to make sure they always notice where the mouse is moving. It’s also useful if you’re on a laptop computer whose screen is “passive matrix”, which is too slow to show mouse motions well.

If you change your mind, stop the trails by clicking the “Show pointer trails” box again, so the check mark disappears.

When you finish experimenting with pointer trails, close the Mouse Properties window by clicking “OK”.

You can experiment by double-clicking any of the other icons in the Control Panel window, but be careful! If you tell the computer to use hardware you don’t own, Windows will stop working! Before changing a setting, make a note to yourself of what the setting was, so you can get back to it! Be especially cautious about playing with the Display icon, since if you make a wrong choice your screen will be unreadable!

When you finish playing with the Control Panel window, close it by clicking its X box.

If you’re using Windows 98 (instead of 95), try this experiment:

From the Start menu, choose “Settings” then “Folder Options”. Click “Web style”, then press ENTER.

Then your computer will act quite differently. Each major icon’s name is underlined. To open a major icon, click it just once (instead of double-clicking). To select a major icon, just put the mouse’s pointer on it and wait a second, without clicking: the icon will darken and be selected. When dealing with major icons, each window usually maximizes itself and makes all other windows close. When you finish using a window, either click its X button (which closes that window) or else click its Back button (which is near the window’s top left corner and closes that window and shows you the previous window).

When you finish experimenting with those features, return the computer back to normal by following the procedure on page 102, in the section called “Windows 98’s custom style”.

Help For further help in learning how to use Windows 95 or 98, choose “Help” from the Start menu. Then click either “Contents” or “Index”.

If you choose “Contents”, the computer shows a list of the major topics. Click the topic you want help about; if you then see a list of subtopics, click the subtopic you want help about. If you’re using Windows 95 instead of 98, you must double-click instead of click.

If you choose “Index”, the computer tries to show an alphabetical index of all topics about Windows 95 (or 98). You see just the index’s beginning; to see the index section about the topic you wish, type the first few letters of the topic’s name. When you see your desired topic, double-click it.

When you finish using help, close the help window by clicking its X box. (If you don’t see an X box, click “Exit” and then click “Exit Tour”.)

Play a music CD

Before 1980, music came on records or tapes. Nowadays, music comes on compact discs instead. If you’ve gone to a music store and bought a compact disc containing music, you can shove that disk into your computer’s CD-ROM drive while Windows is running. The computer will play the compact disc as background music, while you continue your work.

Volume To adjust the music’s volume, turn the volume knob, which is typically on the front of the right speaker. (For some old systems, the volume knob is on the computer’s back wall instead, below where the speaker’s cable enters the computer.)

On some systems, the screen’s bottom right corner shows a Volume icon (which looks like a blaring loudspeaker and is next to the time). If you click that icon, you’ll see a slider. Using the mouse, drag the slider up (to raise the volume) or down (to lower it).

CD Player button While the music plays, a CD Player button appears at the screen’s bottom next to the Start button. On that button, you see which track (song) you’re playing and how many minutes & seconds of that track have elapsed.

To control the music, click the CD Player button. You’ll see the CD Player window. In that window, click the ║ button to pause in the middle of a song, n to stop back at the beginning of track 1, „ to resume playing, „„│ to skip ahead to the next track, │ƒƒ to hop back to the beginning of the current track. Hold down the „„ button awhile to go fast-forward, ƒƒ to reverse. Click to eject the disk from the drive (so you can insert a different disk instead). When you tire of listening to your CD collection, click eject ( ) and click the window’s X button.

Taskbar

At the screen’s bottom, you see a gray bar, called the taskbar.

It’s about half an inch tall, and it’s very wide: it runs across the screen, from the screen’s bottom left corner to the bottom right corner. The taskbar includes the “Start” button (at the screen’s bottom left corner), the time box (at the screen’s bottom right corner), and everything between them.

When you’re running a task (program), the taskbar usually shows a button for that task. For example, while you’re running WordPad, you see a WordPad button on the taskbar. While you’re running Paint, you see a Paint button on the taskbar.

Try this experiment:

Start running WordPad (by clicking Start then Programs then Accessories then WordPad). Now the taskbar includes a WordPad button. Since WordPad is a word-processing program, type a few words, so you’ve created a short document on your screen.

While WordPad is still on your screen, start running Paint (by clicking Start then Programs then Accessories then Paint). Now the taskbar includes a WordPad button and a Paint button, because WordPad and Paint are both running simultaneously: they’re both in the computer’s RAM memory chips. Paint is blocking your view of WordPad, but WordPad is still running also.

To see WordPad better, click WordPad’s button on the toolbar. Then you’ll see WordPad clearly, and WordPad will block your view of Paint.

Here’s the rule: clicking WordPad’s button lets you see WordPad better; clicking Paint’s button lets you see Paint better. Both programs are in RAM simultaneously, until you close them (by clicking their X buttons).

You can run several program simultaneously (for example, you can run WordPad, Paint, and Calculator all simultaneously, so you see all their buttons on the taskbar simultaneously). But if you try to run many programs simultaneously, the computer is likely to get confused and fail (especially if you bought too little RAM or you’re using an old version of Windows 95 or your computer’s been on for many hours in a row). To avoid headaches, run no more than two major programs at a time.

Clipboard

You can copy data from one document to another, even if the documents were created by different programs, and even if one “document” is a drawing and the other “document” contains mostly words. (For example, you can copy data that’s a drawing, from Paint to WordPad.) Here’s how:

Get onto the screen the data you want to copy.

Select that data, by dragging across it. (If that data is in Paint, click Paint’s Select button before dragging.)

Say “copy” by pressing Ctrl with C. That secretly copies the data to the Clipboard (a file you can’t see).

Get onto the screen the document you want to copy the data to.

In that document, click where you want the data to be inserted.

Say “Velcro” by pressing Ctrl with V. That sticks the Clipboard’s data into the document.

(If you’re sticking the data into a WordPad document, the computer sticks it where you requested. If you’re sticking the data into a Paint document, the computer insists on sticking it at the painting’s top left corner; then drag the data where you want it.)

Keyboard

A traditional keyboard contains 101 keys. If your keyboard is designed especially for Windows 95 and 98, it contains 3 extra keys near the SPACE bar, so you get 104 keys altogether.

Two of those extra keys are the Windows keys: each shows a flying window. If you press either of the Windows keys, the Start menu appears. So pressing either of those keys has the same effect as if your mouse clicked the Start button. You can press either of the Windows keys: those two keys serve the same purpose as each other, except that one is nearer your left hand, the other is nearer your right. Your keyboard has two SHIFT keys, two Ctrl keys, two Alt keys, and two Windows keys.

The other extra key, called the menu key, shows an arrow pointing at a menu. If you press the menu key, a shortcut menu appears. For example, if you click an icon and then press the menu key, that icon’s shortcut menu appears.

Property window Here are 4 ways to make an icon’s property window appear.…

Right-click method: right-click the icon (so the icon’s shortcut menu appears), then click “Properties”

Menu-key method: click the icon, press the menu key (so the icon’s shortcut menu appears), then either
click “Properties” or press the R key (which is the code for “Properties”)

Alt-double method: while holding down the Alt key, double-click the icon

Alt-enter method: click the icon; then while holding down the Alt key, tap the ENTER key

Use whichever method you wish! My favorites are the right-click method (which feels the most natural) and the Alt-double method (which is usually the fastest).

Alt F4 Try this experiment: while holding down the Alt key, tap the F4 key.

If a window is open, that makes the computer click the window’s X box, so the window closes. (If two windows are open, here’s how to close both: while holding down the Alt key, tap the F4 key twice. If several windows are open, here’s how to close them all: while holding down the Alt and SHIFT keys, tap the F4 key.)

If no windows are open, Alt with F4 makes the computer choose Shut Down from the Start menu.

Problem: someday your mouse stops working (because the mouse is broken or the computer gets too confused to handle the mouse). To get out of that mess, press Alt F4 several times (to close your windows and shut down the computer). Then try again to turn the computer on.

Dig deeper

While using Windows 95, 98, or Me, you can give MS-DOS commands. Details are on pages 114-149.

To make Windows 95, 98, and Me run better, clean your software. Details are on pages 575-578.

Windows 95, 98, and Me handle your modem (page 205), the Internet, (pages206-230) and faxes (page 231).