Teach Yourself Windows 98 in 24 Hours

Contents

- 5 -
Explore the Windows 98 System

Windows 98 includes a comprehensive program that you might use every time you turn on your computer, the Windows 98 Explorer, which graphically displays your entire computer system in a hierarchical tree structure. With Explorer, you have access to everything inside your computer (and outside if you are part of a network or on the Internet).

This hour demonstrates the Windows 98 Explorer, which enables you to manipulate all of your computer's software and hardware. After you've learned about Explorer, the hour wraps up by showing you some time- and disk-saving features of Windows 98.

The highlights of this hour include the following:

Hello, Windows 98 Explorer!

You can find the Windows Explorer program listed on the Start menu's second cascaded menu. Click the Start button to display the Start menu. Select Programs, and then select Windows Explorer. The Explorer window opens to look like the one shown in Figure 5.1. Although the figure shows the Explorer screen fully maximized, you can run Explorer in a smaller window if you want something else to appear on your screen as well.

Figure 5.1. Explorer's opening window.

NOTE Your Explorer screen might look slightly different, depending on your Windows 98 configuration. You can see how to change your Explorer's view in the next task.

TIP You can quickly start Explorer by right-clicking over the Start menu and selecting Explore from the pop-up menu that appears. Explorer opens to the Windows\Start Menu directory. If you have a Windows keyboard, one with the flying Windows logo on a key (called the Windows key), you can start Explorer even faster by pressing Windows+E.

The left side of the Explorer screen contains a hierarchical overview of your computer system. You will recognize many of the icon entries from your My Computer window. If a vertical scrollbar appears on the left window, scroll to see the rest of the hierarchical system tree.

NOTE If a folder icon appears with a plus sign to the left of it, as the Windows folder does, that folder contains additional folders. Folder icons without the plus sign contain only data files (called documents throughout Windows 98) but not additional folders. When you open a folder and display its contents, the plus sign changes to a minus sign, as you'll see in the first task.

The right window contains a pictorial overview of the contents of whichever device or folder you select in the left window. The overview might contain large or small icons or a list view, depending on the view you that select. As you select different items in the left window, the right window changes to reflect your changes. Task 5.1 guides you through an initial exploration of Explorer.

TIP The Windows 98 Explorer is not limited to directories and files but displays folders, including your networked folders, as well as Internet services.

Task 5.1: Changing Explorer's View

Step 1: Description This task teaches you how to adjust Explorer's display to see the Explorer screen in different ways. As you use Explorer, you can change the display to offer the best option for the information you're looking for at the time.

This task assumes that you've already started Explorer, as requested in the previous section.

Step 2: Action

1. Scroll through the left window pane until you see the icon for the C: drive in the window.

2. If you see a plus sign next to your C: icon in the left window (you might have to scroll the window's scrollbar to see the C: icon), click the plus sign to display the contents of the C: drive. The plus becomes a minus sign, and the left window opens the C: icon showing the list of folders and documents on the C: drive. Click the drive's minus sign again to close the window. Click once more to turn the plus to a minus and watch the right window. As you change between these two views of the C: drive (detailed and overview), watch the right window.

NOTE Notice that the right window does not change as you click the C: icon in the left window. The reason is that the right window always displays the contents of whatever you highlight in the left window. Whether or not the C: icon is open (with a minus sign) or closed (with a plus sign), the C: icon is highlighted. The right window displays that selected C: drive's highest level folders and documents. If you were to click one of those documents on the C: drive, the right window would then update to show the contents of that folder (don't click a folder just yet).
3. Click the highest level in the left window, labeled Desktop, and Windows 98 displays the contents of your desktop in the right window (see Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2. You can view the desktop contents in the Explorer.

4. Click the C: icon to display the contents of the C: drive. Depending on the contents and size of your C: drive, the right window can contain a few or several document files.

5. Press Alt+V to open the View menu on the menu bar. Select Toolbar to display a list of tools you can display on your toolbar. You will recognize the tools from the My Computer window. For example, you can add text labels to the toolbar icons.
Click the dropdown listbox on the toolbar, labeled Address Bar (display the Address Bar item from View|Toolbar if you don't see the listbox) to see another access method for swapping between devices, folders, and files on your computer. If you ever display more information than can fit in the left window, the Address drop-down listbox compacts the list so that detail does not appear in your viewing area.

6. Display the View menu once again. The Large Icons window (the default display view) consumes most of the right window. Therefore, select View|Small Icons to gather more room in the right window. The View|Small Icons command shrinks the size of the icons to show more items in the right window.

7. Select View|List. Windows 98 Explorer retains the small icon sizes and displays the items by type of item (folders first and then documents).

8. Select View|Details. Windows 98 Explorer displays the items in a detailed format that describes the name, type, and modified date of each item. Actually, given the detail that you normally have by using Explorer, you will almost always want to display the right window in this detailed list view. When you work with files, you will often need to know their size, type, or last modified date.

Adjust the column widths of the three detailed columns in the right window by dragging the column title dividers left or right with your mouse.

Click Name, the title of the first detailed column in the right window. Watch the window's contents change as you then click Modified. Explorer sorts the display to appear in date order (earliest first). Click Modified again and Explorer displays the items in reverse date order from the oldest to the most recent. If you click any column twice in a row, Windows 98 sorts the column in reverse order. You can always sort columns in order or reverse order by clicking the column's name when working in a columnar Windows 98 window.

9. If you want to see more of one of Explorer's windows, you can drag the vertical dividing line that falls between the two windows to the left or right. For example, if you want the left window to be smaller to make room for more large icons, drag the center column to the left and release the mouse when the left window is as small as you want it. (Remember that the mouse cursor changes shape when you place it at the proper position on the dividing column.)

Explorer does not update the display every time you resize a window. Therefore, if you enlarge the right window while in an icon view, Explorer does not automatically rearrange the right window's icons to fill up the newly enlarged space. The View|Refresh command adjusts the icons to fill the space evenly. You will almost always want to select View|Refresh after modifying Explorer's window sizes. Perform Refresh when you open Explorer in a window and then add or delete files from another window. When you select View|Refresh, Explorer updates its file list and changes the display to reflect the new file status.

NOTE If you make the left or right window too small, Windows 98 adds a horizontal scrollbar to the small window so that you can scroll its contents back and forth to see what's highlighted or to select another item.
10. The Explorer environment is always updating itself to reflect your current actions. Therefore, the right-click menu commands change, depending on whether you select a text document, folder, sound document, graphics document, disk drive, or network drive. Click a folder and click the right mouse button to see the menu that appears. Now, click the right mouse button over a document file to see a slightly different menu. The actions you might want to perform on a document are often different from the actions you might want to perform on a folder, and the menu reflects those differences. The right-click's pop-up menus are context-sensitive, so they contain only the options you can use at the time.

TIP Open a folder by double-clicking it, and then return to the previous (parent) folder by clicking the Up One Level icon on the Explorer's taskbar. Use the Up toolbar button to return to your previously open Explorer window. You can return to the previous folder you opened (which is not necessarily the parent folder) by clicking the Back button.
11. Many Explorer users copy files to and from disk drives and other kinds of drives, such as networked drives.

You can use Explorer to copy and move individual files or multiple files at once. Often, you want to put one or more files on a disk to use on your home computer for weekend overtime (sure, you want to do that a lot!).

To select a Windows 98 file (called a document, remember), click that document or point to it if you've turned on the Web-like file-selection scheme. To select more than one document at a time, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking each document that you want to select. You can select folders, as well as documents. When you select a folder and other document files to copy to a disk, for example, Windows 98 copies all of the document files within the folder, as well as the other document files you've selected, to the disk. Figure 5.3 shows an Explorer screen with several document files and a folder selected. The File|Send To command is about to send those files to the disk in the A: drive. The Send To command is useful for sending copies of selected files and folders to a disk, a fax recipient, or one of several other destinations you've set up. You will learn more about the Send To command in Task 5.4.

TIP If you want to select all but one or two documents and folders inside a window, first Ctrl+click the one or two that you don't want to select (which selects those) and choose Edit|Invert Selection to reverse the selection. All the items that were not selected are now selected, and the one or two that were selected are not selected anymore.

Figure 5.3. Select multiple documents and folders if you need to copy several at a time.

12. When you want to move or copy a file to another location (the Send To command works only for disks and other non-hard disk devices), select the file (or select a group of files) in the right window and drag while holding down the right mouse button to the folder or disk where you want to move or copy the file. Windows 98 opens a pop-up menu when you release the files from which you can select a move or copy operation.

13. Rename files and folders if you need to by selecting the file or folder and pressing the F2 shortcut key. (F2 is the shortcut for the File|Rename menu command.) Windows 98 highlights the name, so you can edit or enter a new name. When you press Enter Windows 98 saves the new name.

Step 3: Review

The Explorer windows give you both high-level and detailed overviews of your computer system and the computer's files. Explorer offers two windows for two different views: A computer-level view and a folder view, if you need one. Clicking folder icons inside either window opens those folders and gives you a view of more documents and folders deeper within your computer system.

After you display documents and folders, you are free to copy, move, delete, and rename those items.

The strength of Explorer is that your entire computer system appears in the left window at all times. When you want to drag a document or folder to a different directory on a completely different drive (or even to another computer on the network if you are connected to a network), the target disk drive always appears in the left window. As long as you've clicked the disk drive's plus sign to display that disk's directories, you can drop a file into that directory from elsewhere in the system.

The Explorer Options

Explorer supports various display options for the items inside its windows. Recall from previous hours that Windows 98 supports the use of filename extensions. The View|Folder Options command displays tabbed dialog boxes that enable you to control the items in the Explorer display.

Task 5.2: Changing Explorer's Options

Step 1: Description

Different users require different output from the Explorer program. There are types of documents that you simply don't need to display during normal work inside Explorer. The system files are good examples of files that the typical user does not need to see.

In addition, the actual location of the file--its pathname--does not always match the system of embedded folders. (See Hour 3, "Take Windows 98 to Task," for more information on pathnames.) In other words, a document might be located inside two embedded folders shown with the Explorer display, but the actual file might be embedded three levels deep on your hard disk. The system of folders--usually but not always--matches the system of directories on your disk. If you need to know exactly where folders and documents are located on your disk drive, you can request that Explorer display the full pathname of those folders and documents.

Step 2: Action

1. Select the View|Folder Options command to display the Options tabbed dialog box shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4. The Options dialog box determines the appearance of Explorer.

2. Click the View tab to see the folder display options.

3. If you click Display the full path in title bar, Explorer displays a full pathname of selected documents in the title bar every time you select one of the items in the left window.

4. The next option, Hide file extensions for known file types, determines how Windows 98 responds to known file types. Windows 98 comes installed with several types of files already registered, and you might not ever need to register additional types. Registered files are files that Windows 98 recognizes by their filename extensions.

When you register a file type (as described in Task 5.3), you tell Windows 98 the program for all files with that extension to associate to. Once registered, when you double-click that file's icon, Windows 98 starts the program you've associated with that file. For example, when you double-click a file with a .CDA extension, Windows 98 starts the CD Player application because CD Player is the application associated to all files that end with the .CDA extension.

5. Look through the remaining items to see the other folder options that Windows 98 provides.

TIP If you are familiar with MS-DOS and filenames, you might feel more comfortable if you display the file extensions on the Explorer screen documents. Hiding the extensions reduces clutter in the right window, but with the extension, you can determine the exact name of the file when you need the exact name. Fortunately, with or without the extensions, the icons next to the filenames help remind you of the file's type.

WARNING If you hide filename extensions in Explorer, Windows 98 hides those extensions in almost every other file listing. For example, if you hide Explorer's extension display, you will no longer see extensions in WordPad's Open dialog boxes. You won't even see them in applications that you purchase in addition to Windows 98 applications, such as Microsoft Excel.

Step 3: Review

If you don't like the way Explorer displays information, you can probably change the display. Explorer's options enable you to determine how documents appear, how large their windows are, and whether or not filename extensions should appear.

Task 5.3: Registering File Types

Step 1: Description

As the previous hour explains, Windows 98 makes the document, rather than the program, the focus of everything you do. When you want to edit a graphic image, you should be able to click that image instead of starting a graphics program and then load the image from there. By registering file types and the file's extension, you teach Windows 98 how to work with all files of that extension.

Suppose that someone designs a new graphics format after you begin using Windows 98 that increases the computer's graphic compression capability and enables you to store huge graphics files in a small amount of space. Suppose these compressed graphic files have an extension of .CPR, and the program that displays these graphics is called Compress Graphics. You can associate the .CPR filename extension to the Compress Graphics program name so that when you click any file with that extension, even if it is not showing in the Explorer window, Windows 98 knows to start the Compress Graphics program and automatically loads the image you double-clicked.

This task shows you how to view and change any associations that currently reside on your system.

WARNING You are probably better off not changing any file associations unless you are very comfortable with files and programs. The only reason to change a current association is if you install a program that works with a certain type of file better than one already registered for that type. Most Windows 98 installation programs automatically register their file types when you install the programs. Therefore, this task is more informative than active, so you can better understand the purpose of file associations.

Step 2: Action

1. Select the View|Folder Options tabbed dialog box again if the dialog box from the Task 5.2 is not still showing.

2. Click the File Types tab to see the File Types dialog box shown in Figure 5.5.

3. Click the item in the scrollable listbox labeled CD Audio Track. In the File type details portion of the dialog box, you can see that the extension associated with this file type name is .CDA and that CDPLAYER is the name of the program that automatically starts when you double-click any file with this .CDA extension. The icon you see also serves to identify the file type.

NOTE When double-clicking a file to start that file's associated program, remember that the file's extension does not have to show on the screen. If you've turned off the filename extension's display, Windows 98 still correctly associates the file properly with its registered program.

Figure 5.5. You register file types in the File Types dialog box.

4. Click the Edit command button to see more information on .CDA file types. An additional dialog box, called the Edit File Type dialog box, appears.

Here is where you select or change icons associated with registered file types. Every .CDA file appearing in Explorer has the same icon. You can select a different icon if you want (don't do so now). The Description of type prompt displays a description of the file type for reference purposes. Actions describe the first thing the program must do. For example, the .CDA files have an icon that contains a compact disc over a document. The description of this file type is CD Audio track, and the first thing the CDPLAYER program will do automatically, upon loading itself after you double-click a .CDA file, is execute the Play command. This plays the .CDA song file you've selected.

Each application has its own way of working with files. For example, a word processor would more than likely open a file so that you can edit the file, but a song file, such as one stored on disk as a copy of a CD audio track, is usually played and not edited.

5. Click Edit to see the lowest-level of detail available for file type associations. The Editing action dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6. This is the lowest level of detail available when you associate a file type.

6. Now that you've seen what's involved with registering file types, press the Esc key three times to return to Explorer. Leave Explorer loaded for the next task.

Step 3: Review

The file type registration is fairly complex. Rarely will you have to associate files with applications because the application's installation program should register its file types automatically.

NOTE Want to know what those song files are all about? Hour 23, "Multimedia and Sound," describes the multimedia capabilities of Windows 98, including the CD Player program and audio files stored on your system.

Task 5.4: Manage Documents with a Right Mouse Click

Step 1: Description

After you display the Explorer (or any other file list in Windows 98), you can point to any folder or document and click the right mouse button to perform several actions on the document. Here's what you can do with documents:

Right-clicking a folder's name produces a menu that enables you to perform these actions.

The following steps walk you through many of these right-click actions.

Step 2: Action

1. Point to a text file on your C: drive. Text files use a spiral notepad icon. Open your Windows folder if you see no text files in your C's root folder. Point to the file and click the right mouse button. A pop-up menu opens to the right of the document, as shown in Figure 5.7.

The Open command always attempts to examine the document's native format and open the document with an appropriate program such as the Windows's Notepad program. Although the first command is Open for text files, the command is Play if you right-clicked a sound file. For now, don't select Open.

2. Find a blank formatted disk. Insert the disk in the A: drive. Click the right mouse button over the text document and select the Send To command. The disk drive appears in the list that appears when you select Send To. When you select the disk drive, Windows 98 begins sending an exact copy of the text file to the disk. Windows 98 graphically displays the sending of the document to the A: drive with a flying document going from one folder to another.

Figure 5.7. A right-click displays a pop-up menu.

3. Point to the text file once again and click the right mouse button. Select Delete. Windows 98 displays the message box shown in Figure 5.8. Don't choose Yes because you need to keep the text file where it is.

Figure 5.8. The Recycle Bin holds deleted documents for a while.

The Recycle Bin is a special location inside Windows 98 that holds the documents you delete. Recycle Bin's icon appears on your Windows 98 desktop. Windows 98 gives you one last chance to recover deleted documents. When you delete a document file of any type, Windows 98 sends that file to the Recycle Bin. The documents are then out of your way but not deleted permanently until you empty the Recycle Bin. Remember that you can delete documents directly from any Open dialog box.

4. Click No because you should not delete the text file now.

5. It's extremely easy to rename a document. Click the right mouse button to display the document's menu and select Rename. Windows 98 highlights the name, and you can edit or completely change the name to something else. Change the filename now to XYZ. Press Enter to keep the new name. (If you want to cancel a rename operation you've started, press Esc.)

WARNING Do not supply an extension when you rename the file unless you've turned on the filename extension display. For example, if you renamed a Readme document (that is really named Readme.txt) to NewName.txt, the document would actually be named NewName.txt.txt! Fortunately, Windows 98 warns you if you change a file's extension, so you can accept or reject the change before it becomes permanent.
6. Try this: Move the mouse pointer to an area of the Explorer's right pane where no icon appears and click the right mouse button. A new menu appears.

The Undo Rename command reverses the previous renaming of the document. Select Undo Rename and the XYZ text file you just renamed reverts to its original name.

TIP Undo Rename remembers a long list of past names. For example, if you change a document's name three times in a row, and then select Undo Rename three times, Windows 98 reverts the name to its first and original name!

Step 3: Review

This task covered the most important commands in the Open dialog box's right-click document menu. This menu differs slightly depending on the kind of document you click (folder, sound, graphic, program, text, word processor document, and so on), but the fundamental menu of commands stays the same and works the way this task described. If you want to make copies of files on the hard disk or move the file to a different location, you should master the techniques described in Task 5.5.

Task 5.5: Copy and Move Documents

Step 1: Description

A file icon's right-click menu offers advanced copying and moving of files. The Clipboard is the go-between for all Windows 98 copy, cut, paste, and move operations. When you want to copy a file from one place to another, you can place a copy of the file on the Windows 98 Clipboard. When you do, the file is on the Clipboard and out of your way, until you go to where you want the file copied. You'll then paste the file to the new location, in effect copying from the Clipboard to the new location. When you copy a file to another location, the file remains in its original location and a copy is made elsewhere.

NOTE The Clipboard holds one item at a time. If you copy a document to the Clipboard, a subsequent copy overwrites the first copy.

TIP If you want to copy a file to disk, use the Send To command explained in Task 5.4 because Send To is easier to use than copying to a disk.

When you move a file from one location to another, Windows 98 first performs a cut operation. This means that Windows 98 deletes the file from its current location and sends the file to the Clipboard (overwriting whatever was on the Clipboard). When you find the location to which you want to move the file, Windows 98 copies the Clipboard's contents to the new location (such as a different folder or disk drive).

The Clipboard
In a way, the Clipboard is like a short-term Recycle Bin, which holds all deleted files until you are ready to remove them permanently. The Clipboard holds deleted (or copied) documents and pieces of documents, but only until you send something else to the Clipboard or exit Windows 98 and turn off your computer.

Step 2: Action

1. Right-click a text file's icon.

2. Select the Copy command. Windows 98 sends a complete copy of the document to the Clipboard. The Clipboard keeps the document until you replace the Clipboard's contents with something else or until you exit Windows 98. Therefore, you can send the Clipboard document to several subsequent locations.

3. Right-click a folder in Explorer's right window. The menu appears with the Paste command. Windows 98 knows that something is on the Clipboard (a copy of the text file), and you can send the file's copy to the folder by clicking Paste. Don't paste the file now, however, unless you then open the folder and remove the file. There is no need to have two copies of the text file on your disk.

4. Right-click once again over the text file. This time, select Cut instead of Copy. Windows 98 erases the document file from the Windows folder and places the file on the Clipboard.

WARNING Windows 98 keeps the name of the document in place until you paste the document elsewhere. The name is misleading because it makes you think the document is still in the Windows folder. A ghost outline of an icon appears where the document's icon originally appeared. As long as the name still appears in the Windows folder, you can open the file and do things with it, but as soon as you paste the Clipboard contents elsewhere, the file permanently disappears from the Windows folder.
5. Right-click a folder. If you select Paste, the text document leaves its original location and goes to the folder. Don't paste now but press Esc twice (the first Esc keypress removes the right-click menu, and the second restores the cut file).

6. Windows 98 is as safe as possible. If you change your mind after a copy or cut operation, you can always reverse the operation! Right-click the icon area and the pop-up menu contains an Undo command that reverses the most recent copy or cut.

TIP Here's a much faster way to move a document to another folder listed in the Explorer windows: Drag the document to the folder! Try it by dragging a test file over to another hard disk or to another folder on the same disk. An outline of the document travels with the mouse cursor during the drag. When you release the mouse button, the file anchors into its new position. Want to restore the item? Right-click the mouse and select Undo Move or Undo Copy. Windows 98 always enables you to undo copies and moves, no matter how you perform the move, through menus or with the mouse.
If you want to use the drag-and-drop shortcut method for copying documents, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the document to the other folder. (The key combination is easy if you remember that both copy and Ctrl begin with the same letter.) As you drag an item, Windows 98 displays a plus sign at the bottom of the icon to indicate that you are copying and not moving. To cancel a copy you've started, drag the item back to its original location before releasing your mouse button or press Esc before releasing your mouse button. In addition, if you drag the item while holding the right mouse button, Windows 98 displays a pop-up menu, enabling you to specify that you want to move or copy the document.

7. Sometimes, you might need a document for a program outside of the program in which you're currently working. You can place a document on the Windows 98 desktop. Select a text file and copy the document to the Clipboard by right-clicking and selecting Copy. (You also can use drag-and-drop if you want. Hold down Ctrl and drag the document out of the Explorer window, if you've resized Explorer so you can see part of the desktop, and continue with step 8.)

8. Move the cursor on the Windows 98 desktop to an area of the wallpaper that has no icon on it. Click the right mouse button to display a menu and select Paste. The document's file will now have an icon on your desktop along with the other icons already there.

To copy or move the wallpaper document, use the right-click menu or drag the document with the mouse, as explained earlier in this hour.

Placing Documents on the Desktop
The items you place on the desktop, whether by copying or by moving, stay on the desktop until you remove them from the desktop. Even after shutting down Windows 98 and turning off your computer, a desktop item will be there when you return.

Although you shouldn't clutter the desktop with too many documents, you might want to work with a document in several different programs over a period of a few days. By putting the document on the desktop, it is always easily available to any application that's running. Of course, if you run an application in a maximized window, you must shrink the window to some degree to retrieve the document because you have to see the desktop to copy and move the items on it. Also, you can drag Web pages to your desktop if you've activated the Active Desktop feature.

Step 3: Review

Managing documents often involves moving or sending copies of those documents from one location to another. Perhaps you want to work with a document in two or more applications. If so, you can copy that document into each application's folder.

Windows 98 supports a complete set of menu-driven cut, copy, and paste commands from the right mouse click. With these commands, you can copy or move files from one place to another. If you can see the target location of the copy or move, such as another window's folder on the screen or the desktop, use the mouse to copy or move the document and save time.

Where Do the Deleted Files Go?

When you delete files by using dialog boxes or Explorer, you now know that those files go to the Recycle Bin. While in the Recycle Bin, those files are out of your way and deleted in every respect except one: They are not really deleted! Those files are not in their original locations, but they stay in the Recycle Bin until you empty it.

Periodically, you will want to check the Recycle Bin for files that you can erase completely from your hard disk. The following task explains the Recycle Bin in more detail.

TIP The Recycle Bin icon changes from an overflowing bin to an empty one when you empty the Recycle Bin enabling you to tell at a glance whether or not your Recycle Bin is empty.

Task 5.6: Using the Recycle Bin

Step 1: Description

The Recycle Bin appears on your Windows 98 desktop. Any time you want to view or delete items from the Recycle Bin, display your desktop and access the Recycle Bin icon.

Step 2: Action

1. Display your desktop by minimizing any open windows you might have on the screen.

2. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon. The Recycle Bin window opens, as shown in Figure 5.9.

Figure 5.9. The Recycle Bin lists deleted files that you can recover.

3. If you've deleted at least one file, you should have one or two files already in the Recycle Bin. There might be many more, depending on what has taken place on your system. You will recognize the format of the Recycle Bin's column headings; you can adjust the width of the columns by dragging the column separators with your mouse.

WARNING The Recycle Bin dialog box contains all deleted files on your system--not just the deleted files on one of your disk drives. You can change the disks that the Recycle Bin uses for its storage of deleted files, but unless you change your Windows 98 default values, all files that you delete through Windows 98 go to the Recycle Bin.
4. Most of the Recycle Bin dialog box's menu bar commands are identical to the commands in Explorer. When you select an item (or more than one item by using Ctrl+click), the menu commands apply to that selected item.

5. Double-click one of the Recycle Bin's items to display a Properties dialog box for that item. It tells you additional information about the deleted item, such as the date you created and deleted the item.

6. Perhaps the most important menu command is File|Empty Recycle Bin. This command empties the entire Recycle Bin. You can select this command now, if there is nothing in your Recycle Bin that you think you will need later.

7. Select File|Close to close the Recycle Bin dialog box.

TIP Double-click (or single-click if you've selected a Web-style desktop) a Recycle Bin icon to look at a document to verify the contents before deleting the document.

Step 3: Review

The Recycle Bin enables you to delete files without really removing those files from your disk. All deleted files go to the Recycle Bin. Those files are not truly deleted from your disk until you empty the file from the Recycle Bin. You can empty a single selected file, several selected files, or the entire Recycle Bin.

WARNING When you use MS-DOS to delete a file, Windows 98 erases the file as soon as you issue the command.

TIP Although the Recycle Bin adds a level of safety to your work so that you have a second chance to recover files that you delete, if you hold the Shift key when you highlight a file and press Delete (from Explorer or any of the My Computer windows), Windows 98 bypasses the Recycle Bin and deletes the files from your system immediately.

Making Windows 98 Easier

There are numerous ways to make Windows 98 easier for your day-to-day work. Three time-saving techniques are as follows:

After you create single-key access to a program or a shortcut or you change the Start menu, those time-savers stay in effect, making work inside Windows 98 much more efficient.

Task 5.7: Adding Time-Savers

Step 1: Description

The time-savers described in this task might not be for everyone, but they often help users of Windows 98. You have to experiment with the techniques until you find the ones that help you the most.

Step 2: Action

1. You can add programs to the top of the Start menu by dragging a program from Explorer or My Computer to the Start button. Open the Explorer window if Explorer is not still running.

2. Click the Windows folder. The folder's contents appear in the right window.

WARNING Before adding programs to the Start menu, you must know the command and location of the program you are adding. If you do not know the path to the program, you can use the Find commands described in Hour 10.
3. Scroll down the window to locate a game called Freecell (the extension is .exe). Freecell is a solitare card game.

4. Drag the Freecell icon to your Start button. The icon stays in place, but an outline of the icon moves with your dragged mouse cursor.

5. Release the icon over the Start button. You've just added the Freecell game to the top of your Start menu.

6. Close Explorer and click your Start button. Your Start menu now includes the Freecell game, as shown in Figure 5.10. You can now start Freecell without traversing several Start menu layers for those times when the boss is away for a short while. (Depending on the programs already at the top of your Start menu, you might see additional entries.)

TIP Windows 98 offers a great way to rearrange and modify your Start menu without going through the windows and buttons of the Settings, Taskbar & Start Menu option. Any time you want to move one of the Start menu's entries from one location to another, display that item on the Start menu and drag that item to another location on the menu. (Don't click the item and release the mouse; be sure that you click and hold your mouse button.) If you right-click over any Start menu item, a pop-up menu appears, enabling you to rename and delete that item.

Figure 5.10. Your Start menu now includes the Freecell game.

7. Delete the Freecell game from the Start menu (you can add it later if you really want it there) by selecting Settings|Taskbar & Start Menu from the Start menu, selecting the Start Menu Programs tab, and clicking the Remove command button. Scroll to the Freecell game and select the Freecell entry.

8. Click the Remove command button to remove the game from the Start menu.
9. Click the Close button but do not close the Start menu dialog box. Instead, click Advanced so that Windows 98 starts Explorer. You can see that mastering Explorer is critical because Explorer windows appear throughout Windows 98.

10. If you click the Programs folder, Explorer displays the items in the Start menu's first set of cascaded menus.

11. Open the Accessories folder to view the contents of the Accessories group. Remember that you're viewing contents of the Accessories menu that cascades from the Start menu. The Calculator program's icon appears in this folder group.

12. Right-click the Calculator icon to display a menu.

13. Select Properties to display the Calculator program's Properties tabbed dialog box (see Figure 5.11).

14. Press Alt+K to move the cursor to the Shortcut key text prompt. Type C at the prompt. Windows 98 changes the C to Ctrl + Alt + C on the screen. Ctrl+Alt+C is now the shortcut for the Calculator program. If you run a program that uses a shortcut key you've added to Windows 98, the program's shortcut key takes precedence over the Windows 98 shortcut key.

15. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Figure 5.11. You can now add a single-key shortcut that will start the calculator program.

16. Select File|Close to exit Explorer and then close the taskbar Properties dialog box.

Whenever you now press Ctrl+Alt+C, Windows 98 starts its Calculator program. This single-key shortcut (actually a simultaneous three-key shortcut) enables you to start programs instantly, from virtually anywhere in the Windows 98 system, without having to locate the program's menu or icon.

Shortcuts
A subfolder resides in your Windows folder called Start Menu. The Start Menu's folder contains all the items that appear on your Start menu, including the items you drag to the Start menu as you did in the previous task. If you display the contents of the Start menu in Explorer, you see small arrows at the bottom of the icons there, as shown in Figure 5.12. The arrows indicate shortcuts to the file.
The name shortcut has a double meaning in Windows 98--one of the reasons that this task's timesavers can become confusing.

A shortcut is actually better termed an alias file. When you create a shortcut, such as on the Start menu, Windows 98 does not make a copy of the program in every location where you place the icon. Windows 98 actually creates a link to that program, called a shortcut, that points to the program on your disk wherever its location might be.

If you right-click a document or folder in Explorer's right window, you see the Create Shortcut command that creates a shortcut to the document or folder to which you are pointing. Windows 98 creates a new icon and title (the title begins with Shortcut to) but does not actually create a copy of the item. Instead, Windows 98 creates a link to that item. The link reduces disk space taken up by multiple copies of the same files. The shortcut pointer takes much less space than a copy of the actual file would.

Figure 5.12. Start menu items are actually shortcuts to files.

Step 3: Review

You can now add a shortcut to your Start menu by dragging Explorer icons to the Start button. Actually, you can add program shortcuts to any location, including your desktop, so you can start programs by clicking their icons just as you open the My Computer icon's window. Adding shortcuts that make program location faster and shortcut keystrokes that enable you to start a program from anywhere simply by pressing a set of keys enables you to get started faster with the programs that you want to run.

Hour 9, "Giving Windows 98 Your Own Programs," explains how to install new programs on your Windows 98-based PC. Most installation programs automatically add their program icons to your Start menu, but you will learn in Hour 9 how to manage your complete Start menu so that you can add and remove programs from anywhere on the cascaded set of menus.

Summary

This hour showed you how to use the Explorer to search your computer system for documents and folders, as well as how to manage the computer system by using a uniform interface for all your storage devices. Copying and moving among folders and documents are painless functions when you use Explorer. You can display the item to be moved in the right window and drag that item to any device listed in the left window. It is also inside Explorer that you associate file types to programs so that you can click a document and run the appropriate program that works with that of document.

There are three shortcuts that help you access your programs. You can add a shortcut to the desktop, to the Start menu system, and even to the keyboard to start programs quickly.

Q&A

Q Why does it seem as though many Explorer functions are available elsewhere, such as in the My Computer window and in Open dialog boxes?

A You can find many of Explorer's capabilities elsewhere. Windows 98 is known for giving you the tools you need where you need them. You don't have to hunt for the tools you need.

Q I'm confused; are there three kinds of shortcuts?

A There are three versions of shortcuts in Windows 98. You can add a single-key shortcut key to any program. When you press Ctrl+Alt and that key at the same time, Windows 98 starts that program. You can be working in Explorer, at the desktop, or in virtually any other program, but when you press that shortcut keystroke, Windows 98 starts the program you've assigned to that shortcut key.

When you right-click a document or folder and select the Create Shortcut command, Windows 98 creates a shortcut to the item, which is really an alias name that knows the location of the original document or folder but which acts like a copy of the item.
When you add items to the Start menu (or any menu cascading out from the Start menu), you must create a shortcut to that item because you don't want a copy of the same program all over your disk drive. Therefore, the menu command will be a shortcut to the program that, after you select that menu item, finds the program on the disk drive and starts the program.

Workshop

Key Terms

Review the following list of terms:

Contents

© Copyright, Macmillan Publishing. All rights reserved.