Tip
You can run a program’s installation program in Compatibility mode as well. Just right-click the
installation program’s icon, choose Properties, and click the Compatibility tab. See Chapter 16 for
information about how to locate those icons.
If the program still refuses to run, you may be able to get some information or updated drivers from the
Internet. Assuming you’ve already set up your Internet connection, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button and choose Help and Support.
2. Click Find compatible hardware and software for Windows XP.
You can use options in the left pane, such as Software Lists, About Compatible Hardware and Software,
and Program Compatibility Wizard to look for appropriate information. If all else fails, you may need to
contact the program’s publisher and ask what’s needed to make the program run on Microsoft Windows
XP.
Summary
What you’ve learned in this chapter should help you to run any program on your system. You’ll also be
able to open any document, whether it’s something you created yourself or one you downloaded or
received as an e-mail attachment. Remember these main points:
To start any program that’s installed on your computer, click the Start button. If you don’t see
the program’s icon on the Start menu, check the All Programs menu.
Windows XP Bible
page 67
You can get help in just about any program by selecting Help from its menu bar.
When you use a program to create or edit a document, it’s important to remember to save your
work before closing the program or shutting down your computer.
To print a document, choose File Print from the program’s menu bar.
To You can open documents via the My Recent Documents item on the Start menu, Windows
Explorer, or the File option on the program’s menu bar.
Chapter 4: Shortcuts and Other Cool Tricks
With all the knowledge you have gained so far, you will be able to get around in Windows, as well as in
many different programs you will use. With practice, you will be able to find and use anything you need,
when you need it. You might eventually discover that you’re going through a fairly long series of clicks to
perform routine tasks. This chapter shows you ways to reduce the process to a single a click by creating
shortcuts.
What Is a Shortcut?
A shortcut is an icon that provides easy access to any program, document, folder, or nearly any other
resource on your computer. A shortcut icon looks like the original icon, but it has a small arrow in the
lower-left corner. If the shortcut is in a folder, and you’re currently viewing that folder in the Tiles view,
the word shortcut appears beneath the file name, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1: The Shared Documents icon on the left, and a shortcut to Shared Documents on the right
Clicking (or double-clicking) the shortcut has the same result as clicking the original icon — it opens the
program, folder, or document that the icon represents. However, you can place the shortcut anywhere
you want. The Windows desktop and the Quick Launch toolbar are prime candidates because they are
so readily accessible at all times.
One important technical difference exists between the original icons and any shortcuts you create. The
original icon represents the actual underlying file or folder. So when you delete that icon, you delete
what it represents. You don’t ever want to do this by accident, because you’ll lose whatever the icon
represents. If you were to delete the original Shared Documents icon — which is visible within My
Computer — you delete the entire Shared Documents folder and every file and folder within it. Not
good!
The shortcut icon, on the other hand, just contains the location of the actual underlying file or folder. So
when you delete the shortcut icon, you’re simply deleting the icon itself. The file or folder that the icon
represents is not deleted or altered in any way.
Incidentally, you might notice that the size of the shortcut icon back in Figure 4-1 is 1K. In reality, it’s
probably much smaller than that — Windows just tends to round sizes off to the nearest kilobyte. The
Shared Documents folder itself might be huge, containing many megabytes of information. But because
a shortcut contains information only about the location of the Shared Documents folder, it is always tiny,
no matter how much information is actually in the Shared Documents folder.
You can run a program’s installation program in Compatibility mode as well. Just right-click the
installation program’s icon, choose Properties, and click the Compatibility tab. See Chapter 16 for
information about how to locate those icons.
If the program still refuses to run, you may be able to get some information or updated drivers from the
Internet. Assuming you’ve already set up your Internet connection, follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button and choose Help and Support.
2. Click Find compatible hardware and software for Windows XP.
You can use options in the left pane, such as Software Lists, About Compatible Hardware and Software,
and Program Compatibility Wizard to look for appropriate information. If all else fails, you may need to
contact the program’s publisher and ask what’s needed to make the program run on Microsoft Windows
XP.
Summary
What you’ve learned in this chapter should help you to run any program on your system. You’ll also be
able to open any document, whether it’s something you created yourself or one you downloaded or
received as an e-mail attachment. Remember these main points:
To start any program that’s installed on your computer, click the Start button. If you don’t see
the program’s icon on the Start menu, check the All Programs menu.
Windows XP Bible
page 67
You can get help in just about any program by selecting Help from its menu bar.
When you use a program to create or edit a document, it’s important to remember to save your
work before closing the program or shutting down your computer.
To print a document, choose File Print from the program’s menu bar.
To You can open documents via the My Recent Documents item on the Start menu, Windows
Explorer, or the File option on the program’s menu bar.
Chapter 4: Shortcuts and Other Cool Tricks
With all the knowledge you have gained so far, you will be able to get around in Windows, as well as in
many different programs you will use. With practice, you will be able to find and use anything you need,
when you need it. You might eventually discover that you’re going through a fairly long series of clicks to
perform routine tasks. This chapter shows you ways to reduce the process to a single a click by creating
shortcuts.
What Is a Shortcut?
A shortcut is an icon that provides easy access to any program, document, folder, or nearly any other
resource on your computer. A shortcut icon looks like the original icon, but it has a small arrow in the
lower-left corner. If the shortcut is in a folder, and you’re currently viewing that folder in the Tiles view,
the word shortcut appears beneath the file name, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1: The Shared Documents icon on the left, and a shortcut to Shared Documents on the right
Clicking (or double-clicking) the shortcut has the same result as clicking the original icon — it opens the
program, folder, or document that the icon represents. However, you can place the shortcut anywhere
you want. The Windows desktop and the Quick Launch toolbar are prime candidates because they are
so readily accessible at all times.
One important technical difference exists between the original icons and any shortcuts you create. The
original icon represents the actual underlying file or folder. So when you delete that icon, you delete
what it represents. You don’t ever want to do this by accident, because you’ll lose whatever the icon
represents. If you were to delete the original Shared Documents icon — which is visible within My
Computer — you delete the entire Shared Documents folder and every file and folder within it. Not
good!
The shortcut icon, on the other hand, just contains the location of the actual underlying file or folder. So
when you delete the shortcut icon, you’re simply deleting the icon itself. The file or folder that the icon
represents is not deleted or altered in any way.
Incidentally, you might notice that the size of the shortcut icon back in Figure 4-1 is 1K. In reality, it’s
probably much smaller than that — Windows just tends to round sizes off to the nearest kilobyte. The
Shared Documents folder itself might be huge, containing many megabytes of information. But because
a shortcut contains information only about the location of the Shared Documents folder, it is always tiny,
no matter how much information is actually in the Shared Documents folder.
posted by petrzel at 6:33 AM
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