Expanding Your Open With Menu

As you learned in Chapter 3, you can usually click (or double-click) any document icon to open that
document in whatever program is associated with that type of document. For example, opening an icon
named My Letter.doc would cause that document, My Letter, to open in the Microsoft Word program (if
you have it), or the smaller WordPad program that comes with Windows XP.
In some cases, however, you may want the flexibility to send a particular type of document to any one of
several programs. Suppose you create your own Web pages for publishing on the Internet’s World Wide
Web. Web page documents generally have the file name extension .htm or .html. When you open such
a file, it appears within your Web browser, usually Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you create your own
Web pages, you might want to see how the page will look in other Web browsers, such as Netscape
Navigator. Or, you might want to open the Web page in a text editor such as Notepad, which enables
you to work directly with the HTML that defines the appearance of the page.
To see which installed programs you can currently use to open a specific document, right-click the icon
for the document you want to open, and point to or click Open With. Your options display on a submenu.
In the example in Figure 4-5, for instance, I right-clicked a file named index.htm and chose Open With.
The submenu lists the programs that can currently be used to open that program: Internet Explorer,
Notepad, and WordPad.

Expanding Your Open With Menu
As you learned in Chapter 3, you can usually click (or double-click) any document icon to open that
document in whatever program is associated with that type of document. For example, opening an icon
named My Letter.doc would cause that document, My Letter, to open in the Microsoft Word program (if
you have it), or the smaller WordPad program that comes with Windows XP.
In some cases, however, you may want the flexibility to send a particular type of document to any one of
several programs. Suppose you create your own Web pages for publishing on the Internet’s World Wide
Web. Web page documents generally have the file name extension .htm or .html. When you open such
a file, it appears within your Web browser, usually Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you create your own
Web pages, you might want to see how the page will look in other Web browsers, such as Netscape
Navigator. Or, you might want to open the Web page in a text editor such as Notepad, which enables
you to work directly with the HTML that defines the appearance of the page.
To see which installed programs you can currently use to open a specific document, right-click the icon
for the document you want to open, and point to or click Open With. Your options display on a submenu.
In the example in Figure 4-5, for instance, I right-clicked a file named index.htm and chose Open With.
The submenu lists the programs that can currently be used to open that program: Internet Explorer,
Notepad, and WordPad.
Figure 4-5: The Open With submenu for a document file with an .htm file name extension
Tip File name extensions are usually hidden. To bring them out of hiding, choose Tools
› Folder Options from Explorer’s menu bar. On the View tab, clear the Hide
Extensions for Known File Types check box.
If the program you want to use doesn’t appear on the submenu, you can select the Choose Program
option to view more programs. Doing so opens the Open With dialog box, shown in Figure 4-6, where
you can do the following

My Documents shortcuts to shared documents
If you have some folders and documents in your My Documents folder, and others within the Shared
Documents folder, you’ll probably get tired of switching between the two folders to open and save
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documents. The simple solution is to add a shortcut to your My Documents folder for every folder and
icon you place in Shared Documents. For starters, open and size both folders so that you can see their
contents. You can use your choice of method, but the following steps do work just fine:
1. Open My Documents, and then click Shared Documents under Other Places in the
Explorer bar.
2. Reduce the size of the Shared Documents folder to about half the screen.
3. Open My Documents from the Start menu, desktop, or anyplace else other than from within
the Shared Documents folder.
4. Size and position the My Documents folder to about half the screen so that you can see the
contents of both My Documents and Shared Documents.
Tip To create a new folder within My Documents, open My Documents normally. Then
choose File New Folder from Explorer’s menu bar. Type a name for the folder
and press Enter. For details and other ways to create folders, see “About Folders”
in Chapter 13.
If you want to move (not copy) a folder or document from My Documents to Shared Documents, just
drag its icon from the My Documents folder into the Shared Documents folder and drop it there. After
you move an item into Shared Documents, use the secondary (right) mouse button to drag its icon back
into My Documents. When you release the mouse button, choose Create Shortcuts Here. Figure 4-3
shows an example in which I moved the folders named Common Downloads, Databases, Ed2Go XP
Course, and MBooks into Shared Documents. Then I created shortcuts to each of those within My
Documents. You can tell which icons in My Documents are shortcuts by the little shortcut arrows on
those icons.
Figure 4-3: Shortcuts to Shared Documents folders within My Documents
After you have finished the job, you’ll find it much easier to work with documents from both folders,
because you won’t need to be navigating to Shared Documents all the time. When you open My
Documents, you just have to click the folder (or file’s) shortcut icon within My Documents to open it.
Furthermore, you will find it easier to work with Shared Documents in programs’ Open and Save As
dialog boxes. Most programs automatically set these dialog boxes to open My Documents by default.
And those dialog boxes also display the shortcuts to your shared documents, as shown in Figure 4-4.
You won’t need to navigate to Shared Documents using the drop-down list in those dialog boxes
anymore. Just click the appropriate shortcut icon within the Open or Save As dialog box to get to the
shared items. Very handy!
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Figure 4-4: Shortcuts to Shared Documents are visible in many programs’ Open and Save As dialog boxes.

Adding Shortcuts to the Quick Launch Toolbar
Although the desktop is a handy place for shortcuts, it does have one drawback. The desktop is often
covered by whatever you’re working on at the moment. To reveal the desktop, you need to click the
Show Desktop button down in the Quick Launch toolbar. If you don’t want to be bothered with that, you
can place the shortcut right on the Quick Launch toolbar. As you may recall, that’s the toolbar that
usually displays just to the right of the Start button, as shown in Figure 4-2. That way, it will always be
visible on your screen — at least whenever the Quick Launch toolbar is visible.
Figure 4-2: The Quick Launch toolbar includes the Show Desktop icon, plus any other shortcuts you care to
add to it.
The Quick Launch toolbar needs to be visible, and the taskbar unlocked, before you can add shortcuts.
So, to get started, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the taskbar and, if Lock the Taskbar is selected, choose that option to unlock the
taskbar.
2. If the Quick Launch toolbar isn’t visible in your taskbar, right-click the taskbar and choose
Toolbars Quick Launch.
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To copy a shortcut from your desktop onto the Quick Launch toolbar, just drag the shortcut icon from
the desktop and drop it anywhere on the Quick Launch toolbar. If you want to move, rather than copy,
the desktop shortcut icon onto the Quick Launch toolbar, right-drag the icon to the toolbar and choose
Move Here after you release the right mouse button.
To create a Quick Launch icon from an icon within Windows Explorer, drag the icon from Explorer and
drop it onto the Quick Launch toolbar. I have gotten mixed results when dragging program icons from
the All Programs menu into the Quick Launch toolbar. Occasionally, it moves the icon to the toolbar,
thereby removing it from the menu. The simple solution, however, is to create a desktop shortcut to the
program, as described earlier. Then just move or copy that new shortcut icon from the desktop onto the
Quick Launch toolbar.
Using the Quick Launch toolbar
While we’re on the subject of the Quick Launch toolbar, you might find handy a few facts about it:
If the toolbar contains more icons than currently visible, click the >> arrow at the right edge
of the toolbar to scroll other items into view.
To widen or narrow the Quick Launch toolbar, drag the dots at its right edge to the left or
right.
Note If you don’t see little dots at the edge of the Quick Launch toolbar, the taskbar is
locked. Right-click the taskbar and choose Lock the Taskbar to clear the check
mark and unlock the taskbar.
To reposition an icon in the Quick Launch toolbar, just drag the item to the left or right. A
black bar displays, showing you where the icon will land when you release the mouse
button.
To display an icon’s name, just point to the icon in the Quick Launch toolbar.
To show large or small icons in the Quick Launch toolbar, right-click the toolbar itself (not an
icon within the toolbar), and then choose View and an icon size.
To display icon names in the Quick Launch toolbar, right-click the toolbar and choose Show
Text.
To view the name of the Quick Launch toolbar within the toolbar, right-click the toolbar and
choose Show Title.
To separate the Quick Launch toolbar from the taskbar, drag the dots at the left edge of the
toolbar out to the desktop, and drop them there.
To move the Quick Launch toolbar back onto the taskbar, drag the Quick Launch window’s
title bar back onto the taskbar, and drop it there.
To reposition the Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar, drag the buttons at the left edge of
the toolbar left or right. If you can’t get the toolbar back over to the Start button, drag the
dots nearest the Start button over to the right of the Quick Launch toolbar.
To change the height of the entire taskbar, drag its upper edge up or down slightly.
With regard to that last item, it is possible to make the taskbar so narrow that it becomes virtually
invisible. When that happens, just move the mouse pointer all the way to the bottom of the screen. Then
drag upward to widen the taskbar. You can control the behavior of the taskbar in other ways as well, as
discussed under “Personalizing the Taskbar” in Chapter 13.
Deleting Quick Launch icons
If you want to remove any unused shortcut icons from your Quick Launch toolbar, simply right-click the
icon you want to remove and choose Delete. Choose Delete Shortcut from the confirmation dialog box
that appears.

Tip If you haven’t already done so, you can create desktop icons for My Computer and
My Documents by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Properties. In the
Display Properties dialog box that opens, click the Desktop tab, and then click the
Customize Desktop button. Under Desktop Icons, choose My Documents and/or
My Computer.
If you get tired of going through the Start menu to launch a favorite program, you can easily put a
shortcut to that program right on your desktop. In some cases, however, you might not know the exact
name and location of the file needed to start the program. If so, instead of using Windows Explorer,
follow these steps:
1. Click the Start button, choose All Programs, and work your way to the option that enables you
to start the program to which you want to create a shortcut. However, don’t click that option.
Instead . . .
2. Right-click the menu option and choose Send To Desktop (create shortcut).
The Start menu might cover the new icon. If so, close it by clicking any neutral portion of the desktop, or
by pressing the Esc key.
Removing Desktop Shortcuts
To keep your desktop from getting too cluttered, you might occasionally want to remove shortcuts that
you’re not using much any more. This is simple to do. Just right-click the shortcut icon and choose
Delete. A dialog box displays asking for confirmation. To complete the job, simply click the Yes button.
If you ever do this by accident, and you catch the error right away, you can undo the deletion by rightclicking
the desktop and choosing Undo Delete. If it’s too late for that, you can recover the shortcut icon
from the Recycle Bin, as discussed under “Using the Recycle Bin” in Chapter 12.

Adding Desktop Shortcuts
The desktop, of course, is always a handy place to put a shortcut. To add a shortcut to a file, folder, or
other location to your Windows desktop, use Windows Explorer to get to the original folder or file icon to
which you want to create a shortcut. To create a shortcut to My Pictures or My Music, for example, open
My Documents to view the original icons. To create a shortcut to Shared Documents or a particular
drive on your computer, open My Computer.
When you can see the icon to which you want to create a shortcut, make sure the Explorer window is
small enough so that you can at least see some portion of the desktop. Then, using the secondary
(right) mouse button, drag the icon out to the desktop and drop it there. From the menu that appears,
choose Create Shortcuts Here. A new icon titled “Shortcut to” followed by the original icon name
appears. The new name is already selected, so you can enter a new name if you like. For example, I
usually delete the “Shortcut to” part of the name, because I can already tell the item is a shortcut by the
little curved arrow.

Tip You can rename a shortcut icon at any time by right-clicking the icon and choosing
Rename.
Remember, you can always tidy the desktop icons by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Arrange
Icons By Name.
As is typical of Windows, you can create desktop shortcuts in other ways as well. And as usual,
choosing one method or another is simply a matter of personal preference or convenience. For
instance, you can right-click the desktop and choose New Shortcut. A Create Shortcut Wizard
appears, with a Browse button that you can use to locate the item to which you want to create the
shortcut. Within Explorer, you can right-click on any icon and choose Send To Desktop (create
shortcut).

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.
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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.