Contents at a Glance

Part 1: The Laptop Computer ..........................................................................1

Part 2: Built-in Stuff ......................................................................................25

AL

Part 3: Ports ..................................................................................................47

RI

Part 4: Windows Essentials ..........................................................................59

TE

Part 5: Storage................................................................................................85

MA

Part 6: Folders, Subfolders, and Directories ................................................99

Part 7: Files ..................................................................................................111

Part 8: Networks ..........................................................................................131

TE

Part 9: The Internet ....................................................................................149

Part 10: Road Tips........................................................................................159

GH

Part 11: Keyboard Shortcuts for Laptop Users ..........................................179

RI

Part 12: Emergency Kit ................................................................................189

PY

Glossary: Tech Talk......................................................................................207

CO

Index ............................................................................................................215

Table of Contents
Part 1: The Laptop Computer....................................1
Checking Out Basic Hardware ..........................................................................2
Cornering Input and Output ............................................................................5
Current I/O options ......................................................................................5
Legacy I/O options........................................................................................7
Delving into Basic Software ..............................................................................8
Diving into Laptop Types and Models ..........................................................10
Basic laptop ................................................................................................11
Fully equipped road warrior......................................................................12
Lightweight champ ....................................................................................13
Entering the Box ..............................................................................................14
Motherboard ..............................................................................................14
CPU ..............................................................................................................15
Memory (also known as RAM) ..................................................................15
Chipset ........................................................................................................16
Input/Output................................................................................................16
Foraging for Hardware ....................................................................................16
Plug-ins ........................................................................................................16
Attachments ................................................................................................17
Going Through Windows ................................................................................19
Hitting the Internet ..........................................................................................20
The World Wide Web ..................................................................................21
Electronic mail ............................................................................................21
Instant messaging ......................................................................................22
Voice over Internet Protocol ....................................................................22
Organizing Files, Extensions, and Folders ....................................................22

Part 2: Built-in Stuff ............................................25

Checking Out the Screen ................................................................................26
Screen resolution ........................................................................................27
Color quality ................................................................................................28
Screen brightness ......................................................................................28
Screen angle ................................................................................................29
Going with an External Monitor ....................................................................29
Configuring a second screen ....................................................................30
Setting screen positions ............................................................................31
Choosing the primary monitor ................................................................31
Extending a desktop across both monitors ............................................32
Grabbing the Keyboard ..................................................................................32

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Letting Your Light Shine and Button Press ..................................................34
Turn on, turn off..........................................................................................34
Multimedia controls ..................................................................................34
Indicator lights ............................................................................................35
Lighting Up with Batteries ............................................................................35
Hibernation and standby modes ..............................................................36
The ultimate battery recharge ..................................................................38
Listening to the Sounds and Furies ..............................................................39
Pointing and Clicking ......................................................................................40
Putting It in Storage ........................................................................................41
Hard disks ....................................................................................................42
Optical drives: CD and DVD ......................................................................43
Flash memory..............................................................................................43
ExpressCard (also known as PC Card or Cardbus) ................................44
Floppy disk drives ......................................................................................45

Part 3: Ports ........................................................47

Communicating at High Speed ......................................................................48
USB ports ....................................................................................................48
iLink/FireWire/IEEE 1394 ............................................................................50
Infrared ........................................................................................................50
WiFi ..............................................................................................................51
Bluetooth ....................................................................................................52
Enjoying Audio and Video ..............................................................................53
VGA monitor connector ............................................................................53
S-video ..........................................................................................................54
Microphone jack ........................................................................................54
Line-in jack ..................................................................................................55
Headphone jack ..........................................................................................55
Line-out jack ................................................................................................56
Networking for Fun and Profit ........................................................................56
Ethernet........................................................................................................56
Telephone modem ......................................................................................56
Pairing Up with Legacy Ports ........................................................................57
Parallel/serial ports ....................................................................................57
Keyboard/mouse ports ..............................................................................58

Part 4: Windows Essentials ....................................59

Accessing the Desktop ....................................................................................60
Biting into the All Programs Menu ................................................................62
The Startup submenu ................................................................................63
Creating a desktop shortcut to a program ..............................................63
Organizing the All Programs menu ..........................................................64
Boarding the Control Panel ............................................................................64
Coming to My Computer (Also Known As Computer) ................................66

Table of Contents
Dealing with My Documents (Also Known As Documents)........................67
Entering the Network and Sharing Center ....................................................68
Finding Out about My Network Places (Also Known As Network)............69
Displaying Network Places ........................................................................70
Removing the Network icon from the desktop ......................................70
Foraging Through the Recycle Bin ................................................................71
Getting Going with the Start Button ..............................................................73
Start button ................................................................................................73
Start menu ..................................................................................................74
Changing the Start menu style ..................................................................75
Adding or removing Start menu items ....................................................75
Honing in on the System Tray (Also Known As Notification Area) ..........76
Adjusting the icon display ........................................................................77
Displaying a clock ......................................................................................78
Displaying the volume control ..................................................................79
Leaning on the Taskbar ..................................................................................80
Adding toolbars to the taskbar ................................................................80
Moving the taskbar ....................................................................................81
Locking the taskbar ....................................................................................81
Resizing the taskbar ..................................................................................81
Hiding the taskbar ......................................................................................82
Sidling Up to the Sidebar ................................................................................82
Moving and configuring the Sidebar ........................................................84
Closing or exiting the Sidebar ..................................................................84

Part 5: Storage......................................................85
A Quick Understanding of Computer Math ..................................................86
Bits and bytes..............................................................................................86
Alphabet soup ............................................................................................87
Driving a CD or DVD ......................................................................................88
Blu-ray Discs ....................................................................................................91
Ejecting and Inserting a CD, DVD, or BD ......................................................92
Getting to AutoPlay ........................................................................................93
Assigning AutoPlay ....................................................................................93
Turning off AutoPlay ..................................................................................94
Memories of Floppy and Flash Memory Drives ..........................................95
Formatting a floppy disk ............................................................................96
Formatting a flash memory key ................................................................97
Undeleting and Unformatting ........................................................................97

Part 6: Folders, Subfolders, and Directories ............99

Adventures in Windows Explorer ................................................................100
Customizing Windows Explorer under XP ............................................100
A tree with the root on top ......................................................................101

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Compressing Folders ....................................................................................103
Creating a compressed folder ................................................................103
Adding files to a compressed folder ......................................................104
Extracting files from a compressed folder ............................................104
Password protection for compressed folders ......................................104
Designing Folders ..........................................................................................105
Customizing the Appearance of a Folder....................................................106
Adding a picture to a folder ....................................................................107
Changing a folders icon ..........................................................................107
Assigning a template to a folder ............................................................108
Managing Folders ..........................................................................................108
Creating a new folder ..............................................................................109
Deleting a folder and its contents ..........................................................109
Renaming a folder ....................................................................................109
Copying or moving a folder ....................................................................110
Creating a shortcut to a folder ................................................................110

Part 7: Files ........................................................111

Dissecting a File..............................................................................................112
Filename ....................................................................................................112
Icon ............................................................................................................113
File size ......................................................................................................113
File creation date ......................................................................................113
File modified date ....................................................................................113
Attributes ..................................................................................................113
Filename extension ..................................................................................113
Reading a files details ..............................................................................115
Reading a files properties ......................................................................117
Associating a File with a Program................................................................118
Launching a Search Party for a Missing File ..............................................120
Quick searching in Windows Vista ........................................................120
Detailed searching in Windows Vista and XP........................................120
Searching by name....................................................................................121
Searching by contents..............................................................................121
Searching by edit or creation date ........................................................122
Finding the Path to Your File ........................................................................122
Managing Your Files ......................................................................................124
Saving a file ................................................................................................124
Choosing Save As......................................................................................125
Copying a file ............................................................................................126
Duplicating a file ......................................................................................127
Renaming a file ..........................................................................................127
Moving a file ..............................................................................................128
Deleting a file ............................................................................................128
Undeleting a file ........................................................................................128

Table of Contents

Part 8: Networks ................................................131

Assembling Networking Nuts and Bolts ....................................................132
Being a Workgroup(ie) ..................................................................................132
Creating a workgroup ..............................................................................132
Viewing workgroup members ................................................................133
Easing into Ethernet ......................................................................................134
Sharing a folder ........................................................................................135
Accessing a shared folder........................................................................136
Accessing another computer on the network ......................................137
Mapping a folder ......................................................................................137
Unmapping a folder ..................................................................................139
Getting a Network Name and Address ........................................................139
Naming your computer ............................................................................140
Getting your laptops IP address ............................................................141
Sharing Devices and Internet Connections ................................................143
Sharing a printer ......................................................................................143
Sharing an Internet connection ..............................................................144
Wirelessly Networking ..................................................................................145

Part 9: The Internet ............................................149

Connecting to the Internet............................................................................150
Connecting via Broadband ..........................................................................150
Wireless Internet Options ............................................................................152
Connecting via Dial-up Modem ..................................................................153
Making a dial-up connection ..................................................................154
Creating dialing rules ..............................................................................156

Part 10: Road Tips ..............................................159

Be Careful Out There ....................................................................................160
Copping Best Practices for Laptops On the Move ....................................160
Hiding the Hardware......................................................................................162
Locking Down Your Data ..............................................................................163
Hard disk encryption................................................................................164
Hiding behind a firewall ..........................................................................165
Making a Tough Password ............................................................................168
Managing Internet Safety ............................................................................170
Picking Up after Yourself ..............................................................................171
Sticking with Security and System Maintenance Utilities ........................176

Part 11: Keyboard Shortcuts for Laptop Users ......179

Dabbling in Laptop Hot Keys........................................................................180
Inserting Symbols in Text..............................................................................181
Using the mouse to insert symbols ......................................................182
Using the keyboard to insert symbols ..................................................182
Using General Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................185

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Part 12: Emergency Kit ......................................189

Looking for the Obvious and Obscure ........................................................190
Lack of power ............................................................................................190
Wireless hardware ....................................................................................191
Wired hardware ........................................................................................191
Wireless software......................................................................................192
Wired software ........................................................................................192
Virus warning or virus-like activity ........................................................193
Unexplained slowdown and strange Internet behavior ......................194
No video ....................................................................................................195
Defects onscreen ......................................................................................195
No sound of music ....................................................................................196
Recording the News You Can Use ................................................................197
Troubleshooting the Common Cold Computer..........................................200
The laptop hasnt ever worked ..............................................................200
New hardware or software is misbehaving ..........................................200
The laptop suddenly stops working properly ......................................200
Computer user, diagnose thyself ............................................................202
Computer user, let the Help desk inside................................................202
Disk drive blues ........................................................................................202
Your machines trying to tell you something ........................................203
Memory loss ............................................................................................203
Checking a driver ......................................................................................204
Reinstalling a driver..................................................................................204
Rolling back a driver ................................................................................204
Using System Restore on a driver ..........................................................205
Soundless, pictureless CD or DVD ..........................................................205

Glossary: Tech Talk..............................................207

Index ..................................................................215