MendoClick™
Computer Survival Guide
D R A F T


by Margaret Blauvelt
Last Document Revision: February 8, 2005

Terms of Use

To use this document, you must agree that neither MendoClick nor Margaret Blauvelt are responsible for anything that may happen as a result of your following directions or suggestions contained herein. Neither the author nor MendoClick will be responsible for any possible consequences. You use it solely at your own risk.

Furthermore, I, Margaret Blauvelt, as the author, grant you permission to copy and distribute this document only in its entirety and only if you do not charge or earn any money for said copies or distribution. However, this document will most likely undergo future revisions, making any copies potentially obsolete, and some future revisions may not include permission to make copies without my personal written consent (but if that becomes the case, you will read it here).

Regarding this Draft

This is a draft, and, as such, is incomplete and probably contains inaccuracies.

I decided to post this to the web so that all the work I have put into it so far may be of some use to others. I simply have not had the time to finish it, but if enough people express interest, I will change my priorities to work on it further. As time and money permit, I will be adding to it and cleaning it up.

This document was based on Windows 98, ME and XP, but I have not tested everything in all three of those Windows versions, let alone the other ones in existence. The functions I am describing are so basic they usually apply to all versions. However, some details may be different. I would be interested in feedback from any readers. If you like this, help me finish by testing it!

You may notice there is no index. Simply click on “Introduction” to go to the page with all the verbage and then do a “Find” (Ctrl+F or Edit-> Find) in your browser to find any term you are interested in.

Click on a heading to jump to that section in the document.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

A COLORFUL NOTE

WHEN LEFT IS RIGHT

VERY BASIC TERMINOLOGY

BOOTING AND REBOOTING

NORMAL POWER UP

What's the Computer Doing, Anyway?

The Role of the Drives while Booting Up

When Can You Start Clicking?

NORMAL POWER DOWN

REBOOTING AFTER POWER IS CUT OFF

RESTARTING WHEN A SOFTWARE PROGRAM TELLS YOU TO OR TO SET THINGS ARIGHT

RESTARTING BECAUSE YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM IS HUNG UP

The "What" and "Why"

The "How"

THE ART OF MOUSE CLICKING

PLACING AND SIZING WINDOWS FOR THE BEST VIEW

WHERE AM I?

KEY CONCEPTS ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION ON THE COMPUTER

Paths and Directories

Full Names and Short Names

Shortcuts

The Desktop

WHAT SOFTWARE AM I RUNNING?

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND

Finding Programs

Finding Files

HELP!

BARS AND MENUS

THE WINDOWS TASKBAR

How to Show Toolbars on the Taskbar

How to Put a Shortcut on the Quick Launch Toolbar

STANDARD FUNCTIONS AND THE MAIN MENU

How To Show Keyboard Shortcuts On The Menus

How to Reach the Main Menu without using the Mouse

The Most Common Main Menu Options

FUN WITH TOOLBARS

WORK ESSENTIALS

SAVING YOUR WORK

PRINTING YOUR WORK

Print Options within the Program

Canceling or Pausing a Print Job

Using Another Printer

FILE MANAGEMENT

Where did I leave "My Computer?"

Copying under a New Name

Moving or Copying to a New Location on the Hard Drive

Create a New Folder (Optional)

Copying to a Diskette

How to Format a Diskette

Copying to CD-ROM, DVD or Tape

Deleting Files

Creating a Shortcut

Organizing for Sanity

GETTING ON THE INTERNET

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

BROWSERS

ADDRESSES

SEARCH ENGINES

EMAIL

DOWNLOADING

UPGRADING AND UPDATING YOUR SOFTWARE

WHAT, WHY AND WHEN

HOW

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR SETTINGS

SETTINGS REACHED VIA THE CONTROL PANEL 32

Keyboard

Mouse

Buttons Tab

Pointers Tab

Pointer Options (or Motion) Tab

Display

Themes (or Background) Tab

Desktop Tab

Screen Saver Tab

Appearance Tab

Effects Tab

Web Tab

Settings Tab

STOP HIDING

Show Underlined Letters for Menu Selection

Show all Icons on a Toolbar

Show all Menu Commands

COMMON APPLICATION SETTINGS

Where to Find Most Settings

Customize your Toolbars

"Always show full menus"

A SHORTCUT TO A BETTER WINDOW

How to Change the Window Size from a Shortcut

How to Add a Shortcut

HOW TO TELL THE COMPUTER WHICH PROGRAM IS RIGHT FOR THE JOB

Display File Extensions

Change the Default Program for a Particular Type of File

The Easy Way

The Hard Way (in case the easy way did not work)

Change Your Default Internet Browser

Change Your Default Email Program

INTERNET SETTINGS

The ISP Connection

Setting Default and Additional Dial-up Numbers from within Programs

Internet Explorer

Netscape Navigator

Outlook

Outlook Express

Modem

Windows XP

CHANGING THE BOOT DRIVE

DISK MAINTENANCE TASKS

DISK CLEANUP

DEFRAG

SCANDISK FOR ERROR CHECKING

USING THE MAINTENANCE WIZARD

THE TASK SCHEDULER WITH OR WITHOUT THE MAINTENANCE WIZARD

ARCHIVE

BACKUP

THE BOOT DISK

How to Create a Windows Startup Disk

How to Test your Boot Disk

TYPES OF BACKUP

Full System Backup

Partial Backup

Incremental Backup

Differential Backup

Continuous or Progressive Backup

Transaction Logging

Automatic Recovery and Automatic Backup

Redundant Systems and File Synchronization

Recommendations for Types of Backups

COMPRESSION

SCHEDULING

FILE ORGANIZATION TO SIMPLIFY BACKUP

HANDLING DELETED FILES

RESTORING BACKWARDS

OFFSITE

MICROSOFT BACKUP

WHY NOT BACK UP?

INSTALLING SOFTWARE

UNINSTALLING SOFTWARE

INSTALLING HARDWARE

CHECKING COMPATIBILITY BEFORE YOU BUY

OPENING THE COMPUTER

VIRUSES

WHAT IS A VIRUS?

HOW ARE VIRUSES CONTRACTED?

WHERE DO I GET A VACCINE?

MY COMPUTER IS NOT WORKING. IS IT A VIRUS?

VIRUS HOAXES

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Revised: July 06, 2005