Information for New Computer Users

Windows Vista is the latest edition of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Your computer's operating system basically tells your computer what to do and how to do it. For your computer to work, Windows Vista must do the following:

• Coordinate interactions among its components, such as receiving input from your keyboard and mouse, displaying output on your monitor, and locating programs and files on your hard disk.

• Act as the interface between you and your computer, so that you can work in a visual way by clicking items on the screen instead of having to type precise sequences of commands.

• Enable your computer to communicate with other computers and peripheral devices such as printers, scanners, and modems.

• Interact with programs installed on your computer.

The programs you purchase and install on your computer run on Windows Vista, meaning that they call on the operating system whenever they need to work with your computer's components or peripherals (such as printers). They also build on the interface provided by the operating system to communicate with you. This relationship allows the programs to concentrate on their specialized tasks, such as word processing or performing calculations in a spreadsheet, while the operating system handles the basic behind-the-scenes tasks.

The Windows operating system has been around long enough that it has spawned its own jargon. If you are a new computer user, some of the terms associated with Windows Vista and the programs that run on it might be new to you, so we will briefly cover them here to bring you up to speed.

Using Your Mouse

For new computer users who are not familiar with the standard Windows mouse actions, here's a quick summary:

• Pointing to an object involves moving the mouse so that the cursor (the visible representation of the mouse location on the screen) is over the object.

• Clicking an object involves pointing to the object and quickly pressing and releasing the primary mouse button once. (By default, the primary mouse button is the left one, but you can change this.)

• Double-clicking an object involves pointing to the object and pressing and releasing the primary mouse button twice in rapid succession. You can adjust the speed at which Windows recognizes two clicks as a double-click.

• Right-clicking an object involves pointing to the object and clicking the secondary mouse button once. This action displays a context menu listing actions that can be performed with the object you right-clicked. You select the action you want by clicking it on the context menu.

• Dragging an object involves pointing to the object, holding down the primary mouse button, moving the mouse until the pointer is in the location where you want the object to appear, and releasing the mouse button. You can also drag through multiple objects in a list to select them.

If you prefer to click, double-click, and drag with the right mouse button, you can switch the buttons by adjusting the Mouse settings in Control Panel.

Working with Windows

Windows Vista displays information in windows. A window can either fill the entire screen or occupy just part of the screen. Each window is encased in a frame displaying information about the window contents and containing controls for managing the window content. When a window is not maximized to fill the screen, you can drag the edges of the frame to change the size of the window.

At the top of the window is space allocated to a title bar, which might tell you the window's purpose or the name of the program running in the window. You can maximize or reduce the size of a window by double-clicking its title bar. When a window is not maximized, you can move it on the screen by dragging it by its title bar.

At the right end of the title bar are the Minimize, Maximize/Restore Down, and Close buttons. You click the Minimize button to collapse the window into a button on the Windows Vista taskbar (called minimizing the window); you click the Maximize/Restore Down button to switch the window from filling the screen (often maximizing the window) to occupying just part of it (reducing the window), and to switch it back again; and you click the Close button to close the window. If the window is displaying a program or file, closing the window might also quit the program or close the file.

Below the title bar, the window might have a menu bar, toolbar, or other visual representation of the instructions (commands) you can give Windows Vista regarding the contents of the window.

When a window is not big enough to show all its contents, vertical and/or horizontal scroll bars appear so that you can move the contents within the window. You use the vertical scroll bar to move the contents up and down and the horizontal scroll bar to move the contents from side to side, as follows:

• Clicking the arrow at either end of a scroll bar moves the contents one line or column at a time.

• Clicking directly on the scroll bar on either side of the scroll box moves the contents one "windowful" at a time.

• Dragging the scroll box on the scroll bar moves the contents in larger increments.

The position of the scroll box in relation to the scroll bar tells you where you are in the contents. For example, when the scroll box is in the middle of the scroll bar, the window is displaying the portion of its contents located about halfway through.

Giving Instructions

To get any useful work done, you have to be able to give your computer instructions about what to do. These instructions are called commands. Some commands are simple, and you can give them by clicking an item on a menu, clicking a button on a toolbar, or pressing a key combination on the keyboard. If Windows Vista needs information from you in order to know how to carry out a command, it might display a different window, a task pane, or a dialog box. These might present only one set of options, but they can also be quite complex, involving several layers of options you can use to refine your instructions. However, they all request information in consistent ways and use these common components:

• Tabs. If a dialog box contains too many options to fit in the dialog box window, the options are arranged in logical groups on separate tabs. You click a tab's label to display that set of options.

• Command buttons. Most dialog boxes have at least two command buttons: an OK button that carries out the command, and a Cancel button that cancels the command. Clicking either button also closes the dialog box. Other buttons might be available, such as the Apply button that applies changes without closing the dialog box. If a button label includes an ellipsis (...), clicking the button opens another dialog box. A dark border around a button indicates that you can press Enter rather than clicking the button to implement that command.

• Option buttons. In a group of mutually exclusive options where only one option can be selected at a time, each option is preceded by an option button (a small circle). When you click an option button, a dot appears in the circle to indicate that the option is selected. Because only one option in the group can be selected at a time, selecting an option removes the dot from the previously selected option.

• Check boxes. Options that can be either selected or not selected, but are not mutually exclusive, are preceded by a check box (a small square). Clicking an empty check box selects the associated option; a check mark appears inside the box to indicate that the option is selected or turned on. Clicking the box again removes the check mark to indicate that the option is deselected, cleared, or turned off. Check boxes operate independently, so if a dialog box presents a group of check boxes, you can select none, one, some, or all of the options, as required for the task at hand.

• Text boxes. You enter information, such as a file name, by typing it in a text box. To replace an existing entry, select the entry and delete it, or overtype the old text with the new.

• List boxes. When you need to select from several options, the options are sometimes displayed in a list box. When you have more choices available than can fit in the list box, the list box has a scroll bar. Regardless of the format of a list box, you select an option by clicking it. The option is then highlighted in the list.

• Drop-down list boxes. To conserve space, options are sometimes displayed in a drop-down list. A drop-down list appears initially as a text box containing an option. At the right end of the box is a down arrow that you can click to display a list of the other available options. To select an option, you simply click it in the list. That option then appears in the box.

• Combo boxes. Sometimes a text box and a drop-down list box are combined to form a combo box. You can either type the information or select it from a drop-down list.

• Spin boxes. If a text box must contain only one of a specific set of options (usually numbers), it sometimes has a pair of up and down arrows at its right end. You change the entry either by selecting the existing number and typing a new one or by clicking one of the arrows to increase or decrease the number.

• Sliders. Settings can also be represented by the position of a slider on a horizontal or vertical bar. To change the setting, you drag the slider.

• Links. Clicking a link in a window might open another window or it might take you to information stored on your computer or on the Web. When you point to a link, it becomes underlined and the pointer changes to a hand.

You can move between options in a dialog box by pointing to them with the mouse, or by pressing the Tab key.

Message Boxes

Windows Vista displays message and warning boxes when a command you have chosen can't be carried out, or to request confirmation of a potentially risky action that you might later regret (for example, when you delete files). You can click OK or Yes to acknowledge the message and continue the command. Click Cancel or No to close the message box and cancel the command.