A database of people’s names used by e-mail, list-making, or
personal-information programs
Desktop
A duplicate of files and shortcuts placed on the desktop
Downloads
Files retrieved from the Internet
Favorites
Bookmarks set and used by Internet Explorer
Links
Shortcuts to popular files and folders, displayed in the Windows
Explorer window
My Documents
Text documents and similar files
My Music
Audio and music files, used by Windows Media Player and
other musical programs
My Pictures
Digital images, photographs, drawings, and artwork
My Videos
Films, movies, and animations
Saved Games
Information retained by games so that you can remember your
spot or high score from a previously played game
Searches
A set of predefined or saved file searches
Chapter 16: Fun with Files and Folders 189
Additional subfolders may be found in your User Profile folder — folders you created yourself or folders added by programs you installed. That’s all okay; the User Profile folder is your own, and it’s where you’re supposed to create folders to help organize your stuff.
✓
All applications automatically choose the User Account folder or one of
its subfolders when you use the Save As dialog box to save a file.
✓
You might also see files saved or opened from the various libraries in
Windows. See the later section “Working with libraries.”
✓
In Windows Vista, the My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, and My
Video folders are named without the My prefix.
Making a new folder
It’s up to you to keep your files organized, and the User Account folder is the fertile ground in which you plant those folder seeds.
Yeah, that was corny.
To create a new folder, obey these steps:
1. Open a folder window.
Folders dwell within folders, so open a folder icon to display a folder
window. In that window you’ll be creating the new folder.
2. Click the New Folder icon on the toolbar.
In Windows Vista, you need to click the Organize button to display its
menu, and then choose the New Folder command.
The New Folder icon appears in the window, ready to be given a
new name.
3. Type the new folder’s name.
Make it short and descriptive; the same rules for naming files also apply to folders.
4. Pressing the Enter key locks in the new folder’s name.
You can use the folder immediately after creating it.
You can also create a new folder when saving a file; a New Folder button
appears in the Save As dialog box (refer to Figure 16-2).
✓
Sometimes, the New Folder button gets pushed off the Windows
Explorer toolbar. It’s still there; you just need to click the “show more”
chevron at the end of the toolbar to display the New Folder button.
190 Part III: Basic Computing
✓ The program that displays folder windows is Windows Explorer. When
you open a folder window, you’re opening a new Windows Explorer
window.
Working with libraries
A library is a special feature in Windows 8 and Windows 7. It contains a selection of files from multiple folders. I suppose it’s a handy thing to have, especially when working with large projects or collections of files that may exist in several folders. I’ve never really used it that way. Still, libraries pop up often when you use the Save As or Open dialog boxes to locate files.
To display the list of libraries available on your PC, or shared between
computers on the network HomeGroup, choose the Libraries heading from
the left side of any Windows Explorer window; press Win+E to summon a
Windows Explorer window. Libraries appear in their own window, as shown
in Figure 16-5.
Figure 16-5:
The
Libraries
window.
To view the contents of a library, double-click to open its icon. Libraries contain files and folders. Yet the files and folders you see are culled from various folders located throughout your PC’s storage system, as well as from, possibly, the computer network.
✓
You can work with files in a library the same as you can work with files
in a folder.
✓
To see which folders are included in a library, click the link located
by the word Includes below the library name in the Windows Explorer window.
Chapter 16: Fun with Files and Folders 191
✓
If you create or save any files (or folders) in a library, they’re created in your own account’s area on your computer. Even so, they’re still available from the Library window.
✓ To create a new library, click the New Library button (refer to Figure 16-5).
Name the library, and then use the Include Folder button to browse for
folders and files to add to the library. In Figure 16-5, you see the 2010
Vacation library, which contains folders for pictures, videos, and other
items related to that disastrous trip.
Using folders in the Open dialog box
As you use your computer, you often find yourself digging through folders with the Open or Browse dialog box, to fetch a file somewhere. For example, you want to open that document you worked on yesterday, the one that contains your plans for winning the Junior Miss Avocado pageant.
The Open dialog box, depicted in Figure 16-6, is summoned by using the Open command (or Ctrl+O). Similarly, its sister, the Browse dialog box, appears whenever you issue a Browse command. Either way, the dialog box lets you
hunt down a specific file somewhere on the PC’s mass storage system.
Figure 16-6:
A typical
Open dialog
box.
192 Part III: Basic Computing
Yes, the Open dialog box looks and works a lot like a Windows Explorer
window. It has the same panes, toolbar, and file list. The bonus information specific to opening files, however, is found near the bottom of the dialog box (refer to Figure 16-6).
The File Name text box allows you to manually enter a filename — which is a typically silly and nerdy thing to do, so I don’t recommend it.
The File Type button is used to help narrow the list of files in the Open dialog box. By showing only files of a certain type, you can more easily scope out the file you want.
Finally, you click the Open button to open the selected file. Note that the Open button often has a menu button next to it. Clicking that button displays options for opening a file.
✓
Not every program can open every type of file. Programs work best with
the files they create themselves.
✓
The Open dialog box’s look varies subtly from program to program, but
it works the same way in all of them.
✓
When you’re really stuck finding a file, use the Windows Search com-
mand. See Chapter 17.
Chapter 17
The Grim Topic of File
Management
In This Chapter
▶ Selecting groups of files
▶ Moving or copying files and folders
▶ Copying files to removable media
▶ Making a file shortcut
▶ Deleting and undeleting files
▶ Renaming files and folders
▶ Finding lost files
F or so long, I’ve wanted to write a chapter in one of my books that no one would read. So I thought, “What could I do to guarantee that the topic
would be avoided?” This chapter’s title is carefully crafted so that the subject sounds as boring as possible. The topic descriptions are dull and technical.
And the section headings have all the spice and verve of a 1970s Fortran programming manual. There! I’ve done it. Feel free to skip all the information in this chapter. Don’t read it!
Organized File Torture
Really? You’re still reading? Man, are you gullible. I figured that you’d be completely disinterested in doing anything with the files you create on your computer. I mean, wouldn’t a good For Dummies philosophy be “leave everything alone and pray that nothing bad happens”? Can’t the damn files manage themselves?
194 Part III: Basic Computing
Managing files because they
can’t manage themselves
You’ll be delighted to discover the copious ways to torture files. Beyond taunting them verbally, you can use various file management commands to
copy, move, or rename the files. You can also delete a file, which is the ultimate form of invalidation. None of that sinister activity can take place, however, until you select a file for abuse.
✓
File management is the process of organizing files and folders on your
computer’s mass storage system. If it were a class at Hogwarts, it would
be taught by Professor Snape.
✓
The operating system provides the tools necessary to manage files.
✓
If you did everything properly with files and folders the first time, file management wouldn’t be necessary. But, no, you did things wrong. See?
This is all your fault.
Selecting files for torment
Files (and folders) must be selected before you can abuse them. As with any pogrom, you can select files individually or in groups.
Select a single file
To select a single file, click its icon once with the mouse. Click. A selected file appears highlighted onscreen, similar to the one shown in Figure 17-1. The file named REUNION is ready for action.
Figure 17-1:
The icon
(file) on
the right is
selected.
Select all files in a folder
To select all files inside a folder, press the Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut. This command highlights all files in the window — including any folders (and all their contents). The A in Ctrl+A probably stands for “All the guilty ones.”
Chapter 17: The Grim Topic of File Management 195
Select a random smattering of files
Suppose that in a folder brimming with files you need to select four icons, the four ugliest icons, similar to the ones shown in Figure 17-2.
Figure 17-2:
A random
smattering
of files is
selected.
Here’s how:
1. Click to select the first file.
2. Press and hold down the Ctrl key.
3. Click to select the next file.
4. Repeat Step 3 to select additional files.
5. Release the Ctrl key when you’re done selecting files.
Now you’re ready to manipulate the selected files as a single, guilty group.
To deselect a file from the group, just Ctrl+click it again.
Select a swath of files in a row
To select a queue of files, such as those shown in Figure 17-3, pursue
these steps:
Figure 17-3:
A queue
of files is
selected.
196 Part III: Basic Computing
1. Line up the files in the window.
In Windows 8, click the View tab and choose List from the Layout area.
In older, better versions of Windows, choose List from the View menu
button on the toolbar.
2. Click to select the first file in your group.
3. Press and hold down the Shift key.
4. Click to select the last file in your group.
5. Release the Shift key.
The files are now ready for abuse. Well, maybe not “ready” for it, but
it’s coming.
Lasso a group of files
If you want to treat your files like the bovine vermin that they are, use the mouse to lasso them into a group. Figure 17-4 illustrates how it’s done.
To lasso the files, start by pointing the mouse above and to the left of the icon herd you want to rope. Holding down the mouse button, drag down and
to the right to create a rectangle surrounding (“lassoing”) the file icons (refer to Figure 17-4). Release the mouse button, and all the files you have lassoed are selected as a group. A vocal “Yee-ha!” is considered appropriate — and intimidating — in this circumstance.
Figure 17-4:
Lasso a
group of
files with
the mouse.
Chapter 17: The Grim Topic of File Management 197
Releasing files from selection
To unselect a file, simply click anywhere in the folder (but not on an icon). Or you can close the folder window, in which case Windows immediately forgets about any selected files.
To answer your question: No, the files don’t feel any sense of relief from being de-selected. They won’t appreciate you any more for it, either.
Bastards.
The Actual File Torture Itself
As Shakespeare once famously wrote, “How can I torture my files? Let me
count the ways.” Sure, I’m paraphrasing the Bard, but in all seriousness, you’ll find an infinite number of ways to oppress files on your PC. Of the myriad methods, a few stand out. You’ll find them described in this section.
If you make a mistake when performing any file torture action, you can immediately undo the procedure by pressing Ctrl+Z, the Undo command shortcut.
Copying a file
The easiest way to increase the pleasure of torturing files is to make more of them. In Windows, you duplicate files and folders by using the Copy command. It’s the same command used to copy chunks of text or graphics. In
this instance, you can copy files or folders to an external storage device or to another folder. It works like this:
1. Select the files or folders you want to move or copy.
2. Press Ctrl+C.
Ctrl+C is the keyboard shortcut for the Copy command.
3. Open the folder where you want the files to be copied.
The folder can be another folder in your User Account area, a subfolder,
a parent folder, or even a folder on some removable media you just
stuck into the PC.
4. Press Ctrl+V to paste the files into the folder window.
The copied files appear in the window.
198 Part III: Basic Computing
Copying files makes duplicates; after you copy the files, you have the original as well as the copy you just made.
✓ When you copy a folder, you’re copying all files in that folder plus all files in any subfolders.
✓
Copying files makes duplicates. As an alternative, you might consider
creating a shortcut file instead. See the later section “Creating a shortcut”
for more information.
✓
The Cylons were created by using the Copy command.
✓ You can also copy a file by dragging its icon from one folder window to another. It’s technical, however, because you need to open both folder
windows at one time and arrange them on the desktop so that you can
see what you’re dragging with the mouse. Also, you must press and
hold down the Ctrl key to ensure that the file is copied between folders, not moved.
Moving a file
To move a file, you perform the same steps as outlined for copying a file in the preceding section. The difference is that the moving operation is a cut-
and-paste, not a copy-and-paste; in Step 2 in the preceding section, press Ctrl+X for cut rather than Ctrl+C for copy.
✓
After you paste the file, the original is deleted. Any remaining files don’t mourn the moved file because they have no souls.
✓ If you elect to move a file by dragging it between two folders, you must remember to press the Shift key when dragging to ensure that the files
are moved, not copied.
Creating a shortcut
I can understand the need to copy a file to removable media. In that case, the whole file is required, even if it’s big and fat and full of nonsense. But in your own PC’s storage system, there is no need to make full-on duplicates of your files — especially when they’re big and fat and full of nonsense. In that case, you can just make a file shortcut.
A file shortcut is a copy of the original file, but without all the bulk. It’s merely a signpost that says, “The real file is over there somewhere.” When you open a shortcut, Windows is smart enough to find the original and open it instead. I know that sounds unbelievable, but in fact it’s true: Windows can be smart sometimes.
Chapter 17: The Grim Topic of File Management 199
To create a shortcut, start out as if you’re copying the file. Refer to Steps 1
through 3 in the earlier section “Copying a file.” The difference comes when you paste: Rather than press Ctrl+V to paste the file copy, you right-click in the folder. Choose the Paste Shortcut command from the pop-up menu.
File shortcuts sport a tiny arrow nestled in the lower-left corner, as shown in the margin. That’s your clue that the file is a shortcut and not a full-blown copy.
✓
Shortcuts are most commonly used to reference programs installed on
your computer. For example, you can create a shortcut to the Microsoft
Word program and put it on the desktop for easy access. Such is the
essence of the file shortcut.
✓ To quickly create a shortcut on the desktop, right-click an icon and
choose Send To➪Desktop (Create Shortcut) from the pop-up menu.
✓
Shortcuts are often named with the suffix Shortcut. You can edit out
the Shortcut to part, if you like. Refer to the next section.
✓
Shortcuts work only on your computer. Do not e-mail them to your
friends, because they receive only the stubby shortcut and not the
original file.
✓ Have no fear when you’re deleting shortcuts: Removing a shortcut icon
doesn’t remove the original file. In fact, the original file couldn’t care less.
Renaming files
Nothing sends a file into a depressive funk like giving the pitiful thing a ridicu-lous name. Gleefully obey these steps:
1. Click the file’s icon once to select it.
2. Press the F2 key, the keyboard shortcut for the Rename command.
Just to let you know, the person who thought that the F2 key would
make an excellent keyboard shortcut for the Rename command has been
killed in a prolonged and cruel manner.
3. Type a new name or edit the current name.
4. Press the Enter key to lock in the new name.
The only time this operation fails is when you abuse the file-naming rules (laid down in Chapter 16), or you attempt to use the name of an already existing file in the same folder.
200 Part III: Basic Computing
✓
The goal of renaming a file is to be descriptive and clever. If you can’t muster that, it’s safe to forget that F2 is the keyboard shortcut for the Rename command.
✓ Windows lets you rename a group of icons all at once. The process is the same as renaming a single icon, except that when the operation is completed, all selected icons have the same new name plus a number suffix.
For example, you select a group of icons and press the F2 key. When
you type Picture as the group filename, each file in the group is given
the name Picture (2), Picture (3), and so on, to the last file in the
group — Picture (274,369), for instance.
Deleting files
Ah, the fun part. Even if you harbor no evil intent, it makes sense to go on a file-purging binge every so often. The task involves cleaning out the dead-wood — removing files and folders you no longer want or need, or which
have postured themselves in a condescending manner.
To obliterate a file, select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard. You may see a confirmation prompt; click Yes. The file is gone.
Well, not really. The files you delete aren’t killed off. They’re banished to a digital purgatory called the Recycle Bin; see the next section.
✓
You can delete a file also by dragging its icon from the folder window to the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop (if the Recycle Bin icon is visible).
✓
You can delete folders just like you delete files, but keep in mind that
you delete the folder’s contents — which can consist of dozens of icons,
files, folders, jewelry, small children, widows, and refugees.
✓ Never delete any file or folder unless you created it yourself.
✓
Programs aren’t deleted in Windows; they’re uninstalled. See Chapter 15.
Bringing dead files back to life
Because you may be reading this section during a time of urgency, I shall waste no time: If you just deleted a file — and I mean just deleted it — you can use the Undo command to get it back: Press Ctrl+Z on the keyboard. There.
It’s back.
Chapter 17: The Grim Topic of File Management 201
If you’ve deleted a file any time before “just now,” you can safely revive it.
Rather than occupy a hilltop castle and wait for a thunderstorm, follow
these steps:
1. Open the Recycle Bin on the desktop.
If the Recycle Bin icon isn’t visible on the desktop, press Win+E to
summon a Windows Explorer window. Then in the address bar, click the
triangle to the left of the word Computer to display a menu, and choose Recycle Bin from that menu.
2. Select the file you want recovered.
3. Click the Restore the Selected Items button on the toolbar. (In some versions of Windows, the button is named Restore This Item.)
The file is magically removed from Recycle Bin limbo and restored
afresh to the folder from which it was so brutally seized.
4. Close the Recycle Bin window.
These steps may not work when too much time has passed since the file was deleted. Windows keeps its victims in Recycle Bin purgatory for months — or longer — depending on how frequently you purge files. After a longer period of time, you’ll have to resurrect long-dead files from a backup copy. See Chapter 18.
Find Escaped Files
Files get lost every day. Either they run off and hide in some bizarre,
unknown folder, or some midnight demon picks them up and moves them.
The reason for their absence varies, but the method used to hunt them down and bring them to justice is consistent.
You’ll find Search text boxes available in every folder window. Look in the upper-right corner of the window. In the text box, type the file’s name or text that might be found in the file. Press the Enter key, and Windows begins a fanatical search for matching files.
To muster the official Search command in Windows, press the Win+F key-
board shortcut. Use the window that appears to type more information about lost or missing files.
✓ Start the search in a parent folder, such as your User Account folder or the Computer folder window. The search progresses downward through
the folders.
202 Part III: Basic Computing
✓
To drag the file back into a proper folder, follow the steps from the section “Moving a file.” Cut the file from the Search Results window, open
the folder window where you’d expect the file to be, and paste.
✓
When you find yourself searching for the same stuff over and over, you
can save the search. Click the Save Search button in the Search Results
window. You can then redo the search by opening the saved search icon
in the Saved Searches folder, found in your User Profile folder.
✓
Just to be difficult, the Search command in Windows 8 uses not a folder
window but rather a Search screen. Results appear full-screen. You
can’t save a search or customize the search for specific file attributes.
If you’re making a list of reasons to despise Windows 8, add the Search
command to it.
Chapter 18
Save Your Butt When You
Really Screw Up
In This Chapter
▶ Restoring modified files
▶ Creating a backup copy
▶ Understanding compressed folders
▶ Extracting files from a compressed folder
▶ Installing software from a Zip file
Q uiz time! Which is more important in a computer system, hardware or
software? The answer is the software, which controls the hardware.
What’s the most important part of software? Why, it’s the stuff you create, the files stored on your computer’s mass storage system. What happens
when files gets damaged, deleted, or demented? Why, you have to use that
backup safety copy to save your butt. What happens when you don’t have a
backup safety copy? Why, you read this chapter.
For general butt-saving advice, consider my book Troubleshooting & Maintaining Your PC All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition (Wiley). All the cool kids read it.
The File You Had Yesterday
If a file is lost, you can find it. When a file has been deleted, you can recover it from the Recycle Bin. But when a file has been changed or overwritten with new information, getting it back requires some sorcery.
✓
Refer to Chapter 17 for information on finding lost files or lifting them from the electronic purgatory that is the Windows Recycle Bin.
✓
Windows warns you when a file is about to be overwritten. But if you’re
working on the file and you save a new version, you cannot get the old
version back unless you heed my advice in this section.
204 Part III: Basic Computing
Recovering with File History
Windows 8 features its own, unique method of file recovery. It’s called File History, and it’s similar to the Previous Versions function found in older, better versions of Windows (and covered in the next section).
Before getting all excited about using the File History feature, confirm that it’s set up properly. Obey these steps:
1. Ensure that your computer has an external hard drive.
The PC needs an external hard drive to best use File History. Connect
such a device to your PC immediately if you want to enjoy this feature.
See Chapter 7.
Oh, and this isn’t the last time in this chapter that I bemoan the neces-
sity of an external hard drive. Just do it now. Put down the book. Get an external hard drive.
2. Summon the Control Panel.
3. Below the System and Security heading, click the Save Backup Copies of Your Files with File History link.
4. Click the Turn On button.
If you see the Turn Off button, File History is already on. You’re set. And if you can’t click the Turn On button, then go back and reread Step 1.
Once active, the File History function monitors your files. Every so often, it duplicates the files, keeping copies hidden away on that external hard drive.
During times of anguish, you can recover one of those historical copies. To do so, summon the File History window.
The quick and easy way to summon the File History window is to follow
these steps:
1. Press the Win+R keyboard shortcut.
The Run dialog box appears.
2. Type filehistory in the text box.
That’s one word, filehistory. Don’t type a space between file and history.
3. Click OK.
The File History window appears, similar to what’s shown in Figure 18-1.
Chapter 18: Save Your Butt When You Really Screw Up 205
Figure 18-1:
Recover
files from
here.
4. Browse the folders to locate the file you want to recover.
You can go left or right, as illustrated in Figure 18-1, to browse for older versions of the same file.
5. Click to select the file, and then click the Restore button.
The historic version of the file is about to be copied to the same folder as the original, but before the file is restored:
6. Choose the option Replace the File in the Destination.
The historic file replaces the current version.
You can select multiple files or even folders to restore. As long as the File History feature is turned on, you should — in theory — never lose a file.
✓ The File History feature works only when it’s enabled.
✓
If files lack historical versions, or you just activated the File History feature, there will be nothing to recover.
✓
You can use a network location as well as an external drive for the File
History feature.
✓
File History is the only form of backup included with Windows 8.
206 Part III: Basic Computing
Restoring previous versions
Windows 7 and Windows Vista sport a feature I call Previous Versions. It lets you recover older versions of a file that may have been overwritten with new data or where you’ve saved an update and then changed your mind.
To recover the previous version of a file, heed these steps:
1. Right-click the file or folder you want to recover.
2. Choose the command Restore Previous Versions.
The icon’s Properties dialog box appears, with the Previous Versions
tab up front, similar to what’s shown in Figure 18-2. It may take a few
moments for Windows to locate the various previous versions.
Figure 18-2:
Perusing
previous
versions.
3. Click the highlight the version of the file you desire to recover.
It could be the most recent version or an antique.
4. Click the Restore button.
A special warning dialog box may appear, telling you that the restored,
previous version replaces the existing version you have. If so, click the Restore button again.
Chapter 18: Save Your Butt When You Really Screw Up 207
When you’d rather keep both the historical as well as current version of the file, click the Copy button in Step 4. The restored, previous version then becomes a duplicate file located in the same folder.
The Previous Versions feature may not be available on all releases of Windows, such as the Home or Student version. See? You thought you were saving
money by getting that version of Windows when you were just being cheap.
The Previous Versions feature might also be disabled when mass storage
space is running low.
The OMG Safety Copy
Perhaps the best way to secure the data on your computer is to do a full, serious, swear-to-your-favorite-deity, computer backup. Such a thing involves either an external storage device or a special Internet service.
The easiest way to configure a backup program for your PC is to buy an
external hard drive that comes with a backup utility. The one I recommend is the Seagate hard drive with Replica software installed. It works like a dream, which means it works far more efficiently than any version of the Backup
software included with Windows.
Another way to configure backup is to use one of the Internet backup services.
The service regularly copies files from your PC to storage somewhere on the Internet. Beyond being automatic, the advantage of the Internet copy is that if your home or office is crushed by a flaming meteor, your files survive.
Well, I suppose a meteor could smash into the Internet backup company’s
headquarters, but I think they probably have more than one location for storing your data.
Here is a smattering of Internet backup services to peruse:
Backblaze: www.backblaze.com
Carbonite: www.carbonite.com
Most of these services charge a nominal monthly fee, though you might also find a discounted annual rate. Additional fees apply when you plan on backing up more than one computer, as well as if you go over a certain amount of storage. Well, and you need Internet access too, which is kind of another fee.
Fees, fees, fees.
208 Part III: Basic Computing
OMG stands for “Oh, my goodness!” and other similar sayings.
Zip-a-dee-do Folders
Doesn’t everyone have their favorite medieval torture devices? There’s the rack, the iron maiden, and myriad things you can do with hot, molten lead.
For a file, the preferred form of torment is compression. It’s possible to take multiple files and squeeze out the juice, compacting them into a single unit.
That unit, or archive, can then be sent quickly over the Internet or stored long-term as an archive.
Because files are digital, they can be decompressed back to their original forms with no loss of data, integrity, or self-esteem. Such is the beauty of the file archive.
Whether files enjoy compression or not, archiving is yet another way you can store files for later retrieval. Or you can be traditional and send the archive as an e-mail attachment or somehow fling it out on the Internet.
The archives are officially known as compressed folders in Windows. They’re also called Zip files.
✓
Zip files, or compressed file archives, feature their own, unique icon,
shown in the margin. See the zipper? Cute.
✓
Like a traditional folder, a compressed folder contains files and folders.
It’s not really a folder, however; it’s merely a special type of file.
✓ Compressed folders are called Zip files because Windows uses the Zip file compression algorithm, and also because the filename extension
is zip. Zip doesn’t stand for anything; the developer chose the name because zippy means speedy.
Compressing files
Say you have this group of rowdy files. You want to pack them all up on a media card and send them to a military academy. That could happen one at a time, or you could lasso each file into a group. Better still, you can compress them all into a compact form and copy them as a single unit. Here’s how to compress one or more files:
1. Select the files you want to compress.
You can compress files in a group, or you can compress one single,
large, bloated file.
Chapter 18: Save Your Butt When You Really Screw Up 209
2. Right-click the group of files.
3. Choose the command Send To➪Compressed (Zipped) Folder.
A new compressed folder is created. Its name, which is preset and
stupid, is selected.
4. Type a new name for the compressed folder.
Be short, sweet, and descriptive.
The new compressed folder contains an archive, or duplicate copy, of the
files you selected in Step 1. You can now copy that compressed folder, e-mail it, or store it on external media. The files remain compressed into that single unit until you extract them. Extracting files is covered in the next section.
✓
You can also create an empty compressed folder: Right-click a
blank part of a folder window or the desktop, and then choose
New➪Compressed (Zipped) Folder. Rename the icon and you’re in
business.
✓ After a compressed folder has been created, you can add new files to it simply by dragging and dropping the file icons to the compressed folder’s icon. This action copies the file into the compressed folder; it does not move the file.
✓
Files stored in a compressed folder occupy less storage space than the
original files. That was the idea behind compressed folders, back in
the early days of computer telecommunications: It takes less time to
transmit a smaller file, which is important over slow dial-up modem
connections.
✓
Some types of files compress well, such as text files. Other file types
don’t compress at all. Certain audio and movie file types don’t com-
press. Some graphics file types, such as TIFF, don’t compress. That’s
because the file’s contents are already compressed. You can still
archive those files into a compressed folder, but you’re not saving any
storage space.
Examining a compressed folder archive
To see which files are hiding inside a compressed folder, open the folder. On the screen, it appears as if you’ve merely opened any old, boring folder —
but you haven’t. What you’re looking at is a compressed file archive, similar to what’s shown in Figure 18-3.
210 Part III: Basic Computing
Figure 18-3:
Browsing
insides of a
compressed
folder.
Despite a potential for aggression, you can really do only three things when looking at files imprisoned in a compressed folder:
✓
You can just snoop around. You can see what files and folders are inside
the archive. Open folders inside the compressed folder to check their
contents. You can even open compressed folders inside of compressed
folders. If that concept blows your mind, watch the 2010 film Inception.
✓
You can preview some types of files. Double-click an icon inside the
compressed folder window to have a peek. Some files open in programs
that let you preview their contents — but you cannot change the file
unless you first extract it.
✓ You can extract one or more files. To extract an individual file, drag it out of the archive. In Windows 8, you can select the file and then click a folder from the list to extract it to a specific location (refer to Figure 18-3).
Most commonly, you’ll probably want to extract all the files from the compressed folder archive. To do that, follow these steps:
1. Open the compressed folder.
2. Click the Extract All or Extract All Files toolbar button.
The Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window appears.
3. Click the Extract button.
Windows creates a folder with the same name as the compressed folder
and extracts (copies) all files from the compressed folder into the new
folder. That new folder then opens on the screen.
4. Close the compressed folder window.
Extracting files from a compressed folder does not remove the files from the archive. The files remain in the compressed folder until you delete them individually or simply delete the compressed folder.
Chapter 18: Save Your Butt When You Really Screw Up 211
To remove a file individually from a compressed folder, right-click its icon and choose the Delete command. Click the Yes button to confirm.
Installing software from
a compressed folder
Although I recommended against it in Chapter 15, occasionally you’ll download new software to your computer from the Internet, and that software is in the compressed folder (Zip) format. Committing this sin isn’t damning, but it requires that you perform a few extra steps to install the software.
Specifically, after you extract all the files from the compressed folder, as described in the preceding section, you need to locate the Install or Setup program in the new folder created. Run that program. Follow the steps on the screen to continue installing the software.
✓
When the Install or Setup program doesn’t appear in the window, open
the only folder in the window, or open the BIN folder.
✓
If the whole compressed folder download thing bothers you, search for
a version of the download that uses a self-extracting format rather than
Zip. Those files end with the exe filename extension. If such an option is available, choose it. See Chapter 15.
212 Part III: Basic Computing
Chapter 19
The Optical Disc Factory
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding the disc-burning thing
▶ Inserting the disc
▶ Choosing a proper format
▶ Working with the disc in Windows
▶ Wiping out an RW disc
▶ Labeling discs
▶ Throwing away a disc
L ong ago in computer land — the fairy tale place, not the retail outfit —
the optical disc was king. It was the removable media of choice, handy,
portable, and nearly indestructible by anyone over the age of five. New software arrived in the kingdom on optical discs. And the kingdom’s citizens
could even create their own optical disks, both CDs and DVDs. The process was called burning, and it didn’t involve a stout wooden pole, rope, or immo-lation of any royalty.
Disc Creation Overview
I must confess that the halcyon days of the optical disc are well behind us.
As a technology, optical discs have been replaced by high-capacity thumb
drives and media cards. Still, PCs come with optical drives, and cheap, write-able optical discs are plentiful. Therefore, creating your own optical discs is something computer owners still do, but probably not for much longer.
Oh, don’t feel bad: No one today weeps for the loss of the floppy disk, despite the fact that floppy disks were once the most popular form of removable
computer storage. In fact, back when the first PC was introduced, floppy
disks were the only form of storage media available to the PC. Things change.
214 Part III: Basic Computing
What to put on the disc?
The burning burning-question is “What kind of through the good old post office or mail ser-data should I put on an optical disc?” Unlike all vice, though that practice isn’t common with other storage media, optical discs work most the advent of high-speed Internet.
efficiently when information is written sequen-
tially — like an archive — because recordable Finally, how much information can be stored discs are not truly interactive media. Although on an optical disc is limited. For a CD, it’s about you can use them that way, a lot of storage 80MB — which isn’t a lot. On a dual-sided DVD, space is wasted in the process.
you can store up to 8GB of your digital junk, but
that’s still not a whopping amount of informa-
These days, the best use of an optical disc is to tion. Again, the storage limitation is yet another archive information for long-term storage. You reason why I believe PCs of the future won’t can use the discs also to send digital information come with optical drives.
If your PC has an optical drive, it can read optical disks, both CDs and DVDs.
If your PC has a recordable optical drive, it can also write to those discs. How can you tell? Look at the front of the optical drive for tattoos on the faceplate.
Refer to Table 19-1 for definitions of what that cryptic text could mean.
Table 19-1
Recordable Optical Disc Formats
Format
What It Means
CD-R
The standard recordable CD format
CD-RW
A format in which the disc can be recorded just like a CD-R,
although it can be completely erased and used again
DVD-R
The most popular DVD recordable format, compatible with comput-
ers and home movie DVD players
DVD+R
A DVD recordable format that records much faster than DVD-R but
isn’t as compatible with home movie DVD players
DVD-RW
The erasable version of the DVD-R format, where the disc can be
erased and used again
DVD+RW
The erasable version of the DVD+R format
DVD R DL
A dual-layer version of the DVD-R format that holds twice as much
data but can be read only in dual-layer optical drives
DVD RAM
Also known as RAM2; can be recorded to and erased similarly to
the RW format but is way, way out of fashion
Chapter 19: The Optical Disc Factory 215
The optical drive is the hardware part of the equation. The software side is supplied by Windows. Blank optical media is recognized by Windows once
you insert the disc into the drive. Later sections in this chapter dwell on what to do when Windows identifies a recordable optical disc.
Your PC may have also come with a third-party disc creation tool, such as the popular Nero program. You can use that program instead of Windows
(it’s easier to use), but this book covers only the Windows method of burning a disc.
Beyond the hardware and software, media is required in the form of a recordable optical disc. As long as you get the kind of discs the PC’s optical drive can eat (refer to Table 19-1), you’re set.
✓
An optical drive with the Multi label on it can pretty much record all the various optical disc formats.
✓
Discs are cheap! I recommend buying them in 25-, 50-, or 100-disc packs.
✓ You may not think that the discs are cheap, but when CD-Rs first came
out in the 1990s, they were about $5 a pop. Recordable DVDs were origi-
nally $15 each!
✓
Some CD-Rs are labeled specifically for music. These music CD-Rs are of
a lower quality than data CD-Rs because music doesn’t have the same
accuracy demands as data storage.
✓
The RW format discs are more expensive than the other, write-once
disc formats.
Birth of a Disc
As long as you have a recordable optical drive in your PC, a stack of recordable discs handy, plus your favorite beverage, you and Windows can make
data discs like rabbits make bunnies. Although you probably won’t make the discs as enthusiastically as the rabbits make the bunnies.
Burning a disc
Brace yourself for disc-creation action. After you’ve obtained a recordable disc of a format compatible with your computer’s optical drive, shove that disc into the PC’s optical drive.
216 Part III: Basic Computing
In Windows 8, a pop-up box appears that says Tap to Choose What Happens
with Blank CDs. Tap that box with your finger, or click it using the mouse. In older versions of Windows, an AutoPlay dialog box appears, similar to what’s shown in Figure 19-1.
Figure 19-1:
Dealing with
a blank disc.
After tapping or clicking the box (Windows 8), or viewing the AutoPlay dialog box (Windows everything else), follow these steps:
1. Choose the Burn Files to Disc option.
The Burn a Disc dialog box shows up.
If you don’t see the Burn Files to Disc option, the disc has already been prepared for use. You’re done. Start using the disc.
2. Type a name for the disc.
Name the disc based on its contents. Or you can just accept the current
date, which is already shown in the dialog box.
3. Choose a formatting option.
In Windows Vista, you’ll need to first click the Show Formatting Options
button to reveal the formatting option choices. Two formats are avail-
able, both of which are equally confusing:
• Like a USB Flash Drive or Live File System: In these formats, information is written to the disc immediately. You can eject the disc,
use it in another computer, and then reinsert the disc and keep
adding files to it. You can use the disc until it’s full.
Chapter 19: The Optical Disc Factory 217
• With A CD/DVD Player or Mastered: These formats collect files to be written to the disc, storing them on the PC’s mass storage
system (the hard drive). All waiting files are written to the disc at
one time. Then the disc is closed, and further writing to the disc is prevented.
Of the two formats, the mastered format is more compatible with other
optical drives, and it makes the most efficient use of disc space. The USB
flash drive and live file system formats, however, work more like tradi-
tional removable media in a PC.
4. Click the Next button.
For the USB flash drive and live file system, Windows formats the disc,
preparing it for use. Click the Yes button if you’re prompted by the “This will take a long time” warning. It’s a realistic warning, too; it does take a long time to format the disc.
The CD/DVD player and mastered formats don’t require preparation at
this time; the disc isn’t officially prepared for use until you eject it.
5. Start using the disc.
The disc is mounted into your PC’s mass storage system. Windows may display an additional AutoPlay dialog box for the disc, or it might automatically open the disc’s folder window. The optical drive’s icon shows up in the Computer window. The disc is ready for abuse.
✓
Not seeing anything displayed after inserting a recordable optical disc
could mean that the disc is defective. Try another.
✓
If you don’t see anything displayed after repeatedly inserting recordable optical discs, the PC may not have a recordable optical drive.
✓ You can summon the AutoPlay dialog box for any disc by right-clicking
that disc’s icon in the Computer window. From the shortcut menu,
choose the command Open AutoPlay.
Working with a USB flash drive
or live file format disc
After setting up a USB flash drive or live file format recordable disc, discussed in the preceding section, you can work with it just like you work with any removable storage media: Copy files to the disc’s window, create folders, and manage files as you normally do. Information is written to the disc as soon as you copy it over. That’s why it’s the live file system — your interaction with the disc is pretty much real-time.
218 Part III: Basic Computing
Time is not on the optical disc’s side
Optical disc storage is not permanent. It’s long-
the sandy, dry place and not something sweet
term, sure, but scientists in white lab coats you want to eat, but shouldn’t.
have determined that information stored on an
optical disc does degrade over time. Plenty of The digital desert refers to file formats that are variables are involved, and I won’t mention the abandoned or forgotten over time. For example, variables because it’s been years since I read when I was writing computer books in the 1990s, the article and I’ve completely forgotten what images were stored in the PCX (PC Paintbrush) they are. But they are variables nonetheless.
file format. That file format is now obsolete and
is not readable by any of today’s software. So,
Another consideration when storing informa-
effectively, those files I dutifully archived at that
tion long term is a concept known as the digital time are today pretty much useless.
desert. There’s only one s in desert so it means When you’re ready, you can eject the disc. You can then use the disc on
another PC or reinsert it into your computer. You can continue to burn files to the disc until it’s full or it catches fire.
You can erase, rename, or move a file after it has been burned to a USB flash drive or live file system disc, but doing so wastes disc space. If possible, try to do your file manipulations before you copy the files to the disc.
Working with a CD/DVD
player or mastered disc
You work with a CD/DVD player or mastered disc just as you would work
with any media in Windows. Files can be copied, folders can be created, and so on. The only difference you see is that the files you put on the disc appear with a download flag on their icon, as shown in the margin. The icon also appears ghostly, or dimmed.
The reason for the faint download icon is that nothing is actually written until the disc is ejected. Feel free to manage the icons at any time with no fear of affecting anything on the disc. And please, don’t hold your breath while you’re managing the files.
When you’re ready to burn the disc, follow these steps:
1. Open the Computer window.
2. Open the optical drive’s icon.
You see the files and folders waiting to be burned to the disc.
Chapter 19: The Optical Disc Factory 219
3. In Windows 8, click the Finish Burning button, found on the Disk
Tools Manage tab; in Windows 7 and Windows Vista, click the Burn to
Disc toolbar button.
The Burn to Disc dialog box appears.
4. Enter a name for the disc.
5. Set a recording speed.
The recording speed preselected for you is, doubtless, okay — though
one school of thought says that choosing the slowest recording speed ensures a reliable disc-writing session. Who knows?
6. Click the Next button.
The files are burned to the disc. The disc is ejected automatically when
it’s done.
7. Remove the disc from the drive.
8. Click the Finish button to close the Burn to Disc dialog box.
You cannot write any additional information to a mastered disc after it’s been burned.
Using the Burn button
Folder windows sport a toolbar button that can be used to quickly copy, or burn, one or more files or folders to a recordable optical disc. In Windows 8, the button is titled Burn to Disc and is found on the Share tab. In older versions of Windows, the button is called Burn and is found on the toolbar.
After clicking the Burn to Disc or Burn button, any selected files are copied to the disc. If a disc isn’t in the drive, the PC pops open the optical drive and a dialog box prompts you to insert a writable disc into the drive. Do so.
Erasing an RW disc
RW discs are prepared and worked with just like regular recordable discs —
the ones without the W. All information in this chapter applies to both formats. The main difference is the addition of a toolbar button that lets you reformat the RW disc and start over.
To reformat the RW disc, comply with these steps:
1. Open the Computer window.
The keyboard shortcut is Win+E.
2. Click to select the optical drive.
220 Part III: Basic Computing
3. Click the Erase This Disc toolbar button.
In Windows 8, the button is found in the Drive Tools Manage tab.
4. Follow the directions on the screen to completely erase the disc and start over.
Basically, you click the Next button, wait, and then click the Finish
button.
When you’re done, you can use the disc over again. In fact, double-click its icon in the Computer window and you’re off to format the disc, as described in the earlier section “Burning a disc.”
✓
RW discs are different from other recordable discs. It says RW on the label, and the disc is more expensive, which is most obvious when you
try to taste it.
✓ RW discs may not be readable in all optical drives. If you want to create a CD with the widest possible use, burn a CD-R rather than a CD-RW
disc. For a DVD, use the DVD-R format.
✓
It’s often said that RW discs are best used for backing up data because
they can be reused over and over. However, on a disc-per-disc basis, it’s cheaper to use non-RW discs instead. And, for the sake of convenience,
I recommend using an external hard drive rather than optical discs to
back up your stuff. See Chapter 18.
Labeling the disc
I highly recommend labeling all removable media, from recordable discs to memory cards. Even if you name things only A or B, that’s fine because it helps you keep track of the discs.
✓
Label your disc after it’s been written to. That way, you don’t waste time labeling what could potentially be a bad disc (one that you would
throw away).
✓
I use a Sharpie to write on the disc. Write on the label side; the other
side is the one containing your important data. You don’t want to write
on that.
✓ Only if the label specifically says that it’s chemically safe for a recordable disc should you use it. Otherwise, the chemicals in the sticky label may damage the disc and render the information that’s written to it
unreadable after only a few months.
Chapter 19: The Optical Disc Factory 221
Disposing of a disc
Sure, you can just toss a disc into the trash. That’s okay — in most places.
Some communities, however, classify an optical disc as hazardous, and it
must be properly disposed of or sent off for recycling.
If you don’t want anyone else to read the disc, you probably don’t want to throw it away intact. The best solution is to destroy the disc by getting a paper shredder that can also handle crunching optical discs.
Some folks say that you can effectively erase a disc by putting it in a micro-wave oven for a few seconds. I don’t know whether I trust or recommend that method. And don’t burn a disc; its fumes are toxic.
222 Part III: Basic Computing
Part IV
Networking
Nonsense
In this part . . .
I t would be an utter joy for me to tell you that you
never need to bother with computer networking. A
bespectacled, charming geek named Melvin will do the job
for you. He will set up the network, troubleshoot prob-
lems, and provide insightful solutions without offending
you with his poor hygiene. Sadly, neither of us will ever
see that scenario.
Today’s PC is a networked PC. Even when your PC is the
only one around, a broadband modem is probably loitering
nearby. Such a gizmo requires a network hose whether you
like it or not. I could go on about wireless networking,
computer viruses, and more, but I don’t have the space on
this page, so all that nonsense happens in the chapters
garnishing this part of the book.
Chapter 20
The Non-TV Kind of Network
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding networking
▶ Reviewing wired network hardware
▶ Connecting the network
▶ Choosing a wireless network
▶ Getting a wireless gateway
▶ Making the broadband connection
W hen I grew up — way back in the last century, kids — network meant ABC, CBS, or NBC. Those are the Big Three television networks. Sorry
PBS — you don’t count. So when the computer network came about, I figured it would be some dull TV channel where nerds talked about parity bits, paper tape storage, and avoiding the GOTO instruction. But I was wrong.
Nearly everyone who has PC today also has a computer network. It’s crazy!
The network is simply another basic part of owning a computer, like having a printer or a sore neck. This chapter explores the hardware half of networking. The software side is shoved into Chapter 21.
The Whole Network Enchilada
A computer network can be vast, uncharted, dangerous ground on which you
tread. Better bone up on some basics before you do something foolish.
Understanding the network
A computer network is simply two connected devices. They talk. They laugh.
They fight over shared resources like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock dueling
out the pon farr on planet Vulcan. To understand that last sentence, you can watch Episode 30 from the classic TV series Star Trek. Instead, you might want to read this handy list of various resources that are shared over a computer network:
226 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Mass storage: You can access information stored on other network
computers.
Printers: All computers on a network can use one or more printers connected to or shared on the network.
Internet access: Although each computer secretly wants its own broadband modem, you can force all PCs on a network to share a single modem
and its prized high-speed Internet connection.
Media player: Windows lets you share media files (video, audio, and pictures) among computers, as well as with any Xbox game consoles or
Internet-ready TVs attached to the computer network.
None of these fun and marginally interesting activities takes place until you connect, set up, and configure a computer network for your home or small
office. That’s the bad news. The good news is that after you’ve connected everything, you don’t need to mess with the network hardware ever again.
Well, rarely. You rarely need to mess with the network hardware ever again.
I suppose my job is to encourage you to read this entire chapter despite the harsh realities of something completely dweebish like computer networking.
Going wired or wireless
Network goodness enters your computer in one of two ways. The traditional way is over a wire or, as I prefer to call it, a network hose. The newer way is wirelessly, which involves fewer wires than the traditional, wired type of computer network.
Both forms of computer network, wired and wireless, use the same termi-
nology and pretty much the same gizmos. More setup and configuration is
involved with a wireless network, and that type of network is more prone to attack, but most people still favor it. I don’t know why.
In my office, I use both wired and wireless networking. The computers are wired, but my phone and various tablets connect wirelessly to the network.
You can set up a similar system in your domicile. This chapter explains the basics.
Chapter 20: The Non-TV Kind of Network 227
Avoidable network jargon
Here are definitions of some network terms that the whole networking ball of wax. Just be sure may frequent your eyes or ears. Please don’t that you say it properly: “EETH-er-net.”
memorize any of this geek slang! Refer to the
explanations only in times of dire woe.
LAN: When you connect a group of comput-
ers to form a network, you make a local area
Ad hoc: On this type of network, wireless com- network, or LAN. You pronounce LAN like land puters are connected to each other but not without the d at the end, like how Aunt Minnie necessarily through a router or central access pronounced “land sakes!”
point. It’s kind of the swingers type of network.
Peer-to-peer: A network that simply connects
Client-server: A network setup where one main computers is known as a peer-to-peer network.
computer is accessed by other computers. In that scheme, no single computer is in charge; That computer would be the server; the other each computer is “on the network,” just like any computers are clients. The server runs special other computer. Peer-to-peer contrasts with server software, which the other network com-the client-server type of network.
puters access to handle e-mail, run programs,
and share files. This book doesn’t specifically Server: A computer that runs a program shared cover the client-server type of network.
by other computers on the network. The server
can be local, such as what happens with a
Ethernet: This term refers to the standards and client-server network, or it could be on the protocols used for networking. Ethernet is the Internet. When you access a web page, for most popular personal networking standard, example, your computer is requesting informa-and it’s a standard for communications on the tion from a web server. The server can be a Internet as well. That’s how computer network-computer or, more commonly, software running
ing is closely tied to the Internet. The specifics on that computer.
of Ethernet aren’t important to understanding
The Wired Network
When you enjoy having wires all over your home or small office, you should opt for the wired form of computer networking. Actually, it’s just called “computer networking.” Only wireless networking sports an adjective.
A basic wired network setup involves four basic pieces of network hardware:
✓
The networking adapter, or NIC
✓
The cables
✓
The gateway or router
✓
A broadband modem
228 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Figure 20-1 illustrates a typical network layout using the four basic gizmos, but also some other networking doodads such as a few computers and
a printer.
At the center of the network is the gateway, which is often called a router, though it’s a gateway. See the later section “Putting the gateway, which isn’t really a router, at the center of your network.”
All the cables branch out from the gateway. The cables connect the computers to the gateway, but also connect other devices, such as the printer and broadband modem shown in Figure 20-1. The broadband modem is connected to the Internet through a convenient hole in the wall.
The network setup illustrated in Figure 20-1 is typical but not standard. The network you create may look similar, though you can cleverly disguise the cables, run them through walls, or drape them across the ceiling. The whole setup can be very flexible.
Figure 20-1:
A wired
computer
network.
Chapter 20: The Non-TV Kind of Network 229
Connecting to Saint NIC
Your PC can yearn for a network connection, but like the awkward teenager fantasizing about the Hollywood starlet, unless it has networking hardware all that pining goes to waste. The key is for the computer to have a NIC.
You must know two important things about the NIC. First, it’s pronounced
nick, as in “Nick-nack paddywhack, give a dog a bone.” Second, it stands for network information card. This is the hardware your PC needs to accept the network cable and make the network connection.
Good news: Just about every dang doodle PC sold today comes with a built-in NIC. You can verify that it’s there on your PC’s rump, clustered into the I/O
panel described in Chapter 2.
✓ The wired NIC features an RJ-45 adapter. That’s the official name for the hole into which you plug the network cable. (All the items in this list are technical, so just pretend that three of these icons appear in
the margin.)
✓
The standard NIC is measured by its speed in Mbps, or megabits per
second: 10 Mbps is too slow, 100 Mbps is faster, and 1000 Mbps (1 gigabit) is the fastest and bestest.
✓
The NIC may also be known as an Ethernet card or a network adapter.
Wiring the network hoses
The non-wireless computer network demands the presence of wires to
connect computers and all other network gizmos. The wire used is a cable
known as Cat 5, or Category 5, networking cable. It might also be known as a Cat 6 or even Cat 5e.
One end of the cable plugs into the NIC in your computer. The other end
plugs into a central location, such as the gateway illustrated in Figure 20-1.
✓
Computer network cable comes in a variety of lengths and in several
bright and cheerful colors.
✓
There is no incorrect way to plug in a network hose; you can plug either
end into the computer’s NIC. Plug the other end into the gateway.
✓ If you don’t want to go through all the networking wire mess, simply opt for a wireless network, discussed later in this chapter.
230 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Putting the gateway, which isn’t really
a router, at the center of your network
At the center of the computer network is the gateway. It’s the location where all the network wires connect. Why isn’t it called a router? Because it’s not a router. It’s a gateway. Did the gizmo cost less than $500? Then it’s not a router.
The gateway’s job is to coordinate local network activity and to communi-
cate with a larger network, the Internet. It may also provide firewall support, which helps prevent bad guys on the Internet from accessing the computers on your local network.
✓
Many gateways feature USB ports for adding a printer or networked
hard drive. That’s a plus. The printer or hard drive can be accessed by
any computer on the network.
✓ Normally, heavy configuration of the gateway is unnecessary; most of
them come ready-to-wear right out of the box. Even so, I recommend that
you assign the gateway a new password as part of its setup. Refer to the
gateway’s manual for information on how to access its control panel pro-
gram and set the new password, or just have someone else do it for you.
✓
There’s no need to turn off the gateway after the computer network is
set up.
✓ When you need more network connections on your gateway, you buy
something called a switch. It’s basically just a gang of Ethernet ports, which let you add more network computers, printers, and other gizmos
to the network. The switch helps you expand your computer network.
The Wireless Life
Q: What’s the biggest difference between a wireless network and the traditional, wired computer network?
A: Why do I even need to ask? Everyone knows that the big difference is in the configuration, which involves weirdo acronyms such as SSID and WPA/
WPA2 and other stuff you can avoid reading about until Chapter 21. For now, the major hardware difference is, of course, the lack of wires in a wireless network.
Figure 20-2 illustrates a basic wireless network setup. It’s pretty much the same as the wired network setup shown back in Figure 20-1. In fact, it’s the same illustration, but I just erased the wires, added the little wireless radio things, and changed some of the names. You see, I do all the book’s illustrations and they don’t pay me extra for it, so that’s the best you’re going to get.
Chapter 20: The Non-TV Kind of Network 231
Figure 20-2:
A wireless
computer
network.
The interesting thing to notice in Figure 20-2 is that not every gizmo is wirelessly connected to the network. You can mix and match. The only place
you can’t use a wireless connection is for the broadband modem. That one
requires a wire, as shown in the figure.
✓
Just like wired networking, after you get wireless networking configured, you can pretty much leave it alone.
✓ Wireless computer networking is also known as Wi-Fi. It’s a play on the old sound standard, Hi-Fi, which stood for high fidelity. Wi-Fi supposedly stands for wireless fidelity.
232 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Getting used to the 802.11 thing
One additional thing you need to get used to for wireless networking, a thing that wired networking lacks, is the 802.11 number. It’s a standard, probably the 802nd standard or the 11th version of the 802nd standard. But all that is unimportant. What is important is the wee little letter that comes after the 802.11.
The wee little letter describes the wireless networking standard. It’s important because all the wireless gizmos on the network must use the same standard or communication is kaput. Here’s the list:
802.11a: The first standard, which is not really used any longer.
802.11b: The second standard, which was compatible with 802.11a, but not the other way around.
802.11g: A newer standard, faster than 802.11b and quite popular until: 802.11n: The current, fastest, best standard for wireless networking. These devices can communicate with older standards, but not at top speed.
Most wireless networking hardware today adheres to the 802.11n standard.
The only thing you need to remember is that all the wireless hardware on the network should be of the same standard.
You pronounce 802.11 as “eight oh two eleven.” You can also say, “Eight oh two dot eleven” if you’re feeling cheeky.
Hooking up the wireless NIC
As with its wired counterpart, the wireless NIC is essentially the gizmo on your PC that connects to the wireless network. It works without a cable, so it uses some kind of dark magic. Contrary to this section’s title, there is nothing to hook up.
✓
Not every PC comes with a wireless NIC. You can add one easily, either
internally by adding a wireless NIC expansion card or by attaching a
wireless USB modem. See Chapter 10 for expansion options.
✓
It’s possible to have both a wireless and wired NIC in your computer.
They are two different devices, and your PC is capable of having two
networking connections at once. Nothing explodes when you create
such a setup.
✓
Even devices such as tablets and smartphones can have a wireless NIC.
In fact, that method is the cheap way (cheaper than the cellular data service) to connect these gizmos to the Internet.
Chapter 20: The Non-TV Kind of Network 233
Obtaining a wireless gateway
Gateways come in both wired and wireless varieties. In fact, the wireless version is far more popular. Both have connections for wired networking, but the wireless gateway broadcasts the wireless network signal, which the wireless NICs on various gizmos can pick up and then connect to the network.
That explanation is the simple one. You’ll find more details involved with connecting to a wireless network in Chapter 21.
Another item to consider for the wireless gateway is its broadcast range. In a single room, all devices can pick up the wireless signal. Step outside the room and the signal strength diminishes. Stand behind that lead safe, and the signal disappears entirely. My point is that wireless networking has a distance limitation.
✓
When one wireless gateway doesn’t work for your home or office, you
can buy a second wireless gateway and extend the first. The second
gateway acts as a base station, simply rebroadcasting the Wi-Fi signal.
This type of setup is called a wireless distribution system, or WDS.
✓
A wireless gateway is also known as an access point.
✓
As with the wireless NICs and other wireless networking stuff, the wire-
less gateway must be of the same 802.11 flavor as the rest of the wireless network.
The Broadband Modem
High-speed modems are generically referred to as broadband modems. These devices are frequently found near the heart of any computer network. In fact, most home computers are networked only to the broadband modem, simply
to get that high-speed connection.
Several types of broadband modems are common:
Cable: This type of modem is the fastest you can have. Its only downside is that when more of your neighbors begin using their cable modems, the
overall speed decreases. But at 2 a.m., your cable modem smokes!
DSL: This type of modem gives you fast access by taking advantage of unused frequencies in existing phone lines. The speed is limited by how
far away your location is from the phone company’s home office. Also,
regular phones used on the same line as the DSL modem require special
filters. But otherwise, next to cable, DSL gives you the fastest connection speeds.
234 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Satellite: Combined with an outdoor antenna and a subscription to the satellite service, this modem option is one of the fastest available. Try to get a satellite modem that provides both sending and receiving capabilities. Avoid download-only satellite service.
WiMAX: A broadband wireless standard, WiMAX is like Wi-Fi on steroids.
The signal can be broadcast over an entire city, picked up by wireless
radios. It’s fast. It’s convenient. It’s often one of the only options available when you live out in the sticks.
In all cases, the modem connects directly with the gateway in the computer network setup (refer to Figures 20-1 and 20-2). The gateway has a special hole for the modem; the hole might be labeled Modem or WAN, for wide-area network. That’s the Internet.
✓
You should leave the broadband modem on all the time.
✓
By having a broadband modem attached to your computer network, you
allow all computers on the network to share that fast Internet access.
✓
You can buy your own broadband modem or rent one from your
Internet provider. I recommend buying the modem, especially when you
know that you’ll be in the same location and using the same service for
at least a year.
✓ DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. It has variations, such as ADSL and other something-DSL options. Your phone company knows more about
this matter than I do. Basically, everyone calls it DSL, no matter what.
Chapter 21
Network Abuse
In This Chapter
▶ Checking the network connection
▶ Accessing a Wi-Fi network
▶ Finding network places in Windows
▶ Configuring network sharing
▶ Sharing folders and printers
▶ Accessing shared folders and printers
T he point of having a computer network is to use it. Beyond some initial anguish, the network behaves about as well as other computer components, causing trouble only at the worst times. But for the most part, the network sits there and does its job. Those few times you need to interact with the network require some avuncular words of advice, which you’ll find in
this chapter.
“Am I On the Network?”
Of course you’re not on the network, although your computer might be.
Before getting all panicked, you first need to confirm the hardware connection. Then you can pull a few tricks to see if the PC is talking to other gizmos on the network.
Connecting to a wired network
Windows automatically finds any network into which the PC is plugged.
So, by turning on your computer and having that network hose connected,
you’re more or less done with network configuration. Enjoy a snack.
236 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Connecting to a wireless network
Accessing a wireless, or Wi-Fi, network involves more steps than connecting a wired network. You must choose the connection, often from a full list of available networks.
The wireless network connection works differently whether you’re cursed
with Windows 8 or are blessed with an older, better version of Windows.
Connect in Windows 8
If you are using Windows 8, follow these steps to hook up to an available wireless network:
1. Summon the charms bar, and then choose Settings.
The quickest way to summon the charms bar is to press the Win+C key
combination.
2. Click or touch the Available icon.
The icon is shown in the margin. If you don’t see the icon, the computer
might already be connected to a wireless network or there may be no
networks in range.
3. Choose a wireless network from the list.
Additional information about the network is displayed.
4. Place a check mark in the box by Connect Automatically if you want to always connect with the wireless network when it’s in range.
5. Click the Connect button.
6. If prompted, type the network’s password.
The computer is now connected to the wireless network.
Skip up to the section “After the connection is made” to read some vital information about a new wireless connection.
Connect with older, better versions of Windows
If you are using a version of Windows before version 8, obey these steps to hunt down and connect to a wireless network:
1. Click the wireless networking icon, found in the notification area.
When you click the wireless networking icon, a list of available wireless networks appears, as shown in Figure 21-1.
Chapter 21: Network Abuse 237
In Windows Vista, you choose the Connect To➪Wireless Network item,
found on the Start button menu.
In Windows XP, you choose Connect To from the Start button menu.
Figure 21-1:
Available
wireless
networks.
2. Choose a network from the list.
The list shows the network name and its signal strength.
3. Place a check mark by the option Automatically Connect if you plan to use the same wireless network in the future.
The Automatically Connect option doesn’t appear for every network.
4. Click the Connect button.
Windows attempts to “make friendly” with the wireless network.
5. If you see a warning telling you that the network is unsecured, click the Connect Anyway option.
This message is common for certain free wireless networks that don’t
require a password for connection. Click the Connect Anyway option to
proceed.
6. Enter the network’s password, if you’re prompted to do so.
At this point, you could be connected and ready to use the network, espe-
cially if the network is one you commonly use. Keep reading the next section.
After the connection is made
At some point after connecting to the wireless network, Windows may ask
you to tell it whether the network is public or private. This question is vital.
A public network is one that’s out in public, one that random and strange people can also use. In that situation, you want to ensure that your PC is locked down and not open to snooping. A home or office network is one in
your home or office, available only to safe computers or folks you know. This type of network is more open than the public network.
238 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Some public networks require that you log in or pay to complete the connection process. If you’re unsure, open a web browser window; start the Internet Explorer program. Try to connect to a web page. If you’re successful,
you’re okay. Otherwise, heed the directions on that web page to complete
the connection.
✓
When given a choice, pick the wireless network with the strongest
signal. The signal graphic appears just to the right of the wireless net-
work’s name.
✓ Avoid connecting to unknown networks in a public location. You’re
taking a security risk when you don’t know exactly which network
you’re using.
✓ A few wireless Internet locations offer their password-and-setup information on a USB flash drive. Simply insert the flash drive to connect to the network, or use the drive as indicated by the directions or when you’re
prompted to insert the drive when you connect to the network. Needless
to say, a USB flash drive is a handy thing to have — much better than
retyping those long password keys!
Connecting to an unknown
wireless network
Some Wi-Fi networks don’t broadcast their SSID, which is an acronym
that somehow stands for The Network’s Name. In that case you need to dis-
cover the network’s name and then manually connect to the network. Heed
these steps:
1. Open the Network and Sharing Center window.
Directions are found in the later section, “Windows Network Central.”
2. Click the link Set Up a New Connection or Network.
The Set Up a Connection or Network window appears.
3. Choose the item Manually Connect to a Wireless Network, and then
click the Next button.
A screen with a bunch of fill-in-the-blanks items appears. You’ll need
information about the wireless network to fill in all the blanks.
4. Fill in all the blanks.
Most important, you need the network name (SSID), what type of secu-
rity is offered (if any), and the password.
5. Click the Next button.
If all goes well, the network is added.
Chapter 21: Network Abuse 239
Confirming the network connection
Your best clue to tell that the computer is connected to the network is to check the notification area on the taskbar. If the network icon shows a connection —
and doesn’t show a warning bubble, exclamation point, or yellow flag —you’re connected.
Another way to tell is to fire up a web browser, such as Internet Explorer.
If you can get on the Internet and view a web page, the network is up and running.
Finally, you can confirm that your PC is talking to other PCs on the network by opening the Network window: Press the Win+E keyboard shortcut, and
then choose Network from the list on the left side of the screen. When you see icons for other computers connected to the network in that window, the network is connected.
Disconnecting from a network
There’s no need to disconnect from a wired network. Just leave the cable
plugged in all the time and Mr. PC will be fine.
You can manually disconnect from a wireless network by turning off the PC
or simply moving out of range.
To manually disconnect from a wireless network in Windows 7, click the
Network icon in the notification area and choose the wireless network from the pop-up window. Click the Disconnect button.
In Windows Vista, you manually disconnect from a wireless network by using the Network and Sharing Center; click the link titled Disconnect to the left of the wireless network name.
Windows Network Central
The main location for nearly all networking items in Windows is the Network and Sharing Center, shown in Figure 21-2. That window displays your PC’s
current network status as well as the Internet connection status.
240 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Figure 21-2:
The
Network
and Sharing
Center.
To display the Network and Sharing Center, heed these steps:
1. Open the Control Panel window.
2. Below the Network and Internet heading, choose View Network Status and Tasks.
The Network and Sharing Center window appears.
In addition to displaying information about the network and Internet connection, the Network and Sharing Center features links and options where various networking stuff is controlled. It’s okay if you want to ignore all
those options.
Another network location is the Network window, shown in Figure 21-3. That window lists all the network resources available to your computer. To visit that window, press Win+E to summon a Windows Explorer window, and then
choose the Network item from the window’s left side.
The Network window organizes available network resources by category. In
Figure 21-3 you’ll find icons for computers, media-sharing devices, storage devices, and network printers.
✓ To diagnose a problem identified in the Network and Sharing Center
window, click the red X to run a network troubleshooter.
✓
Windows XP lacks a Network and Sharing Center. Instead, a Network
Connections window is used, which is accessed through the Network
Connections icon in the Control Panel.
✓
A media-sharing device is a computer that makes available its photos,
videos, and music or something non-traditional such as a game console
or an Internet-ready TV.
Chapter 21: Network Abuse 241
Figure 21-3:
The
Network
window.
Network Sharing
Computers are not tribal. Your PC won’t attach itself to a computer network just because it enjoys being one of the gang. The network must be useful to the computer, as well as its operator. To be the most useful, and fulfill the purpose of having a computer network, resources are shared.
✓
Common network resources include mass storage, printers, Internet
access, and media players. Review Chapter 20 for the specifics.
✓
Internet access is available to all computers on the network without the
need for further configuration. Providing that the hardware is set up
properly, any computer on the network is on the Internet.
Demanding that Windows share resources
To confirm that your computer is set up to play nice and share stuff on the Internet, follow these steps:
1. Open the Network and Sharing Center window.
Directions loiter earlier in this chapter.
242 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
2. From the left side of the window, choose Change Advanced Sharing
Settings.
In Windows Vista, the settings are found at the bottom of the Network
and Sharing Center window.
3. Review my recommended settings from Table 21-1.
Turn each option on or off by choosing the appropriate button below
the option’s heading and description.
In Windows 8 and Windows Vista, you may need to click the Show More
(down-pointing chevron) button to display some of the on–off settings.
4. Click the Save Changes button when you’re done.
In Windows Vista, you must click the Apply button after making each
individual setting change.
Table 21-1
Settings That Control Sharing on the Network
Option
Recommended
Effect of Enabling
Setting
Network Discovery
On
Your PC can see other computers
on the network and other comput-
ers can see your PC. It’s the “No
hiding” option.
File and Printer
On
Other computers on the network
Sharing
can access shared folders on your
PC as well as any printers attached
to your PC.
Public Folder Sharing
On
You control access to the Public
folder on your PC.
Media Streaming/
On
Other network users can access
Media Sharing
your PC’s music and media files
by using Windows Media Center
across the network.
File Sharing
128-bits
You can set the level of encryption
Connections
for file sharing.
Password Protected
Off for home
You control who has access to
Sharing
offices; On at
shared files and printers on your
work
PC.
HomeGroup
On (Allow)
You specify whether Windows
Connections
manages shared files as a
HomeGroup or whether you do so
manually by logging into each PC
on the network.
Chapter 21: Network Abuse 243
In case you doubt my suggestions in Table 21-1, here are some clarifications and other items worthy of note:
✓
File and printer sharing are two separate categories in Windows Vista.
✓
The File Sharing Connections and HomeGroups Connections categories
are available only in Windows 8 and Windows 7.
✓
The Public folder is a location in Windows where you can share files between multiple users on a single PC. You can also share files with
folks on the network if you allow Public folder sharing as described in
this section.
✓
The Password Protected Sharing option limits access to your PC and its
files to only those who have a password-protected account on your PC.
This option is a bother for home networks and wherever security isn’t
an issue. I turn off the option in my office but recommend turning it on
in just about any situation except for the most secure ones.
✓
Media Sharing allows you to use Windows Media Center to play or
access media files — including pictures, videos, and music — on
another PC in the network.
✓ The HomeGroup sharing nonsense was introduced with Windows 7.
It exists still in Windows 8. It’s yet another way to share mass stor-
age, though it works only with those two versions of Windows. It also
requires copious amounts of setup and configuration, so feeling rather
fatigued at this point in the chapter, it’s a topic I’ll leave to a book specific to your version of Windows.
Sharing your PC’s mass storage
If you want other people on the network to have access to your PC’s mass
storage system, well, they can’t. But they can have access to a folder on your computer. To do so, you must share the folder. Sharing makes the folder —
and its contents (all files and subfolders) — available to all other computers on the network. Here’s how to share a folder:
1. Ensure that Network Discovery and File Sharing are enabled on
your PC.
Refer to the preceding section.
2. Right-click the folder you want to share.
3. Choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
The folder’s Properties dialog box appears.
244 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
4. Click the Sharing tab.
5. Click the Advanced Sharing button.
In Windows Vista, enter the administrator password or click the
Continue button.
6. Click to put a check mark by the option labeled Share This Folder.
You can set a share name, which helps to better identify the folder on
the network.
If you want others to have full access — to add as well as delete files —
then click the Permissions button and place a check mark in the Allow
column by the Full Control item.
7. Click OK.
The folder is now shared.
8. Click the Close button to dismiss the folder’s Properties dialog box.
Other PCs can now access the folder on the network. See the next section.
✓
In Windows Vista, shared-folder icons appear with the graphical “shar-
ing friends” flag below them, as shown in the margin.
✓
To unshare a folder, repeat the steps in this section, but in Step 6
remove the check mark.
✓ Don’t share an entire storage device, especially drive C. It’s a security risk; Windows scolds you when you try to do so.
Accessing a network folder
You access a folder elsewhere on the network just as you would access any folder on your PC’s mass storage system. The difference is that you need to browse to the folder from the Network window.
After opening the Network window, as discussed earlier in this chapter, open any computer to see which folders it’s sharing. Open a folder icon to reveal its contents, which would be any shared folders on that computer’s mass
storage system.
You may be required to log in to another computer to access its folders.
Logging in, or not, depends on the folder’s permissions as set by whoever shared the folder.
Chapter 21: Network Abuse 245
Adding a network printer
For most of the newer versions of Windows, any printer on the network is
immediately available for use by other network computers. All you need to do is choose that printer from the list displayed in the Printers dialog box.
But, Dan! I don’t see the network printer listed!
I’m surprised that by now you wouldn’t expect Windows to be completely
stupid about finding networked printers. Sometimes it needs a little help.
Obey these steps:
1. Open the Devices and Printers or Printers window.
In the Control Panel window, click the View Devices and Printers link,
found below the Hardware and Sound heading. The link is called Printer
in Windows Vista.
2. Click the Add a Printer button, found on the toolbar.
3. If prompted, choose Add a Network, Wireless, or Bluetooth printer.
4. Choose the printer from the list of found printers, and then click the Next button.
When the printer you want doesn’t appear in the list, you can try click-
ing the option The Printer That I Want Isn’t Listed. Be warned: The
screen that follows is technical!
5. Continue installing the printer.
From this point on, installing the printer works like setting up a printer directly connected to your computer.
See Chapter 11 for further scintillating details on printer installation.
You may also be prompted to share the printer on the network. Yeah, that
seems dumb, because the printer is already shared on the network. Yet
Windows asks anyway. Choose not to share the printer.
Sharing your PC’s printer
Any printer directly connected to your computer is available only to your PC
and not to other computers on the network. If you want to make the printer available, passed around like the community drinking cup at the town well, follow these steps to share it:
246 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
1. Open the Devices and Printers or Printers window.
In the Control Panel window, click the View Devices and Printers link,
found below the Hardware and Sound heading. The link is called Printer
in Windows Vista.
2. Right-click a printer directly connected to your computer.
3. Choose the Printer Properties command.
The printer’s Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click the Sharing tab.
5. Place a check mark by the Share This Printer item.
6. Click the OK button.
You can also close the Device and Printers (or Printer) window.
There you have it. The printer is now shared on the network where anyone —
unkempt, unlearned, unwashed — can use it to meet their printing needs.
Chapter 22
Why Does This Book Have a
Bluetooth Chapter?
In This Chapter
▶ Using Bluetooth on a PC
▶ Expanding your system wirelessly
▶ Understanding pairing
▶ Connecting to a Bluetooth peripheral
▶ Disconnecting a Bluetooth peripheral
I could argue that I’m a big fan of technology that’s pointless to most
people, but I won’t. The truth is that most PCs — including laptops —
don’t come with Bluetooth hardware. They just don’t! And if the world contained only PCs running Windows, this chapter would fit on the back of a For Dummies matchbook cover and only smokers in bars might read it. There’s more to the story though.
The issue you and I face is that lots of other hardware gizmos adore the
Bluetooth wireless standard. These gizmos include tablets, smartphones, and even the dratted Macintosh computers. Through their tireless hegemony,
Bluetooth is becoming more and more common. Consider perusing this chap-
ter should you ever encounter a Bluetooth device and hold the desire to do Bluetoothy things with it.
That Bluetooth Thing
Bluetooth refers to a wireless standard for connecting computer peripherals and other technological devices. Just as wireless computer networking involves more setup than the wired kind of network, using Bluetooth wireless peripherals involves a bit more than connecting wired peripherals.
248 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
✓
As long as the PC is equipped with Bluetooth technology, it can use vari-
ous Bluetooth devices and gizmos.
✓
Bluetooth peripherals include printers, keyboards, speakers, mice, mon-
itors, robot butlers, various tablets, and cell phones.
✓
Perhaps the greatest advantage of Bluetooth is that it lets you connect
wirelessly to a variety of peripherals without having to use a separate
wireless adapter for each peripheral.
✓ One disadvantage of Bluetooth is that it’s not entirely secure. Although I’ve not read of any hacking incidents involving Bluetooth (mostly
because its range is so short), many large organizations don’t allow
Bluetooth on their computers because of the security risk.
Understanding Bluetooth
The most-asked question about Bluetooth technology just has to be, “What
the hell is up with that name?”
Relax. It’s Scandinavian. Or, rather, Ericsson is the Swedish company that developed the Bluetooth standard. The real name is unpronounceable by
humans, so the closest we can come is blue tooth.
Nerds (who else?) developed the Bluetooth standard to provide a common
method for connecting wireless peripherals. Seeing how Swedish computer
users were often stranded in their snow lodges, bound with endless wires, the whole thing makes a lot of sense.
Seriously, Bluetooth began its existence as a wireless replacement for the old serial (RS-232) port, popular with PCs in the 1980s and 1990s.
Checking for Bluetooth
All Bluetooth computers and gizmos feature an internal Bluetooth wireless radio. Don’t bother looking for it, because it’s buried inside the device. That’s what the word internal means.
One external clue that a device uses Bluetooth is the Bluetooth logo, shown in the margin. If you find that logo on a printer, for example, you know it’s a Bluetooth printer and you could configure your PC to wirelessly print to it.
Not every device sports the Bluetooth logo. For example, a tablet or smartphone doesn’t feature the tattoo. Some PC laptops lack the Bluetooth logo, though they may sport an activity lamp that shows when Bluetooth has been activated, similar to the Wi-Fi lamp used to show when wireless networking is enabled.
Chapter 22: Why Does This Book Have a Bluetooth Chapter? 249
Adding a Bluetooth adapter
If your PC lacks a Bluetooth wireless radio, you can easily add one: Obtain a Bluetooth adapter. The teensy gizmo, which is small enough to smuggle
through customs in your nostril, plugs directly into a USB port.
Even better: USB Bluetooth adapters are cheap!
Best: After you attach a USB Bluetooth adapter, Windows automatically
installs Bluetooth software. You don’t have to set up a thing.
Controlling Bluetooth in Windows
When Bluetooth is available and configured, you’ll see the Bluetooth logo as an icon in the desktop’s notification area (on the right end of the taskbar).
You use the pop-up menu from that icon to control Bluetooth gizmos from
your PC, as shown in Figure 22-1.
Figure 22-1:
Bluetooth
control in
Windows.
The pop-up menu you see on your computer may look slightly different from what’s shown in Figure 22-1. Most of the important menu items are there no matter what you see.
An important item in the Bluetooth pop-up menu is Turn Adapter On. Choose that item to turn on the Bluetooth radio.
To turn off the Bluetooth radio, choose the Turn Adapter Off menu item.
When you see that item in the menu (refer to Figure 22-1), the Bluetooth
wireless radio is on. You’re set to go. Otherwise, the menu item reads Turn Adapter On.
250 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
✓
There is no need to turn off Bluetooth. I just leave it on all the time.
✓ The Bluetooth adapter may also show up in the bowels of Windows.
You may find it in the Devices and Printers window. Even so, most of
the control over Bluetooth takes place using the pop-up menu, shown in
Figure 22-1.
Bluetooth Pairing
The whole point of Bluetooth is to allow your PC to connect with peripherals and other devices without the burden of wires. Unlike the TV remote, however, you can’t just point-and-click to get the job done. Instead, the devices must be paired.
The pairing process involves a gentle introduction between the PC and the other Bluetooth device. That’s followed by a brief courtship, and then a
marriage. Unlike humans, the connection is pretty much the lifespan of the devices, irreconcilable differences be damned.
Walking through the pairing operation
Here is an overview of how the Bluetooth pairing process works:
1. Ensure that Bluetooth wireless radio is turned on for each gizmo.
It takes two Bluetooth gizmos to tango. One is your PC; the other is the
peripheral device, such as a keyboard, printer, or smartphone.
2. Make the gizmo you’re trying to connect to discoverable.
A discoverable device says, “Yoo-hoo! I’m over here!” It’s the Bluetooth
mating call.
Technically, when a device is discoverable, a special Bluetooth signal
is broadcast, listing the device as available for pairing with another
Bluetooth device. Sure, that explanation isn’t at racy, but it’s more
accurate.
3. On your PC, scan for available Bluetooth devices.
This step may take place automatically or you may have to initiate
the scan.
4. Choose the device from the list of available Bluetooth devices.
For example, if you’re pairing the PC with a wireless mouse, you’d
choose the wireless mouse from the list.
Chapter 22: Why Does This Book Have a Bluetooth Chapter? 251
5. Optionally, confirm the connection on the peripheral device.
For example, you may be asked to input a code or press a button. For a
wireless keyboard, you may have a type a sequence of numbers. If the
code doesn’t appear on the screen, look for it in the documentation of
the device you’re attempting to pair.
6. Use the device.
What you can do with the device depends on what it’s designed to do.
The good news is that after you initially pair the device, there’s no need to pair it again. Any time the computer is on and Bluetooth device is on, they automatically reconnect.
✓
The reason for pairing the devices is so that some other Bluetooth
device doesn’t steal away the peripheral. That can happen only if you
un-pair the devices, which is covered in the later section “Un-pairing a
Bluetooth device.”
✓
Bluetooth devices are discoverable for only a brief amount of time, usu-
ally two minutes. If the connection fails during that time, you’ll need to make the device discoverable again.
✓ If you have trouble connecting the device, ensure that your PC is open
to the connection: Click the Bluetooth icon in the notification area and
choose the Open Settings command. In the Bluetooth Settings dialog
box, ensure that a check mark is next to the option Allow Bluetooth
Devices to Find This Computer. Click OK.
Pairing with a device
Here’s an example of how to pair with a Bluetooth printer. These steps are more specific than those found in the preceding section:
1. Use the printer’s control panel to make the device discoverable.
Look for a Bluetooth menu and choose the item that makes the printer
discoverable or that initiates the pairing process.
2. On your PC, click the Bluetooth icon in the notification area.
3. Choose the command Add a Device.
A window or screen appears, listing any available Bluetooth devices. If
you’re lucky, the one you want to pair appears in that list.
4. Choose the device from the list.
5. In Windows 8, choose the device from the list; in Windows 7, click the Next button.
Now comes the coordination part.
252 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
6. Obey the directions on your computer screen or on the Bluetooth
device.
There is a time limit, so be quick!
For my printer, the direction was to type the printer’s code on the com-
puter’s keyboard. I’ve also seen the prompt on the printer’s screen,
where I had to type the code there. For other devices, the pairing may
take place instantly. Regardless, obey the directions for both devices to complete the pairing.
7. After the device is paired, click the Next button in Windows 8. In Windows 7, click the Close button.
You can now use the device as a wireless peripheral on your PC.
✓
You can confirm that the device is paired by checking the list of paired
devices. See the next section.
✓ As with a wired peripheral, there is a limit on the distance between your computer and the peripheral. For Bluetooth, that distance is about 20
feet. In Europe, the distance is far less, just over 6 meters.
Reviewing paired devices
You review and manage the PC’s Bluetooth connections by clicking the
Bluetooth icon in the notification area and choosing the Show Bluetooth
Devices command.
In Windows 8 you see the Devices portion of the PC Settings screen. Paired Bluetooth devices appear in the list along with all the other devices attached to your PC. A clue as to which are Bluetooth gizmos is often the word
Bluetooth in the device name, such as Bluetooth Mouse 5000.
In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, the Bluetooth Devices window appears
after you choose the Show Bluetooth Devices command. Figure 22-2 shows
an example. In the window, you see all Bluetooth devices that have ever been paired with the PC. Active connections appear solid; disconnected devices appear dimmed.
You’ll find two things worthy of your attention in the screen or window that displays Bluetooth devices. The first is the weirdo names. Bluetooth recognizes the device’s internal code name, not the friendly name you probably call the gizmo. An exception is the Nexus 7 tablet, shown in Figure 22-2.
The second thing to notice is that not all paired devices are connected.
With some devices, you must direct the gizmo to connect before you can
interact with it. The methods of connection vary, but most devices feature a Bluetooth app or menu in which you can activate the connection.
Chapter 22: Why Does This Book Have a Bluetooth Chapter? 253
Figure 22-2:
Paired
Bluetooth
gizmos.
Un-pairing a Bluetooth device
Normally there’s no need to un-pair a device. If you want to stop using the device, simply turn it off. The connection is broken once the device is off.
Oh. You’re being insistent? Well then: The only time you truly need to un-pair a Bluetooth device is if you want to use the device with another Bluetooth computer at the same location. In that case, follow these steps:
1. Click the Bluetooth icon in the notification area.
2. Choose the command Show Bluetooth Devices.
3. Click to select the paired Bluetooth device.
4. In Windows 8, click the minus button that appears; in Windows 7 and Windows Vista, click the Remove Device toolbar button.
5. Click the Remove button (Windows 8) or the Yes button (Windows 7)
to confirm.
After the device is un-paired, you’re free to pair it with another Bluetooth computer. Or you can re-pair the device with your PC again. Bluetooth
devices have low standards and loose morals and really don’t care what
they’re paired with, as long as they’re paired with something.
254 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Chapter 23
As Little of the Internet as Possible
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding the Internet
▶ Obtaining an ISP
▶ Visiting web pages
▶ Searching the web
▶ Saving a web page image
▶ Sharing web pages
I ’ve yet to encounter someone who doesn’t understand the Internet or its two main components, the web and e-mail. In fact, most people tell me
that they don’t understand their PC, but they know how to do the Internet.
Given that some 20 years ago the book Internet For Dummies was a huge bestseller, mankind has obviously come a long way.
What’s left for the Internet? Plenty! Rather than provide yet another useless chapter in a computer book about opening web browsers and going back and
forth, I thought I’d drill down and describe only those necessary portions of the Internet, place them in this chapter, and leave it at that. My goal is to make this the shortest chapter in the book without incensing my editor.
What Is the Internet?
I feel compelled to explain how the Internet is composed of hundreds of thousands of computers all over the world. Those computers send information,
they receive information, and — most important — they store information.
That’s the Internet in a nutshell.
✓
The Internet consists of all the computers connected to the Internet.
Whenever your computer is on the Internet, it’s part of the Internet.
✓
No one owns the Internet, just as no one owns the oceans. The company
you pay for Internet access is merely providing you with the access, not
with the Internet’s content.
256 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
How to Access the Internet
Windows loves the Internet. The affection is so deep that Windows prefers that you have a broadband Internet connection. That means not only that
you have a fast connection but also that your PC is always connected to the Internet.
See Chapter 20 for information on broadband Internet connections.
Choosing an ISP
You need the following items to access the Internet:
✓
A computer
✓
A modem
✓
Internet software
✓
Money
✓
An Internet Service Provider, or ISP
✓
More money
The first three items you should already have. Money is needed to pay for the fifth item, which is the outfit that provides you with Internet access.
Your ISP can be your telephone company, cable company, wireless pro-
vider, or satellite outfit, all of which compete to provide you with broadband Internet access.
Beyond Internet access, a good ISP provides you with some or all of the following items:
✓
For a dial-up modem, the phone number to call
✓
Your Internet login ID and password
✓
Your Internet e-mail name, address, and password (if they’re different
from your login ID and password)
✓
The name of your ISP’s e-mail server, which involves the acronyms POP3
and SMTP, plus other technical information required to set up various
Internet programs
✓
A phone number to call for help (very important)
Chapter 23: As Little of the Internet as Possible 257
Finally, the ISP bills you for Internet access. The prices can be cheap, sometimes less than $10 per month for dial-up access. You pay more for faster connections, with some high-speed broadband connections costing upward
of $50 per month. Be sure to compare prices when choosing an ISP.
The
S in ISP stands for s ervice. You pay a fee, and the ISP provides you with Internet access and service. Service means technical support: someone you can phone for help, classes, software — you name it.
Configuring Windows for the Internet
Windows is automatically set up to use the Internet. By connecting a broadband modem to your PC or to the PC’s network, you suddenly and instantly
have Internet access. Windows sees it. You’re all set.
Things work differently when you have dial-up access. In that case, you must create a network connection for the modem to use. Directions for this task should come from your ISP, which gives you a phone number to dial, plus
perhaps other options to set, such as configuring your e-mail program.
Connecting to the Internet
There’s no need to fuss over connecting to the Internet when you use a
broadband modem; the connection is always on. Internet programs start up
quickly and access the Internet just as fast.
Dial-up connections are active only when you use the Internet. When you run an Internet program, or when any software attempts to access the Internet, Windows directs the PC’s modem to dial into your ISP. After making the connection, you’re on the Internet and can use Internet software.
✓ To test the Internet connection, run the Internet Explorer program
or any web browser. By running an Internet program such as a web
browser, your computer attempts to make an Internet connection. When
the connection works, you see a web page. Otherwise, you see an error
message. If so, contact your ISP for assistance.
✓ You should hang up, or disconnect, from the dial-up connection when you’re done using the Internet. The directions that came from your dialup ISP explain how to do that.
✓
To cancel a dial-up connection, click the Cancel button when you see it
dialing.
258 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
✓
Sometimes your dial-up modem may seem like it’s randomly connecting
to the Internet because some program or Windows itself is requesting
information. Canceling that request isn’t a problem, nor does it mess
things up. Programs can wait until you want to connect to the Internet to conduct their business.
It’s a World Wide Web We Weave
Yeah, you probably know how to use a web browser fairly well. Most people do. But I’ll bet lots of people could still use some of the information held in this section.
Browsing tips
Here are my collected web-browsing tips, honed and polished over the past two centuries:
✓
If you prefer to see a real live menu bar in a web browser that doesn’t
sport the traditional menu bar, press the F10 key on the keyboard.
✓
Use the Zoom control to make web pages with small text more visible.
The control may be found at the bottom of the screen, or you may find it
on the View menu. (Press F10 to see the menu.)
✓ Some web browsers use the Ctrl+. (period) to zoom out and Ctrl+,
(comma) to zoom in. The period and comma keys are also the < and >
keys, which are the less-than and greater-than symbols. That’s how I
remember these shortcuts.
✓
If a web page doesn’t load, try again! The web can be busy, and often
when it is, you see an error message. Reload a web page by pressing
Ctrl+R on the keyboard.
✓
Refreshing a page is one quick way to fix the “missing picture” problem.
✓
When a web page isn’t found, you probably didn’t type its address prop-
erly. Try again.
✓
Not all web links are text. Quite a few links are graphical. The only way to know for certain is to point the mouse pointer at what you believe
may be a link. If the pointer changes to a pointing hand, you know that
it’s a link you can click to see something else.
✓
When you accidentally click a link and change your mind, click the
Stop button, which appears on the address bar with an X symbol. The
Internet then stops sending you information.
Chapter 23: As Little of the Internet as Possible 259
✓
Press Ctrl+D to add any web page you’re viewing to bookmark that page
or add it your favorites. Don’t be shy about it! It’s better to add it now and delete it later than to regret not adding it in the first place.
Printing web pages
To print any web page, click the Printer button on the toolbar. That’s pretty much it. Well, unless there is no Printer button, in which case you can press Ctrl+P to summon the Print dialog box and print from there.
Sadly, some web pages don’t print right. Some are too wide. Some show
white text on a black background, which doesn’t print well. My advice is to use the Print Preview command to look at what will print before you print it. Press the F10 key to summon the menu bar, and then choose File➪Print
Preview.
If you still have trouble printing the web page, try one of these solutions:
✓
Consider saving the web page to disk; press the Ctrl+S keyboard com-
bination. After the page is saved, you can open the web page file in
Microsoft Word or Excel or any web page editing program and edit or
print it from there.
✓
Print wide web pages using landscape orientation for printing wider-
than-normal web pages: Press the F10 key to summon the menu bar, and
then choose File➪Page Setup to change the orientation.
✓ Use the Properties button in the Print dialog box to adjust the printer.
Press Ctrl+P to see the Print dialog box. The Properties settings depend
on the printer itself, but I have seen printers that can reduce the output to 75 or 50 percent, which ensures that the entire web page prints on a
single sheet of paper. Other options may let you print in shades of gray
( grayscale) or black and white.
Searching-the-web tips
The web is full of information, and some of it accurate. The issue is getting to the information you want. Here are my web-page-searching tips:
✓
My main search engine these days is Google, at www.google.com, but I can also recommend the Microsoft search engine Bing, at www.
260 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
✓
Web search engines ignore the smaller words in the English language.
Words such as is, to, the, for, are, and others aren’t included in the search. Therefore:
✓
Use only key words when searching. For example, to look for The
Declaration of Independence, typing declaration independence is good enough.
✓
Word order matters. If you want to find out the name of that red bug
with six legs, try all combinations: bug red six legs, red bug six legs, or even six legs red bug. Each variation yields different results.
✓
When words must be found together, enclose them in double quotes, such as “Green Acres” theme or “electric chair” setup. A quoted search finds only web pages that list the words electric chair together in that order.
✓
If the results — the matching or found web pages — are too numerous,
click the link (near the bottom of the page) that says Search within
results. That way, you can further refine your search. For example, if
you found several hundred pages on Transylvania but are specifically
looking for Dracula’s castle, you can search for “Dracula Castle” in the results you found for Transylvania.
Get Stuff from a Web Page
The text and pictures you see on a web page can easily be copied and saved on your own computer. Well, actually, the information you see on the display is already on your computer: The text, images, and other stuff you see are sent from the Internet and stored temporarily while you’re viewing that
web page. This section explains how to save some of that information
permanently.
Saving an image from a web page
To save an image from a web page to your PC, right-click the image and
choose Save Picture As from the pop-up menu. That command may be
worded differently, depending on which web browser you use. Regardless,
use the dialog box that appears to find a happy home for the picture on your hard drive.
✓ Nearly all images on the web are copyrighted. Although you can save a
copy to your hard drive, you’re not free to duplicate, sell, or distribute the image without the consent of the copyright holder.
✓
To set the image as the Windows desktop wallpaper, choose Set As
Background from the pop-up menu after right-clicking the image, if that
command is available.
Chapter 23: As Little of the Internet as Possible 261
Grabbing text from a web page
You can copy text from a web page and save it for later or paste that text into another document or e-mail message. Here’s how:
1. Select the text you want to copy.
Drag the mouse over the text, which highlights the text on the web page.
The text is now selected.
2. Press Ctrl+C on the keyboard to copy the text.
3. Start your word processor, e-mail program, or what-have-you.
4. Paste the text into a document or an e-mail message.
Press Ctrl+V on the keyboard or choose Edit➪Paste from the menu.
5. Print. Save. Whatever.
Use the proper commands to save or print or edit the text.
If you can’t paste the text, you need to choose a program into which text can be pasted.
Sharing a web page
When you love a web page so much that you must share it with everyone you know, follow my friendly-yet-threatening words of advice: Share only the web page address.
There is no need to copy and paste the entire web page into an e-mail message or on Facebook. Instead, just copy the web page’s address from the
address text box. Select the entire text, all of it. Press Ctrl+C. Then move on to whichever program you’re using to share that address. Press Ctrl+V to
paste the web page address. There. Simple.
262 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Chapter 24
PC Nightmares
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding the computer nasties
▶ Visiting the Action Center
▶ Using a firewall
▶ Stopping spyware
▶ Inoculating against viruses
▶ Coping with the UAC warnings
D oes your computer dream? Does it frolic naked through sunlit meadows
with nary a cycle spinning in its CPU? Maybe the PC dreams it can fly or
that it somehow has magical powers. “Watch me log in without a user pres-
ent,” it boasts, a smile cracking its slumbering visage. Merry, merry thoughts —
until you wake up the thing. Maybe that’s why the system is so cranky?
If the PC can dream, it’s most certainly capable of nightmares. The problem is that the nightmares are the reality. Nasty programs prowl the ether, looking for humble, innocent electronics to infect. Worse, naive users welcome vile software into the computer, despite the system’s digital protestations.
What follows is unbound woe — unless you leaf gently through this chapter’s pages, and uncover the solutions for PC nightmares.
Fight the Bad Guys
Computer bad guys have a host of names as rich and colorful as any comic
book (see the sidebar, “PC super-villain roundup”). Knowing the names is
important only when you also know the names of the superheroes who help
you thwart the plans of the evil ones. Windows has many such superheroes: The web browser: Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer, comes with a rich set of features for keeping your computer safe. These features include ample warnings when software tries to install itself in your PC from the
Internet as well as ways to protect you from visiting phony websites. Other browsers also include such tools, but because Internet Explorer comes with Windows, I discuss it in this chapter.
264 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
PC supervillain roundup
As with most things about computers, mali-
✓ Spyware: A rather broad category, spy-
cious software, or malware, is named in either
ware refers to a program that monitors, or
a highly technical or extremely silly manner.
spies on, what you do on the Internet. The
Neither name helps: The technical name is
reasoning is advertising: By knowing where
confusing, and the silly name is clever for
you go and what you do on the Internet,
only people who would otherwise understand
information obtained about you can be sold
the technical names. Regardless, here’s your
to advertisers who then target ads your
handy guide:
way.
✓ Phishing: Pronounced “fishing,” this term ✓ Trojan: A program is labeled a Trojan applies to a web page or an e-mail designed
(horse) whenever it claims to do one thing
to fool you into thinking that it’s something
but does another. For example, a common
else, such as your bank’s web page. The
Trojan is a special screen saver that saves
idea is to fish for information, such as
the screen but also uses your PC on the
account numbers and passwords. The web
Internet to relay pornographic images.
page or e-mail tricks you into providing that
information because it looks legitimate. ✓ Virus: A virus is a nasty program that It isn’t.
resides in your PC without your knowl-
edge. The program may be triggered at any
✓ Pop-up: A pop-up isn’t a nasty program,
time, taking over the computer, redirecting
but it can be annoying — especially when
Internet traffic, sending a flood of spam
you’re assaulted by several pop-ups
messages, or doing any of a number of
at once. How any legitimate marketing
nasty and inconvenient things.
person would believe that multiple, annoy-
ing pop-up windows would entice anyone ✓ Worm: A worm is simply a virus that repli-to buy something is beyond me, but it hap-
cates itself, by sending out copies to other
pens and you can stop it.
folks on your e-mail list, for example.
Windows Defender: The Windows Defender program helps you scan for
and remove a clutch of bad guys, especially insidious start-up programs
and spyware.
Windows Firewall: The firewall helps to close the windows and bar the doors that bad guys use to infect PCs.
Windows Update: Keeping your PC’s software up-to-date is important because the bad guys like a target that stands still.
Backup: To keep your stuff safe, I recommend that you back it up. The backup procedure creates a safety copy of all files on your PC so that if disaster strikes — naturally created or motivated by evil — you can recover your stuff.
Chapter 24: PC Nightmares 265
Antivirus: Your PC needs a good antivirus program to fight infections that fly in from the Internet or arrive on rogue media. Windows 8 comes with antivirus protection, but older versions of Windows might not. See the section
“Using antivirus protection,” later in this chapter.
Bottom line: Use these tools to help keep your PC safe and its owner happy.
✓
See Chapter 15 for information on using Windows Update.
✓
See Chapter 18 for information on backing up your PC’s files.
✓ You can avoid many nasty programs by simply using common sense.
In fact, the most successful computer viruses have propagated simply
because of human nature. It’s that human engineering the bad guys count on, or your ability to be tricked into doing something you
wouldn’t do otherwise, such as opening a questionable e-mail attach-
ment or clicking a web page link because you’re fooled into thinking,
“Your PC is at risk!”
✓ Your ISP can be of great help in dealing with nasty programs on the
Internet. Don’t forget to use their assistance, especially when you try
fixing things on your own and it doesn’t help.
The Action Center
The headquarters for security issues in Windows 8 and Windows 7 is the
Action Center, illustrated in Figure 24-1. The Action Center window provides a quick summary of your PC’s current security state and lists any pending problems or issues with links or buttons that help you resolve those issues.
Figure 24-1:
The Action
Center.
266 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
To open the Action Center, click the link Review Your Computer’s Status,
found below the System and Security heading in the Control Panel window.
High-priority items are flagged in red in the window, and lower-priority items are flagged in orange. None of the items are flagged in grape.
Click the Show More button in the window to view all the details for your PC’s security and maintenance conditions. When an area is expanded, you
see lots of status information and updates plus links that take you to specific locations in Windows where you can change settings or deal with issues.
✓
Generally speaking, follow the advice in the window.
✓
In Figure 24-1, the Windows 8 Action Center is offering suggestions to
improve PC performance.
✓
The Windows 7 PC (refer to Figure 24-1) is lacking antivirus protection.
To solve that issue, click the button Find a Program Online; see the sec-
tion “Using antivirus protection,” later in this chapter.
✓
Also in Figure 24-1, the Windows 7 PC hasn’t yet had its important files
backed up. See Chapter 18 for information on PC backup.
✓
In Windows Vista, the Action Center is named Windows Security Center.
It serves the same purpose but lacks a lot of the detail of the Action
Center.
Setting up the Windows Firewall
In construction, a firewall is used to slow the advance of a fire. It’s created from special slow-burning material and rated in hours. For example, a three-hour firewall takes, theoretically, three hours to burn through — and that helps protect a building from burning down before the fire department
shows up.
On a computer with an Internet connection, a firewall is designed to restrict Internet access, primarily to keep unwanted guests from getting in — or
out — of the computer. The firewall effectively plugs holes left open when the Internet was originally designed.
Windows comes with a firewall named, coincidentally, Windows Firewall.
You start it from the Control Panel: Click the heading System and Security, and then click the heading Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall window
appears, shown in Figure 24-2.
Chapter 24: PC Nightmares 267
Figure 24-2:
The
Windows
Firewall
window.
As far as you’re concerned, Windows Firewall has only two settings: on and off. To change the setting, click the Turn Windows Firewall On or Off link on the left side of the Windows Firewall window (refer to Figure 24-2).
When the firewall detects unwanted access, either to or from the Internet, you see a pop-up window alerting you to the intrusion, such as the one
shown in Figure 24-3. At that point, you can choose to allow access by the named program by clicking the Allow Access button. If you want to continue blocking the program, just click Cancel.
Figure 24-3:
Windows
Firewall in
action.
If you’re in doubt about your PC’s firewall or just want to ensure that it’s doing its job, I recommend that you give it a test. Many programs available on the Internet probe your PC’s firewall and look for weaknesses. One such program is ShieldsUP!, which can be found on the Gibson Research website at http://
268 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Protecting the PC with Windows Defender
Windows Defender is a single name given to a slate of tools used to protect your PC from snooping programs, irritating start-up programs, nasty programs known as spyware, and even viruses. Therefore the defender name is apt.
Windows Defender program runs automatically. You’re alerted to any prob-
lems in the Action Center window (refer to Figure 24-1). To specifically visit the Windows Defender program window, you follow a set of tricky steps:
1. Press Win+R to display the Run dialog box.
2. In the Open text box, type c:\program files\Windows Defender\
msascui
Yeah, that’s a long complex thing to type. And those are backslashes,
not forward slashes.
3. Click the OK button.
The Windows Defender main window is rather boring — with a quick sum-
mary saying that your PC is running normally — unless you have a problem.
To perform a quick check for any Bad Guys in your PC, click the Scan Now
button. Simply heed the directions on the screen to proceed.
Also peruse the next section, which discusses antivirus protection.
✓
Other antispyware programs are available, and most often they can be
found in the various security suite programs.
✓
It’s okay to run more than one antispyware program in your computer at
a time. Well, I’d run two, if you have them: another program plus Windows Defender. There’s no need to load up on antispyware programs.
Using antivirus protection
Windows Defender offers pretty decent antivirus protection, along with many of the other things it does. Better antivirus protection comes from third-party programs. The best antivirus software you can buy is subscription-based,
meaning you pay annually for updates.
Popular antivirus software includes the Norton AntiVirus, McAfee VirusScan, and the AVG program. All of them work. You need to use one. I recommend
any of them in addition to the protection offered by Windows Defender.
Chapter 24: PC Nightmares 269
The run-o-the-mill antivirus program works by scanning your computer for
signs of infection. Most programs feature two modes of operation:
Active Scan: In Active Scan mode, your antivirus software takes a look at every dang-doodle file and program on your computer, sniffing out the
viral presence. Antivirus programs scan all the files on your PC regularly, if not daily.
Interception: In Interception mode, the antivirus program works to scan incoming e-mail and files you transfer from other computers as well as stuff that floats in from the Internet. If an infection tries to walk into your PC, it’s stopped; the program’s feet are nailed to the floor and you’re alerted to the break-in.
These names, Active Scan and Interception, are my own. The antivirus pro-
gram you choose probably has its own pet names but still carries out those actions. For example, in Windows Defender, Active Scan is referred to as Read-Time Protection.
✓
When the antivirus program alerts you to an infection, deal with it!
Quarantine or delete the infection immediately.
✓
Antivirus programs use quarantine as a way to isolate potentially
infected files, preventing them from attacking your PC. Although the file has been quarantined, it hasn’t been deleted, but your system is still
safe. (You can delete the quarantined files later.)
✓ You can run two antivirus programs on your PC, though not at the same
time. You use only one antivirus program in Interception mode, but you
can scan your PC using two antivirus programs, one after the other, to
ensure that whatever one misses, the other might catch.
✓
You can access the antivirus program by clicking its little icon, which
appears in the taskbar’s notification area.
✓ Viruses spread because of simple human engineering. Most folks know
not to open strange or unexpected e-mail attachments. Yet viruses con-
tinue to be spread by these types of techniques. Perhaps the best anti-
virus tool you have is your own brain: Being thoughtful and not careless
prevents viruses from being installed in the first place, making antivirus programs necessary but not vital.
Paying attention to the UAC warnings
In its efforts to make Windows a more secure operating system, Microsoft
has presented you (the human) with something called the UAC, or User
Account Control. It displays various warning dialog boxes and pop-up windows whenever you attempt to change something in Windows, such as a
computer setting or option, or when you try to download software from the Internet. A typical UAC is shown in Figure 24-4.
270 Part IV: Networking Nonsense
Figure 24-4:
A typical
UAC.
The UACs are to be expected whenever you see a link or button flagged with the UAC shield icon, shown in the margin. It’s your clue that you should
expect a UAC warning to appear. If the action is expected, click the Continue button or, if prompted, type the administrator’s password and then click the OK button.
If you see a UAC warning when you’re not expecting one, click the Cancel
button. For example, when you’re on the Internet and you see a UAC warning about installing software or changing your home page, click Cancel!
Part V
Your Digital Life
In this part . . .
W elcome to the digital future. Digital clocks began
the revolution years ago, quietly at first and then
noisily at about 6:30 a.m. every morning. Now, everything
is digital. The pictures you take are digital. Movies are
made with digital cameras and viewed on digital screens.
Music is stored digitally. You use digital phones. The
games you play are digital. It’s a digital world.
At the center of your digital life is the computer, enabling
you to manage your photos, watch or create movies,
listen to music, and basically run your 21st-century life.
Your 21st-century digital life.
Chapter 25
The Whole Digital
Photography Thing
In This Chapter
▶ Using a digital camera
▶ Getting images from your digital camera
▶ Setting up a scanner
▶ Creating images with a scanner
▶ Working with images in Windows
▶ Converting picture file formats
▶ Understanding resolution
▶ Setting the right resolution
B ack up! Move left! Move right! Roger, you’re not smiling! Okay, everyone say “Cheese!” Such is the ritual of taking the traditional photograph.
Captured on film and developed using a chemical process, the picture would take a while to return to you from the “developer.” Only then would you discover that, once more, Grandma had cut off the top of Uncle Ed’s head in the picture. But never mind: It was a memory.
Today’s images are captured digitally. After the shutter clicks, a quick check of the camera confirms whether the image looks okay. If not, you can delete that image and instantly snap another one. The outfit known as the “developer” has been replaced by the personal computer, which stores, organizes, and prints your photos and lets you fling them far and wide by using e-mail or a social networking website. Welcome to the 21st-century version of photography.
274 Part V: Your Digital Life
The Digital Camera
Snapping digital pictures is easy. A digital camera is as simple to operate as the Brownie cameras of a century ago. No, the problem with a digital camera is how to move those images from the camera into the PC. After they’re in the computer, you can store the pictures, edit, print, or send them off hither and thither on the Internet. But before all that happens, the images must get inside the PC. This section explains how that’s done.
Connecting a digital camera
The pictures you take with a digital camera are stored on a mass storage
device in exactly the same confusing manner as information is stored on your computer. To move those images from the camera into the computer, you
have to make both the camera and the computer talk with each other. You
have a few ways to do that:
✓
Point a gun at the camera, demanding that it obey the PC.
✓
Connect the camera to the PC with a cable. The cable came with your
digital camera.
✓
Remove the media card from the camera and insert it into the PC’s
console.
✓
Use an Eye-Fi media card, which can be accessed over a wireless net-
work, in the camera.
Only two of these methods generate positive results, with the camera’s storage media mounted into the PC’s mass storage system. That makes it easy for you to copy the digital images from the camera’s media to the PC’s media.
✓ You don’t have to use the PC to print digital images. Many printers can read memory cards from digital cameras and print the images directly.
See Chapter 11 for more information on printers.
✓
Another non-PC option is to drop off the digital camera’s memory card
at the “developer.” These days, the developer prints the pictures for you in “about an hour” and probably gives you an optical disc copy of the
images to sweeten the deal.
✓
See Chapter 7 for more information on the media cards used by digital
cameras. Chapter 20 covers wireless networking.
Chapter 25: The Whole Digital Photography Thing 275
Importing images
When you connect a digital camera, or insert its media card into your PC console, Windows recognizes the intruder and sneers. That sneer appears as an AutoPlay pop-up, similar to what’s shown in Figure 25-1. Use that pop-up to help import the images from the camera into the PC.
Figure 25-1:
Importing
images from
a memory
card.
If you don’t see the AutoPlay dialog box, follow these steps:
1. Open the Computer window.
Press the Win+E keyboard shortcut.
2. Right-click the icon representing the digital camera’s media card.
3. Choose the Open AutoPlay command from the pop-up menu.
The AutoPlay dialog box lists several options for dealing with the digital camera’s images. My advice is to choose the option Import Pictures and Videos (refer to Figure 25-1). In Windows 8, you need to touch the initial “choose what happens” pop-up to get to the Import Pictures and Videos option.
In Windows 8, the Photos app runs. All images from the camera’s media card are selected for import. Type a name for the album in the box at the bottom of the screen, and click the Import button. The pictures are then available through the Photos app, which appears on the Start screen.
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In Windows 7, after choosing the Import Pictures and Videos and option, a dialog box appears in the lower-right corner of the screen, monitoring the input progress. Type a tag to identify the images, such as Volcanic eruption during grandpa’s retirement party, and then click the Import button. When the import is complete, a window appears and shows you the pictures, which
are now saved on the PC’s mass storage system. You can view, edit, print, or share the images.
For more ancient versions of Windows, choose the command Import Pictures
Using Windows. The pictures are imported using the Windows Photo Gallery
program.
✓ If you’ve installed a photo management program on your PC, choose
that program’s option from the AutoPlay dialog box rather than the
Import Pictures and Videos option.
✓
The imported images are stored on the PC’s main mass storage device,
in the Pictures or My Pictures folder. See the later section “Storing pictures in Windows” for information.
✓ After you import the images, feel free to remove the originals from the digital camera’s media. Erase or reformat the media card using the digital camera’s control panel. That way, you have plenty of room to store a
new batch of pictures.
The Scanner
Your prehistoric paper photographs, slides, and daguerreotypes aren’t
barred from entering the digital realm. You can use a gizmo called a scanner to take those flat pictures and transform them into digital images, stored right inside your PC.
Introducing the scanner
A scanner works like a combination photocopier and digital camera. You
place something flat, like a photograph or transparency, in the scanner —
just like it’s a photocopier. Press a button or run a program and the image is scanned and then beamed into the computer, ready for you to save, edit, or print.
Figure 25-2 illustrates a typical, standalone computer scanner. Your printer may also function as a scanner, if it’s an all-in-one model. In that case, it looks more like a printer or copy machine than the lovely illustration shown in Figure 25-2.
Chapter 25: The Whole Digital Photography Thing 277
Figure 25-2:
A typical
scanner.
Most scanners are thin (like the model in the picture), use the USB interface, and have handy function buttons that let you immediately scan, copy, fax, e-mail, or read text from whatever item is placed on the scanner glass.
✓
The scanner must have something called a transparency adapter to be able to scan slides and film negatives.
✓
Those buttons on the scanner can be handy. For instance, I use the Copy
button all the time to make quick copies. The only reservation I have
about the buttons is that the tiny icons by the buttons are confusing; if need be, use a Sharpie and write down the button’s function in English.
Scanning an image
Scanners come with special software that helps you scan an image and transfer it into the PC. The scanner might also come with some primitive form of image-editing software as well. My advice is to use the software that came with the scanner, which is often your best choice.
If you don’t have any scanner software, you can use Windows to scan an
image. Follow these steps:
1. Turn the scanner on, if necessary.
Some USB scanners are on all the time, so there’s no power switch.
2. Summon the Devices and Printers window.
Open the Control Panel, and then click the link View Devices and
Printers, found below the Hardware and Sound heading.
278 Part V: Your Digital Life
3. Open the scanner’s icon in the Devices and Printers window.
Double-click the scanner’s icon to open it. A New Scan dialog box
appears, looking similar to the one shown in Figure 25-3.
Figure 25-3:
Making a
real picture
digital.
4. Place the material to be scanned into the scanner, just as though you were using a photocopier.
5. Click the Preview button.
The scanner warms up and shows you a preview of the pictures in the
scanner, as shown in Figure 25-3.
6. Adjust the scanning rectangle so that it encloses only the part of the image you want scanned.
Drag the corners of the rectangle by using the mouse to resize it. Only
the portion of the preview inside the rectangle is scanned as an image
and stored on the computer.
7. Click the Scan button.
The scanner reads the image, turning it into digital information to be
stored in your PC.
8. Type a tag for the images.
The tag is a general description for all the images. Use short, descriptive text, such as Summer 2010 Vacation, Meteorite Hit, or Chaim’s Bris.
Chapter 25: The Whole Digital Photography Thing 279
Scanners that read documents
One of the software packages that probably scanner and then run the OCR software to start came with the scanner is OCR (optical charac-a new scan. The OCR software “reads” the
ter recognition) software. This type of program document being scanned and saves the infor-scans a text document (printed material) and mation as a text file. You can then edit the text turns the scanned image into editable text.
file, print it, and so on. It’s not perfect, but using
The OCR scan procedure works just like scan-
OCR software is better than having to sit and
ning an image: You place the document in the type text.
9. Click the Import button.
The image is saved to the PC’s storage system and displayed in a folder
window.
10. Close the folder window.
11. Repeat Steps 4 through 10 to scan additional images.
After you become comfortable with scanning, you can add some extra steps.
For example, you can set the image resolution, brightness, and contrast
options, and even choose another source for scanning, such as the scanner’s transparency adapter.
✓ When you have lots of images to scan, such as a lifetime of vacation
slides, consider sending the slides to a scanning service. No, this option isn’t cheap, but consider what your time is worth and how badly you
yearn to digitize your pictures.
✓
Information about graphics file types and image resolution is found else-
where in this chapter. Bone up on that stuff to help you make the best
scans possible.
Picture Files
After an image makes the journey from your digital camera to the computer, it becomes a file on your PC’s mass storage system. Specifically, it becomes a picture file. Windows allows you to do quite a few things with picture files, and you should know a few picture-file concepts if you plan to get the most from your PC as the center of your digital photography universe.
280 Part V: Your Digital Life
✓
To work with picture files, you need an image editing program, some-
thing like Photoshop Elements or another program whose name I can’t
think of now. Those programs let you perform image editing — tasks
such as cropping, resizing, rotating, and removing red-eye.
✓ A good photo management program to start with is Windows Photo
Gallery. To download a free copy, visit http://download.live.com/
✓
See Chapter 16 for more information on the fun topic of computer files.
Storing pictures in Windows
Windows organizes your pictures into the Pictures folder. Any images you
import or scan into the PC using Windows eventually end up in that location.
To view the Pictures folder, summon a Windows Explorer window by press-
ing Win+E. From the list of categories on the left side of the window, choose Pictures.
You may find the Pictures item in the Libraries category. Click the triangle by that category to open it up and access Pictures.
The Pictures folder window looks similar to what’s shown in Figure 25-4. You see icons there representing images stored on your PC, including folder icons that are used to organize the pictures by date.
Figure 25-4:
Images
stored in
the Pictures
folder.
Chapter 25: The Whole Digital Photography Thing 281
Picture file formats
Just as different flavors of ice cream are avail-
or the Internet because, unlike JPG and PNG,
able to delight your tongue, different flavors of TIFF picture files are very large. TIFF can also picture files are available to frustrate your brain. be written TIF.
Not that you should care: Your computer can
open, display, and even edit just about any odd BMP: The Windows Bitmap file format is used picture file format. The problem comes when primarily in Windows — specifically, in the you deal with someone who isn’t as graphically Paint program. BMP files are too large for flexible. In that case, knowing a modicum of e-mail or the Internet and, honestly, aren’t good information about the PC picture file formats is for storing digital photographs.
unavoidable.
CRW: Camera Raw, or CRW, format is used
A file format is known by its filename exten-
in an uncompressed, unmodified image taken
sion, which is the very last part of a filename. at high resolutions in certain high-end digital The filename extension doesn’t show up in cameras. It’s preferred by professional pho-Windows unless you recajigger Windows to tographers and people who need the purest, make it show up. See Chapter 16.
rawest images possible. Unless you’re doing
professional work, you can avoid this format.
Here are the popular picture file formats:
GIF: Pronounced “jif,” this older, simple format
JPG: Pronounced “jay peg,” this common is for storing simple color images. It was (and image file format is used by just about every still is) popular on the Internet because the file digital camera and all over the Internet. JPG is size is small, but the files don’t contain enough also written as JPEG.
information to make them worthy of modern
PNG: Pronounced “ping,” this picture format is digital imaging.
also quite common, but not as popular as JPG.
Many, many other graphics file formats are out
TIFF: This picture file format is good for keep- there, including those specific to various photo-ing detailed images, such as photos you want editing programs. My bottom line bit of advice is to edit or enlarge, or images you want to put to keep and save all your digital images in either in documents. It isn’t a good format for e-mail the JPG or PNG file format.
See the next section for what you can do with pictures in the Pictures folder or any other folder window containing pictures both clean and dirty.
✓
The Pictures folder is also referred to as My Pictures in some versions
of Windows.
✓
Also see Chapter 16 for more information on how folders are used to
organize your stuff in Windows.
282 Part V: Your Digital Life
Viewing pictures in Windows
Images are viewed automatically in Windows simply by setting the proper
icon size. The icon size is set using the folder’s window.
In Windows 8, click the View tab. Use options in the Layout group to choose how icons are displayed. The Large Icons and Extra Large Icons settings are ideal for previewing pictures.
In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, use the View menu to choose Large Icons
or Extra Large Icons. Refer to Figure 25-4 to see where to find the View menu for Windows 7. In that figure, icons are shown using Large Icons view.
You can also preview images simply by opening their icons. Unless you’ve
installed specific image-editing software, Windows displays the image in a preview app or program.
Changing picture file formats
Occasionally, you need to convert an image from one picture file type to
another. For example, you may have been silly and saved your digital camera images as TIFF files. Although that file format has its purposes, and TIFF
images are by no means shoddy, they’re just too freakin’ huge to send as e-mail attachments. Instead, you’re better off converting the TIFF image to PNG. Here’s how I do it:
1. Open the folder window containing the icon of the image file that you want to convert.
See Chapter 16 for information on folders.
2. Right-click that icon.
3. Choose Open With➪Paint from the shortcut menu.
The picture opens in the Paint program. If it won’t open, you’ll need to
use another image-editing program to accomplish the same thing as
Steps 4 through 7.
4. Click the File tab.
The File tab is on the far left edge of the tabs, where the File menu would be in older versions of the Paint program.
5. Choose Save As, and then choose the new file format from the Save
As submenu.
For example, choose Save As➪PNG Picture to save the image in the PNG
file format.
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Choosing the Other Formats option merely skips ahead, displaying the
Save As dialog box. You can choose a format from the Save As Type
drop-down list.
6. If necessary, work the Save As dialog box to locate a folder in which to save the image, and optionally give the image a new filename.
7. Click the Save button to save the image in the new format.
8. Close the Paint program’s window.
If you have a more sophisticated graphics program, such as Photoshop
Elements, you can use it, rather than Paint, to make the conversion. Or you can use any popular image conversion program.
In older versions of Windows Paint, choose the File➪Save As command to
summon the Save As dialog box. Then use the Save as Type drop-down list to choose the picture file type.
Image Resolution
When you deal with digital images, the topic of resolution rears its hideous head. It isn’t an area you need to know about, but by understanding it, you can better deal with issues such as big images on the screen or images that look dreadful when they’re enlarged.
Resolution deals with dots — specifically, the number of dots per inch, or dpi.
Each dot represents the smallest part of an image, a teeny splotch of color.
Resolution comes into play in two areas: when an image is created and when an image is reproduced.
Setting resolution
An image’s resolution is set when that image is created. You set resolution when you set up your digital camera, when you scan an image, or when you
create an image from scratch using a painting program.
Resolution determines how much detail, or visual information, the image contains. So, an image set at 400 dpi has four times the detail of an image created at 100 dpi. More dots per inch means greater resolution, more information, more detail.
284 Part V: Your Digital Life
Although it might seem that setting the highest possible resolution is always best, that’s not always the case. Keep reading in the next section.
Choosing the best resolution
To set the proper resolution, it helps to know where the image will end up.
Images can end up on the computer monitor or on a printer or simply stored for future use.
For example, a PC monitor has a resolution of 96 dpi. If you scan a 4 x 6
photograph at 100 dpi and then display that image on the PC’s monitor, it appears at nearly exactly its original size and detail. That’s because the input and output resolutions are nearly identical.
If you were to scan the same photograph (4 x 6) at 200 dpi, it would contain twice the information and detail as the same image scanned at 100 dpi. When displayed on a computer monitor, the image would appear twice as large.
That’s because the image’s 200 dpi is more than twice the 96 dpi of the
monitor.
A printer’s resolution can often be 300 dpi or 600 dpi. An image created at 100 dpi prints at one-third its original size when the printer uses 300 dpi output resolution. To properly render an image at its “real” size on a printer, create the image at the printer’s output resolution, 300 dpi or 600 dpi — or even higher.
Bottom line: Low resolutions are fine for the Internet. For printing your digital photographs, choose a higher resolution. For enlarging photographs, choose the highest resolution possible.
✓ To produce the best results, you must set an image’s original resolution based on its eventual output.
✓
Although you can resize an image to make its resolution higher, the
result isn’t as good as setting it when the image is created; the image
becomes jagged and boxy looking. Bottom line: You cannot create more
detail where none exists.
✓
The 100 dpi resolution is also known as web resolution in many graphics applications and as a setting on various digital cameras.
Chapter 26
Electronic Entertainment
In This Chapter
▶ Connecting a video camera
▶ Turning the PC into a DVR
▶ Viewing TV on the Internet
▶ Getting the Internet on your TV
▶ Enjoying music on the computer
▶ Borrowing music from a CD
▶ Sending music to a portable gizmo
O PC, entertain me! You don’t really need to bark that order, because the PC — despite its disdain for all humans — is fully capable of providing
you with electronic entertainment. It can sing. It can dance. It can put you in a trance. Well, maybe not a trance, but you can watch video, TV, movies, and listen to music by coercing the computer in the many subtle ways outlined in this chapter.
PC Movies
Are you old enough to remember watching home movies? The family would
gather in a large room. The projector went clackity-clack as a silent, fuzzy, three-minute color film danced upon a sheet hung on the wall. Then you’d
watch it run backwards and everyone would laugh. Many Hollywood produc-
ers owe their professional careers to that simple concept.
Today, home movies are shot using digital video cameras. Sound is recorded.
The images are clear. And the movies last as long as you can tolerate sitting in the dark watching your family’s vacation antics, forward or backwards.
286 Part V: Your Digital Life
Getting video into your PC
Video slithers into your PC from a digital video camera. It can come in live, such as from a webcam, or you can import images directly from a digital video camera’s storage media.
The webcam: The simplest digital camera you can get for your PC is the desktop video camera, also referred to as a webcam. Most of these cameras are fist-sized, although some are smaller. They commonly cling to the top of the monitor, with a USB cable making the connection with the PC. Some webcams are embedded inside the monitor.
Video camera: For more traditional movie making, you’ll probably use some type of digital video camera. That device stores video on internal or removable storage, usually in the form of a media card. To transfer the video from the camera into the PC, you either connect the camera directly or plug its media card into a slot on the computer console.
Generally speaking, the process of importing video works like this:
1. Attach the camera to the PC or insert the camera’s media card into a media slot on the computer console.
At this point in Windows 8, you’re pretty much done. You can open the
Computer window (press Win+E) to access the camera’s media. You can
then manually copy the video from the camera’s storage to your PC’s
mass storage. Refer to Chapter 17 for file copying info.
In older versions of Windows, you see an AutoPlay dialog box. If not,
open the Computer window (press Win+E), right-click the camera’s stor-
age or media card, and choose the Open AutoPlay command.
2. Type a tag for the video (optional).
The tag is a short, descriptive bit of text that helps you search for the videos later. Good tags are Mary’s birthday, Zoo trip, and I think this might be a UFO.
3. Click the Import button.
After the videos are imported, you see them displayed in a folder window.
You can then mess with them as you please: Create a movie, send them as
e-mail attachments, or upload them to the Internet, for example.
✓
No, you cannot save or import video from a movie DVD. Those films are
copyrighted, and copying them from the DVD is restricted.
✓
Webcams are normally used for video chat, though the software that
comes with the camera lets you save snippets of video to the PC’s mass
storage system. It’s not Hollywood, but it works.
✓
Video files are huge! They not only are the most complex type of files but also gobble up lotsa disk space.
Chapter 26: Electronic Entertainment 287
Video file formats
Video is stored on your computer in the form of copy of QuickTime to view or hear MOV files a file, just like all the other stuff stored on your on your PC: www.apple.com/quicktime.
computer. Like other media files (pictures and
sound), the computer universe hosts a whole MPEG: The Motion Pictures Experts Group is a slate of video file formats, all depending on general compression format for both video and which camera recorded the video, which pro-audio.
gram edited it, which type of compression is WMV: The Windows Media Video format is the being used, and other tedious details. Generally most popular video format used in Windows speaking, the following types of video files are and pretty common on the Internet as well.
popular in the computer world:
Other formats exist, but these are the most
MOV: The MOV file, used by Apple’s QuickTime common. Also see Chapter 16 for information player, can store not only videos but also on the filename extension, which is how you audio information. MOV is quite popular on the identify file types in Windows.
Internet, although you need to obtain a free
Storing video in Windows
A special place exists in your PC’s storage system for video. It’s the My Videos or Videos folder. That’s the location where any videos you add to the computer are saved. Here’s how to display the contents of that folder: