Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows Vista All in One

by Perry, Greg

• ISBN13: 9780672328893
• ISBN10: 0672328895
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Sams

Summary

Visually teaches Vista's ins and outs step-by-step, not just providing the how to do something but also explains why.

Table of Contents

Welcome to Windows Vista	p. 7
Exploring the welcome center	p. 27
Clicking your start button	p. 45
Starting and stopping Windows	p. 61
Managing your programs	p. 75
Taking the taskbar to task	p. 85
Changing Windows Vista's look	p. 101
Mastering Vista's explorer Windows	p. 123
Working with the sidebar and gadgets	p. 155
Exploring the Windows Vista accessories	p. 167
Taking time out with Windows Vista games	p. 187
Calling for help	p. 207
Finding information all over Windows	p. 223
Going multimedia with Vista	p. 237
Managing your entertainment experience with media player	p. 263
Going digital with your camera or scanner	p. 287
Modifying and sharing photos	p. 297
Recording simple audio	p. 319
Making movies with Windows movie maker	p. 329
Dating with Windows calendar	p. 353
Scheduling tasks to run later	p. 375
Making Windows more accessible	p. 391
Speaking to your computer	p. 407
Controlling Windows Vista	p. 417
Setting up Windows program defaults	p. 439
Separating users gives each the access they need	p. 453
Managing your Windows security	p. 467
Adding and removing programs	p. 491
Printing with Windows Vista	p. 505
Faxing and scanning	p. 519
Restoring your Windows system to a previous state	p. 531
Improving disk performance and storage	p. 541
Configuring Windows Vista	p. 551
Saving power with Windows Vista	p. 575
Protecting your data and programs	p. 587
Combining Vista, networks, and the Internet	p. 611
Exploring the Internet with Vista and Internet Explorer	p. 627
Staying in touch with RSS and instant messaging	p. 655
Synchronizing your computer with other devices	p. 675
Mailing with Windows mail	p. 691
Accessing a world of information in newsgroups	p. 713
Vista's ten best tips that save you time and grief	p. 727
Ten terrific online tips to help and traps to avoid	p. 739
Your Windows Vista future	p. 749
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction Introduction You probably are anxious to get started with your Windows Vista training. Windows Vista is an exciting operating system by Microsoft, a completely revamped operating system from the Windows XP operating systems that were used previously. Vista is all new--developed from the ground up--and is not the result of putting together legacy Widows code and adding some extra features. Windows Vista is cool. Windows Vista is the first operating system environment that truly puts you in control of all your media, from video to music to pictures, and enables you to synchronize that digital multimedia data with mobile devices, cameras, scanners, projectors, and televisions. Windows Vista, using the famed Aero graphical interface, is a visually stunning operating system honed to a detail before unimagined. Even the window icons you see on the screen are often live depictions of what those icons represent. Windows Vista is far more than a multimedia-centric operating system, though. Vista is the safest Windows operating system developed. Security measures flow throughout the system to guard you and your computing experience from outside attacks and from bugs inside your programs. Vista offers a robust work environment for the home, small office, or corporate enterprise. Even though Vista integrates an online experience into almost everything it offers, you can rest far easier knowing that Vista contains safety features that protect you while you work. This book's goal is to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. Take just a few preliminary moments to acquaint yourself with the design of this book described in the next few sections. What This Book Will Do for You Although this is not a reference book, you'll learn almost every aspect of Windows Vista from the everyday user's point of view. This book does not take up your time with those many advanced technical details that most of you will never need. I know that you want to get up to speed with Windows Vista, and it's this book's goal to do just that. From the first chapter, you'll learn hands-on, practical ways to make Vista work better for you and to help you get your work done while using Vista. I present only enough background and theory that a new Windows Vista user needs. In addition to the background discussions, this book is practical and provides a vast array of useful step-by-step tasks that you can work through to gain hands-on experience. You'll glide through that tasks and learn every common Windows Vista action you'll need to make Windows Vista work for you, instead of you working to use Windows Vista. As with Vista, this book is graphical, using far more figures and callouts than normal to teach you what's going on every step of the way. Enough pages are here, however, to give you the textual background and instructions necessary to learn quickly and thoroughly without wading through a boatload of theory and history. Who Should Read This Book? This book is for both beginning and advanced Windows users. Readers rarely believe that lofty claim, for good reason, but the design of this book and the nature of Windows Vista make it possible for this book to address an audience that wide. Windows Vista is extremely similar to previous versions of Windows in many ways. The Start menu is there. The taskbar is there. Windows Explorer is there. Vista, however, begins where those kinds of features left off. Vista takes each feature to the next-higher notch and offers an added graphical experience to go along with the usual Windows feature. The bottom-line result is that a beginning user of Vista needs to know far less about Vista to use it than beginning users of previous Windows needed. In addition, there is enough under Vista's hood to make the most tech-hungry computer pro love working inside the operating system. Conventions Used in This Book In addition to text, pictures, and step-by-step guides, you'll also find the following special elements are included to set off different types of information to make them easily recognizable: Note -Special By the Way notes augment the material you are reading in each hour. They clarify concepts and procedures. Tip -You'll find numerous Did You Know tips that offer shortcuts and solutions to common problems. Caution -The Watch Out! sections warn you about pitfalls. Reading them will save you time and trouble. What to Do Now With the introduction out of the way, it's time that you began learning what Windows Vista has in store for you. Turn the page to start learning about Microsoft's exciting redesigned operating system that makes your computer come alive. Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.