Windows 98 From A to Z

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FAT32 Converter

The FAT32 converter is a hard disk file storage format that has been especially designed for drives with more than 512 MB of space. Because FAT32 is a new 32-bit file allocation table format, it does not support a dual-boot functionality with the other Windows operating systems available today. For further details on converting your hard drive to FAT32, see the section titled "Driver Converter (FAT32)."

Favorites

Windows 98 Favorites are hyperlinks to Internet/intranet/extranet web sites. To use the Favorites list, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, and choose Favorites, as shown in Figure F.1.

Figure F.1

2. Click any entry in the Favorites menu (you might need to click a folder or two to reach the web site you want to visit) to start your default web browser. The default web browser will probably be Microsoft Internet Explorer because it is integrated into the Windows 98 operating system. The browser automatically opens the file, folder, or web site that you have selected.


TIP: You must establish a connection to the Internet prior to opening a web browser; otherwise, the browser will not be able to find any sites. Although opening Favorites within Windows 98 starts the default web browser, it does not automatically complete the Internet connection.

When inside the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, you can view the Favorites links that are available from the Start menu. As an added advantage, you can organize your favorites into various folders, as shown in Figure F.2.

Figure F.2

To organize your Favorites list, follow these steps:

1. To add a new site to your Favorites list, first visit the site you want to add (an example is shown in Figure F.3).
2. Click the Favorites menu option, and select Add to Favorites, as shown in Figure F.4.
3. The Add Favorite dialog box, shown in Figure F.5, appears. Click the Create In button if you want to add this favorite to an existing folder or to create a new folder within the Windows 98 Favorites section. In this instance, I plan to place the site I have selected in an existing folder named United States Government.

Figure F.3

Figure F.4

4. The dialog box shown in Figure F.5 expands to show the folder structure of your current Favorites area, as shown in Figure F.6. Scroll down until you find the folder in which you want to place the site, and then click it.
5. Click the OK button to insert this web site into your Favorites section.
6. Click the Favorites menu option to confirm that the Favorite you just added has been successfully placed in the list. As shown in Figure F.7, the CIA home page for kids has been successfully placed in the United States Government folder of my Favorites list.

Figure F.5

Figure F.6

To organize sites already in your Favorites list into folders, follow these steps:

1. Click the Favorites menu item and select Organize Favorites, as shown in Figure F.8.
2. The Organize Favorites dialog box, shown in Figure F.9, appears. Here you move, rename, delete, or open an existing Favorite.

Figure F.7

Figure F.8


NOTE: When organizing your Favorites folders, be practical and logical. Don't stuff everything into one spot, but at the same time, do not try to
over-organize and create so many different folders that it becomes impossible to find anything. You can use the standard file-management techniques for your Windows 98 Favorites just as you do for the rest of your computer.

Figure F.9

Files

Files are the software creations that make all things possible in PC computing today. Every folder, word processing document, software application, and operating system feature is actually nothing more than a file. Thousands of files come with the Windows 98 operating system and with each software application that you load on your PC. Even more are created by these very same applications (in the form of word processing documents, spreadsheets, and the like).

File Management

It is strongly recommended that you devise some scheme for organizing and managing the files stored on your computer. Much like Microsoft organizes most of the applications installed on your computer in the Program Files folder, you can organize your own files in a manner that will make it easier to locate them for future use. If you had a folder called DATA that contains a series of subdirectories, each of which was named after the application that created its contents, for example, it would be very easy to find, use, modify, and back up these files as necessary. This file structure might look something like this:

C:\DATA
C:\DATA\EXCEL
C:\DATA\POWERPOINT
C:\DATA\PUBLISHER
C:\DATA\QUICKEN
C:\DATA\WORD

To organize and manage your files, you need to know how to do the following:

Swap files over a direct cable connection Copying Files Copying a file from one location on a PC to another is simple. To copy a file, follow these steps:

1. First, you must find the file you want to copy (suppose for this example that you want to copy the Microsoft Word shortcut file). In this example, double-click the My Computer icon, shown in Figure F.10, on the desktop.

Figure F.10

2. The My Computer window, shown in Figure F.11, opens. If your window does not look like the one shown here, click the View menu option and then click Details to alter the screen layout so that it matches the one in the example.

Figure F.11


TIP: The My Computer window displays a variety of information, including the total size of your hard drive (see the Total Size column) as well as how much free space is available (see the Free Space column).


TIP: Viewing the My Computer window is a quick way to determine what the drive letter assignments are for each drive within the system. For example, the 3 1/2-inch floppy drive on the picture shows it with the drive letter assignment as A:. The CD-ROM drive (which already has a music CD inserted in it) is labeled Audio CD and has been given the drive letter assignment of D:.
3. Double-click the drive in which the file that you want to copy exists. If in doubt, start with the C: drive; it is usually the primary (if not the only) hard drive in a PC. This opens a window like the one shown in Figure F.12.
4. Double-click any folder to open it. Depending on how your files are organized on your computer, you might need to click a few folders to reach the one you're looking for. Wherever it is located, click the Microsoft Office folder to view a screen like the one shown in Figure F.13.

Figure F.12

Figure F.13

5. Here you will find the file you want to copy--the shortcut for Microsoft Word (you can learn more about shortcuts in the section titled "Shortcuts"). Select this file by clicking it once with the left mouse button; then right-click the selected file and choose Copy from the ensuing shortcut menu, as shown in Figure F.14. The file you have selected is copied to the clipboard.

Figure F.14

6. Move to the place where you want to paste the copy of the file--in this example, the Windows 98 desktop (you can reach this spot by minimizing or closing one or more of your open windows).
7. Right-click a blank portion of the desktop and choose Paste from the ensuing shortcut menu, as shown in Figure F.15.

Figure F.15

8. As shown in Figure F.16, the Microsoft Word shortcut file is pasted to the desktop.

Figure F.16

Deleting Files
Removing files (documents, pictures, programs, and so on) from your computer can seem intimidating to a first-time user. But under Windows 98, this process is easier to understand and perform. To delete a file, follow these steps:

1. First, you must find the file you want to delete. In this example, double-click the My Computer icon, shown in Figure F.17, on the desktop.
2. The My Computer window, shown in Figure F.18, opens. If your window does not look like the one shown here, click the View menu option and then click Details to alter the screen layout so that it matches the one in the example.
3. Double-click the drive in which the file that you want to delete exists. If in doubt, start with the C: drive; it is usually the primary (if not the only) hard drive in a PC.
4. When you find the file you want to delete, click it to select it, as shown in Figure F.19. (In this example, the selected file is a graphics file named Frank & Genevieve Snow.TIF.)

Figure F.17

Figure F.18

5. Right-click the selected file and select Delete from the ensuing shortcut menu, as shown in Figure F.20. This will remove the selected file from the window.

Figure F.19

Figure F.20


TIP: An easier way to delete a file is to select it and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
6. Close the C: window and return to the desktop by closing or minimizing all open windows. Then double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, shown in Figure F.21.

Figure F.21

7. The file you deleted appears in the Recycle Bin. To delete it permanently from your system, right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, and choose Empty Recycle Bin from the ensuing shortcut menu, as shown in Figure F.22.

Figure F.22

8. You will see a message box like the one shown in Figure F.23, asking you whether you really want to delete the files in the Recycle Bin. Click the Yes button to complete the deletion process.

Figure F.23

Moving Files

To move a file such as a picture, a word processing document, or a spreadsheet from one folder to another on your computer is not as difficult as you might think. To move files around on your computer, you use a technique known as drag and drop. That is, you drag a file from one location and literally drop it into a new one. To move files around within Windows 98, follow these steps:

1. Start Windows Explorer by clicking the Start button, and choosing Programs, Windows Explorer, as shown in Figure F.24.
2. The Explorer window, shown in Figure F.25, opens. To find the file you seek, first find the folder where it resides. You might have to click a series of folders to reach the file you seek.
3. For the sake of example, suppose that the file you seek--a Word
document--is found in a subfolder of the Program Files folder: C:\Program Files\KMAN\DOWNLOAD. To reach this subfolder, click the plus sign (+) next to the Program Files folder, which can be found in the left pane, and then click the KMAN folder, which can be found in the right pane.

Figure F.24

Figure F.25

4. Click the DOWNLOAD folder in the left pane, and then click the file you want to move (Adolphson, Dave.doc), as shown in Figure F.26. (Notice that if you leave the mouse pointer over a Microsoft Word file, the name of the file's author appears.)

Figure F.26

5. Using the scrollbar in the left pane, scroll to the folder where you want the file to be moved. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the file to its new location, as shown in Figure F.27. When the destination folder (in this example, KPMG-Styled Resumes) becomes highlighted, release the mouse button.

Figure F.27

6. The file that you moved no longer resides in the DOWNLOAD file; it now resides in the KPMG-Styled Resumes folder, as shown in Figure F.28.

Figure F.28

Swapping Files over a Direct Cable Connection

Files can be copied between two computers through the use of the Direct Cable Connection feature of Windows 98. After the two computers are connected, you just drag and drop files from one computer to the other (see the preceding section titled "Moving Files" for more information about drag and drop). The only difference is that although you drag and drop files between computers, you are actually leaving the original file on the first computer intact. In other words, this is a copy operation, not a move operation.

Find

The Find command under Windows 98 is greatly improved compared to the command in earlier versions of Windows. Not only can you search for files and folders, you can also search for friends on the Internet, computers on your network, and items in your address book. Finding Files and Folders To find files or folders on your computer, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, and then choose Find. You will see the Find menu, which contains the various Find options, as shown in Figure F.29.

Figure F.29

2. Click the first item, Files or Folders, to open the Find: All Files screen (with the Name & Location tab displayed), as shown in Figure F.30.

Figure F.30

3. If you know the name of the file you seek, or if you can type some of the text that the file contains, the Name & Location tab is the screen for you. Type the name of the file you're looking for with its extension (.DOC, .PPT, .XLS, and so on) if you know it, and select the drive in which the file resides (such as the C: drive) from the Look In drop-down list. Alternatively, type some text that the file contains in the Containing Text text box.
4. To narrow a search, you can enter the date your file was created, last modified, or last accessed. To do so, click the Date tab of the Find: All Files dialog box, as shown in Figure F.31.

Figure F.31


NOTE: Although this screen will search by a series of days or dates, you should still enter either a file name or a text string on the previous tab. Otherwise, you probably won't locate the file that you are looking for, because many files are automatically modified or accessed by the operating system without your realizing it.
5. If you leave this screen at its default setting, All Files, it instructs Windows 98 to search through all files from all dates, which doesn't exactly take advantage of this screen's functions. Instead, select the Find All Files option, and select either Created, Accessed, or Modified from the corresponding drop-down list box.
6. Click the Between xx and xx button to instruct Find to search the range of dates that you specify; click the During the Previous xx Month(s) button to instruct Find to search backward over the number of months you specify; click the During the Previous xx Day(s) button to instruct Find to search backward over the number of days you specify.
7. To narrow your search even further by searching by the file's size and type, click the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure F.32.

Figure F.32


NOTE: Entering information about the file's size is a quick way to limit a search. If you're looking for a graphic file, for example, you could select At Least from the Size Is drop-down list and enter 3 in the KB spinner box (because most graphic files exceed this size). This will speed the search, because the computer will not bother itself with the hundreds of files that are smaller than 3 KB.
8. Click the Find Now button to instruct Windows 98 to look for the file in question. Locations of matches are placed in the box that appears immediately below the Find screen, as shown in Figure F.33.

Figure F.33


TIP: If you need to stop a search in progress, click once on the Stop
button to end it.

Finding a Computer on Your Network Just as you can search for files on your computer, you can search for computers on your network. To use this search capability, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, and then choose Find. You will see the Find menu, which contains the various Find options, as shown in Figure F.34.

Figure F.34

2. Click the second item, Computer, to open the Find: Computer screen, shown in Figure F.35.

Figure F.35

3. Type the name of the computer you are looking for in the Named field, and then click the Find Now button to initiate the search. When the Windows 98 search engine finds the computer that matches the search criteria, it places its name and location, as well as any comments about the computer (for Windows-based machines only), in the Found box
at the bottom of the search screen. In the example shown in Figure F.36, the computer is named phaedrus2, and the search process has located it in the Network Neighborhood.

Figure F.36


NOTE: Don't worry if you can't remember the entire name of the computer you're looking for; Windows 98 is forgiving. Suppose, for example, that you are looking for a computer named Phaedrus2 but, because you're unsure of the spelling, you just type Pha. The Find Computer option will still come up with the correct answer.

Finding Files on the Internet Windows 98 enables you to find files on the Internet directly from your desktop. To use this Find option, follow these steps:

1. Connect to the Internet either via the Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking feature or an online service such as AOL, MSN, or Prodigy.


TIP: If you do not have any type of Internet connection, this search is not for you.
2. Click the Start button, and then choose Find. You will see the Find menu, which contains the various Find options, as shown in Figure F.37.

Figure F.37

3. Click the fourth item, On the Internet, to start your default Internet browser (probably Internet Explorer). Because you connected to the Internet in step 1, your web browser automatically connects to Microsoft's World Wide Web site, which contains various Internet search engine options, as shown in Figure F.38.


NOTE: Notice that this time the Infoseek search engine is at the top of the list that appears on the left side of the page. If you were to exit the browser and then re-enter it, you would find the next search engine product on the list (AOL NetFind) at the top. Talk about equality for search engines....
4. Click the engine that you want to use (to follow along with this example, try Infoseek), and then type the search text in the box on the right side of the screen (in this example, as shown in Figure F.39, I have typed Silver American Eagle, which refers to a platinum coin that is minted by the U.S. Mint, but that normally does not circulate to the public). Click the Seek button to start the search.

Figure F.38

Figure F.39


TIP: If your search engine finds too many web sites that match your search criteria, you can narrow your search. In the case of Infoseek, you just click the Tips hyperlink (depending on which search engine you use, this hyperlink might have a different name) to view information about making your search more effective.
5. Because your search has returned a manageable number of matches, click the Search Only Within These 32 Pages button, shown in Figure F.40.

Figure F.40

6. Scroll down the resulting screen--shown in Figure F.41--to determine whether your search has been successful. When you reach the bottom of the screen, click the Next 10 hyperlink to view the next 10 matches.

Figure F.41

7. When you find a web site that looks promising, such as the one shown in Figure F.42, view it by clicking its hyperlink.

Figure F.42

Finding People

The final Find option provided by Windows 98 is for finding people. You can use this option to find people in your Windows 98 address book, or to find people on the Internet.

Finding People in Your Address Book

To use Find to find people in your address book, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, and then choose Find. You will see the Find menu, which contains the various Find options, as shown in Figure F.43.
2. Click the fifth item, People, to open the Find People screen, shown in Figure F.44.
3. Type the name, email address, street address, or telephone number of the person you're looking for, and then click the Find Now button to start the search.
4. To hasten a search, you can enter information into multiple fields, such as entering a person's name as well as his or her phone number.

Figure F.43

Figure F.44

Finding People over the Internet

To use Find to find people on the Internet, follow these steps:

1. Connect to the Internet either via the Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking feature or an online service such as AOL, MSN, or Prodigy.


TIP: If you do not have any type of Internet connection, the Internet People option is not for you.
2. Click the Start button, and then choose Find. You will see the Find menu, which contains the various Find options, as shown in Figure F.45.

Figure F.45

3. Open the Find People screen by clicking the People item in the Find menu.
4. Click the down-arrow button to the right of the Look In text field to view the list box shown in Figure F.46.

Figure F.46

5. Select any of the available search services (for this example, I have selected Bigfoot) to enable the Web Site button. The name of the search engine you have chosen will also appear at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure F.47.

Figure F.47


NOTE: You can click the Web Site button to access the web site for the search service shown, provided that you have already established a connection to the Internet.
6. Type the name or email address of the person you want to find, and then click the Find Now button to initiate the search.
7. If the person is found, you will see his or her name in the box that appears at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure F.48. After the name appears, you can click the Add to Address Book button to add that person's email address to your personal address book.

Figure F.48


NOTE: These search engines are only as good as their information (garbage in, garbage out). For the most part, they contain accurate and updated information, but not always.


NOTE: You might want to click the Web Site button for some or all of these search engines so that you can add your information to each site's database. This will make it easier for long-lost friends or relatives to find you on their Windows 98 computers.

Folders

In the parlance of Windows 98, directories and subdirectories are known as folders. Simply put, folders are where all files and other directories are stored within Windows 98. To explore your folder structure, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the My Computer icon and choose Explore, as shown in Figure F.49.

Figure F.49

2. The My Computer window of Windows Explorer, shown in Figure F.50, opens. This window shows all the drives installed on this computer: a 3 1/2-inch floppy drive (the A: drive), a hard drive labeled HOME OFFICE (the C: drive), and a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive with a music CD in it (the D: drive). You will also find shortcuts to four of the more popular folders: Printers, Control Panel, Dial-Up Networking, and Scheduled Tasks.

Figure F.50


NOTE: You use Windows Explorer to maneuver around your hard drive. Explorer enables you to move, copy, create, and delete files and folders as necessary. For more information about Explorer, see the section titled "Windows Explorer."
3. Click the C: drive (labeled HOME OFFICE) entry in the left column; the pane on the right will change accordingly, as shown in Figure F.51. All the icons you see in this view are folders.

Fonts

Fonts are used within Windows 98 to control how letters, numbers, and special characters look onscreen as well as when they are printed. Installing Fonts To install a font, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, choose Settings, Control Panel, as shown in Figure F.52.

Figure F.51

Figure F.52

2. Double-click the Fonts icon in the Control Panel window, shown in Figure F.53.
3. The Fonts window opens. Listed here are all the screen and print fonts that are already installed on your system. To add a new font to your system, click the File menu option, and choose Install New Font, as shown in Figure F.54.

Figure F.53

Figure F.54

4. The Add Fonts dialog box, shown in Figure F.55, appears. In the bottom half of the window, find the folder or drive where the new font is to be installed.
5. In the List of Fonts box, click any font that you want to install (click the Select All button if you want them all).

Figure F.55

6. Check the Copy Fonts to Fonts Folder check box to create a copy
of all the fonts that you are installing and to put that copy into the C:\Windows\Fonts folder.

7. Click the OK button to proceed with the installation.

Deleting Fonts Deleting a font that you no longer want is just as easy as installing a new font. To delete a font, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, choose Settings, Control Panel, as shown in Figure F.56.
2. Double-click the Fonts icon in the Control Panel window, shown in Figure F.57.
3. The Fonts window opens. Listed here are all the screen and print fonts that are already installed on your system. Right-click the font you want to delete, and choose Delete from the ensuing shortcut menu, as shown in Figure F.58.

Figure F.56

Figure F.57

Figure F.58


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