
Windows 98 From A to Z


- F -
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:
- Copy files
- Delete files
- Move files
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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