Introduction to Windows 98
by D. Glen Cardenas - 3/27/00

Mouse Operations

Windows is best used by moving a screen cursor called a pointer around with a pointing device such as a mouse or track ball. Although most activities can be carried out with just a keyboard, doing so sort of defeats the idea of Windows. In order to make effective use of a pointing device there are some rules you will need to follow. These rules apply for any pointing device you may use be it mouse, track ball, finger pad or stick. Because the results of using any of these devices will be basically the same, I will use the term mouse to refer to any pointing device. Also keep in mind that if your device is set for left-hand use, the terms for using the left and right buttons will be reversed.

FIG. 1 This is an example of an Inspector Menu generated by Right-Clicking on a blank section of the Windows 98 desktop. Note that in this case, the user is about to select the "Properties" item from the menu.

CLICK: This means to quickly tap (click) the LEFT mouse button. This action usually performs a “Selection” of the object being clicked. You can select a file to operate on, an option from a menu, a dialog box element to enter information into as well as other selection operations. Note that when you CLICK on a hypertext link, such as in a HELP file or in a web page, you will set the link into motion. This is generally not the case with the Windows desktop where it takes a DOUBLE-CLICK to set actions into motion. You can change this behavior on your desktop to have programs start when you CLICK an icon instead of having to DOUBLE-CLICK that icon by configuring Windows to treat your desktop like a web page. There is no such action as DOUBLE-CLICK on a web page. This may lead to some confusion later on, so be sure to train yourself as to when you want to CLICK (select) an item or DOUBLE-CLICK (open) an item. When you perform the CLICK, do so quickly and without moving the mouse around. To linger on the button, especially if you also move the mouse while doing so, will often be misinterpreted by Windows to be an attempted DRAG operation and usually lead to an error message or the movement of the object being clicked on. Get used to holding the mouse steady when you CLICK and DOUBLE-CLICK.

RIGHT-CLICK: This is the exact same operation as CLICK except it is done with the RIGHT mouse button. The result of a RIGHT-CLICK is to open an “Inspector” menu that offers a list of actions that can be performed on the item that was RIGHT-CLICKed on. The example FIG. 1 to the right shows the result of RIGHT-CLICKing on an open area of the desktop. In this case, a menu is displayed that allows you to control the look and operation of the desktop and the video display.

DOUBLE-CLICK: to perform a DOUBLE-CLICK, quickly tap the LEFT mouse button twice in a row and with no more than a half of a second between clicks. Also make sure to hold the mouse still when you DOUBLE-CLICK or, again, Windows may think you’re trying to drag the item you’re clicking. The result of a DOUBLE-CLICK is to “Open” the item clicked on. That is to say, launch a program, load or run a file, select an item and then close the selection box or any of a number of “Execute” style actions. There is no common Windows use for DOUBLE-CLICKing the RIGHT mouse button although this function may be supported by specific applications.

DRAG: When you wish to move an icon or file or other object from one place to another, you perform a DRAG by holding down on the LEFT mouse button and keeping the button down as you move the mouse, and thus the object, from where it is to where you want it to go. When doing a DRAG, you can often modify the action with various keys. The most common is to hold down the CTRL key while performing a DRAG and in so doing, you copy the item to the destination rather than move the item. Note that when using DRAG to move an EXE file by itself in Windows Explorer or any other file management utility, DRAG will cause only a shortcut to the program to be created at the destination rather than actually moving the file to the destination. There are ways around this, but the most profitable is to perform a RIGHT-DRAG.

RIGHT-DRAG: To address the shortcut problem mentioned above, you can always use a RIGHT-DRAG instead of a regular DRAG to move program files. To perform a RIGHT-DRAG, simply press and hold the RIGHT mouse button when dragging. Once you reach the destination and let go of the button, you are given a menu listing various options and you can simply select the action you wish to perform, be it a COPY, a MOVE or create a shortcut.

FIG. 2 This is an example of a Tool Tip being displayed in response to the user hovering the pointer over a tool button.

HOVER: This is also referred to as “Mouse-Over” and is simply placing the mouse over an item and letting it sit there without clicking anything. In many of the menus on your system you will see a menu item with an arrow pointing to the right. If you HOVER over that menu item, another sub-menu will automatically open up to the right of it allowing you to move to that menu and select other options. A good example is the START button. If you CLICK that button and move the mouse to “Programs” and just hover, the “Programs” sub-menu will open for you. In the same way, once you hover over an item in the “Programs” menu that also has an arrow, it will open another sub-menu and so on until you reach what you’re looking for. Another function of HOVER is to place the mouse over a toolbar icon in an application or over an icon in the Taskbar. If you HOVER over such a place for about a second, you will see what is called a “Tool Tip” displayed that tells you the name of the item you are hovering over. In the screen shot FIG. 2 to the right, you can see where the mouse pointer was allowed to HOVER over the tool button with the paint brush icon. In response to the HOVER, a tool tip was displayed explaining that this button controls the "Format Painter" feature in MS Word. Tool Tips come in real handy when you’re looking for a tool in an application and don’t remember which icon goes with that tool. Just HOVER over the various tool buttons until you get the name of the one you’re looking for and then CLICK it.

Another point to make is that when instructed to hold down a key while performing a CLICK or DRAG operation, keep the key pressed until you release the mouse button. In the case of selecting several files, keep the key pressed until you have finished the selection process, and then let go of the key. Keeping the key pressed after releasing the mouse button or after finishing the selection process can cause other unintended actions to be performed. In the same way, letting up on the key before you have finished the drag operation can cause the operation to change style unexpectedly.

Microsoft Office Toolbar

The Taskbar

Application button

Quick Launch Bar

Start Button

Status Area

Mouse pointer

Short-cut icons to start applications

FIG. 3 The Windows 98 desktop showing application shortcut icons, a toolbar and the Taskbar.

The Windows 98 Desktop

Above is a screen shot of a Windows 98 desktop as I have configured it for my own personal needs. Your desktop may look very different. You may wish to have an image as background. This is called “applying wallpaper” to the desktop. You may also have different application icons as well. However, the same elements will be present. At the bottom is the Taskbar. It holds the START button that allows you access to your program start menu, your settings and other features. The area of small icons next to it is the area called the Quick Launch Toolbar. Here, often-used applications can be started with just a single click. You can also see an application button for the program SNAGIT/32. This program is opened and running on the system, but currently hidden so the desktop can be viewed. To unhide it, you simply click on its button. Several programs can be running at the same time and all of them will have such a button. However, only the “active” one, or the one currently being used will have the focus of the system. The others will be on stand-by. You can switch between applications by, among other ways, clicking on these buttons. At the far right of the Taskbar is the Status Area. There you will see the time as well as the icons for any programs that are running in the “background”, which means that these programs are never on stand-by but always looking around and keeping track of things. An anti-virus program would be an example. On the far right side of the display you can see a long toolbar for MS Office. I have customized this toolbar to allow single click launching of the word processor, spreadsheet program, Explorer, the Control Panel and the DOS window. This toolbar is really redundant as the Quick Launch bar can be configured to perform its functions as well. However, it was installed with Office and I have left it in place. On the desktop itself you can see an array of application icons often called “shortcuts”. These applications can be started by double-clicking on the icon for that application. Icons are usually designed to represent the application’s use or function. In this way, the user can quickly find the desired application by finding the icon rather than having to stop and read its legend.

FIG. 4 Icons are used to represent objects in the Windows system. Some are standard generic icons used to represent all of a like item such as all text files or all bitmap files. Application icons are usually unique and represent the purpose of the application it represents. 

Standard File Icons

Here in FIG. 4 you can see a group of icons that correspond to various file types. You might see such an array of file icons in MY COMPUTER if you were to open the Windows folder of drive C: and scroll down to the files whose names start with the letter C. As you saw in the desktop shot, applications, or program (EXE) files display an icon that is usually unique to that application. Other file types are shown with somewhat more generic icons that are in common for all files of that type. In this example, the first file, butngot.dat, is shown with a default icon that Windows uses for any file that it doesn’t recognize or otherwise have a special icon for. On the other hand, calllog.txt is shown with the generic icon for all TXT or text files. Carved Stone.bmp is a bitmap image and is shown with the standard icon for all BMP files. All INI files will have the same icon as shown for checkit.ini, all GIF image files will have the icon shown for Cloud.gif, and the SYS files are shown with the standard icon for system, DLL and CPL files. Note the generic icon for the EXE and COM files at the bottom. These programs are DOS programs and so are assigned the universal icon for non-graphical programs.

These icons are selected by Windows based on their “association” with other programs or functions. As a result, so long as Windows can associate a file with an application, you can start that application just by double-clicking on the file’s icon. For example, if you were to double-click on the icon for calllog.txt, the application NOTEPAD would start up with the contents of calllog.txt loaded into its workspace ready to read, edit or print. This is because Windows has associated all TXT files with the application NOTEPAD. In the same way, double-clicking on a BMP file will cause Windows to start the PAINTBRUSH application and load the file you clicked on into its workspace because all BMP files are associated with PAINTBRUSH.

Controlling Application Windows

FIG. 5 The Control buttons to the right are in the top right corner of a window and can be used to maximize, minimize or close an application or workspace. 

FIG. 6 Some of those functions are also available from the control menu shown at the left. It is accessible by clicking on the application icon button in the top left corner of the window.

Clicking this icon will open the control menu

These buttons are for the main application window

These buttons are for the child or workspace window

Every application will open a window called a “parent” window to work in. Most of these applications will also open a workspace window, or “child” window in which the real work is done. An example is a word processor that will open up a parent window to hold its menus and toolbars and so on, then in a large blank area will open a separate child window where you will type your document. Often, several child windows can be open at once and all share the workspace. Each child window will contain a different document. Text and other elements can be copied or moved between documents by dragging them from one child window to another. The main window has control buttons at the top right corner. One of these buttons allows you to minimize, or “hide” the application leaving only its button on the task bar. Another button will switch the application window from full screen to a resizable mini-window. The last button will close the application. Each child window will also have its own set of control buttons. In this case, the Minimize button will hide the document as a button at the bottom of the application’s workspace. The size button will allow the child window to either occupy the entire workspace or become a resizable mini window within the workspace. The last one will close the document (see FIG. 5).

In the top left corner of both the parent application window and the child document window is an icon. This icon will look like the application or file type icon you would see on the desktop, in My Computer or in Windows Explorer. As shown in FIG. 6, this icon is, in fact, a button. If you click on it you will be offered a control menu of options that, for the most part, mirror the functions of the control buttons on the top right side. Also note that most all applications will have a Menu Bar at the top of their window as well as Tool Bars filled with buttons below the menu bar and in some cases along the sides of the window and/or bottom (FIG.7). Many applications allow the Tool Bars to “float” over the child window instead of being docked to one of the parent window sides. For the most part, all features and functions offered by the buttons on the Tool Bars can also be accessed through the Menu Bar. However, the idea is to place the most often used features in the Tool Bar where they are just a click away rather than have to fish through the menus for them. Almost every application allows you to customize the Tool Bars to add or remove functions according to your needs and work habits. At the bottom of a parent window you can often find another bar called the Status Bar where information about the document in the workspace or the current operation being carried out can be found.

Scrolling in a Window

Menu Bar

Tool Bars

Title Bar

Vertical Scroll Button

Scrolling Rail

Scroll Up Button

Scroll Down Button

Previous Page Button

Next Page Button

Horizontal Scroll Button

Scroll Left Button

Scrolling Rail

Scroll Right Button

Horizontal Scroll Bar

Vertical Scroll Bar

FIG. 7 When a window contains data or work, and if the area occupied by that work is larger than the window displaying it, scroll bars will appear in the right and/or bottom of the window to allow access to the entire workspace..

Status Bar

Tool Bar

When you have more information in a window than will fit in the display area, Windows gives you a set of scrolling bars at the right side and/or at the bottom to allow you to reposition the work under the viewable part of the window. To use these bars, you can DRAG the button along the rail until the area of your work you are looking for appears in the window. You can also CLICK in the rail to either side of the button to course scroll in jumps equal to the size of the window. You can also CLICK on the arrow buttons to perform fine scrolling of about one text line per click. In many applications there are also buttons to allow you to scroll a full page up and down. FIG. 7 above shows those buttons in a word processor

The size of the scroll bars is determined by the percentage of the work area hidden from view. 
FIG. 8 If the scroll bar is almost the same size as the rail it slides in, there is not much area being hidden. 
    FIG. 9 If the button is small compared to the rail, then there is a lot of workspace hidden from view.

Drop Down Box

Radio Buttons

Text Box

Spinners

Check Box

Drop Down Box opened with the second option selected

Command Buttons

FIG. 10 The dialog box above is designed to accept user input through any of a variety of interface devices. Among those shown are the drop-down box, text box, check box, radio buttons and command buttons.

Dialog Boxes

FIG. 11 Some dialog boxes simply pass along information.

Dialog boxes are a common form of interaction between the operating system and the user. It is through dialog boxes that system options, configuration preferences and other user definable settings can be communicated from the user to the system or an application. It is also common for the system to offer warnings and other information to the user in the form of dialog boxes. The dialog box in FIG. 10 is the printing manager displayed in response to a user selecting the PRINT option from the FILE menu in MS Word 2000. At the top of the dialog is a drop-down box. This element offers a default choice with a range of other choices accessible by clicking on the arrow. At the bottom of the dialog is another drop-down box that has been expanded into a list of alternate choices, one of which has been  highlighted with the pointer. In contrast to the drop-down box is the text box. These allow the user to simply type in what they want. In this example, the user has entered a range of pages to be printed. Some Text Boxes have a set of double arrows called spinners. These boxes allow the input of a numeric value or the user can click the arrows to count up or down from the number currently in the box. 

Below is a screen shot of a dialog box containing a List Box. This type of box allows the user to select from a displayed list of items such as the type of wallpaper in this example. There is another type of element called a Combo Box (not shown) that is a combination of a Text Box and a List Box. The user may select from a list of options as from a List Box or may type in something completely different as with a Text Box. Also shown in this dialog is an example of a Preview Box which will offer a thumbnail preview of the graphic or text file currently selected from a list.

Preview Box

List Box

FIG. 12 A dialog box with a list box and a preview window.

Ellipsis, or a series of three dots indicates that this will open another dialog box

A bank of Checkboxes

Choices can also be input using any of several button styles. One style, called the Radio Button, is a group of options each with a circle that can be clicked on to select that options. The selected option has the circle filled with a black dot. Named for the buttons on old fashion car radios, they work the same way. When you click on one circle, any other circle that had been selected is canceled in favor of the new selection. In this way, only one of the several options can be selected at any given time. In FIG. 10 you can see this type of button array in the "Page Range" area. As would seem reasonable, only one of those options can apply at a time because they are mutually exclusive. On the other hand, the Checkbox type of selector is designed to allow some, all or none of a group of options to be selected. Each one is treated independently. You click once on a check box to select it and again to deselect it. You're likely to see checkboxes used as stand-alone selectors or in groups or "banks" of selectors as shown in FIG. 13. Also notice in this dialog the button with the three dots or "Ellipsis" for a legend. When you see an element that contains an Ellipsis, this means that selecting this element will result in the opening of a new dialog box.

FIG. 13 A dialog box with a bank of checkboxes

Probably the most common element of a dialog box is the Command Button. These buttons can be clicked to perform some action. Sometimes the only features of an "Information" dialog box will be a few words of information and a single Command Button marked "OK" which must be clicked to dismiss the box. Some common  Command Buttons include the choices of "OK", "Cancel", "Apply", "Retry", "Browse" "Advanced" (often with Ellipsis to show that this button will lead to another dialog box) “Next” and "Finish".

Topic Tabs

Slider Bar

Grayed-out Option

FIG. 14 This dialog box has tabs at the top, a slide bar and one of the options is grayed out because it doesn't apply under the current circumstances.

In the dialog box to the left you can see elements called Tabs. These tabs look like the sort of tabs one would find in a notebook and they work the same way. Clicking on a Tab will "flip the page" in a dialog box to another topic area. In this example, we see the dialog associated with setting up options for the display. There are various topics related to the display and each is in its own page of the dialog and is accessible by clicking on its own Tab. This has proven an efficient method of handling a large amount of related material in a single "umbrella" dialog box. Also in this dialog box is a Slider element. The user can drag the knob of the slider and move it back and forth to select one of a range of options. Finely, we see an example of a "Grayed-out" element. This happens when a given element or option doesn't apply under the current circumstances but given other circumstances would be applicable and then made available.

Menu and Tool Bars

Arrows that denote option "Flyout" boxes associated with a tool button

Arrows that allow hidden buttons to be accessed and allow formatting of the bar's contents

Blank area that can allow a bar to slide or expand

Dragging  handles

FIG. 15 This is the top part of the MS Word parent window. At the top is the usual title bar. Under that is the menu bar. Below it are two tool bars, the first is for standard file and option tools and the bottom row holds layout and formatting tools. The handles can be used to slide, size and move the bars.  Some tool buttons have an arrow that will open a "Flyout" box containing several variations on the tool. The bar itself also has an arrow that will display more hidden buttons and/or open a flyout that allows you to customize the contents of the toolbar.

Most applications for Windows follow the same mold for offering menus and tool buttons. This is because most applications do not code for these features but simply request these stock services from the OS. The application tells Windows what menus it wants and what items to offer on each and presto! We have menus! This continuity helps users of one application find their way around in new or unfamiliar applications. Many of the tool buttons will also be the same from application to application for the same reason. For the most part, tool buttons are simply shortcuts to items otherwise available from the menus anyway. However, having the tool buttons handy for frequently used features as seen in FIG. 15 enhances productivity in applications by eliminating much of the menu hunting that would otherwise be necessary. As mentioned in the section on mouse operations, most applications will offer a tool tip describing the function of each tool button if the mouse pointer is allowed to hover over it for a moment.

FIG. 16 (Top) This is a menu drop-down list showing the common options. The arrows at the bottom tell that there are more options than just those shown.
FIG. 17 (Right) Clicking on the arrows or hovering on the menu for 4 seconds will cause it to unfold completely displaying the other lesser used options.

The menus on the menu bar offer a drop-down list of options when clicked. The menus will initially display only the most often used items and show a set of arrows at the bottom of the item list denoting that there are more items available (FIG. 16 and 17). If you click on these arrows, the menu will be re-drawn to offer the full list of options. Also, if you open a menu and hover over the menu for four seconds, the menu will likewise expand. This feature is demonstrated by the short menu shown as FIG.16 being expanded into the full menu shown as FIG. 17.

As shown in FIG. 15, the small arrows at the extreme right side of a toolbar serves two functions. First, if there are more tool buttons than there is room to display, clicking on these arrows will offer the hidden ones in a small box. Second, you can choose which tool buttons you wish displayed from a formatting dialog accessible from these arrows thus allowing you to customize the toolbars to reflect your personal work habits. The other small arrows beside tool buttons will open a small “Flyout” box allowing you to choose from several variations on this button's operation.

FIG. 18 By dragging a menu or toolbar handle and pulling it down from the parent window, you can make the bar float in the child window. This can be useful if you need the maximum amount of screen space for the child window and can put up with the floating bars covering sections of your work.

Another thing to note is that these menu and tool bars are often re-locatable and movable. If the bar has an unused area to the side, it can be slid back and forth across the screen by dragging the bar from its "handle" shown in FIG. 15. Most bars can be "floated" or "docked" by clicking on the handle or a blank section of them and dragging the entire bar to some other place on the screen. You can cause this bar to float anywhere within the child window as shown in FIG. 18 above, or dock along any of the four edges of the parent window.

Applications usually have Right-Click menus, called “Context” or “Inspector” menus for most objects both in the work space (such as the text you're typing in a word processor) and the bars. Often you can do most of the things you want to do to an object by right-clicking on it instead of selecting it (highlighting it) and then hunting through the menu lists for the action you wish to perform. It's often a good idea when getting used to an application to right-click around and see what kind of actions you have available to you. Also note that even when clicking on the same object, the options in these menus will change as circumstances change.

Even though most people use the menus and tool buttons for common operations, there are also "Hot Keys" associated with most menu items. These Hot Keys can be changed through a process called "key Binding" and is one of the many customizing options in moat applications. The true Hot Key will perform its bound action at any time regardless of what is displayed on the screen. Such Hot Keys are listed after the name of the item in the menu lists. For example, to perform an "Undo" you can select the action from the EDIT menu, click on the "Undo" tool button or press the key combination CTRL and "Z". You will also notice that in the menu item there will often be one letter underlined. This is another type of Hot Key; one that works only so long as that menu list is being displayed. In the above example, you could perform an "Undo" operation by opening the EDIT menu and then pressing the "U" key. This may seem redundant, but then again, that's the theme of Windows 98. For any action you wish to perform, there will usually be more than one way to perform it.

Of the Hot Key combinations, the ones you may wish to remember and use often include CTRL "X" for Cut, CTRL "C" for Copy, CTRL "V" for Paste, CTRL "S" for Save, CTRL "P" for Print, and DEL for Clear. Most all Windows applications respect these Hot Key conventions.

The Programs item will open the Programs Start-up menu system

Note that menu items with an arrow and the same icon as the Programs item will lead to a child menu.

Menu items with unique icons are usually application start-up items although there can also be help files or documentation files listed also.

FIG. 19 Clicking on the START button leads to the START menu. From there you can select any number of functions such as shutting down, logging off of a network, accessing Windows Help, a RUN command line for starting programs or logging on to web pages and so on. The example above shows the user has opened the Programs start-up parent menu and navigated through a series of child menus to the application called "Disk Defragmenter".

Using the START Menu

When you install an application in Windows 98, the install program should create a program group and fill it with shortcut icons to allow you to start the application and any of its utility programs. Even before you install anything in Windows, it contains several programs already. Many are layered in sub menus and sub-sub menus as shown in FIG. 19 above. In this screen shot the user has clicked on the START button to open the start menu which is the menu on the extreme left. The user then hovered the pointer over the item "Programs" and the Programs Start-up parent menu opened. Next, the user hovered the pointer over the group item called "Accessories" and that opened a child menu. Next they hovered over the group item called "System Tools" and that lead to another child menu. Finely the user has positioned the pointer over the start-up icon for an application called "Disk Defragmenter" and as soon as the user issues a click on that item, the disk defragmentation utility program will start. As you can see from the screen shot, each item in a menu that has a right-pointing arrow on it will lead to another (child) menu and need only be hovered over to open that menu. Although clicking on such an item instead will do no harm, it also will do no good. These items will also have the same icon as the "Programs" item in the start menu instead of an application icon. The final item has a different icon and no arrow. This is an application start-up icon item instead of a door to a child menu and will require a click to start it.

Luckily, it's not very common to have to navigate through so many child menus to find what you're looking for. In fact, there are some commonly used programs in Windows that have their start-up item right there in the Programs parent menu such as Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer. Also note that when you install MS Office, its applications will be placed in the parent menu instead of forming a program group child menu like most other applications do. This is supposed to be a convenience although I'm sure competitive tactics has something to do with this too. As a rule, applications installed in Windows will place a program group item in the Programs Start-up parent menu and that item will lead to a child menu containing the start-up icon items.

FIG. 20 (Above) The START menu also leads to the "Settings" menu where you can access the Control Panel as well as dialog boxes that customize the Taskbar, and Desktop. 
FIG. 21 (Below) The Control Panel is a collection of applets that allow access to the inner workings of Windows 98.

Installing an application is usually a very strait-forward procedure. Most of the time applications will come on CD ROM and simply placing the CD in the drive and closing the drawer will, after a few moments, auto-start the installer. Unless your system has special considerations such as limited room on drive C:, You can accept the default choices the installer offers and just click the "OK" or "Next" buttons until the process is over. The installer will create the Program parent menu item and a child menu full of start-up items automatically. Sometimes the installer will also offer to place a short-cut icon for the main application on the desktop to allow you to launch the program without having to go to the Programs menu (see the screen shot on the "Windows 98 Desktop" page). If this is an application that you will be using often, accept this offer and save yourself the mouseing around.

Another feature you will likely use on the START menu is the "Settings" item (FIG. 20 above). This item leads to a menu that allows you to change the way Windows works. The menu item called "Control Panel" leads to a powerful and to some extent dangerous group of utilities that directly control almost every aspect of the system and the hardware. As seen in FIG. 21, the control panel is a set of icons each leading to a "properties" dialog box. The most commonly used ones are "Add New Hardware", "Add/Remove Programs", "Display", "Network", and "System".

FIG. 22 This is the "Add/Remove Programs" dialog box where applications can be un-installed.

In a nutshell, the best use of "Add New Hardware" is to force Windows to see some new hardware you've installed that it didn't see by itself when you rebooted after installing it. Most of the time, Windows will see new hardware and begin the process of installing it all by itself. Other uses for this utility and the "System" utility for troubleshooting hardware conflicts is somewhat beyond the scope of this document. The same goes for "Network". These more advanced topics can be found in any good Windows 98 user's guide or text book.

Using "Add/Remove Programs" is rather easy. Suppose you have an application on your system that you don't want any more or (heaven forbid!) has become corrupt and must be re-installed. The dialog box associated with this item, shown in FIG. 22, will allow you to find that program in a list of un-installable programs and by simply clicking the "Add/Remove" button make it go away. This can help reclaim disk space occupied by an unnecessary application. To repair a damaged application, you can usually just re-install the application over the top of itself, but if that fails to solve the problem, try un-installing it from here and then re-installing it. Another tab in the dialog called "Windows Setup" allows you to add or remove components of Windows 98. The last tab called "Startup Disk" allows you to create a bootable floppy that can start your Windows system in the event your hard drive becomes unbootable. However, in all honesty, if this happens, the fact that your hard drive will not boot into Windows is likely the least of your problems!

The "Display" icon will open the Display properties dialog box that has all of the options for screen savers, wallpaper, color schemes, various effects and the settings for your video card and monitor. Take a look at FIG. 12 and 14 in the "Dialog Box" section for two examples of this properties box. The first example shows you the "Background" tab's features and the last one shows you the "Settings" tab. In the latter, you can control the display resolution and color depth. By clicking on the "Advanced" button in the Settings tab you can access other dialog boxes that control the video drivers, power save feature and monitor settings. Keep in mind that some video drivers will add more tabs to this dialog box after they are installed so your "Display" dialog may not look exactly like this one.

Another function accessible from the Settings menu controls the look and action of the taskbar. Notice from the screen shot FIG. 23 on the next page that there is a checkbox labeled "Auto Hide". If you check this box and keep the "Always on top" box checked, the entire task bar will hide itself until you drop the pointer to the very bottom edge of the display. At that point, the taskbar will pop up and allow you normal access to its features. The advantage of this mode is that it leaves more screen room for your applications. The taskbar doesn't occupy any screen real estate until you need it. The other tab marked "Start Menu Programs" allows you to add or remove Program menu items. For the most part, it need not be bothered with.

FIG. 23 This dialog is reached from the Settings menu or from right-clicking on an empty part of the Taskbar and selecting "properties".

The START menu has a few other handy items. If you hover over the "Find" item you will come to a menu offering several hunting utilities. The most useful by far is the "Files or Folders" option. Clicking on it leads to the box shown in FIG. 24 that allows you to search through your disk drives for files or folders of a given name or set of attributes. Often you may remember only a part of the name. This box lets you use name wildcards to hunt for any entries that match the parts of the name you remember. You can also search files that contain some specific text, fall within a specific date range or are of some size range. The results of the search are displayed in a new box listing the complete path to the files that matched. You can then access the files by double-clicking on the names to see which one is the one you wanted. Keep in mind that this search can take some time, particularly if you are search the entire drive, several drives or are asking the utility to read through all of the files for specific content.

FIG. 24 Selecting "Find Files or Folders" from the "Find" item on the START menu leads to this box. From here you can search your system for a file or folder of specific name, content or attributes.

The last START item we will cover is the bottom item in the START menu labeled "Shut Down". It is a VERY bad idea to simply turn the power to a computer off or push the RESET button while Windows is active. The reason is that Windows maintains a group of open files to help it manage the environment. These files will not be closed and/or deleted if you simply kill Windows. This can lead to a build-up of clutter files on your drive as well as lost clusters caused by corrupt directory entries. These problems are not serious, just unprofessional. On the more serious side, there may be data still unsaved in your applications that can be lost or corrupted if the system is not shut down in an orderly fashion. To exit Windows, Click on the "Shut Down" item in the START menu. The screen will go dim and another box (FIG. 25 next page) will appear offering some shut-down options. Click on the Shut Down radio button and then click on OK and the system will begin winding down. Should you have applications open with unsaved data, you will be prompted to save. In some cases Windows will ask if you want to exit a running application first before shutting down. There are some system applications such as Windows Explorer and dialog boxes such as the Control Panel that, if left open at shut-down, will start back up the next time you start Windows.

FIG. 25 Never turn of your computer without properly shutting down Windows first.

If you have an ATX style mother board, the computer will usually power itself off and require no further intervention from you, the user. I say "usually" because this feature is not 100% reliable. If your system hangs at the "Windows is Shutting Down" cloud screen for more than 15 seconds, then you will have to kill the power manually. Often, the power button on the front will be inactive at this point so you will have to push and hold the power button for about 4 seconds to force a power-down. You can also cycle power at the AC source or simply unplug and re-plug the box. If you don't have an ATX board, you will eventually see a screen that is black with orange letters saying "It is now safe to turn off your computer." At this point, push the power button and you're finished.

From time to time you may need to restart your computer or at least restart Windows after installing something or if the system becomes unstable (that is, more unstable than is normal for Windows). To restart the computer, click on the "Restart" radio button instead of the "Shut Down" button then click OK. If you want to restart just Windows and not reboot the whole computer, hold down on the SHIFT key when you click OK and only Windows will restart saving you some time.

Adding, Moving and Managing Shortcuts

As mentioned before, most all applications installed on your computer will have a start-up icon in one sub menu or another of the Programs Start-up menu. However, because there are some applications you will  tend to use more than others, it makes sense to provide desktop shortcuts to these applications so you can start them without having to hunt through any menus. In the screen shot on page 3 you can see a group of shortcuts congregated on the left side of the desktop. When you install Windows 98, it will create a few of them for you right from the start. Unfortunately, many of these shortcuts amount to little more than advertisements for one internet service or another and for the most part can be dumped in the Recycle Bin. A few that are useful include that Recycle Bin, My Computer, My Documents, Internet Explorer and so on. The question then arises, "How do I put other shortcuts of my choosing onto the desktop?" As already mentioned, many applications will offer to do this for you when you install them, but what about those that do not and what about the other applications provided by Windows that aren't included on the desktop?

FIG. 26 Adding a shortcut to the desktop from the Programs Start-up menu requires a right-drag.

There are simple ways to add shortcuts of your own liking to the desktop. If the application you wish to add is already listed somewhere in the Programs Start-up menu then all you have to do is navigate to it as if you were going to start the application in the normal way by clicking on its menu item. Instead, RIGHT-DRAG the item to some place on the desktop; it doesn't much matter where for now. When you release the mouse button after the drag, you will get an inspector menu offering several options. Click on the one that says "Copy Here". The reason that we don't use a normal drag is that doing so will not copy the shortcut to the desktop, but permanently MOVE the item from the Start-up menu to the desktop. If the application isn't listed in the Start-up menu, you can hunt down the Program file name in Windows Explorer and perform a right-drag onto the desktop or to the "Desktop" location in the left pane of Explorer (explained in the next section) and select "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the resulting menu. 

FIG. 27 Setting desktop icons to automatically maintain an orderly arrangement is easy to do.

Now to place the new shortcut where you wish, just drag it to its new home. If you would rather have Windows worry about placement, right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and from the inspector menu select "Line up icons". This will move each icon to a geometrically ideal location. If you click on "Arrange Icons" instead, you will get another menu asking how you wish the shortcuts to be ordered on the desktop such as by date, by name and so on. If you select "Auto Arrange" then all of the icons will snap to a spot so that all icons are lined up from top to bottom, left to right. With this system, all icons will be automatically snapped into line even if you attempt to move them around. The next time you drag a new shortcut icon onto the desktop it will be placed in line as soon as you finish the drag.

After you have filled your desktop with the shortcuts you need, there is another step you may wish to take. By default, Windows applications open up in a "Normal Window" which is to say that they appear in a window that is less than full screen. This may be OK for some applications, but for word processing, file managers like Windows Explorer or CAD/graphics applications you will want the 
FIG. 28 Use the properties box to set an application to launch full screen instead of from a partial window. To access this dialog, right-click on the icon.

application window to be as large as possible. One way to do this is to set the "Properties" of the shortcut to cause the application to appear full screen when it's started. Right-click on the icon for the shortcut you wish to alter and click on "Properties" in the resulting inspector menu. A dialog box like the one to the left will open up. Make sure the "Shortcut" tab is selected and you will see a drop-down box next to the heading "Run". By default, it will be set to "Normal Window". Click on the arrow and from the option list click on "Maximize". Now click on "OK" and whenever you start the program from this shortcut it will start out in a full screen window. Also note that if you want to change the shortcut's icon, you can click on the "Change Icon" button. If there are other icons available for this application, they will be listed and you can select one from the list. You can also select "Browse" and hunt around in other files for a suitable icon.

If you wish to make an application even more accessible, you can place its shortcut in the Taskbar Quick Launch area. This way you can start it even when the desktop is covered with other windows. To place a shortcut in the Quick Launch bar, simply drag the icon from the desktop to the bar and a copy will be created for you and the icons will be lined up in proper order. If there are more Quick Launch icons than room on the taskbar, you will see a set of arrows pointing to the right indicating that there is a hidden part of the bar. As with application toolbars, you can grab the "handle" of the various parts of the Taskbar and move them to resize and thus making room for all of the shortcuts. To remove an item from the Quick Launch area, just right-click on it and choose "Delete" from the inspector menu. You can also right click on an empty part of the Taskbar and from that menu select options including a "Toolbar" sub menu where you can enable the Quick Launch as well as other types of toolbars to become part of the taskbar.

FIG. 29 The Status Area displays a list of  the background programs currently running.

The part of the task bar to the extreme right is known as the Status Area. This is where the time is shown and also the icons for programs that are running in the background. This means that these programs are always active and performing their function without the need of intervention from the user. Thus, in their background operation, there's no user interface for them. Many of them will operate without ever alerting the user as to what they're doing. An example is the Personal Web Server installed with Front Page. It simply performs the task of serving web pages to the system without the user interacting with it. Others will display an interface should some event trigger the need for user intervention such as with the Scheduler or the Norton Anti-virus. If you look in the Programs menu for an item called "Startup" and open its menu, you will see many of these programs listed there. These programs are loaded automatically when the system boots up. Other Status Area programs are listed in the registry as "start upon boot-up" applications. Most of the time you will not need to mess with them. However, when installing some new software for example, the installer may request you disable virus scanners during install. To close the anti-virus program running in the status area, or any of the other status area programs, right-click on their icon and see if the inspector menu offers a "Close" or "Disable" item. If not, select "Properties" and see if the resulting dialog box offers a "Close" feature. Otherwise, you may not be able to deactivate them.

File Management and Windows Explorer

Title Bar

Right “Content” Pane

Left “Folder” Pane

Menu Bar

Tool Bar

Many people use the "My Computer" interface for finding and managing files on their system. Although this is fine for general scouting around, it is inferior to Windows Explorer for effective file management. For this reason, we will only be discussing Explorer during our examination of file management. Windows Explorer is a very important utility application and should be added to your desktop shortcut icons and also your Quick Launch toolbar. It is also best to run it full screen, so set the properties of the shortcut to start the program maximized. All of these operations were discussed earlier. Be sure to set the properties of the shortcut before copying it to the Quick Launch bar so the Quick Launch version will inherit those properties.

Status Bar

FIG. 30 By default, Windows Explorer is configured to offer this "Large Icon" view and file names without the file extensions. There are no file details given and this view can be frustrating if several files have the same name and icon and differ only in extension which this view cannot differentiate. Many system files are deliberately omitted from view.

By default, Windows Explorer is configured to offer a limited view of your system's file information. It was determined at Microsoft that "average" users didn't need to be bothered with file details and should be forbidden access to "hidden" system files. As a result, Explorer is configured to offer the view as shown in FIG. 30 when you attempt to view the contents of folders. The large icons and limited file names are likely meant to be non-intimidating to users. This is a configuration I call the "Aunt Martha" view. It's only enough information to be helpful but not confusing, so even my Aunt Martha could understand it. FIG. 31 shows the configuration I prefer for effective file management and I call it the "Hacker's" view. All files are listed and the full file name with extension is shown along with the file size and date information. To reconfigure Explorer to allow the necessary details for proper file management to be shown, follow these steps:

FIG. 31 A much more utilitarian view is produced when Explorer is reconfigured to offer the file name with extension, file size, file type and the time and date it was created or last modified.

In the menu bar, click VIEW. From the resulting menu, click "Details" and the icons will be replaces by a file list giving more information about the file's attributes. Now again click on VIEW and this time select the "Folder Options" item at the bottom of the menu list. As we discussed earlier, the Ellipsis after the menu item tells us that clicking on it will lead to a dialog box. In that box, click on the "View" tab at the top and the result of doing so is shown in FIG. 32. The first order of business is to click on the "Show All Files" radio button in the "Hidden Files" section. Next look at the "Hide file extensions for know file types" checkbox. It is checked by default. Click on that box to un-check it. Now click on the "OK" button to set the changes and dismiss the box. Now you have command of ALL files on your system, and if information is power, you now have the power to manage them. 

Let's take a look at how Windows Explorer is laid out. There are four general areas to the application's window. As with most other applications, there is a Title Bar at the top of the window and a status bar at the bottom. The top area has the Menu Bar and the Tool Bar buttons along with an "Address" bar. The Address bar displays the location currently being explored. This can be an area of your disk, a place on the network or a place on the internet. This bar can be passive, that is it simply displays the location in response to your movements in the panes below, or it can be active, meaning you can type a location in 
FIG. 32 From the VIEW tab of Folder Options, you can set Explorer to provide all of the information associated with all types of files.

the bar and Explorer will find and display the contents of that location. The status bar at the bottom is mostly useful because when you select files to work on, it will tell you how many files you have selected and the total size of the group. You can also see how much free space in available on the disk currently being displayed. The other two elements of the Explorer are the heart of the application. These are the left pane or "Folders" pane and the right pane which can be thought of as the "Contents" pane. The basic operation of Explorer usually involves clicking on some folder in the left pane and then being able to view or manage its contents from the right pane. The left pane will display a hierarchal view of the computer's contents organized as the areas under the heading "Desktop" called "My Computer", "My Documents", "Network Neighborhood" and "Recycle Bin". This arrangement is shown in FIG. 33 although you are likely never to see things displayed this way. By default, Explorer will expand the view of "My Computer" to look more like FIG. 34.

FIG. 33 The most basic display in Explorer is to have all of the items in the Folder pane fully collapsed. In this example, My Computer is highlighted in the left pane and its contents is being displayed in the right pane.

Notice the small boxes with "+" plus signs next to many of the items listen in the left pane. These plus signs mean that the view of this item can be expanded to show more items in the hierarchy below this one. A "-" minus sign in the box denotes that this item is already expanded. Compare the item "My Computer" in FIG. 33 and then FIG. 34. In the first, "My Computer" has a plus box indicating that there is more to this item and that it can be expanded. In the second it has a minus box indicating that this item is now being displayed expanded to show the items it contains in the next lower level in the hierarchy. You simply click on those boxes to expand and collapse the views. The screen shot in FIG. 35 shows a segment of the left pane with all of the items fully expanded to show every level in the hierarchy. Note the lines that run from the top to the bottom connecting all items within the same hierarchical level. This helps the user determine the hierarchical position of whatever item they're examining. The levels that fall below the position of a disk are, in fact, the folders and sub-folders on that disk. Clicking to highlight in the left pane a disk or any folder in a disk will cause the files and sub-folders it contains to be displayed in the right pane. 

FIG. 34 This is the same display as FIG. 33 except the plus box next to My Computer was clicked turning it into a minus box and expanding My Computer to show the next tier of items in the hierarchy. Notice that this next tier is exactly what is shown in the right pane in both figures. In other words, the contents as shown in the right pane became the next tier of items in the left pane. This will be true for all cases except for files which only appear in the right pane.

FIG. 35 Here we see a small section from the left pane where all of the plus boxes have been clicked to show all possible tiers in the hierarchy.

File management comes in several categories. We will discuss creating new folders, deleting and un-deleting files, folders and their contents, copying and moving files and folders, and file associations. At this point, I will assume that through your reading of the first part of this document you now understand how to use menus and so will give instructions based on this understanding.

To create a new folder, click in the right pane on the folder or drive letter under which you want this new folder to fall in the hierarchy. If you want the new folder to be a sub-folder under, for example, a folder called "Downloads", simply click on the Downloads folder in the left pane, click on the FILE menu and hover over "New". In a second, a flyout menu will appear. Click "Folder" and the contents of Downloads as displayed in the right pane will suddenly and magically contain a new folder called, logically, "New Folder". You will note that this "New Folder" is highlighted, surrounded by a box and has a blinking cursor at the end of the word "Folder". Windows expects you to rename this folder so it has automatically gone into "rename" mode and is waiting for you to type in a new name (FIG. 36). Simply start typing and the old name will vanish as the first character you type is places into the naming box. When you finish, hit the ENTER key and the new name will be set. Deleting a folder is even easier. The quickest way is to select the folder in either the left or right pane and then hit the DELETE key. As with most 
FIG. 36 A new folder has been created as a sub-folder of the "Downloads" folder. Notice that the Downloads folder in the left pane shows an icon if an opened folder to represent the fact that it is this folder whose contents are being displayed in the right pane.

activities that might be dangerous, Windows will pop up a warning box to ask you if you're sure you want to do this. Just hit ENTER or click "Yes" to confirm and that folder as well as all of its contents will be sent to the Recycle Bin. Deleting a file is just as easy except you will find files listed only in the right pane. Click on the folder that contains the file in the left pane and the file name will appear in the right. Click on that file name and hit DELETE then confirm the action in the warning box. 

If you wish to perform any activity on more than one file or item in the right pane at the same time, you can select groups of items. To select a contiguous group of item names, click on the first name, hold down on the SHIFT key and then click on the last item name. Those two as well as all items in between will be selected and thus highlighted. If you want to select several items but not necessarily in a row, hold down on the CTRL key and click on each item. They will all be highlighted and selected. Without using these keys, only one item may be selected at a time and clicking on a new item will deselect any and all previous items in favor of that new one. If you want to select all items in the right pane, go to the EDIT menu and click on "Select All".

Undeleting a folder or file is simply a matter of going to the desktop and double-clicking on the "Recycle Bin". All deleted items currently in the Recycle Bin will be displayed. In Explorer, you can click on the Recycle Bin icon in the left pane and the right pane will fill with a list of deleted items. You click on the item you wish to undelete and click UNDELETE. The fact is that items deleted through Windows are never deleted at all. They are simply moved to the area of the disk called the Recycle Bin. Thus, deleting files will not result in increased disk space until you empty the Recycle Bin causing the items to be truly removed from the disk. To empty the Recycle Bin, click on it in the left pane, go to the EDIT menu and click on "Select All" then hit the DELETE key. You can also do this by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin on the desktop and selecting "Empty the recycle bin".

Moving and copying folders and files is simple but you must pay attention because Windows has different default actions for the same user action depending on the source and destinations. If you select a folder, file or group of folders and/or files and then drag them from the right pane to a folder or drive letter in the left pane, a copy action will result if the destination is a different drive and a move action will result if the destination is the same drive as the source. Suppose you wish to move a folder and its contents from drive C: to drive E: with a single drag operation from the right pane to the left pane. To do so, you must do a right-drag and then select "Move" from the inspector menu after you let go of the mouse button. If you do a simple drag, you will copy the folder and its contents to the new drive leaving the originals still on the source drive. In the same way, if you want to copy from, say, the Programs folder on drive C: to the Windows folder also on drive C: you must do a right drag and select "Copy" as a simple drag will result in a move which will remove the items from the source location rather than simply duplicate them. Another quirk is when attempting to copy a program file. Doing so results in the creation of a shortcut icon at the destination rather than a copy of the file itself. Again, a right-drag is necessary in order to select "Copy" from the inspector menu because the default action is "Create Shortcut". If the program file is part of a group of items and not just the single item, then Explorer doesn't exhibit this behavior but will instead perform the default copy or move of the program file along with the other files in the group. Because of this behavior, I personally tend to use a right-drag for all operations and select the specific action from the inspector menu just to make sure I KNOW what's going to happen.

FIG. 37 If there is no association for a file you are attempting to open, Windows gives you a list of applications to select from. If you wish to make that association permanent, be sure the box is checked and then type in a description for the file type. When you click "OK" Windows will register that file type with that application and description.

The final topic is the use of file association to launch applications from Explorer. As mentioned earlier, many "non-program" files have an association logged in the Windows registry with some application installed on the system. Text files tend to be associated with Notepad, doc files with MS Word, bitmap files with Paint and so on. Most applications installed on a computer work with data files formatted specifically for that one application. As a result, applications will give their work and data files unique file extensions and register these extensions with Windows as being associated with only them. One result of this association is that if you double-click on a file name in the right pane, Windows will attempt to start the application associated with this file's extension and load the file in the application's workspace as a child window. This makes it very convenient to access or edit a file directly from Explorer. If a file type has no association built for it, double-clicking on that file name will open the dialog box shown in FIG. 37 where Windows will list the applications installed on the system and ask you to select one for opening the file. If you select one, you may create a binding association for that file type with the application by checking the "Always use this program" checkbox. If you want a description of that file type to be listed in Explorer, you may type one into the text box at the top of the dialog. If you are unsure of the proper file to associate with the file or don't want the association to be permanent, un-check the box before selecting the application. I will do this when I want to view a file in a text editor like Notepad but don't want to make an association for it.

This has been a very brief overview of Windows 98 and the Windows Explorer. Needless to say, there is much more that has been left unsaid and anyone wishing to become proficient at Windows should expect to go beyond these few pages. Probably the most important thing you can learn about Windows 98 is that for any action, there are usually several ways to carry it out. You may choose other methods for doing the activities discussed here and no one can call you wrong. The bottom line is to get the work done in the way that suits you best. This guide as a starting point.