About This Kit 1

How This Book Is Organized 2

How This Book Works with the Electronic Lessons 3

Conventions Used in This Book 3

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Kit 4

Class Is In 4

Lesson 1: Getting Started with Windows 7 5

Logging In and Off Windows 7

Types of user accounts 8

Making a good password your key 11

Making Windows more usable 11

Logging on to your account 13

Logging off your computer 14

Logging off automatically 18

Managing Accounts 19

Giving your account a new face 20

Changing your password 21

Giving your account a new name 22

Adding new accounts 23

Setting Up a Good Work Environment 24

Say hello to Windows! 24

Adjusting your monitor(s) so you can see 26

Adjusting the size of stuff onscreen 27

Setting the right date and time 29

Arranging, hiding, and removing icons 31

Making the boring desktop just a little less so 33

Fine-Tuning Your Desktop 34

Turning on ClearType to read more easily 35

Hooking up two monitors 36

Adding and removing gadgets 38

Taking the mouse cursor out of hiding 40

Getting Control of All Those Windows 41

Mastering the mouse or mouse replacement 42

The altered states of windows 43

Controlling a window's size and position 44

Scrolling a window's contents 45

Snapping a window in place 46

Arranging multiple windows 48

Getting all windows out of the way 49

What's the deal with dialog boxes? 50

What you find in application windows 52

Summing Up 52

Know This Tech Talk 53

Lesson 2: Playing with Programs, Folders, and Files 55

Launching Programs 57

Launching a program from the Start menu 58

Pinning and re-arranging programs on the Start menu 58

Launching programs from and pinning programs to the taskbar 60

Using jump lists in the taskbar 62

Switching among open programs 63

Finding a program to start (or a fi le to open) 64

Organizing Your Files 67

Opening Windows Explorer (the file manager) 68

Figuring out what to do with a file manager 69

Finding out what's where 70

Creating a new folder 73

Searching for files 74

Deleting files via the Recycle Bin 76

Managing Libraries 78

Rearranging a library 79

Adding a folder to an existing library 80

Creating a new library 81

Accessing libraries via the Start menu 82

Adding links to more libraries 86

Summing Up 89

Know This Tech Talk 90

Lesson 3: Organizing Your Pictures, Movies, and Music 91

Wrangling Windows Media Player 93

Understanding Digital Media 94

Maintaining your privacy 94

Shopping where you like 96

Deciphering media file formats 96

Knowing your usage rights 98

Setting Up Windows Media Player 98

Watching and Listening to Files in WMP 103

Watching DVDs 104

Playing video files 106

Playing audio CDs 107

Assembling playlists 107

Editing an existing playlist 112

Burning your own mixes 112

Ripping tracks from audio CDs 114

Playing with Your Photos 116

Adding pictures to the Pictures library 116

Browsing your photos 118

Printing a photo 120

Using a Windows Live Account to Share Photos 122

Getting a Windows Live account 123

Establishing your Windows Live profi le 126

Creating and sharing photo albums 130

Installing Windows Live Essentials 132

Sharing Photo Gallery Albums with Windows Live 135

Summing Up 136

Know This Tech Talk 137

Lesson 4: Networking Your PCs 139

Assessing Your Network Connectivity 141

Setting Up a Home Network 144

Securing your file sharing fi rst 144

Introducing your router 148

Planning for better wireless accessibility 149

Managing your router from any PC 152

Comprehending how routers map addresses 154

Setting up your router 157

Managing Your Windows Connections 163

Setting the network connection profile 163

Manually establishing a Wi-Fi connection 165

Manually setting Windows' IP address 169

Verifying the connection status 173

Restarting the network from Windows 174

Building a Homegroup 175

Getting the homegroup started 177

Sharing files and printers with a homegroup 179

Summing Up 184

Know This Tech Talk 185

Lesson 5: Playing on the Internet 187

Navigating the Web with Internet Explorer 9 189

Making sense of the address bar 190

Back and Forward 193

Setting your starting point 195

Managing your browsing history 195

Marking, recalling, and managing Favorites 198

Working with multiple tabs 201

E-Mailing Friends, Relatives, and Everyone on the Planet 203

Adding one or more accounts 204

Reading messages 206

Replying to and sending messages 208

Sending and receiving messages with attachments 210

Wading through junk (and not junk) e-mail 212

Sort messages into folders 214

Summing Up 215

Know This Tech Talk 215

Lesson 6: Staying Safe and Secure 217

What Is User Account Control? 219

How UAC works and why 219

Setting up an administrator account 222

Taking Care of Everyday Maintenance 224

Getting familiar with Task Manager 225

Removing a wayward application or process from memory 227

Seizing control of Windows Update 229

Applying updates judiciously 232

Uninstalling faulty updates 236

Backing up data 237

Setting Up Security and IE9’s Protections 241

Using Windows Firewall 242

Installing Security Essentials 245

Using a virus scan to quarantine and remove a suspect file 247

Keep out what you don't want in 249

Managing How Your Kids Use the PC 252

Setting strict time limits 253

Restricting the use of specifi c programs 254

Restricting games your kids play 256

Setting up Family Safety 257

Blocking and allowing sites 261

Examining an activity report 264

When Disaster Strikes 265

Running your PC in Safe Mode 265

Repairing Windows 7 Startup 268

Summing Up 271

Know This Tech Talk 272

Appendix: About the CD 275

System Requirements 275

Launch Instructions 275

Operation 276

Troubleshooting 277

Index 279