Install Windows 7

Installing Windows 7 on a New System

If you’ve just built a new computer from scratch, or if you’ve replaced your old drive C: with a new hard drive, you will have to do a clean install of Windows 7. From a purely technological standpoint, this is really your best option. You don’t have to bring any of the old ‘‘baggage’’ with you, but there in lies an issue.

You can opt to do a clean install even if you already have a version of Windows installed on the hard drive; however, you must realize that doing so is very serious business. When you do a clean install, you wipe out everything on your hard drive. And I do mean everything — all programs, documents, settings, Internet account information — everything. There’s no getting any of that stuff back, either.

Upgrade Windows 7

Upgrading to Windows 7

If you purchased an upgrade version of Windows 7 to replace your current version of Windows and you haven’t yet installed that upgrade, this is the place to be. To tell you the truth, you really don’t have to read this entire appendix to install your upgrade. You really just have to do this:

1. Insert the disc that came with your Windows 7 upgrade into your computer’s disc drive and wait a few seconds.

2. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows 7 by upgrading your current version of Windows.

When the installation is complete, remove the new disc from your disc drive, put it someplace safe, and ignore the rest of this appendix. If these two steps don’t quite get the job done, please read on.

There is one point that I need to stress. It’s important that you know that Windows 7 can upgrade only from Windows Vista and no versions of Windows before it. I have run the beta version of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and, although the systems tested on were able to support Windows 7, I was required to perform a custom installation on Windows XP machines, which creates a new OS instance rather than an upgrade.

How Firewalls Work ?

To understand what a firewall is, you need to first understand what a network connection is. Even though you have only one skinny set of wires connecting your computer to the Internet (through a phone line or cable outlet), that connection actually consists of 65,535 ports. Each port can simultaneously carry on its own conversation with the outside world. So, theoretically, you could have 65,535 things going on at a time. Of course, nobody ever has that much going on all at one time. A handful of ports is more like it.

Computer Windows Long Start

Computer Takes Too Long to Start

When the computer takes much longer to start than it used to, the problem is usually caused by too many programs trying to auto-start. Windows Defender to prevent unnecessary programs from starting automatically. Many things that prevent a computer from starting have nothing to do with Windows 7. It often takes even seasoned pros many hours to diagnose and repair startup problems. But before you resort to the repair shop, here are some other things you can try.

Windows Blue Screen

Screen turns blue during startup and then stops

This is commonly referred to as the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). It doesn’t mean your computer is permanently broken. A frequent cause of this problem is a device driver that doesn’t work with Windows 7.

If you recently connected or installed a new hardware device, disconnect or uninstall it. Then start the computer again. That’s your best bet. If you still get the Blue Screen of Death, you’ll likely have to boot to Safe Mode and disable the device through Device Manager. This is not the sort of thing the average user normally does. This is more the kind of thing that a professional would handle.

Computer Automatic Restart

Computer keeps trying to start but never gets there

Get to Safe Mode and choose the option to disable automatic restart. If that doesn’t help, get to the
Safe Mode options again and try the Last Known Good Configuration option.

Mouse and Keyboard don’t Work

Computer starts but mouse and keyboard don’t work

If the computer starts, but doesn’t respond to the mouse and keyboard, turn off the computer. Unplug both the mouse and keyboard from the computer. If the mouse connects to a round PS/2 port, make sure you plug it in firmly. If the plug is round, make sure you plug it into the PS/2 port for the mouse (usually colored green). Make sure nothing is resting on the keyboard and holding down a key. Then firmly plug in the keyboard. If the plug is round, plug it into the PS/2 port for the keyboard (usually purple in color). Check all cable connections to the computer one more time. Then restart the computer.

Non-System Disk or Disk Error Message

Non-System Disk or Disk Error message

This message appears when the computer attempts to boot from a disk on which Windows is not installed. If a floppy disk is in the floppy drive, remove it Likewise for any disk in the CD drive or DVD drive, or any drive that’s connected to the computer through a USB port. Press any key to continue startup. If that doesn’t work, press Ctrl+Alt+Del or restart the computer with the main on/off switch.

Computer Won’t Start

If the computer does absolutely nothing when you first turn it on, your first move is to check all cable connections. Make sure the power plug on every device that plugs into the wall is firmly plugged in. Also, make sure the mouse, keyboard, and all other devices are firmly plugged into their slots. If it’s a desktop computer, look for a 0/1 power switch on the back of the computer and make sure it’s on (flipped to the 1 position). Turn on the computer again and as it’s powering up, push the button on the floppy disk drive (if the computer has one) and the CD or DVD drive. If there is a disk in either drive, remove it. If the computer sounds as though it’s starting up but you don’t see anything on the screen, make sure all plugs to the monitor are firmly seated. If it’s a desktop computer, make sure the monitor’s power cable is firmly attached to the monitor and wall socket, and that the cable connecting the computer to the monitor is firmly attached at both ends of the cable. Make sure the monitor is turned on. Then restart the computer.

Windows Navigating Help

Windows Navigating Help

Across the top of the Help and Support Center, you see the buttons. (On your own screen, you can point to any button to see its name.)

Windows Communities

Windows Communities

Windows Communities are newsgroups in which other users hang out, ask questions, and answer questions. Nobody gets paid to work on newsgroups. It’s all done voluntarily. So there’s no charge to access the newsgroups.

Newsgroups aren’t an immediate gratification type of help. There isn’t anyone there waiting for your questions and standing ready to answer on the spot. It’s more like group e-mail: People post messages, and other people reply as convenient. This is another resource you can add to your list of resources for information. To get to the newsgroups, first make sure that your computer is online. Then click the Ask button in
Help and Support and click Windows Communities. Your Web browser opens to the home page for the communities. I can’t say exactly how it will look because it’s a Web page, and Web pages change all the time. But you should see a Search For box and some basic instructions.

Remote Assistance

Remote Assistance

Remote Assistance is a technology that allows another person to see what’s on your computer screen and operate your computer with his or her mouse and keyboard. The idea here is to turn control of your computer over to a trusted expert to resolve your problem.

Microsoft Customer Support

Microsoft customer support

Clicking the Microsoft Customer Support link takes you to a Web page that provides still more support options. There, you’ll find a ton of links to different kinds of support for different kinds of questions. Take a look at all your options and decide what’s best for you.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting computer problems isn’t easy; it involves a host of skills that take a lot of time, education, and experience to build. But you can use some resources to troubleshoot some of the more common problems without being a total computer geek. First, it’s important to understand that troubleshooting comes into play only when you already know how to do something but it’s not working as it should. This is not the same as not knowing how to do something, or not being able to ?gure out how to do something by guessing. It’s an important distinction to make because if you can’t do something because you don’t know how, troubleshooting won’t help.

Windows Live - Parental Controls

Using Parental Controls from Windows Live

The Windows Live Family Safety add-on adds Web filtering and activity reporting to your toolbox of parental controls. To add these controls to your computer, first make sure you have a Windows Live account. If you don’t, you can create one the first time you visit the Web site. Open Internet Explorer, browse to http://home.live.com, and log in with your Windows Live ID (or create one). Then, click More and then click Family Safety Choose your language from the drop-down list and then click the Download button. Follow the displayed download instructions to start and complete the download process.

Viewing User Activity Reports - Windows Parental Control

Viewing User Activity Reports - Windows Parental Control

User activity reports provide a summary of user activity. You can view the report for any user at any time, and you can review a child’s computer activity by following these steps:

Using the Windows Parental Controls

How to use Windows Parental Controls
Windows 7 provides three options for controlling how your children (or even you) can use the computer. These are as follows:

- Time Limits: Specify the hours during each day that the child can use the computer.
- Games: Specify whether the child can play games on the computer, and set the rating and content types that are allowed.
- Allow and Block Specific Programs: Select which programs the child can run.

Windows Parental Controls

Parental Controls and Family Safety

Keeping kids safe online isn’t always easy for parents. Especially for the parent who hasn’t exactly been riding the crest of the tech wave in recent years. Parental controls are a great ?rst step to keeping children safe online. Better yet, you don’t need to be a computer guru to set parental controls. After you’ve set up standard user accounts for children, the rest is fairly easy. In this chapter, you see just how easy it is to set up parental controls in Windows 7 and how to extend parental controls with Windows Live.

Switch Between Programs

Switch Between Programs

Whenever you have two or more programs open at the same time, you want to be able to easily switch among them. You have several ways to switch among open programs, as discussed in the sections to follow.

Running Programs

Running Programs

You can start any program that’s installed on your computer by finding the program’s icon on the All Programs menu and then clicking that icon. You have other ways to start programs as well. For example, if an icon appears on the left side of the Start menu to start the program, just click that instead. If you see an icon for the program in the Quick Launch toolbar, you can click that. If you see a shortcut icon to the program on the desktop, you can click (or double-click) that icon to start the program.

Arranging Desktop Icons

As you discover, you have many ways to customize the Windows 7 desktop. But if you just want to make some quick, minor changes to your desktop icons, right-click the desktop to view its shortcut menu. Items on the menu that have a little arrow to the right show submenus. For example, if you right-click the desktop and point to View on the menu, you see the View menu, as shown in picture.

Windows Desktop Icons

Windows Desktop Icons

Desktop icons are just like the icons on the Start menu. Each icon represents a closed object that you can open by double-clicking the icon. Most desktop icons are shortcuts to files and folders. They’re shortcuts in the sense that they duplicate icons available elsewhere. They just save you the extra clicks required to get to the same icon through the Start menu or All Programs menu.

Windows 7 Jump Lists

Windows 7 - Using Jump Lists

Jump lists are a new feature of Windows 7 that enhance the usefulness of the icons on the taskbar. Jump lists add the most recently used objects from the application to a pop-up menu. Just right-click the icon to view the Jump list.

Other applications written for Windows 7 offer additional capabilities in the Jump menu. For example,
Internet Explorer 8 offers your browsing history. You don’t need to do anything to set up Jump lists — they happen automatically. Whenever you want to use a Jump list, just right-click a taskbar icon and choose from the list the item you want to open.

The Power button

The Power button

The Power button at the lower-right side of the Start menu plays several roles and can take one of two appearances. If the Power button has no icon beside it, and reads Shut Down, clicking the button powers down your computer. If you see a shield icon on the button in addition to the words Shut Down, Windows will install downloaded updates and then shut down. Clicking the arrow on the Power button displays several options.

Windows 7 - Start Menu

Windows 7 - Using the Start Menu

Clicking the Start button displays the Start menu. The left side of the Start menu shows icons for some (but not all) of the programs on your computer. The right side of the menu offers links to commonly used folders and other features.

The icons on your Start menu won’t necessarily match those shown in the figure, so don’t worry if yours looks different. The picture is just an example. You will notice, however, that some of the program names on the left side of the Start menu are boldface and some are not. There’s a horizontal line separating the two types of names.

Windows 7 Desktop

Windows 7 - What’s on the Desktop

The interface that Windows 7 provides is called the Windows desktop. The name ‘‘desktop’’ comes from
the fact that it plays the same role as a real work desktop. You work with programs on the Windows
desktop in much the same way as you work with paper on an office desktop.

The desktop is on the screen from the moment you log in to the moment you log off. The desktop
may get covered by program windows and other items, but the desktop is still under there no matter
how much you clutter the screen. It’s the same as a real desk in that sense. Although your real desk-
top may be completely covered by random junk (as mine is right now), your desktop is still under
there somewhere. You just have to dig through the mess to get to it.

Windows 7 Logging In

Logging In

Obviously, the first step to using a computer is to turn it on. Shortly after you ?rst start your computer, the Windows 7 Login screen appears. Exactly how that screen looks depends on what user accounts exist on your computer. By default, Windows 7 comes with a built-in user account named Administrator. But it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see that user account because it’s not for day-to-day computer use. If you’ve never used your computer or Windows 7 before, you’ll likely be taken through a process where it asks you to create a user account. Just follow the on-screen instructions if faced with that question.

Music and Video Sharing

Music and Video Sharing

Windows 7 gives you new ways to enjoy and share your music and videos. With the new homegroup networking feature, you can easily share your music, pictures, and videos with others on your home network. For example, you might consolidate all your photos into one location, where you can easily back them up and share them across the network.

Even more significant is the capability in Windows Media Player 12, which is included with Windows 7 to stream media to other computers, even across the Internet. This means that others on your homegroup can access a central media library — for example streaming music from a home server tucked in your basement that streams to a media center in your living room. Even cooler than that, you can stream music from your home computer to your computer at work — and potentially stream music to mobile devices such as a Windows Mobile smartphone or media player.

To further extend sharing capabilities, Windows Media Player 12 can browse media libraries on other computers, enabling you to browse to and play music stored on other computers on your network. This capability isn’t limited to Windows Media Player libraries, either. Media Player 12 can also browse and play from iTunes libraries.

Troubleshooting and Alerts

Troubleshooting and Alerts

One of the annoyances in Windows Vista is the frequency of the alerts and pop-up messages that it displays. Windows 7 changes the way it displays alerts; it also gives you more control over those alerts and messages, letting you choose the messages you want to see.

The Action Center consolidates alerts from several Windows features, including the Security Center and Windows Defender. In Windows 7, the Action Center icon appears in the taskbar. Clicking the icon displays messages related to the items that you might need to address, such as the lack of an antivirus program, a problem with a device in the computer, or the need to scan the computer for threats.

Windows 7 Device Management

Previous versions of Windows provided several different ways to manage hardware such as printers, mice, cameras, scanners, and so on. For example, you managed printers from the Printers object in Control Panel, mice from the Mouse object, keyboard from the Keyboard object, and so on. Windows 7 brings devices together in a new Devices and Printers object that enables you to view and manage devices in one location.

In Devices and Printers, you can manage cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, mice, displays, printers, faxes, keyboards, and other compatible devices. Bringing all these devices under a common management tool simplies device configuration and troubleshooting.

Windows Live

If you have been a Windows Vista user, you might be surprised to see that some of the programs you are accustomed to using are no longer included with Windows 7. For example, you won’t and Windows Mail included in 7. Instead, these programs have been pulled from Windows and made part of Windows Live, a set of online services and programs from Microsoft. These programs include:

Messenger: Use Messenger to text chat, video chat, or make phone calls to others.

Mail: Formerly Outlook Express, then Windows Mail in Windows Vista, Windows Live Mail lets you send and receive e-mail and work with online newsgroups.

Writer: Use this program to blog and share photos and videos on many blog services.

Photo Gallery: Manage your digital photos, edit them, share them with friends and family, and even stitch together photos to make panoramic shots.

Movie Maker: Create movies and video clips, and add titles, subtitles, music, and special effects.

Family Safety: Control what sites your children can see, view reports about their browsing history, limit searches, and decide with whom they can communicate when they are using Windows Live Messenger.

Toolbar: The Windows Live Toolbar gives you quick access to Windows Live and Live Search in Internet Explorer.

Windows Jump Lists

Jump lists are another new feature in Windows 7. When you right-click a taskbar icon, Windows displays a jump list that contains menu items for commonly-used tasks for the program and quick access to recently-used documents.

Jump lists are a Windows feature, rather than an application feature, so you’ll get a jump list for a program even if it wasn’t written speci?cally to use the jump list. However, program developers can modify the jump list, so programs that are written specically to do so will likely provide additional options in the jump list menu.

Windows 7 Taskbar

Taskbar

The taskbar at the bottom of the  desktop provides, just as it does in previous versions of Windows, quick access to your running programs, the clock, and notification messages. But Windows 7 improves on the taskbar by streamlining it with smaller icons that group your programs together. For example, if you have three different Web pages open in three instances of Internet Explorer, you’ll see a single, small Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar that you can use to quickly access one of those windows. The reduced icon size makes more room available on the taskbar for other program group icons, making it easier for you to work with your programs. Picture shows an example of the new taskbar. When you click the mouse on or hover it over a program group icon, Windows displays a preview of each of the program windows in that group, and as you hover the mouse over a preview window, Windows shows you a full-size preview on the desktop of that window’s contents. You can then click the preview to open its associated program window.

How to Reboot Windows?

 How to Reboot Windows?

1. Begin by first clicking on the "Start Button".
2. Clicking the arrow on the Power button displays several options.
3. Found and click "Restart".


OR

1. Hold down Ctrl and Alt, and press Delete (Task Manager show up.).
2. Click on 'Shut Down' button.
3. Select 'Restart' from the list and click it.

Btw. You also press "Reset" button on you computer :)

Activating Windows

Activating Windows

When you upgrade   operating system to Windows 7, or the first time you start a  computer, you are prompted to activate your Windows .

Each copy of Windows 7 must be activated within 30 days of the first use . After that grace period expires, you will not be able to use all the functions of Windows . You can activate Windows over the Internet or by telephone .

Microsoft Internet Explorer Shortcuts

Windows Character Map Shortcut Keys

Windows Character Map Shortcut Keys

Text Navigation and Editing Shortcuts

Text Navigation and Editing Shortcuts

Microsoft Natural Keyboard Shortcuts

Microsoft Natural Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Help Shortcut Keys

Ease of Access Keyboard Shortcuts

Ease of Access Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts

Dialog Box Keyboard Shortcuts

Dialog Box Keyboard Shortcuts

General Shortcut Keys

General Shortcut Keys

Windows Shortcut Keys

Here is a quick reference to shortcut keys that are used throughout Windows 7. Many application programs use the same shortcut keys. That’s why I’ve titled this appendix Universal Shortcut Keys. Of course, any program can have additional shortcuts to its own unique features. Those are visible in drop-down menus, as in the example shown in the Home group on the Microsoft Word 2007. The key+key combination to the right of each menu command is the shortcut key for using that command from the keyboard without the menu.

Many programs show shortcut keys in the tooltip that appears when you point to a button or icon. I’m pointing to the B (Boldface) button in Microsoft Excel 2007. Below the mouse pointer, you can see that Ctrl+Bisthe shortcut key for boldfacing text.

Virtually every program also comes with its own help. Typically, you get to that by pressing Help (F1) while the program is in the active window. Or choose Help from that program’s menu bar. Use the Help feature of that program to search for the term shortcut or shortcut keys to see whether you can ?nd a summary of that program’s shortcut keys.

Of course, Windows 7 has its own Help, too, which you can learn about in Chapter 5 of this book. For help with shortcut keys, click the Start button and choose Help and Support. Type shortcuts keys as your search text and press Enter. The search results will include shortcut keys for Windows 7 and many programs that are built into 7.