5. Programs and Documents
by L.J. Zacker, Craig Zacker, David Pogue
Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition
- Windows XP Pro Edition: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition
- What the Reviewers Said
- The Missing Credits
- Introduction
- I. The Windows XP Desktop
- 1. The Desktop and Start Menu
- Logging In
- The Elements of the XP Desktop
- The Start Menu
- Start→Log Off
- Start→Shut Down (Turn Off Computer)
- Start→All Programs
- Start→Run
- Start→Search
- Start→Help and Support
- Start→Control Panel
- Start→Set Program Access and Defaults
- Start→My Network Places
- Start→My Computer
- Start→My Music, My Pictures
- Start→My Recent Documents
- Start→My Documents
- Customizing the Start Menu
- 2. Windows, Folders, and the Taskbar
- 3. Organizing Your Stuff
- 4. Getting Help
- 1. The Desktop and Start Menu
- II. The Components of Windows XP
- 5. Programs and Documents
- 6. The Freebie Software
- The Windows XP Accessories
- Windows XP Games
- Everything Else
- 7. Pictures, Sound, and Movies
- 8. The Control Panel
- Category View: The Big XP Change
- Accessibility Options
- Add Hardware
- Add or Remove Programs
- Administrative Tools
- Automatic Updates
- Bluetooth Devices
- Date and Time
- Display
- Folder Options
- Fonts
- Game Controllers
- Internet Options
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Network Connections
- Network Setup Wizard
- Phone and Modem Options
- Power Options
- Printers and Faxes
- Regional and Language Options
- Scanners and Cameras
- Scheduled Tasks
- Security Center
- Sounds and Audio Devices
- Speech
- System
- Taskbar and Start Menu
- User Accounts
- Windows Firewall
- Wireless Network Setup Wizard
- III. Windows Online
- 9. Hooking Up to the Internet
- 10. Security, Firewalls, and Service Pack 2
- 11. Web, Chat, and Videoconferencing
- Internet Explorer
- Windows Messenger
- 12. Outlook Express 6
- IV. Plugging into Windows XP
- 13. Printing, Fonts, and Faxing
- 14. Hardware
- 15. Joining, Compressing, and Encrypting Disks
- 16. Maintenance, Backups, and Troubleshooting
- V. Life on the Network
- 17. Accounts, Permissions, and Logging On
- Introducing User Accounts
- Windows XP: The OS With Two Faces
- Local Accounts on a Workstation
- Local Accounts on a Domain Computer
- Local Users and Groups
- Setting Up the Logon Process
- Logging On
- Profiles
- NTFS Permissions: Protecting Your Stuff
- 18. Setting Up a Workgroup Network
- 19. Introducing Network Domains
- 20. Sharing Network Files
- 21. Three Ways to Dial In from the Road
- 17. Accounts, Permissions, and Logging On
- VI. Appendixes
- A. Installing Windows XP Pro
- B. Windows XP, Menu by Menu
- C. Fun with the Registry
- Index
- Colophon
When you get right down to it, an operating system like Windows is nothing more than a home base from which to launch applications (programs). And you, as a Windows person, are particularly fortunate, since more programs are available for Windows than any other operating system on earth.
But when you launch a program, you’re no longer necessarily in the world Microsoft designed for you. Programs from other software companies work a bit differently, and there’s a lot to learn about how Windows XP handles programs that were born before it was.
This chapter covers everything you need to know about installing, removing, launching, and managing programs; using programs to generate documents; and understanding how documents, programs, and Windows communicate with each other.
Windows XP lets you launch (open) programs in many different ways:
Choose a program’s name from the Start→All Programs menu.
Click a program’s icon on the Quick Launch toolbar (Section 2.5).
Double-click an application’s program-file icon in the My Computer→Local Disk (C:)→Program Files→application folder, or highlight the application’s icon and then press Enter.
Press a key combination you’ve assigned to the program’s shortcut (Section 3.5).
Choose Start→Run, type the program file’s name in the Open text box, and then press Enter.
Let Windows launch the program for you, either at startup (Section 1.7) or at a time you’ve specified (see Task Scheduler, Section 16.6).
Open a document using any of the above techniques; its “parent” program opens automatically. For example, if you used Microsoft Word to write a file called Last Will and Testament.doc, double-clicking the document’s icon launches Word and automatically opens that file.
What happens next depends on the program you’re using (and whether or not you opened a document). Most present you with a new, blank, untitled document. Some, such as FileMaker and Microsoft PowerPoint, welcome you instead with a question: Do you want to open an existing document or create a new one? And a few oddball programs, like Adobe Photoshop, don’t open any window at all when first launched. The appearance of tool palettes is the only evidence that you’ve even opened a program.
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