Some of the main topics in this chapter are
One of the most notable features in Windows 95 is its new interface, which most users agree is vastly improved over the Windows 3.x interface shared by previous versions of Windows NT. First introduced for beta testing as the Shell Technology Preview, the Windows 95 interface is now firmly integrated in Windows NT 4.0.
As you become comfortable with the new interface, you'll realize that it resolves many of the previous interface's shortcomings while retaining those elements that worked well. Drag and drop has been expanded to many new areas. An integrated desktop has replaced Program Manager. File Manager has been replaced by Explorer, which gives you a view of not only your disks but also other resources such as the network, your e-mail inbox, Control Panel, and more.
When you first boot Windows NT, you'll notice that Program Manager, a venerable fixture in version 3.x, is gone. The new interface consists of an integrated desktop containing a selection of standard objects, as shown in Figure 10.1.
The standard objects on the desktop include the following:
The basic desktop is well organized and uncluttered.
In addition to these standard objects, your desktop can contain other objects, including shortcuts and folders.
CAUTION: The standard desktop objects are created by settings in the Registry. Custom items that you add to the desktop reside in the folder \Windows\Desktop. To add an item to the desktop, you can simply copy, move, or create a shortcut to the object in the \Windows\Desktop folder. If you move an object to the desktop and then delete it, however, the object itself is deleted.
Two types of folders exist in the Windows NT 4.0 interface. Disk folders are really nothing more than directories represented by an icon. When you double-click this type of folder icon, a window appears that displays the contents of the folder (see Figure 10.2).
You'll also see a second type of folder in the new interface. These folders don't represent directories, but instead are a special type of container for objects such as program icons, printers, and other non-disk objects. Control Panel (see Figure 10.3) is a good example of this type of folder.
Folders provide a graphical view of directories.
Control Panel is a special type of folder.
My Computer (see Figure 10.4) is another special folder described in the previous section. My Computer contains icons for each of the local disks connected to your system, mapped network disks, Control Panel, and the Printers folder. My Computer gives you quick access to your most-often-used resources.
My Computer contains your most commonly used resources.
Network Neighborhood gives you quick access to network resources. When you open Network Neighborhood (see Figure 10.5), its window displays icons for each of the other computers in your workgroup or domain. You'll also see the Entire Network icon, which enables you to browse the entire network for shared resources (such as computers that are not part of your workgroup). Network Neighborhood also can contain special network objects such as network print servers.
Network Neighborhood gives you quick access to network resources.
Double-click a computer's icon in Network Neighborhood to display a folder containing icons for each of that computer's shared resources.
TIP: You can quickly map a local drive letter to a remote network disk. To do so, right-click the My Computer or Network Neighborhood icon and choose Map Network Drive. Windows NT displays a Map Network Drive dialog box you can use to specify the drive letter and remote share name. To disconnect a network drive, right-click the My Computer or Network Neighborhood icon and choose Disconnect Network Drive. A dialog box appears that enables you to select the drive to disconnect.
By default, the taskbar appears at the bottom of the desktop. You can, however, move the taskbar to any of the other three edges of the desktop simply by dragging it from one location to another. The taskbar contains the Start button, the system tray, and an area in which running applications appear as buttons (see Figure 10.6).
The taskbar gives you quick access to running applications.
To select an application and bring it to the foreground, click its button in the taskbar. To open the application's control menu, right-click the application's button.
TIP: To minimize all applications, placing them all on the taskbar, right-click an open space on the taskbar and choose Minimize All Windows. To restore the desktop, right-click the taskbar and choose Undo Minimize All. If you're using a Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can press Win+M to minimize all windows; then press Win+Shift+M to restore the windows.
The tray serves a special purpose on the taskbar. In addition to displaying the clock, the tray also contains special indicator icons for tasks running as "hidden" programs. If your system contains a sound card, for example, a speaker icon appears on the tray. Clicking this icon opens a volume control you can use to set the card's volume.
TIP: To view the Date/Time Properties sheet, which enables you to set the time, date, and time zone, double-click the clock display in the tray.
The Start menu essentially replaces Program Manager as one of the primary means for starting programs and accessing resources in Windows NT. To open the Start menu, click the Start button (which by default appears at the bottom of the display). The Start menu contains the following items:
As you add applications and customize your system, additional items appear in the Start menu.
TIP: Right-click a blank area of the taskbar, choose Properties, and then click the Start Menu Programs tab to begin the process of customizing your Start menu. Or, simply add and remove shortcuts and other objects as desired from the \Windows\Start Menu folder.
If you are familiar with Windows 3.x, Windows 95, or Windows NT 3.x, you should have no trouble working with folders and their contents. The following sections provide a brief overview.
Typical objects that appear in folders include program icons, shortcut icons, other folders, and special objects such as network nodes. In most cases, you can move, copy, delete, and rename objects in a folder. To move an object from one location to another, simply drag it by using the left mouse button. To copy the object, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the object. To delete the object, select it and press the Del key.
You also can use the right mouse button to manipulate objects. To have the option of moving, copying, or creating a shortcut to an object, right-drag the object to its new location. Release the mouse button, and choose Move Here, Copy Here, or Create Shortcut(s) Here, as appropriate.
TIP: The Windows NT 4.0 interface supports the Clipboard for copying and moving objects, including files. You can select one or move objects and then press Ctrl+C to copy them to the Clipboard or Ctrl+X to cut them to the Clipboard. Then, open the destination (such as a different folder) and press Ctrl+V to paste the objects to their new location. Note that when you copy or cut files to the Clipboard in this way, only a special file name list is placed on the Clipboard, not the files themselves. Windows NT then uses this file name list to accomplish the copy or move operation when you issue the Paste command (Ctrl+V).
Many objects in the new Windows NT interface have properties associated with them. A file, for example, has a variety of properties, including its name and file attributes (read-only, archive, hidden, or system). In most cases, you can change an object's properties.
To view an object's properties, right-click the object and choose Properties. A property sheet for the object appears. The appearance and contents of the property sheet vary according to the object. Figure 10.7 shows the property sheet for a Word document file.
This is the property sheet for a Word document file.
When you browse through folders, Windows NT uses multiple folder windows by default to display the contents of the folders. For example, double-clicking a folder icon inside a folder window opens a new window to display the contents of the newly selected folder. If you prefer, you can configure the system to use a single folder window, changing the contents of the currently opened window to reflect the contents of the selected folder.
To set this behavior, choose View from the folder's menu; then choose Options to display the Options property sheet (see Figure 10.8). From the two option buttons, select the view method you want to use and then choose OK.
Use the Options property sheet to control a folder's appearance and other options.
TIP: To close a window and all its parent windows, hold down the Shift key and click the Close button.
The View property page (see Figure 10.9) enables you to set other properties that define which type of files appear in the folder and whether their file extensions appear with their names. Note that these controls don't define whether the file actually resides in the folder, but simply determine whether they appear in the folder window or are hidden.
TIP: To arrange icons in a folder and control other folder options, right-click inside the folder and choose a command. You also can create a new folder by right-clicking in the folder or on the desktop and then choosing New, Folder.
Use the View page to define which types of files appear in the folder window.
A key feature of the new Windows NT interface is shortcuts. A shortcut is a pointer to an object such as a folder, program, or document. You might have a shortcut on the desktop to a folder, for example, but that folder might actually be located on a network server. Double-clicking a shortcut icon activates the object to which the shortcut points. You can identify a shortcut by a small curved arrow in the bottom-left corner of the shortcut's icon.
You can create shortcuts by using drag and drop. To create a shortcut on the desktop, for example, locate the object for which you want to create a shortcut. Then right-drag the object to the desktop. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. Windows NT then creates a shortcut to the object. Once created, shortcuts can be moved, copied, and deleted like most other objects. For example, you might create a folder on the desktop for your most commonly used objects and then move or copy their shortcuts to this folder. To move the shortcuts, select them and drag them to their new location. To copy the shortcuts, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the shortcuts to their new location.
NOTE: An important issue to understand is that manipulating a shortcut doesn't affect the object to which the shortcut points. Deleting a shortcut has no effect on the program or document to which it points, for example.
In previous versions, you could cause programs to start automatically by adding them to the Startup program group in Program Manager. Windows NT 4.0, like Windows 95, uses a Startup folder for the same purpose. To view the contents of the Startup folder, choose Start, Programs, Startup. The items listed in the Startup cascading menu are the items stored in the Startup folder. To cause a program to start automatically, simply place a shortcut to the program in the Startup folder (\Windows\StartMenu\Programs\Startup).
TIP: You can control the way in which a program starts by modifying its shortcut properties. To do so, right-click the shortcut and choose Properties. When the object's property sheet appears, click the Shortcut tab to display the Shortcut property page. You can add command line switches or options in the Target text box, specify the program's Startup folder with the Start In text box, specify a shortcut key for the shortcut, and specify the initial window state (minimized, normal, or maximized). To change the shortcut's icon, click the Change Icon button.
If you no longer want a program to start automatically, simply remove its shortcut from the Startup folder. If you've closed a program that normally starts from the Startup folder and want to restart it, just choose Start, Programs, Startup, and choose the item you want to start.
TIP: To bypass the Startup group during startup (not start any of the programs it contains), hold down the Shift key while the system is starting. Continue to hold down the Shift key until the desktop appears and the hourglass pointer returns to an arrow pointer.
The Recycle Bin provides a mechanism for retrieving deleted files and objects (such as shortcuts). When you delete an object, Windows NT moves the object to the Recycle Bin instead of deleting it. If you later decide you need the object, you can open the Recycle Bin and move it back to its original location (or any other location). When you empty the Recycle Bin, however, the items in it are deleted permanently.
The Recycle Bin appears and behaves much like any other folder. You can move objects in and out of the Recycle Bin by using the same drag-and-drop techniques you use to move objects between folders. To empty the Recycle Bin, deleting all the objects in it, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Empty Recycle Bin.
The Recycle Bin uses a certain amount of disk space on each disk to store deleted files. You can specify the percentage of disk space to allocate to the Recycle Bin according to your needs and the amount of free space available on each disk. To set the Recycle Bin's properties, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties. Use the Recycle Bin Properties sheet (see Figure 10.10) to control all disks globally or individually, disable the Recycle Bin, or control confirmation options.
Use the Recycle Bin Properties sheet to control Recycle Bin behavior and options.
CAUTION: When the Recycle Bin becomes full, there's no indication of that condition, yet adding more files to the Recycle Bin results in some of the contents of the Recycle Bin being permanently deleted. Also, if you slide the size control for the Recycle Bin to 0 while setting the Recycle Bin's properties, the Recycle Bin is emptied, even if you press Cancel.
Another useful feature in the Windows NT 4.0 interface is the Send To menu. Send To enables you to send an object to another object. For example, you can send a document to a printer without first opening the document's application. Or, you can copy a file to a floppy disk by sending it to the disk. Or, you might want to mail the document through e-mail. Send To enables you to perform all these tasks, as well as others.
To view the Send To menu, right-click the object you want to send; then choose Send To. A cascading menu of destinations appears, and selecting an item sends the object to the selected destination. By default, the Send To menu contains a few predefined destinations such as the system's floppy disks, mail recipient, and Briefcase.
You can add other items to the Send To menu by placing shortcuts to the object in the \Windows\SendTo folder. To add a printer to the Send To menu, for example, right-drag a printer from the Printers folder to the \Windows\SendTo folder and choose Create Shortcut(s) Here.
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