23 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 Figure 1-24. Click the notification area arrow to expose any hidden icons. To change the setting for several notification area icons at once, click Customize to display the Notification Area Icons window (Figure 1- 25). Figure 1-25. The Notification Area Icons window lets you decide which icons will appear there. Getting StartED with Windows 7 24 NotED To hide an icon already in the notification area, click and drag it up toward the desktop until a small window appears. Then drop it into the space above the word Customize. Manipulating windows with the mouse Every window includes a trio of buttons in the upper-right corner that you can use to minimize, maximize, and close the window (Figure 1-26). When the window is maximized, you can resize it by placing the mouse pointer anywhere along a window’s edge (or in the corners) until the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow and then clicking and dragging to make the window larger or smaller. Figure 1-26. These buttons let you minimize, maximize, or close a window, respectively. Windows 7 also offers several handy shortcuts you can use to change the size or position of windows. Stretching a window vertically Stretching a window vertically to make it as tall as possible can make viewing certain types of information easier, such as a long text document or a web page. To maximize a window to the full height of the screen without making it any wider (as shown in Figure 1-27), position the mouse pointer at the upper or lower edge of the window until the pointer becomes a double vertical arrow; then double-click. Repeat the process or drag the window downward slightly to return it to its original size and orientation. 25 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 Figure 1-27. Click the top or bottom edge of a window to stretch it to full height while keeping its width the same. NotED Double-click a window’s top bar (or press Windows+up arrow) to maximize it to full-screen. Arranging windows side-by-side There may be times when you need to work with two large windows side-by- side (such as when copying or moving files between locations or viewing two programs simultaneously). Manually moving and sizing windows into this orientation can be cumbersome, but Windows 7 allows you to do it relatively easily with a feature called Snap. To arrange two windows in an adjacent and nonoverlapping position, hold the left mouse button down while the mouse pointer is over a window’s top bar, and then drag it over to the left or right edge of the screen. When you see the outline appear filling half the screen, let go of the window (Figure 1-28). Getting StartED with Windows 7 26 To minimize how far you need to move the mouse while dragging a window, grab it on the side in which you’re going to move (that is, don’t grab the left side of a window and drag to the right). Figure 1-28. Drag a window to the edge of the screen, and it will resize to take up that half of the desktop. Repeat the process on the opposite side of the screen with another window, and when you’re finished, the two will be arranged exactly side-by-side, as shown in Figure 1-29. Figure 1-29. Viewing two windows side-by-side 27 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 NotED You can also snap windows to the edges of the screen with the keyboard. Click the window, hold the Windows key, and press either the left or right arrow to move it to that edge. Hold the Windows key and press the opposite arrow to undo it. To return a window to normal size, double-click its top bar, or drag the window away from the edge of the screen. LinkED For more on the Snap feature, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en- us/windows7/products/features/snap. Minimizing background windows You can take advantage of Windows 7’s Aero Shake feature to focus on a single window without being distracted by others in the background. Just click and hold the top bar of a window you want to focus on, and then quickly shake the mouse pointer back and forth (either left/right, up/down, or diagonal) to quickly minimize all but the window you’ve selected. Repeat the process, and the minimized windows will reappear. NotED Shaking a window is easy with a mouse but can be trickier with some other pointing devices, such as the touchpad found with most notebooks. To minimize all but the active window using the keyboard, use the keystroke Windows+Home. Getting StartED with Windows 7 28 LinkED For more on Aero Shake, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en- us/windows7/products/features/aero-shake. Minimizing all windows When multiple overlapping windows are open, they often block your view of items on the Windows 7 desktop. To see what’s beneath them, put the mouse pointer over the small vertical rectangle at the extreme right edge of the taskbar. All open windows will temporarily become transparent outlines, allowing you to view the items below (Figure 1-30). Click this rectangle to immediately minimize all open windows, and then click it again to restore them to their original positions. Figure 1-30. Take a peek behind open windows by moving the mouse pointer to the rectangle in the lower-right corner of the screen. 29 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 NotED Windows 7’s Aero Peek feature lets you see behind open windows without using the mouse. Just hold down the Windows key and tap the spacebar— the windows will turn to outlines and reappear when you let go of the Windows key. To minimize all windows, hold down the Windows key and press D; then do it again to reopen them. LinkED The ability to see through open windows comes in handy when you use desktop gadgets, which we’ll discuss in Chapter 8. LinkED For more on Aero Peek, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en- us/windows7/products/features/aero-peek. Browsing open windows with the keyboard Windows 7 gives you three ways to browse and select from among all the open windows on your desktop using the keyboard:  Alt+Tab  Windows+Tab  Alt+Esc Getting StartED with Windows 7 30 Alt+Tab Hold down the Alt key while pressing Tab, and a box will pop up displaying thumbnail images of every open window, beginning with the active one (Figure 1-31). Continue holding down Alt and press Tab repeatedly to cycle through the thumbnail images, and release the keys when you find the one you want. As you select each thumbnail, the window it represents will be brought to the forefront of the desktop, while the remaining open windows are replaced with outlines. NotED You can also press Shift+Alt+Tab to cycle backward. Figure 1-31. Hold down Alt and press Tab repeatedly to browse thumbnails of open windows. 31 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 Windows+Tab The thumbnail images displayed by Alt+Tab aren’t large enough to let you see window details, but by holding down the Windows key while pressing Tab repeatedly, you can cycle through a series of larger, three-dimensional thumbnails, which will provide a closer look at each window’s content (Figure 1-32). Figure1-32. Hold down the Windows key while pressing Tab to see larger, three- dimensional window thumbnails. Alt+Esc This option is a way to switch between open windows directly without displaying thumbnails first. Hold down Alt while pressing Esc repeatedly to make each open window active. NotED The Alt+Tab and Windows+Tab methods each provide a desktop thumbnail that will automatically minimize all open windows but not restore them all at once. Getting StartED with Windows 7 32 Summary Here’s a review of what you’ve learned in this chapter:  How to use the Start menu to find and run programs, view account folders, access other Windows 7 features, and shut down your system  How to use Jump Lists to open files and run programs  How to use the taskbar to manage open windows and run programs  How to pin programs to the Start menu and taskbar  What the notification area does and how to customize it  How to manipulate Windows with the mouse and how to browse open windows with the keyboard [...]... someone else to log in from the welcome screen after clicking the Switch User button (Figure 2 -7) 40 Chapter 2: Managing User Accounts Figure 2 -7 The Switch User button (Figure 2 -7) Figure 2 -7 The Switch User button lets you log into a computer that’s already in use 41 Getting StartED with Windows 7 Windows 7 will allow two, three, four, or even more accounts to remain logged in at the same time However,... and you’ll open the Manage Accounts window (Figure 2- 1) Figure 2- 1 Use the Manage Accounts window to create new user accounts 35 Getting StartED with Windows 7 2 Click Create a new account, type a name in the New account name box (such as Andrea in this example), and choose whether you want the account to be a standard user or an administrator (Figure 2- 2) ExplainED Remember, standard accounts are preferred... easier and safer for multiple people to share access to the same computer 33 Getting StartED with Windows 7 Exploring Windows 7 account types Windows 7 provides three types of user accounts: standard, administrator, and guest Each offers a different level of access to the computer: Standard: The standard account provides you with a lot of control over how you use the computer, but not enough to affect... account at a time, Windows 7 does allow multiple accounts to be logged in simultaneously, which is handy because it lets others use the computer while you’re away from it, even if you didn’t log off your account To make the computer available for someone else to use in your absence without logging 39 Getting StartED with Windows 7 off your account, go to the Shut down menu shown in Figure 2- 5, and click... Controls only to users with standard accounts To set up Parental Controls, follow these steps: 1 Type user parental into the Start menu’s search box, and choose Set up parental controls for any user to display the window shown in Figure 2- 16 Figure 2- 16 To control how a child is able to use the computer, set up Parental Controls for their account 51 Getting StartED with Windows 7 2 After you’ve selected... change your password after making the disk 47 Getting StartED with Windows 7 Using a password reset disk If you ever need to take advantage of your password reset disk, you’ll be able to after you’ve typed in an incorrect password When you return to the account login screen, you’ll see a new link called Reset password beneath the password box (Figure 2- 13) Figure 2- 13 After you type in the wrong password,... into your account and then click Change a password (Figure 2- 11) Figure 2- 11 Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete will display a Change a password option 45 Getting StartED with Windows 7 ExplainED Regardless of which of these two methods you choose, you’ll need to type in your old password in order to select a new one LinkED As you can see in Figure 2- 11, Ctrl+Alt+Delete will also let you lock the computer, switch... references You can also use the Block or Allow specific games option to disable access to any of the games installed on the computer 53 Getting StartED with Windows 7 6 Click OK when you’re done (Figure 2- 19) Figure 2- 19 You can limit access to games by rating, content type, or name 7 8 54 If you want to have control over not just games but other kinds of software as well (such as instant messaging or file-sharing... one in Figure 3 -2, click the down arrow to the right of the Change your view button and select Tiles view You’ll notice that one of the hard drive icons (typically the C: drive) sports a small Windows logo—this denotes the drive where Windows 7 is installed Double-click this drive to see the folder structure Windows 7 sets up on it Operating system folders The hard drive that Windows 7 is installed... and then click Computer in the Start menu’s right pane (or press Windows+ E), as shown in Figure 3-1 This opens a Windows Explorer window (an important type of window that will make an appearance in one form or another many times over the course of this chapter) 57 Getting StartED with Windows 7 Figure 3-1 To see what storage devices are available on your system, select Computer from the Start menu In . keystroke Windows+ Home. Getting StartED with Windows 7 28 LinkED For more on Aero Shake, see http:/ /windows. microsoft.com/en- us /windows7 /products/features/aero-shake. Minimizing all windows. shown in Figure 1 -29 . Figure 1 -29 . Viewing two windows side-by-side 27 Chapter 1: Navigating Windows 7 NotED You can also snap windows to the edges of the screen with the keyboard multiple people to share access to the same computer. Getting StartED with Windows 7 34 Exploring Windows 7 account types Windows 7 provides three types of user accounts: standard, administrator,