CMP207-Computer Fundamental PDF

Lesson 1: Getting Started with Windows 7
Overview
Welcome to Windows 7!
In November 2006, Microsoft Corporation, USA released its

eagerly awaited Windows Vista operating system. This software
was in the development for over 5 years, and naturally the users
expected a much improved and a major new operating system
compared to its predecessor Windows XP OS. While the newly
released Vista OS introduced many new concepts and features
that revolutionized the way the users work with Windows OS, it did not however,
come upto the expectations of the users. Some of the prominent reasons were:
 Windows Vista had become a ‘bloated’ software. Windows Vista loads
many accessory programs such as Windows Mail, Windows Photo
Library, Windows Movie Maker, etc whether you ever used them or not.
Not only loading of such programs took more time but also consumed
more memory. More importantly, Vista had no provisions to uninstall such
unwanted accessory programs.
 One of the major complaints about Windows Vista was its newly
introduced User Account Control (UAC). UAC was supposed to be one of
Vista’s primary security features, but unfortunately rather than being a
useful feature it become a much hated feature because of its nagging
popups at every conceivable opportunity which frustrated the users.
Note: UAC is a security related technology that is designed to protect the

operating system files and Registry from malicious malware, viruses, and
code trying to update the protected areas of the computer. This malicious
software attempts to add, modify, and delete key parts of the operating
system in an attempt to control the computer and not be noticed.
 Many old programs that ran on Windows XP could not be run on Windows
Vista because of incompatibility issues. This adversely affected the sale
and the response to Windows Vista OS.
Microsoft realized the negative impact the Windows Vista was causing and had
to come with a much improved Operating system quickly. Windows 7 is the
outcome. Windows 7 was released in October 2009, less than 3 years after the
release of Windows Vista. And the users have welcomed it with open arms.
Windows 7 uses the same kernel as that of Windows Vista and has most of the
innovative features included in Vista. However, it has drastically cut down on its
size by removing many programs such as Windows Calendar, Windows Mail,
Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery. This has enabled Windows
7 to load much faster and take up less memory than its predecessor. All these
removed programs are however made available as free Windows Live Essentials
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suite and can be downloaded and installed separately. In addition, Windows 7
offers significant performance improvements over Vista. Among other features,
Windows 7 has a redesigned Windows Shell, a new Taskbar (referred to as
Superbar), a home networking system called HomeGroup and multi-touch
support.
For those who are interested, the development of Windows 7 started as

Blackcomb and was subsequently renamed as Vienna in early 2006 and finally
as Windows 7 in 2007. Windows 7 is a refined version of Windows Vista and is
fully compatible with all programs and applications that run on Vista.
 Windows 7 allows you to uninstall many programs such as Internet

Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows
Gadget, Windows Search, etc. This was not possible in earlier versions of
Windows including Vista.
 Windows 7 still has the UAC but it is now configurable to suite individual
requirements.
 Windows 7 searches are more powerful and less resource intensive than
they were in Vista.
 Windows 7 has introduced the concept of Library folders for storing of
personal files and folders. A Windows 7 library is not a single folder, but
rather a collection of folders. Windows 7 creates four libraries by default;
Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. You also have the option of
creating your own custom libraries.
 Windows 7 installs Internet Explorer 8 which is a much improved version
compared to Vista’s IE 7.
 Install legal copy of Windows 7 OS and get Windows XP Professional
free! This is not a publicity gimmick by Microsoft but a feature of Windows
7’s Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise version.
Windows 7 provides a feature known as Windows XP Mode which lets you

run your Windows XP compatible programs inside a virtualized
environment. Windows XP Mode is a fully functioning copy of Windows XP
Professional SP3 (32 bit) running in a virtual machine running on top of
Windows 7.
Above is just a brief introduction to Windows 7. If you are interested you can
learn much more about the background of Windows 7 on Internet. Just browse
Wikipedia website.
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Skills you will learn in this lesson:
 Get a brief introduction to Windows 7 OS.
 Learn about the importance of Operating System to your computer
 Learn how to Start your computer and load Windows 7
 Learn how to exit Windows and shut down your computer.
Introducing Operating Systems
Before we discuss Windows 7, let’s understand the importance of Operating

system to your computer.
Basically, to work with a computer, you must have hardware as well as software.
Hardware comprises of various physical parts of a computer system, whereas
software makes most of these physical parts work for you.
A computer, as you are aware, is a hardware system comprising of various

individual units such as Monitor, keyboard, CPU, mouse, hard disk, printer, and
so on. The Operating system acts as an intermediary between you and these
various constituent parts. Every computer must have an operating system in
order to make it work. As soon as you start your computer system, the operating
system takes over. It performs a number of tasks such as:
1. It Controls the operations of your computer system
When you ‘boot’ or start your computer, the Operating system performs a
diagnostic check of all the built-in and connected devices before it allows
you to work on the system.
2. It acts as an interface between you and the computer system.
Windows Operating system has a Graphical User Interface, more

commonly referred to as GUI (pronounced as gooee). This means that, all
objects such as files, folders, programs, system tools, etc appear as
graphical images on the screen. You just point to them and click to make
them work for you. There is no need for you to remember or type any
commands to get your work done.
3. It Helps you to run programs in a multi tasking environment
You can run a number of applications simultaneously. You can have

certain applications working in the background, while you work on some
other application. You can be printing a document, downloading
information from Internet, typing a document, playing audio, all at the
same time. In computer terminology, this is known as multi-tasking. You
can load, operate and exit from programs and applications very easily.
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4. It Manages the resources of your computer.
While you are working on the computer, the Operating system will be
constantly managing the resources available in your computer, such as
making available enough memory, storing and saving your work, sending
information to printers, etc. It acts as an overall manager.
5. It allows you to install new programs and delete unwanted programs.
6. You can open many programs and copy or cut and paste information from
one program to another. Suppose you are creating your project report.
You can copy text from MS Word document, graphs from MS Excel
Spreadsheet, tables from MS Access database, pictures from clipart
library, etc into your report.
7. It allows you to run multimedia tasks. You can be hearing music while you
work. You can also create animations, play video games, etc.
8. It allows you to connect to Internet and surf web pages, show web
contents on the screen, keep you updated on news, stock market, etc in
real time.
9. It allows you to set up and maintain a network of computers. It also

ensures that all peripherals such as Printers, scanners, etc, are available
to all the computers of the network.
10. It allows for scheduling of tasks and performs tasks as scheduled.
What is Windows 7?
Windows 7 is the latest Operating System for Personal Computers developed by

Microsoft Corporation. Actually, it is a set of programs that allows you to control
the overall activity of your computer system. It makes your computer work for
you. It is similar to the engine of your car or two-wheeler. When you insert the
ignition key and turn it, your vehicle comes to life, and you can drive it to
wherever you want. Without the engine, your vehicle is just a piece of junk.
Likewise, without an operating system, your computer is just an idle showpiece. It
helps you in managing your time and resources efficiently. It makes working on
your computer an enjoyable exercise.
Versions of Windows 7
The days are gone, when the computers were just some machines which allowed
to be used as electronic typewriters, or glorified calculators, or number
crunchers. The uses of computers have diversified, so also the specific
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requirements of the users. The professionals or the high-end users require much
more facilities from the Operating systems as compared to the average home
users of PCs. To meet this demand, Microsoft thought it fit to release as many as
5 versions of Windows 7. These versions are – Home Basic, Home Premium,
Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Each of these versions has different
sets of features that target a particular type of user – from ordinary entry level
home user to professional high end user.
Windows 7 Home Basic is the entry-level edition specifically

meant for home computer users. It has features that allow you to
search your computer, search the Web, browse the Internet, view
photos, send and retrieve e-mail, etc. It does not have the
sophisticated features of other versions of Windows 7 such as
Aero effects, Flip 3D, Windows Media Center, Live Preview in
Windows Explorer, etc. Some bundled applications such as
Snipping tool, Sticky Notes, etc are also not included.
Windows 7 Home Premium has most of the features found in

Windows 7 Home Basic plus additional features such as Aero
effects, Windows Media Center, Windows Meeting Space,
Windows Mobility Center, Windows SideShow, multi-touch
support, etc.
Windows 7 Professional is meant for the Professionals and small

businesses. It includes features such as advanced network
backup, Encrypting File System, etc.
Windows 7 Ultimate includes all the features of Windows 7 Home

Premium and Windows 7 Professional and has additional extra
advanced features.
Windows 7 Enterprise offers multiple licenses for large organizations.
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Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional versions are the most
suitable OS for most users. Advanced and net savvy users might prefer Windows
7 Ultimate, as it has more web related features. In this course we will be
discussing the features contained in these two popular versions.
New Features of Windows 7 OS
The latest Microsoft release of Windows 7 OS is much more enhanced and

feature-rich OS as compared to the earlier Windows XP and Windows Vista. It
has a number of new features as well as many upgraded and enhanced features.
We will be discussing most of these in detail in next few lessons, but let’s have a
peek preview of the riches that are on offer in Windows 7 OS.
Compared to Windows XP, Windows 7 has a number of new features. These

include:
1. Welcome Center
2. Live Taskbar Thumbnail previews of opened applications
3. Windows Sidebar and gadgets
4. Aero Interface and Aero Graphics that include Aero Peek, Aero Shake,
Aero Snap, etc.
5. Live thumbnail views or icons
6. File tagging
7. Filtering and stacking files
8. Instant ‘incremental’ Search feature and Saved searches
9. Windows Flip and Flip 3D
10. Windows DVD Maker
11. Windows Defender
12. Parental Controls
13. Windows Contacts
14. Windows Calendar
15. User Account Control
16. Sync Center and Windows mobility Center
17. ReadyBoost
Prominent Upgrades and enhanced features are:
1. Speech Recognition
2. Power Options Utility
3. Windows Explorer
4. Windows Photo Gallery (replaces Windows Picture and Fax Viewer)
5. Internet Explorer 8
6. Network Setup
7. Task Scheduler
8. Problem Reports and Solutions
9. Start menu
10. Windows Help and Support
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11. Control Panel
12. Taskbar Clock
13. Ease of Access (formerly Accessibility)
14. Personal Folder
15. Disc Burning
16. Programs and Features
17. Meeting Space (formerly NetMeeting)
18. Windows Fax and Scan (formerly Windows Fax)
19. Windows Media Player
20. Windows Movie Maker
21. Internet Connections
22. Windows mail (Formerly Outlook Express)
23. Windows Live Messenger (formerly Windows Messenger)
24. System restore
25. Windows Easy Transfer (Formerly Files and Settings Transfer Wizard)
Compared to Windows Vista, Windows 7 has following new features
1. New Aero Effects such as Aero Peek, Aero Shake, and Aero Snap
2. HomeGroup for easy sharing of files and printers on a home network.
3. Jump Lists provides quick access to your favorite files, programs, pictures,
websites and documents.
4. Pinning of applications to Taskbar
5. Libraries to improve file access and organization.
6. New version of Windows Media Player 12
7. New version of Windows Media Center
8. Redesigned Calculator with multi-line capabilities including Programmer
and Statistics modes along with unit conversion
9. Internet Explorer 8
10. Support for previewing and metadata display in Windows Explorer
11. Full size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo Viewer and Windows
Media Center.
12. Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode. Windows XP Mode runs
Windows XP in a virtual machine and enables Windows 7 incompatible
applications to run on the same machine.
One of the major criticisms of Windows Vista was its incompatibility with certain
programs and applications. Windows 7 solves this problem by incorporating a
feature known as Windows XP Mode. This Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual
machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the
Windows 7 desktop.
Enhanced Features
1. Windows Action center replaces Windows Security Center of Vista. It
encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer
2. XPS essential Pack
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3. Gadget for Windows Media Center
4. Improved media features
5. Completely revamped Taskbar. Redesigned Windows Taskbar now
provides better thumbnail previews, easier-to-see icons and more ways to
customize.
6. Quick Desktop view button
7. Improved Start up and, Sleep and Resume Performance
8. Improved Power Management saves memory and battery life.
9. Improved backup
10. New Wall papers and themes
11. Improved gadgets
12. Advanced Calculator functions including saving history
13. New premium games include Chess Titans, Mahajong, Titans and inkball
14. Passkey protection with networks
15. Device Stage for recognizing USB devices faster
List of features removed from Windows 7 (compared to Vista)
1. Classic Start Menu interface

2. Some Taskbar features, such as Quick Launch bar
3. Some Windows Explorer features
4. Some Windows Media Player features
5. Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Calendar and
Windows Mail.
Windows 7 promises to improve your computer’s performance by
1. Quicker Startup and shutdown by as much as 20 seconds

2. Going to Sleep and Resume faster
3. Consuming less memory
4. Speedier display of Instant Search results
5. Quicker reconnection to your Wireless Network
6. Faster recognition of USB devices.
Earlier versions of Windows, such as Vista and XP, take up more time to Start up
as they load various devices whether you use them or not. This not only wastes
time but also takes up additional memory. Windows 7 does away with this. It
saves time by not booting up various devices unless they are currently being
used. For instance, if you are not using a Bluetooth device, then Windows 7 skips
loading of Bluetooth program to run in the background.
Without any more delay, let’s get started with Windows 7!
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Starting Windows 7
When you switch on your computer, you are actually starting the Windows 7
Operating System installed in your computer.
1. A Progress bar appears on an almost blank screen indicating the process

of Windows 7 operating system getting ‘loaded’ into your computer’s
memory. As it loads, it performs a diagnostic check of your computer
system in the background.
2. After a brief interval of time, Windows 7 logo briefly appears on
your screen.
3. While installing Windows 7 OS, if you have specified User Accounts, it
presents the Login screen. In this login screen you need to specify your
assigned user name and the password to gain access to the resources of
the computer.
a. Type your assigned user name in the Username text box. Press
Enter key.
b. Type your assigned Password in the Password text box. Press
Enter key.
Note that in case no user account has been specified at the time of
installing Windows 7 (as is normal in case of personal home computer
system), then this login screen may not appear.
4. Windows 7 loads your personal settings and displays an attractive and

translucent glassy looking screen on your monitor. This is known as the
Desktop.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully loaded Windows 7 operating system.
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If your computer monitor has a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or more, the
Windows 7's start-up screen may consist of an animation featuring four colored
light balls (red, yellow, green, and blue). They twirl around for a few seconds and
then join together to form a glowing Windows logo. Any screen with a resolution
below this displays just the startup screen without any animation.
Let’s briefly get acquainted with some new features of Windows 7 OS.
Windows 7’s AERO Interface
One significant feature of Windows 7 OS which strikes you as soon as the

desktop appears on your monitor is its interface. It is known as AERO, short for
Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open. Aero is a brand new graphical user
interface which was first introduced in Windows Vista and retained with more
improvements in Windows 7. Aero provides a color scheme that greatly
enhances the aesthetic view of your desktop. Associated with Aero interface are
some innovative features such as translucent windows, Windows Flip and Flip
3D.
Aero Interface in Windows 7
However, not all computers support Windows 7’s Aero graphics feature.
Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Starter versions do not support Aero
graphics. Also Aero feature requires considerable memory and other resources
from your computer. So if your computer is not displaying this AERO interface,
then either you are using Windows 7 Home Basic or Starter edition, or your
computer hardware may not support Aero feature, or the Aero interface feature
might have been switched off in your computer.
The benefits of having AERO on your system are mostly aesthetic, but it can
greatly enhance your production through quick and easy access to opened
documents.
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Getting acquainted with Windows 7 Desktop
Windows 7 Desktop is your gateway to all your computer resources. Getting

acquainted with your Desktop and its various features is very important for
efficient working on your computer. We will be exploring the Desktop in detail in a
subsequent lesson. Let’s briefly get acquainted with the Windows 7 Desktop.
Windows Logo
Windows Desktop
Windows
Gadgets
Desktop Icons
Start button Taskbar
By default, the Windows 7 Desktop appears with a glassy, translucent

appearance with shades of blue color background. The Windows logo is
prominently displayed at the center of the screen. On left edge of the desktop, a
number of small pictures appear. These are known as icons. Icons represent
various features available in your computer. On the right top edge of the screen
you may find a couple of objects such as a clock and calendar. These objects are
known as Windows Gadgets. They display real time information such as time,
date, etc. At the bottom of the desktop is a horizontal bar stretching across the
complete width of the desktop. This bar is known as the Taskbar or Superbar.
Taskbar is one of the most useful features of windows 7 as you will discover in
subsequent lessons. Taskbar hosts a number of icons or buttons, but the most
important of all these is the one that appears as a spherical shining globe at the
extreme left end of the taskbar. This is the Start button and is the most clicked
object when you are working on your computer. It is also known as ‘Pearl orb’.
Start button is associated with a Start Menu which is the main gateway for
working on your computer.
As you will learn and experiment later in the various lessons of this course, you
can customize the appearance of practically every thing that appears on the
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Desktop. The main objective of this lesson is to get you acquainted with Windows
7 Operating system and provide an overview of what you will be experiencing
while you work with this OS. It is essential that you get a feel and power of
Windows 7 so that you can fully appreciate the ease with which you can work on
your computer. In rest of the lessons of this course we will be discussing the
various features that Windows 7 offers you as an OS.
Before we wind up this session, let’s get to know one of the useful features of
Windows 7, particularly for beginners. It is Getting Started with Windows 7
which welcomes you and tells some nice things about Windows 7.
Getting Started with Windows 7
In earlier versions of Windows OS such as Windows XP and Vista, as soon as

the OS gets loaded, a Welcome Center dialog box used to appear on the
desktop. The purpose of Welcome Center is to make the first time or the fresh
users of the computers more comfortable and user friendly.
Windows 7 however does not show this Welcome Center automatically. If this is
the first time you are starting Windows 7 and want to find out what is new in
Windows 7, then you will have to invoke this Getting Started dialog box yourself.
1. Click on the Start button.

Remember, this is the
Windows logo icon which
appears as a glassy globe in
the lower left corner of the
desktop.
2. Start menu appears. You
will get to know this Start
menu intimately in the next
lesson.
3. Point to the Getting Started
item in the menu. Pointing
means just move the mouse
pointer on the item.
4. A right pane slides out listing
a number of tasks as shown.
5. Click on the item Getting
Started. Clicking means,
pressing the left mouse
button once.
6. A Welcome window appears as shown.
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Observe that the Welcome window has two panes. The top pane is the message
area while the bottom pane displays the various tasks you can perform from this
window. These are:
Message area
Tasks you can

perform in Windows 7
1. Go Online to find out what’s new in Windows 7.

2. Personalize Windows.
3. Transfer Files and Settings from another computer.
4. Use a Homegroup to share with other computers in your home.
5. Choose when to be notified about changes to your computer.
6. Go Online to get Windows Live Essentials.
7. Back up your files.
8. Add new users to your computer.
9. Change the size of the text on your screen.
When you click on any of these items, the purpose and a brief description of the
selected item gets displayed at the top panel of the window. Also a link appears
at the right end of the window, which when clicked allows you to setup or
configure the selected item. For example, if you are connected to the Internet,
clicking on ‘Go online to learn more’, takes you to the Microsoft Window 7 web
page on the Internet.
Likewise, if you select Personalize Windows item and click on the Personalize
Windows link, a Personalization window appears as shown which allows you to
customize your desktop appearance.
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Closing Windows 7
When you are finished using your computer, you need to close Windows 7 before
you can switch off your computer. Whatever work you have done so far, it will be
in the computer’s memory. When you close down, the contents of this memory
will be lost. So, before you close
down, you should save whatever
work you have done. Saving is the
process of writing the contents of
memory to hard disk. Normally
Windows 7 prompts you to save
before it closes down.
Windows 7 provides several ways

of closing your work and
terminating the OS. It provides for
all these within the Start menu
itself.

Start menu is displayed.
2. Click on the ‘Shut down’
button appearing below
the right pane of the Start
menu.
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3. Windows 7 saves any Windows settings that you might have changed
and saves the current contents of the computer memory to the hard
disk before closing down.
4. You can now switch off your computer.
Recap
In this lesson you learnt:
1. About the Windows Operating system and its functions.

2. How to load and start Windows 7 OS in your computer
3. Got acquainted with the AERO interface and other Aero Graphics features
of Windows 7.
4. Explored the Welcome Center and its various features.
5. Closed the Windows 7 OS and shut down your computer.
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Lesson 2: Exploring Start Menu of Windows 7
Overview
The Start menu is the main gateway to access all the resources of
your computer. From this menu, you can run programs and
applications, reopen recently used documents, revisit web sites that
you have recently accessed, add or delete programs, customize the
look and feel of desktop and taskbar, search for files, get on-line help,
control printers, and much more. In this lesson, you will be exploring the various
facilities offered by the Start menu.

1. Getting acquainted with the Start Menu
2. What is new in the Start Menu?
3. The Structure of Start menu
4. Using Search box
5. Using Start Menu
6. Opening a program from Start menu
7. Opening a Program from the Search text box
8. Closing Windows 7 and shutting down your Computer
Getting acquainted with the Start Menu
If you have not started your computer as yet, do so now. The

Windows 7 Desktop appears on the screen. The Start button
appears as a spherical and glassy icon with Windows logo in it at the
extreme left end of the horizontal bar at the bottom of the Desktop. It is also
known as ‘pearl orb’. The Start button no longer carries the label ‘Start’ as in the
earlier versions of Windows OS. This is one button you will be most often clicking
in the course of your computer work. It is always available to you no matter what
you are doing on your computer. To get a feel of this button, do the following:
Start button glows
 Point to the Start button. as you point to it
 Observe that when you move your mouse pointer
over the spherical Windows Logo Start button, it gets
illuminated and glows! Now move your pointer away
from the Start button. Observe how it presents a
fade-out effect.
Start button is not just a show piece, but has an associated Start menu. It is the
gateway for practically everything you do with your computer. You can display
the Start menu in many ways. Let’s first invoke the Start menu in the
conventional way.
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Method 1: Clicking on the Start button
1. Point to the Start button in the Taskbar. The pearl orb gets illuminated. A
message Start appears just above the orb.
2. Click the left mouse button.
3. The Start menu appears.
Start Menu
Method 2: Using Keyboard

1. Press Ctrl+Esc key combination from the keyboard. To do this, hold down
the key marked as Ctrl with one of your fingers and press the key marked
as Esc at the top right corner of the keyboard.
2. Start menu appears.
3. To remove the Start Menu, press Esc key.
Method 3: Using Windows Logo key on the keyboard
Modern keyboards come with some special keys which are meant to be used in
the Windows environment. One such key is the Windows logo key. Window Logo
keys – there are a couple of them – generally appears in the bottom row of the
keyboard adjacent to the Space bar. You can easily find them out since they
display distinctive Windows logo marked on it.
1. If you have a special window logo key on your keyboard, press it. Start
menu appears.
2. Pressing the key again removes the Start menu.
Windows Logo key have many other uses as you will discover later in the course.
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What is new in the Start Menu?
Windows 7 is the refined version of Windows Vista and inherits the same look
and feel. If you have worked in the earlier versions of Windows OS, specifically
Windows XP, you will soon recognize the significant changes that have been
made in Window 7’s Start Menu. To help making the comparison, the Start
menus of Windows XP, Windows Vista as well as Windows 7 are displayed side
by side in the figure.
User Icon
Start Menu of Windows XP Start menu of Windows 7
Below are some significant changes made in Windows 7 compared to Windows

XP:
1. The Start button now appears as a spherical ‘orb’ with a Windows logo in
it. The word ‘Start’ now does not appear with the button.
2. A separate Start Search text box appears just above the Start button in
the Start menu. Start Search box allows you to search for programs, files,
and folders in your entire computer and displays the findings almost
instantly.
3. The Search box also doubles as the Run command; simply typing any
command will execute it.
4. All Programs item when clicked lists all programs available in your
computer as a single in-place list, rather than as horizontally expanding
cascading menus.
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5. By default, no items appear at the top of the left pane of the Start Menu of
Windows 7.
6. A User Icon representing the current user of the computer appears at the
top of the right pane of the Start menu. This picture dynamically changes
as you point to other folders in the right pane.
7. Power, Lock and Option buttons replace the Log-off and Turn-off
buttons in Windows XP.
8. Run command is not displayed in the Start Menu by default. You may
however add this command if you wish.
9. The prefixed word My has now been dropped from Personal sub folders
such as Documents, Computer, Music, Pictures, Videos, etc. Also My
Network Places is now simply worded as Network.
10. The Start menu now presents an attractive look and feel.
Below are some significant changes made in Windows 7 compared to Windows

Vista:
Start menu of Windows Vista Start menu of Windows 7
1. A major change is that the ‘Classic Start Menu’ has been removed. You
may however provide a ‘Classic’ look to your desktop by applying the
‘Windows Classic’ theme.
2. When you move over your mouse pointer over the spherical Windows
Logo Start button or ‘Pearl orb’ as it is called, it now presents a fade-in
highlight effect.
3. The ‘Documents’, ‘Pictures’ and ‘Music’ items in the Start menu when
clicked link to Libraries super folders rather than individual folders as in
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Vista. Libraries are a new concept in Windows 7 and will be discussed
later.
4. Another important change is in the Shut down button. In Windows Vista,
to shut down the computer, you had click the right arrow button appearing
in the Power, Lock and Option buttons panel on the right pane and from
the displayed sub menu, had to click on the Shutdown button. Windows 7
has reduced this cumbersome task to just a single click on the Shut down
button that appears at the bottom of the right pane of Start menu.
Shutting down in Vista Shutting down in Windows 7

5. The list of items appearing at the top of the left pane of the Start Menu is
now known as Pinned Items and is always available for opening, usually
by a single click. By default, Windows 7 does not show any items in this
pinning area. (By default,
Windows Vista displays two Pinned Items
items – Internet and E-mail at
the top of the left panel).
When you pin programs, then
only they will appear in this
area.
6. Microsoft Outlook item has
been removed from the Start
Menu.
7. In Windows 7 a new item
‘Devices and Printers’ has
been added to the list of items
in the right pane of Start
Menu. When clicked, this item
displays a new device
manager window.
In addition to providing for

management of all your print-
related tasks, the Devices and
Printers also provides a single
window from where you can
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access and manage all your plug-and-play devices, such as mouse,
scanner, digital cameras and so on.
(Note that by default Windows Vista does not show the ‘Prints’ option in
the Start menu items. If you require it, you need to add this item to the
Start menu).
8. When you point to a program item that shows a right solid arrow at its right
end, a cascading slide out menu lists all the documents currently opened
by that program. This slide out menu is known as the Jump List. Jump
Lists are a new feature of Windows 7. It is similar to the Recent Items list
in the Start menu. Jump Lists appear both in Start menu items as well as
for items displayed in the Taskbar. Availability of Jump Lists for Program
Items on Start menu is indicated by the appearance of a solid arrow (or
cascade button) to the right of the items. We will be discussing Jump
Lists in more detail later in the course.
Jump List in
Taskbar
Jump List in
Start Menu
Jump Lists in Start Menu Jump Lists in Taskbar
9. The Search facility in Windows 7

has been extended to support
searching for items in the Control
Panel also.
10. In Windows Vista, the display of
search results is confined to the left
pane of the Start menu. In Windows
7, the Search results are now
overlaid on both columns of the
Start Menu.
21
The Structure of Windows 7’s Start menu
Let’s get acquainted with various parts of Windows 7’s Start menu. The Start
menu has two panes – the left pane and the right pane.
Right Pane
Left Pane
Contents of Left Pane:

1. The left pane, which is larger in size, has 4 sections.
a. At the bottom is a Search programs and files text box with a small
magnifying lens icon at the right of the text box. This is a new
innovative feature introduced in Vista and carried over to Windows
7. You can search for practically anything in your computer as well
as in the Internet from this search box. We will be discussing this
Search feature in much more detail later in this course.
b. Just above the Search box is the item All Programs. Pointing to or
clicking this button displays all the Programs available in your
computer in alphabetical order followed by a list of folders. Note the
following:
 The programs are displayed in-place within the left panel
itself. A label marked as Back replaces the All Programs
label. Single item program names are listed at the top
followed by the folder names. Folders and subfolders when
single-clicked expand and collapse vertically within the left
pane. It is unlike Windows XP where the programs and sub
programs are listed as cascading horizontal or pullout side
menus utilizing the entire desktop.
22
 Pointing the mouse over a folder does not open it; the folder
needs to be clicked to open it.
 You can use the vertical scroll bar to scroll the programs up
and down.
 You can also use Up and Down arrows to navigate among
the listed
programs one at a
time.
 Clicking the Back
button at any
time, takes you
back to the default
Start menu.
c. Above the All Programs

item, is the Most
Frequently Used
Programs listing area.
Windows 7 lists all your
most frequently used
programs here so that
you can easily access
them.
d. At the top of the left
panel is the area where you can pin Pinned Items list
frequently used
programs. The list of
items appearing in this
area is also known as
Pinned Items and are
always available for
opening. The figure
shows a couple of
programs – WordPad
and Internet Explorer -
pinned to the Start
Menu. Later in this
lesson you will learn how
to ‘pin’ your frequently
required programs
Most frequently used

programs list
here.
23
Contents of Right Pane
The right pane displays the resources such as Personal folder (user), commonly
used folders, files, settings, etc that can be accessed from your computer. A User
picture at the top of this pane represents the current logged-in user account.
Keep a watch on this picture to see how it changes as you click each folder of
this pane. Let’s look at these folders from top to bottom:
 The top most folder is the Personal folder. It will have the same name as
that of the currently logged user. If you have not created a specific User
account, the personal folder will be named as User. Note that the default
name User refers to the Administrator.
When you click on the Personal folder, a window appears displaying the
documents and other files and folders relevant to the user logged as
current user as shown.
Contents of Personal Folder in Windows 7
In Windows 7, the ‘Documents’, ‘Music’ and ‘Pictures’ items in the Start menu
when clicked link to Libraries super folders rather than individual folders as in
Vista. Libraries are a new concept in Windows 7 and will be discussed later in
this lesson.
 Second from top is the Documents folder. This is a sub-folder of your

Personal folder. This is the folder where you can save all your work in the
24
form of documents, spreadsheets, drawing files, text files, etc. In Windows
7, when you click on ‘Documents’, what is displayed is a virtual
Documents Library superfolder that lists various other folders and sub
folders.
Libraries or
Super-folders
 Music folder is meant to save and play all your music and other audio
files. Video folder is similarly meant for saving all your videos.
25
 Pictures folder is also a sub-folder of your Personal folder. It is meant to
save and view all your picture and graphics files and folders.
 Computer folder is a system folder from which you can access various
hardware components of your computer, such as, disk drives, printers,
scanners, etc.
26
 Control Panel folder contains a host of items or functionalities. This is the
heart of your computer. From this folder, you can customize the
appearance and functionality of your computer, add or remove programs,
set up network connections, manage user accounts, and much more.
 Devices and Printers folder displays the hardware devices and printers
connected to your computer. Note that apart from the usual printers,
including virtual printers, the folder also displays various devices such as
Monitor, scanners, portable hard disks, digital cameras, etc that might be
attached and configured to work with your computer.
27
 Default Programs. This option opens a window where you can setup
following defaults.
o You can choose programs that you want Windows 7 to use as
defaults for activities like web browsing, editing pictures, sending
e-mail, and playing music and videos.
o You can associate a file type with a program. Every application

saves its files with an extension. When you select a file, Windows 7
is programmed to look at these file extensions and open the
associated application automatically. These are listed in the screen
shot.
28
You can use this option to change any of these associated default
programs, or make a file type always open in a specific program.
o You can specify whether or not to AutoPlay when you insert media
such as CDs, Videos, etc. You can also associate which particular
device should play which particular media format.
o You can control access to certain programs and set defaults for
your computer.
 Help and Support. This option opens Windows Help and Support
window, where you can browse and search Help topics about using
Windows and your computer. If you are connected to Internet, you can
view the latest help contents.
Displaying Additional Folders
Observe that, Windows 7’s Start menu shows

the essential folders and items only. It does
not display items such as Games, Network,
Connect to etc. in the Start menu.
Depending on the customization of your

computer, following one or two additional
folders may also appear in this pane.
 Recent Items. This folder contains a

list of programs and files which you
have recently opened. You can re-
open any of these files just by clicking
on it. When you click on any of these
files, Windows 7 starts the program or
the application used to create that file
and opens the file in it.
 Search. You can use this option to use advanced search criteria for
locating programs and other information in your computer. This is the
same as the Search box in the left panel, but has much more advanced
and better search options.
Shutdown and other buttons
29
At the bottom of the right pane, you will find a single button marked as ‘Shut
down’. Clicking on this button enables Windows 7 to close your session and shut
down Windows 7. The Option button which appears as an arrow to the right of
‘Shut down’ button when clicked displays some more options that allows you to
suspend or terminate your work. Using these options, you can Switch user, Log
Off, Lock, Restart, Sleep or Hibernate. We will be discussing these options
later in this lesson.
The Search box
The Search programs and files text

box in the Start menu is one of the
innovative features of Windows 7.
Search box is a convenient method to
search for programs and files in your
computer. It is located in a convenient
position in the Start menu and
is accessible at all times. The
search feature gets activated
as you start typing in its text
box. As you start typing, the
matching search results start
appearing in the left pane. The
area of search is extensive. It
includes not only your
Personal folder which in turn
includes folders such as
documents, music, pictures,
desktop and other locations,
but also your e-mail
messages, saved instant
messages, appointments and
contacts. It also searches for
the specified search term in
your internet Favorites and
History folders and lists the
30
findings separately. In Windows 7, the Search has been further enhanced to
include searches in Control panel items as well.
To fully appreciate the usefulness of this search box, just type a letter ‘w’ in the
search text box. The search is case insensitive. Almost instantaneously, even as
you are typing, Windows 7 starts displaying the search results above the Search
box in the Start menu pane. Observe how extensive the search is. The search
results include programs, documents, music, videos and other files that start with
w. The search also includes websites and web pages that include the word
starting with the letter ‘w’. Observe that Windows 7 has neatly categorized and
displayed the findings under separate heads – Programs, Control Panel,
Documents, Music, etc.
Observe the search result ‘Maid with the flaxen hair’ listed under Music category.
The word ‘with’ starts with ‘w’ and hence is included in the search results. This
shows how sensitive and extensive the search engine is.
If you click on ‘See more results’, one more Search results window appears with
an exhaustive listing of additional files, documents, web pages, websites you
have visited, etc that include the character ‘w’ in the title. Observe that the
character ‘w’ is itself highlighted in yellow color wherever it appears.
Using Start Menu
31
The main purpose of the Start menu is to allow easy and quick access to various
programs and applications installed in your computer. Let’s explore this Start
menu.
1. Click on the Start button. Start menu appears.

2. The left pane shows a list of frequently used programs. If this is the first
time you have activated the Start Menu, you will see a list of default
programs in the pane. When you open a program, that program’s name
will appear next time when you open the Start Menu.
3. Position the mouse pointer on the All Programs item. Instantly all the
available programs in your computer get displayed in the left pane.
Observe that :
a. Names of Programs are listed first followed by the names of
Folders.
b. The listing of the programs is alphabetical. Likewise the listing of
folders is also in alphabetical order.
c. Each program listed has a unique icon associated with it. Folders
however are associated with conventional Folder icons.
d. The All Programs label is now replaced by a label as ‘Back’.
Individual
programs
Folders
Listing of All Programs Listing of Accessories Folder items
4. If you click on any folder, such as say Accessories, it expands listing its
contents, which may be some more programs and folders. These also will
be listed alphabetically. Note that the contents of the folder are displayed
within the left pane itself.
5. Clicking on the Back button, returns you back to the Start menu.
32
Opening programs from Start menu
Let’s illustrate the above steps by opening a program, say WordPad, from the
Start menu. WordPad is a mini Word processor application installed with
Windows 7 OS.
2. The WordPad program we want to open is in the Accessories folder. So,
click on the folder Accessories. If Accessories folder is not visible, click
on the vertical scroll bar and drag it down, till the folder is visible. Observe
that:
a. The item selected is highlighted.
b. The contents of the folder are displayed within the left pane itself.
3. You will find the application WordPad in the list of items displayed. Click
on it.
4. Start menu gets removed. WordPad program opens in its own Window.
5. WordPad is mini
Word Processor.
Word processor is
a program that
allows you to use
your computer as Click here to
an electronic WordPad close this window
typewriter. You application
will be learning
33
how to work with WordPad application in a separate lesson later in the
course. So for present, let’s close this program. Click on the Close (x)
button appearing in the top right corner of the WordPad window. WordPad
program closes and you will be returned to the Desktop.
6. Similarly you can open any program or application available in your
computer.
Opening Programs from Search text box
In the above task, you were able to open the WordPad program since you knew
that this program is listed in Accessories folder. Suppose you don’t know the
location of the program you want to open. How will you open it? Search text box
comes in handy to locate the programs you want to open.

2. Type wo the beginning letters of WordPad. As you start typing the name of
the program you want to open, Windows displays all the Programs which
start with the typed letters as shown in the screen shot.
3. If the program you want to open appears in this list, just click on it. The
program opens.
Search feature is one of the

important and useful functionalities
added to the Windows 7 OS. We will
be discussing the various aspects of
this Search feature in a separate
lesson later in the course.
Closing Windows 7 and shutting down your Computer
When you’ve finished working with your computer, you need to close Windows 7
before you can switch off your computer. Whatever work you have done so far, it
34
will be in the computer’s memory. When you close down, the contents of this
memory will be lost. So, before you close down, you should save the work you
have done. Saving is the process of writing the contents of memory to hard disk.
Normally Windows prompts you to save before it closes down.
You have certain choices while closing down the Windows OS and shutting off
your computer. Normally, if you are working on home PC, you may want to shut
down your computer when your work is over.
Shut Down option
This option allows you to close the current session. Choose this option if your
work on computer is over and want to close down. Windows saves any Windows
settings that you might have changed and saves the current contents in your
computer’s memory to the hard disk before closing down.
1. Click on the Start button to display the Start menu.

2. Click on the ‘Shut down’ button that appears at the bottom of the right
pane of the Start menu.
3. If you have any programs
open, the Windows 7 OS
queries whether you want to
save whatever work you
were doing. It then closes the
programs and then shuts
down the computer.
4. You can then switch off your
computer.
Other Options
If your computer is a part of a network of computers, and if you want a brief break
from your work, then there are some options other than shutting it down. Let’s
look at these options that are
available to you.

Start menu is displayed.
2. Click on the arrow button
appearing to the right of
‘Shut Down’ button. A
menu pops up listing
various options.
35
Switch User Option
Windows 7 OS allows multi users to be logged into your computer with their own
separate usernames and passwords. If more than one user is currently logged
into your computer, then the users can switch among themselves and use the
computer resources without actually shutting down the computer. The Switch
user option allows for switching of user without first closing their open files and
programs.
Log Off (user name) option
This option allows you to temporarily close your session and let others use your
computer. When you log off, all your files and programs are closed. The
computer however is not switched off. Any other user can login and use your
computer. If your computer is a part of a network of computers, this option
disconnects your computer from the network.
Locking your computer option
If you want to take a break from your work but don’t want any other person to use
your computer in your absence, you can lock up your computer using the Lock
option.
When you lock your computer, it will be password protected. So you must use
your password to unlock it again and to continue your work.
Restarting Your Computer option
When you install a new program or drivers for a new device such as say a
printer, normally you will be asked to restart your computer so that Windows 7
OS can recognize the newly added program or device. When you click on
Restart option, Windows 7 prompts you to save all your work, closes the opened
programs and shuts down. It again automatically restarts and displays the
desktop.
This is often known as Warm booting the computer as against the Cold booting
where you completely shut down your computer and then restart it.
Sleep Option
If you want to take a break from your computer work, another option is to put
your computer to sleep. Sleep is a power-saving mode. In sleep mode, your
computer consumes very little electricity. When you need to use your computer
again, you can press your computer’s power-on switch to resume work quickly. In
USA where computers are always on, Microsoft recommends that instead of
36
shutting your computer down when you are not using your computer, you should
put your computer in sleep mode. In India however this is not generally followed.
Hibernate Option
This is also a power-saving mode similar to that of Sleep mode but is primarily
meant for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws
a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs
on your hard disk, and then turns off your computer. Of all the power-saving
states in Windows, hibernation uses the least amount of power.
Recap
The Start menu of Windows 7 is the main gateway to access all the resources of
your computer. In this lesson you:
 Learnt how to display Start menu
 Explored various features of Start menu.
 How to open and close programs
 How to use search box, and
 How to close Windows 7 using various options and shut down your
computer.
37
Lesson 3: Customizing Start Menu of Windows 7
Overview
In the previous lesson you got acquainted with and explored the various features
of the Start Menu. As you learnt, Start Menu is the main gateway for all your work
that you do in your computer. From this menu, you can run programs and
applications, reopen recently used documents, revisit web sites that you have
recently accessed, add or delete programs, customize the look and feel of
desktop and taskbar, search for files, get on-line help, control printers, and much
more. While the arrangement of Start menu options is adequate, you can further
customize the Start menu to make it much more easier to work with. In this
lesson, we will be looking at these customization tricks.

 Working with Program shortcuts
 Pinning Programs to the Start menu
 Customizing the Start Menu folders
 Adding Favorites Folder to the Start menu
 Adding Run command to the Start menu
 Adding Recently Used Documents list
 Changing your User Account Properties
 Changing the Size of Icons in Start Menu
 Removing a Program Icon from the Start Menu
 Restoring Start Menu Default settings
Start Menu Properties
Customization tools for Start menu are available in the Start menu and Taskbar
Properties dialog box.
1. Right click anywhere on the Taskbar. A menu pops up.

2. Click on the Properties option.
3. Taskbar and Start menu dialog box appears.
4. Click on Start Menu tab to display Start Menu options.
5. Click on Customize button to display various Start Menu customization
options.
Using the options in this dialog box you can customize the various features of the
Start menu that affect its look and behavior.
38 --
Windows Classic Start Menu
In earlier versions of Windows including Windows XP and Windows Vista, you

had a choice of opting for either the Classic Menu or the new Windows Menu.
One of the important changes in Windows 7 is the removal of ‘Classic Start
menu’, which means that you no longer have the option of choosing the old
familiar ‘Classic’ Start
menu look.
However, for those who

are still fond of old classic
menu style, Windows 7
provides a Windows
Classic theme which gives
your desktop the look and
feel of the Classic menu
though its functionalities
are not present. For
instance, in the Windows
Classic theme, the Start
button appears with the
word ‘Start’ and with
Windows logo instead of
the blue ‘orb’ of Windows 7
Start button. We will be
discussing this when we learn how to apply desktop themes.
39 --
Working with Program shortcuts
When Windows 7 is newly installed, the Start menu shows only the programs
installed by Windows by default or those selected by the user at the time of
installation. However, as you install your own programs, the names of these
programs also appear in the Start menu.
The icons displayed in the Start menu are actually the shortcuts representing the
actual programs. Shortcuts are the links or paths to the actual programs which
are installed somewhere within your computer hard-disk. Shortcuts are very
useful things since by just clicking on them you can activate the objects that they
represent. You need not search or remember the actual program’s locations to
open it. You can have shortcuts to programs, folders, files, drives, printers, web
pages and so on. Likewise the Folder icons are also shortcuts to folders existing
somewhere in your computer.
Adding program shortcuts to All Programs menu
Generally when you install a program, Windows 7 automatically adds a shortcut

to that program and displays the same in the All Programs list in the Start Menu.
Occasionally however, you may want to add items to the All Programs Menu
yourself. You can add your own items to the Start menu in many ways. Note that
when you add an item to the Start menu, you are actually adding a short cut to
the program and not the program itself. As an illustration let’s add ‘Notepad’
program to the All Programs menu. Notepad is a small program useful for
making notes and is available in Accessories folder. There are several ways you
can add your program to the All Programs list. Note that if Notepad item already
exists in your Start Menu, you may select any other program such as Calculator,
for working out this task.
Using Drag and drop approach
You can drag and drop icons in the Start menu. This requires some practice and
patience.
1. Locate the icon of the Program that you want to add to the All Programs
menu. Say the Notepad program in the Accessories folder. To access
this program, click on Start button, and in the start menu, click on
Accessories folder to open it.
2. Click on Notepad icon to select it. Now holding down the left mouse
button, drag the icon to the location in the All Programs menu where you
want that item to appear. Don’t release the button as yet.
3. Make sure that you hold down the Alt key and drop the item by releasing
the left mouse button. A short cut to the Notepad item appears where you
have dropped the item. Note that, if you don’t hold down the Alt key, the
Notepad item will be moved from its original position to its new position.
40 --
4. You can also scroll up or down the list of items still holding down the
mouse button, and drop the item to the top or bottom edge of the list. If
you want to place the item in a Folder, then drag the item over the folder
and pause till the folder opens.
5. Observe that a black horizontal line appears at the location where you
intend to drop the item.
6. To verify the accessibility of Notepad program from Start menu, click on
its name. The Notepad program should open.
The above steps are illustrated in the following screen shots.
Select the item Holding down the mouse Holding down the Alt key
button drag to the new location drop the item
Renaming a Short cut
You can rename a shortcut.

1. Click on Start button to display Start menu
2. Right click on the shortcut item to be
renamed.
3. In the displayed context menu, click on
Rename option.
4. The selected item gets highlighted. You
can now make any desired changes to
the name.
5. Press Enter to confirm the change, or
press Esc to abort the renaming process.
41 --
Deleting a Shortcut
If the shortcut to a particular item is no longer required, you can delete it. By
deleting the shortcut, you are only removing the link to the actual program. The
actual program does not get deleted.
1. Click on Start button to display Start menu.
2. Right click on the shortcut item to be deleted.
3. In the displayed context menu, click on Delete option.
4. A Delete File message box pops up asking for confirmation to delete the
selected Item.
5. To abort the deletion process click on No button.
6. To delete the item, click
on Yes button. The
selected item gets
deleted. When you
delete an item or a
shortcut, it is actually
not deleted but sent to
the Recycle Bin, which
is like a waste paper
basket.
Turning off the AutoSort feature
By default, Windows 7 displays the

items in the All Programs list in sorted
order. So when you add a new program
shortcut to the All Programs list, it will
also be automatically placed in its
sorted position. If you want to change
the location of the newly placed
shortcut, or any other program name,
then you need to first turn off the
AutoSort feature.
1. Right click on the Start button

2. In the context menu that appears,
click on Properties
3. In the displayed Properties
dialog box, make sure that the
Start Menu tab is selected and
click on Customize option.
4. In the displayed options, scroll
down to the Item Sort All Programs by Name and remove its check
mark.
5. Click OK.
42 --
Now you can place the shortcuts in any location you want in the All Programs list
by drag and drop method.
Disabling the display of context menu and Drag and drop feature in All
Programs list
When you right click anywhere in the All Programs list, a context menu pops up.
If this is distracting to you, you can suppress this display of menu. Note that by
suppressing this, you will also be suppressing the dragging and dropping of
program shortcut feature to the Programs list.
1. Right click on the Start button
2. In the context menu that appears, click on Properties
3. In the displayed Properties
dialog box, make sure that the
Start Menu tab is selected and
click on Customize option.
4. In the displayed options, scroll
down to the item Enable Context
menus and dragging and
dropping and remove its check
mark.
5. Click OK.
Now you will no longer be able to drag

and drop program shortcuts to the Start
menu and also display the context menu
by right clicking.
To re-activate the above feature, repeat

the above steps and check the item
Enable Context menus and Dragging
and Dropping.
Pinning Programs to the Start menu
If you are using a particular program very frequently, then perhaps you may want
that program available to you at a single click of the mouse. This you can do by
pinning that program to the Start menu. The pin area of the start menu is the top
section of the left pane. Pinned programs appear here. By default, Windows 7
does not pin any programs (unlike Windows Vista which by default shows
Internet Explorer and Email programs as pinned items).
As a demonstration, let’s pin WordPad application to the Start Menu to make it

available at all times.
1. Click on Start button to display Start menu.
2. Point to the All Programs. Programs list appears in the Start Menu.
43 --
3. Click on the Accessories folder. A list of Accessory programs appears
within the left pane of the Start Menu.
4. Right click on the WordPad item. A context menu appears.
5. Click on the Pin to Start Menu option.
6. Nothing seems to happen. Click on Back button. Now you will find a new
item, WordPad in the top section of the left pane of Start menu.
7. Now you can open WordPad program anytime you want by just clicking on
this pinned item.
8. Similarly, you can add any number of pinned items to Start Menu for easy
and quick access.
Selecting the Program to be pinned Pinned Program
Removing the Pinned up Items
If you no longer require a particular pinned

program, you can remove it easily.
1. Click on Start button to display the Start

Menu.
2. Right click on the pinned item to be
removed.
3. In the context menu that pops up, click on
the option Unpin from Start Menu.
4. The pinned item gets removed.
44 --
Changing the order of a pinned item
If you have several pinned items in the Start Menu, you can change their order
of appearance.
1. Click on the icon of the pinned item whose order you want to change.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag it to its new location.
3. Release the mouse button.
4. The items get relocated.
Figure shows the interchanged pinned items.
Customizing the Start Menu folders
By default, when you click on any

folder appearing in the right pane of
the Start menu, a window appears
displaying the contents of that folder.
You may however, customize how
the folders on the right pane display
their contents when you click on
them. Either you can make the folder
open out displaying the contents as
items, or as menu items without
opening the folder. You can also
suppress the display of folder name.
Let’s see how these options work
with the contents of the Computer
folder.
1. Right click on Start button to
display the context menu.
2. Click on the Properties.
45 --
3. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click on Start Menu tab if not already selected.
5. Click on the Customize option. A Customize Start Menu dialog box gets
displayed.
The dialog box lists various options that are available for displaying folders in the
right pane of the Start menu. Those with enabled check boxes are the ones that
have already been displayed. Most of these folders are displayed with three
options:
 Display as a link,
 Display as a menu and
 Don’t display this item.
Let’s illustrate these options using the Computer folder which appears at the top
of the list. Observe that by default, Display as a link is the selected option.
Display as a link is the default option for all folders. This option tells Windows 7
to open the selected
folder and display the
contents or items of the
folder as in any other
typical window. This is
the conventional and the
default choice for all
folders. The screen shot
shows how the items in
the Computer folder
appear when displayed
with this option.
Contents of the
folder are displayed
in a separate window
46 --
Display as a menu option tells Windows 7 to show items within the folder as
menu options without opening the folder. The screen shot shows how the items
in the Computer folder appear when you select this option for Computer folder.
Contents of the
folder are displayed
as menu items
Don’t display the item option, as the name indicates, tells Windows 7 to not to
display the folder name in the right pane of the Start Menu. Observe that when
you choose this option for the Computer folder, its name no longer appears in the
right pane of start menu.
Computer folder name is

not displayed in the start
menu
Note that you can customize each folder

appearing in the right pane with these options independent of each other.
47 --
Modifying the contents of the Right pane
The right pane of the Windows 7’s Start menu displays the various resources
such as Personal Folder, commonly used folders, files, settings, etc that can be
accessed from your computer. The folders and items displayed here depend on
the version of Windows 7 you are using. For example, in Windows 7 Professional
version the Games folder is not displayed. Windows 7 also does not install
certain folders such as Recent Items and Favorites folder found in Windows
XP. Another important change conspicuous by its absence in the Start Menu is
the Run command. You can however configure the Start menu to show these
folders also.
Adding Favorites Folder to the Start menu
Those who have migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7 might be sorely

missing their Favorites Folder. Favorites folders saves and displays the
addresses of the web sites you have recently visited.
In this age of Internet, it is unthinkable that your computer does not provide
Favorites folder to save and display a list of popular and frequently visited
website addresses for easy access from the Start Menu. Windows 7 does
provide this feature but does not install it by default. You can however add this
Favorites folder to the Start Menu easily.
1. Right click on Start button to display the context menu.

2. Click on Properties.
4. Click on Start menu tab if not already selected.
5. Click on the Customize option. A Customize Start Menu dialog box gets
displayed.
6. In the list box, use the scroll bar to navigate till the Favorites menu item is
displayed. Enable the item by clicking in its check box. Observe that this
Favorites menu does not have any other folder options.
7. Click OK to exit from this dialog box.
8. Click Apply and then OK to remove the Taskbar and Start Menu
properties dialog box from the screen.
9. Click on Start button to display the Start Menu.
10. Observe that Favorite folder is now available to you in the right pane.
11. Click on it. A sub menu slides out displaying various web sites that have
been included by default.
The screen shot shows the activation of the Favorites folder and the various
Web sites and links available to you by default. If you are connected to the
Internet, you can log on to any of these web sites just be clicking on their listed
names.
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When you next visit any web page on the net, its address is automatically added
to the Favorites list.
Adding Run command to the Start Menu
One of the significant omissions in the Windows 7’s new Start Menu is the Run
command. Though not very frequently required, the Run command is
nevertheless an essential feature required to perform certain DOS operations.
You can add the Run command easily to the Start Menu.
1. Display the Customize Start Menu dialog box as before.

2. Scroll down till the Run Command item is displayed. Enable the item by
clicking in its check box. Observe that this Run Command does not have
any other folder options.
4. Click Apply and then OK to remove the Taskbar and Start Menu
properties dialog box.
6. Observe that the Run command is now available to you in the right pane.
7. Click on it. A Run dialog box appears as shown in the screen shot. You
can enter any DOS command or the name of the program, folder,
document or internet URL address in the Open text box. Type ‘Command’
and click OK to execute the DOS task.
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8. Windows 7 goes into DOS mode as indicated by the black screen. You
can see the familiar DOS prompt, C:\. You can now type any DOS task by
typing the command at this prompt. For example, type Dir/w to display a
list of directories (the old name for folders under DOS) widthwise.
9. When your work is over, type Exit and press Enter key to return to
Windows environment.
Similarly you can add any other folder, such as say ‘Games’ to the Start Menu.
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Adding Recent Items folder to the Start Menu
Another important and useful folder which is not displayed by Windows 7 by

default in the right pane of Start Menu is the Recent Items folder. Recent items
folder, as the name indicates, displays a list of recently opened documents.
Recently Used Documents list
Windows 7 remembers all the Programs and Files you have recently opened and
worked with. You can make use of this feature to reopen any of these recently
opened programs or files. However, by default, this feature is turned off. You
need to turn it on if you want Windows 7 to display your recently used programs
and files.
1. Right click on the Start button. A context menu appears.
3. A Taskbar and Start menu properties dialog box appears.
4. Click on Start menu tab, if not already selected.
5. In the Privacy section, enable both the check boxes Store and display a
list of recently opened files, and Store and display a list of recently
opened programs.
6. Click on Customize button.
7. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, navigate to the Recent Items
entry. Enable the item by clicking in its check box.
9. Click Apply. Click OK to remove the dialog box.
10. Click Start button. Observe that a new item Recent Items is now
displayed in the right pane.
List of Recent
items
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11. Click on it. A sub menu slides out displaying a list of recently opened
documents.
12. From now onwards, Windows 7 keeps track of the recent programs and
files you have recently opened.
The screen shots show the activation of the Recent Items Folder and a list of
recently opened files and documents.
Specifying the number of items to keep track of
You can specify how many numbers of recently opened Programs and files
should be kept track of by Windows. By default, it is 10 such programs and files.
You may increase or decrease this number to suit your needs.
1. Display the Customize Start Menu dialog box as before.

2. Type the number of files you want Windows 7 to display in the Number of
Recent Programs to Display field. The default is 10. Note that you can
enter any number between 0 and 60.
3. Click OK. The Customize Start Menu dialog box closes.
4. Click Apply.
5. Click OK. Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box closes and
Windows 7 resets the number of files that display on the Most Recently
Used Document list.
Emptying the Recent Items Folder
If you have accumulated a number of items in the Recent Items folder and if you
don’t need them, you may clear them. Clearing the Recent Items folder list does
not delete the items from your computer. It just removes the links.
1. Click the Start button.
2. Right-click on Recent Items folder
3. In the displayed shortcut menu, click Clear Recent Items List.
Disabling Most Recently Used Documents list
Most Recently Used Documents list is a very useful feature provided by Windows
7. But this comes at the cost of your privacy. By clicking on the Recent Items,
any user can know which of the programs and files you are using. This could be
undesirable if you are working on files containing sensitive information. If you
don’t want others to know which of the programs and files on your computer you
have recently accessed, you can disable this functionality.
Observe that Windows 7 keeps track of your most recently used files and
programs separately and also displays them separately. The files are listed
under Recent Items in the right pane while the programs are listed in the middle
section of the left pane. You may suppress the display of either or both of these.
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1. Right-click the Start button. A context menu appears.
2. Click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box
appears.
3. Click the Start Menu tab.
4. To suppress display of recently opened files, remove the check mark
against the option Store and Display a List of Recently Opened Files.
5. To suppress display of recently opened programs, remove the check mark
against Store and Display a List of Recently Opened Programs.
6. Click Apply.
7. Click OK. Windows 7 clears the list
and stops maintaining your most
recently used document list.
Note: When you disable the display of

recently used document list,
Windows 7 clears the same from its
memory. When you re-enable these
options, Windows 7 starts keeping
track of opened documents afresh
and will not display the previous
stored list.
Changing your User Account Picture
When you register yourself as a user with Windows 7 OS, your User account will
be assigned a default user picture. This picture appears on screens and menus
that display your user name, such as the Start Menu, Welcome screen and so
on. This is a nice personalization touch. If the assigned picture is not to your
liking, you may change the picture.

2. Click on your User account picture displayed at the top of the right pane.
3. A User Accounts dialog box appears as shown in the screen shot.
4. Click on the option, Change your Picture.
5. Change your picture dialog appears displaying a number of pictures to
choose from. Click on the picture of your choice and click Change
picture.
6. If none of these pictures are to your liking and want to use a picture of
your own, you can click on Browse for more pictures option. You can
then navigate to the folder containing the picture you want to use and click
on it.
7. Windows 7 assigns your selected picture as your user account picture.
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Changing your User Account Name
If you have not specified your user name at the time of installing Windows 7, the
OS assigns User as default user name. You can change this if you so desire.

2. Click on your user account picture displayed at the top of the right pane.
3. A User Accounts dialog box appears as shown in the screen shot.
4. Click on the option, Change your account name.
5. A Change your name dialog box appears.
6. Type the new user name in the New Account Name text box.
7. Click Change name button.
8. Windows 7 changes your account name.
Note: When you change your account name it does not get changed
immediately. The Start menu continues to show your previous user name.
Only when you restart the computer does the change takes effect and the
Start menu shows your new user name.
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Enter your new
account name
here
Changing the Size of Icons in Start Menu
By default, Windows 7 displays programs, files and folders in larger sized icons
in the Start Menu. As you add more and more programs and applications to the
Start Menu, the Start Menu grows taller and taller. A time may come when you
may not be able to view all the items in the Start Menu at the same time. By
reducing the sizes of the icons, you can display more number of items.
1. Click on Start button to display Start Menu.
2. Right click anywhere in the left pane of the Start menu. A single item
Properties appears. Click on it.
4. Click on Start Menu tab, if not already selected.
5. Click on Customize button to its right.
6. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down till you get to the
item Use Large Icons.
7. If there is a check mark against the item Use Large Icons, click on the
check box to remove it.
8. Click OK. Click OK again to remove the Taskbar and Start Menu
Small icons
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Properties dialog box.
9. Observe that now smaller icons are displayed and the pane can
accommodate more number of items than before.
Removing Program items from the Start Menu
When you have too many programs listed in the Start menu, and some of these
are not required, you may remove such programs from the Start Menu. Note that
removing a program item from the Start menu doesn’t remove it from the All
Programs list or uninstalls the program.
1. Click the Start button.
2. Right-click the program icon you
want to remove from the Start
menu
3. In the displayed shortcut menu,
click Remove from this list.
Moving the Start button
The position of the Start button is

permanently attached to the Taskbar.
You can’t independently move it. You
can however, move the Taskbar
alongwith the Start button to some
other location on the screen.
1. Right-click an empty space on

the taskbar. A short cut menu
pops up.
2. If Lock the Taskbar option has
a check mark beside it, click it to remove the check mark.
3. Again Right click on the Taskbar. In the displayed shortcut menu, choose
Properties.
5. Click on Taskbar tab, if not already selected.
6. Observe that by default, the Taskbar location on Screen is displayed as
Bottom.
7. To align the task with any other edge of the screen, click on the arrow of
the list box and choose the required location.
8. Click OK.
9. Taskbar aligns itself to the selected edge.
10. To lock the taskbar in its new place, right-click an empty space on the
taskbar, and then click Lock the Taskbar so that the check mark
reappears.
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Restoring Start Menu Default settings
As we have discussed so far, the

Start menu can be configured and
customized in many ways. If however,
after making some of these
customization changes, you don’t like
them, you may restore the Start Menu
to its original default settings.
1. Right-click the Start button. A

context menu appears.
2. Click Properties. The Taskbar
and Start Menu Properties
dialog box appears.
3. Click the Start Menu tab. Click
Customize button.
4. In the Customize Start Menu
dialog box, click on Use
Default Settings button.
5. Click OK. Windows 7 restores
the Start Menu to its original
settings.
Recap
In this lesson you learnt how to customize the Start Menu to make it much
more useful to you. You learnt how to pin programs, add program shortcuts,
etc. You also explored the various options in the Customize Start Menu dialog
box.
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Lesson 4: Exploring Windows 7 Desktop
Overview
Windows Desktop is your interface to all the resources of your

computer. Getting acquainted with your Desktop and its various
features is therefore essential for efficient working with your
computer. In this lesson we will be exploring the various aspects of
Windows 7 Desktop.
Skills you will learn in this Lesson:

 A Quick Tour of Desktop
 Understanding Icons
 Understanding Taskbar
 Understanding Windows Sidebar
 Getting acquainted with Mouse
 Getting to know your Keyboard
Introduction
Your learning becomes much easier if you try out various tasks that are
discussed in this and subsequent lessons actually on a computer with Windows 7
OS installed. There is no substitute for hands-on experience that you will get
when you actually work on the computer and explore yourself.
What is new in Windows 7 Desktop
Windows Vista introduced the concept of Aero, short for Authentic, Energetic,
Reflective and Open interface to Personal computers. It is a graphical user
interface and has sophisticated color schemes which enhance the aesthetic view
of computer desktop. Associated with Aero interface are some innovative
features such as translucent windows, Windows Flip, Flip 3D, etc.
Windows 7 not only retains the Aero user interface but also enhances these
effects by providing additional Aero effects to make your computer working
experience more exhilarating. These include:
1. Aero Peek: If you have a number of windows open on Desktop, Auto
Peek feature allows you to take a quick peek at the Desktop without
actually closing or minimizing the windows. You can also minimize all
opened applications with a single mouse click on the Aero Peek button.
Another click restores all opened windows. It also allows you to peek at
minimized applications in your taskbar for thumbnail previews.
2. Aero Snap feature provides a quick way to resize your windows to make
them easier to read, organize and compare. It automatically divides the
screen in 2 halves so that you can view two open windows side by side.
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3. Aero Flip feature allows you to preview all your open windows from a
central window or 3D view that you can flip through.
4. Aero Shake feature helps you to minimize all the open windows on the
desktop except the one on which you are currently working. All you have
to do is to ‘grab’ the current active opened window with your mouse and
shake it a few times.
We will be discussing these new features later in this lesson.
A Quick Tour of Desktop
If you have not started your computer as yet, do so now. Your monitor presents a
typical Windows 7 Desktop as shown in the screen shot. The Desktop is the
working area of your computer. It is similar to your conventional table top where
you can place and open your books, write letters, keep your sundry items like
calculator, alarm clock, dairy, etc. All your work on the computer will be displayed
on Desktop. It covers whole of your monitor and serves as background for all
your work. It is more commonly referred to as the Graphical User Interface (GUI)
as all objects on the screen appear as visual graphical pictures. By default, the
Windows 7 desktop presents an attractive, shiny, glassy translucent color
scheme. Just like you can change the table cloth of your table to suit your mood,
you can also change the look of the desktop to make it more attractive. You can
also make your Desktop appear lively and cheerful by various themes, screen
savers, wallpapers and other utilities. We will be learning these later on.
Windows Desktop
Windows
Gadgets
Desktop Icons
Windows logo
Taskbar
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The screen shot shows how the Windows 7 Desktop appears on a typical
computer. If it appears slightly different in your computer, don’t worry. The
Desktop is highly configurable.
As you can observe, the when newly installed, Desktop presents an uncluttered
look. The prominent features of the Desktop are:
 Windows logo at the center of the Desktop.
 A few small graphical pictures, known as icons, appearing on the left side
of the screen.
 A horizontal bar at the bottom, known as Taskbar
 Windows gadgets such as a clock, a date calendar, etc appearing on the
right side of the screen.
Let’s get acquainted with the various objects appearing on this Desktop.
Icons
Probably, the first thing you will notice on the Desktop are the small pictures
aligned towards the left of your screen. These objects are known as Icons. They
actually represent various resources of your computer such as drives, system
tools, programs, applications, folders, files and so on. Normally, the images
indicate the type and function of the objects they represent.
When Windows 7 operating system is installed in your computer, it automatically

creates a few system icons on the screen. These include User, Computer,
Network, Internet Explorer and Recycle Bin. Other Applications and programs
when installed in your computer also place their representative icons on the
desktop, as shown in the screen shot. You can also place other types of icons on
the desktop such as the Folder icons, Program icons, Shortcut icons, Document
icons, etc. As you start working, you can customize the desktop by adding (and
removing) shortcuts to your favorite programs, documents, and printers for easy
access. Let’s look at some of these pre-installed icons. Note that your computer
may or may not be displaying these icons.
User icon represents your Personal folder. User is the default name for the
current user of your computer. If you are registered with Windows 7 as a user by
providing a user name, then this Personal folder displays your user name instead
of the word ‘User’. This folder contains a set of common folders such as
Documents, music, videos, etc for saving your personal work. For example,
Documents is the default folder where the computer saves all your files and
documents that you create. Note that every user of your computer can have his
or her own distinct username. When he or she logs on to your computer, then he
or she will have his or her own Personal folder with separate common folders.
Computer icon represents your computer. Double-clicking this icon opens a

window displaying existing drives, devices, files and folders. It lets you browse
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through all the resources attached to your computer system, such as disk drives,
devices, files, folders, printers, modem, etc. It also provides access to Windows
Control Panel, Printers folder, Dial-up Networking, etc.
Network is the link to other networked computers. This icon will be displayed
only if your computer is part of a Computer network or if your computer has
access to Internet. Double clicking this folder will open a window displaying
names of all the computers connected to your computer.
Recycle Bin is the waste paper basket of your computer. It stores all files and
folders you delete from your computer. Recycle Bin is in a way your safety net.
When you delete a file or a folder, Windows 7 does not remove it altogether from
your computer, but just hides it. The deleted file’s or folder’s name appears in the
Recycle Bin. So, if you have deleted a file or a folder by accident, Recycle Bin is
the place to look in for retrieving it. You can also empty the Recycle Bin to create
more disk space. When you do so all the files and folders in Recycle bin will be
removed permanently.
Internet Explorer is the gateway to the World of Internet. More commonly known
as a web browser, it connects you to the Internet and allows you to surf the web
sites and pages.
If you are familiar with Windows XP Desktop, you may find some subtle changes
in the naming of the icons. My Computer has become Computer, My Network
Places is now renamed as just Network. You will also find a new icon User, and
My Documents icon is not automatically displayed.
Shortcut Icons: Observe that certain Icons displays an arrow in the lower-left
corner. These are known as ‘Shortcut icons’. These represent and provide links
to the actual programs, documents, files, folders, etc stored somewhere in your
computer hard-disk as well as to your computer resources such as printers,
scanners, etc. Clicking such icons provide you with quick access to the objects
they represent. Shortcuts are merely pointers. When you delete a shortcut icon,
you are just deleting the link and not the object that it represents.
Program Icons: Programs, folders, and document icons that do not have an
arrow in the lower-left corner represent actual objects and provide direct access
to them. You have to be careful with these icons. When you delete a program
icon, folder icon, or a document icon, you might be deleting the actual program,
folder, or document.
You will learn how to create different types of icons later in this lesson.
Taskbar
Taskbar is the horizontal strip of bar stretching across at the bottom of your
desktop. It has always been a prominent feature of Windows Desktop in all
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versions of Windows OS. Besides being home to the Start button, it displays the
currently opened programs and documents, allows you to switch to other active
programs, provides quick access to desktop while working in any other
application, indicates the status of current running processes, displays a
notification area including digital display of real time, and so on. It also contains
toolbars that allows single click access to many frequently used programs and
applications. Windows Vista enhanced the appearance of its taskbar by providing
a translucent glassy look and also revamped the Taskbar with some significant
changes and some enhanced features. Windows 7 has now completely
refurbished the look and feel of Taskbar and has made it much more useful.
Elements of Taskbar
The Taskbar is the home of the Start button which appears at its extreme left as
a spherical and glass like icon with Windows logo. Besides this most important
button, Taskbar also consists of Task buttons representing every windows and
programs that have been opened, and another set of icons at the extreme right
known as Notification bar.
Start Menu
Taskbar
Start Pinned Programs Currently opened Programs Notification Date Show

Button area Desktop
Start Button or more appropriately called as ‘orb’, when clicked displays the
Start menu. From this menu, you can access any installed application, open
documents, search for information, customize desktop, printers, and other
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devices, and get Windows related help. You can also close and exit from
Windows 7. We have already discussed the Start Menu, its many features and
how to customize the Start menu in the previous lesson.
The Quick Launch bar found in the earlier versions of Windows including
Windows XP and Vista, has been removed in Windows 7. Instead you can
directly pin your programs to the Taskbar for instant access. Pinning of
applications will be discussed in detail later.
Task buttons are icons representing programs and applications that are
currently running in your computer. Windows 7 displays an icon for every opened
program in the taskbar.
Opened Applications or Task buttons
Notification area (also known as System Tray) appears at the right end of the
taskbar. Windows 7 has revamped the Notification area to make it friendlier and
easier to use. It now hosts fewer icons and is customizable. It displays a digital
clock showing the current date and time, and a volume control icon indicating the
presence of sound system in your computer.
It also serves as a Notification area for
displaying certain messages and actions
taking place in your system. We will be
exploring Notification area later in a
subsequent lesson.
Fig: Notification Area Hidden Icons in Notification area
Windows Gadgets
Windows Vista introduced the concept of gadgets and a

Sidebar to place these gadgets on the Desktop. Gadgets, also
known as Widgets, are mini-programs which visually display
some useful real time information such as time, weather, latest
headlines, etc. In Windows Vista, these gadgets appear on a
vertical sidebar placed at the right end of the Desktop.
Windows 7 has removed the sidebar and has enabled the
gadgets to be directly placed on the Desktop. Since the
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Sidebar itself has been removed, all tasks involving Sidebar such as hiding and
displaying, relocating, deleting, etc have also been removed.
We will be discussing all about Windows gadgets in a subsequent lesson.
Now that you have got briefly acquainted with the Desktop and its visible
features, it is time to learn how you can access or work with them. There are two
conventional ways – using the mouse and the keyboard.
Getting acquainted with Mouse
Do you observe a small arrow shaped white pointer on the Desktop? This is the
mouse pointer, indicating the presence of mouse on your screen. A mouse is a
handy electronic hardware device which allows you to navigate and pick objects
on the screen. When you move the mouse either on a mouse pad or any hard
plain surface, the mouse pointer on the screen also moves in the direction in
which the mouse is moved. A mouse is an integral part of your work on Window
based operating systems and is as indispensable as the steering wheel of your
car. You cannot do much in Windows without learning how to use mouse.
So, let’s get acquainted with this little piece of hardware connected to your
computer. The most common operations you will be performing with the mouse
are – Pointing, Clicking, Double clicking, dragging and dropping of objects.
Mouse generally comes with two buttons – left button and the right button. By
default, left mouse button is the primary button. When you press and release a
button, it makes a clicking noise, and some action takes place. Most mice have a
scroll wheel between the buttons that enables you to scroll through documents.
Press and release

the button
Right button
Left button
Pointing is the process of positioning the mouse pointer on an object. To do this,

you move the mouse till the mouse pointer on the screen is positioned on the
object. Try this.
1. Move the mouse till the pointer is pointing to one of the icons displayed on
the Desktop, say Computer icon.
2. The pointed icon gets highlighted.
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3. Continue to hold the pointer on the icon for a few seconds. A message
appears at the tip of the mouse pointer informing the purpose of that icon.
This is known as Screen tip or the tool tip.
Clicking is the process of pressing and releasing the left mouse button once
quickly.
 Position the mouse pointer on the Start button in the task bar.
 A message Start appears above the Start button.
 Press and release the left mouse button once.
 The Start menu pops up.
 Click anywhere outside the menu.
 The Start menu disappears.
Normally, clicking refers to single click. Single clicking is generally used to select
an item.
Double clicking is the process of pressing and releasing the left mouse button
twice in quick succession. Double clicking an object such as a file, a folder, or an
icon, not only selects it, but also opens it.
 Position the mouse pointer on the Computer icon.
 Double click the left mouse button.
 Computer Window opens displaying the contents of your computer.
 Click on the Close button (marked as x in the top right corner of title
bar) of the Computer Window.
 Computer window closes and returns you to Desktop.
Note that clicking and double clicking always refers to the primary (left) mouse
button. However, if you are a left-hander, then you can configure the right mouse
button as your primary button.
Drag and drop is the process of moving the objects on your screen from one
place to another using the mouse. You can move practically everything
appearing on your desktop. Let’s drag and drop Computer icon to a new place.
 Move the mouse pointer over Computer icon.
 Click the left button and keep it pressed.
 Still holding down the left mouse button, move the mouse until the
pointer is over the place where you want to position the Computer
icon, say a blank area towards the right edge of your monitor. Observe
that as you move, an image of Computer also moves along with the
mouse pointer. This is known as ‘dragging’.
 Release the mouse button. This is ‘dropping’.
 Observe that the Computer icon is now moved to the new place.
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Right clicking is the process of pressing and releasing the right mouse button
once quickly. Most common use of right button is to display the properties of the
clicked objects.
 Right click anywhere on a blank area of the Desktop.
 A shortcut menu pops up displaying commonly used options applicable
to Desktop. You can use these options to customize your Desktop.
Note that you still have to use left mouse button to click on any of the
options appearing in shortcut menus.
 Click anywhere on the blank area.
 The shortcut menu disappears.
Right clicking on the blank area of

the Desktop or an object pops up a
shortcut menu displaying
commonly used options applicable
to Desktop or to that object.
Shapes of Mouse Pointer
The default shape of the pointer is a white solid shaped left oriented arrow.
However, it can assume different shapes depending on where the mouse is
pointing to. The table shows some of the common pointer shapes.
Pointer Shape Where it appears and what it indicates

White solid left oriented Default or normal shape of the pointer. Appears while
arrow shape in normal usage
Normal Pointer shape Windows OS is doing some background work. You are
with a small animated however allowed to continue with your work.
ring
Small animated ring Windows is busy with some work and can’t be
interrupted. You will not be allowed to do any work until
this background work is finished.
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Normal pointer shape ‘What’s This?’ help sign. This appears when you click
with a small Question on the question mark appearing in the toolbar of
mark windows. If you click on any item on the screen with
this pointer shape, the OS shows some brief
information about the item you clicked.
Double headed arrow Appears when the mouse pointer is pointing to a
Window’s border. When displaying this shape, you can
drag the border in the direction of arrow head - either to
left or right, or up or down.
Right palm with a Appears when you point to a hyperlink or an item, such
pointing fore finger as a picture, linked to some resource, such as a
website.
A circle with a diagonal The action you are trying to do is not possible, or the
line inside item you are trying to access is not available
I-beam Appears while you are typing or editing text, in text
editors or text boxes, etc. This is also known as
Insertion pointer or text pointer
Quadruple headed Appears when the pointer is moved on a picture.
arrows
Hour-glass shape Specified action is being attended to. Occurs when a
particular requested action is likely to take a bit longer.
Getting to know your Keyboard
Long before the advent of mouse and the Graphical User Interfaces, Keyboard
was the basic tool for working with the computers. Computer keyboard, very
similar to that of manual typewriters, is normally looked upon as an aid for typing
text. Even today it continues to be so; but in Windows working environment it is
much more than that. Even in this age of mouse and other tracking devices,
there are certain things you can do much faster with Keyboard keys.
A normal QWERTY computer keyboard consists of following groups of keys.

 Typing keys: These are the keys used for typing alphanumeric letters.
These include English letters, numbers, mathematical and relational
operators, various commonly used symbols,
 Control Keys also known as modifier keys: These are Esc, PrintScreen,
Scroll Lock, Pause/Break, Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys.
 Function keys (F1 to F12): these are used to perform special tasks. The
functions assigned to these keys differ from application to application.
 Navigation keys: These are used for moving around in documents, and
for editing text. These include the arrow keys (), Home, End, PgDn,
PgUp, Del and Insert keys.
 Numeric keypad keys: Most keyboards have a separate numeric keypad
specifically to help in data entry tasks. The keys are grouped together in a
block like a conventional calculator or adding machine.
67 --
 Windows Special Keys: More importantly, today’s keyboards come with
certain extra keys, designed specially for use with Windows. These
include Windows Logo and Windows Application keys. In particular, the
Windows Logo key makes many of the Windows tasks much easier to
perform.
Shortcut keys
There are certain key combinations, known as shortcut keys, which you will find
very useful while operating in Windows working environment. These short cut
keys combine either an alphabet letter or a function key with one or more
modifier keys marked as Ctrl, Alt or Shift keys to enable you to perform a variety
of tasks quickly.
Try this.
 Hold down the Ctrl key and press Esc key. Start Menu pops up.
 Press Esc key. Start Menu disappears.
Ctrl and Shift key are generally used in combination with another letter or
number of the keyboard. For example, pressing Ctrl+P sends the current
document to the printer. Holding down the Shift key while typing letters display
the typed letters in uppercase. Alt key is more often used in applications to select
menu options in the toolbars.
Windows Logo key
Instead of the above Ctrl+Esc key combination, you can perform the same task
by pressing the Windows logo key. Windows logo key is a special key
specifically meant for users of Windows OS. This is the key marked with windows
familiar logo. You may find this key on either side of the Space bar.
 Press Windows logo key. Start menu pops up.

 Press the key again. Start menu disappears.
68 --
Windows Application key
Application key is another specific purpose key. This key appears with a menu
logo, usually by the side of the Windows logo key. Pressing this key, pops up a
context sensitive Short cut menu. This is often the same as right clicking of your
mouse.
Try this:
 Press Application key. A short cut menu pops up on the desk top
 Press the key again. The short cut menu disappears.
 Right click anywhere on the desktop. A short cut menu pops up on the
desk top
 Left click anywhere on the desktop. The shortcut menu disappears.
Function Keys
The top row of keys marked as F1, F2, ……, F12 are known as Function keys.
They are called so, since each one of them can be assigned a particular function.
Try this.
 Press F1 key. A help feature pops up.
 Press Esc key. It disappears.
Another useful key combination is Alt+F4. Pressing this key combination quickly
closes your currently opened application.
Note that the functions assigned to these Function keys are application specific.
For example, the function key F2 in MS Excel application works differently than in
other applications.
By convention, certain keys or key combinations are reserved and are common
for certain specific tasks for all Windows based applications. These include F1 for
displaying help, Ctrl+P for Printing, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V for Copy, Cut and
Paste, etc.
Windows 7 Keyboard shortcuts
Windows 7 has additional keyboard shortcuts to enable you to perform a variety

of tasks related to new and enhanced features. The table shows these new
keyboard shortcuts.
Keyboard Shortcut Function

Win + Space bar Activates and deactivates Aero Peek feature
Win + Up arrow Maximizes the current window
Win + Down arrow Restores / Minimizes the window
69 --
Win + Shift +Up arrow Vertically maximizes the current window
Win + Left arrow Snaps the current window to the left half of display
Win + Right arrow Snaps the current window to the right half of display
Win + Shift + Left Moves the current window to the left
Win + Shift + Right Moves the current window to the right
Win + + Zooms the desktop In
Win + - Zooms the desktop Out
Win + Home Operates as a shortcut for Aero Shake feature
Win + P Shows External Display options
Shift + Click Starts a new instance of the application, regardless of
Or Middle Click whether it is already running.
Ctrl + Shift + Click Starts a new instance with Administer privileges; by
default, a User Account Control prompt will be
displayed
Shift + Right Click Shows Classic Window Menu (Restore / Minimize /
Move / etc. Similar to right clicking on the application’s
thumbnail image.
Ctrl + Click When clicked on a grouped icon, cycles through the
windows in the group.
Note: Win refers to Windows Logo key.
There are a number of other short-cut keys. On-line help lists all these. To look at
a list of all available shortcut keys:
1. Click on Start button
2. In the displayed Start menu, click on Help
3. In the displayed Help dialog box, type keyboard shortcuts and press
Enter.
4. In the list of help items displayed, click on General Keyboard shortcuts.
5. The Help feature displays a table consisting of all keyboard shortcuts.
The list is also reproduced as Appendix. You will appreciate the usefulness of
these short cut keys as you get to know Windows Operating System better and
start using various other applications.
Recap
In this lesson you got acquainted with Windows 7 Desktop and its various visible
features. You identified the various default desktop icons, the task bar and the
Windows new feature Windows Widgets. You also learnt how to use mouse and
its various operations like pointing, clicking, double clicking, dragging and
dropping objects. Finally you learnt the importance of using various keyboard
shortcuts to get your work done quickly in Windows OS.
70 --
Appendix A
Commonly used Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts
Press To
Ctrl + C Copy selected object
Ctrl + X Cut selected object
Ctrl + V Paste selected object
Ctrl + Z Undo previous action
Del or Delete Delete selected object
Shift + Del Delete selected item permanently without placing
the item in the Recycle Bin.
Ctrl while dragging an item Copy selected item.
Ctrl + Shift while dragging Create shortcut to selected item.
an item
F2 Rename selected item.
Ctrl + Right Arrow Move the insertion point to the beginning of the
next word.
Ctrl + Left Arrow Move the insertion point to the beginning of the
previous word.
Ctrl + Up Arrow Move the insertion point to the beginning of the
previous paragraph.
Ctrl + Down Arrow Move the insertion point to the beginning of the
next paragraph.
Ctrl + Shift with any of the Highlight a block of text.
arrow keys
Shift with any of the arrow Select more than one item in a window or on the
keys desktop, or select text within a document.
Ctrl + A Select All
F3 Search for a file or folder.
Ctrl + O Open an Item
Alt + Enter View properties for the selected item.
Alt + F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program.
Ctrl + F4 Close the active document in programs that allow
you to have multiple documents open
simultaneously.
Alt + Tab Switch between open items.
Alt + Esc Cycle through items in the order they were opened.
F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on
the desktop.
F4 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or
Windows Explorer.
Shift + F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
Alt + Spacebar Display the System menu for the active window.
Ctrl + Esc Display the Start menu.
71 --
Alt + Underlined letter in a Display the corresponding menu.
menu name
Underlined letter in a Carry out the corresponding command.
command name on an
open menu
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program.
Right Arrow Open the next menu to the right, or open a
submenu.
Left Arrow Open the next menu to the left, or close a
submenu.
F5 Refresh the active window.
Backspace View the folder one level up in My Computer or
Windows Explorer.
Esc Cancel the current task.
Shift when you insert a CD Prevents the CD from automatically playing.
into the CD-ROM drive
72 --
Appendix B
Windows keyboard shortcuts overview (Reference: Windows Help)
Use shortcut keys as an alternative to the mouse when working in Windows. You
can open, close, and navigate the Start menu, desktop, menus, dialog boxes,
and Web pages using keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts may also make it
easier for you to interact with your computer.
General keyboard shortcuts
Press To
CTRL+C Copy.
CTRL+X Cut.
CTRL+V Paste.
CTRL+Z Undo.
DELETE Delete.
Delete selected item permanently without
SHIFT+DELETE
placing the item in the Recycle Bin.
CTRL while dragging an item Copy selected item.
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an
Create shortcut to selected item.
item
F2 Rename selected item.
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
next word.
CTRL+LEFT ARROW
previous word.
CTRL+DOWN ARROW
next paragraph.
CTRL+UP ARROW
previous paragraph.
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the
Highlight a block of text.
arrow keys
SHIFT with any of the arrow Select more than one item in a window or on the
keys desktop, or select text within a document.
CTRL+A Select all.
F3 Search for a file or folder.
ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item.
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program.
ALT+Enter Displays the properties of the selected object.
ALT+SPACEBAR Opens the shortcut menu for the active window.
Close the active document in programs that
CTRL+F4
allow you to have multiple documents open
73 --
simultaneously.
ALT+TAB Switch between open items.
Cycle through items in the order they were
ALT+ESC
opened.
Cycle through screen elements in a window or
F6
on the desktop.
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or
F4
Windows Explorer.
SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
ALT+SPACEBAR Display the System menu for the active window.
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu.
ALT+Underlined letter in a
Display the corresponding menu.
menu name
Underlined letter in a command
Carry out the corresponding command.
name on an open menu
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program.
Open the next menu to the right, or open a
RIGHT ARROW
submenu.
Open the next menu to the left, or close a
LEFT ARROW
submenu.
F5 Refresh the active window.
View the folder one level up in My Computer or
BACKSPACE
Windows Explorer.
ESC Cancel the current task.
SHIFT when you insert a CD
Prevent the CD from automatically playing.
into the CD-ROM drive
Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

Press To
CTRL+TAB Move forward through tabs.
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Move backward through tabs.
TAB Move forward through options.
SHIFT+TAB Move backward through options.
ALT+Underlined Carry out the corresponding command or select the
letter corresponding option.
ENTER Carry out the command for the active option or button.
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check
SPACEBAR
box.
Arrow keys Select a button if the active option is a group of option
74 --
buttons.
F1 Display Help.
F4 Display the items in the active list.
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the
BACKSPACE
Save As or Open dialog box.
Natural keyboard shortcuts
You can use the following keyboard shortcuts with a Microsoft Natural Keyboard
or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the
Application key
Press To
Display or hide the Start menu.
+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box.
+D Show the desktop.
+M Minimize all windows.
+Shift+M Restores minimized windows.
+E Open My Computer.
+F Search for a file or folder.
+ CTRL+ +F Search for computers.
+F1 Display Windows Help.
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network
+L domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a
network domain.
+R Open the Run dialog box.
Application key Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
+U Open Utility Manager.
Accessibility Keyboard shortcuts
Press To
Right SHIFT for eight seconds Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
+U Open Utility Manager.
75 --
Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts
Press To
END Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric Display all subfolders under the selected
keypad (*) folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric
Display the contents of the selected folder.
keypad (+)
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on
Collapse the selected folder.
numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded,
LEFT ARROW
or select parent folder.
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or
RIGHT ARROW
select first subfolder.
76 --
Lesson 5: Customizing Your Windows 7 Desktop (Part 1)
Overview
The Desktop is the Windows 7’s interfacing screen that greets you when you
start your computer. It is also known as GUI, short for Graphical user Interface,
since all objects on the Desktop appears as graphical objects. Desktop is your
computer’s workspace. Windows Desktop has many similarities to that of your
study or working table. Just like you can arrange everything on your table as per
your requirements, you can also place various types of objects such as files,
folders, shortcuts to programs, documents, hardware accessories, etc on the
desktop. Just like you can beautify your table top by colorful covering materials,
likewise you can customize your computer’s Desktop. Windows 7 OS provides a
number of tools for this purpose. In this lesson you will learn how to customize
the various aspects of the Desktop to suit your working needs.

 Working with Desktop icons
o Classification of Icons
o Rearranging the icons on the Desktop
o Hiding the Desktop icons
o Changing the Size of Desktop icons
o Adding different categories of icons to Desktop
 Customizing Desktop using Themes
o Windows Aero Themes
o Desktop Slide Show Theme
o Creating Custom Desktop Slide Show Theme
o Customizing your Theme
Introduction
Objects on your Desktop appear as graphical objects. Everything that you see on
your Desktop is a file or a folder or a shortcut. Desktop is actually a root or a
system folder. It gets created when you install Windows 7. All the objects on the
screen such as files, sub-folders, shortcuts to applications, folders, printers, etc.
are stored in this folder. However, unlike other folders, Desktop folder has certain
unique properties. One of these is the way you can display the Desktop.
Working with Desktop Icons
Icons are small visual pictures. They are the

most prominent things on the Windows
Desktop. They represent programs,
applications, system tools and various other
resources available in your computer. Icons
provide quick access to various programs
stored in your computer. Generally, the
pictures on the icons visually indicate what
they represent. A small text label below the
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icons identifies them. If you point to any icon on the desktop, a ToolTip appears
displaying some useful information about that icon. The screen shows the
ToolTip display of a typical document desktop icon.
You can add or remove icons from the Desktop. You can create shortcuts to your
programs and applications, and put them on the desktop. You can also place
most frequently used files and folders on the desktop for easy access. You can
rearrange them as per your requirement.
Classification of Icons
Icons appearing on your Desktop may be classified under various categories

such as System icons, Program icons, Document System icon
icons, shortcut icons and so on.
System Icons Folder

During its installation, Windows 7 places certain icon
icons on the Desktop. These are known as System
icons. These are Computer, Network, Control
Panel and Recycle Bin. These icons cannot be Program
removed from the Desktop. icon
Program Icons
These are the icons placed by the application
programs when installed on your computer. You can
access the linked program by a single click of the Shortcut
mouse button. Nero Express Essentials, AVG Free icon
9.0, etc shown on the screen are some typical
examples of Program icons.
Document Icons
These are the icons that represent documents
stored in your computer. A Document is any file that
is created using any of the available applications in
your computer such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS
PowerPoint, etc. A document need not be a text
document; it can be a drawing, a picture, a photo,
etc.
Document
Folder Icons icon
These are icons that represent a collection of one or
more files. They are easily identifiable by their folder
shape design. My Documents icon on the screen
represents a folder.
Shortcut Icons
In addition to above, you can also place icons
representing shortcuts to various objects of your
computer, such as programs, files, folders, hard disks, printer, etc. Shortcut icons
can be easily recognized by the appearance of a small arrow in its lower left
corner.
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Rearranging Icons on the Desktop
By default, Windows 7 arranges all icons in vertical columns on the left of the
screen. This is the default, Auto Arrange setting. This means that when you
move any of the icons, Windows automatically rearranges all icons in the same
vertical order. You can however, disable this default action and place them
wherever you want. To do this:
1. Right click on any

clear area of the
Desktop.
2. A context menu
pops up.
3. Point to the View
option. Another
submenu slides out.
4. Observe that the
check box of the
Auto arrange
icons option has a
check mark which
means that it has
been enabled. Disable this by clicking on its check box, which removes
the check mark.
5. Press Esc or click anywhere on
the Desktop to remove the menu.
6. Now you can drag and place the
icons wherever you want on the
desktop.
Let’s have a demonstration.

 Click on the Recycle bin icon to
select it.
 Holding down the left mouse
button drag it to any other
location on the Desktop. Observe
that an image of the object
follows the mouse.
 Release the mouse button at a
suitable place.
 The Recycle bin icon gets shifted
to its new location.
However, when you re-activate the

Auto Arrange option by displaying the
Relocated
shortcut menu and clicking its check Recycle Bin icon
box, the icons get rearranged as before.
79
Hiding the Desktop Icons
If the Desktop icons are irritating and you wish to have a clean desktop, you can
hide the icons.
1. Right click anywhere on the

Desktop.
2. A context menu pops up.
3. Point to the View option.
Another submenu slides out.
4. Disable the Show Desktop
Icons.
5. Windows hides the icons and
presents a plain desktop.
Note however, that the Gadgets

placed on Desktop are not affected and remains visible.
To re-display the
Desktop icons, just
repeat the above steps
and enable the Show
Desktop icons option in
the context menu.
Changing the Size of Desktop icons
By default the Desktop icons are displayed in Small icons size. If you don’t have
too many icons on the Desktop, you may wish to display them either in the Large
or Medium sizes.
1. Right click anywhere on

the Desktop.
2. A context menu pops up
displaying various options
for customizing Desktop.
3. Point to the View option.
One more submenu slides
out.
4. Observe that Small Icons
is the default size. You
may select either the
Large or Medium Icons by
clicking in their respective
radio buttons. Windows immediately displays the icons in selected size.
5. Click anywhere on the Desktop or press Esc key to remove the context
menu.
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The following screen shots show how the icons appear in each of these sizes.
Small Icons
Medium Icons
Large Icons
Adding Icons to the Desktop
Windows 7 when installed places certain essential icons on the desktop by

default. These are – Computer, Control Panel, Network and Recycle Bin. You
may however add other icons to the Desktop.
Adding a System Icon to the Desktop
When you are working on your computer, very frequently you will be required to
access your User files. User files provide quick access to all your personal
folders as well as to other related folders. Unfortunately however, the Users
Files icon is not one of the icons displayed by Windows 7 on Desktop by default.
Since this is a frequently required feature, let’s ourselves place this icon on the
Desktop.
1. Right click anywhere on a blank place of your Desktop. A context menu

appears.
2. Click on the Personalize. A Personalization dialog box appears as
shown in the screen shot.
3. Click on the option Change Desktop Icons appearing on the left panel of
the Window. A Desktop Icon Settings dialog box is displayed.
4. The top section of the dialog box shows various Desktop icons. The icons
having checked boxes are the ones that are presently placed on your
Desktop.
5. Observe that the check box of the User Files icon is unchecked. Enable it
by clicking on its check box.
6. Click Apply. This instructs Windows to take necessary actions - in this
case to place the icon on the Desktop.
7. Click OK to remove the dialog box.
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8. Click on the Close (X) button at the upper right corner of the
Personalization Window to close it. You will be back to Desktop.
9. Observe that Windows has now placed the User Files icon on the
Desktop. Note that User Files icon shows the name of the registered user,
assigned if any.
You can likewise hide or display any other system icon by disabling or enabling
the check mark against the specific icons in the dialog box.
Changing the System icons
Each system icon has a distinct and unique graphic assigned to it. If you don’t
like the graphic of the assigned icon, you can change it to any other graphic.
1. Display the Desktop Icon Settings

dialog box as discussed above.
2. Select the icon whose graphic you
want to change, say that of Users
Files.
3. Click on Change Icon button.
4. A Change Icon window appears
displaying a gallery of icons.
5. You can view rest of the icons using
the horizontal scroll bar. Click on the
icon you want.
6. If none of these icons are
satisfactory, you can use Browse
button to navigate to the folder
containing your own icons and
select the icon you want.
7. Click OK.
8. The selected icon replaces the original icon.
82
9. If you change your mind, you can revert back to your original icon, by
clicking on Restore Default button.
Adding a Program Icon to the Desktop
When you install a program, a short cut to the program generally appears as an
icon on the Desktop. Since shortcuts enable you to access the programs without
actually knowing where they exist in your computer, they serve a very useful
purpose. So, in case a particular program does not place its representative icon
on the desktop, you can place it yourself. Let’s place a shortcut to Notepad
application. Notepad is a mini word processor that comes with Windows 7 and is
a very useful program for jotting down your sundry notes, reminders, etc.
1. Click on the Start button. Short Menu appears.

2. Point to All Programs. Program sub menu appears listing all programs.
3. Click on Accessories. One more sub menu appears listing all the
accessory programs that have been installed by Windows 7.
4. Scroll down till you get to Notepad item. Right click on it. A context menu
appears.
5. In the menu options, click on Send to Desktop (create shortcut).
6. Windows creates and places a shortcut to the Notepad program on the
Desktop.
7. Observe the small black arrow on the icon. This indicates that the icon is a
shortcut to the program.
Notepad program
shortcut icon
Adding a Folder icon to the Desktop
When you create a document and save it, Windows 7 saves it either in its default
Documents folder or in some other folder or drive you specified. There are
83
occasions however, when you want to keep some files handy and readily
available. This you can do by creating a folder on the Desktop itself and saving
your files in that folder. Creating a blank folder on Desktop is very easy.
1. Right click anywhere on the blank place of your Desktop. A context menu
appears.
2. Click on the option New. One more submenu with various options
appears.
3. Click on the item Folder appearing at the top of this sub menu.
4. Windows 7 creates a blank folder on the Desktop, assigns New folder as
the folder name and highlights it so that you can rename it.
5. Type any name you want, say Personal, and press Enter key.
Newly created
Folder
Customizing the Desktop Background
One of the significant changes to the Desktop in Windows 7 is its Aero interface.
Aero interface provides a brilliant color scheme with translucent and glassy effect
which provides an aesthetic look and feel to the Desktop. However, this new
effect need not necessarily appeal to all users. You may prefer a different color
scheme or a background of your own choice. Also this effect demands higher-
end hardware configuration as well as enormous memory of your computer. If
your computer is short on these, the effect may slow down the computer
processing. In such cases, you may opt to either remove the Aero effect or go in
for a plain effect. Windows 7 allows you to configure the Desktop appearance
the way you want.
There are three ways you can customize the look and feel of your Desktop.
1. By applying Themes
2. By changing the Desktop Background, and
3. By using Screen Savers
The tools for customization of the Desktop are all centrally located in
Personalization Window. There are several ways you can access this
Personalization window.
84
From Desktop
1. Right click anywhere on a blank space of
your Desktop. A context menu appears.
2. Click on the Personalize option.
From Windows Logo key

1. Press the Windows logo key. Start menu
pops up.
2. Type pers in the Start Search text box.
Windows displays Personalize your
computer item under Control Panel in the
search results. Click on it.
From Start Menu

1. Click on Start button. Start Menu appears.
2. Point to Getting Started item.
3. In the displayed tasks, click on Personalize
Windows option.
From Control Panel

2. Click on Control Panel on the right pane of
Start Menu.
3. An Appearance and Personalization
window appears as shown.
4. The Personalization category shows the
options for changing the theme, desktop
background, window glass colors, sound
effects and Screen saver.
5. Clicking on the Personalization item displays the Personalization

window as shown in the screen shot.
85
Each one of these themes with
the exception of Windows 7,
has a set of backgrounds
which are displayed as
Desktop Slide show
Note that Window 7 has centralized options for changing the applied themes,
backgrounds, sounds, screen savers, mouse cursors and so on all in one Control
Panel Personalization window.
Customizing Desktop using Themes
A theme is set of effects that can be applied all at once. It includes a background
picture or the Wallpaper for the Desktop, a Screen saver, a design for icons such
as Computer, Network, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, etc, a color scheme for
window borders and edges, a size and shape for your mouse cursor, a set of
sounds and other elements. By changing a theme you can change all the
associated effects at once.
The Personalization dialog box visually displays various themes available to you
in the themes library. A brief description of the available color schemes is given
below.
Aero This is the default color scheme if your computer’s hardware and
memory can afford it. It has advanced visual effects such as see-
through, real-time thumbnail previews of opened applications,
Windows Flip and Flip 3D features, dynamic animations, visually
delightful color schemes and color gradients, etc.
Basic As the name itself indicates, it is the Basic color scheme with none
of the Aero or Standard features. This is suitable for running
Windows 7 with minimum requirements.
Classic This interface is for those who want Windows 7 OS but with the
look and feel of Windows XP/2000. It provides for all the
86
functionalities of the Windows 7 excluding its 3D features,
thumbnail previews, and dazzling color schemes.
One of the important changes in Windows 7 is the removal of

‘Classic Start menu’. You no longer have the option of choosing
either the new Start menu style or the old familiar ‘Classic’ Start
menu look. For those who are still fond of old classic menu style,
Windows 7 provides a Windows Classic theme which gives your
desktop the look and feel of the Classic menu though its
functionalities are not present. For instance, in the Windows Classic
theme, the Start button appears with the word ‘Start’ and with
Windows logo instead of the blue ‘orb’ of Windows Vista and
Windows 7 Start button.
High Contrast This is meant for visually impaired users.
The icons at the bottom of the dialog box shows the current desktop background,
color, sound and screen saver setting for whatever theme you have currently
applied. Using these iconic buttons, you can change the Desktop backgrounds,
Window color schemes, Sounds and Screen saver. In addition, using the link on
the left pane of the dialog box, you can also change the mouse pointers.
Windows Aero Themes
The default aero theme is known as ‘Windows 7’. This theme consists of a single
desktop background scheme known as ‘Harmony’. Windows 7 has six more new
‘Aero’ themes – Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature, Scenes, and a
country specific theme. Each of these themes consists of a set of desktop
backgrounds each at 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution. All included backgrounds are
new to Windows 7 and none of the desktop backgrounds included with Vista are
present in Windows 7.
In case you are not satisfied with the default or the current theme, you can
choose any other in-built themes that Windows 7 provides.
appears.
2. Click on the Personalize option. Personalization window appears.
3. A set of 7 pre-defined themes gets displayed. The default is Windows 7
theme. You have the option of choosing from Architecture, Characters,
Landscapes, Nature, Scenes and United States themes.
4. Just click on the theme you want. Windows immediately applies that
theme. The screen shows how the desktop appears with Characters and
Scenes themes.
87
Windows 7 also includes a special country specific theme, which depicts famous
places as well as scenes of the selected country. By default, Windows 7 includes
‘United States’ theme. You can download themes from an exhaustive collection
from the Microsoft’s web site by clicking on ‘Get more themes online’ hyperlink.
You will find dozens of themes of all types and hues including a theme on India
and many countries of the World.
88
Fig: Windows 7 Desktop displaying India specific theme
Desktop Slide Show Theme
A notable addition to the Windows 7 is the Desktop Slideshow theme. Each one
of the provided themes except the default Windows 7 Harmony theme, consists
of a set of desktop backgrounds each at 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution. When
you apply any of these themes you actually set in motion a Desktop Slide show,
which automatically displays each of these associated desktop backgrounds at
89
specific time interval, which is 30 minutes by default. You can not only change
this time transition time interval but also shuffle it so that the associated
backgrounds are displayed at random rather than in the original sequence.
 Open the Control panel’s Personalization window as before.

 Select an aero theme other than the default Windows 7 harmony.
 Click on Desktop background item.
 Windows 7 displays thumbnail views of all the included background
pictures of the selected theme.
 Observe the following:
o Picture Position list box shows how the picture will be displayed.
The default is Fill. The available options are Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile
or Center.
o Change Picture every text box shows the time for which the
current desktop background picture will be displayed on the screen
before transiting to the next one. By default this is 30 minutes.
Clicking on the associated down arrow allows you to change this
period anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 day.
o By default, the background pictures are displayed in the order they
are stacked. You may however, change this to random order by
enabling Shuffle check box.
o Click on Save changes to make your changes effective.
Creating Custom Desktop Slide Show Theme
You can also create a desktop background slide show of the pictures provided by
the Windows as part of a theme or you can use your own pictures and photos.
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Creating a Desktop slide show using Windows Theme pictures
Most of the Windows 7 Aero themes come with a number of background pictures
(except Windows 7 theme). You are not however limited to these. There are
plenty of themes available on the Microsoft Web site and you can easily connect
and download them for use as desktop themes. You can selectively use these
pictures to create your own desktop slide show.
 Open the Control panel’s Personalization window as before.
 Click on Desktop background item.
 Windows 7 displays thumbnail views of all the included background
 Note that for creating a desktop slide show, you must select more than
one picture.
 Observe that each of these displayed pictures have a small check box in
their top left corner. By default all the displayed pictures are included in
the desktop slide show as indicated by their check marks.
 To make one of these displayed pictures as your desktop background,
remove the check marks of all other pictures except the one you want to
retain.
 To create a Desktop background slide show, select which of the pictures
you want to include in the slide show. To select all pictures, click on
Select all command button. You can also use Clear all command button
to de-select all the pictures.
 You can select or de-select multiple pictures by holding down the Ctrl key
while you click.
 You can add pictures from other themes to your slide show.
a. Open the theme whose pictures you want to add to the slide show.
b. Point to the picture you want to add to your slide show, and select it
by clicking on its check box.
c. Hold down the Ctrl key, and click each of the pictures that you want
to add. Only the selected pictures will appear in your slide show.
 Choose how you want these pictures to appear as desktop background.

By default, the pictures fill the entire desktop. You can choose an alternate
option by clicking the arrow of the Picture Position list box and choosing
one of the following options:
o Fill option fills the screen by cropping the picture
o Fit option fits the picture to the screen
o Stretch option stretches the pictures to fit the screen
o Tile option covers the desktop with tiles of the picture
o Center option centers the picture on the screen.
 By default, each picture stays on your desktop for 30 minutes. You can
change this to your desired interval of time. Click on the arrow of the
‘Change picture every’ list box and choose an appropriate time from the
displayed listing.
 To display the pictures in random order, click on the Shuffle check box.
 To Save your settings, click on Save Changes.
 Windows 7 starts exhibiting the desktop slide show as per its settings.
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Creating a desktop background slide show using your own Pictures
You can also use your own pictures and photos for creating desktop slide show.
 Open the Personalization Control panel window.
 Under Aero themes, select an Aero theme to apply it to the background.
 Click on Desktop background button.
 By default, all background pictures are selected and will be part of your
slide show. You may remove one or more of these pictures by unchecking
them.
 If the pictures you want to use for your desktop background are not shown
here, click the down arrow of the Picture location list box to look at the
other categories.
 You can also click on Browse option to locate any another folder that
contains the pictures or photos that you want to use for the desktop
background slide show. You can also create a separate folder for this
specific purpose and copy all pictures or photos you want to use.
 You can add new pictures to the currently setup desktop background slide
show by just copying the picture to the desktop background folder.
Likewise you can also remove any existing pictures from the current
desktop slide show.
 Choose how you want these pictures to appear as desktop background –
Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile or Center.
 Specify the display time for the pictures on the desktop.
 If you want random display of pictures, check Shuffle option.
 Save the changes by assigning a name to your custom created theme.
Note that when you save your own custom created desktop slide show, it will be
saved under My Themes folder.
Manually flipping the Desktop Slideshow
The default transition time is 30 minutes for changing of background pictures.

You may however manually flip through the various backgrounds of the currently
selected theme.
1. Choose a theme other than the default

Windows 7, say Characters theme.
Windows applies the selected theme to
the Desktop.
2. Right click anywhere on the desktop and
choose the option ‘Next desktop
background’ from the shortcut menu.
Windows changes the desktop
background to the next one in the theme.
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Viewing all the background pictures that are part of the selected theme
You can also view all the included background pictures of any selected theme.

2. Click on Control Panel item
3. In the displayed Control Panel dialog box, click on ‘Change Desktop
background’ option under ‘Appearance and Personalization’ item.
4. Windows 7 displays thumbnail views of all the included background
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5. To view the pictures of all the Window 7 themes, click on the down arrow
of the Picture Location list box, and click on Windows Desktop
backgrounds.
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Customizing your Theme
A theme is made up of elements such as background pictures, window colors,

sounds, and screen saver. You can change any of these elements and create
your own custom theme.
1. Display the Control Panel’s Appearance and Personalization window.

2. Select the theme you want to modify and use it as your custom theme.
3. To change the picture background:

a. Click Desktop Background.
b. Select the check box for the picture you want to use.
c. Save the changes.
4. To change the color of window borders:

a. Click Window Color
b. Click the color you want to use
c. Adjust the intensity
d. Save the changes
5. To change the Sounds:

a. Click Sounds
b. Change Sounds in the Program Events list.
c. Click OK
d. Save the changes
6. To change the Screen saver:

a. Click Screen saver
b. Choose the screen saver you want from the screen saver list.
c. Click OK
7. Save the changes.
8. To apply the modified theme to the desktop:

a. Click the modified theme
b. Click Save theme
c. Type a name for your modified theme
d. Click Save.
9. The saved theme appears under My Themes.
Note that the themes saved in this way can’t be shared with other users.
Recap
There is no longer any need for you to put up with drab interfaces of early
computers. Windows 7 Desktop now sports a glassy, shining, translucent
interface. If you don’t like this you can change its interface. In this lesson you
learnt how to work with desktop icons and customize your desktop using themes.
We will be continuing with the customization of desktop discussions in the next
lesson as well.
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Lesson 6: Customizing Your Windows 7 Desktop (Part 2)
Overview
In the previous lesson we discussed about the Desktop icons and how to
customize the Desktop background with themes. In this lesson let’s continue with
our discussions of customizing desktop with picture backgrounds and screen
savers. You can also customize other features of Windows 7 such as sound
effects, text effects, Display settings and other visual effects. You can also
customize your mouse to suite your requirements. In this lesson we will be
discussing all these customizations.

 Customizing Desktop using Backgrounds
 Customizing the Desktop Color Scheme and Appearance
 Customizing Desktop using Screen Savers
o Using Photos as Screen savers
 Customizing Sound Schemes, Text effects and Power Settings
 Customizing Display Settings
o Changing Screen Resolution
o Changing Colors setting
o Changing Refresh Rates
 Customizing Visual Effects
 Customizing your Mouse
Customizing Desktop using Backgrounds
Desktop Background is the image or the wall paper that appears on the Desktop.
By default, Windows provides a visually attractive glassy looking surface with
color gradient. You can however change this background to suit your mood. You
have a wide choice from colorful scenic pictures to light or solid color
backgrounds. You can also choose your own background picture.

2. Click on Control Panel item on the right pane of Start Menu.
3. In the displayed Control Panel window, click Appearance and
Personalization.
4. An Appearance and Personalization window is displayed.
5. Click Personalization. Personalization window appears.
6. Click Desktop Background icon appearing at the bottom of the window.
7. A Desktop Background window appears displaying a number of
thumbnail pictures.
8. The listed pictures are actually Windows wallpapers included in different
themes.
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1. If you don’t want the Windows Desktop Backgrounds category, you can
click on the drop down button of Picture Location list box to display other
categories such as Pictures Library, Top Rated Photos, Solid Colors,
and DeskTopBackground. The screen shot shows various available
Sample Pictures from which you can choose.
2. If none of the displayed backgrounds are satisfactory, you can choose

your own personal pictures as background. For this, click on the Browse
button, navigate to the folder containing your own personal picture and
double click on the picture to select it. Note that you can choose any
bitmap (.bmp, .dib, etc) or JPEG (.jpg, jpeg etc) picture as background.
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3. After choosing the required background picture, you need to specify how
that picture is to be presented. The choices are: Fill, Fit, Stretch, Tile and
Center.
a. Stretched expands the image to the entire size of the monitor
screen (and in the process may expand one side more than
another). This option is the preferred choice and is the best for
large pictures.
b. Tiled repeats the photo horizontally and vertically. This is suitable if
you select small pictures as your desktop background.
c. Centered centers the photo on the desktop. For the uncovered
area of the desktop, you get the option of specifying the
background color.
4. Click OK. Windows 7 applies the selected background to the Desktop.
5. The screen shot shows how the Desktop appears with a selected picture
from the Pictures Library category stretched to fill and fit the screen.
Picture Fills
the screen
Picture
Fits the
screen
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Using Photos as Screen savers
You can also set your family photos such as that of your children, pet animals,
etc as screen savers.
1. First save all such photos in one place, say in Pictures folder.
2. Display the Personalization window by any convenient method.
3. Click on the option Desktop Background.
4. In the displayed Desktop Background window, click on the down arrow
of the Location list box and choose Photos as the category.
5. Navigate to the folder containing your photos which you want to use as
Desktop background.
6. Right click on the photo you want as Desktop Background. In the Context
menu that appears, click on Set as Desktop Background.
7. Click Apply to apply the changes.
8. Click OK to remove all the dialog boxes.
9. Your Desktop now should be displaying the photo as Desktop
background.
Similarly, you can also set any Web image you come across while surfing the
web as your Desktop Background. All you have to do is to right click on the web
image and from the displayed shortcut menu, choose set as Desktop
Background option. The image gets downloaded and is saved under the Picture
categories in the location list. You can now set it as your Desktop background.
Customizing the Desktop Color Scheme and Appearance
In Windows 7 you can set colors of the Windows chrome, desktop background,
desktop icons, mouse pointers and sound themes.

2. Click on Windows Color option.
3. A Window Color and Appearance Window appears as shown.
4. Choose one of the displayed colors.
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Click here to
change
Window colors
5. You can also mix the colors and create a color shade of your satisfaction.
To do this, click on the
Show Color mixer
down arrow. You can
manipulate the Hue,
Saturation and
Brightness slide bars
to obtain the shade of
color you want.
6. The default Window color scheme is Transparency enabled.

Transparency provides a see through effect through the edges or borders
of the Window. This requires enormous mathematical computations and
consumes much more computer’s memory. If your computer memory is at
a premium or if you don’t want this transparency effect, disable the Enable
Transparency option. This will provide opaque effect to the windows
edges.
7. You can obtain the required color intensity by manipulating the Color
Intensity slide bar.
8. Click OK when you have chosen the color shade of your choice. Windows
applies the chosen color to the Desktop.
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Setting the Color Scheme for Windows 7 Basic theme
If you have selected the Windows 7 Basic as your desktop theme, then most of
the Aero effects will not be available to you. You may still however customize the
various display elements of your computer such as Desktop, Icons, inactive
window, active window, message boxes, window text, etc.
1. Click on the option Advanced appearance settings… at the bottom of

the dialog box.
2. A Window Color and Appearance dialog box appears.
3. This dialog box allows you to choose an Item from the Item list box, and
customize its color scheme. The default item shown is Desktop.
Screen shot shows how your Desktop and Personalization Window appear when
you select Windows 7 Basic Color scheme.
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When you select a color scheme, not only it affects the Windows 7’s windows
and dialog boxes, but also those of any application running on your computer.
The screen shots below show how the Format Picture dialog box of MS Word
application appears with Windows 7’s Aero and Windows Standard color
schemes.
MS Word Format Picture dialog box MS Word Format Picture dialog box
Windows 7’s Aero effects without Windows 7’s Aero effects
Customizing Desktop using Screen Savers
Screen savers are utility software that are programmed to get automatically
activated and display a slide show or moving text or some sort of animation on
the monitor when your computer is left unattended after a specific period of time.
They were developed primarily to prevent image burnouts to early monitors such
as monochromes. However, present day modern monitors do not require any
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such protection. But still Screen savers are popular as they provide a means of
visual enhancement as well as allow you to express yourself by leaving an
animated message, photos etc. when your computer is left idle for some time.
Screen savers also help in hiding the work you are currently doing. They are also
often used for password protecting your computer.
Specifying a Screen saver is optional. To choose a Screen saver for your

computer:
appears.
2. Click on the Personalize option.
A Personalization window
appears.
3. If you have not specified any
screen saver, a red circle with a
cross appears on Screen Saver
icon to indicate this.
4. Click on the option Screen Saver
5. A Screen Saver Settings dialog
box appears.
The dialog box shows a preview of the default screen saver which is the
Windows Logo. Click on the down arrow of the Screen saver list box to look at
the available screen savers.
When you click on any of these items, a preview of how it appears is displayed in
the preview window. If you want to have a real time preview, click on the Preview
button. The desktop appears with your selected screen saver. Press Esc to
return to this dialog box.
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The screen shot shows the real time screen saver effect of Bubbles screen
saver.
If you don’t want any screen savers, choose the option None in the drop down
list.
The Settings option allows you to configure the colors and animations of the
selected screen saver.
The Wait option allows you to specify or set the period of computer idle time after
which the screen saver should get activated.
You can also specify whether or not you want to display logon screen when you
re-activate your computer.
Using Photos as Screen savers
You can also set your family photos such as that of your children, pet animals,
etc as screen savers.
1. First save all such photos in one place, say in Pictures folder.
2. Display the Personalization window by any convenient method.
3. Click on Screen Saver option.
4. In the Screen Saver list box, select the option Photos.
5. In the displayed Screen Saver Settings dialog box click Settings.
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6. By default, Windows 7 uses the photos from your Pictures folder for
screen saver as shown in the displayed Photos Screen Saver Settings
dialog box. To select the folder containing your selected photos, click
Browse.
7. In the Browse for Folder dialog box, select the folder containing your
selected photos.
8. Click Apply to apply the changes.
9. Click OK to remove al dialog boxes.
10. Your Desktop now should be displaying the first photo as Desktop as
screen saver.
Customizing Sound Schemes
A Sound scheme is a set of sounds applied to events in Windows and programs.

Windows 7 has included as many as 13 new Sound schemes. These are
Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage,
Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna and Sonata. You can choose any of these
Sound schemes as follows:
2. Under ‘Personalization’ item, click on Change Sound effects.
3. A Sound dialog box appears.
4. Choose ‘Sounds’ tab if not already selected.
5. The Sound Scheme list box shows the currently selected Sound scheme.
6. Click on the down arrow of the list box to display a list of available sound
schemes.
7. Select the Sound scheme you want.
8. Click Apply and Click OK.
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Customizing Text Effects
How your text appears on the screen along with your selected color scheme is
also important. The sharpness of text appearance on screen depends on how
the edges of font characters are smoothed. Click on the Effects button in the
Appearances dialog box to look at the current settings for text effects.
The options are self-
explanatory. Observe that
Windows 7 has made all the
right choices. By default, it uses
the ClearType technology for
smoothing the edges of screen
fonts. ClearType is the
preferred method for Windows
applications.
ClearType is a software technology developed by Microsoft that improves the

readability of text on existing LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays), such as laptop
screens, flat panel monitors, etc. With ClearType font technology, the words on
your computer screen look almost as sharp and clear as those printed on a piece
of paper.
The other two options help in enhancing the visual effects while working with text
in Windows Aero interface. In case your computer is short on hardware
resources, you may disable these two options.
Customizing Power Setting
The performance of your computer often depends on how it consumes energy.

The Power settings allow you to select a suitable power plan to balance both
performance and Energy consumption.
1. Click on the Change Power Settings option at the bottom of the Screen
Saver Settings dialog box.
2. A Power Options dialog box appears. The options in the screen are self-
explanatory.
3. By default, the Balanced Power plan is selected. This is suitable for most
computers. You have the choice of selecting either the Power Saver plan
or the High Performance Power Plan.
4. Choose the appropriate Power Plan and click the Close (X) button to close
the dialog box.
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5. After making all your selections, click on Apply to apply the settings.
6. Click OK to exit from the dialog box.
Customizing the Display Settings
Display settings refer to your monitor settings. The display on your screen
monitor, particularly graphics, very much depends on the:
1. Screen Resolution
2. Color Quality, and
3. Refresh rate
The resolution and colors that you can set largely depends on the Video adopter
and the monitor of your computer. Normally, Windows 7 sets these and generally
they are satisfactory for all purposes.
Screen Resolution is the clarity or the sharpness of pictures on your monitor

screen. It is specified in terms of Pixels, short for Picture Elements. The
resolution is specified as so many pixels wide x so many pixels high. A pixel is
actually a small dot. More the number of pixels, greater is the clarity. Normally
the number of pixels widthwise is much larger than the number of pixels height-
wise. This is known as the aspect ratio.
Monitors are often classified as per their screen resolutions. Early monitors,
particularly text based, used to have a standard resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.
This is the low end and is being now practically phased out. The mid-end
resolution monitors have resolutions of 800 x 600 and 960 x 600 (for 15-inch
monitors). High end resolution Monitors have resolution of 1024 x 780, 1152 x
864, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 960 and 1280 x 1024 (for 17-inch and above monitors),
and 1600 x 900 and 1920 x 1080 or more for 22-inch monitors. Monitors having
higher resolutions than these are generally used for Games and heavy graphic
oriented applications. Normal conventional monitors support screen resolutions
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ranging from 800 x 600 to 1280 x 1024. Present day LCD and LED monitors can
have still higher resolutions.
The type of application you run on your computer often decides the display
settings. For example, text display such as Word processers may require lower
resolutions while graphics display such as for CAD applications require higher
resolutions. Modern conventional monitors support a wide range of resolutions so
it is just a question of setting the required display for the application being used.
You can view and modify the current display settings easily.
appears.
2. Click on the Personalize option. A Personalization window appears.
3. Click on the Display settings option. A Display dialog box appears.
Changing Screen Resolution
Click on Adjust Resolution or Change Display Setting option in the left pane of
the window. A Screen Resolution dialog box appears as shown in the screen
shot.
The dialog box shows the

resolution setting for the current
LCD monitor as 1600 x 900. It
may be different in your monitor.
To change this resolution:
 Click on the down arrow
of Resolution list box.
 Drag the slider of the
Resolution sliding bar up
for increasing the
resolution or down for
reducing the resolution.
 As you drag, the
Resolution text box shows
the changing resolution.
The picture in the Preview
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also changes to visually indicate the effect of changed resolutions.
Note that setting a high resolution enables you to view much more matter on your
screen but at smaller sizes. Setting a low resolution displays the size of text and
images much larger but may not provide the required sharpness. So you have to
choose a resolution that is good for your work. Normally the default settings are
satisfactory for most users.
When you change the settings, Windows 7 takes a few seconds of time for
applying the new screen resolution. It then displays a message asking you to
confirm the change and waits for about 15 seconds for your confirmation. If you
don’t confirm the change, it will revert back to its earlier screen resolution.
If the computer hardware can’t support the changed resolution, the screen may
go blank. Don’t worry. Just wait for 15 seconds. Windows reverts back to its
earlier screen resolution.
Changing Colors setting
Click on Advanced Settings option in the Screen resolution window. One more
dialog box appears with some more advanced options for setting Colors, Refresh
rates, and so on.
The number of colors that your monitor can support is dependent on the video
adapter. Higher the color depth the more colors the monitor can show. Naturally
with more colors, your graphic images, photos and videos look much more
colorful. Present monitors can support 16 bit, 24 bit as well as 32 bit. The default
setting for monitors is High 32 bit setting and is satisfactory. If the setting is low,
the photographic images may not look sharp.
Changing Refresh Rates
Screen refresh rates refer to the speed with which graphic elements are
refreshed on your screen. It is specified in terms of Hertz (Hz). This is particularly
important in animations, games and
other such graphical applications. Higher
the refresh rate, better will be the effect
of animations.
Follow these steps to view and possibly

change the current refresh rate.
1. Click on the Advanced settings in
the Display settings dialog box.
2. A dialog box appears displaying
the type of monitor and chipset
you are using.
3. Click on Monitor tab to view its
properties.
Under Monitor Settings, the Screen

refresh rate list box shows your
monitor’s current refresh rate. Clicking on
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the down arrow of this list box, displays other available refresh rates that you can
set.
Screen flickering is often associated with screen refresh rates. Check the
performance with a slightly higher or lower refresh rates.
IMPORTANT!
Don’t remove the check mark from Hide modes that this monitor cannot display
option. As the warning below the option clearly indicates, selecting display
modes that your monitor can’t display correctly, may damage your hardware.
Current Adapter and Monitor Settings
You can view the current settings and

other information about your monitors
and Video adapter.
1. Click on the Advanced settings

in the Display settings dialog
box.
2. A dialog box appears displaying
the type of monitor and chipset
you are using.
3. You can click on Adapter and
Monitor tabs to view their
properties.
Important: Unless you know what you are

doing, it is better not to tamper with the
display settings. If your monitor can’t support higher display settings such as
higher refresh rate setting, etc, the display could be affected and even damage
your hardware. So be extra careful when you are making changes.
Customizing other Visual Effects
If your computer does not meet the requirements of Windows 7’s AERO features,
or does not have enough memory, then Windows 7 disables the aero features
when it is installed, or it may enable partial aero effects. If you still want some
aero effects, you may tinker with various aero customization options and force
Windows 7 to show aero effects provided your computer’s installed graphics card
allows it and you don’t mind slight degradation in your system’s performance.
1. Click Start button to display the Start Menu.

2. Click Control Panel item to display the Control Panel window.
3. Click System option under System and Security category.
4. Click Advanced System Settings item in the left pane.
5. In the displayed System Properties dialog box, click Advanced tab.
6. In the displayed Advanced options, click Settings button of Performance
category.
7. In the displayed Performance Options dialog box, choose Visual
Effects.
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8. Various Aero and other visual effects that are available are shown in this
dialog box.
9. Note that the default option, ‘Let Windows choose what’s best for my
computer’ is enabled,
indicating that Windows 7
has automatically made all
the choices based on your
system’s Windows
experience index rating,
when it was installed. The
check marked options under
Custom category are the
visual effects that are
currently set. Some of these
options might be disabled if
full aero features are not
available to your computer.
10. To enable or disable any of
these visual effects options,
select the Custom option
and click the check box of
the option you want to
enable or disable.
11. If your system resources
permit, you can experience
the selected visual effects.
Customizing your Mouse
Mouse is an essential piece of equipment while working in Windows

environment. Normally the default settings of mouse are quite satisfactory. But in
special cases you may have to customize your mouse as per your requirements.
Let’s briefly look at the various customization options available for your mouse.
appears.
2. Click on the Personalize option. A Personalization window appears.
3. Click ‘Change Mouse Pointers’ option in the left pane of the window.
4. Mouse Properties dialog box appears as shown. The customization
options are spread over 5 tabs – Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options,
Wheel and Hardware. Let’s briefly look at these options.
Buttons options:
Switch primary and secondary buttons: By default the left mouse button is the
primary button. You use the primary button to select and drag objects on the
screen. If you are a left hander, then you may prefer to have the right mouse
button as the primary button. To make this change, enable the check box of
option ‘Switch primary and secondary buttons’ under Buttons configuration.
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Double–click speed: If you experience some difficulty in quickly opening the
folders by double-clicking, then perhaps you may have to adjust the speed of
double clicking. The Double-click speed section in Buttons options, allows you
to adjust the speed of double clicking by testing on a virtual folder.
ClickLock: If you ever require to continuously highlight or drag without holding

down the mouse button, then enabling the Turn on ClickLock check box allows
you to do this.
Pointers option:
Mouse assumes different shapes and animations while performing various tasks
such as selecting, dragging, working in background, etc. A set of such shapes
and animations is known as a Mouse scheme. Windows 7 provides a number of
such schemes. The default scheme is Windows Aero (system scheme). You
can choose an alternate scheme from the Scheme list of Pointers options. When
you select a scheme, you can also preview the various associated shapes, and if
necessary you can also customize them.
You can also disable or enable pointer shadows and Allow themes to change
mouse pointers options.
Pointer Options:
The options under this section allows you to select a pointer speed for Motion,
Snap to the default button in a dialog box, hide or display pointer trails, hide
pointer while typing and show location of pointer when you press the Ctrl key.
The options are self-explanatory.
Wheel options:
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Wheel options allow you to set the speed of vertical and horizontal scrolling. By
default, when you roll the wheel one notch to scroll in vertical direction, three
lines are skipped. Likewise when you scroll in horizontal direction, you can tilt the
wheel to scroll three characters at a time.
Hardware options:
This tab shows the particulars and properties of the mouse.
Recap
In this lesson you learnt how to customize the Desktop using backgrounds and
screen savers. You learnt how to customize desktop color schemes, appearance,
sound schemes, text effects, display settings and visual effects. You also learnt
how to customize mouse settings.
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Lesson 7: Exploring Windows 7 Taskbar
OVERVIEW
Windows Taskbar has always been a prominent feature of Windows Desktop.

Besides being the home to the Start button, it displays the currently opened
programs and documents, allows you to switch to other active programs,
provides quick access to desktop while working in any other application,
indicates the status of processes, shows the current time and date, and so on. It
also contains task buttons that allows single click access to programs and
applications. Windows Vista enhanced the appearance of its taskbar by providing
it a translucent glassy look and also revamped the Taskbar with some significant
changes and some enhanced features. Windows 7 has now a completely
refurbished the look and feel of Taskbar and has made it much more useful. In
this Lesson you will learn about the Taskbar, its importance and how to
customize the Taskbar to suit your needs.

 Importance of the Taskbar
 Exploring the Structure of Taskbar
 Pinning and unpinning of programs
 Working with Task buttons
 Working with Thumbnail Previews
 Working with Auto Peek feature
 Working with Notification area
Importance of the Taskbar
One of the prominent features displayed on Windows 7 Desktop when you start
your computer is the Taskbar. It appears as a horizontal bar at the bottom of the
Desktop. Taskbar has been and continues to be an important element in all
versions of Windows. If anything, it has gained more prominence in Windows 7.
Taskbar is so important that Windows keeps it always on the screen irrespective
of what you are doing on the computer.
The Taskbar in Windows 7 has seen the most visual changes and has been
revamped to make it more of an application oriented tool rather than Windows-
oriented. It now looks more sophisticated and provides better thumbnail
previews, bigger taskbar buttons, and more ways to customize.
In Windows 7, the Taskbar has undergone some significant changes. It now

sports not only the Aero’s translucent glassy look but also some enhanced
features. You have already seen and explored the changes in the Start button
which is a prominent feature of the Taskbar. You will learn about the other
constituent elements of Taskbar in this lesson.
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Here is a brief list of visual changes in the Taskbar in Windows 7:
1. The Quick Launch bar has been removed. Instead you can directly pin
your programs to the Taskbar for instant access. Pinning of applications
will be discussed in detail later in this lesson.
2. The taskbar is now bigger (10 pixels) compared to the Taskbar in
Windows Vista and can accommodate larger sized icons as well as touch
screen input.
3. By default, the Taskbar shows icons of three applications – The Internet
Explorer 8, Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player. As these
programs are very frequently used, they are ‘permanently’ pinned on the
Taskbar to the right of the Start menu.
4. By default, Taskbar buttons show just the icons of the active programs,
rather than their application titles. You may however configure the taskbar
to show the titles as well.
5. When you move the pointer over the task button you will get to see a live
thumbnail preview of that application if it is running. If not, only its title is
displayed.
6. You can rearrange the icons in the taskbar the way you want.
Uses of Taskbar
Taskbar serves a number of useful purposes. Some of them are:

1. It hosts the most important Start button and the Start Menu.
2. It displays the currently opened programs and documents.
3. It allows you to switch to other active programs.
4. It provides quick access to desktop while working in any other application.
5. It indicates the status of background processes.
6. It shows the current time and date, important messages, and so on.
STRUCTURE OF TASKBAR
In its barest minimum, the Taskbar contains four parts:

1. The Start button from which you can display the Start menu.
2. A Programs Pinning area from which you can launch pinned programs at
a single click.
3. A Taskbar buttons area which displays icons of any opened programs or
applications, and
4. A Notification area (also known as System tray) which displays a digital
clock and few icons. Most of the icons in the notification area are meant
to provide status and notifications about things like incoming email,
updates, and network connectivity.
5. Taskbar also has a few toolbars that can be displayed. We will be
discussing these later in the next lesson.
Start Pinned Task buttons Notification Show

Button Programs Area Desktop
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Let’s discuss these constituent parts of the Taskbar.
Start button
Start button is a prominent and most important feature of the taskbar. You have
already seen and explored the changes in the Start button and it’s associated
Start Menu the in the previous lessons.
Programs pinning area
To the right of the Start menu is the Pinning area for programs. This replaces the
Quick Launch bar of Windows Vista and earlier versions. As the name indicates,
this area is meant to display shortcuts to frequently used tasks, programs and
web pages. You can quickly launch the programs pinned in this area by a single
click. By default, Windows 7 shows three pinned programs. These are the
Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer and the Windows Media Player. As these
programs are very frequently used, they are ‘permanently’ pinned on the
Taskbar.
Pinning area for programs
Pinning and Unpinning programs to the Taskbar (and Start menu)
Windows XP introduced the concept of pinning programs to Start menu to make

them visible and available from Start menu at all times. Windows 7 has extended
this concept to Taskbar as well. You can pin any application you want to the
taskbar. Pinning an application to the task bar allows you to launch that
application without having to use the Start menu or a desktop shortcut. When you
pin a program to the Taskbar, it is always visible to you as a button in the taskbar
and you can launch it any time you want by just clicking on it.
There are several ways you can pin a program or an application to the Task bar:
Method 1: Selecting from the Start Menu

2. Right click on the application you want to pin, say Calculator. If this item
is not displayed in the Start Menu, then click on Accessories and select it
from the list of accessory programs.
3. In the displayed shortcut menu, choose the option ‘Pin to Taskbar’.
4. The item will disappear from the Start menu and now appears in the Task
bar.
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Method 2: By dragging the application from
the Start menu to the taskbar. Try this:
1. Click on Start button to display the
Start menu.
2. Select any displayed program in the
Start menu, say Paint program. If
this item is not displayed in the Start
Menu, then click on Accessories and
select it from the list of accessory
programs.
3. Holding down the left mouse button,
drag the Paint program to the
Taskbar. Observe that as you drag,
an image of the program also moves
with the pointer. When you hover the
pointer on the Taskbar, a tooltip ‘Pin
to Taskbar’ appears
4. Drop the image on the Taskbar.
5. The Paint item is removed from the
Start menu and now appears in the
Task bar.
Method 3:
1. If the application is currently opened
and is displayed as an icon in the
Taskbar, right click on the icon.
2. From the displayed shortcut menu,
choose ‘Pin this program to taskbar’.
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To unpin an application from the Task
bar:
1. Right click on the application icon
in the taskbar.
choose ‘Unpin This Program
from Taskbar’.
3. The program icon disappears from
the Taskbar and now appears in the Start menu.
Task Buttons
Task buttons are icons representing programs and applications that are
currently running in your computer. Windows 7 displays an icon for every opened
program in the taskbar. A typical view of taskbar showing several task buttons
representing opened applications is shown in the figure.
Opened Applications or Task buttons
When you open any program, file or a document, its icon (and name if so
configured) appears in the task bar as a task button. The screen shot below
shows task buttons of four programs – a document in MS Word, Notepad
program, the Paint program and the Calculator.
Pinned Task Buttons Notification

Programs Panel
When you have more than one program opened on your desktop, their windows
overlap each other. The application window which is in front will be the active
window on which you can work. For example in the screen shot, the Notepad
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program window which is in the forefront is the active program. Observe that in
the taskbar, the task button representing the active window or program is slightly
brighter and appears focused as compared to other task buttons. If you want to
work with the Paint application, all you have to do is to click on its task button in
the taskbar. Paint application window now comes to the forefront and its task
button now appears brighter and focused. Active program
Running applications are denoted by a border frame around the icon. In the
figure below, the MS Word and Paint program icons have borders around them
indicating that these programs are currently open and running. The icons of other
applications such as Windows Media Player and WordPad programs have no
borders indicating that these are not currently running but are pinned programs.
When you point to a taskbar icon of an opened application, a color effect
indicates its open status.
Pinned programs
Currently open and running programs
Minimized Programs
When you have more than one application opened, you can keep the program on
which you are currently working open on the desktop while temporarily
minimizing the other programs so that they don’t come in the way of your
working. Minimized programs are also active programs except that their windows
are not displayed on the desktop. To minimize a program, all you have to do is to
click on the minimize button of the application’s control buttons in its title bar. To
display the minimized program’s window on the screen all you have to is to click
on its task button.
Currently opened Minimized applications

application
In the taskbar shown, the first task button represents the MS Word application
which is currently open on the desktop, while rest of the task buttons represents
programs that have been minimized.
Thumbnail Previews
When you point to a currently opened program icon in the Taskbar, a thumbnail
preview of that program gets displayed. For pinned programs which are not
currently running, no such previews are displayed. Only icons are shown when
the application is not running.
If you open multiple instances of the same program or application, you will see
all of them grouped under one item in the Taskbar. For example, if you have
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opened 3 documents in MS Word program, all these will be stacked as a single
item in the taskbar. In Vista if you point to such a group in the taskbar, you will
get a live thumbnail preview of one of them only. However, in Windows 7, when
you point to such a group, you will be displayed a live thumbnail previews of all
the instances of the application. You can just click on any of these previews to
display it on the desktop.
The figure shows three instances of MS Word documents currently opened.

Observe that the name of the currently active opened document as well as that of
the application also appears on top of the preview.
Active document
Windows 7 not only pops up thumbnail previews of all opened applications but
also allows you to interact with them. For example, you can close an application
by clicking on the ‘X’ close button of the preview.
Peek Feature
Windows 7 adds a new ‘Peek’ feature to the thumbnail previews. When you
hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail preview, Windows 7 retains the
window of the application pointed to on the desktop while all other opened
windows become transparent.
The Screen shots demonstrate this Peek feature. The first figure shows a couple
of applications currently opened on desk top – a MS Word document and a MS
Paint program.
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The figure on the bottom left shows the ‘Peek’ effect when the pointer is moved
over the left thumbnail preview of Word document, while the figure on the right
shows the ‘Peek’ effect when the pointer is moved over the thumbnail preview of
the Paint picture.
You can also use the ‘Peek’ feature to look at the individual windows if you have
opened multiple instances of the same application as the figure illustrates.
Thumbnail previews of the Taskbar have another novel feature. The thumbnail
previews have integrated thumbnail toolbars which can control the application
from the thumbnail previews themselves. Let’s demonstrate this with Windows
Media Player (WMP).
 Click on the Windows Media Player (WMP) program icon in the taskbar to
open it.
 Minimise the Program by clicking on it’s minimize button.
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 Point to the icon in the taskbar. A thumbnail preview appears. Observe the
appearance of toolbar at the bottom of the thumbnail with the play button
highlighted. Click on it start the Player.
 Now again point to the WMP icon. The WMP toolbar again appears this
time with various other controls as in regular view. You can use these
buttons to move to the previous track or to next track or stop the playing of
tracks.
Unlike in Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque
when a window is maximized with Windows Aero feature applied. Instead they
remain translucent.
When you move a program window that has been maximized, the Windows 7
restores it to its normal state automatically.
Aero Peek
One more noticeable change in the Taskbars of Windows 7 is the relocation of

Show Desktop button. The purpose of Show Desktop button is to allow you to
look (or ‘peek’) at the Desktop when you have multiple windows open on the
Desktop. In Windows Vista, this button appears to the immediate right of the
Start button. In Windows 7, this button is now relocated to the extreme right of
the taskbar to the right of the digital
time and date display, and appears
as a rectangular button (aka sliver)
as shown. This button is a part of a
new feature of Windows 7 known
as Aero Peek.
Aero Peek is another one of those nifty features of Windows 7 Desktop. Aero
Peek has several uses. A demonstration will help in appreciating this feature.
1. Open some applications such as WordPad, Paint, WMP, etc.
2. Position the mouse pointer on the Show Desktop button in the Taskbar.
Observe that all opened visible windows become transparent allowing you
to get a quick look or ‘peek’ at the Desktop. Only the outlines of the
opened applications are visible. When you move the pointer away from
the Show Desktop button, the programs become visible again.
3. Now click on the Show Desktop button. All visible programs get
minimized giving you a clear view of the Desktop. Outlines of opened
applications are also not displayed. Clicking on the Show Desktop button
again restores all widows to their original displays.
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You can also use the keyboard shortcuts to temporarily preview the Desktop.
1. Press the Windows Logo key and the Spacebar (Win+Spacebar) together
to temporarily preview the desktop hiding all open windows.
2. Press the Windows Logo key and D (Win+D) to minimize all open
windows in one go. Press the combination again to restore the windows.
Turning off the Aero Peek feature
If this aero peek feature is irritating to you, you can turn this feature off.

taskbar to display its context
menu.
2. Click on Properties
3. In the displayed Taskbar and
Start Menu Properties dialog
box, choose Taskbar tab if not
already selected.
4. Disable the option ‘Use Aero
Peek to preview desktop’
option.
5. Click OK.
Note that this only disables the

‘Peek’ feature of the Show Desktop
button. Peek feature associated with
thumbnail views is not affected.
Notification area (System Tray)
Notification area or the System Tray is a set of icons appearing at the right end of
the Task bar. Notification area is a regular feature in all versions of Windows.
Generally, the icons in this area represent the programs that are running in the
background.
Notifications are small pop-up windows that are displayed to inform you the
status of some task being executed by your computer. For example, when you
connect to Internet, a notification may appear in this area to inform that your
computer is now currently connected to Internet.
Message when not connected to Internet Message when connected to Internet
If you have an active Anti Virus program installed, it may pop up a message
about the current status of its checking or any viruses found. New email message
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arrival may also get displayed here. Availability of Windows updates is also
displayed in this area.
Windows 7 has revamped the notification area to make it friendlier and easier to
use. By default, now it only displays selected few icons in the notification area.
These include the Action Center status icon, Volume icon and the digital date &
time display. If your computer has an internet connection, a Network status
symbol icon also appears here.
Volume Control
Network Status
Date and Time

Action enter
Display
Status
Fig: Notification Area Hidden icons in Notification area
Rest of the icons is hidden in an overflow area from where they can be accessed
with a single mouse click. Clicking on the upward pointing arrow in the
Notification area pops up a small window above the taskbar displaying all the
hidden icons. Unlike in Windows Vista and Windows XP, the hidden icons are not
displayed on the taskbar. You may however drag any of these hidden icons to
the taskbar for visible display. You can also click on any of them to perform the
associated task.
Customizing the Notification Area
You can customize the Notification area to decide which icons and notifications
are to be displayed in this area.
Taskbar.
click on Properties item.
3. A Taskbar and Properties dialog
box appears.
4. Click on Taskbar tab, if not
already selected.
5. Click on the Customize button of
the Notification area section.
6. A ‘Notification Area Icons’ dialog
box appears.
7. From this dialog box you can
select which icons and
notifications should appear on the
taskbar. Note that if you choose to
hide icons and notifications, you
won’t be notified about changes and updates.
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8. The dialog box lists various items with icons and their associated
behaviors. The Items displayed may be different in your computer. For
each displayed item, there are three possible associated behaviors. These
are:
a. Show icon and notifications
b. Hide icon and notifications
c. Only show notifications.
Observe that by default ‘Show icon and notifications’ behavior setting has
been assigned to only three icons – Acton Center, Network and Volume. For
rest of the icons, Only Show notification behavior setting has been assigned.
To change these default behavior settings, just click the down arrow of the
associated list box and select the required behavior from the list.
Displaying all the Icons and Notifications
You can override the default settings and choose to display all the above icons in
the Taskbar by enabling the check box option ‘Always show all icons and
notifications on the Taskbar’ appearing at the bottom left of the dialog box.
Hidden icons (default) Displaying all Icons & Notifications
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Turning System icons on or off
The System icons are Clock, Volume, Network, Power and Action Center. By
default these system icons are displayed in the Navigation area except for the
Power icon which is turned off. Power icon is meant for laptops and for PCs it is
disabled. You may change the behavior of any or all of these icons.
1. Click on Turn System icons on or off option appearing at the left bottom
of the dialog box.
2. A System Icons dialog box appears.
3. To change the current behavior setting of any system icon, click on the
arrow of the icon’s behavior list box and choose the required behavior,
either On or Off.
4. Click OK.
The response of an icon in this notification area when it is pointed to, or right
clicked or left clicked, depends on the application that is represented by the icon.
When pointed to, these icons either display the name of the program they
represent or display some useful information. For example, pointing to digital
date display, pops up a message showing current day and date. Likewise
pointing to the Volume icon, displays the current volume setting for the speakers.
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Most of the icons when right clicked display a context menu with their own
options. For example, if you right click on Volume icon, a context menu will
appear with various options. Likewise, if you right click on Windows Update icon,
the status message of Windows update appears.
Left clicking on these icons produces some action. For example, if you left click
on Volume icon, it displays a Mixer gadget that allows you to increase or
decrease the volume of the audio feature of your computer. Clicking on the digital
time display pops up a date – time calendar, and allows you set the date and
time.
Removing the icons from Notification area
Unlike icons in Task bar, you can’t straight away remove the icons from the
system Tray. This is because, they are not really shortcuts, but represent
programs which might be actually running in the background. Each of these icons
has its own removal settings. You can remove some icons such as Norton
antivirus icon, by disabling them. Some programs may have options in their
context menus such as Quit, Exit or Close. Icons of some programs can’t be
removed unless the programs themselves are uninstalled.
You must be very careful while removing the icons in this area. Some of these
icons in the System tray represent programs that auto-start when you ‘boot’ your
computer such as for example icons of anti-virus programs. If you remove icons
of such programs, you may endanger the safety of your computer itself.
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System CLOCK
The working of the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of your computer is controlled
by an in-built System clock. This clock is battery operated. Even when your
computer is off, it continues to work. An icon in the extreme right of the Taskbar
represents this clock in digital format. This not only displays the time but also the
date as well.
To view the current day:

1. Point to the clock and hold it
there for a second or two.
2. A small message box pops up
displaying the current day and
date.
You can also view the time in the conventional analog clock format and the date
as a calendar.
1. Click on the digital system clock.
2. A dialog box pops up displaying an analog clock showing the current time
and the calendar for Current year
the current month. Current month
Observe that the
current date is
marked in the
Calendar. Date and
time are also shown
in the conventional
formats.
Current date
Current time
Changing Date and Time
To display any other month of the current year, you can click on the arrows on
either side of the Calendar label to
browse through previous and
succeeding months one at a time.
Alternatively, you can click on the
month and year title in the Calendar.
The calendar view changes to
months view of the current year. You
can click on any month label to
display the calendar for that month.
The month and year title changes to
the current year title.
You can also view calendar of any
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month between the years 1900 to 2099. Suppose you want to know, say, what
was the day of your birth which falls on 10 July 1945.
1. Click on the month and year title in

the Calendar. The calendar view
changes to months view of the
current year.
2. Click on the year title in the calendar.

The view changes to display a block
of 12 years, from 1999 to 2010.
When you click on any year in this
range, the associated 12 months of
that year gets displayed. You can
then click on the month you want to
display the calendar for that month
and year.
3. If the calendar for the month you

want to view is not in this range of
block of years, click again on the title
showing the block of years. The view
now changes to display blocks of 10
years from 1999 to 2099. You can
now select the block of year of your
choice. All the 10 years (plus one
preceding and one succeeding year)
of that block gets displayed. Now
you can select the year, which in turn
displays all the 12 months of that year. Click on the month you want to
view the calendar for that month.
Click on the back arrow to display previous bocks of years. Click on the
block of year in which your birthday falls, that is, 1940-1949. Screen shot
pictorially shows how you can do this.
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In case you have not noticed, if your birthday happens to be 10 July 1945 then
your day of the birth is Tuesday.
Using Windows 7’s Task Manager
Windows 7 provides a utility known as Task Manager. Using this tool, you can:
1. View Programs and applications currently running on your computer.
2. View processes (back ground system programs) that are currently running
on your computer
3. View a dynamic display of your computer's performance.
4. Open new programs
5. Switch between programs, and
6. Close unwanted programs.
Accessing Task Manager
1. Right click on any blank area

of the taskbar. A shortcut
menu pops up.
2. Click on Task Manager
option.
3. Windows Task Manager
dialog box appears.
Observe that it has a number of

tabs, each tab meant to display a
specific kind of information.
You can use Task Manager to

monitor your computer’s
performance or to close a program
that is not responding.
Viewing the applications currently on
When you open the Windows Task Manager, it opens with Applications tab
activated. This tab shows all the programs and applications currently running in
your computer.
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Click here to view the
current running programs
Currently running
Applications Use these options to Close,
Switch or Open new
applications.
To switch between the active applications:

 Click on the application name.
 Click on Switch To button.
 The selected application opens.
To close an application:
 Click on the application name to be closed.
 Click on End Task button.
 The selected application gets closed.
To open a new application:

 Click on New Task button.
Enter the name of
 A Create New task window pops up. the task to be
 Enter the name of the opened
program, document or
address of the Web page to
open, say Notepad. Notepad
is a mini-Word processor.
 Click OK. The specified task
gets opened.
Viewing the Processes currently on
When Windows 7 is running, a number of its ancillary (supporting) programs and

system resources, called Processes, will also be running. To view a list of all
processes currently running:
 Click on Processes tab in the Windows Task Manager.
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 Windows 7 displays all the processes currently active in the computer.
 The status bar of the Task Manager window displays details such as the
number of processes running, percent of CPU usage and the memory
used by these processes.
 If you are sure that any of these processes is not required, you can end it
by selecting it and clicking on End Process button.
Click here to view

currently running
processes and system
resources
Viewing the Services Currently on
Services are programs that run in

the background and provide support
to other programs. To view a list of all
processes currently running:
 Click on Services tab in the

Windows Task Manager.
 Windows 7 displays all the
processes currently active in
the computer.
As with the Processes, the

information in this dialog box is useful
for computer diagnostics.
Viewing your Computer’s Performance Dynamically
Your computer’s performance depends on a number of factors. Important among

them are the speed of processor, the amount of memory available and its usage.
You can view the performance of your computer dynamically.
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 Click on Performance tab.
 Windows 7 displays graphs to visually indicate the CPU and Memory
usages, as well as a number of other technical details about your
computer’s performance.
Note: The information displayed by using the Processes, services and

Performance tabs may appear Greek to most of us, but for a computer
system analyst, these could provide valuable information about your
computer’s performance and for computer diagnostics.
Note that when Windows Task Manager is running, an icon appears in the
system tray or the Notification area of the Taskbar. This icon displays the
percentage of CPU usage.
Click here to
dynamically view
your computer
performance.
RECAP
Taskbar is a very important element of your computer Desktop and serves as

one of the control centers. In this lesson you explored the various features of the
Taskbar. You learnt how to pin and unpin programs. You learnt how to display
and hide icons in the Notification area. You also used the Task Manager as a
diagnostic tool to check the performance as well as to show the programs,
processes, services that are currently running on your computer.
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Lesson 8: Customizing Windows 7 Taskbar
OVERVIEW
In the previous lesson you explored the Taskbar and its various features. You
learnt about its structure and how helpful it is in your routine tasks. You also got
acquainted with the concept of Pinning programs to taskbar, Thumbnail views,
the Notification area as well as the system clock. The Taskbar can be
customized to enhance its usefulness to you by way of making changes to the
structure of Taskbar, adding new toolbars, displaying additional clocks, and so
on. You will learn all about these in this lesson.
Skills you will Learn in this lesson:

 Displaying the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Dialog box
 Working with Taskbar (Locking, Unlocking, moving, Autohiding,, etc)
 Grouping of similar task buttons in the Taskbar
 Thumbnail previews of Minimized programs and documents
 Adding Toolbars to the Taskbar
 Setting up Date and Time
 Setting up Time Zone
 Setting up Additional Clocks
 Synchronizing your Computer clock with an Internet time Server
Customizing the Taskbar
As with the other Windows Desktop elements, the Taskbar also can be
customized to your required preferences. These include:
 Unlocking and Locking the Taskbar
 Changing the location of the Taskbar
 Changing the size of the Taskbar
 Hiding or showing the taskbar
 Hiding or showing icons in the taskbar
 Adding a toolbar to the taskbar
 Grouping similar buttons on the Taskbar, etc.
Let’s look at the tools available to us to perform all the above tasks.
Displaying the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Dialog box
The customization tools are available in the Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties dialog box. There are many ways you can display it.
From Taskbar
1. Right click on any blank space in the taskbar. A shortcut menu pops up.
Note: If the taskbar is overcrowded and you are having some difficulty in
finding blank space, right click to the right of the Start button. Here you will
always find some blank space.
2. Click on the Properties option.
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3. A Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
Using the Search text box
1. Click Start button to display the Start menu
2. In the Search text box type the beginning few characters of the Taskbar,
say Tas. Windows 7 starts displaying the search results in the left pane of
Start menu. You will find Taskbar and Start menu item under the
Programs section. Click on it.
3. Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
From the Start Menu

1. Click Start button to display the Start menu.
2. Click on Control Panel. Choose Appearance and Personalization
option. In the displayed Appearance and Personalization window, click
on Customize Start menu option under Taskbar and Start Menu
section.
3. Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
In the Taskbar and Start Menu

Properties dialog box, click on the
Taskbar tab if not already selected.
A number of Taskbar options get
displayed. Let’s look at these
options.
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Unlocking the Taskbar
By default, the Taskbar appears at the bottom of the Desktop. It is also locked in
place so that it is not moved accidently. Many customization tasks such as
moving of taskbar, resizing of taskbar, etc requires that the taskbar be unlocked.
1. Right click on any empty space in the taskbar. A shortcut menu pops up.
2. Observe that the option Lock the taskbar is enabled which means that it
is by default locked.
3. To unlock it, disable the option by clicking on its check box. This removes
the check mark.
4. Now you can move or resize the Taskbar.
Locking the Taskbar
It is advisable to keep the Taskbar always locked after making any changes to it.
This prevents accidental moving or resizing of the taskbar by mistake. To lock
the taskbar:
1. Right-click on the taskbar. Context menu appears.
2. Click on the check box of option Lock the Taskbar from the context
menu
3. "Lock the taskbar" item is now checked, indicating that Windows 7
taskbar is currently locked.
Auto-Hiding the Taskbar
Taskbar occupies certain area at the bottom of the screen. In Windows 7, the
height of the Taskbar is more than in the previous Window versions. By hiding
the Taskbar you can reclaim this area also for displaying your work. By
activating the Auto Hide option, you can keep it hidden, but display it as and
when required. By default Auto Hide option is off, which means that Taskbar is
always displayed.
1. Right click on any empty space in the taskbar. A shortcut menu pops up.
2. Click on the Properties option. A Taskbar and Start Menu Properties
dialog box appears.
3. Click on the Taskbar tab if not already selected. The Taskbar options get
displayed.
4. Click on the option Auto-hide the Taskbar. Windows 7 hides the Taskbar
from view.
5. Click Apply to apply the change.
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6. Click OK to remove the dialog box.
The screen shot shows the Desktop without its taskbar.
Note that when you hide the taskbar, it is only hidden from your view and is not
removed from the desktop. You can still view it by pointing to the bottom of the
screen.
1. Move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen. Taskbar reappears.
2. Move the pointer away. Taskbar gets hidden.
Showing the Taskbar
If you have auto-hidden the Taskbar, you can re-display it by reversing the above
process.
1. In the Taskbar and Start Menu properties dialog box, uncheck the Auto-
Hide the Taskbar option.
2. Click Apply. Click OK.
3. The Taskbar gets restored.
Positioning of the Taskbar on the Desktop
By default, the Taskbar is always displayed at the bottom of the Desktop. You
may however, dock it to any other edge of the desktop – Left, Right or Top.
In Vista, to position the Taskbar to any other edge of the desktop, you had to
drag it to that edge and drop. In Windows 7, you can do this much more easily
by selecting an option from the Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog box.
1. Right click anywhere on a blank area of the Taskbar.

2. In the displayed shortcut menu, click on Properties option.
3. A Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click on Taskbar tab, if not already selected.
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5. Taskbar location on screen shows the current location of the taskbar,
which is at Bottom, by default.
6. Click on the down arrow of the location
list box. A drop down menu lists
locations where you can dock the
taskbar. These include, Left, Right or
Top locations besides the default
Bottom.
7. Select the location you want. Windows
7 docks the Taskbar accordingly.
The screen shots show the taskbar docked at

the top and to the right edge of the screen.
Taskbar docked
at top
Taskbar docked
to the right edge
Customizing Taskbar and Taskbar buttons
Taskbar buttons represents the applications either currently running or pinned to

the taskbar. By default, each program appears as a single icon without any label,
even if you have opened multiple instances of a program. This is meant to give
you a clean and uncluttered taskbar look. You may however, customize the
taskbar to show the icons with labels. You can also display icons as a group
when you open multiple instances of an application.
Rearranging the Taskbar buttons
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You can rearrange the buttons on the taskbar including pinned programs and
running programs that are not pinned, in any order you want. To rearrange the
buttons:
1. Click on the button you want to relocate.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag it from its current position to
your desired order on the taskbar. Observe that as you drag, the
neighboring icons automatically move to occupy the vacated position of
the icon being moved.
Changing how the buttons appear on the Taskbar
Each application window you open on the Desktop, places a button on the
Taskbar. If you have multiple windows simultaneously open on the Desktop,
there will be as many buttons in the taskbar. You can customize how these
buttons appear and are grouped together.
1. Right click anywhere on a blank

area of the Taskbar.
click on Properties option.
3. A Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties dialog box appears.
already selected.
5. The Taskbar buttons option
under Taskbar appearance,
shows the current setting for
displaying the buttons that
appear on your taskbar.
6. To look at the other options,
click on the down arrow of the
list box. The available options
are:
a. Always combine, hide labels
b. Combine when taskbar is full, and
c. Never combine.
7. Select the required setting and click Apply.
These options are discussed below:
1. Always combine, hide labels

This is the default setting. In this setting, each program button appears as
a single, unlabeled button. If more than one instance of the program is
opened, they will be combined and only a single unlabelled task button of
that program is displayed. When you point to that combined task button, a
thumbnail view of all the instances of that program gets displayed. For
example, in the screen shot the single MS Word task button represents
three opened Word documents. This will be evident when you point to that
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task button when thumbnail views of all the three documents will be
displayed.
Single buttons without labels represent both programs and open windows
2. Combine when taskbar is full

This setting shows each button as an individual, labeled button. When the
taskbar becomes crowded, programs with multiple open windows collapse
into a single program button. Clicking the button displays a list of the
windows that are open.
When taskbar is full individually labeled buttons combine
3. Never Combine
This is similar to Combine when taskbar is full option, except that the
buttons never collapse into a single button regardless of how many
windows are open. If the Taskbar length is insufficient to accommodate all
opened program icons, the buttons decrease in size.
Individually labeled buttons always appear
Changing the size of Taskbar buttons
By default, Taskbar uses large sized icons to display the buttons. In case your
Taskbar is crowded with too many
buttons, you can use small icons to
display the taskbar buttons.
 Display Taskbar and Start
Menu Properties dialog box.
 Click ‘Use small icons’ check
box under Taskbar appearance
section.
 To re-display the buttons with large icons, just remove the check mark of
‘Use small icons’ check box.
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Appearance of Related Program Icons on Taskbar
In Windows Vista, the buttons on the taskbar appear in the order of the programs
you open. For example, if you open a MS Word document, a Spreadsheet and
again a Word document, the icons of these programs appears in the order in
which they were opened – that is MS Word, MS Excel, followed by MS Word.
However, in Windows 7, multiple buttons representing the same program remain
grouped together, that is, they appear next to each other. If you open the above
programs similarly in Windows 7, they would appear as MS Word, MS Word
followed by the MS Excel icon.
Similar applications are
grouped together
Resizing the Taskbar
Whenever you open an application, an icon of that application appears in the

Taskbar. When you have a number of applications opened, the taskbar will be
crowded with the icons of all opened applications and you may have difficulty in
identifying them. The solution is to resize the taskbar. You can resize the taskbar
to display the task buttons in additional row or rows.
1. Display the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties menu.
2. Unlock the taskbar by disabling the Lock the Taskbar option.
3. Point to the top edge of the Taskbar until the pointer changes into a
double-headed arrow. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the
border upwards to make the taskbar the size you want.
The first screen shot shows how the conventional single row Taskbar appears
with a multitude of task buttons of opened programs. Observe that the task
buttons on the Taskbar appear rather crowded, and it is difficult to make out
what is what.
The second screen shot shows the resized (increased) Taskbar. Observe that all
the task buttons are now displayed in two rows. They are now clearly visible and
readable.
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One more situation where you may want to resize the Taskbar is when you want
to display additional toolbars in it.
Let’s return the Taskbar to its original size and close all the programs.
1. Position the mouse pointer on the edge of the Taskbar. Double-headed
arrow appears.
2. Holding down the left mouse button, drag it downwards, till the Taskbar
gets to its original size.
3. Similarly close all open windows by right clicking on each one at a time
and selecting Close option from the displayed context menu.
Closing all the programs in a group
If you have a grouped item task button,

you can conveniently close all the items of
that group in one click.
1. Right click on the grouped items
task button.
2. In the displayed context menu, click
on Close all windows option.
3. Windows 7 closes all the opened
programs of that group and
removes the task button.
Thumbnail previews of Minimized programs and documents
One of the new features of Windows 7 OS is the display of thumbnail pictures of

the currently active programs and documents. As you point to any task button on
the taskbar, a thumbnail picture of the associated program or document appears
above the task button. The thumbnail pictures are really helpful when you have a
crowded taskbar or if you can’t identify the program by the task button title alone.
The screen shot shows the thumbnail view of the Pictures folder which is opened
on the desktop.
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Thumbnail picture is actually a preview of the active window contents. You can
verify this by scrolling up or down in the active window and watch the same
action duplicated in the preview.
1. Open any Word document. Its task button appears in the taskbar.
2. Point to the task button. A
thumbnail picture of the
active Word document
appears just above the task
button. A descriptive label
also appears just above the
thumbnail picture.
3. With your mouse pointer still
pointing to the task button,
roll the center wheel of the
mouse. As you roll, observe
that preview in the thumbnail
also scrolls up or down with
the mouse and the identical
action is also performed in
the active window.
When you point to a grouped taskbar button, you'll see the thumbnail previews of
all the windows. (This is unlike Windows Vista where only the preview of top
window in the stacked task button is displayed).
Adding Toolbars to the Taskbar
Taskbar has a few built-in toolbars which you can display. You can also add
third-party or Custom toolbars to the Taskbar.
1. Right click a blank area on the taskbar. A shortcut menu pops up.
2. Point to the Toolbars option. One more menu slides out listing all the
available toolbars.
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3. Click the check box of any unchecked toolbar in the list that you want to
display on the taskbar. The selected toolbar appears in the Taskbar.
Address Toolbar in the real sense is not a toolbar but a text list box where you
can enter the name of a program or document or the complete path of a folder to
be opened. As soon as you press the Enter key, the requested item will be
opened.
For example, suppose you want to open Notepad program. Just type Notepad in
the Address text box and press Enter key. Windows searches and locates the
program named as Notepad and opens it for you. Windows 7 auto-completes the
path and shows the same in the list box. If the Address text box width is
insufficient, you can extend it by dragging its toolbar border.
It also keeps track of the addresses of web pages (known as URLs) you have
recently visited on the Internet. If you type an address that matches a webpage in
your browsing history, it auto-completes the address and saves it.
Links Toolbar provides a set of shortcuts to selected Web Pages on the

Internet. You must be connected to the Internet to access any of these web
pages. The contents of the Links toolbar are the same as the contents of the
Links folder located inside the Favorites folder of the Internet Explorer.
Desktop toolbar displays a list of all the icons currently displayed on the
Desktop. It provides single-click access to all the programs, files, folders and
other resources listed on your computer. You just click on any listed item to open
it. This toolbar is particularly useful when the Desktop icons are not visible.
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Each icon is a clickable menu item, and will launch appropriately: if it is a
program, it will launch the program; if it is a document, it will open the application
that created it and then the document itself; if it is a folder, it displays the
contents of the folder as a sub-menu.
Tablet PC Input Panel toolbar
Tablet PC is an electronic device that allows input to your computer by means of

writing on a flat surface using a pen. This toolbar appears only if Windows 7 is
configured to use a tablet PC.
iTunes toolbar
This toolbar option will be available if your computer is configured to use the
iTunes.
Adding a New Toolbar
Using the New Toolbar option in the displayed context menu, you can also add
your own toolbar. In the present context, toolbar is a misnomer. What Windows 7
does when you choose this option, is to allow you to nominate any folder of your
choice as a toolbar. The contents of this folder will be displayed as icons in the
named folder toolbar. You can browse the contents of the selected toolbar and
access any of the displayed file or document by just a single click.
Let’s demonstrate this by adding a new toolbar which allows you to access all the
files from a selected folder YCMOUALL from the Taskbar.
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1. Right click on the Taskbar to display its context menu.
2. Point to the Toolbars options. In the displayed sub menu, click on New
Toolbar option. Choose a folder dialog box appears.
3. Navigate to the folder whose contents you want to show from the taskbar,
YCMOUALL.
4. Click on the folder to select it and click on Select Folder button.
5. Windows 7 removes the dialog box and displays selected folder as a
toolbar in the taskbar.
6. When you click on the chevron symbol of the toolbar, the contents of the
folder will be listed in a menu as shown in the screen shot.
The advantages of having quick access

to any folder of your computer folder
hierarchy is quite obvious. By placing
frequently required documents, files,
Newly added
program shortcuts, etc in a folder and toolbar
placing the folder on the taskbar, you
can not only provide single click access
but also save time in hunting for such
frequently required items.
Removing Toolbars from the Taskbar
You can easily remove any or all toolbars from the Taskbar.
1. Right click on the Taskbar to display the shortcut menu.
2. Point to the Toolbars.
3. Remove the check marks against the toolbar names that you want to
remove.
Showing or hiding the Toolbar Title
Generally the toolbar you place on the taskbar has its title displayed on its left. If
the space on the Taskbar is at a premium, you can hide the titles of the toolbars.
1. Right click on the title of the toolbar. A shortcut menu pops up.
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2. Observe that the Show Title option has a check mark against it. Click on it
to remove the check mark.
3. The Title of the toolbar gets removed.’
The screen shot shows the suppressing of the title of the Address title bar.
To show the titles again, just repeat the steps 1 and 2 above, and enable the
Show title option.
Setting up Date and Time
Whenever you create a file or a document and save it, Windows 7 saves the
system date and time also with it. This saved date and time is very useful to you
in searching for files and other file management tasks. You must therefore make
sure that the system clock always maintains correct date and time. If the
currently displayed time and date are incorrect (say, because of battery failure),
you need to update them.
1. Click on the System Clock icon. The Calendar view of the clock appears.
2. Click on Change date and time settings option.
3. Date/Time dialog box appears. It has three tabs – Date & Time,
Additional Clocks and Internet Time. By default, Date & Time tab is
active.
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4. The dialog box shows the analog clock, current date and time as well as
the current Time zone setting.
5. Click on Change date and time button. Date and Time Settings dialog box
appears as shown in the screen shot.
6. Observe that by default the digital clock shows time in 12-hour mode.
To change the time:
7. Double click on the hour, minutes or

seconds display depending on what you
want to change. Observe that as you click,
the numbers get highlighted. You can now Click here to change
directly overwrite the existing number with Hour, Minute, Second
the correct one, or use the up and down
arrows of the spin button to change the numbers in increments. When
done with the setting, click OK.
To Change the Date, month and year:

1. To change the date, click on the
date required in the calendar.
2. To change the month, click on the
calendar title to display all the
months of the year. Click on the
required month.
3. To change the year, click on the
title twice to display block of years
and click on the required year.
4. Click OK to exit from the dialog
box.
5. Observe that the clock icon now
displays the updated time (and
date).
Setting up Time Zone
Time zone refers to the zone in which your country falls for displaying of time.
This is normally set during the installation of the Windows 7 itself and so does not
require to be changed. But if you have a laptop and is visiting some other country
having a different time zone, then you may need to set the time zone accordingly.
1. Click on the System

Clock icon. The Calendar
view of the clock appears.
2. Click on Change date and
time settings option.
3. Date/Time dialog box
appears.
4. The current set time zone
is displayed in the dialog
box in Time Zone section.
For India it should read (GMT + 05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and
New Delhi.
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Note: GMT is the abbreviation for Greenwich Mean Time and is the
benchmark for specifying time throughout the world. The time in India is
05:30 hours ahead of GMT.
5. To change the time zone, click on the Change Time Zone button.
6. A Time Zone dialog box
appears with the Time Zone
list box displaying the
current set time.
7. Click on the down arrow of
the list box. A drop down
menu displays a long list of
countries and prominent
cities of the world alongwith
their times in terms of GMT
plus or minus some hours.
8. Select the location which is
appropriate for the country
or city, or nearest to the
one, in which you are
staying.
9. Click OK.
Setting up Additional Clocks
One of the welcome and useful features of Windows 7 is the displaying of

additional clocks. Besides the clock for displaying the local time (or the system
time), you can now setup upto two additional clocks to display times in other time
zones. This is very useful if you frequently interact with persons from other
countries or time zones.
Let’s display an additional clock to show the US Pacific time.

3. Date and Time dialog box appears.
4. Click on Additional Clocks tab to display options under this category.
5. Click on check box of Show this clock.
6. Click on the down arrow of the Select time zone list box. A drop down
menu appears listing time zones of various countries and prominent cities
of the world.
7. Select the time zone of the location you want to display in your additional
clock, say (GMT -0800) Pacific Time (US & Canada). GMT – 0800
indicates that the time is 0800 hrs behind the GMT bench mark time.
8. In the Enter display name text box, type a title for the clock (in not more
than 15 characters), say as US Pacific time. This title appears above the
clock during display.
9. Click Apply to effect the change.
10. Click OK to exit.
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11. Now click on the System clock.
The calendar view now shows two clocks – the clock showing the local
time and the second
clock showing the US
Pacific time. As you can
make out, if the local
time is 10:10 in the
morning, the US pacific
time is 21:40 the
previous day.
Let’s setup one more additional clock to display Brisbane (Australia) time. Repeat
the steps as above, but click on the second check box Show this clock. From
the time zone list, choose (GMT + 10:00) Brisbane, and enter the title as
Brisbane. Click Apply and then OK.
Now when you click on the system time, you

can view not only the local time but also the
corresponding times in US as well as in
Brisbane.
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Synchronizing your Computer clock with an Internet time Server
Normally you set the timing of your clock with reference to some clock. But if your
work requires that the system time be very accurate, then you can synchronize
the timing of your system clock with that of an International time server. This
however requires that you are connected to the Internet, at least when the
synchronization takes place, which could be once in a week.
3. Date and Time dialog box appears.
4. Click on the Internet Time tab.
5. Click on Change Settings.
6. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type
the password or provide confirmation.
7. An Internet Time Settings dialog appears.
8. By default the option ‘Synchronize with an Internet time Service’ is
enabled. If not enable it by clicking on the check box.
9. By default, the time server chosen for the synchronization is the web site
time.windows.com. You may select any other web site from the drop down
list of Server list box.
10. To update the time immediately, make sure that you are connected to
Internet and click on Update now.
11. Click OK.
12. Observe that under the Internet Time tab settings, the next
Synchronization setting is displayed. Make sure that you are connected
to the Internet before this time so that your system clock gets
automatically synchronized.
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Recap
Taskbar is not just the home for the Start button, it also offers a number of very
useful features. In this lesson you learnt how to customize the Taskbar by way of
modifying its properties, such as locking and unlocking, resizing, moving, etc.
You also looked at the ways of customizing the Quick Launch bar. You learn how
to add new toolbars. You learnt the importance of Notification area and how to
customize it. Finally, you learnt how you can display times of different time zones
simultaneously.
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Lesson 9: Special and New Features of Windows 7
Overview:
Windows 7 provides some prominent new features. These include

Aero Effects such as Aero Peek, Aero Snap, Aero Shake, Aero Flip,
etc, Jump Lists for speedy access to your favorite pictures, songs,
websites and documents, and Libraries for accessing files and
folders from one centralized location irrespective of where such
folders are located in your computer system. In this lesson we will be looking at
some of these interesting and useful features of Windows 7.

 Exploring Translucent Aero Effects
 Exploring Aero Peek feature
 Exploring Aero Snap feature
 Exploring Aero Flip feature
 Exploring Aero Shake feature
 Working with Jump Lists
 Working with Libraries
Introduction
Windows Vista introduced the concept of Aero, short for Authentic, Energetic,
Reflective and Open interface to your computer. It is a graphical user interface
and has sophisticated color schemes which enhance the aesthetic view of your
desktop. Associated with Aero interface are some innovative features such as
translucent windows, Aero Peek, Aero Snap, Aero Flip, Aero Shake, Windows
Flip and Flip 3D. While these effects on your system are mostly aesthetic, they
nevertheless enhance your working environment and make your computer
working experience more exhilarating. Let’s look at these features and
understand how each one of them can be useful in your day-to-day working.
Translucent windows
Translucent windows provide semi-

transparent glass window borders that
allow you to view the contents of the
overlapped open windows behind
them. This gives an aesthetic see-
through effect or appearance,
particularly when you have more than
Transparent Glass
one window opened on your desktop. border of window
The figure shows a couple of
overlapped windows on Windows 7 desktop. Observe the transparency of the
title bar of the fore window through which you can see the contents of the window
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behind it as well as the Windows clock gadget of the desktop. It appears as if you
are viewing through a transparent glass.
You can customize the Aero translucent interface as per your requirements. You
can adjust the opacity or transparency of the interface along with the base color
of the window, giving yourself a more comfortable environment from which to
work. You can fine tune the color and appearance of windows, the Start menu,
and the taskbar by tinting your translucent windows. We have already discussed
how you can change the themes and color schemes, apply background colors,
patterns, screen savers and so on. If you so desire, you can even change the
Desktop interface to Windows Classic view with Aero effect, or even make it
appear like Windows XP interface.
1. Click Start button to display the Start Menu.

2. Click Control Panel item to display Control Panel Window.
3. In the displayed dialog box, click Appearance and Personalization item.
4. Under Personalization category of options, click Change window glass
colors.
5. A ‘Windows Color and Appearance’ dialog box appears.
6. From this dialog box you can choose the color of your window borders,
Start menu and taskbar.
7. By default, the Transparency effect is enabled. To disable it, remove the
check mark of the option Enable transparency.
8. You can also modify the transparency level, by changing color intensity
level. To do this adjust the color intensity slide bar to left or right
depending on whether you want darker or lighter transparency.
9. Click Save changes to save you customization changes.
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Exploring Aero Peek feature
Aero Peek is a nifty (neat) feature which allows you to peek at Windows 7
Desktop irrespective of number of programs and applications currently open on
your desktop.
If you have opened multiple programs, the chances are that you will not be able
to view the desktop icons. Under such circumstances, if you wish to access the
desktop icons, you have two options.
 You can minimize the applications. However if you have a number of
applications currently opened, this approach becomes tedious.
 You can make use of Show Desktop button.
Auto Peek feature is associated with Show Desktop button located on the
Taskbar. In Windows 7, this button is located at
the extreme right of the taskbar to the right of
the digital time and date display, and appears
as a rectangular button as shown.
Let’s observe Aero Peek in action.

1. Open some applications such as WordPad, Paint, Notepad, etc.
2. Point to the Show Desktop button. Observe that all opened windows fade
from view (become transparent) leaving just their outlines and allowing
you to get a quick look or ‘peek’ at the Desktop. When you move the
pointer away from the Show Desktop button, the programs become visible
again.
Desktop with
multiple opened
applications
Desktop with hidden

applications (which
appear as outlines),
when Show Desktop
button is pointed to.
3. Now click on the Show

Desktop button. Windows
temporarily hides all the
opened programs and
gives you a clear view of
the Desktop. Outlines of
opened windows also get
hidden.
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4. Press Show Desktop button again. Windows restores all your opened
windows to their earlier displays.
Auto Peek applied to Thumbnail views of Taskbar
Windows 7 extends this new ‘Peek’ feature to the taskbar thumbnail previews
also. If you have multiple task buttons for opened applications in the taskbar and
when you just move (hover) your mouse pointer over these buttons, thumbnail
previews of the applications will be displayed. If you point to any of these
previews, Windows 7 retains the window of the application pointed to on the
desktop while all other opened windows become transparent.
Auto Peek keyboard shortcuts
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts to temporarily preview the Desktop.
1. Press the Windows Logo key and the Spacebar (Win+Spacebar) together
to temporarily preview the desktop hiding all open windows.
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2. Press the Windows Logo key and D (Win+D) to minimize all open
windows in one go. Press the combination again to restore the windows.
Turning off the Show Desktop feature
You can turn off the ‘Peek’ feature of the

Desktop if you don’t want it.
Taskbar.
click on Properties item.
3. A Taskbar and Properties dialog
box appears.
selected.
5. Under Preview desktop with
Aero Peek, clear the ‘Use Aero
Peek to preview the desktop’
check box.
6. Click OK.
Note that this only disables the ‘Peek’ feature of the Show Desktop button. Peek
feature associated with thumbnail views is not affected.
Aero Snap feature
Aero Snap is a new feature of Windows 7 which allows you to automatically size
two windows to exactly cover half of the monitor by each window. Some times
you need to place two windows side by side to compare and to perhaps copy to
cut and paste from one window to other. In earlier versions of Windows, if you
wanted to work with two windows simultaneously, you had to manually resize the
windows and drag them into position on either side. Aero Snap does this
automatically. It automatically divides the screen in half so that you can view one
window on one side of the screen and another window on the other half of the
screen. All you have to do is to click on the title bar of one of the windows and
drag it to either the left or the right side of the screen. As you bring your mouse
near the edge of the screen, the Windows desktop darkens. Now if you release
the mouse button, the desktop returns to its normal color and the windows ‘snap’
to either left or right of the screen covering exact half of the screen.
Besides splitting the screen to accommodate two windows side by side, Aero
Snap also has some other uses. If you drag a window to the top of the screen,
the window automatically maximizes. If you drag the window to the bottom of the
screen the window gets minimized.
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Aero Snap is actually a nice sounding word for the ‘Show windows side by side’
option in the task bar properties. Only difference is that Aero Snap automatically
does this for you.
When you have displayed multiple windows on your screen, you can maximize
any of these by Double Clicking on its title bar. Double clicking once again
reverts back to the display of multi-windows.
Aero Shake Feature
Aero Shake is another new desktop feature of Windows 7. This feature helps you
to minimize all the open windows on the desktop except the one you are
currently working. All you have to do is to ‘grab’ the current active opened
window with your mouse by clicking on its title bar and shake the window by
moving the mouse physically a few times. This results in getting all other
applications to minimize with the exception of the current active window. If you
shake the window again, all of your minimized windows will get back to their
previous positions.
Windows Aero Flip Feature
Windows 7 has a new feature known as Windows Flip which allows you to
preview all your open applications that you can flip through from a central
rectangular window. You can use ALT+Tab key combination to shuffle through
and access any of these open applications. Let’s see Windows Flip in action.
1. Open a number of applications such as Word, WordPad, Notepad, Paint,
etc. Minimize all these opened applications.
2. Press Alt and Tab key combination.
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3. Previews of all the opened applications appear grouped at the center of
your desktop in a rectangular window as shown. Release the tab key to
stop flipping of the previews. Observe that one of these preview will be
highlighted.
4. Still holding down the Alt key, you can press the Tab key to cycle through
the displayed previews highlighting each one of them in turn.
5. When you release the button the currently highlighted application preview
gets opened on the desktop.
Windows Flip 3D Feature
Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows OS allowed multiple applications to

be opened simultaneously in their own windows. You had the option of displaying
these open windows as cascading windows (that is, as a stack of overlapping
Windows) or in the form of Horizontal or Vertical Tiles. Windows 7 goes a step
further and allows you to display these open multiple windows in the form of
stacked 3-D cascading windows, known as Flip 3D mode. You can use Windows
logo +Tab keys combination to shuffle through and access any of these open
applications.
Let’s see this feature in action.

1. Open a number of applications such as Word, WordPad, Notepad, Paint,
etc. Minimize all these opened applications.
2. Press Windows Logo and Tab key combination. All your opened
applications now appear as 3D live thumbnail previews and starts flipping
through automatically.
3. To stop the flip through action, hold down the Windows Logo key but
release the Tab
key.
4. Flipping stops
with one of the 3D
previews at the
forefront.
5. You can flip
through the
previews one by
one by pressing
Tab key each
time.
6. When you release
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the Tab key, current preview at the forefront will be opened on the
desktop.
Note that the Windows Flip and Flip 3D options are only available under the
AERO interface.
Working with Jump Lists
Jump Lists is a new feature of Windows 7. This feature is similar to the Recent
Items list with some refinements. Jump Lists are lists of recently opened items,
such as files, folders, tasks, websites, etc., organized by the program that you
have used to open them. The list displayed by Jump lists are application-centric
or application aware. For example, if you hover your mouse pointer over an
application item such as say Microsoft Word in the Start menu (see figure on left)
or right click an application button in the Taskbar such as say Microsoft Word
(see figure on right), Windows 7 instantly displays a list of recently opened
documents by that application. You can then click on any document you want to
open.
Jump Lists in Start Menu Jump Lists in Taskbar
It is important to note that:

 Jump Lists appear both in the Start Menu as well as the Taskbar.
 On the Taskbar, Jump Lists appear for programs that you have pinned to
the taskbar and programs that are currently running.
 On the Start menu, Jump Lists appear for programs that you have pinned
to the Start menu and programs that you have opened recently.
 You will always find the same items listed in the Jump Lists for a program,
regardless of whether you view the list on the Start menu or the taskbar.
This means that if you pin a program’s Jump List in the Taskbar it also
appears in the Program’s Jump List on the Start menu.
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 Any changes you make to the Jump Lists such as pinning or unpinning
programs in either of these locations will be reflected in the Jump Lists
when you access it either from Start Menu or from the Task bar.
 Jump Lists don’t appear in All Programs on the Start menu.
 Jump Lists can include recently opened items, frequently opened items,
tasks, or websites, in addition to any items that you’ve pinned.
 You can also pin favorites to a Jump List, so that you can quickly get to
the items that you want to open.
 Jump Lists display two categories of items – Pinned items and Recent
items. Pinned items are the ones that you have pinned to the Jump list
either in the Start menu or in the Taskbar. Recent items are the ones that
are recently opened by that document.
 You can easily pin or unpin an item displayed in the Jump List.
 Besides the list of recently opened documents, Jump Lists on the Taskbar
also displays several other commands, such as an option for closing or
unpinning the program.
 You can also drag a file icon or a shortcut from the Start menu or the
desktop to the Taskbar. This pins the item to the taskbar, if it isn’t pinned
already.
 You can also drag an item from a Jump List to copy it to another location.
 Tasks on a Jump List can’t be added to or removed.
If you right click the Internet Explorer icon in the taskbar, instantly a list of
websites that you have recently opened pops up over the IE8 taskbar button.
You can revisit any of these websites just by clicking on the displayed list.
Fig: Jump Lists displayed by Internet Explorer 8
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Note that when you point to a taskbar button such as IE8, Windows 7 displays
thumbnail previews of all webpages currently opened by you, where as if you
right click on the IE8 taskbar button, Windows 7 displays a Jump List, showing
all the web pages you have recently visited.
Fig: Thumbnail previews of currently opened webpages
Working with Jump Lists in Start Menu
On the Start menu, Jump Lists appear for programs that you have pinned to the
Start menu and programs that you have opened recently.
1. Click on the Start button to
display the Start menu
2. Point to a program, say
Microsoft Word, in the Start
menu. You can also point to
a pinned application that
appears in pinning area at
the top of the left pane of the
Start menu.
3. A Jump List appears
displaying a list of
documents recently opened Jump list of
by that application. Microsoft Word
4. Click on the document you application
want to open.
In addition to being able to open recent items using a Jump List, you can also pin
favorite items to a Jump List so that you can easily and quickly get to the items
that you use every day.
To pin an item to a Jump List in Start Menu
You can pin an item to the Jump list of any application for easy access to that
item in future.
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1. Click on the Start button to display
the Start menu.
2. Point to the application whose
Jump List is to be displayed.
3. In the displayed list of items in the
Jump List, point to the item that
you want to pin to this Jump list.
4. The item gets highlighted and a
pushpin icon appears at its end.
5. Point to the pushpin. ‘Pin to this
list’ ToolTip appears. Click to pin
the item to this list. You can also
right click and choose Pin to this
list option.
6. The pinned item now appears
under the Pinned category at the
top of the Jump List. If there is no such category, it will be created.
To unpin a pinned item in the Jump List
1. Click on the Start button to display

the Start menu.
2. Point to the application whose
Jump List is to be displayed.
3. In the displayed list of items in the
Jump List, point to the item that
you want to unpin in the Pinned
category of items. Observe the
shape of the pushpin at right end
of the item.
4. Point to the pushpin icon. ‘Unpin
from this list’ ToolTip appears.
Click on it to unpin the item from
the list.
5. Unpinned item gets removed from
the Pinned categories and now
appears in the Recent items category.
Working with Jump Lists on the Taskbar
On the Taskbar, Jump Lists appear for programs that you have pinned to the
taskbar and for programs that are currently running.
1. When you right click on any application icon in the taskbar, a Jump List
displays a list of all documents or items that have been opened by that
application.
2. To open any item displayed in the Jump List, just click on it.
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3. To pin an item to a Jump list in the
Task bar, point to the item in the
Jump List, click on the pushpin to
pin the item to the Jump List.
4. The pinned item now appears in
the Pinned categories of the Jump
list.
To unpin an item from the Jump List:

1. Display the Jump List for the
application
2. Point to the item in the Pinned
category that you want to unpin.
3. Point to the pushpin and click to
unpin the item from the list.
4. Unpinned item is removed from the
pinned category and now appears
in the Recent items category.
Clearing the items in the Jump Lists
Windows 7 saves a history of the programs, files, folders, and websites you
open, and displays them in the Start menu and in the Jump Lists on both the
Start Menu and the Taskbar. If you no longer require them, you can clear all the
items in the Jump Lists on the Start menu as well as taskbar. Removing these
items from the Jump Lists does not remove them from your computer. Also any
pinned items remain pinned even if you remove it from the Jump Lists.

2. Click on the Control Panel.
3. In the displayed Control Panel dialog box, click on Appearance and
Personalization.
4. In the Appearance and Personalization dialog box click on Taskbar and
Start Menu.
5. In the displayed Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, click on
Start Menu tab.
6. To clear the recently opened files in the Jump Lists on just the Start Menu,
clear the check box of the option, ‘Store and display recently opened
programs in the Start menu’.
7. To clear the recently opened files in the Jump Lists on the Taskbar and
Start Menu, clear the check box of the option, ‘Store and display
recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar’.
8. Click Apply to apply the change. Click OK to exit from the dialog box.
By re-enabling the checkboxes, you can re-display the recently opened

programs, files, etc in the Start Menu as well as in the Taskbar.
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Note that from this dialog box,
you can also prevent recently
opened programs from
appearing in the Start Menu,
by clearing the check box of
the option ‘Store and display
recently opened programs in
the Start Menu’.
Working with Libraries in Windows 7
When you create a new User Account in Windows 7, it automatically creates a

Personal folder that consists of four libraries. These are Documents, Music,
Pictures and Videos. Though these appear as folders in the Start menu, actually
Libraries in Windows 7 are quite different. In Windows 7, a Library is not a folder
that contains files and folders, but a collection of pointers to various associated
folders.
Your files and folders could be stored anywhere in your computer - in a remote
subfolder deep in the folder hierarchy, or in a server if your computer is a part of
the network, or even in an external drive or in a flash drive. Libraries makes it
possible to gather all such folders irrespective of their locations, and shows their
contents as a single collection. Libraries help in finding, accessing, working and
organizing files and folders scattered all over your computer or even over the
network of your computer system regardless of where they are stored.
You can display these Libraries in several ways.
Method 1:
1. Right click on the Start button.
2. In the displayed context menu,
click on Open Windows
Explorer.
3. Explorer Window appears
displaying the Libraries.
Method 2:
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2. Click on the Users name in the
right pane of Start menu.
3. You can also click on
Documents or Music or Video
folder displayed in the right pane
of the Start menu.
4. Explorer Window appears
displaying the personal folders
of the user. Navigation pane
shows the various Libraries.
Method 3:
1. If the Computer icon is visible on
your desktop, just double click
on it.
Each of these methods displays an

Explorer window. The Navigation pane
(Left pane) of this window shows the
Libraries category. However, the
contents pane shows contents of the
item selected.
Points to note:
1. Observe that there are 4 items listed under Libraries category. These are
Document, Music, Pictures and Video. These are the default libraries
created by Windows 7.
2. If you click on the expand button
to the left of any of these
libraries, a couple of folders gets
displayed. One of them is your
personal folder and the other is
the Public folder. For example if
you click Documents library, it
expands displaying couple of
folders – My Documents and
Public Documents. My
Documents is the folder where
Windows 7 saves all your work
by default. Public Documents is
a folder where you can save
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your work which you want to share with other users. You can collapse
these subfolders by clicking on the button again.
3. Each one of these libraries when clicked, displays their contents in the
right pane. Verify this by clicking
on Documents library. It displays
all the files and folders
contained in My documents as
well as Public Folder.
4. Libraries can only include
folders that have been indexed.
Library properties
You can easily find out the locations of included folders in each of these libraries
as well as the total size of the library
folder.
1. Right click on the Documents
Library item.
click on Properties.
3. A Documents Properties dialog
box appears. Observe that the
dialog box lists two folders – My
Documents and Public
Documents. Actually these are
the pointers to the listed folders.
This is apparent from the display
of paths shown alongside.
Observe that Windows 7 has

optimized each of these libraries
and also displays the total size of
the library.
Demonstration of Library concept
The concept of Libraries in Windows 7 could be somewhat confusing, so a

demonstration might help. Let’s create a folder somewhere in your computer, say
on Desktop and save a file in it. Let’s then include this folder in Documents
library.
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1. Double click on the
Computer icon on the
Desktop. Computer
Explorer window
appears.
2. Double click on
Documents item in the
left pane of the Start
menu.
3. Windows 7 displays two
folder names - My
Documents and Public
Documents. Their
contents get displayed in
the right pane.
4. Minimize the window by clicking on its Minimise button.
5. Right click anywhere on the desktop and create a new folder. Name it as
MyFolder.
6. Open WordPad or
Notepad program and
create a document. Type
what ever you want in the
document and save it as
MyFile in the newly created
MyFolder on the Desktop.
Close the program.
7. Right click on the MyFolder
icon. In the displayed
context menu, point to
Include in Library option.
One more sub menu slides
out. Click on Documents
option. This creates a
pointer to this folder in
Documents Library. Note
that you are not physically
copying or moving the
MyFolder to Documents
Library.
8. In the File Sharing dialog
box, click Yes, share the
file option.
9. Now restore the Documents
window by clicking on its
minimized taskbar button.
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10. Observe that your newly created MyFolder name appears under the
Documents category of Libraries. The right pane shows the contents of all
these folders. You will find MyFile document you have created.
In the above demonstration we added the location of a folder created on desktop

to the Documents library.
One of the advantages in Libraries is already evident. Now when you search for
MyFile, the search result will be quicker since the Windows 7’s search engine
does not have to look beyond Documents Library to find the file.
Removing the Pointer from Library
Libraries in Windows 7 are nothing more than collections of folders. If you delete
a library, you are not deleting your files or folders because a library does not
contain any actual file or folder other than shortcuts to the specified files and
folders.
When you no longer need that folder in the Documents Library, you can remove
its pointer. When you remove the pointer, you are just removing a reference to
the folder from the Documents library and not the folder itself.
1. Double click on the

Computer folder
icon to display its
contents.
2. Double click on
Documents library.
3. Right click on
newly added
MyFolder item in
the left pane.
4. In the displayed
context menu, click
on Remove
location from
Library item.
5. Windows 7 removes the reference
from the Document Library.
6. In the displayed File sharing dialog
box, choose ‘Yes, stop sharing
this folder’.
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You can similarly add folders to other libraries such as Music, Pictures and
Videos. For instance, you may be having photos or music in various folders
scattered all over your hard disk. You can just create pointers to all such folders
in the respecting libraries. When you open the library, say pictures library, you
will find all photos in one location irrespective of their actual locations in the hard
disk.
Creating your own Libraries
You are not restricted to the default libraries provided by Windows 7. You can
also create your own new libraries. Suppose you want to create a separate
library to save your project related files and folders. Here are the steps:
1. Right click on the Start button. In the displayed context menu, click on
Open Windows Explorer.
2. Libraries window appears.
3. Right click on Libraries in the left pane. A
shortcut menu appears.
4. Point to New option. Click on the Library
option that appears in the side menu.
5. A new folder gets created and appears under Libraries list. Rename the
folder suitably say as My Project.
Newly created
Library
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You can now add the locations of your project files and folders wherever they
might be physically located, to this MyProject library.
6. Double click on the newly created Library. Right pane shows contents of
the newly created library which is empty.
7. Click Include a folder option
8. In the Include Folder dialog box that appears, navigate and locate the
folder you want to include.
9. Click Include Folder.
10. Likewise include any other folders you want to the newly created folder.
11. When you click on MyProject library, all those included files and folders
will be displayed in a single location.
Including folders in a Library
A library can include folders from following locations:

1. All drives of your hard disk.
2. External Hard drives connected to your computer.
3. USB Flash drives that appear in your Computer window.
4. Network drives that have been indexed or made available offline.
5. Drives on different computers in your Home network.
A Library can’t include removable media such as CDs and DVDs, and saved
searches.
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You can include as many as 50 folders from different locations in the same
library. You can then view and arrange the files in those folders as one collection.
To include a folder of your computer in a library just follow these steps.

1. Locate the folder to be included in the Library using the Windows Explorer.
2. Right click on the folder. In the displayed shortcut menu, point to the
option ‘Include in the Library’.
3. In the displayed sub menu, click the library in which the selected folder is
to be included.
You can follow the same procedure for including a folder from an external drive.
But make sure that the external drive is connected to your computer.
However, if you want to include a folder from a Network drive, that folder must be
indexed first or made available Offline. You can make a network folder offline, by
right clicking on the network folder and choosing Always Available Offline. Then
follow the above steps to include it in the library.
Removing Libraries
Removing a Library and removing a file or folder from a library are quite different
and you must understand the consequences before you attempt to do either of
these.
If a library is not needed any more, you can delete it. The deleted library is
moved to the Recycle Bin. Removing a library just removes the pointers saved in
the library. Since the actual files and folders are stored somewhere else in your
computer, they will not be affected.
But if you delete individual files or folders from within a library, then they also get
deleted from their original location.
Recap
Windows 7 has introduced a number of special and new features as well as

concepts. In this lesson you explored some of these features including Auto
Peek, Auto Snap, Auto Shake, and Auto Flip. You learnt how to work with
Windows Aero flip and Windows Flip 3D features to display and select programs.
You also learnt about the Jump lists and how to work with them. You also worked
with Libraries and learnt how to manage them.
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Lesson 10: Exploring Windows 7 Explorer
Overview
Files and folders are essential for storing information in your

computer. When Windows 7 OS is installed in your computer, it
installs a large number of folders and files. Each program or
application installed in your computer creates its own folders and
files. As you work more and more on your computer you also start creating and
accumulating your own folders and files. At any given time, your computer is
likely to have hundreds of folders and many thousands of files. How are you
going to locate a particular file or folder in this mess? It becomes absolutely
essential that you organize your files and folders in a more orderly manner so
that you can find the required information easily and quickly. Therefore, file
management becomes an integral part of your work on the computer. Windows 7
provides a Windows Explorer tool to help you out with file management tasks. In
this chapter you will explore the Windows Explorer tool and how big a part it
plays in your day-to-day computer activities.

 Functions of Windows Explorer
 Invoking Explorer
 Structure of Windows Explorer
 Navigating among folders using Address bar and Navigation buttons
 Exploring Explorer Window
o Toolbar and Menu bar
o Navigating Pane
o Contents Pane
o Details Pane
o Preview Pane
o Status Bar
Functions of Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is designed to play a dual role. Simply known as Explorer, it

works as an excellent browser for viewing the folders and files of your computer.
It also works as a File manager to help you in managing your files and folders.
File management is the process of organizing and managing the folders and files
of your computer system. Some of the common file management techniques are
copying, moving, renaming, deleting, backing up of files and folder, and so on.
We will be learning all about the File management techniques in a separate
lesson. Windows Explorer helps you in all these activities. It is such an important
tool that you can‟t do without it. So let‟s get acquainted with the Windows
Explorer tool in this lesson.
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Invoking Explorer
Windows Explorer is actually a program which displays the contents of any folder
in a manageable manner. You can invoke Explorer in many ways depending on
what you want to explore. It is available from the Start button, Start Menu, your
personal folders, Control Panel and from various system folders.
Starting Explorer from Start Button
1. Right click on Start button. A shortcut menu pops up.

2. Click on Open Windows Explore option.
3. Explorer window gets displayed.
4. Observe that the Explorer Click on Explorer
window displays the Libraries option
window. Library is a new concept
in Windows 7. We will be
discussing this in detail later in
this course.
Right click on
Start button
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Starting Explorer from Start Menu
1. Click Start button, Start Menu appears

2. Point to All Programs. Programs sub menu appears in the left pane.
3. Click on Windows Explorer option.
4. Windows Explorer opens with Libraries window.
If Windows Explorer name does not

appear in the pane, click on
Accessories folder and in the
displayed list of accessory programs,
click on Windows Explorer.
Starting Explorer from Search box
1. Click on the Start button to

display the Start Menu.
2. Type the beginning letters of
Explorer, say as ex, in the
Search text box. As you type,
the search results start
appearing in the left panel. You
will find Windows Explorer
listed under Programs. Click
on it.
3. Windows Explorer opens
displaying the Libraries.
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Starting Explorer from System folders
Windows Explorer opens automatically when you double click on any system
folder such as your Personal folder, Documents, Control Panel, Computer,
Recycle Bin etc displaying the contents of that folder.
Screen shots below show the Explorer window displaying the contents of
Computer and Recycle Bin folders.
Starting Explorer from Windows Logo key
If for any reason, your mouse is not working, you can easily open the Explorer
window using your keyboard.
1. Press Windows Logo + E key combination.
2. Explorer opens displaying the contents of the Computer‟s folder.
Structure of Windows Explorer
Irrespective of how you have opened the Windows Explorer, its interfacing
structure remains the same. Only its display of contents differs. Since Documents
view of the Windows Explorer is most common, let‟s use this to learn the various
components of the Explorer. The screen shot below shows a typical Explorer
window user interface.
Title bar appears at the top of the window. Unlike the title bars of conventional
windows, Explorer window does not display any titles. The window controls for
Minimizing, Maximizing/Restoring and Closing the explorer window appears at
the right end of the Title bar. Double clicking on the title bar maximizes the
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window. You can also use the title bar to drag the window anywhere on the
screen.
Navigation Title bar Control buttons

Buttons Address bar File list or Search box
Toolbar Contents Panel Preview Panel
Navigating
Pane
Details
Pane
Address bar appears just below the title bar. It displays the location of the
currently opened folder. It is in the form of a succession of links starting from the
root or system folder followed by other folders, each separated by forward solid
arrows. In Windows 7 terminology this is known as breadcrumbs view. In the
screen shot below, the Explorer is displaying the contents of the current active
folder which is VistaNotes.
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The Address bar shows the complete path to this folder starting with Libraries
root folder as Libraries  Documents  MyDocuments  VistaNotes .
Observe that after each folder a solid arrow block appears. If a solid arrow
appears in front of the last link, it means that there is yet one more link or
subfolder. If the last subfolder of the link does not have any sub folders, then the
solid arrow is not displayed in front of it.
You can also display the actual path in conventional format by clicking on the
icon appearing at the start of the Address bar. The path will be displayed as
C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Vistanotes.
Click here to see the

complete path to the
current folder
Clicking the down arrow of the Address bar displays a drop down menu listing
recently opened documents and web pages.
Navigating among folders using Address bar
The links displayed in the Address bar allows you to navigate to a different folder
without closing the current folder. There are a couple of ways you can do this.
Using the Arrow heads in the Address Bar
Clicking on the arrow heads appearing in front of a folder in the Address bar,
displays a drop down menu of sub folders of that folder as shown in the screen
shot. Clicking on any of these folders in the drop down menu opens that folder.
The opened folder name now appears as next link in the Address Bar. Let‟s have
a demonstration of this.
1. Click the solid arrow appearing in front of My Documents link in Address

bar. A drop down menu listing all the subfolders of the My Documents
folder appears.
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2. Click on any of these folders in drop down menu, say VistaNotes. A list of
all Folders and files under that folder appears as a drop down menu. The
folder name VistaNotes now appears in the Address bar as a link.
3. Now click the solid arrow in front of VistaNotes in Address bar. A list of all
the folders and files under this folder appears in a drop down menu.
4. You can go on repeating this till you get to the required folder and the file.
Using the Location folders displayed in the Address Bar
5. You can click on any of the linked folder names in the Address Bar to
backtrack or jump to that folder in the link. For example, if your are
presently in VistaNotes folder and if you click on Documents name in the
Address Bar, the Document folder gets displayed bypassing all other
opened folders.
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Typing the path of the Location in the Address Bar
You can also type the name of the folder in the Address Bar to display the
contents of that folder. You need not even type the complete path. Suppose you
want to display the Desktop folder.
1. Make sure you are in the Explorer Window.

2. Click anywhere on the blank area of the Address Bar. The currently
displayed text in the Address Bar gets highlighted.
3. Type the name of the folder you want to display, say Desktop.
4. As soon as you press the Enter key, the contents of the Desktop folder will
be displayed in the Contents pane.
Like Desktop, you can type folder names such as Computer, Contacts, Control
Panel, Documents, Favorites, Recycle Bin, Games, Music, Videos and Pictures
in the Address Bar to immediately access these folders.
Using Back and Forward Navigation Buttons
The Back and Forward navigating buttons appear to the left of the Address bar.
These buttons provide another means of navigation between the previously
visited locations. The buttons automatically get activated or deactivated
depending on the availability of preceding and succeeding links in the Address
bar.
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Let‟s illustrate the usefulness of these buttons. The screen shot shows 4
locations in the Address Bar that have been visited, the current folder being
VistaNotes. These are Libraries  Documents  My Documents  VistaNotes.
Observe that only the Back button is now active.
 Clicking on the Back arrow moves back to the previous folder which is
My Documents folder. My Documents folder becomes the current
folder. Observe that both Back and Forward buttons are activated,
since you can now navigate either way.
 Clicking on the Forward arrow moves forward to the VistaNotes folder

since it has been previously visited. VistaNotes will become the current
folder. Observe that the Forward button is now disabled since you
have not navigated any further.
Using Recent Pages Button
Explorer keeps track of the folders you have visited. You can display this list of
recently visited folders in a drop down menu by clicking on the Recent Pages
button that appears between the Forward arrow and the Address Bar (see
figure). The folder displaying the check mark is the current folder. You can jump
to any of the displayed folders in this menu by clicking on it.
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Using Search Box
One of the most useful features of Windows 7 is the availability of Search tool in
almost every window. Explorer window also provides this feature. An instant
search box is located in the upper-right corner of the window.
Search box
Unlike the regular Search tool which searches the entire computer, the search
box in Explorer, limits its search to the current folder and its subfolders. As you
start typing the search criteria, the current folder‟s contents are filtered to show
only the documents that contain the search criteria. The search criteria can
include any of the File properties such as date modified, author‟s name, etc. The
results of the search appear in the window. You can click the filename to directly
open the file in its application. The screen shot shows the result of searching for
the word Gadgets in the documents of the Documents folder.
Searching in windows 7 is
such an important activity
that we will be discussing
this in a separate lesson
later in the course.
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Classic Menu Bar
Observe that this new look Explorer window does not display a menu bar. If you
are one of those users who are accustomed to the use of menus in Explorer
window, you might feel rather let-down by the absence of menu bar. Don‟t
despair! Explorer does have a “Classic” menu bar but it is hidden from view. You
can easily display this menu bar by pressing the Alt key from your keyboard.
This is a toggle key. Pressing it again hides the menu. Also, the menu auto-hides
if you click anywhere else on the window. The screen shot shows the Explorer
window with the “Classic” menu.
Classic Menu bar
Whether or not Windows Explorer is currently displaying the Classic menu, you
can still access all the main menu options of the menu bar with short cut keys like
in previous Window versions. Just press Alt+F for File, Alt+E for Edit, Alt+V for
View, Alt+T for Tools and Alt+H for Help.
Displaying Menu bar Permanently
If you think that you can‟t do without the menu bar, you can choose to display it
permanently in the Explorer window. To do this:
1. Display the Explorer window
2. Click Organize option. A submenu appears.
3. Point to the Layout option. Another submenu slides out.
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4. Click on Menu Bar option. Drop
down menu disappears, but you will
find the Menu bar below the Address
bar. Click anywhere else on the
Explorer window. Menu bar does not
go away.
To auto-hide the Menu bar:

1. Repeat above steps 1 to 3.
2. Observe that a check mark
appears to the left of the item to
indicate that it is activated.
3. Click on the Menu bar option to
remove the check mark.
4. Menu bar gets hidden.
Toolbar (or Command Bar)
Toolbar is located below the Address bar (or the Menu Bar if displayed). It
provides a set of command buttons to perform a variety of tasks for managing
and organizing the files in your computer similar to that of options in the Menu
bar. By default, the Explorer displays four command buttons – Organize, Share
with, Burn and New folder.
 Organize button when clicked displays a drop down menu with tasks for
managing and organizing the files on your computer.
 Share with button allows you to share the selected folder with other
users.
 Burn allows you to burn the selected files and folders on to a CD or DVD.
 New folder button allows you to create a new folder in the selected folder.
The toolbar shows additional command buttons that are relevant and useful to
the selected task. For instance, if you select a file or a folder in the Contents or
File list pane, you will find a couple of additional command buttons in Open and
E-mail. If you select Pictures, you will find Slide show instead as an additional
command. Likewise if you select Music or Videos, you will find Play all as an
additional command.
 Open button allows you to
open the selected sub folder in
the contents pane. This is
similar to double-clicking the
folder.
 E-mail button allows you to
email the selected file. However
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this requires that you have configured Microsoft Outlook to work with your
email account.
 Slide Show starts a slide show of the pictures in the default Pictures
library.
 Play all command activates the Windows Media Player and starts playing
the audios in the default Music library.
In addition to these text buttons, three iconic buttons appear on the right end of
the toolbar. These are Change your View, Show the Preview Pane, and Get
Help button.
 Change your View button allows you to display the contents of the File
list pane in various different ways. We will be discussing these views later
in this lesson.
 Show Preview Pane allows you to display or hide the Preview Pane.
Preview pane when enabled appears to the right of the File list pane and
shows a preview of the selected file in the File list pane.
 Get Help button when clicked activates Windows online help and support
feature.
Since you can perform most of the tasks of the Menu Bar from the Command
buttons of the Toolbar, Toolbar can be considered as a substitute for the Menu
bar in the new look Explorer window. This is one of the reasons why the Menu
bar is not displayed in the Explorer window by default.
Navigation Pane
Navigation pane is located to the left of the Explorer window. The pane has a
number of sections.
Favorite Section
The top section displays some commonly used folders under Favorite section for
single click access. These are:
 Desktop which displays the contents of desktop.
 Downloads which displays files
and folders downloaded from the
Net.
 Recent Places shows a list of
recently opened folders and file.
You can also add any other folder to the

Favorite section for easy access.
 Display the contents of the folder

which is to be included in the
Favorite section.
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 Right click on Favorite section label in the left pane.
 In the displayed menu, click on „Add current location to Favorites‟.
You can also drag your most often used folder to the Navigation pane to make it
one of your own Favorite links.
Open in new window option allows you to display just the items of the Favorite
section exclusively in the contents pane.
Libraries Section
Libraries section displays the default libraries. These are Documents, Music,
Pictures and Videos. Any library you might have created is also displayed in this
section. When you click on any of the displayed library folder, its contents are
displayed in the contents pane. Library is a new feature in Windows 7 and we
will be discussing this concept in detail in the next lesson.
Homegroup Section
HomeGroup concept is new in Windows 7. A Homegroup is network connection

of two or more computers in your Home. A homegroup makes it easier to share
files and printers on a home network. Homegroup section shows the networked
computers of your home, if any.
Computer Section
Computer section displays all the drives including external drives and removable
pen drives of your computer. When you click on any of these drives, its contents
will be displayed in the Contents pane. You
can open any drive you want and easily
navigate within it to access your required
folders and files.
 Each drive under Computer section in
the Navigation pane represents a
hierarchical structure of folders and
files.
 Observe that a small white arrow
block precedes each drive listed in the
section. This is the expand button.
 When you click on this button, the
drive expands to its next level
displaying all the folders contained in
that drive.
 The white expand button of the drive
now changes to a black collapse
button.
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 Most of these folders when pointed to, display expand buttons indicating
existence of sub folders.
 You can expand and collapse the folders to any level you want.
 Observe that the selected folder contents will be displayed in the Contents
pane only when you click directly on a folder and not otherwise.
Network Section
Network section displays the networked computers if any.
Using Keyboard shortcuts in Navigating Pane
It is often much easier to use the keyboard shortcut keys to move among the
folders in the Navigating pane. Knowledge of the use of shortcut keys is also
useful when your mouse for some reason does not work.
 Pressing Up and Down arrows moves the selection of the folder up and
down on the navigating pane.
 Pressing of Right and left arrow keys expands and collapses the folders
that have subfolders.
 Pressing of * (asterisk) of the numeric keypad Expands all the folders
below the selected folder.
 Pressing of Backspace key moves the selection to the parent folder
without collapsing the subfolders.
Contents Pane
Contents pane is the large area in the middle of the Explorer window where
Windows 7 displays the contents of any selected folder. The folders and files in
this pane are listed in
alphabetical order, with
folders displayed first
followed by the files. By
default, the contents are
displayed with all details
such as Name, Date
modified, Type, Size, etc.
Contents or File
You can also display the
list pane
files and folders in this pane
in various other ways. We
will be discussing the
Contents pane in much
greater detail later in this
lesson.
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Column Headings
Column headings appear at the top of the Contents panel. The Headings include
Name, Date modified, Type, Size, etc. These headings represent the File
properties. The Explorer shows the relevant information of the files under these
columns. These Column headings are much more than mere headings. The built-
in options of some of these headings allow the files in the contents pane to be
listed in sorted or filtered order. We will be discussing this later in this lesson.
Details Pane
Details pane is the bottom pane stretching right across the width of the window.
This pane shows the detailed information about the selected File or Folder in the
Contents pane. If a file is selected, the displayed details include the name of the
file, format of the file, date created and date modified, size, etc. An icon of the
document also appears at extreme left end of the pane.
If a Folder is selected, the displayed details include, name of the folder, type of
folder and the date modified. A folder icon also appears at the extreme left end of
the pane.
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You can use the Details pane to view, add and/or change the selected
document‟s properties. Properties are characteristics that are either automatically
assigned to a file or assigned by you. Properties include such things as the Tags,
Title, Author name, etc. You can then save the file with these details. When you
save, the date modified also will be updated.
When you select more than one file or folder in the contents pane, the Details
pane shows the number of files or folders and also the total size of all the
selected files.
Another useful feature of the

Details pane is that when you
double click the icon of the
multiple files selected, all selected
documents gets opened and
displayed as cascading windows
as shown.
Preview Pane
Preview pane shows the contents

of the selected file without opening
the program that created it.
However Preview pane is not
displayed by default. You must
enable it before you can preview
the contents of the selected file.
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To enable the Preview pane, click on the Preview pane button towards the right
end of the toolbar. You can also enable this Preview pane from View menu as
below.
1. Display the Explorer window
2. Click Organize option. A submenu appears.
3. Point to the Layout option. Another submenu slides out.
4. Click on the Preview pane option. The associated icon gets focus
indicating that this feature is now enabled.
5. The Preview pane appears on the right side of the Explorer window.
Now you can preview the contents of a file by just selecting the file in the
Contents pane, provided the program that created that file supports Preview
mode.
File being
previewed
Preview pane
The screen shot shows the preview of a document created in MS Word. Observe
that MS Word application need not be open to preview the file contents.
Recap
Windows Explorer is an excellent browser and file management tool. Every folder
when opened, opens in the Explorer window. In this lesson, you explored the
structure of Windows Explorer as well as its various panes.
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Lesson 11: Customizing Windows 7 Explorer
Overview
Windows Explorer is an essential feature of Windows 7 for viewing your folders

and files. Every folder you open displays its contents in an Explorer window.
Windows 7 has provided a number of customization tools and features to make
the Explorer window easy to work with. You can customize the Explorer windows
itself as well as its contents. In this lesson we will be exploring all these
customization features.

 Customizing the Explorer Window
o Displaying the Full view of the Explorer window
 Choosing the components to display
 Customizing the Contents pane
o Rearranging the display order of column headings
o Resizing the column widths
o Displaying Additional Properties and Details in the Contents Pane
 Explorer Views
 Sorted Display of Folders and Files in Contents Pane
 Filtered Display of Folders and Files in contents Pane
 Stacking Files
 Grouping of Files
Customizing the Explorer Window
Practically every element of the Explorer window is customizable. You can hide
or display various panes, show additional columns or hide displayed columns in
the contents pane, show files and folders in different ways, sort and filter files and
folders in content pane, etc.
Displaying the Full view of

the Explorer window
When invoked, the Explorer

window is displayed in its
standard normal view. The
size of the view is generally
satisfactory for all practical
purposes. If you want to
view more contents in the
Explorer, then you may
choose to display the
Explorer in its Full view.
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1. Display the Explorer window.
2. Press F11 function key. The Explorer window expands to fill the complete
Desktop.
3. Press F11 again. The Explorer window reverts back to its normal size.
If the maximized Explorer window does not respond to F11 key, point to the title
bar of the window. An address bar heading appears. Click on the Full view
button appearing at the right end of the bar. This is shown in the screen shot.
Choosing the components to display
By default, Explorer window does not display

the Menu Bar, the Preview pane as well as
the Status Bar. You can choose to display any
or all of these in the Explorer window.
1. Display the Explorer Window by any

convenient method.
2. Click on the Organize command
button. A drop down menu appears.
3. Point to the Layout option. A sub
menu slides out listing items Menu Bar,
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Details pane, Preview pane and Navigation pane.
4. Items of the panes having check marks are the ones that are currently
displayed on the Explorer window. Observe that the Menu bar and the
Preview panel have no check marks and hence not displayed.
5. Now you can choose to display or hide the Menu Bar, Details Pane,
Preview Pane and Navigation Pane just by clicking on the respective
items.
The Explorer window in the screen shot shows the Menu bar as well as Preview,
Details and other panes activated.
Menu bar Details Pane Preview Pane
Navigating Pane Library Pane
Displaying the Status bar
The new look Explorer window does not display Status Bar by default. This is
because basically Status bar just duplicates the information shown in the Details
pane by just displaying the number of folders and/or files selected in the
Contents pane. However, if you are accustomed to look for information in the
Status Bar, you can display the Status Bar in the Explorer. If displayed, it
appears at the bottom of the Explorer window.
1. Press Alt to display the Menu bar.

2. Click on Views menu option. A drop down menu appears listing View
options.
3. Click on the Status bar option appearing at the top.
4. Status bar appears at the bottom of the Explorer window.
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Customizing the Contents pane
The Contents pane is the one that displays the particulars of files and folders
under different column headings. You can configure the contents pane by way of:
1. Rearranging the display order of column headings
2. Resizing the column widths
3. Displaying additional columns for showing additional properties of files,
and
4. Hiding unwanted column headings
Rearranging the display order of column headings
By default, the names of the folders/files appear in the first column followed by
the columns of Date modified, Type, Size and Tag. You can however rearrange
this order. As an illustration, let’s interchange the column positions of Date
modified and Type.
1. Invoke the Explorer window to show the contents of any folder.
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2. Click on the column heading Date modified to select it. Holding down the
mouse button, drag it towards right.
3. Observe that as you drag the selected heading moves smoothly to the
next column heading. At the same time, the next column heading Type
automatically shifts towards left, thus interchanging the column positions.
4. As you release the button, both columns smoothly interchange.
Resizing the column widths
In case the column width of any column is insufficient to display the information
completely, you can resize its column width. There are a couple of methods of
doing this.
Method 1: By dragging the column borders
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1. Point to the border of the column which is to be resized, till a double
headed arrow appears.
2. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the border either to left or right
till you have the required column width.
3. Release the mouse button.
Method 2: Auto-Fitting the column contents

1. Right click the heading of the column to be resized. A context menu
appears.
2. Click on the option Size column to fit. Windows 7 automatically resizes
the selected column to accommodate the widest item in that column.
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Setting All Columns to Fit
You can also set all columns to fit the widest entry in their respective columns. To
do this, repeat the above steps, and select the option ‘Size All Columns to fit’
option in the context menu.
Displaying Additional Properties and Details in the Contents Pane
By default, only a few properties of files and folders are displayed in the Contents
pane. These include Name, Date Modified, Type and Size. There are many more
properties and other details about files that can be displayed. For instance, you
may want to display the information about assigned Categories of files also in the
pane. Let’s do it.
1. Right click on any Column heading, say Name. A context menu appears. It
lists some of the common properties of the files that can be displayed as
column headings.
2. The column headings having check marks are those that are already
displayed in the pane. Observe that the column heading Name is grayed
indicating that its status can’t be changed.
3. To display Categories headings, click on it in the context menu.
4. A new column Categories appears in the Contents menu at the end of the
existing columns. Assigned categories to files, if any, will be displayed in
this column. Currently it is blank.
5. Likewise you can add other column headings such as Tags, Date created,
Authors, etc.
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Added Column
Heading
6. If the column heading you want to display is

not visible in the context menu, click on More
option in the context menu. A Choose Details
dialog box appears listing all the available
properties that can be displayed as column
headings. Those that already appear in the
Contents pane are indicated by checkmarks
against them and are shown at top. You can
choose the column headings you want to
display by just enabling the associated check
boxes.
7. Observe that you can perform some more

customization from this dialog box. For
instance:
a. You can rearrange the column

headings by moving them up or down.
b. You can specify whether a particular
column heading is to be shown or
hidden.
c. You can also change the width of any
selected column by entering a new
width in the text box provided.
8. Let’s add a new property, say Initials, to

identify the files by initials. Scroll down the
list and click Initials item.
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a. Click on Show button to select it. A check mark appears against
the Initials item.
b. In the width of selected column (in Pixels) text box, enter 20 as the
width.
c. Click OK.
9. The Contents pane reflects the changes you have made. However, the
width of column get automatically set to its default width of 80 pixels.
Explorer Views
Explorer window displays the contents of any selected folder in the Contents
pane. There are several ways, known as Views, by which these contents can be
displayed. The default is Details View. The other view options are available
under Change Your View command button in the
toolbar. If Menu Bar is displayed, these are available
under Views menu option. The different views are:
1. Content view
2. Tiles view
3. Details view
4. List view
5. Small Icons view
6. Medium Icons view
7. Large Icons view, and
8. Extra Large Icons view
Let’s look how the Explorer shows files and folders with
each one of these views.
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Contents View displays folders and files as rows of tiles with one folder/file per
row. It shows an icon, the name of the folder/file, and the Date modified
information for each folder or file in a single row tile.
Tiles View displays all the files and folders as icons. Folders are displayed with
folder icons with their names alongside. Files are displayed with their
representative file icons with the name of the file, type of document and size
displayed alongside.
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Details View displays folders and files with all their particulars in a list format.
The particulars include Icon and Name of the Folder/File, Date modified, Type,
and Size. Folders and files are listed alphabetically with Folders listed first
followed by files. This is the default view.
List view is similar to Details view except that only names of the Folders/Files
are listed with none of their particulars. The list appears as columns of
folders/files.
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Small Icons View is similar to List view except that the folders and files are
listed with icons in multi-column format. At least two columns are listed. Names
of the Folder/File appear to the right of the icon. Apart from the name, no other
information about the folders or files is listed.
Medium Icons view displays folders and files as medium sized icons in row
format. Names of folders and files are displayed below the icons. No other
information is displayed.
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Large Icons view is similar to Medium icons view except that the icons are larger
in size. This is suitable if you have a small number of Folders and Files to be
displayed.
Extra Large Icons View, as the name indicates shows the icons in extra large
sizes. This view is suitable if you have limited number of folders/files to display or
for those who are visually impaired. If the folder contains photos, a high
resolution thumbnail preview of the first couple of photos will be displayed in the
folder.
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Choosing a View
There are several ways you can choose your view.
Using Change Your View tool
You can choose the view you want from the Change Your View command
button in the toolbar.
Method 1:
1. Click on the down arrow next to the Change Your View command button.
2. A drop down menu appears displaying the various available views.
3. A slide bar also appears to the left of the menu items.
4. You can use this slide bar to select the view you want. As you drag the
slider up and down, the view also changes visually to show how the
contents of the folder appear with the selected view option.
Method 2:
1. Instead of using the slider, you can directly click on the view you want.
Method 3:
1. Go on clicking on the Change your View command button. Each time you
click, the views cycles through the available views displaying how the
contents appear. Extra Large View is however not supported in this
method.
Method 3:
1. Press Alt to display the Menu bar.
2. Click on View menu.
3. In the displayed drop down menu, choose the required View.
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Method 4:
1. Right click anywhere in the Contents panel.
2. In the context menu that appears, point to the View option.
3. In the displayed list of View options choose the desired view.
Sorted Display of Folders and Files in Contents Pane
By default, the Explorer window displays the names of folders and files in
Contents menu in alphabetical ascending order. Folders are first displayed and
then the Files. You may also list them in alphabetically descending order. In
addition, you can also list them based on other criteria or properties such as
Modified date, type, size, tags, categories, etc., either in ascending order or
descending order. Let’s demonstrate these with some illustrations.
Sorting orders
Sorting can be done on three types of information – Text, Numbers and Dates.
 Text data such as Names can be sorted alphabetically either in ascending
(A to Z, a to z) or descending (Z to A, z to a) order.
 Numbers can be sorted in ascending (0 to 9) or descending (9 to 0) order.
 Dates can be sorted in chronological ascending (earliest to latest) or
descending (latest to earliest) order.
The Screen shot shows the folders and files of a typical folder displayed in the
Contents menu of the Explorer window. By default, these are sorted by name in
the ascending alphabetical order.
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There are several ways you can perform a sort of the displayed contents.
Method 1:
To sort the contents of any column either by ascending or descending order, just
click on the column heading. When you do so, a small arrowhead appears at the
column heading being sorted. An upward pointing arrowhead indicates
ascending order while a downward pointing arrowhead indicates descending
order. For example:
1. Clicking on the Name column heading, sorts the contents of the column in
alphabetical descending order. Clicking again reverses the order.
2. Clicking on Size column heading, sorts the contents as per size in
numerically
descending order.
Clicking again
reverses the order.
Note that the size of
folder is treated as
zero.
3. Clicking on Date
modified column
heading, sorts the
contents as per
chronological
descending order.
Clicking again
reverses the order.
The screen shot shows the contents sorted as per descending size order.
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Method 2:
1. Right click anywhere in the Contents pane. A context menu appears.
2. Point to Sort by option. A menu slides out displaying the names of all
columns on which you can sort, as well as the sorting options.
3. Click on the column name and choose the order of sorting.
4. The contents of the specified column will be sorted accordingly.
Filtering Display of Folders and Files in contents Pane
If you have a large number of folders and files displayed in the Contents pane of
the Explorer window, it becomes difficult to search the required files. Filtering
offers a solution to this. Filtering the contents pane means displaying only those
folders and files that meet certain specified criteria. The criteria could be folders
and files starting with specific alphabets, modified dates, sizes, etc. You can also
use file properties such as Tags, Categories, etc as filtering criteria provided the
files have been assigned such properties.
Filtering by Name
You can filter folder and files either in alphabetical ascending order or
descending order.
1. Click on the down arrow of the Name column heading. A drop down menu
appears.
2. You have three choices for filtering the folders and Files as per Names:
a. Starting from A to H
b. Starting from I to P
c. Starting from Q to Z
3. Click on the check box of block A-H.
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4. Only those folders and files whose names start with letters A to H get
displayed. (see the screen shot).
5. A check mark appears against the selected filter order to indicate that the
contents are filtered. Also a check mark appears instead of the down
arrow to the right of the selected Column to indicate that the column has
been filtered.
6. You can specify more than one filter criteria. For example, to display
folders/files starting with A to H and Q to Z, click the check boxes of both
these options.
To remove the applied filter, again right click on the column and in the displayed
context menu, just remove the check mark against the criteria and click
anywhere outside the menu.
Filtering by Type
You can filter folder and files as belonging to a particular type such as DOC File,
File Folder, Microsoft Office Word 93-2007 Documents, RTF files, Application,
etc.
1. Click on the down arrow of the Type column heading. A drop down menu
appears.
2. Windows 7 shows a consolidated list of the types of all files and folders as
choices for filtering. Click on the one you want, say Microsoft Office Word
2007 Document Format.
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3. The contents of the selected filtered group get displayed in the Contents
pane as shown.
Filtering by Dates
Filtering by dates allows you to filter and display only those that match your date
criteria. You can filter files based on dates either in chronological ascending
order or descending order.
1. Click the arrow of the Date column heading. A context menu appears
displaying current month’s calendar as well as some options. Current date
is highlighted in the calendar.
2. To filter files by any specific date, click on that date in the calendar. Only
those files which have the corresponding saved date will be displayed. To
remove the applied filter, repeat the above steps and remove the check
mark against the Filter by a Specific date option in the context menu.
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3. To remove the applied filter, display the calendar and remove the check
mark against the item Select a date or date range at the top of the
Calendar.
4. To specify a range of dates say files and folders having Modified dates
between 1st December 2009 and 31st January 2010:
a. Remove applied filters if any.
b. Click on the down arrow of the Date modified column to display
the calendar.
c. Move the calendar back to the month of December 2009 by clicking
the left arrow of the Month and Year title. Click on first day of the
month, 1.12.2009.
d. Now move the calendar to January 2010 by clicking on the right
arrow of the Month and year title.
e. Holding down the Shift key, click on the last day of month,
31.1.2010. Release the Shift key.
f. The Contents panel now shows only the files and folders having
Date Modified dates between 1.12.2009 and 1.1.2010.
5. Similarly,
a. to filter and display files that have been saved a long time ago, click
on the option Long time ago.
b. to filter and display files that have been saved earlier that year, click
on option Earlier this year.
Filtering by Size
Searching for a file by Filtering them

based on their sizes is often useful if
you happen to know the approximate
size of the file. Available size categories
are Small (0 to 100 KB), Medium (100
KB to 1 MB), Large(1 MB to 16 MB),
Huge (16 MB to 128 MB) and
Unspecified size.
1. Click on the arrow of the Size

column heading. A context menu
appears listing size groups.
2. Clicking on any size group,
displays the files having sizes in
that specified range.
3. To display only folders choose the option Unspecified.
Screen shot shows a filtered list of files having size in the range of 16 MB to 128
MB.
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Filtering by File Properties
Similarly if you have assigned certain properties to the files such as Tags,
Categories, Authors, etc then you can use them to easily filter the files.
Recap
In this lesson you learnt how to customize the Explorer window by way of hiding
or displaying its various panes. You also explored the various ways of
customizing contents pane structure. You experimented with the various explorer
views. You also learnt how you can sort and filter files and folders in the contents
pane.
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Lesson 12: Working with Windows in Windows 7
Overview
Every program or application you open in Windows 7 will be opened in its own
window. A window is just a rectangular frame within which your program
functions. One of the important characteristics of these windows is that they all
look similar and perform similarly. This makes for easy working. In this lesson
you will learn how to work with windows and manage them to your advantages.

 Structure of a typical window
 How to move a window
 How to hide a window
 How to Re-size a window
 How to Switch between windows
 How to Arrange multiple windows on the Desktop
What is a Window?
The beginners often confuse the term window with the Windows OS. Windows
OS is a software that drives your computer. It is not just one program but a large
collection of programs, each program meant to perform a particular task in your
computer operation. Some of these programs work in the background and are
never visible to us. Windows OS is usually spelled with a uppercase ‘W’. A
window on the other hand, is an interface between you and a visible program. It
is generally spelled with a lowercase ‘w’. Such a typical window presents a
number of elements on its interface which allow you to interact with that program.
Microsoft has standardized the look and feel of these windows for all its
applications. Since most other non-Microsoft applications are also created to run
on Windows OS, the creators of such programs have also adopted the same look
and feel for their interfaces. This means that once the user knows and gets
acquainted with these interfacing elements of a program, he can easily interact
with any other window based program. In this lesson you will get acquainted with
some common elements that make up a typical window interface.
Structure of a Window
Whenever you open a program or an application, it opens in a window. When

you open a file or a folder, it is opened in a window. So everything you open in
Windows operating system opens in a window. A window is just a box or a frame
which appears on the desktop. While the contents of the windows could be quite
different depending on the type and purpose of programs, there are some basic
elements which will be the same in all windows.
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Let’s open a typical Windows 7 application and get to know its structure.
Windows 7 comes with a number of small but very useful programs. These are
known as Windows ‘applets’. One of them is the WordPad. WordPad is a small
Word processor program which allows you to use your computer as an electronic
typewriter for writing, modifying, saving and printing of text. Let’s open this
program and explore its structure.
Opening WordPad Program
1. Point to Start button. Start Menu

appears.
2. Point to All Programs. A list of
Programs appears in the left pane.
3. Click on Accessories. The
subprograms in Accessories folder
gets listed
4. Click on the WordPad option.
5. Windows 7 opens the WordPad
program.
6. What you are observing on your
monitor is a typical window
application. It is called a window
since it has a border or a frame within
which all other elements are
enclosed.
The WordPad application window shows most of the typical elements of a

conventional Window-based interface. Various parts of a typical window are
shown in the figure. Let’s get acquainted with these parts. These are:
1. Logo and the Title bar

2. Control buttons
3. Menu bar, Toolbar or Ribbon interface
4. Ruler
5. Work or document area
6. Scroll bar
7. Status bar, and
8. Border
Let’s look at these briefly.
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Wordpad Quick Access Title Bar Control buttons
Logo Toolbar
Ribbon Interface
Ruler
Scroll bar
WordPad work area
Zoom Control and

Status bar Zoom Slider
Title bar
Every Window has a title bar displayed at the top. Title bar displays a logo of the
currently opened application at the extreme left. This is followed by the name of
the program – in this case WordPad. The type or nature of application is also
displayed, such as Document in this case. Microsoft Office programs such as
MS Word, MS Excel, WordPad, etc show a Quick access toolbar with the Title
bar.
Title bar of WordPad in earlier versions of Windows
Title bar of WordPad in Windows 7
Program’s logo
Every window has a logo at the top left corner of the window. Logo not only
identifies the program that is currently opened but also acts as a control for
managing the Window. If you click on the logo a drop down menu appears listing
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some commonly performed tasks such as Program Logo Drop down menu
Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize,
Close, etc.
Application windows Control buttons
Observe the three buttons in the extreme right of the Title

bar. These are the Application window control buttons. You
use these to control the appearance of application window.
Every opened window has these control buttons. These control buttons allow you
to Minimize, Maximize, Restore and Close applications.
Maximize Restore
Minimize Close Minimize Close
Minimize button minimizes your window to an icon in the taskbar. Clicking on

the icon again displays the program window on the desktop.
Maximum/Restore button either maximizes the window to cover the whole of

Desktop, or restores it to its normal size. Normal size is the size of the
application’s window when it is opened. Not all applications cover the entire
Desktop when opened. There are some smaller programs like Paint, Calculator,
etc which open in much smaller size, which will be their Normal sizes.
Maximum/Restore is a toggle button switching between Maximize and Restore.
Close button closes the window thus terminating the program. This is the
application’s Close button. It closes just that program and not any other program
of Windows 7. When you close a program it is removed from the computer’s
memory.
Toolbar or Ribbon Interface
One immediate change you will observe when you open most of the recent breed
of Microsoft window applications is the program’s interface. The familiar toolbar
interface of earlier window based applications has now been replaced by what is
known as Ribbon Interface. WordPad’s interface too shows this interface.
Toolbar Interface in WordPad of earlier Windows versions
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Toolbar Interface in WordPad of Windows 7 version
Screen shots show a visual comparison of the toolbar interfaces Windows 7

WordPad vis-à-vis earlier WordPad versions. We will be discussing the Ribbon
interface in detail when we discuss the lesson ‘Working with WordPad’.
Menu bar
Most applications optionally display a Menu bar just below the Title bar, usually
when you press Alt key. Menu bar displays a number of options. A menu option
is also known as a command.
These options allow you to access the facilities available in that program. Most of
these options when clicked drops down a list of sub-menu options. They are
known as pull down or dropdown menus.
The latest version of WordPad in Windows 7 however does not display Main
menu bar.
Toolbars
While the Ribbon interface is gradually replacing the familiar toolbars, there are
still many programs that use toolbars. A toolbar is a strip of buttons, also known
as tools, each button representing a command. They are similar to menu options,
except that they provide easy and quick visual access to most of the commonly
used commands. You just click them to activate.
Window applications in general have one or more toolbars. By default they

appear below the title bar or the main menu bar if present. They are also known
as floating toolbars, since they can be floated, that is, moved anywhere on the
screen. However they are usually relocated at one of the edges of the window,
generally at top. To move a toolbar, move the pointer to its left edge till the
pointer turns into a 4-headed shape. Now, you can drag the toolbar wherever you
want by holding down the left mouse button.
Rulers
Rulers are scales that appear horizontally across at the top of the working area,
and also may appear as a vertical ruler to the left of the working area. Rulers are
marked generally either in inches, centimeters or pixels. Rulers provide visual
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help in formatting your documents such as aligning the text, pictures, etc.
However, not every Window application provides Rulers.
Status bar
Status bar appears at the bottom of the screen. The contents of the Status bar
may change from application to application, but generally it displays the current
status of the opened application. By default, Explorer windows in Windows 7 do
not display Status bar.
Work Area
Work area of the application is the vast expanse of space between the toolbars
and the status bar. This is where all action takes place depending on the type of
application you are using. Work area can display text, graphics, drawings, etc.
Scroll bars
If the window working space is not large enough to display all the information at
once, a vertical scroll bar appears on the right edge of the window. You can click
on the scrollbar handle and drag it up or down to move the screen up or down to
view the rest of the information. This is known as scrolling the screen.
When the width of the screen is insufficient to display the full width of the
document, such as a statement, a horizontal scrollbar also appears above the
Status bar. Using this horizontal bar, you can move the screen sideways. This is
known as panning the screen.
Minimizing, Maximizing and Restoring Windows
Windows 7 provides a multi-tasking environment for you to work with. That is,
you can open and run more than one application at the same time. Each of these
applications will be opened in their own windows. However, you will be able to
work on only one of these applications at a time. Your current working window
will be the active window. Since your screen size is limited, you may have to
manipulate all opened windows to get maximum available space to work on your
active window. Windows 7 allows you to change the size of each window to suit
your requirements.
You can maximize a window to cover the entire screen or minimize the window to
a button on the Windows task bar. You can also size the window to any size in
between.
Aero Peek, Aero Snap, etc are some of the special tools available in Windows 7
to work with multiple open windows. These have already been discussed in an
earlier lesson.
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Screen shows the WordPad application opened in its own normal window size
against the Windows Desktop background. Also observe that the WordPad’s task
button appears in the Windows taskbar.
Let’s work with this window.
Default normal
size of WordPad
program window
Task button of
WordPad Program
Maximizing the window
1. Click the Maximize button, which is the middle button of the WordPad
windows control button appearing at the extreme top right of the Title bar.
Click here to Maximize

the window
2. The WordPad application window fills the entire screen except the
taskbar. The icon of the button changes to an overlapped double
rectangle. This is the Restore Down button.
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Click here again to
restore the window
size
3. To restore the maximized window to its original size, click on the Restore
Down button. WordPad’s application window returns back to its original
default size. The control button icon changes back to a single rectangle.
Minimizing the Window
To avoid the clutter of many windows appearing on your screen at the same
time, you can minimize unwanted windows. Minimized windows will be still
active, but hidden from view. You can
restore them whenever you want.
4. Click the Minimize button, which Click here again to

is the first button of the WordPad minimize the
windows control buttons. window
5. WordPad application window gets reduced to a small icon located in the

Windows taskbar. A live thumbnail view of the minimized program also
appears when you point to that minimized tool.
Thumbnail view of
the WordPad and the
minimized program.
6. To restore the WordPad application back to life, just click on its icon in the
Windows taskbar. WordPad application gets redisplayed.
Closing an application
When you have finished working on a program, you must close it. Closing a
program removes it from your computer’s memory.
1. Click the Close button, which is the last button of the WordPad windows
control buttons.
2. WordPad application closes. Observe that the taskbar no longer displays
the WordPad icon.
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Alternately,
1. Right click on the minimized application in the Taskbar.
2. A short cut menu pops up.
3. Click on Close option.
4. Application closes.
You can also close the opened program by pressing Alt+F4 from the keyboard.
Note that other than the above methods, a minimized application can’t be closed.
Note that closing an application does not close Windows 7. When you close an
application you will be returned to the Desktop.
Re-sizing a Window
When you open an application, it opens in its default window size. Instead of
maximizing the window, you may also resize the window to any convenient size
you want. You can resize either the width or the height of the window separately,
or resize them both simultaneously.
Resizing either Width or Height of the window
1. Restore the WordPad application window to its normal size.

2. Suppose you want resize the width of the WordPad window.
3. Position the mouse pointer over the right edge of the window. The mouse
pointer takes the shape of a double-headed arrow.
Position the mouse

pointer anywhere
on this edge
Drag in this
direction
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4. You can now drag the window in the direction of arrows, either towards left
or right.
5. Hold-down the left mouse button and draw the window in the direction in
which you want to resize the window, say towards left.
6. Observe that as you drag, an outline of the edge follows your movement.
7. Release the button when the window is resized to your requirement.
Resizing both sides simultaneously
1. Position the mouse pointer on the corner of the window in the direction in
which you want to resize. A double-headed arrow appears.
2. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the window inwards or outwards
in the direction of the arrow.
Position the pointer on

this corner and drag
the pointer in the
direction required
3. As you drag, an outline of the edges follows the mouse movement.

4. Release the mouse button when the window is of required size.
Moving a window
When you open more than one application, the application windows may overlap.
This may hinder the view of overlapped window contents. To view the underlying
window contents, you can move the overlapping windows anywhere on the
screen.
Let’s open one more application to demonstrate this utility.

1. Click on Start. Start Menu appears.
2. Point to All Program option. Programs list appears.
3. Click on Accessories folder. A list of Accessory programs appears.
4. Click on Calculator option.
5. A Calculator window pops up on the screen overlapping a part of the
existing WordPad window.
Now let’s move the Calculator window.
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6. Position the mouse pointer over the title bar of the Calculator application
window.
7. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the window to a new position,
say towards the right top corner.
8. Observe that as you drag, an outline of the window also moves along with
the mouse.
9. Release the mouse button to drop the window in its new location.
10. Calculator window moves to its new position.
Click on the title bar. Holding down the left

mouse button, drag the window
New location of
Calculator
window
Switching between windows
In Windows 7, you can open several applications simultaneously. But you will be
able to work on only one application at a time. The window in which you are
currently working will be your active window. You can, however, switch between
the open windows and make any open window as your current active window.
On the screen you have WordPad and Calculator application windows. Let’s
open another application.
1. Click on Start. Start Menu appears.

2. Point to All Programs. Programs list appears.
3. Click on Accessories Folder. A list of Accessory programs appears.
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4. Click on Paint option.
5. Windows 7 opens Paint application. Active WordPad
program window
Paint program
window
Calculator
program
window
Task buttons
Observe that:
1. You have now three applications running simultaneously on your desktop.
2. The respective programs icons appear in the Window’s Taskbar.
3. The window appearing on top of all other windows will be the active
window.
4. The icon of the active window gets focus, that is, it also gets highlighted in
the taskbar.
There are several ways you can switch between the opened windows.
Method 1: Clicking on the Window titles
This method is useful if all the opened windows are visible on the Desktop. All
you have to do is to click on the title bar of the application window you want to
work on.
1. Click on the Title bar of the WordPad application window. WordPad now
becomes your active window and appears on top of other windows.
2. Click on the Title bar of the Calculator application window. Calculator
now becomes your active window and it now appears on top of other
windows.
Note that if the title bar is not visible, you can click anywhere on the window to
make it the active window.
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Method 2: Clicking on Task buttons
This method is useful if all opened programs have been minimized. As you have
observed, every opened application places its icon and its name as a task button
in the Taskbar. Just click the task button of the application which you want to
display on screen.
Method 3: Using Windows Flip Feature (Using Alt+Tab keys)
Windows 7 has a new Windows Flip feature which displays live thumbnails of all
opened applications in the form of small rectangular windows above the taskbar.
When you press Alt+Tab keys combination, Windows 7 displays all the opened
windows in the form of thumbnails. Repeated pressing of Tab key holding down
the Alt key allows you to shuffle through and access any of these open
applications. Since thumbnails allow you to have a miniature preview of the
application, you can be sure of what you are displaying. Let’s try this out with the
opened applications.
1. Press and hold down the Alt key.
2. Press the Tab key. A rectangular panel appears at the center of the
screen with thumbnail views of all the opened windows. Observe that
the Desktop is also displayed as a thumbnail since it is also an active
window. The thumbnail view having the focus will be the active
application.
3. Still holding down the Alt key, press Tab key. The next opened window
becomes the active window. Each pressing of Tab key switches the
focus to the next thumbnail view.
4. Release the Tab key. The thumbnail having the focus becomes the
active window.
Rearranging the open windows
If you have a number of windows open simultaneously on your screen, you can
ask Windows 7 to arrange them in a particular order – either as cascading
windows or as tiles.
Cascading windows
1. Right click on any blank area of the Windows taskbar. A shortcut menu
pops up.
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2. Click on Cascading Windows option.
Click on Cascade
Windows option.
Click on any
blank area on the
taskbar.
3. Windows 7 immediately arranges all your open windows in a cascading

order, that is, in an increasing overlapping order starting with the first
application at the top left corner.
Cascading windows
Horizontal tiling of windows

1. Right click on an empty area in the task bar. A Short cut menu appears.
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2. Click on the Show Windows Stacked option.
3. The Windows now appear as Horizontal tiles covering the Desktop, either
as rectangular strips or as window tiles.
Vertical tiling of windows

1. In the short cut menu, choose Tile Windows Side by Side option.
2. Windows now appear as side by side vertical tiles on Desktop. Vertical
tiling allows you to view the contents of all your open windows at once.
Windows Flip 3D Feature
In addition to displaying the multiple application windows in cascading and tiled

arrangements, Windows 7 also allows you to display these open multiple
windows in the form of stacked 3-D cascading windows. This is known as Flip 3D
mode and is a novel feature of Windows 7. You can use Windows logo
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key+Tab key combination to shuffle through and access any of these open
applications.
To see this function in action:

1. Hold down the Windows Logo key and press the Tab key. All opened
programs as well as the Desktop now appear as 3D cascading windows
images.
2. Still holding down the Windows logo key, once press the Tab key. The
windows flips to the next application, that is, the foremost window image
gives way to the preceding window image. Each time you press the Tab
key, the 3D window interfaces shuffle. When you release the Windows
logo key, the application in the forefront will be displayed on the screen.
Note that the Windows Flip and Flip 3D options are only available under the
AERO interface.
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Show Desktop from Taskbar
When you have opened a number of applications chances are that you will not
be able to view the Desktop completely. Windows 7 has thoughtfully provided an
option for this.
1. Right click anywhere on the Taskbar. Context menu appears.

2. Click on Show Desktop option.
3. All opened application windows get minimized and you will be able to
view the Desktop.
4. To redisplay the minimized application windows, again right click on
Taskbar to display the context menu.
5. Click on Show Open Windows option.
6. All windows reappear.
Show Desktop button or Auto Peek feature
Windows 7 provides a new Auto Peek feature for displaying your desktop
irrespective of any number of windows that might be covering the Desktop.
1. Point to the Show Desktop button which

appears at the end of the Taskbar to the right
of the Date & Time display.
2. Almost instantly all opened windows become
transparent and the Desktop gets displayed.
Observe that the opened windows outline represent the existing opened
application windows.
3. As you move the pointer away from the Show Desktop button, windows
reappear.
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4. To display the Desktop indefinitely, click on the Show Desktop button. All
opened windows get minimized. Not even the outlines of the programs
appear. To redisplay the windows, again click on the Show Desktop
button. Show Desktop button is a part of the Auto Peek feature.
Recap
Every application in Windows OS opens in its own separate window. In this

lesson you learnt how to manipulate this window in many ways. You learnt how
to maximize, minimize, restore and resize the window.
You learnt how to manage multiple open windows and how to switch among the
windows. You learnt how to rearrange multiple windows as cascading windows
or as horizontal or vertical tiles. You also learnt how to display multiple open
applications in 3D and shuffle through using Windows Flip 3D feature.
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Lesson 13: Working with Files and Folders in Windows 7
Overview
Files and Folders are the essential elements of your computer system. Your
computer stores all information in the form of files. In early days of computing, a
file was just a collection of text or data of related information saved under a
unique name. Today however, the file also includes various multimedia
information such as, drawing, picture, graph, audio, video, photo, and so on.
Folders are containers for files and other sub folders. Folders and subfolders are
used to organize the information on your computer. In this lesson, you will learn
all about files and folders.

 Basics of File System
o Structure of a file name
o File Icons
o File Types
o Default Programs
o Changing the Default associated programs
 Basics of a Folder
 What is a path?
 Personal Folder and associated Common Folders
 Creating Files and Folders
o Creating a File using an Application
o Creating a file on Desktop
o Creating a file in any folder
o Creating a folder
o Creating a Folder on Desktop
o Creating a New Folder in Explorer
o Creating a Folder elsewhere in your computer
BASICS OF FILE SYSTEM
When you switch on your computer, it makes available to you certain memory in
which you can work. This memory is known as RAM, short for Random Access
Memory. RAM is volatile memory; that is, the memory is available as long as the
power supply to your computer is available. When you switch off the computer, or
if there is any power failure, all this memory contents will vanish without a trace!
So, you need to „save’ your work. Saving is the process of writing the contents of
the memory on to a physical device such as the hard disk of your computer.
When you save, your computer stores this information in the form of a File.
Whether it is a single line memo or a voluminous text document, a drawing or a
photo, a song or a video, or for that matter anything that you create and display
on your computer, it will have to be saved as a file if you want to view or play it
again.
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Structure of a file name
Each and every file saved in your computer possesses a unique name known as
Filename. A Filename is made up of two parts separated by a dot. A typical
filename could be named as MyFirstFile.TXT
MyFirstFile.TXT
Primary part Extension part
 The first part, MyFirstFile is the actual name you assign to the file when
you are saving. This name could be as long as 255 characters including
spaces, but rarely you use that many characters. Filename can contain
any alphabetical characters either in uppercase A to Z or lowercase a to z,
numerical numbers 0 to 9, and certain other characters such as ~, -, &, $
etc. However, it should not contain certain special characters such as \, /,
:, *, ?, “, <, > and |.
 The second part, .TXT is known as the File extension and is made up of
three or more characters. Windows 7 OS identifies the type of file by these
extensions.
File Icons
In Explorer and other windows of Windows 7, the files are listed without their
extensions. So it becomes rather difficult to identify a file just by its primary
name. Instead every file in your computer is represented by an icon. An icon
helps in visually identifying the type of that file. Generally the file icons have
some logos, or pictures that enable the user to identify the application that
created them. For example, a text file appears like a page of dog-eared paper
with the logo of the application that created it, where as icons of pictures, videos
files etc may display some pictures or the first frame of the video. Some typical
examples are shown in the figure.
Text file MS Word Document Application PowerPoint

File File File
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File icons created
by various
applications
A new feature of Windows 7 is the live icons. They are visually more realistic
than just illustrative. For example, Document icons show the actual document
contents and several media types are distinguished by icon overlays (video,
audio, photos). Icons are normally square in size and can come in various sizes
ranging from 16 x 16 pixels to 256 x 256 pixels. The icons can be zoomed in and
out by holding down the Ctrl key and using the mouse scroll wheel. The screen
shot shows the normal size and zoomed sizes of some icons on desktop.
Observe the realistic view of Recycle Bin waste paper basket!
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File Types
When you install an application, many details about that application are
registered with the Windows 7‟s registry. One such detail is the file type
association. Windows registry is a database or depository of details of each and
every program installed and every file saved in your computer. When the
program you are using saves the file, it assigns its own characteristic letters as
extension. For example, .DOC or .DOCX for MS Word document, .XLS or .XLSX
for MS Excel spreadsheet, .DWG for AutoCAD drawing, .TXT for Text files, .JPG,
.BMP, etc for graphic files, and so on. Compiled executable programs have
either .EXE or .COM as extensions.
Windows 7 makes use of such file extension associations to open appropriate

applications when you click on a filename or icon. For example, when you click
on a file having the extension of .DOC or .DOCX, Windows automatically opens
the appropriate version of Microsoft Word application and then the selected file in
it.
If you are not sure about the extension of a file or the application that opens that
file, you can easily find out this information.
1. Right click on that file to display a context menu
3. You can see the file extension displayed in parenthesis with the Type of
File.
4. You can also see the type of application that recognizes the file extension
and opens that file.
The screen shot shows Text Document (.txt) as the extension for text documents
and Notepad as the default application that opens the file.
If you prefer to display the file extensions also

with the file names in Explorer windows, then
do this.
1. In the Explorer window, click on
Organize button.
2. From the drop down menu, choose
Folders and Search Options.
3. In the Folder Options dialog box, click
on View tab.
4. Clear the check mark next to the option
Hide extensions for known file types
5. Click OK.
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Screen shot shows the listing of some typical file icons with their extensions.
Default Programs
Default programs are those that are associated with particular file type
extensions. When you click on a file, Windows 7 looks at its extension and then
automatically opens the file‟s default program and displays the file contents. For
instance, if you click on a text document file name or icon, Windows 7 recognizes
by its extension .txt that it is a text file and automatically opens the Notepad
application and displays that document. If the text file has an extension of .rtf,
the Windows 7 would have opened the WordPad application to display that
document, since the file extension .rtf is associated with WordPad program.
If you try to open a file with an application

that does not support it, then either you will
be displayed a message „Windows cannot
open this file’ or if you still forcefully try to
open it, you may get to see some
unrecognizable gibberish characters on the
screen.
Windows 7 supports practically all types of

file type extensions. You can easily view the
supported file type extensions in Windows
7:
1. Click on Start button to display the
Start Menu
2. Click on the Default Programs
option in the Right pane.
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3. In the Default Programs window, click on „Associate a file type or
protocol with a program‟ option.
4. Windows takes a few seconds to gather all the information and then
displays them in a Set Associations window as shown.
5. If you click on any of the displayed extensions in the first column, say
.docx, the row gets highlighted and you can view a description of that
extension and the current default program that opens that file. In case of
.docx extension it would be Microsoft Office Word 2007 or Word 2010
Document.
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Changing the Default Associated Programs
You can use Change Program option in the Set Associations dialog box to
change the existing association of certain File types. For example, when you
click on a file with .TXT extension, Windows by default opens Notepad
application. You can however change this so that Windows opens WordPad
application instead of Notepad.
1. In the Set Association window, select the extension .txt. Observe that the
default program to open this is Notepad.
2. Click on Change Program button.
3. A Open With dialog box appears.
4. Under the Recommended Programs section, Windows 7 shows two
applications that can be used to open files with .txt extension.
5. Click on WordPad application. In case you have any other program in
your computer that can be used to open .txt files, use Browse option to
select that program.
6. Click OK.
7. Windows 7 changes the associated default program from Notepad to
WordPad for files with .txt extension. This you can confirm by again
looking at the .txt extension in the Set Associations window.
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BASICS OF FOLDER SYSTEM
Folders are created to keep all related files together and to organize the
information in your computer. In your real life, you keep all related letters as a
bunch of letters in a folder so that everything is available at a single place. Then
you put a name to that folder to identify it. Likewise in computer terminology, a
Folder is just a container of files. It may be a blank folder (that is, without any
files), may contain just a single file, or may contain hundreds of files. It may also
contain other folders – folders within folders - known as subfolders. You can
create any number of subfolders within a folder. Each subfolder in turn can have
its own subfolders. In computer terminology, this is known as nesting of folders.
You can nest folders to any depth.
For example, you may have a main folder by the name of Budget. There could be
many subfolders within this folder such as Budget 2001, Budget 2002, etc for
each year. Again in each one of these yearly subfolders, there may be many
other subfolders meant to store files of particular types of transactions such as
say, Purchases, Stocks, etc. The above arrangement of grouping the files
logically and saving them makes it easy to locate any required information easily.
Budgets
Main Folder
Budget 2001 Budget 2002 Budget 2003

Sub Folder Sub Folder Sub Folder
Purchases Stocks Purchases Stocks Purchases Stocks

2001 2001 2002 2002 2003 2003
Sub Folder Sub Folder Sub Folder Sub Folder Sub Folder Sub Folder
Windows 7 represents a folder by an icon which looks like the conventional

manila folder. You can make out whether a folder is blank or contains documents
by a look at the folder icon. Blank folders appear blank where as Folders with
contents appear with one or more inserted pages. If you observe closely, you can
also make out the type of folder by the look of icons of inserted pages.
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Naming a folder is similar to that of a file, except that it does not have any
extensions. For example, a typical folder name could be MyNewFolder.
Windows 7 stores system related information in various system folders. New

applications when installed also create their own folder systems. So your
computer is actually a system of numerous folders and files.
WHAT IS A PATH?
A file path or a folder path is the complete location of the file or folder in the
saved media such as hard disk. For example, the full path to a file say,
MyFirstFile.rtf in the documents folder could be -
C:\Users\User\Documents\MyFirstFile.rtf
C: is the name Logged-in Personal Common File name

User name folder sub folder
of the drive
Note that in the above path the first character C:\ is the root drive, Users is the
default name of the person currently logged-in, User is the name of his personal
folder, Documents is the default personal subfolder for storing documents and
myFirstFile.rtf is the actual document which is saved.
The Address bar of the Explorer window of Windows 7 shows the complete path
to the current folder or file that is opened. By default it shows the path as
breadcrumbs trail where the path is listed as a series of folders starting with a
root folder or Library, followed by other nested folders separated by arrow blocks.
Path displayed as
breadcrumbs trail
Path displayed in
conventional way
You can also display the path in the conventional format starting with the root
drive and the nested folders separated by forward slash.
Libraries and Personal Folders
During installation, apart from its own system folders and files, Windows 7
creates a few special folders known as Libraries. A Library is a new concept in
Windows 7. It is collection of pointers to various folders and files that are saved
somewhere in your hard disk or external media or removable media or even in a
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server if your computer is connected to a network. Library appears as a category
in the left pane of the Explorer and lists 4
libraries by default. These are Documents,
Music, Pictures and Videos. Each one of
these libraries contains two folders – a
Personal folder and a shared Public folder. For
example Documents library contains My
Documents and Public Documents Folder.
Though these Libraries appear as folders in
Explorer window and also in the right pane of
Start menu, in reality they don‟t contain any
physical folders or files, but just the pointers to
folders and files. You can create your own
Libraries and remove them if not required. For
all practical purposes a Library is just a super-
folder.
Why use Libraries? A Library shows all the related folders and files as a single
collection irrespective of where such folders and files are saved in your computer
system. This means that you can access any folder or file easily from a single
place, and also your search for files and folders will be much more faster as the
Search engine needs to search in a single location only.
Suppose you have various folders and files related to a project scattered all over
your hard-disk or other locations such as external drive, server etc. You can
create a new library and name it appropriately. You can then save pointers to all
these related folders and files in this newly created Library. When you open that
Library, you will see all your folders with their contents as well as other files in the
Contents pane of the Explorer window.
Unless you specifically specify a folder for saving your files, Windows 7 by
default saves all your files in the My Documents personal folder. Likewise it
saves all your Music in My Music personal folder, Pictures in My Pictures
personal folder and Videos in My Videos personal folder.
Common Folders
Personal Folder consists of many other personal subfolders, known as

Common folders. Each Common subfolder is meant to store some particular
type of file that you create during the course of your work. When you save a file
such as a Word document, a photo, a song or a video, etc and if you don‟t
specify a definite location, then by default, Windows 7 saves these files in the
appropriate Common folders. The following are some of the important common
folders of Personal folder:
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My Documents folder is meant for saving your Word processing documents,
Spreadsheets, text documents, reports, presentations and similar types of files.
My Pictures folder is meant to save all of your digital pictures from whichever
source they are created, such as a digital camera, scanner, etc.
My Music folder is meant to store all your digital music, such as songs from
whichever source they are available, such as songs from CDs/DVDs,
downloaded music files, etc.
My Videos folder is meant for storing your videos from sources such as digital
cameras, camcorders, downloaded videos, etc.
Downloads folder is meant for saving files, programs and other stuff downloaded
from the Internet.
By default, most popular programs and in particular, Microsoft applications, save

files in common folders like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. For
example, MS Word application saves its documents in My Documents folder,
Downloaded files from Internet are automatically saved in Downloads folder, etc.
All these folders can be easily accessed by a number of ways.
Method 1:
1. Double click on the Personal folder icon on the desktop.
This folder would be named either by your login name
or by the generic default name User.
Personal Folder
Method 2:
1. Click on the Start button. Start menu is displayed
2. Click on the User folder icon appearing at the top of the
right pane. This folder may appear with your login name or
by the generic name User.
Both the above methods display your Personal Folder window. You can now
access any of the displayed common folders just by double clicking on it.
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Method 3:
If you are frequently accessing a particular Personal common folder, you can
create a shortcut to that folder and place it either on the Desktop or pin it to
taskbar for easy access.
It is important to note that saving your work in Personal common Folder is just a
suggestion and is not a compulsion. Infact, as you gain more working
experience, you may find it easy and efficient to store your work in your own
created folders rather in these common folders. For instance, if you are working
on a project, you may prefer to
create a separate folder say as
MyProject, and create separate
subfolders under it to save all
project related work such as
documents, photos, pictures,
downloaded documents, etc.
This way you will know that all
your related materials are
available in one main folder
rather than scattered all over
your hard disk. And since you can now include a pointer to this folder in the
Documents library, all the associated files will be available in a single location.
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CREATING FILES AND FOLDERS
Sooner or later as you start working in Windows 7, you will be required to create
your own files and folders to save your work. Windows 7 provides a number of
ways for creating your files and folders in various locations such as Desktop,
various drives of your computer, other folders, external storage devices, pen
drives, etc.
Creating a File using an Application
Files are created by the applications you use. There are hundreds of applications
that allow you to create different types of files. Windows 7 itself has dozens of
such applications known as „applets‟. Most of them are grouped under the
system folder Accessories. Let‟s create a file using the WordPad application.
WordPad is a mini-word processor which comes with Windows 7.

2. Point to All Programs. All programs and applications available in your
computer get listed in the left pane of the Start menu.
3. Click on Accessories item. Accessories folder expands to list all
Accessory programs available in your computer.
4. Click on WordPad Item.
5. WordPad application window appears on the desktop. WordPad is a
Word processor with limited capabilities. We will be discussing this
application in more detail in a subsequent lesson.
6. The flashing vertical line is known as cursor, and it is where your typed
characters appear. Type anything you want, say, „Hello World!”.
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7. Now, let‟s save this file as MyFirstFile. Click on the Floppy shaped icon
in the top bar. A Save As dialog box appears.
8. Observe that in the File name text box, WordPad application suggests
Document as the default file name. Overwrite this with MyFirstFile.
9. Accept all other defaults and click Save button.
10. WordPad application saves this file as MyFirstFile.rtf in the default folder
/Users/user/Documents.
Folder Name
File Name File Type
Click here
to save file
11. Next time you open the

Documents folder in
Explorer you will see this
file listed in the contents
pane under My
Documents folder as
shown.
Newly created
MyFirstFile file
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Creating a file on Desktop
You can easily create a file on your desktop to save information that you need to
access quickly.
1. Right click anywhere on the Desktop. A context menu pops up.
2. Point to New option. One more sub menu appears. This sub menu lists
types of files that can be created using the various applications available
in your computer.
3. Click on Text Document as the type of file to be created.
4. Windows 7 places a text icon on the Desktop with New Text Document
as the suggested file name. By default the icon looks like a sheet of
printed-paper. File icons come in a variety of types depending on the
programs that create them.
5. Overwrite this with any name you want, say, MyFirstTextDocument. Note
that this is a blank file, in the sense that it contains no information.
6. Double click on this icon. Notepad application opens. Windows 7
associates this type of document file with Notepad application. Notepad
is a mini word processor ideally suited for writing small text such as
memos, notes, etc.
7. You can type anything you want in the Notepad and save it for later use.
8. Observe that the file is displayed on the Desktop as an icon.
Newly created
Document’
Click on ‘New’ Click on ‘Text

Document’
Creating a file in any folder
You can create a file using the Windows Explorer in any folder you want. Let‟s
illustrate this by creating a file in the Common folder, My Documents.
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1. Click on the Windows Explorer icon in the Taskbar. Windows Explorer
appears displaying the Libraries.
2. Click on the Documents Library. Documents contents are displayed.
3. Right click anywhere in the contents pane. A context menu appears.
4. Point to New option. One more sub menu appears. This sub menu lists
types of files that can be created using the various applications available
in your computer.
5. Click on Text Document as the type of file to be created.
6. Windows 7 adds a file to the list of files and folders in the Contents pane
with New Text Document as the suggested file name. Overwrite this with
any name you want.
Similarly you can create a file in whichever Folder or Subfolder you want.
CREATING A FOLDER
To save whatever work you do on your computer you must create a file. Over a
period of time you will be creating so many files that you may feel the need for
separating related files as groups and keep them together. You can do this by
creating Folders which are just containers for files. Windows 7 during its
installation creates a number of folders for storing system related files. It also
creates a Personal folder with a number of common folders for saving all your
work as files. But sooner or later you would like to create your own folders to
save your work related files separately. You can create a folder on the Desktop,
in any of the drives, Start Menu, Documents folder or within any other existing
folders etc.
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Creating a Folder on Desktop
1. Right click on the Desktop. A shortcut menu pops up.

2. Point to New. One more sub menu appears.
3. Click on Folder option. A new folder icon appears on the Desktop. By
default, Windows assigns New Folder as the name for this folder.
4. You can rename the New Folder name to something more appropriate by
overwriting the existing name.
Click on Folder
Newly created
Click on New Folder
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Creating a New Folder in Explorer
Since clicking any folder, such as say Documents, opens the Explorer window,
you can use this Explorer window to create a new folder in that displayed folder.
1. Open the Explorer window of the folder in which you want to create a new
folder.
2. Right click any blank area of the Contents pane. A short cut menu pops
up.
3. Point to New option. One more sub menu slides out.
4. Click on Folder option.
5. A folder Icon appears in the Contents area with New Folder as the
suggested folder name. The name is highlighted suggesting you to
rename the newly created folder.
Newly created
Folder
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6. Observe that a new folder icon with New Folder name also appears in the
Folders panel.
Using similar procedure you can create a folder anywhere in your computer. You
can also create a sub folder within a folder.
1. Open the folder in which you want to create a sub folder.

2. Right click anywhere in the Contents pane of the folder view.
3. In the displayed shortcut menu, click on New option.
4. In the displayed side menu, click on Folder.
5. Windows creates a new folder within that folder.
6. Rename the folder.
RECAP
Files and Folders are the important ingredients of your computer system. All your
information is saved in files, and related files in turn are grouped in folders. In this
lesson you learnt the basics of files and folders and how to work with them.
You learnt about File and Folder icons. You also learnt about file types, file
extensions, default associated programs for opening files, file path, etc.
You also learnt how to create files and folders in different locations of your
computer.
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Lesson 14: Customizing Folders in Windows 7
OVERVIEW
A Folder is an important element of your computer system. Folders are meant to

hold files which are generally related to each other. A Folder can also hold other
folders known as subfolders. Folders have some specific properties. When
Windows 7 installs a folder, or you create a folder, it automatically inherits all
these default properties. You may however customize these properties as per
your requirements. Windows 7 provides tools to personalize either individual
folders or customize the settings of all Folders. In this lesson, you will learn how
to personalize individual folders. You will also explore the default settings of all
the folders and how you can customize them.

 Personalize individual folder
 Invoking the Folders Options
 Explore the default folder settings
 Customizing General settings
 Customize View settings
 Customize Search settings
Introduction
You can personalize a single folder or customize all folders of a Library by

changing their default settings.
Personalizing a Selected Folder
You can personalize a folder in many ways. However not all folders can
individually be personalized.
1. Select the folder you

want to customize, say
the My Documents
folder. The folder opens
in its own Explorer
window.
2. To customize any
individual folder, right
click on it in the
Contents pane. To
customize the My
Documents folder itself,
right click either on My
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Documents item in the left pane, or right click any where in a blank area
of the Contents pane in My Documents section. In either case a short
cut menu appears. Click on the option ‘Properties’.
3. Depending on whether you have selected a specific folder or the My
Documents folder, a Properties dialog box appears as shown. The name
of the selected folder appears at the top.
4. If you have selected a specific folder, then the dialog box displays four
tabs – General, Sharing, Security, and Previous Versions. If you have
selected the My Documents folder, then you have an additional tab in
Location. Each tab displays certain properties of the folder. Let’s briefly
look at these tab options.
General Options
The General tab shows the particulars of the folder such as its Type, its
Location, its Size, number of Files and Folders it contains, its date of creation
and the currently set Attributes (Read only or Hidden).
Attributes: Attributes are the properties of the selected file or folder that decide
whether the user has the privileges to open, read, make changes, or hide the
contents of the selected file or folder. There are two attributes – Read only and
Hidden.
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Read only Attribute
The Read only attribute can have three possible permissions depending whether
the check box is Empty, colored or checked.
1. Empty: If the Read-only attribute is empty, it means the contents of the

folder can be opened and read by anyone who has access to your
computer.
2. Colored: If it is colored, the contents of the folder can only be opened and
read by the person who has created that folder. If the folder is shared with
other users of the computer, they can only open and read the contents but
can’t make any changes.
3. Checked: If it is checked, the contents of the folder can be opened and
read by any one but the contents can’t be changed by any one including
the person who has created the folder.
Hidden attribute
By checking the Hidden attribute, you can make the folder invisible. You can
still make the folder contents visible,
if you disable the option ‘Do not
show hidden files and folders’ in the
View section of the Folder options.
This option will be discussed later in
this lesson.
Advanced Attributes Option
The Advanced Attributes option in

the General tab allows you to
Encrypt the folder contents for
securing the data. File encryption is
an advanced topic and is not
discussed here.
Sharing options
By default, your folders are not shared by other users of your computer. You may
however, using the Sharing options, set up any of your file or folder to be shared
with other users of your computer if you so desire. Sharing of files is an
advanced topic and is not discussed here.
Security options
The options in the tab are meant to protect your files and folders from
unauthorized access. You can assign permissions to allow users or groups to
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perform specific actions on the files and folders. This is an advanced topic and is
not discussed here.
Location options
This tab shows the path of the

folder where the files of this folder
are stored. If you so desire, you
can specify another location for
saving the files of this folder by
overwriting the currently displayed
path in the location text box.
If after changing the location, you change your mind, you can revert back to the
default location by clicking on Restore Default.
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Previous Versions option
Previous versions are either backup copies of your files and folders using the
Back Up Wizard, or Shadow copies that Windows 7 automatically creates as
part of Restore Points.
Some times, either due to fluctuations in power supply or due to some other
reason, your files and folders may get corrupted. If this happens, you need not
despair. Windows 7 automatically creates Shadow copies of files that have been
modified since the last Restore
Point was created, which is
typically once in a day. For
example, the screen shot shows
the shadow copy of the My
Documents folder created on
previous day. If you were to loose
the document folder today due to
any reason, you can restore to
yesterday’s position by clicking on
the folder name and choosing the
Restore option. Depending on
the type of file or folder, you also
have the options of opening or
copying to a different location.
Restore points are created by
System Restore feature at
specific intervals, usually once a
day. Note that this does not
restore any changes you might
have made to your files since the
last restore.
Restoring is also useful in situations where you have modified your files and
saved them. Subsequently, after a day or two you may have a change of mind
and would like to revert back to the previous version. If you are lucky, and if the
System Restore feature is active, you may use the Previous versions tab
options to restore them back.
Customizing Folders
When Windows 7 creates a folder, it sets up its own default browsing

characteristics, such as how to open the folder, view its contents, etc. If you are
not satisfied with the look and feel of the folders that appear on your screen, you
can customize them. Windows 7 offers a number of customization choices which
can be accessed from the Folder Options dialog box. Note that most of the
options available in the Folder Options perform some cosmetic changes rather
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than any functional changes. Best way of getting to know these options, is to
open the Documents Folder in Explorer view and experiment with its various
options.
Let’s view the current settings for the Folders and how they can be changed.
1. Click on Start button. In the displayed Start menu, click on Documents to

display the Explorer window for documents.
2. Click on Organize command in the Command bar. In the drop down menu
that appears, click on Folder and Search Options.
3. Folder Options dialog box appears.
4. The dialog box has three tabs – General, View and Search.
General tab has the following

options:
1. Browse Folders
The settings under this option refer to the way the contents of each folder is
displayed when opened.
a. Open each folder in the same window: This is the default setting.
In this setting, there will be a single Explorer browser window. Each
opened folder replaces the previously opened folder. That is, when
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you open any folder, the contents of that folder will be displayed in
the same window replacing the contents of the previous folder. You
can use the Back and Forward buttons in the toolbar to view folders
you have already seen.
b. Open each folder in its own window: If you opt for this option,
each folder when opened shows its contents in its own window.
That is, Explorer windows of each folder overlap each other. This is
suitable if you want to view the contents of various opened folders
simultaneously.
2. Click Items as Follows
The settings under this option refer to the way you can select and open the
files and folders.
a. Single click to open an item (point to select): This option if
selected allows you to open files and folders with a single click.
If you select this option, you need to choose one of the following
sub-options.
 Underline icon titles consistent with my browser: If you
select this option, all files and folders in the file list pane of
the Explorer Window will be underlined.
 Underline icon titles only when I point to them: If you

select this option, the files and folders in the file list pane
of the Explorer folder Window are underlined only when
you point to them, otherwise not.
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b. Double click to open an item (single click to select): This is the
default setting. A single click selects the file or folder while a double
click opens the same. Files and folders are not underlined when
you point to them.
3. Navigation pane
The settings under this option refer to the way the folders are displayed in
the Navigation pane of the Explorer windows. There are two options:
a. Show all folders: This is disabled by default. When enabled, all
folders including subfolders are displayed in the Navigation pane.
Only Folders
are displayed Folders on
by default desktop are also
displayed
b. Automatically expand to current folder: This is disabled by

default. This means that when you open folders at any nested level
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the Navigating pane does not change. When you enable this
option, the Navigation pane automatically expands to display the
current folder.
By default, the pane

does not expand to
show current folder
The Navigating pane

expands to show
current folder
View Tab Options
The options in the View tab allow you to

set the Folder views as well as to
change advanced file and folder settings.
Apply to Folders
Windows 7 allows you to set the way the

contents of a folder are displayed such
as List, Details, Large Icons, etc. These
are known as Views. If you are happy
with a particular view setting for the
current folder, and want to set the same
view setting for all the other folders, then
click on the Apply to Folders button. All
folders now display similar view of folder
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contents.
Clicking on Reset Folders button resets these folders back to their default
settings.
Advanced Settings
Advanced settings affect the way the files and folders are displayed in the
Explorer window.
1. Always show Icons, Never Thumbnails: By default, Windows 7 shows
the Folder as live thumbnails (Fig first figure on screen). Such displays
require more memory and also may take little longer time for displays,
particularly if your computers processing speed is slow. To speed up the
displays as well to conserve memory, you may disable this option by
checking this option. Folder will now be displayed as generic thumbnail
icons as shown in the second figure on screen.
Folders displayed as
Live Thumbnails
Folder displayed as
icons
2. Always Show Menus: By default, the Explorer window does not show
the Classic menu bar above the toolbar. For those who are addicted to
work with Menu bars of earlier Window versions, this could be a handicap.
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By enabling this option, you can ensure that the Classic menu bar is
always displayed in all folders.
Classic Main menu

bar
3. Display File Icon on Thumbnails: If you have enabled the option

‘Always Show Icons, never Thumbnails’, then enabling this option shows
program logo icon on thumbnail previews of files.
4. Display File Size Information on Folder

Tips: This option ensures that a tooltip
appears displaying the size of the folder
when you point to it. This is a handy
feature and is enabled by default. If you
don’t want such display, you may disable
this option.
5. Display the Full path in the Title bar:

(Classic Folders only)
If you are using the Classic Folders view, by default the title bar of the
Explorer window shows just the folder name. If you enable this option,
then the title bar shows the complete path of the currently opened folder.
6. Hidden Files and Folders:

The default setting is Don’t show hidden files, folders or drives. Hidden
files are those that have their Hidden file or folder attributes marked as
true. You can hide files if you don’t want them to be displayed on screen.
To hide a file or a folder
a. right click on the File or Folder to be hidden

b. In the displayed shortcut menu, click on Properties
c. Click on the check box of Hidden option to enable it.
By default files, folders and drives marked as hidden are not displayed in
Explorer windows.
By clicking on the option ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’, you can
instruct Windows 7 to display hidden files, folders and drives also with
other files.
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Click here to hide
Click here to hide this Folder
this File
7. Hide extensions for known file

types: By default, Windows 7
displays file names without their
extensions. By disabling this option,
you can instruct Windows to display
all files with their extensions. This
may be useful if you want to know
the extensions for uncommon file
types. Since malwares are very often
introduced to your computer in the
form of files with no extensions, the
display of files with extensions allow
you to watch out for such malicious
software disguised as common files.
8. Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended):

By default, the Operating System files are hidden from view. Ordinarily
there is no reason why you want to view them. But in case you do,
disabling this option displays such files also. Tampering with system files
intentionally or accidently may stop your computer from working properly.
Make sure that you enable this option again after your purpose is over.
9. Launch Folder Windows in a separate Process:

By default, Windows 7 stores the currently displayed contents of a folder
in a separate area of memory. When you change the folder, the existing
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contents of this memory area get overwritten by the changed folder
contents. If your computer frequently crashes, and if you are trying to
troubleshoot, then enabling this option may be of some assistance.
By enabling this option, you will be instructing Windows 7 to keep contents

of every opened folder separately rather than overwriting. This may
stabilize your computer operation but at the cost of slight degradation in
your computer’s operation.
10. Managing Pairs of Web pages and Folders

a. Show and Manage the pair as a single file (Default)
b. Show both parts and manage them individually
c. Show both parts and manage them as a single file.
This setting is meant for downloaded files from the Internet. While
browsing the net with the default Internet Explorer, if you find the contents
of a webpage useful, you may save a copy of that web page to your
computer hard disk for offline reading. You can download the webpage in
either of the following ways.
 Using Web Archive, Single file (.mht) format. This saves the
webpage as a single file. In this format, any pictures in the
webpage may not get downloaded with the text.
 Using Webpage, complete (*.htm, *.html) format. This format
ensures that both the text and the pictures are downloaded but as
separate files with separate icons. You will require both these files
to view downloaded pages offline.
The ‘Managing Pairs of Web pages and Folders’ gives three choices for
the two separate icons you get when you download a Web page using the
Webpage, complete option.
1. Show and Manage the pair as a single file (Default) option ensures
that when you copy, move or delete one part, the other part also is
copied, moved or deleted.
2. Show both parts and manage them individually option breaks the
bond between the two parts so that you can copy, move or delete
either of them independently.
3. Show both parts and manage them as a single file option is similar
to option one, except that it is applicable to pages you downloaded
in the past as well as those you download in the future.
11. Restore Previous Folder Windows at Logon:

Enabled by default. When you logout from your computer, Windows 7
closes all folders and windows in which you were working. Enabling this
option, you are instructing Windows to remember your folders and your
work from your earlier session and restore them when you login again.
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12. Show Drive letters:
When you click on the Computer folder, you will observe that each drive
displays a name and the drive letter such as Local Disk (C. By disabling
this option, you can suppress the displaying of the drive letter.
By default drive letters are

display
Drive letters are

suppressed
13. Show encrypted or compressed NTFs files in color:
NTFS is a file system for formatting computer hard disks. It has many
improved features as compared to FAT (File Allocation Table) system.
The NTFs file system of Windows 7 allows you to compress or encrypt

selected folders or files to save space in your computer hard disk. By
default Windows 7 shows such compressed or encrypted folders/files in
different colors to distinguish them from other normal folders and files.
Enabling this option, you can instruct Windows 7 to not to show such
folders/files in different colors.
Note: To Compress or Encrypt a folder or a file:

a. Right click on Folder or File. In the displayed context menu,
choose Properties
b. In the displayed Properties dialog box, click on Advanced
button.
c. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, choose either
 Compress contents to save disk space, or
 Encrypt contents to secure data.
Note that you can only select one of these options and not both.
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d. Click OK.
14. Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items:

By default, when you point to a file or folder or an icon on the desktop, a
tooltip appears. By disabling this option, you can suppress this default
behavior and turnoff the tooltips.
15. Show preview handlers in preview menu:

The Preview pane if displayed in the Explorer window, shows a preview of
the contents of the selected file. However, all programs that create files,
may not support previews. If you select such a file, a message ‘No
preview available’ appears in this pane. By disabling this option, you can
suppress the display of previews for any file you select. This may help in
improving the performance of your computer.
16. Use check boxes to select items:

This option provides an alternate method for selecting multiple files.
Normally, when you want to select several files at once, you hold down the
Ctrl key while you click on the files. Enabling this option adds check boxes
to views in the File list pane. As you point to a file or folder, a check box
appears to the left of the item to enable you to select it. You can just go on
clicking the check boxes to select them without any need to hold down the
Ctrl key.
Using checkboxes to
select folders and files
17. Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended):

You can share your folders and/or files with other users of your computer.
By default, a Share Wizard helps you in this process. If you don’t want to
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use the help of the Share Wizard, and would rather do it on your own, just
disable this option.
Notes: To share a folder or a file with other users, either:

o right click on the icon and from the displayed context menu, choose
Share option, Or
o Select the folders or files in the Explorer window and click on Share
button in the toolbar.
Either way a Share Wizard appears to help in this process of sharing.
Restore Defaults:
This is the safety net. After you have experimented with various settings and
changes, if you want to restore your default settings, just click on this button.
Search Tab Options
Search tab provides many options to help you customize the way Windows 7
searches for files and folders in your computer. It has three brood groups of
settings:
 What to search,
 How to Search and
 When searching non-indexed locations.
What to Search options
In Indexed locations, search file names and contents. In non-indexed locations,

search file names only. This is the default search option.
When you are searching for filenames and the file contents using the Search text
box in Start menu or in any of the Explorer folder windows, the Windows 7 will
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search for both in the Indexed locations, whereas only filenames will be searched
for non-indexed locations.
Always search files and contents option when enabled instructs Windows 7 to
always search for both filenames and file contents in both indexed and non-
indexed locations. Obviously, such a search will be slow.
How to Search options
Include subfolders when

typing in the search box:
This is enabled by default.
When you type the search
criteria in the search text
boxes, the search also
includes any subfolders if
present. By disabling this
option, you can restrict the
search only to the folder
contents and not any
subfolders it may contain.
Find partial matches: This is

enabled by default. Window
7’s search engine finds partial
matches also when it
searches. This may often
result in a large number of
unwanted search results. By
disabling this option, you can
exclude partial search results.
Use Natural language search: This is disabled by default. Natural language

refers to the way we generally talk when we desire to get some work done.
Natural language search lets you type the search text the way you talk. An
example may help you understand this. One of the facilities offered by Windows
7 while searching is the use of Boolean operators to combine two or more search
conditions. Boolean operators such as AND, OR, NOT must be typed in
uppercase. For example, if you are searching for files that contain location as
Nashik or Nashik Road, the search query would be Name: (Nashik OR Nashik
Road). In natural language, you can specify this as search Nashik or Nashik
Road. Natural language search lets you type search text the way you talk. You
don’t have to type AND, OR and NOT in upper case. You can use tags and
properties in your search text. Some example search criteria could be:
 email from john sent last month
 documents modified today
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 pictures of parties taken june 2007
 classical music rated ****
To turn on natural language search

1. Click Start button to display start menu
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on Appearance and Personalization
4. Click Folder Options
5. Choose Search tab
6. Enable Use natural language search
Note that when natural language is turned on, you still can use the Search box in
the normal way, with property names, colons, parenthesis and search operators.
Don’t use the Index when searching the file system: By default, when you
search from the Start menu or the Explorer windows using the Search box, the
search will be in indexed locations only. By enabling this option, you can
suppress this default setting, and instruct Windows 7 to search in all locations.
The search will be thorough but takes much longer.
When searching non-indexed locations options
Include System Directories: When you specify a search through non-indexed

locations also, by default Windows 7 does not search the System directories. By
enabling this option you can instruct Windows 7 to search in system folders also.
This is necessary if you are searching for a system file such as a driver file or a
service file.
Include Compressed Files (Zip, CAB, etc): By default, when searching through
non-indexed locations, Windows 7 does not search in compressed files if any. By
enabling this option, you can instruct Windows 7 to search through such
compressed files also.
Restore defaults
If you have made any changes in any of these Search options, but would like to
restore the original default search conditions, then click on Restore defaults
button.
Recap
In this lesson you learnt how to personalize individual folders. You learnt how to
change the attributes of files and folders, change the location of saved files, how
to share files and folders, and restore files and folders from previous versions.
You also explored the various browsing and search default settings of folders
and how to change them.
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Lesson 15: Managing Files and Folders in Windows 7
Overview
To work efficiently on your computer, one of the essential requirements is the

proper organization of your files and folders. This is possible if you learn how to
manage them. Managing Files and Folders is one of the routine activities you will
be performing while you are working on your computer. Management of Files and
folders involves tasks such as renaming them, copying or moving them, deleting
them, etc. Windows 7 provides many ways of doing this. Windows 7 also
provides a safety net for deleted files and folders in the form of Recycle Bin. In
this lesson you will learn how to manage your files and folders, as well as get
acquainted with the useful Recycle Bin.

 Renaming Files and Folders
 Selecting Files and Folders
 Copying and moving of Files and Folders
 Deleting Files and Folders
 Recovering deleted files and folders from Recycle Bin
 Customizing Recycle Bin
Introduction
In Windows 7 you can not only create new files and folders but you can also
manage them in many ways. Managing files and folders involve such tasks as
renaming, copying, moving, deleting etc. Windows 7 provides many ways of
doing this. One of the secrets of efficient working is to know which particular
method is suitable for a particular situation. Let’s discuss how you can perform
these management tasks.
RENAMING FILES AND FOLDERS
When you create a new file or a new folder, Windows 7 by default assigns a
generic name such as New Text Document or New Folder. Obviously you
would like to change these generic default names to something more
appropriate. Also, there will be occasions where you would like to rename the
existing names of files and folders. For example, when you copy a file or a folder,
you may want to assign new names to the copied file or folder. You can rename
any folder - either new or existing - very easily. The procedure for renaming a file
or a folder is same. Suppose you have created a new folder in the Explorer
window of the Documents. If not, create a new folder. Let’s rename this newly
created folder.
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1. Right click on the folder to be renamed, say the newly created folder. A
short cut menu pops up.
2. Click Rename option.
Right click on
the New Folder
Click on
Rename option
3. The existing name gets highlighted. Type-in the new name, say as
MyFirstFolder.
Renamed
Folder
Renamed
folder Renamed
Folder
4. Click anywhere on an empty area or press Enter key. The folder gets
renamed.
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5. Observe that the name is also updated in the Libraries section of the
Navigators panel.
Note that while renaming, you should follow the appropriate naming rules, that is,
a File or Folder name should not contain more than 255 characters, including
spaces. And the name must not contain certain special characters.
Similarly you can rename new or existing files and folders on the Desktop. Just
right click on the file or folder to be renamed, choose Rename option in the
context menu and overwrite the existing name.
Note that you can’t rename certain System Folders such as User, Control
Panel, Network, etc. The context menu that appears when you right click on
such system folders does not display the Rename option. Verify this yourself.
Selecting Files and Folders
You can perform file and folder management actions such as renaming, copying,
moving, deleting, etc on a single file or folder or a group of files and folders.
However, before you can take any such action you must first select the files and
folders. In Explorer windows, you can select one or more files or folders in many
ways. By default, a single click on an object selects it while a double click opens
it.
Let’s use the

Document folder for
demonstration of
how to select files
and folders and
perform various
management tasks.
For this we need
some files and
folders in this
Document folder to
work with. So let’s
create them. Using
the steps described
earlier, create a
couple of new folders
and name them as
MyFirstFolder and MySecondFolder. Likewise create a couple of files and name
them as MyFirstFile, MySecondFile. Note that all these newly created folders and
files are blank. Note that files and folders are also referred to as objects.
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Selecting a Single Folder or File
1. Click on the
Folder or file to
be selected in
the Explorer
Window.
2. Folder Icon as
well as the
Folder name
gets highlighted
indicating that it
has been
selected. Also a
tooltip appears
showing some
details about the
selected file or
folder.
3. The selected folder’s or File’s name and its attributes get displayed in the
Details panel at the bottom of the window.
Selecting multiple Folders and/or Files
You can also select multiple files and folders. Windows 7 provides a couple of
ways of selecting them depending on their order of appearance in the folder.
Selecting multiple files or folders randomly
This method is suitable if the files and folders are non-contiguous, that is, not in a
sequence in the
Explorer folder window.
1. Hold down the
Ctrl key and
click on the
folders and files
to be selected.
2. All selected
folders and files
get highlighted.
3. The Detail pane
shows the
number of items
selected.
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4. To de-select the objects, just click anywhere on an empty area.
Selecting a group of consecutive folders and/or files
This method is suitable if the folders and files to be selected are contiguous; that
is, they are sequentially placed.
1. Select the first file or folder of the group
2. Press and hold
down the Shift
key and click on
the last file or
folder you want
to select.
3. All consecutive
folders and files
in between will
be selected.
4. The Details
pane shows the
number of
objects
selected.
5. Click anywhere
outside the
selected objects
to de-select them.
Selecting a group of folders and/or files that are contiguous
You can also use this alternate method of selecting contiguous files and/or
folders.
1. Place the mouse pointer just above and close to the folders and/or files to
be selected.
2. Holding down
the left mouse
button, drag a
rectangle to
enclose all the
folders and files
to be selected.
All objects within
the rectangle will
be highlighted.
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3. Release the button. All objects within the rectangle will be selected.
Selecting all objects of the Explorer folder window
1. Pressing Ctrl+A key combination selects all objects in the folder.
Selecting Folders and Files using Check boxes
As you have learnt, while selecting multiple folders and files you will have to hold
down either the Shift key for selecting contiguous objects or Ctrl key for non-
contiguous object which clicking on the objects. For beginners and occasional
users of computer this could be confusing. For them and also for other users,
Windows 7 provides a Check box mode
of selecting. But this mode has to
enabled before your can use it. Let’s
enable this.
1. Open any Explorer Window, say

Documents by any convenient
method.
2. Click on the Organize command.
3. In the drop down menu click on
Folder and Search option.
4. In the displayed Folder Options
dialog box, click on View tab.
5. Scroll down the list of view
options and locate the option ‘Use
check boxes to select items’.
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6. Click on its check box to enable it.
7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK to return to the Explorer window.
There appears to be no change in the folders and files display. But when you
point to any file or folder, a check box appears at the top left corner of the folder
and the file icon. To select that folder or file, you need to just click on the check
box. Now there is no need for you to hold down either the Shift or Ctrl key to
select multiple folders and files.
To de-select the
objects, just click
anywhere on an empty
area.
To disable this mode,

just repeat the above
steps and remove the
check mark against the
option ‘Use check
boxes to select items’
in the View options of
Folder Options.
Copying and Moving Folders and Files
Copying and moving of files and folders is one of the most frequent tasks you will
be performing during the course of your day to day work on your computer. You
will be required to do this when you want to:
1. Arrange your files and folders in your computer.
2. Make a back up of your files and folders.
3. Share certain files and folders with other users of your computer.
4. Make copies or duplicates of original files and folders for safe keeping,
and so on.
Copying vs Moving
Copying a file or a folder is the process of duplicating it. The original object is not
affected, but the object along with its contents gets copied to another location.
You can copy a file or a folder either in the same folder or to a different folder. If
you are copying to the same folder, then you must copy it by a different name as
the folder cannot contain two files or folders with identical names. However, while
copying to a different destination, you need not change its original name.
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Moving of a file or folder is the process of copying the selected object to another
location and deleting it from its original location. You can’t move the file or folder
within the same folder, but it must be always to a different folder.
In Explorer window, you can copy or move a folder or a file in many ways:
 by dragging and dropping objects
 by using Copy and Paste, or Cut and Paste
 by using Copy to Folder or Move to Folder option
 by using Send To option
The steps for Copying and/or Moving of files and/or folders are almost identical.
To experiment with copying and moving of objects, create one more folder in the
Documents folder and name it as MyNewFolder.
Copying or Moving by Drag and Drop
Copying or moving by drag and drop is an ideal choice when both the source and
destination locations are visible.
Copying Objects
1. Click on the object to be copied, say, MySecondFolder folder. The folder
gets selected. You can select any other folder if you want.
2. To Copy the object, hold down the Ctrl key, drag the folder object and
drop it on MyNewFolder folder.
3. Observe that while dragging, an image of the object moves along with the
pointer. Also a small + sign with the text ‘Copy to MyNewFolder’ appears
to indicate that you are copying the object.
4. When you release the mouse button, the selected object gets copied to its
destination folder which is MyNewFolder in the present case.
5. To verify the copying, double click on the folder ‘MyNewFolder’. You will
observe a copy of MySecondFolder in it.
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Moving Objects
1. Click on the object to be moved, say, MyFirstFolder folder. The folder
gets selected.
2. To Move the object, just drag the object and drop it on MyNewFolder
folder.
3. Observe that while dragging, an image of the object moves along with the
pointer. Also a small sign with the text ‘Move to MyNewFolder’ appears to
indicate that you are moving the object.
4. When you release the mouse button, the selected object gets moved to its
destination folder which is MyNewFolder in the present case.
5. Observe that the original folder MyFirstFolder gets deleted from the
Documents folder.
6. To verify the moving, double click on the folder ‘MyNewFolder’. You will
observe a copy of MyFirstFolder in it.
Copying and moving files and folders within the Explorer Window
Drag and drop is an easier and popular method of copying and moving files and
folders. You can employ this method for copying and moving objects from the
contents pane of any folder to any other folder displayed in the Navigation pane
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of the Explorer window. When you drag and copy objects from the Contents pane
to the Navigation pane of the Explorer window, you may notice that sometimes
the objects get copied while other times they get moved. To understand this, it is
necessary to note following points.
1. You can’t drag an object between the same folders. This is because two
copies of the same file or folder can’t co-exist in the same folder. Let’s
verify this.
 Select MyNewFolder in the
Contents pane of the My
Documents folder.
 Drag the folder and drop it
on My Documents in the
Navigation pane.
 Windows 7 does not copy
the folder but instead pops
up a message as shown.
2. If you drag an object to a folder

that is on a different folder or
Library or to a removable media
like CD, DVD, Pen drive
etc, the object is copied
and not moved. Verify
this by dragging any
newly created folder to
another Library or drive
in the navigation pane.
 Select
MySecondFolder in
the Contents pane
of the My
Documents folder.
 Drag the folder and
drop it on Public
Documents in the
Navigation pane.
 Windows 7 moves the folder to the destination folder as you can see
from the Public Documents folder in the Explorer.
3. To copy an object instead of moving it, hold down Ctrl key while dragging.
4. To move an object instead of copying it, hold down Shift key while
dragging.
5. To create a shortcut to the object instead of moving or copying it, hold
down the Alt key while dragging.
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Copying and Moving objects using Copy and Paste, or Cut and Paste
Let’s use the Copy and Paste method to copy an object say MyFirstFile file to
the folder MyNewFolder.
1. In Documents explorer
window, right click the
object to be copied or
moved, say
MyFirstFile. A shortcut
menu pops up.
2. To copy the object,
click on Copy option.
To move the selected
object, click on Cut
option. No change
appears in the window.
3. Right click on the folder
where you want to copy
or move the object, say
MyNewFolder folder
either in the Contents
pane or the Navigation
pane. A shortcut menu
appears.
4. To Copy or Move, click
on Paste option. Again
there will be no change.
5. Double click
MyNewFolder folder.
You should see a copy
of MyFirstFile in that
folder.
6. If you are copying, the
original file is
unaffected, but if you
are moving, the original
file gets deleted.
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Copying and Moving objects using Keyboard
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts for copying and moving of selected
objects. Windows 7 provides the conventional Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V key
combinations for this purpose.
1. Select the objects to be copied or moved.
2. Use Ctrl+C key combination to copy the selected objects to the
Windows Clipboard.
3. Use Ctrl+X key combination to cut or move the selected objects to the
Windows Clipboard.
4. Navigate to the destination folder.
5. Use Ctrl+V key combination to paste the objects from clipboard to the
destination folder.
Cut and Copy Using Edit Main menu options
You can also use the Edit option in the Main menu bar for copying, moving and
pasting the selected files and folders from one location to another.
1. Select the objects to be copied or moved.
2. Click on Edit option in the Main menu bar of the Explorer window. If
the menu bar is not visible, press Alt key.
3. In the Edit drop down menu, click or select Copy option to copy the
selected objects, or
Cut option to move
the objects.
4. The selected objects
will be copied to the
Windows Clipboard.
5. Navigate to the
destination folder
where you want to
copy or move these
selected objects.
6. Click again on Edit
option in the Main
menu bar of the
Explorer window.
7. In the Edit drop down menu, click or select Paste option to paste the
object from the clipboard.
Copying or Moving objects using Copy to Folder or Move to Folder option
Copy to Folder and Move to Folder options are useful when you want to Copy
or Move a folder or a file from one location to another location currently not
visible on your computer. Using this option let’s copy or Move a file say,
MySecondFile from Documents Explorer folder Window on to the Desktop.
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1. In Documents Explorer Window select the file or folder to be copied or
moved, say MySecondFile file.
2. Display the Main menu toolbar by pressing Alt key.
3. Click on Edit option. A pull down menu appears.
To Copy:
a. Click on Copy to Folder option.
b. A Copy Items dialog box appears.
c. Choose the destination folder, say Desktop.
d. Click Copy.
To Move:
a. Click on Move to Folder option.
b. A Move Items dialog box appears.
c. Choose the destination folder, say Desktop.
d. Click Move.
Note that you can also copy or move this item to a new folder by creating
it using the option Make New Folder.
4. The selected File or folder appears on the Desktop.
Copied /
Moved
Folder
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Copying and Moving multiple Folders or files
The methods and the steps for Copying and Moving multiple folders or files are
exactly the same as that for a single folder. However, make sure that you have
properly selected all the required folders before you copy or move them.
Copying and Moving using Send To option
You can also use the Send To option to copy or move a selected object to
various pre-selected destinations.
1. In the Windows Explorer or the Desktop, right click on the object which
you want to send.
2. A shortcut menu appears. Point to the Send To option. A side menu
appears.
3. You can copy the object to any of the following destinations:
 A Compressed (Zipped) folder.
 Desktop of your computer
 Documents folder
 By Fax to another recipient
 By e-mail to another recipient
 To CD or DVD for burning.
By default, the object will be copied to any of the above destinations. Just select
the destination you want.
To Move the object, hold down the Shift key while right clicking on the object,
and then choose the destination.
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DELETING FILES OR FOLDERS
Deleting a folder or a file is very easy but at the same time could be dangerous,
in the sense that when you delete a folder or a file, all its contents also gets
deleted. So, make sure that you don’t require any of its contents before you
delete a folder or a file.
You can delete a folder or a file from any folder Explorer window or from
Desktop. When you delete a file or a folder, it disappears from the Explorer
window or from the Desktop. However, Windows 7 does not really delete it
straight away. It sends it to a separate folder known as Recycle Bin. This is just
like your waste paper basket. In case you need it again, Recycle Bin gives you
an opportunity to retrieve and restore the file or folder back to its original location.
We will be discussing Recycle Bin later in this lesson.
You can delete a folder or a file in many ways. As a demonstration let’s delete
MyFirstFolder folder from the My Documents folder window.
Deleting a folder (or a file) by Delete option
1. Click on the Windows

Explorer icon in the
Taskbar. This
displays the Libraries
window.
2. Click on Documents
to display its
contents.
3. Right click on
MyFirstFolder folder
either in the Contents
pane or in the
Navigation pane. A
shortcut menu pops
up.
4. Click on Delete option.
5. A Delete Folder dialog box
appears. Click Yes to confirm
deletion or No to abort the
deletion. If you click Yes, the
selected folder will be deleted
and moved to the Recycle
Bin.
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Deleting using Del key (Keyboard)
You can also delete a file or a folder using the keyboard. It is very simple and
straight forward.
1. Select the File or Folder to be deleted by clicking on it.
2. Press the key marked as Del on your keyboard.
3. A Delete File or Delete Folder dialog box appears. Click on Yes to
confirm deletion. Selected File or Folder will be deleted and moved to
Recycle Bin.
Deleting a file or folder permanently
When you delete a file or a folder, Windows 7 does not really delete it but sends
it to the Recycle Bin. However, you can also delete a file or folder permanently
without first sending it to the Recycle Bin. This is sometimes necessary if the file
or folder to be deleted is very large, or if you are sure that you will not be needing
that file or folder again. Windows 7 also suggests such a course of action if you
select a large file or a folder for deletion.
1. Select the File or Folder to be deleted permanently. If necessary create a

new folder to test this out.
2. Press Shift + Delete key combination from your keyboard.
3. The selected file or folder gets permanently deleted.
4. To verify this, open the Recycle Bin window and check. You won’t find the
deleted file or folder listed in that window contents.
Note that if you use this method, you will not be able to retrieve the file or folder.
USING RECYCLE BIN

Recycle Bin is the wastepaper basket of your computer system. It stores all files
and folders you delete. After deleting a file or a folder, in case you change your
mind, you can retrieve it from the Recycle Bin. By default, it restores files or
folders to the location from where they were deleted. For example, if you delete a
file from say, My Documents folder, when restored the file automatically gets
restored to the My Documents folder.
It is important to note that the Recycle Bin retains all its files and folders until you
empty them or remove them yourself. That is, it does not automatically delete
files and folders it contains. However, if the assigned storage size for Recycle bin
is exceeded, Windows 7 starts deleting files and folders from the Recycle bin
which were deleted earliest.
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Displaying the Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin is actually a system folder. It is some space reserved in your
hard disk for saving the files and folders you delete. It is actually a form of safety
net. Even an experienced user often deletes files and folders unintentionally or
by oversight. Later when the user realizes this, the Recycle Bin gives the user an
opportunity to restore the deleted files or folders. When Windows 7 is installed in
your computer, it automatically creates
this folder and displays it as an icon on
your Desktop. You can easily recognize
this icon since it has a familiar and
distinct Wastepaper basket image.
To open the Recycle Bin, double click Recycle Bin

on this icon on the Desktop. The
Recycle Bin Explorer Window appears
on the screen showing its contents, if
any. Note that these are all deleted
files and folders. The contents of your
Recycle Bin would be quite different,
though the browser window should
appear similar.
Recycle Bin Explorer

window Folder.
Deleted Files and
Folders
To understand the working of Recycle Bin, let’s delete a few files and folders
from the My Documents folder and retrieve them. If necessary create some new
files and new folders for this purpose in the My Documents Explorer window.
Deleting folders and files

1. Screen shows the Explorer view of the Documents folder.
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2. Select any folder say, MyFirstFolder.
3. Press Delete key.
4. In the displayed Delete Folder dialog box, click Yes to confirm deletion.
5. The selected folder gets deleted.
6. Now holding down the Ctrl key, click on two or three files of your choice to
select them for deletion as shown in the screen shot.
7. Press Delete key. Confirm their deletion in the message box.
8. Selected files get deleted.
Delete these files

and folder
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9. Click on the Show
Desktop button in the
Taskbar. Desktop
appears.
10. Double click on
Recycle Bin.
11. Recycle Bin Window
opens. Observe that
all your deleted objects
appear in this window.
Deleted folder and

files in Recycle Bin
12. When you select any of these objects, the Details pane gives you all the
relevant information about the deleted object, such as its location,
modified date, size of file and type of file or folder.
Restoring the deleted objects
You can restore one or more objects from the Recycle bin back to their original
locations. Look at the options in the Command bar.
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1. Clicking on Restore all items, restores all these deleted files and folders
back to their original locations from where they were deleted.
2. Clicking on the Empty the Recycle Bin tool in the Command toolbar,
deletes everything from Recycle Bin. Once deleted from here, you can’t
retrieve the deleted objects.
Let’s retrieve one of the deleted files from Recycle Bin
1. Click on one of the files in Recycle bin, say file Intro2Computers, to

select it.
2. Observe that all particulars of the selected file are now listed in the Details
Pane of the window. The Restore All Items option changes to Restore
this item.
3. Click on Restore this item button in the toolbar.
4. The selected file name disappears from the Recycle Bin.
5. Click on the Show Desktop icon in the Taskbar to display the
Documents Explorer window.
6. Observe that the deleted file has now been restored in the Documents
window.
To retrieve all deleted files and folders:

1. Redisplay the Recycle Bin window.
2. Select multiple files and folders you want to restore. Click on Restore All
Items button.
3. All selected files and folders will be restored back to their original
locations.
4. Confirm this by re-displaying the Documents Explorer window.
Recovered file
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As noted earlier, the Recycle Bin by default restores the files and folders to their
original locations from where they were deleted. You can check the location from
where a particular file or folder was deleted by selecting it and looking at the
Details pane of the Explorer window. But what if you want to restore them to a
different location? You can do this by using Cut and Paste method.
1. Select the file or folder to be restored to a location other than its original
location.
2. Right click on the selected object.
3. From the shortcut menu that appears, click on Cut option. You can also
use the conventional Ctrl+X key combination to cut and save the object to
the Windows Clipboard.
4. Navigate to the location where you want to restore it.
5. Right click to display the shortcut menu. Click Paste option. You can also
press Ctrl+V key combination to paste.
6. The object appears in the selected location.
EMPTYING RECYCLE BIN
Files and Folders in the Recycle Bin do occupy space in the hard disk. Recycle
bin does not remove them automatically. When you are pressed for hard disk
space or when you are sure that you no longer require these deleted files, you
can permanently remove them from the hard disk.
1. Display the Recycle Bin Explorer window.

2. Click on Empty Recycle Bin button in the toolbar.
3. A message appears asking for confirmation. Click Yes to confirm the
deletion.
4. All files and folders will be deleted permanently.
Customizing the Recycle Bin
Since the Recycle Bin is also a system folder, you can customize it like any other
folder. Let’s look at some of the customization options available for Recycle Bin.
1. Right click on the Recycle Bin on the Desktop. If the Recycle Bin explorer
window is open, you can also right click anywhere on this window.
2. A shortcut menu appears. Click on the Properties option.
3. A Recycle Bin Properties dialog box appears.
4. The dialog box displays all the hard disk drives of your computer and their
sizes in GB. You can customize each of these drives independent of each
other. Just select the drive you want to customize by clicking on it. The
customization options available to each drive are:
a. Specifying the space to be reserved for Recycle Bin

b. Whether or not to save the deleted objects in the Recycle Bin, and
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c. Whether or not confirmation message for deleting of objects is to be
displayed or not.
5. Note that for each of these hard disk drives, Windows 7 reserves certain
space for deleted files and folders. This is shown in the Custom size text
box under Settings for selected location section. By default, Windows 7
reserves about 10% of the available total size of that drive. The size is
specified in MB. You can increase or decrease this size by overwriting the
displayed custom size.
Note that when you are

reserving space for the
Recycle Bin in each
drive, you will have to
keep in mind how much
free space is available
in that drive. If you allot
a much larger size, this
will be at the expense
of the total available
space in that drive. On
the other hand, if you
specify less space for
the Recycle Bin, the
chances are that it will
be filled up soon, and
any files or folders
deleted subsequently
may not find space in
the Recycle Bin.
Generally, the default
size allotted by
Windows 7 is
appropriate.
6. You can also instruct Windows 7 to not to send the deleted files and
folders of that specific drive to the Recycle bin, but to delete permanently.
To do this, enable the option ‘Do not move files to the Recycle Bin.
Remove the files when deleted’ by clicking on it.
7. When you delete any files or folders from the Recycle Bin, Windows 7
displays a message box asking for confirmation. If you don’t want this
confirmation message to be displayed, then disable the option ‘Display
delete confirmation dialog’ by removing the check mark against this
option.
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Recap
Managing Files and Folders of your computer is an essential activity. In this

lesson you learnt how to rename the folders and files. You also learnt how to
delete files and folders. You explored the various features of the Recycle Bin.
You explored the various ways and means of copying and moving files and
folders from one location to another location.
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Lesson 16: Working with Windows Controls in Windows 7
Overview
One of the user friendly and remarkable features of Microsoft applications

including Windows 7 is the consistency in providing common controls to interface
with the applications in which you are working. These controls are known as
Window controls. A window is a rectangular frame within which a program works.
It is not to be confused with Windows which is an Operating system. Window
controls are objects that enable you to interact with the resources of the program
or help you in making right choices or allow you to input required data. In this
lesson you will get to know most of these common controls that you come across
while performing various tasks in Windows 7.
Skills you will learn in this lesson

 Using Dialog boxes
 Using Window Controls
o Command Buttons
o Text boxes or Fields
o List Boxes and Combo List Boxes
o Tabbed Control
o Radio buttons and Check Boxes
o Spinner Control and Slider control
o Scroll Bar controls
o Month View Calendar Control
o Menu Structure of Programs
Introduction
Every program or application you open in Windows 7 will be opened in its own
window. A window is just a rectangular frame within which the program functions.
In the previous lesson you learnt about windows, the elements of a typical
application window and how to manage them.
As you learnt in an earlier lesson, one of the important characteristics of these

windows is that they all look similar and perform similarly. This helps the user to
concentrate on using the program right away rather than first getting acquainted
with the interface whenever he starts a new Windows based program. Another
characteristic of Windows based applications is that all these windows provide
similar looking and functioning controls within their window frames to enable
users to interact with the applications. Once you know how to use them in one
application, you can use similar controls in other applications also since they
function similarly in all Windows applications.
Window controls normally appear in what are known as Dialog boxes. A Dialog
box is similar to a window, except that it is just a frame to host other controls.
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Microsoft has standardized and incorporated some common dialog boxes in all
its applications. These Dialog boxes contain various types of controls that enable
users to interact with the application very easily.
Dialog boxes
If you are working on Microsoft Window based applications for some time, you
must have observed that all applications display similar interfacing boxes for
opening files, saving files, printing files, etc. Actually these dialog boxes are
same across a wide variety of Microsoft Window applications. These dialog
boxes are known as Microsoft Windows Common Dialog boxes.
Dialog boxes act as communicating tools between the user and the program you
are running. They come in different types and forms, and serve various
purposes.
 They are used for displaying of messages, warnings or instructions to the
user. Such dialog boxes are often known as message boxes.
Title Message Close
 They are used for prompting the user for data needed to continue with the
current program execution. They are known as Input dialog boxes.
Caption or Title Buttons Close Button
Title bar
Prompt Message
Text box for input
Title Message
Title bar
Style Icon
Buttons
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 They are also used as frames or containers for hosting one or more
controls. Used in this way its main purpose will be to contain other controls
as shown in the typical example pf Print dialog box.
List box
Check
boxes
Radio
buttons
Spinner or
UpDown
Enabled
Field or Check box
text box
Command buttons
The last type of Dialog boxes is quite common in Windows based applications.
For instance, if you click on any sub menu option in a drop down menu that has
ellipses (…) in front of it, a dialog box appears. For example, in WordPad
application, the File drop down menu has such ellipses in front of New, Open,
Save As, Print, Print Preview and Page Setup options. Each of these when
clicked display the associated dialog boxes. You are already familiar with many
such dialog boxes.
These sub menu options

have dialog boxes
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Modal vs Non-modal dialog boxes
Basically there are two types of dialog boxes – Modal and Non-modal.
 Modal dialog boxes are those which remain on screen till you respond to it
by clicking on one of the displayed option buttons. A Modal dialog box
must be closed before you can continue working with the rest of the
application. You can however move the dialog box any where on the
screen. Most dialog boxes such as Open, Save, Print etc which require
user interaction are examples of modal dialog boxes.
 Non-Modal dialog boxes are those which can be kept open while you work
on the application. You can shift the focus between the dialog box and the
application without closing it. Find dialog box in Edit option in MS Word
application is an example of Non-Modal dialog box.
Structure of a Dialog box
A dialog box is actually a rectangular window. It has two sections – the title bar
and the body. The title bar appears at the top. Left side of the title bar shows a
caption. The dialog box is normally known by its caption. For instance, if the
caption is say, Print, then it will be called as a Print dialog box. On the right end
of the Title bar only a single Close (X) system button is displayed. A dialog box
cannot be minimized or maximized. It can only be closed. As such the other two
system buttons are not displayed. A Dialog box does not display a toolbar or a
status bar.
The body of the dialog box may consist of various options and controls. At the
right bottom of the dialog box there will be some command buttons, such as OK,
Cancel, Continue, etc.
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Window Controls
Some of the commonly used window controls that appear in a dialog box are:
1. Command Buttons
2. Text box Fields
3. List boxes
4. Drop down or Pull down menus
5. Tabs control
6. Radio buttons
7. Check boxes
8. Slider control
9. Spinner control
Let’s get acquainted with these controls.
Command Buttons
A Command button is normally a rectangular button, with some text displayed on

it. This text is known as the Caption and generally so named to indicate what will
happen if you click on that button. For example, if it is OK, then clicking on this
button means you confirm the proposed action. If it is Cancel, then you reject the
proposed action. Dialog boxes provide atleast one command button, that is,
Close button, to close. Most dialog boxes provide more than one command
button, typically Yes/No, OK/Cancel, OK/Cancel/Apply, etc. A few typical
examples of dialog boxes are shown in the screen shots.
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Text boxes or Fields
A Text box is a control that is used to display some data, or to accept some data
from the user. Sometime Text boxes are also known as Fields. A Text box is
invariably accompanied by a label to indicate to the user the type of information
the user is suppose to type. There are generally three types of text boxes.
 Some text boxes display some text or information which cannot be

changed directly by typing into them. It may however be optionally
changed from within the program. They are display only text boxes.
 Some text boxes display text of information which can be changed by you
by overwriting the existing text with new text. Such text boxes are
commonly used to display default values and allow user to type required
new values.
 Some text boxes are blank. That is, there will be no text displayed in the
text box. You are required to type in the text. A typical example is the File
name text box in Save dialog box.
A couple of examples of typical text boxes are shown in the figure.

 The New Folder dialog box requires you to type a folder name in order to
create it.
 The Paragraph dialog box lists a number of field text boxes with certain
default values. They are used for inputting values to the application. You
can overwrite any field directly by selecting the existing value and typing
over it.
Text box Field or

Text box
Label
List Boxes
A ListBox control is a rectangular framed window that displays a list of items

from which you can select one or more items. All you have to do is click on the
listed item to select. List box control comes in different forms. For example, in the
WordPad’s New option shows a New dialog box which has three options to
create a new document (see left figure). All these options are displayed in an
open list box (see right figure). The user can select only one of these. He can’t
type new entries. This way, the application ensures that the user selects a proper
option.
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If there are more items in the list than can be displayed in the list box, a scroll bar
appears in the list box. Using the scroll bar you can scroll up and down to view
additional items. Date and Time list box is an example of list box with scroll bar.
Some list boxes allow you to select more than one item. You can select
contiguous items by holding down the Shift key, and non- contiguous items by
holding down the Ctrl key while you select.
ListBoxes may also be displayed with Check boxes to select multiple items.
Check boxes allow you to select multiple items by just checking in the boxes.
Combo List Boxes (Drop down and Pull down List boxes)
A combo box is a variation of List box. It is a combination of a text box and a list
box. Unlike a list box which is provided with space to list items, a Combo box
appears as a text box with a downward pointing arrow at its right end. When you
click the down arrow, a list of items drop down. You can then select any item
from the list. One of the items in the list is displayed in the text box as default.
Since Combo boxes drops down a list of items, they are also often called as drop
down or pull down list boxes. Combo boxes save space and as such are very
useful where space is at a premium. Combo boxes come in various types such
as Drop Down, Simple and Pull Down List combo as shown in the figures.
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The Save As dialog box in programs shows a couple of typical Combo boxes.
File Name combo box has a highlighted item displayed in the text box. You can
overwrite the
highlighted item
with your own
choice of file
name; or you can
click on the
downward
pointing block
arrow appearing at the end of the text box, and select an item from the list of
items that drops down.
Save As type list box, also has an item displayed in the text box, but you can’t
overwrite it. To
select another
item, you need to
click on the
downward
pointing block
arrow appearing
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at the end of the text box, and select an item from the list of items that drops
down. The choice is restricted to what appears in the drop down list.
Tabbed Control
Tabbed control consists of a group of tabs arranged along one edge of the dialog
box, usually at the top. Each tab could be a separate container for other controls.
The purpose of such Tabbed control is to present several dialogs or screens of
information in a single window interface. Each tab is like a page of options. You
can click on any tab to display its contents or options. You can navigate among
various tabs using Ctrl+Tab key combination. A typical tabbed dialog box
showing various options of WordPad is shown in the figure. The dialog box has
four tabs. Each tab when clicked displays a separate set of options.
Tabs
Tabbed Interface
Radio buttons
Radio buttons, also known as Option controls, list various related options that
are available to perform a task but allow user to select only one of them. Radio
buttons are used when it is required to present a mutually exclusive set of
options. They are round or circular in shape and are usually grouped together in
a frame. A dot or a small solid circle in the center indicates that the option is
selected and is said to be enabled. One of them is generally enabled and will be
the default selected option. When the user clicks on any other radio button, the
clicked radio button is
enabled while the
previously selected radio
button gets disabled. A
typical Options dialog Radio buttons
box displaying a set of
radio buttons is shown in
the figure. Among these
4 radio button options,
the user can select one
button only.
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Check Boxes
Check box controls list various related options and allow the user to select any or
all of them. Similar to Radio buttons, check box controls offer another method for
selecting options. They are usually grouped together in a frame and are square
in shape. A Check mark appears in the box when you click on it. It is a toggle.
Clicking it again removes the check mark. A check mark in the box indicates that
the option is selected
and is said to be
enabled. A typical
Options dialog box
displaying a set of Check
box controls is shown in
the figure. As you can
see, these check boxes
represent a set of
toolbars. You can either Check box
display or hide any or all controls
these toolbars by
enabling or disabling them.
Spinner Control
Spinner control is a compact control used to obtain numeric data from the user.
The control is also sometimes known as UpDown control. Spinner control is a
fairly common control used in various Window applications where you want to
increase or decrease a certain value setting by small amounts with in a set range
of maximum and minimum values.
The control has a pair of solid arrow buttons placed back to back, and a text box
which displays the current value. The displayed value in the text box can be
changed in small increments by clicking on these up and down arrows. Clicking
the up arrow increments the value, while clicking on the down arrow decrements
the value. The user can also optionally type in a value in the associated text box
directly.
Text box
Spinner arrow
buttons
An example of the extensive use of Spinner control can be seen in the Format
Text box dialog box. You can display this dialog box by right clicking on any
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inserted text box and choosing the Text Box tab. In this dialog box, a series of
spinner controls help the user in setting up the margins by small increments.
Slider control
Slider control is similar to Scrollbars except that the slider control graphically
represents a numeric value to the user. A typical use of slider control can be
seen in the Volume Control dialog box of the Windows Operating system where it
is used to set the volumes of various audio output devices. To view this, double
click on the Volume icon in the System tray.
Slider control allows

users to set values.
The control displays a
scale which can be used to define the Min and Max values within which the
control operates. A scale pointer or ‘thumb’ is provided which slides along the
scale. To use this slider control as an input device, the user can slide and set the
pointer to any desired value on the scale.
Slider control comes in various sizes and shapes. It can be horizontally or

vertically oriented. It can come with or without a border, with tick marks on one
side or on both sides etc. The figure shows the various configurations of the
slide controls.
Standard Slider with no Border
Slider with Border
Slider with Tickmarks above
Slider with Tickmarks above and

below
Slider with no Tickmarks
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Another example of Slide control can be seen in the Display settings dialog box
for setting the resolution of your monitor. You can drag the slider head to left or
right to decrease or increase the Screen resolution to certain pre-set values.
Scroll Bar controls
Scroll bars are almost indispensable controls in window based applications. They
are commonly found in List boxes, Word Processors, working areas of various
application windows, etc. They provide an intuitive means for easy navigation
through a long list of items or large amount of information by scrolling either
vertically or horizontally.
If the window working space is

not large enough to display all
the information at once, a vertical
scroll bar appears on the right
edge of the window. You can
Vertical Scrollbar
click on the scrollbar handle and
drag it up or down to move the
screen up or down to view rest of
the information. This is known as
scrolling the screen.
When the width of the screen is

insufficient to display the full Horizontal Scrollbar
width of the document, a
horizontal scrollbar also appears
above the Status bar. Using this
horizontal bar, you can move the
screen sideways. This is known
as panning the screen.
Month View Calendar Control
Dates are one of the important types of data that are often required to be input to
various types of programs. By default, most of these programs accept dates in
mm/dd/yy format. In India we use dates in dd/m/yy format. So, while inputting
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data manually, there will always be this confusion of which format to use. Month
View Calendar solves this problem. The control displays a visual calendar of a
specified month from which the user can just pick the date.
The title bar of the calendar has a label at the center and arrow buttons on either
end. The label shows the displayed month and the year, while the arrows can be
used to view previous and next month’s calendar. Current date is normally
highlighted or marked with a red circle. Month View Calendar can be configured
to show either a single month or more than month.
Month & Year
Month Scroll
arrow
Current date
Apart from what we have discussed so far, there are many more window
controls. However most of these are not so common and hence are not
discussed here.
Menu Structure of Programs
Menu is a window control that enables you to select commands. ‘Menu’ means a
set of choices. If you go to a restaurant, the waiter gives you a menu card listing
the day’s available food choices. The food choices will be grouped as per
categories. You just look at the category of food you want and make your choices
from the listed items. A menu of program works in a similar way. A Window
based program is likely to have dozens of commands, each command allowing
you to perform a particular type of work or task. Many of these commands will be
related or complementary to each other. Programs use Menus to organize such
commands in related groups, with each group assigned a simple unique menu
name. For example, in most programs you have commands to create a new file,
open an existing file, save a file, delete a file, print a file, etc. All these are file
related tasks. So, it is but natural to group all such related commands under one
main menu name say File. When you select this menu name, all the associated
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commands will be available to you. Similarly, you will find various main menu
names, such as Edit, Search, etc.
Let’s look at a typical menu of say, WordPad application. This shows a simple
menu structure. When you click on any of these menu options, such as say File,
a drop down menu appears listing the sub menu commands available under that
menu.
Main Menu bar
Drop down or
Pull down menu
Keyboard
Shortcut Keys
These items
display Dialog
boxes
Basically, all main menu bars contain a number of text based menu options. Most
of these menu options when selected either by mouse or keyboard, drops down
a menu of sub menu commands. As you work with various windows based
applications, you will also come across different types of these pull down menus.
Some are simple as in WordPad. Some show the associated icons on the left of
the commands as in MS Word. But all these menu structures have similar
functionalities. Let’s look at these.
Some drop down menus show check marks to indicate whether they are enabled
or not.
1. The main menu options have one of their characters underlined or
displayed in bold, such as F in File, E in Edit and so on. Such characters
are known as short-cut keys. These are meant for keyboard selections.
You can activate these menu options by holding down the Alt key and
pressing the underlined character. For instance Alt+F key combination
selects the File menu which in turn drops down a menu of choices.
2. Some sub menu commands or options display keyboard shortcuts at their
right end to indicate that such commands can also be accessed from
keyboard.
3. Some sub menu options are followed by three dots. These dots are known
as epsilons. They indicate that these options have additional options
which are grouped in a separate dialog box, and will be displayed when
clicked.
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4. Some sub menu options appear in gray. This is to indicate that the actions
associated with such items are not presently possible and hence they are
grayed out. A typical example is the Edit drop down menu of WordPad.
When you select some text in the WordPad document, most of these
grayed out options will become available.
5. Some sub menu items have right pointing arrows. Such menu items
indicate that they have an associated sub menu. You need not click on
such items. Just hold the pointer on them for a couple of seconds; a sub
menu slides out.
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Menus can be nested to any depth. Each nested sub menu is marked by
the solid arrow at its right end. The Zoom option in the View menu of the
MS Paint program shows two levels of nested sub menus.
6. Some menu items may have a check mark preceding them. A Check mark
indicates that the menu item has been enabled. Check box control is a
toggle; that is you can enable or disable the item associated with that
check box by clicking. For
instance, the View menu option
in the WordPad program lists
some sub menu options with
check marks indicating that those
bars are currently displayed. If
you click on any of these check
boxes, the check mark gets
removed, and so also the associated bar from the window.
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Recap
In this lesson, you got acquainted with a number of window controls which
enables you to select commands, change settings, and perform various types of
tasks and functions in windows. You also learnt about the menu structure and the
functionalities of different types of menu options.
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Lesson 17: Working with Windows 7 Search Tool
Overview
Searching for files and other information in computer is one of the most frequent
activities for every user. As such, one of the important functions provided by an
Operating System is the Search facility. The number of files and folders that gets
accumulated over a period of time in your computer may run into many tens of
thousands. This amounts to enormous amount of information. Just imagine trying
to find a file or a folder containing some specific information in this vast number
of files and folders. It is like the proverbial saying, looking for a needle in a
haystack. It is practically impossible unless you have some assistance from the
OS. It is where the Search tool comes into picture. Search engine, as it is usually
called, is used to locate files and folders in your computer system based on a
variety of search criteria. Windows 7 has a revamped and very powerful search
engine. In this lesson, we will be discussing how to use this search engine as
well as many other aspects of searching.

 Specifying Search criteria
o Using wildcard Characters * and ?
 Instant Search
o How Instant Search engine works
o Adding or Deleting Folders from Index
o Specifying files having a custom extension
 Search Types
o Searching from Start Menu
 Action on Search Results
 Starting Programs from Start Menu Search Box
o Customizing the Start menu Searches
 Searching from Windows Explorer
o Using Filters
o Using Boolean Operators
o Extending search
o Saving Searches
o Searching with Saved Searches
Specifying Search criteria
You can search for practically anything that your computer contains. You can
search for files, folders, programs, applications, songs, photos, videos, printers,
computers in a network, etc. You can search for information embedded or
appearing in the titles of files, folders and programs as well as within the contents
of files, such as documents. You can search for a downloaded file, a particular
photo or video among thousands of multimedia files scattered all over your hard
disk, a file containing a specific phrase, and so on.
Windows 7 performs the search in a variety of ways. More importantly, it provides

a Search tool in practically every Explorer window it displays. How Windows 7
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searches depends on from where you start the search and how you perform the
search. You can perform an instantaneous search from the Start menu or
Windows Explorer, or a much more comprehensive and detailed search from
Advanced Search window. If you are searching from the Start menu, then the
search will be system-wide. If you are searching from an Explorer window then
the search will be restricted to the folder and the subfolders displayed in that
folder window.
Windows 7 provides several ways of making your searches depending on what

you are looking for.
 The Start Search box in the Start Menu lets you search for programs,
files and folders saved in your Personal folders (which includes
Documents, Pictures, Music, Desktop, and other common folders),
websites that appear in your browser history, messages, contacts, etc.
 The Search box in Windows Explorer allows you to search for specific
files in folders and subfolders located in the folder currently displayed.
This is particularly useful if you know that what you are looking for is in a
specific folder such as say Documents, Pictures, etc.
 If you don’t find what you are looking for in a folder, you can extend the
search to your Libraries or whole Computer or even the Internet.
You can search for information by any of the following means:

 By specifying the file name or a part of the file name.
 By specifying the text contained in a file.
 By specifying the file type extensions, such as .TXT, .DOC, .RTF, .EXE,
etc.
 By specifying the date of creation or modification of file.
 By specifying the type of file, such as a whether Word Document file,
AutoCAD’s drawing file, Text files, and so on.
 By specifying the size of the file.
 By specifying the File properties such as Tags, Authors name, Category,
etc.
Search text is case insensitive. That is, MyFile, MYFILE, myfile, are all same
when specified as search criteria.
Using wildcard Characters * and ?
You can also use wildcards within your search criteria. Wildcards are characters
* and ? that you can use as place holders for representing any character in your
search criteria.
 The asterisk (*) represents any number of characters. For example when
you specify a search criteria as My*.* while searching for files, Windows 7
searches for all files that start with the characters My and having any
extensions. Your search results may include files such as MyNewFile.txt,
MyFile.Doc, MyTextDocument.rtf, MyFolder, etc.
 The Question mark (?) represents the placeholder for a single character.
For example, when you specify a search criteria as My????.TXT,
Windows 7 searches for files that start with My followed by any 4
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characters and having an extension of .TXT. This may include files such
as MyFile.txt, MyNews.txt, My1234.txt and so on.
 You can also mix these wildcard characters in your search criteria. For
example, a search query such as My*.d?? returns files such as
MyFile.dwg, MyNewFile.doc, etc.
Windows 7’s search has a much wider scope than searching for mere words that
appear in file names or program titles. You can also search for any word or
phrase in the file contents, message contents, webpage contents, etc. In such
cases, you may not find the specified search query such as the word or phrase
within the displayed search results titles, but when you open the contents of the
displayed results, you will find the references to your search query within their
contents.
Instant Search
Windows 7 has incorporated a novel search facility known as Instant Search.

Instant Search, also known as Windows Live Search has been designed to run
significantly faster and yield instantaneous search results. You will find these
Instant search boxes throughout Windows 7 including the Start menu, the
Explorer user interfaces, Control panel, Open/Save dialog boxes, etc.
How Instant Search engine works
This search-as-you type or live search feature gives almost instantaneous search
results as you type since it performs an
Indexed search. It is like searching for
information in a published book. If you
are searching for something in a book,
rather than going through every page
of the book, you just lookup for the key
words in the index pages, find the page
number and open that page. The
Window 7’s Instant Search performs in
a similar way. Instead of page
numbers, it references the names of
files and folders, their properties such
as date modified, file type, size, author
name, tag, etc and their locations. By
default, the Instant Search engine
indexes all the files in the Common
folders, folders in the Start Menu, Favorites and history, files in documents folder,
names of files opened, e-mails, appointments, events, tasks, etc. It does not
however index Program files and System files. When you query for a search by
specifying a search criteria, the instant search goes through its search index and
displays all the files that contain that information. In addition to searching for
information in files, it also searches for it in the Help, Control Panel, Networking,
and many more locations.
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Windows 7 builds the Index, updates it and maintains it behind the scenes. This
Index is not visible to you. Normally there is no need for you to poke into this,
unless you want to add or delete a specific location from the Index list.
Adding or Deleting Folders from Index
Every time you request for an instant search, Windows 7 searches the entire
Index. If you have too many locations specified in the Index, then the search
slows down. You can speed up the instant search by removing unwanted
locations if you are sure that such locations need not be searched. Likewise, if
you know that a particular folder is frequently searched for, then you can include
that folder in the Index.
1. Click on the Start button to display the Start Menu
2. Click on Control Panel item
3. In the Control Panel dialog box, click on System and Security option.
4. In the displayed System and Security dialog box, click on View
Performance information item in the left pane.
5. In the displayed Performance Information and Tools window, click on
Adjust Indexing Options.
6. Windows 7 displays an Indexing Options dialog box which shows the
currently included indexed locations for instant searching. It also shows
how many items have been indexed.
7. To add or delete locations, click on Modify option.
8. In the displayed Indexed Locations dialog box, click on Show all

Locations.
9. The upper panel shows a list of drives and some items. The items that
have check marks against them are selected for instant search.
10. To add a new location, click on the drive, browse to the folder you want to
add and click the check box. The screen shots show the inclusion of
‘Datadrv (F):’ and its folders in the Indexed locations.
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11. Uncheck the items that you want to remove from Instant search.
12. Click OK.
Specifying files having a custom extension
Windows 7 searches for the search criteria in

file having all known extensions. However, in
case, there is a custom or unusual file name
extension, and you desire that such files should
also be searched, then you can add that
extension to the Index list.
 In the Indexed Options dialog box, click
on Advanced button.
 In the displayed Advanced Options
dialog box, click on the File Types tab.
 Make sure that the extension you want to
add does not already exist in the list of
extensions displayed.
 If not, type the extension you want to add
in the blank text box appearing at the
bottom of the dialog box.
 Click on Add button.
 Your new extension gets added to the list.
Searching from Start Menu
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The importance given to Search tool in Windows 7 is apparent right from starting
your computer. When you click on the Start button, you will find the Search tool
occupying a prominent place in the
displayed Start menu. No longer it is just an
item that appears with other options in the
right pane; it appears as a Search box, right
at the beginning of the left pane of Start
menu. It contains the word Search
programs and files in gray. You don’t need
to delete these words; they will disappear
as soon as you start typing your search
query. This Search box provides a quick
and easy way of searching system-wide for
programs, favorite web sites, document
files, contacts, tasks, or e-mail messages
that contain your specific search criteria. As
soon as you type the first letter of your
search query, the Search engine starts
looking for the information containing that
letter in various locations such as
Programs, Favorites, documents, e-mails, appointments, events, tasks, etc. As it
finds files and folders containing the search criteria, it starts displaying them in
the left panel of the Start menu. The search results are grouped as a categorized
list.
For example if you type ‘m’ the beginning letter of the word ‘mail’, you will find the
search results categorized under Programs, Control Panel, Documents and
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Music. The numbers in parenthesis against each category indicates the number
of search results found in that category. As you type further, say ‘ma’, the search
results gets filtered and now you may find one more category Files that contain
files and folders having ‘ma’ in their titles.
As you continue to type the letters of the word, the search engines starts filtering
the search results, categorizing them as required. In addition to filtering and
categorizing, the engine also tries to make an intelligent guess of which particular
search result meets your exact requirements and highlights it. If you press the
Enter key, Windows 7 automatically opens that program or file that is highlighted.
For example, when you type the complete word ‘mail’, the search results are
more specific and narrows down the search results considerably and highlights
Windows Mail as your probable required program.
If you look at the returned search results you will observe that none of the results
listed under Documents specifically mentions ‘Mail’ in their titles. It is because
these documents contain the word ‘mail’ in their contents, and Windows 7 has
tracked them within the documents as well. This shows the capabilities and
resourcefulness of new Windows search engine. It has been designed not to look
for the search criterion in just the titles and file names but also in the contents of
documents.
An important thing to note is that when you search from the Start Menu,
Windows 7 performs only an Indexed search and does not search the whole hard
disk. So it is quite possible that sometimes you may not get the hoped for search
results from Start Menu. Start Menu search is ideal when you want to locate a
program, or a file or a communication whose subject contains the searched for
word or phrase.
When searching from the Start menu, only files that have been indexed will
appear in search results. Most files on your computer are indexed automatically.
For example, anything you include in a
library is automatically indexed.
While searching from the Start menu, you

can specify following search criteria in the
Start Search box.
 You can use partial file names.
 You can specify File Name
Extensions.
 You can use wildcard characters.
 You can specify the full path of the
file.
Action on Search Results
What you do next with the search results

returned by the Search engine depends
on the purpose for which you have made
the query.
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When you point to any of these results, a tool tip appears giving you some
information about that item. For instance, if it is a program, it will show a brief
description of the program. If it is Internet related, it will show the associated web
site. If it is a document, it will display various information associated with it.
When you right click on any of the displayed search results, a shortcut menu
pops up showing various actions that you can take with that result. The options in
the short cut menu depend on the item you have clicked. In general, the options
include Opening, Scanning with an anti-virus program, Pinning to Start menu,
Copy, Cut and paste, Delete, Send it to various other destinations, etc.
You can also click on that item to open whatever that search results represents.
If it is a program, the application gets opened. If it is a document, the document is
opened with the application that created it. If it is a message, Windows Mail (or
your default e-mail program) opens with the message, and so on.
If you don’t find what you are looking for in the displayed search results, you can
click on See more results option at the bottom of the Start menu. A Search
results Explorer window opens displaying all the search results. This window
shows more details about each search result. It includes the document title, an
icon to indicate the
type of document, date
and time of document’s
creation, size and a
brief excerpt of the
document. Observe
that references to
search criterion in each
result is also
highlighted. You can
directly click on the
result to view it. Note
that the search engine
searches through all
your e-mail and
newspaper message
communications as
well as Windows
Contacts that appear in
Windows Mail.
As you can observe, the Windows 7 search engine has returned the results
under various categories. This allows you to narrow down your display to a
particular category of your interest. So if you are looking for ‘Mail’ in documents,
then just click on the Documents category in the Search results. Only search
results pertaining to documents will be displayed in a separate window. Now you
have just 31 items to go through rather than 429 times in general search results
window.
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You can also discard the search results by pressing the Esc key, or start all over
again by entering modified or refined search query in the Search box.
Starting Programs and other applications from Start Menu Search Box
You can also locate and run a program from the Search box of the Start menu.
For example, if you type Notepad in the Search box and press the Enter key, the
Notepad applet opens. Likewise you can run Microsoft Word by typing Word in
the search box and pressing Enter key. Similarly, typing Mail and pressing Enter
key, opens Windows Mail. If you are connected to the Internet, you can also
open the required Web page by typing its URL (Web address) in the Search box
and pressing the Enter key. For example, if you type Hotmail or Yahoo or
Google, etc and press the Enter key, the relevant web page opens.
Customizing the Start menu Searches
By default, when you query from the Start menu, the Search engine searches the
Programs, Favorites, Control Panel, Files and Communications. You can
customize the searching process by excluding or including some of the above
categories if you happen to know that your search can be restricted to a
particular category or categories. This results in comparatively faster search
results.
1. Right click on the Start Menu. From the shortcut menu that appears, click
on Properties.
2. A Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog box appears.
3. Select Start Menu tab and click on Customize button.
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4. A Customize Start Menu dialog box appears listing various Start menu
options and properties.
5. Scroll down till you come
to the group of Search
options. Observe that
many Search options
have checkmark against
them indicating that they
are active. Let’s look at
these.
a. Search Other
Files and
Libraries. By
default the search
tool is set to
search for files in
Users personal
folders such as
Documents,
Music, Pictures
and other folders
in your user
account. Don’t
search option
excludes all your
folders in your
User account, while Search without public folders excludes your
public folders while searching.
b. Search Programs and Control Panel. By default this is activated.
The search engine searches through all your programs accessible
from Start Menu and the Control panel. You may disallow this by
disabling the option.
6. Click OK to save the customization.
Next time you search from the Start Menu, your customized search will take
effect.
Searching from Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is an ideal interface to navigate among the various drives and
folders of your computer system. Every folder (System, Personal or User) when
selected opens in an Explorer window. A screen shot of the Documents Windows
Explorer is shown below. Observe the Search Documents box that appears at
the upper right corner of the dialog box to the right of the Address bar. The name
of the folder you are currently searching appears in the search box, such as
Search Library, Search Music and so on. Like in the Start menu search tool, the
Windows Explorer Search tool also gives you instant search results as you type.
But unlike the Search tool in the Start Menu, the search tool in this Explorer
window does not search among the programs or favorites or Control Panel or
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communications, but only searches among the files and subfolders of the current
view. The Current view means the currently displayed contents of that folder.
It is important to note that the search engine not only searches in the file and
folder names but also the contents of files.
Search box in the Explorer view filters the current view based on the text you
type. As you type a word or part of a word in the Search box, the contents of the
folder will be filtered to reflect each successive character you type. You need not
press the ENTER key to complete the search.
For example, if you type ‘mail’, the search results displays only the documents
that contain the word ‘mail’ in the title or in its contents, and not the Windows Mail
program or any other mail related programs. From the Search box of explorer
windows, you can also search for file properties, tags and other metadata. You
can also search for keywords and phrases contained in files.
The Search tool in the

Explorer windows
searches through all
the folders and
subfolders displayed in
the current view. You
can however, restrict
your search for a
specific folder or sub-
folder by opening it first
and then specifying the
search criteria.
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Searching for files using Filters
You can also use filters such as file properties, tags and such other metadata for
searching your files. File properties include author, Modified date, type, etc. Tags
are some special names attached to the files. Following are some typical search
criteria examples and search results.
Searching by Type
Every file saved in your computer will have an extension. Therefore if you know
the type of file extension of the file you are searching for, it is quicker and easier
to locate your file. Suppose you want to locate all files having an extension of .rtf
which stands for Rich Text Format.
1. Click in the Search text box and type the search criterion as Type:=
2. A drop down menu appears listing a number of file extensions. Locate the
required extension, scrolling down the list if necessary, and click on it.
3. A filtered list of files having the specified extension appears in the contents
pane.
Searching by Modified date:
You can choose the Modified Date filter option to search for a file if you happen
to know the approximate date on which you have saved or modified the file you
are searching for. You can also specify a range of days in which to search for.
Suppose you want to list all files that are modified in the month of Jan 2010.
1. Click in the Search text box and type modified:
2. A calendar appears displaying the current month and displaying the
current date. Select a date or data range.
3. To select a month, click on the month title. All 12 months of the year gets
displayed. Click on the month you want. Selected month’s calendar
appears. By default whole month is selected.
4. The Contents pane shows all the files that were modified in the selected
month.
5. You can further refine your search.
a. To specify a particular date click on the date.
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b. To specify a range of dates, click the beginning date of the range,
hold down the Shift key and click on the ending day of the range.
6. The Contents pane shows all the files that were modified on the selected
date or in the selected date range.
7. You can also select one of the options appearing below the calendar if the
criterion satisfies what you are searching for. For example, if you want to
list all your files you have modified in the last week, enter the search
criteria as modified:Last week in the search box.
Searching by File name
You can specify the name of the file to be searched for in the search text box.
For example, if you specify ‘Budget’, the search tool finds all filenames that have
the word ‘Budget’ in them. You can also specify part of the file name or use wild
cards * and ? for searching. For example, ‘Name:Bud*’ will find all files having
words starting with Bud in their filenames (such as Budget2001, BudgetNew,
etc), while ‘Budget??” will find all filenames having the Word Budget followed by
any two letters (such as Budget01, BudgetOK, etc) in their filenames.
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Searching by Authors
Author is the name of the person who has created the document or the file. By
default, Windows 7 assigns the name of the currently logged user as the author
for any document created. You can also assign a different author name if you
want. If you know the author of the file you are searching for, you can use it as
search criteria.
To search files by specific authors, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Search box. Windows 7 removes previous search if any.
2. Type author:. As you type the colon, a menu drops down listing the
various authors of the documents displayed in the contents pane.
3. Select the author whose files you want to list, say SVKS.
4. Windows 7 lists all files of the specified author.
The search string author:=SVKS finds all files that are authored by SVKS.
Searching by Tags
Tag is a property of the File. It is like a nickname assigned to a file. If you have
assigned a tag to the file, you can use it as search criteria. Just enter the tag
name in the Tags text box and press Enter key. For example the search criteria
Tag:Budget finds all files having Budget as tag name.
Searching by File Size
You can also use file size as search criteria as Size:<filesize>. You can specify
an exact file size (which is generally not possible) or, choose one of the following
pre-defined category size - Empty (0 KB), Tiny (0 to 10 KB), Small (10 to 100
KB), Medium (100 KB to 1 MB), Large (1 to 16 GB), Huge (16 to 128 GB) or
Gigantic (greater than 128 GB). Screen shot show the filtered results that meet
the size criteria of Huge.
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Using Boolean Operators
You can also use AND or OR Boolean operators for specifying a combined
search. Use AND operator where you want the search tool to find files that meet
both criteria, and OR operator to find files that meet either of the specified
criteria. For example, If you enter the search criteria as *.txt OR *.RTF, search
tool finds all files that have file extension of either txt or RTF.
Note that when you use the Boolean filters like AND or OR, you need to use
them in upper case letters.
You can also use a combination of Boolean characters and file properties in your
search criteria. Following are some typical search criteria examples.
Author:kumar AND Nashik searches for files that are authored by kumar
as well as any files that contain Nashik in the
File Name or in any file propertry.
author:kumar AND modified:2008 Searches for files authored by kumar and

having Date Modified as any date in year 2008.
Tag:Nasik OR Bangalore Searches for files that has been tagged either
as Nasik or as Bangalore.
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You can use parenthesis to force a specific search as shown in the following
example.
Author:(kumar AND user) searches for only files that are authored by both
kumar and user.
You can specify an exact search by enclosing the search criteria in quotes as
shown in the following example.
Author:”kumar AND Tag:Nashik” searches for only those files that are authored
by kumar and having a tag name of Nashik.
Extending your search
If you can’t find what you are looking for in the specific Explorer folder window,
you can extend your search to include different locations. These locations are
listed at the bottom of the search
results.
 To search across every
library, click on Libraries.
 To search through out your
computer click on
Computer. When you
choose this option, Windows
7 searches everything
including non-indexed files
such as Program files and
System files. However, the
search is likely to take a long
time.
 To search in specific
locations, click on Custom
option. When you do so, a
‘Choose Search Location’
window appears listing all
the locations where you can
search for. Click the check
boxes of the locations where
you want to search. If the location you want to search for is not listed, then
you can add it by typing it in ‘Or type a location here’ and clicking Add.
Observe that all your selected locations are displayed in the lower pane.
Click OK to start searching.
 To search for required information in Internet, click Internet option.
 If your computer is a part of your HomeGroup, then you extend your
search to include all other computers of your HomeGroup.
Saving Searches
Most of the times, you will be using the Search tool to look up a program or a file.
When this purpose is over, you discard the search results. But there might be
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occasions where you have a created a complex search criteria to search for files
or any other information, and you may need to use the same search criteria often
to look for similar information. So instead of creating the search criteria afresh
every time, you can save the search criteria. Next time you run the saved search,
the results automatically include any recent additions to the search results.
Saving a search result is easy. It will be saved as a search result file in the
Search Folder. Just click on the Save Search button in the toolbar. A Save As
dialog box appears as shown. Note the following.
 By default, Windows 7 assigns your specified search criteria as the file

name. You can change this to an appropriate name by overwriting it, say
SearchtxtRtf.
 The Save as type text box suggests Saved Search as the location where
the search result file will be saved. You can accept this or change this to
any other folder. You can use Browse Folders option to select a suitable
folder.
 If you want, you can assign a tag to this file. You can also change the
authors name or add another Author.
 Click Save button to save the file.
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 Windows 7 saves the search results and displays its name under
Favorites list in the left pane.
Searching with Saved Searches

 Now whenever you want to search the documents folder for .txt or .rtf files,
all you have to do is to display Documents Explorer window and click on
the saved search file SearchTxtRtf.
 Windows 7 automatically updates the search results by again searching in
the folder and displays search results in the content pane as shown.
The Search is case insensitive, that is, the Search tool does not make any
distinction between upper and lower case letters.
Customizing Windows 7 Searches
You can customize the way Windows 7 searches for files and folders in your
computer. Let’s look at these customization options.
1. Open Documents Windows Explorer Window.

2. Click Organize tool in the toolbar.
3. Click Folder and Search Options.
4. In the displayed Folder Options dialog box, click Search tab.
Search tab has three broad groups of settings:

 What to search,
 How to Search and
 When searching non-indexed locations.
What to Search options
In Indexed locations, search file names and contents. In non-indexed locations,

search file names only. This is the default search option.
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When you are searching for filenames and the file contents using the Search text
box in Start menu or in any of the Explorer folder windows, the Windows 7 will
search for both in the Indexed locations, whereas only filenames will be searched for
in non-indexed locations.
Always search files and contents option when enabled instructs Windows 7 to
always search for both filenames
and file contents in both indexed
and non-indexed locations.
Obviously, such a search will be
slow.
How to Search options
Include subfolders when typing in

the search box: This is enabled by
default. When you type the search
criteria in the search text boxes, the
search also includes any subfolders
if present. By disabling this option,
you can restrict the search only to
the folder contents and not any
subfolders it may contain.
Find partial matches: This is

enabled by default. Window 7’s
search engine finds partial matches
also when it searches. This may
often result in a large number of unwanted search results. By disabling this option,
you can exclude partial search results, and search will be quicker.
Use Natural language search: This is disabled by default. Natural language refers to
the way we generally talk when we desire to get some work done. Natural language
search lets you type the search text the way you talk. An example may help you
understand this. One of the facilities offered by Windows 7 while searching is the use
of Boolean operators to combine two or more search conditions. Boolean operators
such as AND, OR, NOT must be typed in uppercase. For example, if you are
searching for files that contain location as Nashik or Nashik Road, the search query
would be Name: (Nashik OR Nashik Road). In natural language, you can specify this
as search Nashik or Nashik Road. Natural language search lets you type search text
the way you talk. You don’t have to type AND, OR and NOT in upper case. You can
use tags and properties in your search text. Some example search criteria could be:
 email from john sent last month
 documents modified today
 pictures of parties taken june 2007
 classical music rated ****
To turn on natural language search

1. Click Start button to display start menu
2. Click on Control Panel
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3. Click on Appearance and Personalization
4. Click Folder Options
5. Choose Search tab
6. Enable Use natural language search
Note that when natural language is turned on, you still can use the Search box in the
normal way, with property names, colons, parenthesis and search operators.
Don’t use the Index when searching the file system: By default, when you search
from the Start menu or the Explorer windows using the Search box, the search will
be in indexed locations only. By enabling this option, you can suppress this default
setting, and instruct Windows 7 to search in all locations. The search will be
thorough but takes much longer.
When searching non-indexed locations options
Include System Directories: When you specify a search through non-indexed

locations also, by default Windows 7 does not search the System directories. By
enabling this option you can instruct Windows 7 to search in system folders also.
This is necessary if you are searching for a system file such as a driver file or a
service file.
Include Compressed Files (Zip, CAB, etc): By default, when searching through non-
indexed locations, Windows 7 does not search in compressed files if any. By
enabling this option, you can instruct Windows 7 to search through such compressed
files also.
Restore defaults
If you have made any changes in any of these Search options, but would like to
restore the original default search conditions, then click on Restore defaults
button.
Recap
Windows 7 provides many ways to locate files, folders and other types of
information you want. Note that the Search tool only searches for information in
the data contained in your User’s Account only.
You can use the Search box in Start Menu to search for Programs, files,
messages, contacts, Favorites, etc
You can use the Search box in various Explorer Folder windows to search for
files and contacts in the displayed files and subfolders of the current view only.
Programs, favorite folders etc are not searched. You can also use various filters
(file properties) and tags as search criteria. You can also extend the search to
Library, Computer, HomeGroup, Custom and Internet.
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Lesson 18: Basics of Printing in Windows 7
Overview
When you are working on your computer, one of the most common
hardware-related tasks you perform frequently is the Printing. But very
often this is also the least understood task. It is something that every
user takes for granted. There is much more to printing than that meets
the eye. Anything you can display on the screen of your computer you
can print. However the finished printed product very much depends on the type and
quality of your printer and the print settings you have customized. In this lesson you
will learn about the Printers and how to setup a document for printing on your printer.

 Printer Primer (Basics)
 Types of Printers
 Using Devices and Printer Folder
 Adding Printer shortcut to the Start menu
 Installing Printers
o Local Printers Vs Network Printers
o Installing Printer Automatically
o Installing Printer Manually
o Using the Printer Wizard for installing a new Printer
o Testing the Printer
 Choosing a Default Printer
 Renaming a Printer
 Removing a Printer
 Printer Setup and Print options
 Customizing a Printer’s Printing Preferences
 Properties of the Printer
Introduction
Printing is perhaps the easiest of tasks you perform on your computer. You can print
practically anything that you can display on your screen such as documents, web
pages, pictures, etc. Practically every application provides easy access to your
printer. All you have to do to print a file or selected material is to make sure that your
printer is on, there is paper in the paper tray and then just click on Print button. Out
comes the printed paper. Printed material is often known as hard copy.
Printer Primer (Basics)
Printer is a peripheral hardware device that is attached to your computer. You need
not require a printer for working on your computer. But sooner or later you will feel
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the necessity of it when you want to take a print out of something such as a
document, a copy of an email, a file and so on.
Types of Printers
Manufacturers of Printers have kept pace with the development of the computers.
The early type of printers such as Dot Matrix and Daisy Wheel printers, have given
way to Inkjet, LaserJet and MFD (Multifunction Device) printers.
Before we actually print something on your printer, let’s first get to know about the
basics of Printers, how to install and manage printers attached to your computer.
Devices and Printer Interface
Windows 7 comes with a Devices and Printer folder which displays the information
about all the local printers, network printers, and print drivers available in your
computer. This folder also includes other hardware devices such as mouse, monitor,
scanner, digital cameras, etc that are attached to your computer as hardware
accessories. From this folder you can manage printers by way of either adding new
printers or removing an existing printer. You can also configure printers from this
folder. If you have more that one printer configured to work with your computer, you
can identify which one of them should be your default printer. Let’s open this folder
and explore it.
As with many features of Windows 7, you can open the Devices and Printer folder in
many ways. The easiest way is from the Start menu.
1. Click on Start button to display the Start menu.
2. Click Devices and Printers item in the right
pane.
3. Devices and Printers window appears.
From search text box

1. Click on the Start button to display the Start
Menu.
2. In the Search text box, start typing the
beginning few letters of Printer. Click on the
item ‘Devices and Printers’ or ‘View
devices and printers’ displayed in the list of
Programs at the top of the left pane of the
Start menu.
From the Control Panel

1. Click the Control Panel item in the right pane.
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2. In the displayed Control Panel window, click View devices and Printers.
The new Devices and Printer Control Panel interface is shown in the figure. This
new interface replaces the Printer folder of earlier Windows versions. From this
interface you can not only access and manage Printers, but also various other
hardware accessories attached to you computer such as mouse, monitor, scanner,
digital cameras, etc. This interface in your computer may appear different with more
or less number of devices displayed. If one or more printers are setup to work with
your computer, you will find printer icons of all those printers in this interface. If you
don’t find any printer icons in this interface, it means no printer has been set to work
with your computer. Printers which are installed and are connected are shown as
Ready, while those which are not connected are shown as Offline. Also note that
there are certain other printer icons and names such as Microsoft XPS Document
Writer, Send to OneNote 2007 etc. These are not actual physical printer devices but
drivers that enable you to print your documents, etc as print files. We will be
discussing about these virtual printers later in this lesson.
Installing Printers
Every printer that is to be used with your computer system must be installed first.
Installing a new Printer is very simple process. It involves:
 Connecting the printer to your computer using the cable provided by the
manufacturer.
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 Responding to Windows 7’s instructions to configure the printer to work with
your computer system, and
 Testing the Printer by taking a test printout.
Similar to the Operating system which runs your computer, for working of Printers, a
software known as printer driver is required. Most of the popular printers are Plug &
Play type. This means that all you have to do is to just connect the Printer to the
USB port of your computer. Windows 7 recognizes the new device and automatically
installs it. Windows 7 comes with in-built drivers for most of the commonly used
printer types and models. In rare cases when this does not work, such as an earlier
printer model which does not support USB connection, you may have to manually
install it. The manufacturer of the printer provides a CD that contains drivers for that
printer. Open the CD and click either Setup or Install and follow the instructions.
Local Printers Vs Network Printers
Local printers are those that are connected to your stand alone computers through
USB, Parallel or Serial ports. Advances in electronics have enabled wireless
connections of Local printers as well as connection using Bluetooth. Network printers
are those that form a part of your computer network and can be accessed from all
connected computers of the network.
In this lesson we will be discussing how to install a local printer – that is, adding a
printer that will directly be connected to your computer.
Installing Printer Automatically
You can connect a printer to your computer using a Serial or Parallel Printer port
(either COM or LPT) or to an USB port. Most of the printers now-a-days use USB
connection and are of Plug-and-Play type. This means that once you connect the
printer to the USB port of your computer, Windows 7 automatically detects and
recognizes that you have attached a new device to the computer, locates the
appropriate printer driver from its library and installs the printer. In case however,
Windows 7 does not recognise the printer or can’t find the appropriate driver in its
library, it requests for the Printer driver. Insert the Printer driver CD provided by the
manufacturer in the CD tray and press continue. Windows 7 automatically locates
the required driver and installs your new printer.
Installing Printer Manually
If Windows 7 does not recognise the printer, or if you have removed the printer and
want to add it again, then you may have to install the printer manually. For this you
require the Printer’s make and its type.
1. Open the Devices and Printer Folder.
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2. Click on Add a Printer command button.
3. In the Add Printer dialog box, choose whether you want to Add a local printer
or Add a network, Wireless or Bluetooth printer’. Let’s choose the ‘Add a local
printer’ option. Click Next.
4. In the ‘Choose a printer port’ dialog box, click on ‘Use an Existing port’ option.
The default is a LPT Printer port. Click Next.
5. In the Install the printer driver dialog box, choose the manufacturer and model
of the printer you are installing. Click Next.
o In case your printer’s manufacturer name is not listed, but if you have
the printer installation CD, then insert the CD in the CD tray and click
‘Have disk’ button. In the list of displayed printer drivers choose the
appropriate driver.
o In case your printer’s manufacturer name is not listed, and you don’t
have the printer installation CD, then click on Windows Update button
to search for the required driver from the Internet. You need to be
connected to the Internet. Windows 7 checks for any available driver
software packages. When a new list of manufacturers and printers is
displayed, select the appropriate driver from the list.
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6. Windows 7 displays a Type a Printer name box. This is optional. Enter a
suitable name for the printer if you want. Note that you can also rename your
printer anytime later.
7. If you want this printer to be your default printer, click the check box ‘Set as
the default Printer’.
8. Click Next. Complete any additional steps in the wizard, and then click
Finish.
9. Windows 7 installs your printer, and if successful, displays the message,
"You've successfully added [the new printer name you typed].
When the printer is installed, an icon as well as the name of the printer appears in
the Printers folder. You may verify this by opening the Printers folder. If you have
set this printer as default, a green check mark appears on the Printer icon.
Using the Printer Wizard for installing a new Printer
In case you are adding a new printer that is connected to the Printer port, or adding a
printer which was earlier removed, you may make use of a Printer Wizard provided
by Windows 7 to help you in adding the printer to your computer system.
1. Open the Devices and Printer window.
2. Click on the ‘Add a Printer’ option in the Command tool bar.
3. Printer wizard gets activated
and helps you in installing your
new printer using a series of
step-by-step help windows. Just
follow these steps.
Testing the Printer
After installing a new printer, it is

advisable to print a test page to check if
the printer is set up properly and also to
verify that the printer is printing text and
graphics correctly.
1. Open the Devices and Printers
Folder.
2. Make sure that printer is on and
there is paper in the paper tray.
3. Right click on the newly installed
printer. In the shortcut menu that appears, click on Properties.
4. In the displayed Printers Properties dialog box, click on General tab, if not
already selected. In the General options, click on Print Text Page button.
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5. The printer prints out a test page that contains some text, graphics, as well as
printer information such as the Printer name, model, driver software version,
etc.
Choosing a Default Printer
The default printer is the one that is automatically selected by Windows 7 when you
want something to be printed. If you have a single printer attached to your computer,
then it automatically becomes the default printer. If however, you have more than
one printer attached and configured to work with your computer, then you must
specify which one of these is to be treated as the default printer. You can print to any
other printer or print driver you like, but the default printer will automatically be
selected for you in the current application's "Print dialog box".
1. Open the Devices and Printers window.
2. Right click on the printer which you want to specify as default.
3. In the displayed shortcut menu, click on option ‘Set as default Printer’.
4. Observe that in the Devices and Printer window, the default printer now
shows a green check mark.
Note that, you can always repeat the above steps to choose
some other printer as the default printer. Note that any
hardware printer or a software print driver (such as XPS
Document Writer, or OneNote 2007) can also be set as the
system's default printer.
Renaming a Printer
Printers are recognised by its manufacturer’s name and model. Sometimes however,
you may want to rename it, particularly if you have multiple printers configured to
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work with your computer. For example, you may want to reserve a printer for yourself
meant specifically for a particular purpose. You can then rename it say, as Personal
only. Or you may want to rename a printer to distinguish between Color, and Black
and white printers.
1. Open the Devices and Printers folder
2. Right click on the Printer to be renamed.
3. In the shortcut menu that appears, click on Rename option.
4. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the
password or provide confirmation.
5. The existing printers name gets highlighted. Overwrite it with the new printer
name you want to assign.
6. Click OK.
Removing a Printer
If you have disconnected your printer and is no longer using it, you may remove it
from your Devices and Printers folder as well.
1. Open the Devices and Printers window.
2. Right click on the Printer name or icon which is to be removed.
3. In the short cut menu that appears, click on Delete option.
4. The reference to that printer gets removed from the Devices and Printers
folder.
Printing Preferences vs Printing Properties
When you right click on default printer (or any other printer for that matter), the
context menu shows two items – Printing Preferences and Printing properties.
Printer preferences are the options available on your computer. These include
setting up of paper size, its orientation, page margins, etc. Printing properties are
options that are applicable
to the Printer itself, such as
its driver, its port, and other
hardware related
customizations.
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Printing Preferences - Printer Setup and Print options
The printed paper copy of your document depends on the properties of the Printer as
well as the print options you have set up for the document. Each type and make of
printer comes with its own set of default properties. These properties are often
known as the Printing Preferences. If you are not satisfied with the default
properties, you can customize them to your exact requirements. The Print options
define the way your document is to be printed. By default, when you send a
document for printing, the printer uses these default print options. You can also
customize the print options to get the document printed the way you want.
Let’s first understand the Printing Preferences of a printer and how to customize
them for any individual printer. Subsequently, let’s discuss the Printer options and
how to set them while printing a document.
Customizing a Printer’s Printing Preferences
Printing Preferences are the options that are available to a particular printer
provided by its manufacturer. These preferences are generally displayed in a
separate window known as Print dialog box, and can usually be accessed from the
options marked as either ‘Preferences or ‘Properties’. You can choose
preferences each time you print a document or set default preferences to use for all
documents that you send to a printer.
To look at the available Printing Preferences for any of your installed printer, follow
these steps.
1. Display the Devices and Printers Explorer Folder Window. Explorer window
displays a complete listing of printers currently available in your computer
system. The default printer is displayed with a green checkmark next to its
icon.
2. Right click the
printer to which you
want to set the
Printing
Preferences, say
either Canon or HP
Laser Printer.
3. In the shortcut
menu that appears
click on Printing
Preferences.
4. The selected
printer’s Printing
Preferences dialog box appears.
335
Since obviously, the Printing Preferences differ from printer to printer depending on
its type, make, model, etc, let’s look at the some of the printing preferences which
are common to most printers.
Size of Paper: The default size of paper is 8.5” x 11” (297 mm x 210 mm). This is
the standard A4 size. You can however choose from a wide range of sizes including
A5, envelops, etc. If none of the available sizes suits you, you can specify your own
custom size paper.
Type of Paper: The default type of paper is Plain paper. Choosing the Type of
Paper option, you can specify a wide range of paper types including Bond paper,
Letterhead, perforated paper and so on.
Source Tray: By default, the feeding of paper for printing is AutoSelect. That is,
you just place a bunch of paper in the paper tray and the printer automatically feeds
itself. You can however, choose Manual feeding if you prefer.
Orientation: By default the paper layout or the orientation for printing is Portrait.
That is, the printing will be done with smaller side of paper as width. In a default
paper size, 8.5” will be this side. You can however specify Landscape orientation.
In this case, the printing will be done lengthwise, that is on larger side of paper (11”
side on default paper size). This is suitable if you want to print statements, tables, etc
where you require more paper space to accommodate the printing matter.
Print Quality: Quality of printing is specified in terms of DPI (Dots Per Inch). The
default is generally 600 DPI. More the DPI better is the quality but more ink will be
used up.
Print All Text as Black: Colored text will be printed as black. This is useful to save
color ink which is generally costlier than black ink.
EconoMode: This refers to draft quality print out for saving ink.
Fit to Page: The contents of the document will be automatically adjusted to fit the
size of paper selected for printing.
Percent of Size: You can specify by how much the printing matter is to be
compressed or enlarged before printing. The default is 100%, that is, normal.
Watermarks: You can choose whether or not to print Watermarks if present in the
selected pages for printing. You can also specify Watermark printing for the first
page only.
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Number of Copies: Normally when you click Print button, only a single copy of the
document will be printed. If you want to print more than one copy, you must
specifically inform this to the Printer using Number of Copies option.
Collating: If you are printing multiple copies of a multi-page document or a file, you
can specify how the pages are to be printed. By default, the printer will print all pages
in sequence for each copy. This is the default Collate setting. By disabling the
collate option, you can instruct the printer to print each page the number of times
specified, before printing the next page.
Manual Duplex: This refers to printing on both sides of paper. Normally, the printer
prints on one side of the page. To print on the other side, you will have to reinsert
the page. However using the Manual Duplex option you can instruct the printer to
print on both sides of the page. Duplex means back to back. If you enable this option
and if your printer supports this feature, then the printer automatically prints on both
sides of the page in sequential page numbers. If your printer does not support this
feature, it will first print all the odd numbered pages and then requests you to feed
the same pages so that even numbered pages can be printed on the reverse side.
If you specify both sides printing, some printers, (notably HP laser jet) give you the
option of specifying how the printing is to be done. Some of these options are:
a. Flip Pages Up - Pages will be printed to suit flipping of pages.

b. Booklet Printing - A4 Left Binding.
- A4 Right Binding.
These options are illustrated by the following thumbnail views.
Flip Pages Up Left Binding Right Binding
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Pages per sheet: By default, printer prints one page of the document on one sheet
of paper. You may however instruct the printer to print more than one page of the
document on one sheet of paper. You can choose to print from 2 pages to 16 pages
in the Pages per sheet list box. For example, to print a 4-page document on a single
sheet of paper, choose 4 pages. To accommodate the printing of multiple pages, the
contents of each page will be compressed and then printed on the paper. So beyond
two pages per paper, the printed pages will appear like thumbnail views and the
contents may not be readable.
Page Border : Some printers (example HP laser jet) allow you to print a border
around the page as illustrated by the bold borders in the following thumbnail views.
2 Pages w/o Border 2 Pages with Border 4 Pages w/o Border 4 Pages with Border
Printing Order: You can also specify the order in which the pages are to be printed.
Following options are available.
 Right then Down
 Down then Right
 Left then Down
 Down then Left
Right then Down Down then Right Left then Down Down then Left
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Print what: By default, the printer prints the document currently displayed on the
screen. Using Print What option you can also print various other features of the
document, such as Document properties (Summary information), Styles used in the
document, AutoText entries, etc. By clicking on the down arrow of the Print What
text box, you can view the available options in a drop down list.
Print Odd or Even Pages: If you are printing a multi-page document or if you
specify a range of pages to be printed, then by default, all pages will be printed in
sequential page number order. Since the printer prints on only one side of the paper,
the back side of the printed paper will be wasted. By choosing the Odd pages and
then the Even pages option in Print text box, you can print on both sides. First, you
can instruct the printer to print only the odd (or even) pages of the document. You
can then reinsert the pages on their reverse side and instruct the printer to print only
the even (or odd pages).
Scale to paper size: Normally, page size of the document will be the same as the
paper size on which it will be printed. The printer prints your document without
scaling on the size of paper specified allowing for margins and other Page setup
options. By using Zoom Scale to paper size option, you can scale a document to fit
on a different size of paper to avoid adjusting margins and line breaks. For example,
you can print a document formatted in B5 size to fit on A4 size paper.
Above are some of the common Printing Preferences displayed in LaserJet

printers, particularly of HP make. The screen shots show various tab options in the
HP Laserjet 1010 Printing preferences. It may be different in your Printer
Preferences dialog box, but most of the above functions are generally available in
all commonly used printers in the market today.
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Printer Properties
You can also view and customize the properties and settings of any installed printer.
1. Display the Devices and Printers window. The explorer window displays a
list of printers currently available in your computer system with the default
printer marked with a green checkmark next to its icon.
2. Right click the printer the properties of which you want to view and set.
3. In the shortcut menu that appears click on Properties.
4. A Printer Properties dialog box appears.
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The Properties dialog box of a typical Canon LaserJet printer is shown in the screen
shot. Observe that the properties of the printer are grouped under several tabs –
General, Sharing, Ports, Advanced, Color Management, Security, Device
Settings and Profile. HP LaserJet printer too has similar set of properties.
The General tab of the dialog box

shows the particulars of the
selected printer, such as its name,
model, Speed, Maximum
resolution and whether capable of
printing in color, double side
printing and stapling. The
standard size of paper for printing
is also shown. You can also
access and set the Printing
Preferences options from here.
The Sharing tab allows you to

configure this printer to be shared
by other users of your computer.
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The Ports tab options show the various ports available as well as to which port your
printer has been connected, its description as well as the name of the printer. You
can also enable or disable bidirectional printing and printer pooling features.
The Advanced tab options allows you to restrict the use of the printer for specific
hours of the day, assigning priority for print jobs, whether to spool the documents or
directly send the documents for printing, and so on. You can also specify Separator
pages which are used at the beginning of each document to make it easy to find a
document among others at the printer.
The options in the Color Management tab are only applicable if your printer is
capable of printing in
color.
The options in the

Security tab allow you
to specify who can use
your printer and what
sort of permissions the
permitted user can have
for operating the printer.
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The Profile tab shows the current Profile setup of your computer. When you click
View Settings option, a View Settings dialog box displays all your settings in
various tabs such as Page Setup, Finishing, Paper Source and Quality. You can also
printout a copy of this for later use if necessary.
The Profile tab may also list some additional information about the selected printer,
such as the Driver specifications. There may be an option also for upgradation of the
driver software.
Recap
Printing is one of the most common hardware-related tasks in Windows 7. In this

lesson you learnt about the basics of the printer operation. You learnt about the
Devices and Printer Folder, how to add a new printer, remove a printer and manage
attached printers. You learnt about the Printer Preferences as well as Print options.
You learnt about the customization of the printer as well as how to set up a
document for printing.
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Lesson 1: Getting Started with Windows 7

In November 2006, Microsoft Corporation, USA released its

Note: UAC is a security related technology that is designed to protect the

For those who are interested, the development of Windows 7 started as

 Windows 7 allows you to uninstall many programs such as Internet

Windows 7 provides a feature known as Windows XP Mode which lets you

Introducing Operating Systems

Before we discuss Windows 7, let’s understand the importance of Operating

A computer, as you are aware, is a hardware system comprising of various

1. It Controls the operations of your computer system

2. It acts as an interface between you and the computer system.

Windows Operating system has a Graphical User Interface, more

3. It Helps you to run programs in a multi tasking environment

You can run a number of applications simultaneously. You can have

5. It allows you to install new programs and delete unwanted programs.

9. It allows you to set up and maintain a network of computers. It also

10. It allows for scheduling of tasks and performs tasks as scheduled.

Windows 7 is the latest Operating System for Personal Computers developed by

Windows 7 Home Basic is the entry-level edition specifically

Windows 7 Home Premium has most of the features found in

Windows 7 Professional is meant for the Professionals and small

Windows 7 Ultimate includes all the features of Windows 7 Home

Windows 7 Enterprise offers multiple licenses for large organizations.

New Features of Windows 7 OS

The latest Microsoft release of Windows 7 OS is much more enhanced and

Compared to Windows XP, Windows 7 has a number of new features. These

Prominent Upgrades and enhanced features are:

Compared to Windows Vista, Windows 7 has following new features

List of features removed from Windows 7 (compared to Vista)

1. Classic Start Menu interface

Windows 7 promises to improve your computer’s performance by

1. Quicker Startup and shutdown by as much as 20 seconds

Without any more delay, let’s get started with Windows 7!

1. A Progress bar appears on an almost blank screen indicating the process

4. Windows 7 loads your personal settings and displays an attractive and

Windows 7’s AERO Interface

One significant feature of Windows 7 OS which strikes you as soon as the

Aero Interface in Windows 7

Windows 7 Desktop is your gateway to all your computer resources. Getting

Start button Taskbar

By default, the Windows 7 Desktop appears with a glassy, translucent

Getting Started with Windows 7

In earlier versions of Windows OS such as Windows XP and Vista, as soon as

1. Click on the Start button.

Tasks you can

1. Go Online to find out what’s new in Windows 7.

Windows 7 provides several ways

1. Click on the Start button.

In this lesson you learnt:

1. About the Windows Operating system and its functions.

Skills you will learn in this lesson:

Getting acquainted with the Start Menu

If you have not started your computer as yet, do so now. The

Method 2: Using Keyboard

Method 3: Using Windows Logo key on the keyboard

Start Menu of Windows XP Start menu of Windows 7

Below are some significant changes made in Windows 7 compared to Windows

Below are some significant changes made in Windows 7 compared to Windows

Start menu of Windows Vista Start menu of Windows 7

Shutting down in Vista Shutting down in Windows 7

In addition to providing for

Jump Lists in Start Menu Jump Lists in Taskbar