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The cover of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 2000 The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 2000 Professional

Table of Contents


Part 1: Why 2K? An Introduction to Windows 2000

Chapter 1—New News is Good News: New Windows 2000 Features
The "Look-and-Feel" Looks and Feels a Bit Different
The Internet Is Closer Than Ever
Windows 2000 Gets Along with Notebook Computers (Finally!)
New and Improved Hardware Support
Shiny, New Networking Features
What Happened

Chapter 2—A Field Guide to Windows 2000 for the Uninitiated
Taking a Look Around
A Quick Mouse Course
Making Things Happen
Getting Programs Off the Ground
The Multitasking Thing: Switching from One Program to Another
Pushing Around a Program I: Using Pull-Down Menus
Pushing Around a Program II: Using Toolbars
Pushing Around a Program III: Using Dialog Boxes
Shutting Down a Program
What It's All About: Windows 2000's Windows
Dealing with Documents
Shutting Down Windows 2000

Part 2: Getting Work Done in Windows 2000

Chapter 3—Using My Computer to Work with Files and Folders
Getting to Know Your Computer Using My Computer
To and Fro: Navigating My Computer
Tip Sheet: Folder Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
Easier Navigating with the Folders List
Some Routine File and Folder Maintenance
Selecting Files and Folders
Copying and Moving Files and Folders
Renaming a File or Folder
Deleting Files and Folders
Creating a New File or Folder
Tip Sheet: Easier File and Folder Maintenance
Searching for Long Lost Files
How Web Integration Changes My Computer

Chapter 4—Prose Programs: Windows 2000's Writing Tools
Using Notepad for Garden-Variety Text Files
Using WordPad for Fancier Word Processing Files
WordPad and Word Processing Files
Tip Sheet: Text-Selection Tricks
Fancy-Schmancy Formatting I: Fonts
Tip Sheet: Making Good Use of Fonts
Fancy-Schmancy Formatting II: Paragraphs
Fancy-Schmancy Formatting III: Bullets
Fancy-Schmancy Formatting IV: Tabs
Finding and Replacing Text
Using Character Map for Foreign Characters and Other Symbols

Chapter 5—From Vapor to Paper: Printing Documents
Got a New Printer? Tell Windows 2000 About It!
Setting Up Your Pages for Printing
Doing the Printing Thing
The Basic Printing Steps
Other Ways to Print Stuff
Playing Around with Print Jobs

Chapter 6—A Moveable Feast: Windows 2000 and Your Notebook Computer
Better Battery Life Through Power Management
Synchronizing Files Between Your Notebook and Another Computer
Working with Those Little PC Card Doodads
Popping In a PC Card Device
Yanking Out a PC Card Device
Setting Up a Direct Connection Between Two Computers
Step 1: Configure the Host Computer
Step 2: Configure the Guest Computer
Making the Connection
Direct Connections and the Briefcase
Disconnecting From the Host

Chapter 7—Picture Programs: Windows 2000's Graphics Tools
Giving Your Right Brain a Workout with Paint
A Tour of the Paint Studio
Tool Time: How to Use the Paint Tools
"I've Got a Cutout. Now What?"
Big, Bigger, Biggest: Seeing More of Your Drawing
Setting the Image Attributes
Taking a "Picture" of the Screen
Being Digital: Using Scanners and Digital Cameras
Installing a Scanner or Digital Camera
Capturing Digital Images

Chapter 8—The Sights and Sounds of Windows 2000 Multimedia
We Are Merely Players: Playing Multimedia Files
Using Media Player to Play Movie and Sound Files
Using CD Player to Play Audio CDs
Using DVD Player to Play DVD Movies
Getting the Volume Just Right
Assigning Sounds to Things Windows 2000 Does
On the Air: Recording Your Own Sound Files

Part 3: Getting Connected I: The Web, Email, and More

Chapter 9—Modem Operandi: Setting Up Your Modem
Lines and Transfers and Bits, Oh My!
Getting Your Modem Ready for Action
Installing the Modem
Modems and Phone Cables
A Checkup: Running the Modem Diagnostics
Modem Modifications: Some Settings You Hopefully Won't Need to Set
Where You're At: Setting Up Dialing Locations
Area Code Rules, Dude!
Using Long Distance and Calling Card Dialing

Chapter 10—Using Your Modem for Faxing and Phone Dialing
Stop the Presses! Modem Dials Phone!
How to Turn Your PC Into a Fax Machine
Shipping Out a Fax
Creating a Fax Cover Page
Receiving a Fax
Using Imaging to Annotate a Fax
A Few Fax Options

Chapter 11—Getting On the Internet
Interstate I1: Setting Up a New Account
Interstate I2: Transferring an Existing Account
Interstate I3: Setting Up an Existing Account Manually
What You Need to Know Before Getting Started
What You Need to Do After Getting Started
Making the Connection
Now What? Windows 2000's Internet Features

Chapter 12—Weaving Your Way Through the World Wide Web
Exploring Internet Explorer
Basic Web Navigation Techniques
Techniques for Efficient Web Gallivanting
Saving Sites for Subsequent Surfs: Managing Your Favorites
Order Out of Chaos: Searching for Sites
Bread Crumbs in Cyberspace: Using the History List
The Unwired Surfer: Reading Pages Offline
"What If I Want to Use Netscape?"

Chapter 13—Everybody's Doing It: Sending and Receiving Email Messages
Getting Started with Outlook Express
Using Outlook Express to Send an Email Message
Composing the Message
Populating the Address Book
Creating Signatures
Inserting Attachments and Other Hangers-On
Some Useful Sending Options
Using Outlook Express to Get and Read Email
Receiving Incoming Messages
Reading Your Messages
Dealing with Attachments
What to Do With a Message Once You've Read It
Using Rules to Filter Out Boneheads and Bores

Chapter 14—More Online Conversations: Newsgroups and Internet Phone Calls
Using Outlook Express to Participate in Newsgroups
Setting Up a News Account
Understanding Newsgroup Nomenclature
Subscribing to a Newsgroup
Downloading Newsgroup Messages
Posting a Message to a Newsgroup
Using Phone Dialer to Make Phone Calls Over the Internet
Using NetMeeting to Make Phone Calls Over the Internet
Some Relatively Painless Configuration Chores
Placing a Call
NetMeeting SpeedDialing
Other Things You Can Do Once You're Connected

Part 4: My 2K: Tailoring Windows 2000 to Suit Your Style

Chapter 15—Redoing the Desktop
Background Check: Changing the Desktop Background
Wallpapering the Desktop
Creating Your Own Wallpaper
Something a Little Different: A Desktop Pattern
Makeover Time: Changing the Desktop Colors and Fonts
The Active Desktop: Your Desktop as a Web Page
Effectations: Changing Desktop Icons and Visual Effects
Changing the Screen Area and Color Depth

Chapter 16—Revamping the Start Menu and Taskbar
A Smart Start: Reconstructing the Start Menu
What's With These Crazy New Menus?
Toggling Some Start Menu Settings On and Off
Adding Your Own Start Menu Items (and Removing Them, Too)
The "Advanced" Route (Not!): The Start Menu Folder
Even Easier Ways to Mess with the Start Menu
Renovating the Taskbar
Shifting the Taskbar Around
Some Useful Taskbar Options
Refurbishing the Quick Launch Toolbar
Displaying and Tweaking Taskbar Toolbars
Creating Your Own Toolbars

Chapter 17—Making My Computer Your Own
Points of View: Changing the My Computer View
Bar-Gains: Toggling My Computer's Bars On and Off
Customizing the Standard Buttons Toolbar
Views You Can Use: Changing How Folders and Files Are Displayed
Ordering My Computer Around: Sorting Files
Start Spreading the Views: Applying a View to All Folders
A Folder Face-Lift: Customizing a Folder
Refurbishing the Folder Background and Text
Adding a Folder Comment
Changing the Web View Folder Template

Chapter 18—Installing New Software and Hardware Knickknacks
From There to Here: Installing a Program
From Here to Nowhere: Uninstalling a Program
Adding On: Installing a Hardware Device
Understanding Hardware Types
Running the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard.
Troubleshooting a Device
Upgrading a Device Driver
Removing a Device

Part 5: Taking Care of Your System

Chapter 19—Backing Up Your Data (The Better-Safe-Than-Sorry Department)
Backing Up: Some Things to Consider
Creating and Running a Backup Job
Using the Backup Wizard
Creating a Backup Job with Your Bare Hands
Saving and Reusing Backup Jobs
Staying Regular: Scheduling Backup Jobs
Recovering Files from a Backup Job
Using the Restore Wizard
Restoring Files by Hand
Preparing for the Worst: System Recovery Options
Option #1: Creating an Emergency Repair Disk
Option #2: Automatic System Recovery
Recovering Your System

Chapter 20—Painless System Maintenance Chores
Cleaning House: Using Disk Cleanup to Delete Junk Files
Keeping Your Hard Disk Humming with Check Disk
Tidying Up Your Hard Disk with Disk Defragmenter
Setting Up a System Maintenance Schedule
Keeping Up with the Windows Joneses: The Windows Update Web Site

Part 6: Getting Connected II: Windows 2000 and Networking

Chapter 21—Using Windows 2000 to Set Up a Small Network
Basic Network Know-How
Stuff You Need: Understanding Network Hardware
The Connection Point: The Network Interface Card
The Connection: The Network Cable
Deciding How to Structure Your Network
The Star Structure
The Bus Structure
Decisions, Decisions: What Route Should You Take?
Getting a Machine Network-Ready
Some Notes About Networking and the Windows 2000 Setup
"Look Ma, No Hands!" Networking
The Five-Step Network Setup
Step 1: Telling Windows 2000 About Your Network Card
Step 2: Identifying the Computer
Step 3: Installing a Network Client
Step 4: Installing File and Printer Sharing
Step 5: Installing Network Protocols

Chapter 22—Using Windows 2000's Networking Features
Startup Stuff: Logging On to Your Computer
Your Starting Point: The My Network Places Folder
Workgroupies: Notes About Permissions and Users
Sharing Your Resources So Other Folks Can Play with Them
Sharing Folders and Disks
The "In" Crowd: Setting Permissions
Sharing a Printer
Sharing an Internet Connection
Playing with Other Folks' Shared Resources
Setting Up Network Places
Making Network Folders Look Like Drives on Your Computer
Printing Over the Network
You Can Take It with You: Working with Offline Files
Making Network Files Available Offline
Synchronizing the Offline Files with the Network Files

Chapter 23—Road Scholar: Using Dial-Up Network Connections
Setting Up a Network Computer to Accept Incoming Calls
Running the Network Connection Wizard
Making Adjustments for Incoming Connections
Creating a Dial-Up Connection to Your Network
The Network Connection Wizard Redux
Making Adjustments for the Dial-Up Connection
Making the Connection

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