- Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Tell Us What You Think!
- About the Authors
- Introduction
- Conventions Used in This Book
- Lesson 1. Navigating Windows 2000 Professional
- What Is Windows 2000 Professional?
- Starting Windows 2000
- Understanding the Windows Desktop
- Using the Mouse
- Using the Start Button
- Using the Taskbar
- Shutting Down Windows 2000 Professional
- Lesson 2. Working with a Window
- What Is a Window?
- Opening a Window
- Sizing a Window with Maximize, Minimize, and Restore
- Sizing a Window's Borders
- Using Scroll Bars
- Moving a Window
- Viewing a Window's Contents
- Closing Windows
- Lesson 3. Using Menus
- Using Toolbar Buttons
- What Is a Menu?
- Choosing Menu Commands
- Reading a Menu
- Using Shortcut Keys Instead of Menus
- Using Shortcut Menus
- Lesson 4. Using Windows 2000 Professional Help
- Getting Help in Windows 2000
- The Help Window
- Using Windows Online Help
- Using Web Help
- Lesson 5. Using Dialog Boxes
- What Is a Dialog Box?
- Using the Components of a Dialog Box
- Using the What's This? Feature
- Using Text Boxes
- Using Option Buttons
- Using Check Boxes
- Using Command Buttons
- Using Property Sheets and Tabs
- Lesson 6. Working with Multiple Windows and Applications
- Opening a Windows Application
- Viewing an Application's Window
- Exiting an Application
- Arranging Windows on the Desktop
- Moving Between Applications
- Moving Between Windows in the Same Application
- Lesson 7. Copying, Moving, and Linking Between Windows and Applications
- Using the Clipboard
- Selecting Text for Copying or Moving
- Selecting Graphics
- Copying Information Between Windows
- Moving Information Between Windows
- Sharing Information Between Applications
- Understanding Linking
- Creating Links
- Understanding Embedding
- Embedding Objects
- Using the ClipBook Viewer
- Lesson 8. Using My Computer
- What Is My Computer?
- Browsing Folder Options
- The My Computer Menu
- The My Computer Toolbars
- Customizing View Columns
- Lesson 9. Managing Files with My Computer
- Selecting Files and Folders
- Moving Files and Folders
- Copying Files and Folders
- Deleting Files and Folders
- Renaming Files and Folders
- Using Windows Explorer
- Creating Shortcuts
- Searching for Files and Folders
- Lesson 10. Using WordPad
- What Is WordPad?
- Moving the Text Insertion Point
- Inserting and Deleting Text
- Selecting, Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Text
- Formatting a Document
- Saving a Document and Exiting WordPad
- Lesson 11. Understanding File Properties and the Recycle Bin
- Filenames
- File Size
- File Creation Date and Time
- File Attributes
- Viewing Properties
- Managing the Recycle Bin
- Opening the Recycle Bin
- Emptying the Recycle Bin
- Restoring Files
- Recycle Bin Properties
- Lesson 12. Printing
- Installing a Printer
- Printing from an ApplicationControlling the Print Job
- Working with the Print Folder
- Controlling the Print Job
- Using Drag and Drop
- Lesson 13. Using My Network Places
- What Is a Network?
- About Clients and Servers
- What Is My Network Places?
- Logging On to a Network
- Accessing My Network Places
- Logging Off a Network
- Lesson 14. Using the Control Panel
- What Is the Control Panel?
- What Can You Accomplish in the Control Panel?
- Selecting a Screen Saver
- Configuring Video Options
- Configuring Sound Options
- Configuring Multimedia Devices
- Configuring Your Keyboard and Mouse
- Lesson 15. Using Outlook Express Mail
- Opening and Closing Outlook Express Mail
- The Outlook Express Mail Window
- Sending a Message
- Using the Windows Address Book
- Retrieving and Reading Your Messages
- Saving a File Attached to a Message
- Replying to a Message
- Deleting Old Messages
- Lesson 16. Sharing Workstations and Setting Passwords
- Assigning Passwords to Screen Savers
- Changing Your Password
- Sharing Resources on Your Computer
- Sharing Folders and Disk Drives on Your Computer
- Setting File Permissions
- Creating and Sharing a Printer
- Sharing an Already-Defined Printer
- Setting Printer Permissions
- Lesson 17. Using Internet Explorer 5
- Starting Internet Explorer 5
- Navigating the IE5 Window
- The IE5 Toolbars
- Navigating a Web Page
- Reading URLs
- Visiting a Web Site
- Understanding Links
- Understanding Caching
- Lesson 18. Web Site and Document Searching
- Understanding Searches
- Creating a Web Search
- Searching for Text on a Web Page
- Lesson 19. Troubleshooting, Restarting, and Disaster Planning
- Task Manager
- Restarting Windows 2000
- What is a Computer Virus?
- Curing and Preventing Computer Viruses
- Creating a Startup Disk
- Troubleshooting Windows 2000
- Lesson 20. Customizing the Windows 2000 Environment
- Creating Shortcuts
- Arranging Icons
- Choosing Colors and Backgrounds
- Changing Fonts
- Customizing the Taskbar
- Changing the Time or Date
- Creating Custom Toolbars
What Is My Computer?
My Computer is a way to quickly see everything on your computer—files, folders, and drives—and how files and folders are organized. If you are connected to a network, My Computer displays any drives mapped to your computer.
To open My Computer, double-click its icon on the desktop (see Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1 When double-clicked, the My Computer icon on the desktop displays the files and folders on your computer.
When you double-click the My Computer icon, the My Computer window appears (see Figure 8.2).
Some of the icons in the My Computer window represent drives; in this case A: represents the floppy drive, C: and perhaps D: are the computer's hard drive(s), and E: the CD-ROM drive. Your drive letters might be assigned differently. Icons for those items will also appear in this window.
There are also icons within folders. The Control Panel icon opens the Control Panel window. You use the icons in that window to configure your computer. For more information on using the Control Panel, see Lesson 14, "Using the Control Panel."
At the top of the window is the title bar, which indicates the name of the currently opened window, drive, or folder. You can move the entire window on your screen by dragging the title bar.
Below the title bar is the menu bar, which contains the options available for this drive or folder.
Below the menu bar is the toolbar. If your toolbar is not showing, choose View, Toolbars, Standard Buttons from the menu. The toolbar contains icons to quickly execute common commands used in My Computer.
The address bar appears below the toolbar. The address bar shows your current path and location. A path is a roadmap showing the location of a file.
The address bar can also indicate a Web page address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). If you enter a Web page address, you can view a Web page without opening your Web browser.
To turn the display of the address bar on or off, choose View, Toolbars, Address Bar from the menu.
At the bottom of the screen is the status bar. In My Computer, the status bar displays the number of objects (files and folders) and the size (disk space) of those objects. If you are connected to a network, the Status bar displays a message indicating your connection, such as "local intranet zone." If you select one or more files, the status bar changes to display the number of selected files and the total number of bytes or storage space they use. If you don't see the status bar on your window, choose View, Status Bar from the menu.
There are several ways to open the drives or folders displayed in My Computer:
- Double-click the drive or folder icon.
- Select the drive or folder icon by pointing to it or using the arrow keys to move around the window to highlight the icon you want. Press Enter to open the highlighted drive or folder.
- Select the drive or folder icon by clicking it or using the arrow keys to move around the window to highlight the icon you want. Choose File, Open.
- Point at the drive or folder icon and click the right mouse button. From the pop-up menu, select Open.
When you double-click one of the drive icons in the My Computer window, you see the folders and files contained on that drive (see Figure 8.3).

Figure 8.3 The window for the hard drive (C:) displays the folders and files found on this drive. Double-click a folder to view its contents.