Putting a Favourite Program's Icon into the program Manager

When Windows installs itself ,it snoops through your computer's hard drive to see how much software you can afford to buy.When it spots a Windows program,it automatically sticks an icon for that program into the Program Manager.When Windows sees a DOS program it recognizes,it pops an icon for that program in there, too.

Most new Windows programs automatically pop their new into the Program Managerwhen you install them.But if a program doesn't come with an installation program,you're struck doing two steps on your own.

First, you need to copy the new program to its own directory on your hard drive.Next,you need to put the programs's icon into program manager it will be ready for easy clicking. Windows offers a zillion different  ways to add an icon to the Program Manager But stick with the following two:Make Windows do most of the work or tackle the job yourself.

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Shrinking Windows to Icons

Windows spawn windows. You start with one window to write  a letter to Mother. You open another window,to check her address,for example, and then yet another to see whether you've forgotten any recent birthdays.before you know it, four more windows are crowded across the desktop.

To combat the cutter, Windows provides a simple means of window control: You can transform a window from a screen-cluttering into a tiny boxes at the bottom of the screen.

Click on the downward-pointing arrow in any window's  top right-hand corner.Whoosh!The windows disappears, and a little icon appears at the bottom of the screen.That icon is a special button that enables you to call the window back into instant action.

If your desktop is messy, however, you may not be able to see that new little icon;another window maybe covering the bottom of the screen. Keep clicking those downward-pointing arrows.Eventually, you'll turn all the open windows into icons,and you'll be able to see whats going on.

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• To turn an open window into an icon. click on the downward-pointing arrow in its top right hand corner.The windows minimizes itself into an icon at the bottom of the desktop.  

• Icons comes with little tittle so that you can tell which program each of them represents.

• When you minimize a window,you neither destroy its contents nor close it.you merely change its shape. It is still loaded into memory,waiting for you do stuff with it.

• To put the window back  where it was. double click on ots icon. Its hops back up to the same place it was before.

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What disk drives does Windows like?

On the box, Windows recommends that you have a hard drive with at least 6MB of free space, but it's keeping the fingers crossed behind its back. Windows can easily eat up 15MB of space. Windows programs can eat up even more space.Nobody will laugh if u use a 200MB hard disk and reserve at least half of that for Windows programs.

Also,Windows require a 5 1/4-inch,high-capacity floppy disk drive or a 3 1/2-inch disk drive.

Finally,be aware that the terms capacity and density are often used interchangeably,The important part is the 1st part--high or low.

Be forewarned,however that Windows comes with high-density disks. Its your 3 1/2-inch disk drive isn't high-capacity,you won't be able to use windows disks straight out of the box .Instead,you'll have to mail a coupon to Microsoft  asking for the low density, 720K  disks that are designed for the antiquated drives.Getting the disks can take from two weeks ta a month, which can be stifle the excitement of bringing home a new piece of software.   

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Disk and Disk Drives

• The 3and half inch disk drives automatically garb the disk when you push it far enough. You hear it chunk, and the disk sinks down into the drive. If it doesn't, you are putting it in the wrong way . (The disk's silver edge goes in first, with the little round silver thing in the middle facing down.). To retrieve the disk the disk, push the button protruding from around the drive's  slot and then grab the disk when the disk kicks it out.

• A disk you can carry around the house is a floppy disk. A hidden disk that lurks deep in the bowels of the computer is a hard disk, or the hard drive.

•  Hard disk are thick little Frisbees inside the computer that can hold hundreds of times more information than  Floppy disks. They're so much quicker at readindg and writing information.(They're a great deal quieter, too,thanks goodness). Windows insists on a hard drive because its such a huge program.The programs that run under windows can be pretty huge , too.

• Because floppy disks are portable , using them is the easiest way to move information from one computer to another . You install Windows or any other program onto the computer by using floppy disks. You take floppy disk out of the box and place them into the disk drive, one at a time, when a message on the computer screens tells you to. the computer copies the information from the floppy disk onto the hard drive.

• Computer stores sells blank disks so you can store/copy your data/work onto them and put them in the safe place. Unless your new box of blank disks has the word preformatted, you can't use them straight out of the box. They must be formatted first.    

• Computer loves to copy things. When you're copying a file from one disk to another, you aren't moving the file.you are just putting a  copy of that file onto that other disk.

• Floppy disks come in many flavors,each holding different amounts of information.Different disks are designed for different sizes and types of disk drives.The disk's box describes what sort of disks are inside, but the bare disks rarely offer a clue as to their capacity.

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What is DOS,and Why Do I Still Need It?

MS-DOS is as boring as the words its stands for : Microsoft Disk operative system.DOS handles the chores required to make the computer do its traditional computer stuff:shuffle information to and from the various part of the computer and put it on your screen for you to labor over.

When you turn on your computer, DOS wakes up,takes control, and starts making things happen . It handlles all the dreadful,background computing mechanics so you can concentrate an what's happening to the screen.

DOS protects you from the   internal computer stuff,but DOS is kind of technical itself.So Windows rides on top of DOS,insulating you from your computer's technical side even more. When you tell Windows to do something, It turns around and tell DOS to do something.Windows  is just a translator,converting languages and collecting cash for its services.

And you still need DOS to run Windows. because Microsoft wrote both programs, it can collect twice as much money!

• Windows and DOS  are  two separate programs. DOS controls your computer's sticky internal mechanic, and Windows controls DOS.You then control Windows.Windows and DOS act as two layers of insulation that protects you from your computer's guts.

• Windows doesn't have to be running on your computer all the time In fact after installing Windows,you don't even have to use use it. You can still use your favorite DOS programs,just as before . When you get up the nerve,you can start Windows,run some Windows programs,and see what all the fuss is about.

• Although Windows programs can insulate you from DOS,DOS still lurks into background.in fact, you see DOS when you first start Windows and when you exit Windows.You can't get away from it. (You can even run a DOS  session in an on-screen Windows window if you miss seeing that C:\> stuff)  

                      *JUST SOME TRIVIAL DOS LEGAL DRIVEL 

Microsoft's version of DOS is called MS-DOS.

Microsoft sells licenses to other companies so that

those companies can sell DOS with their own line

 of computers. The other companies charge the name 

slightly, so customers think that they're getting something

 special. You find PC DOS, COMPAQ DOS,Tandy DOS,

and a plethora of others. 

They're all pretty much the same thing.A DOS is a DOS. 

OH,and no matter who's selling it, DOS rhymes with boss,

Don't pronounce it as dose unless you're pretending you're 

novice at the software store to see wheather the salesperson try to

 rip you off. LOL

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What does Windows do?

Like the mother with the whistle in the lunch court,Windows controls all the parts of your computer.You turn on your computer,start Windows,and start running windows programs .Each programs runs in its own little window on screen.Yet windows keeps things safe,even if the programs starts throwing food at each other.

While its keeping order,Windows makes computing a little easier. Windows purges an ugly computing custom called DOS command line .The command lines lives next to a confusing little symbol,the DOS prompt,which look something like this:
C:\>

With DOS,people boss around their computers by typing command at the prompt.To start the WhipIt program ,for example the type the program's name and then press ENTER,like this:
C:\>  WHIPIT

That is ,they type WHIPIT at the prompt and press enter.The computer dutifully loads the WhipIt program and brings it to the screen.DOS is tense shoulder-tightening stuff. you must memorize the name so all your programs  because DOS doesn't offer any clues-- not even a quick spelling tip.

• Some people say that the colorful pictures make Windows easier to use,other say that windows is little too arty.To write a letter in windows, for example,do you select the picture of the notepad ,the quill, or the  clipboard?And what do you do with the icon of the little man jiggling?

• A computer environment  that uses little pictures and symbols is called a graphical user interface or GUI (Its pronounced gooey, believe it or not). Pictures require more computing  horsepower than  letters or numbers , so windows requires a relatively powerful computer. 

Because Windows uses graphics, its much easier to use than to describe. To tell someone how to move a document in a DOS-based programs , you simply say,"press the PgDn key". In Windows you say,"click the vertical scroll bar beneath the scroll box."   Those direction sound awfull weird, but after you have done it you will say,"OH, is that all?Golly!!"(Plus you can still use the PgDn key in Windos.You don't have to "click in the vertical scroll bar beneath the scroll box"if u don't want to.)  

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What is Windows??

Windows is just another computer program,like the zillians of others lining the store selves.But its not a program in the normal sense-something that enables you to write letters or play spatula invaders.Rather,Windows changes the way you with your computer.

For years, computer programs have made computers cling to the typewriter look.Just as on a typewriter,people type letters and numbers onto the screen .The time-tested system works well.But it takes along time to learn,and its as boring as an oral hygiene pamphlet.

Its boring because computer geeks designed computers for other computer geeks many moons ago .They thought that computer would be forever isolated in narrow hallways  where somber young people will clipboards and white lab coat jotted notes while the big reels whirled.Nobody expected normal people to use computer LOL -- especially not in their offices ,their dens, or , heaven help us ,their kitchen :D

• Windows dumps the typewriter analogy and updates the look of computer.it replaces the words and numbers with pictures and buttons.It's splashy and modern like an expensive new coffee maker.

•  Because windows looks and acts differently from traditional computer programs,learning it can take a few days. After all,you probably couldn't   make the perfect coffee the first day.

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