Another Word

... to Display the Display Properties Dialog Box

The Control Panel also provides access to the Display Properties dialog box:

In the Start menu, click Control Panel. In the Control Panel, double-click the Display icon.

Multimedia applications have very large requirements for power and memory, much more so than word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, and the like. If you are going to be doing any serious work in multimedia, you'll need a fast, powerful computer with lots of memory.

... to Add an Active Desktop Item

You can make a Web page your Active Desktop by dragging onto your Desktop the URL's e icon from the Internet Explorer Address bar while holding down the right mouse button. A context menu will appear; choose Create Active Desktop Item(s) Here. Enter the appropriate responses when prompted by the Wizard to finish creating your Active Desktop.

... on Converting to NTFS

Do not think, however, that because you are running Windows XP, you must convert all your disks to NTFS right away. In certain circumstances the older FAT file system can be a better performer, such as if your hard drive is smaller than 2 gigabytes. NTFS is overkill with small volumes. After NTFS's security and other overhead is taken into account, there is very little space left over in a small volume for actual data. Plus FAT is a simple system, which lends itself to being faster on small volumes. Another reason the older FAT file system is popular is that multiple operating systems other than Windows XP can access data from a FAT volume. Any of the following operating systems can be installed on one computer and have no trouble with a FAT volume: MS-DOS, OS/2, Linux, Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98/NT/2000.

... to Open the Control Panel

In the Start menu, click My Computer. Click the Control Panel link on the left pane of the window in the middle box under Other Places.

... on Installing Printers

You must be logged onto your computer or network as an administrator in order to install a printer.

... to Create a Shortcut

You can also create shortcut by right-clicking an object and then clicking Create Shortcut in the context menu. The shortcut is placed in the same folder as the object. You can then move the shortcut to its proper location.

... on Adding a Printer

If you made the new printer the default printer, a check mark appears on its icon.

... to Clean Up a Disk

Click Start, then My Computer. Right-click the Local Disk (C:). Select Properties from the context menu. The Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box opens. In the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button.

The terms "typeface" and "font" are used interchangeably, but technically speaking, typeface refers to the primary design, while font refers to the particular implementation and variation of the typeface.

... to Remove Windows Components

There is a more direct way to add or remove windows components if you are not already in the Disk Cleanup dialog box:

Click Start, then Control Panel. Double-click Add/Remove Programs. Click Add/Remove Windows Components. Select the components to remove.

The task of regular disk defragmentation has its critics. The argument goes that with hard drives today being so fast, disk defragmentation does not provide a noticeable improvement in performance. Additionally, defragmentation is a potentially risky process as it involves touching every piece of data on your hard drive. Regardless of your point of view, the topic of disk defragmentation has its merits as a teaching tool for understanding that data are written to a disk noncontiguously.

... to Defragment Your Hard Drive

You can also defragment your hard drive this way:

Open My Computer and right-click drive Local Disk (C:). In the context menu, click Properties. Click the Tools tab. Click Defragment Now...

... on Sound Files

Only sound files that are in Wave format can work in Sound Recorder, so if you import sound files from the Internet, for example, they must be in this format.