Ah, Windows. The most-used software in the history of mankind.
Windows has been around since 1985. Each new major version looks better, is more secure, takes advantage of better hardware—and adds more, more, more features. It’s gotten to the point where you really need a book to know which ones are worth learning.
A few years ago, Microsoft observed the popularity of tablets like the iPad—and predicted that all computers would soon have touch screens.
So in 2012, Microsoft introduced Windows 8. It was two operating systems in one, superimposed. There was the regular Windows, the one whose desktop fills hundreds of millions of screens, with a software library of 4 million programs.
And then there was a new operating system for tablets, one that looks totally different, works differently, and requires all new apps.
Microsoft doesn’t have a name for this mode (it abandoned the names Metro and Modern), so let’s call it TileWorld.
It’s an interesting experiment, but it means that you now have two Web browsers to learn, two different Help systems, two control panels, and so on.
On the following pages, you’ll find tips and tricks to surviving both recent Windows versions: Windows 7 and its successors, Windows 8 and 8.1.
The difference between Backspace and Del
Your keyboard probably has two keys that sound an awful lot alike: one called Backspace and one labeled Del or Delete.
They’re actually different. Backspace is the one you’re used to; it deletes the typed character to the left of the blinking insertion-point cursor. But pressing Del removes the character to its right, which can also be handy when you’re editing.
That’s why the Del key is sometimes more clearly referred to as the Forward Delete key—but that’s too much writing to fit on the top of the key.
Free, excellent antivirus software
If you have Windows, you need an antivirus program. Period.
Most of these programs cost money. A lot. And you have to pay again every year.
There are some free ones, though—and one of them comes from Microsoft itself. It’s easy to use, attractive, and it fights both viruses and spyware.
• For Windows 7 and earlier: The program is called Microsoft Security Essentials, and you have to download it yourself. Here’s the address: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download.
• For Windows 8 and later: It’s called Windows Defender, and it’s built right into Windows.
However, it comes turned off. If you want this program to protect your machine, uninstall whatever trial software may have been nagging you to buy it (Norton, McAfee, or whatever). Then turn Defender on.
To do that, search for and open the Windows Defender program (type its name into the Start menu or at the Start screen). The big red “Turn on” button is right there in front of you.
Security Essentials, or Defender, or whatever your version is called, continuously monitors your PC for infections. Microsoft sends it a daily update of its virus database, so that your antivirus program will recognize new viruses and other bad stuff.
If the program finds something fishy, it usually deletes the virus or spyware automatically. Occasionally, it may ask your permission first.
There are other free antivirus programs, by the way, like Avast Free, AVG Free, and ZoneAlarm Free. They may nag you to buy the Pro versions, though, and there’s nobody to call for help.
How to skip the password screen
When you turn on your PC, you’re asked to log in—to provide the name and password for your account. That’s an important feature, both for security and convenience (because it keeps your files and settings separate from everybody else’s).
But what if there is no “everybody else”? What if you don’t share the computer with anyone? Or if there’s nothing private on it, or if you share it with someone you trust?
In that case, the name-and-password business is just a pointless roadblock—and you can eliminate it. You can turn off the requirement to log in with a password.
• No password when waking the PC: If you have Windows 8.1 or later, you can eliminate the requirement for entering a password when you wake the computer. (You still have to log in when you turn it on or restart it.)
Setting it up requires a visit to the Accounts pane of PC Settings. The quickest way to get there is to type account at the Start screen. In the results list, select “Your account settings”; on the next screen, select “Sign-in options.”
Finally, under “Password policy,” select Change. In the warning box, tap Change again. That’s it! From now on, you won’t be asked for your password when you just wake the machine after it’s gone to sleep.
• No password required, ever: If you’re willing to do some technical fiddling, you can also set it up so that you never have to enter your password—even when you’re starting up the machine.
Start by pressing 
+R. In the Run box, type netplwiz. Hit OK. Now you see the User Accounts dialog box:
Turn off “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.” Click OK.
Now tell the PC who gets to sign in automatically by entering your account name and password (and the password again); select OK.
The next time you restart your computer, you’ll gasp in amazement as it takes you all the way to the Start screen without bothering to ask for your password.
How to copy files by dragging them
When you drag icons at the Windows desktop, you sometimes move them (into a new window), and sometimes copy them. Here’s the scheme:
• You move the files or folders when you drag them to another folder on the same disk, and copy them if it’s a different disk.
• If you’re pressing the Ctrl key while dragging to another folder on the same disk, you copy the icon.
• If you press Shift while dragging to a different disk, you move the icon (without leaving a copy behind).
If your reaction is “How am I supposed to remember all that?” you’re not alone. Fortunately, you don’t have to.
You have to remember only one trick: Use the right mouse button as you drag. When you release the button, this shortcut menu appears, offering you a choice of what you want to happen: “Move here” or “Copy here.” Click the one you want.
When text is too small
Nobody has ever accused Windows of not offering enough settings. Fortunately, some of them are actually useful—and one of them is the ability to make type larger. After all, most of us will one day be over 40.
This trick is especially useful because the resolution of computer screens keeps getting higher. Manufacturers keep packing more and more dots into the same space—smaller and smaller dots—and therefore the type and graphics are getting smaller.
Here’s the quickest fix: Right-click the desktop. From the shortcut menu, choose “Screen resolution” or “Resolution.” A dialog box appears; select “Make text and other items larger or smaller.”
You wind up here:
Click one of the options here: Medium, Larger, Extra Large; then click Apply. A message now says, “You must log off your computer.” Click “Log off now.” The next time you turn on the thing, you’ll be able to enjoy bigger type and graphics.
If you prefer an in-between magnification, or greater magnification (up to 500%), click “Custom sizing options.” Drag the slider until the sample text looks good; click OK. (If you go overboard, you may see blurry type in older programs.)
How to right-click when there’s no button
As you know from here, right-clicking is a hugely important computer skill—especially in Windows.
If you’re using a desktop PC, with a two-button mouse attached, figuring out how to right-click shouldn’t take long. But if you have a laptop—what then? It has a trackpad, not a mouse.
Laptop makers have solved this problem in different ways. Sometimes you get “mouse buttons” below the trackpad.
But other trackpads may have nothing resembling two side-by-side mouse buttons. In those situations, here are some tips:
• On most laptops, you can click by just touching the trackpad; you don’t have to fully click down on it.
• You can usually trigger a right-click by tapping or clicking the trackpad with two fingers.
• There’s often an area on the trackpad that’s dedicated to right-clicking—the right half or the lower-right corner, for example, as shown here.
Oh—and what if you’re using a Windows 8 touch screen? In that case, you can “right-click” by touching the screen and holding your finger there for a moment.
The power of Backspace
Your Backspace key is useful for more than just deleting stuff you’ve typed. When you’re not typing, it has a secondary meaning: Go Back.
That trick works in your Web browser (like Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome) and at the desktop (known as Explorer windows). If you’ve drilled down several folders deep, for example, you can tap Backspace to “walk backward” out again.
Put another way, the Backspace key takes you “back a space”—get it?
Take a picture of the Windows screen
A screenshot is a graphics file that captures the current picture of the screen. Screenshots are great when you want to report a bug, error message, or visual glitch to somebody, or when you want to preserve something really cool or important on the Web, for example.
• To capture the screen to your Clipboard: Press the PrtScn key. You’ve just copied the picture of the screen to your invisible Clipboard; you can now paste it somewhere (into an outgoing e-mail, for example).
• To capture only a window: If you hold down the Alt key as you tap PrtScn, you capture the image only of the front-most window, trimming away the rest of the screen.
• To save the screen image as a file: If you add the Windows logo key ( or 
), tapping the PrtScn key deposits a new graphics file into a folder called Screenshots, in your Pictures folder. (That’s instead of putting it on your Clipboard.)
Finally, it’s worth noting that recent Windows versions come with a program called Snipping Tool. It’s more flexible than the PrtScn key, because it lets you drag freeform shapes for your capture; it lets you edit the image before you save it; and it lets you choose the graphics format for saving.
To try it out, select Snipping Tool on your Start screen (or Start menu, if you have one).
Close a window from the keyboard
The most obvious way to close a Windows window is to click the little X button in the upper-right corner:
But there’s a keyboard shortcut, too: Alt+F4.
A keyboard shortcut is more useful than a button—especially when some cascade of windows has just rained in on your screen. You can just hammer away on the same keystroke over and over, rather than trying to chase a sequence of Close buttons in different places.
The Notepad’s handy date stamp
You might think that Notepad, a Windows accessory since 1985, has long ago been surpassed by other, better programs. And yes, that’s probably true—but it’s still around, and people still use it for jotting down notes, phone numbers, addresses, driving directions, and so on. (If you have Windows 7 or earlier, it’s in the Accessories folder of your Start menu; if you have Windows 8 or later, type notep at the Start screen to find it.)
Notepad doesn’t have a lot of features, but it has one that can be very useful: automatic date stamps. It’s often convenient to let Notepad record the date and time of each new entry or brainstorm:
• Type out the current date and time on command by pressing the F5 key. Notepad inserts the time stamp wherever your insertion point happens to be.
• Auto-insert the current date and time every time you open it. This trick offers a handy way to create a record of when you last worked on a Notepad file—great for diaries, spending records, and so on.
To set this up, create a new Notepad file (open the File menu and choose New). Type .LOG as the first line of the document. (Capitalize LOG and put nothing, not even a space, before the period.)
Save and name the document (from the File menu, choose Save) wherever and whatever you like. Notepad adds the file name extension .txt automatically.
From now on, every time you open that Notepad file, you’ll see the date and time inserted at the top—and your cursor helpfully deposited on the next line. Now you’re ready to type the day’s entry.
(You’ll probably want to press Enter, inserting a blank line, after each entry, before saving the file; your log will be easier to read.)
The “Open Start menu” key
The Start menu (or, in Windows 8, the Start screen) is your home base. It’s the first stop for any task. And if you have a mouse or trackpad, it’s a pretty small target—a little spot in the lower-left corner.
Fortunately, the or key on your keyboard offers a speedy shortcut: You can tap it to open the Start menu or return to the Start screen.
Restoring the Start menu
In Windows 8, Microsoft took away the most famous element in all of Windows Land: the Start menu in the lower-left corner. Across the country, that change prompted much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments.
Without the Start menu, it’s much harder to find the programs you want to open—and to access important features like the Control Panel and the Shut Down command.
In Windows 8.1, Microsoft restored a button to the lower-left corner of the screen, but it’s still not the Start menu. That button just opens the Start screen: an endless horizontally scrolling world of big square tiles that represent your programs.
Fortunately, restoring the real Start menu is a quick download away. Just download and install a free app like Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net).
The Secret Start menu of Windows 8.1
Even without installing an app that gives you back the Start menu, as described in the previous tip, Microsoft didn’t throw common sense to the wind completely. Starting in Windows 8.1, you can open a hidden Start menu that offers direct access to a list of important places and programs.
To open the hidden Start menu, right-click the button.
The button is always visible when you’re at the standard Windows desktop. If you’re at the Start screen—the tiles—it appears only when you move the mouse to the lower-left corner. Or, on a touch screen, when you swipe in from the left edge of the screen.
Or, no matter where you are, the secret Start menu opens when you press +X.
In any case, this isn’t the traditional Start menu. It doesn’t list any of your programs, for example. But it does list things like Control Panel, Search, and Shut Down—all frequent commands that would otherwise require more steps to find.
Type-searching in Windows 8
In TileWorld, the Start menu no longer exists; it’s become a Start screen. Each tile represents an app, a file, or a Web page.
Each tile isn’t just a button that opens a program. It’s also a tiny billboard that displays up-to-date information from that program. The Mail tile shows the subject line of your newest message. The Calendar tile displays the name of your next appointment. The People tile shows incoming posts from Twitter and Facebook.
Once the Search screen gets to be many screens wide, scrolling horizontally to find an app becomes exhausting. But if your computer has a physical keyboard, you can exploit the world’s greatest type-selecting shortcut: Just start typing the name of the tile you want. (You don’t have to click Search or do anything else first.) The screen instantly changes to show you nothing but the icons of matching items.
Enlarging the cursor
There are two reasons you might want to make your Windows cursor bigger. First, each year, computer-screen models come with higher resolution (pixels packed into each inch), so everything on the screen gets smaller.
Second, you might be getting older.
When you make the cursor bigger, nothing else is affected—only your ability to spot it on a big screen.
Start by right-clicking the desktop. From the shortcut menu, choose Personalize. In the resulting dialog box, click “Change mouse pointers” at the left side.
Now you’re treated to the Mouse Properties dialog box, shown here:
See the Scheme pop-up menu near the top? Open it. Inside, you’ll find options called “Windows Default (large) (system scheme)” and “Windows Default (extra large) (system scheme).” Those two options make the Windows cursors bigger and much bigger, respectively. Choose the one you want, then click OK.
Command your PC by voice
Maybe you’ve heard of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the program that translates your speech into typing. But Windows has a very similar feature built right in; it lets you both speak to type and control the computer, as if you were clicking buttons and opening menus, by voice. You might be amazed at how easy it is—and how accurate it is.
To try it out, open Windows Speech Recognition:
• Windows 7: From the Start menu, choose Control Panel. Click Ease of Access, and then click Speech Recognition.
• Windows 8: At the Start screen, type speech. Select Windows Speech Recognition in the list of results.
Click your way through the screens (click Take Speech Tutorial if you’re offered one). Along the way, you’ll specify what kind of microphone you have (a headset works best); you’ll be able to print a cheat sheet of commands; and you’ll be treated to an excellent 30-minute tutorial in which you practice operating your PC by voice.
When it’s all over, the Speech palette appears, and you can start talking. The most important spoken commands are these:
• “Start listening”/“Stop listening.” Say “Start listening” to turn on your mike—you see the microphone button on the Speech palette darken. Say “Stop listening” when you want to speak to a person or your phone. (Ctrl+ is the keyboard shortcut.)
• “What can I say?” You get the Speech Recognition page of the Windows Help system, complete with a collapsible list of the things you can say.
• “Start Word.” Opens the program you’ve named. “Start Calculator.” “Start Internet Explorer.” Whatever.
• “Switch to Word.” Switches to the program you’ve named.
• “File; Open.” You can control menus by saying whatever you would have clicked. If you say “Edit; Select All,” it’s as though you had opened the Edit menu and picked Select All.
• “Print.” You can also “click” any button on the screen, or any link on a Web page, by saying it: “OK,” “Cancel,” and so on.
• “Double-click Recycle Bin.” You can “double-click” or “right-click” anything you see—by voice.
Type by talking to your PC
As you now know, you can command your PC by voice—but you can also speak freely, dictating text instead of typing it. You know: “Dear John (comma; new line), How long have I known you (question mark)? I’m afraid that the answer is (comma), too long (period).”
(Yes, you have to speak the punctuation.)
You might be amazed at how fast and accurate the program is.
Now and then, Speech Recognition makes an error. In that case, you should correct it by voice, so it learns from its mistake. Suppose, for example, that you said “oxymoron,” but Windows typed, “ax a moron.”
In that case, say, “Correct ax a moron.” When the list of alternative transcriptions appears, say the number of the corrected interpretation (“three”). If you don’t see it, speak the correct text again. (In a pinch, you can also say, “Spell it,” and then spell it out loud.)
Once you’ve found (or said) the correct phrase, say “OK” to close the panel, replace the corrected text, and teach Windows not to make that mistake again.
Keystrokes for the Two Worlds of Windows 8
If you have Windows 8, you live in two worlds. First, there’s the regular Windows desktop that’s been around forever (facing page, top). It evolved along with the mouse and keyboard, and with them, does a great job.
Then there’s TileWorld, born in 2012. It’s the Start-screen world made of colorful tiles (facing page, bottom). TileWorld was created for the new era of touch screens.
Unfortunately, now you’re stuck with two different software worlds. Fortunately, you can flip back and forth fairly easily—from the keyboard, if you like.
• Jump into TileWorld: Press the key on your keyboard. (On a Windows 8 tablet, there’s a button instead of a key.) If you press the key again, you return to whatever app you were just using. In other words, presssing repeatedly flips back and forth between the app and the Start screen.
• Jump to the desktop: Click the Desktop tile. Or press +D (for desktop, get it?).
But here’s another trick for getting to the desktop with even less physical effort.
It turns out that at the Start screen, pressing the Enter key always opens the top left tile. And you get to decide what to put there.
If you’re smart, you’ll drag the Desktop tile there, like this:
Why? Because now, from now on, you have single keys to jump between the two worlds of Windows. Tap for the Start screen, and press Enter for the desktop.
That’s right, a big fat key for each world. Because, you know, the mouse is for sissies.
How to read file names that are cut off
If a Windows window contains files whose names are very long, they’ll get chopped off. Sometimes, the end of a file name is important; it can make the difference between “Recipe for Delicious Lemony-Filled Home-Baked Donuts” and “Recipe for Delicious Rat-Killer Poison Cakes.”
When that happens, you have two options:
• Point to the name without clicking. After a moment, a pop-up label appears, showing you the entire name.
• Double-click the little line that divides one column title from the next. You can see the effect illustrated on the next page.
When you do that, the entire column widens exactly enough to show you the full column names without chopping them off. (You can always drag that column smaller again, using the same divider line as a handle.)
How to rename a whole bunch of files in one fell swoop
Renaming a file or folder in Windows is pretty easy. To open the little rectangle where you can rename it, you can either:
• Click the icon and then press the F2 key.
• Click the icon twice, slowly.
But here’s something not many people realize: You can rename a whole bunch of icons all at once.
Just select them all, using the tip here. Then press F2.
Now, rename one of the files, as shown below at left. When you press Enter or click somewhere else, all of the icons now have the same name.
If there is more than one icon of the same type (folders or documents, say), Windows helpfully adds a (1), (2), and so on to their names.
One-key screen locking before fetching coffee
If you use your computer in a place where other people also live or work—it could happen—you’ll like this one.
With a single keystroke, you can lock your screen. You can get up to go get coffee, stretch your legs, or un-jam the printer, without worrying about coworkers or evildoers seeing whatever confidential Web site or document you’ve left open.
And that keystroke is +L (for “Lock,” get it?).
Once your PC is locked, nobody can get into your stuff again without your password.
The top 10 things the Windows-logo key (
) does on every PC
Most of the keys on the standard PC keyboard are descended from their great-grandparents on the typewriter. You probably know what’s going to happen if you press the M key or the 1 key.
A few, though, have never graced a single typewriter—and the Windows-logo key ( or ) is one of them. But it’s worth meeting, because its powers are many.
To do this |
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Press this key |
Open the Start menu or Start screen |
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Display the desktop |
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Lock the tablet screen in current orientation |
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Minimize all windows |
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Restore minimized windows to the desktop |
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Open an Explorer (desktop) window |
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Lock your computer or switch users |
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Open the Run dialog box |
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Cycle through programs on the taskbar |
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Switches among monitors or projectors |
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12 important things the key does in Windows 8
In creating Windows 8 (and 8.1, and so on), Microsoft gave the humble key even more importance. Now it’s extremely helpful in navigating the new, touch-screen-friendly, Start-screen world of jumbo tiles.
Open the Start screen |
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Open secret Utilities “Start” menu |
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Open Charms bar |
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Open App (options) bar |
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Search everything |
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Search for files |
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Search for settings |
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Open the Share panel |
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Open Devices panel |
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Open Settings panel |
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Cycle through open tile-based apps |
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Cycle backward through open tile-based apps |
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Taming the Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin, of course, is where you toss files and folders that you don’t want anymore. It’s not so much a trash can as a waiting room for the trash can, because things generally don’t disappear from it until you empty it.
You can drag files or folders onto the Recycle Bin icon, but it’s usually faster to highlight them and then press the Delete key.
Ordinarily, there’s another step: Windows asks you if you’re sure you know what you’re doing. Since nothing’s actually deleted yet anyway, you may as well turn off this warning window.
To do that, right-click the Recycle Bin icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box turn off “Display delete confirmation dialog.” Now you’ll never get that message when you put something into the Recycle Bin.
Once you’ve put something in the Recycle Bin, one of three things will happen:
• You’ll change your mind. You’ll rescue the file from doom. You’ll double-click the Recycle Bin icon to open its window. You’ll right-click the reprieved icon and, from the shortcut menu, choose Restore. The file flies back to the folder from whence it came. (Or just drag the icon out of the Recycle Bin window into any other window or folder.)
• You’ll proceed with termination. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon (or any empty spot in the Recycle Bin window). From the shortcut menu, choose Empty Recycle Bin. In the “Are you sure?” message, click Yes.
• The Recycle Bin will empty itself. When the Recycle Bin gets so full that it’s occupying more than 10 percent of your disk space, it will start auto-deleting older Recycle Bin files as new ones arrive.
If that notion alarms you, all is not lost. Right-click the Recycle Bin’s icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties. In the resulting dialog box, you can change the “Maximum size” number. Keeping the number low means that you’re less likely to run out of disk space. However, a high number increases the number of files you’ll have a chance to rescue if you change your mind.
A keyboard shortcut for anything
Keyboard shortcuts are efficient and satisfying to use, but you don’t want to go overboard.
Just kidding. There’s no such thing as going overboard!
That’s why it’s very cool that Windows lets you set up keyboard shortcuts for any file, folder, and program on your computer. Press the keystroke to open that thing without lifting your hands from the keyboard.
There is some fine print, however, as you’ll discover when you follow these steps:
1. Make a shortcut of the icon. A shortcut is like a duplicate icon for a file, folder, disk, or program—but it occupies almost no disk space. When you double-click the shortcut icon, the original icon opens. Shortcuts, in effect, let you keep a certain item’s icon in more than one place. And the make-your-own-keystroke feature works only on shortcuts, not on original icons.
To make a shortcut of an icon, right-click it; from the shortcut menu, choose “Create shortcut.” The new icon appears right next to the original. You have to put it on your desktop for this trick to work, though; it can’t be in a folder.
2. Open the shortcut’s Properties box. That is, right-click its icon; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties.
3. Click in the Shortcut Key box and press the keyboard combo you want. Your combination must include Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Shift, or Alt+Shift, and another key. And it can’t include the Space bar or the Enter, Backspace, Delete, Esc, Print Screen, or Tab keys.
4. Click OK. Now try your magic keystroke! And marvel that, just this once, you are the master of the PC instead of the other way around.
How to type symbols
The typical PC’s keyboard sure has a lot of keys. But you won’t find useful symbols like ©, ™, ÷, and ¿ on any of them.
In Microsoft programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, a handy palette of them is available when you open the Insert menu and choose Symbol. Click the one you want, then click Insert.
In other situations, you can use the Character Map program. Find and open it as you would any other program (type it into your Start menu search box, or type it at the Windows 8 Start screen).
When it opens, use the Font pop-up menu to specify the font you want to use; every font contains a different set of symbols. Double-click a character to transfer it to the “Characters to copy” box. Click Copy, and then Close. When you return to your document, use the Paste command to insert the symbol you’ve chosen.
Blow past the Lock screen
When you turn on a Windows 8 PC, you’re greeted by a decorative and mostly useless Lock screen. Like the one on a smartphone, it shows you the time, date, Wi-Fi signal strength, weather, and (on laptops and tablets) battery charge.
On a desktop computer, though, the Lock screen is just a layer of red tape.
Fortunately, blowing past it is easy; almost anything you do gets rid of it. Press any key, click anywhere, turn the mouse wheel, or (if you have a touch screen) swipe upward on the glass.