SeniorNet
Exploring
Windows
Lesson Seven: Gadgets, File Types and User Accounts
In the last lesson you learned to use some basic programs that are supplied with Windows Vista.
In this lesson you will learn about Gadgets and file types, how to manage which specific program opens a given file type and how to set up and mange new user accounts.
In this lesson you will:
· Learn about the properties of the Sidebar
· Learn about Gadgets, how to add, remove and adjust settings
· Understand the concept of File types and file associations
·
Learn how to add, remove and personalize
User accounts.
Contents Page
Objectives...................................................................................................................................... 1
Start Windows............................................................................................................................... 3
Gadgets........................................................................................................................................... 3
Sidebar Properties........................................................................................................................ 3
Detach a Gadget............................................................................................................................ 5
Turn off the Sidebar..................................................................................................................... 5
Restore the Sidebar...................................................................................................................... 6
Attach the Gadget back to the Sidebar...................................................................................... 7
Setting Gadget properties............................................................................................................ 7
The Gadget Gallery adding Gadgets....................................................................................... 9
Removing Gadgets..................................................................................................................... 10
File type associations................................................................................................................ 10
Another way to change file association.................................................................................. 13
View file extensions.................................................................................................................. 14
Make file extensions visible..................................................................................................... 16
View file properties................................................................................................................... 17
User accounts.............................................................................................................................. 17
Changing an account.................................................................................................................. 18
Creating a new account............................................................................................................. 19
Log off and change user accounts........................................................................................... 20
Deleting an existing account.................................................................................................... 21
Startup programs........................................................................................................................ 23
Close the windows..................................................................................................................... 25
Turn off the computer................................................................................................................ 25
Now you can............................................................................................................................... 25
1 Power up your computer and log on (if
necessary) to
Windows Vista starts up and the desktop appears.
Windows Vista incorporates a new feature called Gadgets. Gadgets are mini-applications (sometimes known as applets) that reside on your desktop and provide useful at-a-glance information. Examples of gadgets are a clock, calendar, reminder note pad, weather report, stock market update and more. Gadgets appear in an area of the desktop known as the Sidebar (see Figure 7.1). Although attached to the Sidebar, they can be placed anywhere on the desktop if you so desire. The Sidebar and any gadgets it holds are displayed by default but can be turned off.
Vista comes with a number of built-in Gadgets: three
appear as defaults when you first run
Before discussing the Gadgets themselves, you will first set the properties of the Sidebar.
1 Click the Start button and click Control Panel.
2 Click Appearance and Personalization heading and then click Windows Sidebar Properties.
The Windows Sidebar Properties dialog opens (Figure 7.2).
Figure 7.2 Windows Sidebar properties
3 Examine the options presented. You can have the Sidebar start when Windows starts (the default), have it appear on top of other windows, display it on the left or right hand side of the desktop and more.
4 Click the View list of running gadgets button. A new dialog opens with a list of all running gadgets. Click the Close button on this dialog.
5 Do not make any changes on the learning center computer, but feel free to customize the properties of the Sidebar on your computer at home.
6 Click Cancel to close the Windows Sidebar properties dialog. Close any remaining windows to return to the desktop.
Tip: you can also call up the Windows
Sidebar Properties dialog by right clicking the Sidebar icon found in the
taskbar Notification area. Right click this icon and then click Properties.
Tip: to view
the gadgets hidden by an application window, press the Windows key and
simultaneously hold down the spacebar. Clicking anywhere in the application
window will send the gadgets back to the desktop.
On the desktop you should see the Sidebar with its Gadgets. If you do not see any Gadgets, either the Sidebar is turned off or all Gadgets have been removed. To remedy this, skip ahead to the section on The Gadget Gallery adding Gadgets. If your computer shows the sidebar with one or more Gadgets, proceed with the following.
To detach a Gadget from the sidebar and place it on the desktop, simply drag the gadget off the Sidebar onto the desktop.
1 Place the pointer on the Clock Gadget (if this is not on your screen, choose any other gadget). Click, hold and drag the gadget onto the general desktop area and release the mouse (see Figure 7.3).
The Gadget is now floating on the desktop. Turning off the Sidebar will not affect this gadget; it will remain visible.
Figure 7.3 Clock Gadget detached from Sidebar
1 Right-click in an open area of the Sidebar.
A drop-down menu appears (see Figure 7.4).
Figure 7.4 Right click in Sidebar
2 Click Close Sidebar.
The Sidebar closes along with any Gadgets pinned to it. The Clock (or other) gadget you moved to the desktop remains visible. Note the Sidebar is still running as a program, it is just not visible.
There are a couple of ways to restore the Sidebar. You can try one or both in class.
1 If there is a Sidebar icon 
in the Notification area of the task bar,
right-click this icon.
A pop up menu appears (see Figure 7.5).
Figure 7.5 Right click Sidebar icon in Notification area
2 Click Open.
The Sidebar is restored to the Desktop.
If there is no Sidebar icon in the Notification area, it means the Sidebar is not running at all (and not just closed).
3 Click the Start button, click Control panel, click Appearance and Personalization and click Windows Sidebar Properties.
The Windows Sidebar Properties dialog opens. Click the How do I customize Windows Sidebar? link at the bottom of the dialog (Figure 7.6). A new window opens. Scroll down and follow the instructions to open the Sidebar.
Figure 7.6 Link at bottom of Sidebar Properties dialog
Following this link also leads to other links helpful in managing the Sidebar and Gadgets.
4 Close all open windows by clicking the X in the title bar.
Attach the Gadget back to the Sidebar
There are two easy ways to attach a gadget back to the Sidebar. Try one, or both on the Clock gadget now floating on the desktop.
1 Method 1: place the pointer on the clock gadget, click hold and drag it over to the Sidebar and release the mouse button.
The Clock gadget is now attached to the Sidebar.
2 Method 2: Place the mouse pointer on the clock gadget, right click and click Attach to Sidebar.
The Clock gadget is now attached to the Sidebar.
Each Gadget has a different set of properties that can be customized. As an example, you will adjust the properties of the Clock gadget.
1 Place the mouse pointer on the clock gadget.
A set of small icons appears in the top right corner (see Figure 7.7).
Figure 7.7 Gadget and control icons at top right corner
2 Click the icon that looks like a wrench tool. A properties window opens (see Figure 7.8).
Figure 7.8 Clock Gadget Properties
3 Click the face of the clock to cycle through the choice of clock faces offered. You can also name the clock (the name you assign appears on the clock face), and change the time zone.
Tip:
you can also open the gadget properties by placing the mouse pointer on the
gadget, then right click and click Options to open the properties dialog.
4 In the
Challenge:
review the properties of another Gadget as you did for the clock. Place the
mouse pointer on the Gadget, find the wrench tool icon and click it to open the
gadgets properties dialog. Review the options available for that Gadget. Do
not make changes on the
The Gadget Gallery adding Gadgets
1 With the Sidebar open on the desktop, right click in an open area of the Sidebar.
A drop-down menu appears.
2 Click Add Gadgets.
The Gadget Gallery opens (see Figure 7.9).
Figure 7.9 Default Gadget Gallery
3 Alternately, you could click the + (plus sign) at the very top of the Sidebar (as the mouse pointer approaches this, the word Gadgets appears Figure 7.10).
Figure 7.10 Add Gadgets icon
The Gadget Gallery displays the
default gadgets supplied with
4 Double-click the Calendar gadget to add it to the Sidebar. Click the X at the top right of the Gadget gallery window to close it.
Challenge: At
home, follow the Get more gadgets online link at the bottom right of the
Gadget Gallery to find gadgets that can be downloaded from the Internet But do
not download anything from a source you
do not know or trust.
You have added the calendar gadget to the sidebar and will now remove it.
1 Place the mouse pointer on the Calendar gadget. A set of small icons appears in the top right corner.
2 Click the x icon to remove the calendar gadget. Alternately, you can right click in the Calendar gadget and click Close Gadget to remove this gadget.
And that is a primer on Gadgets. Have fun!
The files on your computer can be of many different types such as documents, photos, music, spreadsheets and databases. Perhaps certain files are specific to a single application like that finance or genealogy program you use. Even then, within a given category of application, there can be many different variations of file type. For example, a document may be either plain unformatted text, Rich Text Format, Microsoft Word format (and there are variants of this), WordPerfect format, Works word processor format and more. Similarly, there are many different file formats for images (photos); the most common is JPEG, but you may also see GIF, TIFF, BMP and others. Each file type has a unique file extension appended to the file name.
Figure 7.11 lists some file types and application programs commonly associated with them. By no means is this comprehensive; there are hundreds of different file types. As stated earlier, common file types can usually be read by more than one program.
|
File type |
File Extension |
Commonly Associated
program |
|
Bit map |
.bmp |
Windows Photo Gallery or
Paint |
|
MS Word document |
.doc |
Microsoft Office Word 2003
or earlier |
|
MS Word Document |
.docx |
Microsoft
Office Word 2007 |
|
Application program |
.exe |
Executable file runs itself |
|
Web Browser Source code |
.htm |
Internet Explorer |
|
JPEG image |
.jpg |
Windows
Photo Gallery |
|
Music File |
.mp3 |
Windows
Media Player |
|
Read only document or form |
.pdf |
Adobe
Acrobat |
|
PowerPoint Presentation |
.ppt |
PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer |
|
Quicken data file |
.qdf |
Quicken |
|
Document in Rich text format |
.rtf |
Microsoft Office Word |
|
Text file |
.txt |
Notepad |
|
MS Works Database |
.wdb |
MS Works Database |
|
Windows Movie |
.wmv |
Windows Media Player |
|
MS Works Word Processor |
.wps |
MS Works Word Processor |
|
Spreadsheet |
.xls |
Microsoft Office Excel |
|
Compressed file |
.zip |
WinZip or Windows |
Figure 7.11 Some common file associations
When you open a file,
When you install a new program on your computer, it may associate itself with a specific file type, overriding the association currently set in your computer. This is particularly common when installing photo editing or graphic programs that can read JPEG files. When you install a new photo viewing or editing application, you may find that double clicking on a JPEG file now launches the new program instead of the program it was associated with prior to installing the new program. This may be your intent, but if it is not, you need to know how to change file type associations.
1 To see the file association table, click Start, click All Programs then click Default Programs found at the top of the All Programs list (you may have to scroll up to see this entry).
A Control panel dialog opens (see Figure 7.12).
Figure 7.12 Default Programs in Control Panel
Note:
This same window is also accessible through the click sequence: Start > Control
Panel > Programs > Default Programs.
2 Click Associate a file type or protocol with a program.
The file association table opens in a window as shown in Figure 7.13. It may take a few seconds to load as it scans the computer for file types.
Figure 7.13 File Association table
3 Watching the name column, scroll down to the .jpg entry and click to select it. The .jpg file extension is appended to JPEG files the type of file that commonly comes out of your digital camera and used to share images.
4 Click the Change Program button. An Open With dialog appears (Figure 7.14).
Figure 7.14 Open With dialog
In the example shown in the above figure, the default program for .jpg files is Windows Photo Gallery (it is highlighted indicating it is the current default). The example shows two other programs that can be set: Microsoft Office Picture Manager and Paint. There may be more programs that can associate with a .jpg image file type on your computer and the default may be set different to the example shown. You need to decide which program you want to open when you double click a JPEG file - that new photo editing program you are just learning or a simple file viewer? and set the file association accordingly.
5 To make a change at home, select the program you want associated with a given file type and click OK. Make sure the box Always use the selected program to open this kind of file is checked so that the change applies to all files of that type.
6 Do not make any changes on the
computer at the
7 Close the Set Associations window by clicking the X in the title bar.
You should now be back at the desktop.
Another way to change file association
1 Click the Start button then click Pictures in the right hand column.
Windows Explorer opens to the Pictures folder; the contents appear in the file list. If there are no files present, open a sub-folder and locate any image in the file list.
2 Place the pointer on the image file in the file list and right-click.
A drop down menu opens (see Figure 7.15).
Figure 7.15 Menu on Right click of file
3 Point to Open With and a fly-out menu appears. This allows you to specify the program to open the file with. If you click one of the program entries, the file opens with that specific program this one time only.
4 Click the Windows Photo Gallery entry.
The image opens in Windows Photo Gallery.
5 Close Windows Photos Gallery by clicking the X in the title bar.
By the same token, any of the listed programs could have been selected to view or edit the file.
6 To permanently choose the default program that is to be associated to this file type, repeat step 3 and then click Choose Default Program.
The Open With dialog opens (see Figure 7.16). This is the same dialog you saw in the previous section.
Figure 7.16 Open With dialog
7 As before, if in the
8 Close any open windows and return to the desktop.
1 Install the Student CD in the DVD/CD tray and close it.
If the Autoplay option is set (which is the default) a dialog will open asking how you want to view or manage the contents of the CD (Figure 7.17 or similar, depending on what programs are on your PC)
Figure 7.17 AutoPlay dialog
2 Click Open folder to view files under General options.
An instance of Windows Explorer opens pointing to the contents of the Student CD (Figure 7.18). Maximize the window.
Figure 7.18 Windows Explorer viewing contents of Student CD
3 Double click the Class Files folder in the files list.
The contents of the Class Files folder appears in the file list.
Note:
if inserting the Student CD did not open the Autoplay dialog, click the
Start button and click Computer to open Windows Explorer. Navigate to the
DVD/CD drive and open the Class Files folder.
4 Click the down arrow to the right of the Views button and set the slider to Details (if not already set there).
See Figure 7.19 for an example of a window in the Details view.
Figure 7.19 Windows Explorer Details View
The file extensions at the end of each file name may not be visible when you select Details in the Views menu. You will now be shown how to display file extensions.
1 Click the Organize button and click Folder and Search Options.
The Folder Options dialog opens (see Figure 7.20).
2 Click the View tab.
3 Scroll down, if necessary, to see if there is a checkmark in the check box next to Hide extensions for known file types. Click in the box to remove the checkmark if there is one there.
Figure 7.20 Folder Options dialog box
4 Click OK to implement the change and close the dialog.
The file names in the files list of Windows Explorer now include file
extensions
5 At home, you may decide to keep this setting. In the learning center, repeat the above steps but this time check the box next to Hide extensions for known file types to return to the default state (file extensions not displayed).
As covered in Lesson Two, certain file properties are displayed in the Details pane. You will now review this.
1 If the Details pane (along the bottom of Windows Explorer) is not open, click the Organize button, point to Layout and click Details Pane.
The Details pane opens.
2 In the file list, single-click any file in the Class Files folder and view the details provided in the Details pane. Information provided includes the file type, file size, date modified or created and more depending on the file type.
3 Click the X on the title bat to close Windows Explorer and return to the desktop.
1 Click the Start button and click Control Panel.
The Control Panel window opens. Under the User Accounts and Family Safety heading, click Add or remove user accounts (Figure 7.21).
Figure 7.21
Note:
you will only be allowed to proceed if you have administrator rights.
2 A User Account Control warning dialog opens. Click Continue.
A new window opens showing the existing user accounts (Figure 7.22).
Figure 7.22 User accounts
1 Click the account you are logged in as.
The window changes to show the selected account (Figure 7.23). A list of possible changes appears on the left. These options give you the ability to change the account name, create a password, change the picture associated with the account and more.
Figure 7.23 Selected user account
2 In the
3 Click the Back button to return to the previous screen.
1 In the User Accounts > Manage Accounts window, click the link: Create a new Account.
A new dialog opens giving you the option to open a Standard user account or an Administrator account (Figure 7.24).
Figure 7.24
2 In the new account name field type seniornet test, leave the radio button at Standard User.
3 Click the Create Account button. A dialog opens showing all accounts including the one you just created: seniornet test (Figure 7.25).
Figure 7.25
4 Click the seniornet test user account icon.
A set of choices is presented to change the account properties. You will soon delete this account but in practice, once a new account is created you can change properties such as adding a password, changing the icon representing the user, change the type of account and more. Do not make any changes at the learning center.
Log off and change user accounts
1 Close the window by clicking the X in the top right of the title bar. Close any other open windows to return to the desktop.
You will now log off your current user account and log back in under the seniornet test account.
2 Click the Start button, click the expand arrow at the very bottom of the right column to see the power options list and click Log Off (Figure 7.26).
Figure 7.26
You are logged off your current user
account and returned to a
3 Click the seniornet test account icon to log in as this user.
You are now logged in as user seniornet test. There are no files
(other than the defaults supplied by
Challenge:
Open the Documents folder and see if there are any files. There should be none
in a brand new user account.
You will now log off this account and return to the normal user account set up on your machine.
4 Click the Start button, click the expand arrow at the very bottom of the right column to see the power options list and click Log Off.
You are logged off the seniornet
test account and returned to the general
5 Click the normal user account icon to log back on.
You will now delete the seniornet test account.
1 Click the Start button and click Control Panel.
2 Under the User Accounts and Family Safety heading, click Add or Remove User accounts.
You will be asked permission to proceed. Click continue.
3 A dialog opens showing all accounts. Click the seniornet test account icon (Figure 7.27).
Figure 7.27 Manage user accounts
A new dialog opens with a list of possible changes you can make to the seniornet test account (Figure 7.28).
Figure 7.28 Changes to user account
4 Click the Delete the account command.
A new dialog opens asking if you want to keep the files in the account (Figure 7.29).
Figure 7.29
In this case, you have not created any files in this account.
5 Click the Delete Files button.
A confirmation is required, click the Delete Account button, and the account is deleted.
Tip:
If you want to practice changing screen settings and personalizing
6 Close any open windows to return to the desktop.
When
You will now learn how to view the startup program list. This can be helpful when troubleshooting system problems under the direction of a knowledgeable support person.
1 Click the Start button, click Control panel, and click the Security heading. A new window opens.
2 Click the Windows Defender heading.
The Windows Defender window opens.
3 Click the Tools icon in the toolbar.
The Windows Defender Tools and Settings Window opens.
Figure 7.30 Tools and Settings Window
4 Click the Software Explorer link.
The Software Explorer window appears.
Figure 7.31 Software Explorer Window
5 The list of Startup programs is presented in the left hand pane. A description of the selected program is provided in the right hand pane.
6 This screen allows you to remove or disable a startup program. But you will not make any changes here nor should you at home without knowledge of what you are doing or under the direction of someone who does.
7 Click the X on the title bar to close this window.
1 Click the X on the title bars to close any remaining windows that are open.
2 Eject the Student CD from the DVD/CD tray.
1 Click the Start button and bring the pointer to the power option button 
.
A fly out menu appears with the various power options.
2 Click Shut Down to fully power-off the computer.
In this lesson you have learned:
· the properties of the Sidebar
· how to add remove and adjust Gadgets
· about File types and file associations
· how to add, remove and personalize User accounts.
In the next lesson you will learn how to maintain your computer.
Notes: