If you're a Windows 3.1 expert, you can probably boot Windows 95 and begin using it without any further assistance. "Different, better, and still the same" best describes how Windows 95 compares to Windows 3.1. Despite the similarities, you should know ahead of time about some major Windows 95 differences so that you can use Windows 95 the way it was designed to be used.
Throughout this book, you'll find Windows 3.1 Step-Up sections. These sections were written with you, a current Windows 3.1 user, in mind. This appendix will serve to give you a quick overview of the major changes you will face when you move from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. Think of this appendix as an overview that provides you with the big picture, whereas the rest of the book explains Windows 95's details.
TIME SAVER: Glance through this appendix to get a feel for Windows 95. Once you've completed this appendix, you will have seen a few of the ways Microsoft improved upon the Windows 3.1 paradigm.
So much of Windows 3.1's technical nature is gone in Windows 95. For example, you have perhaps tinkered with .INI files when you installed or changed or deleted programs on your disk. Windows 95 still recognizes .INI entries but uses the Windows 95 registry to hold true Windows 95 information. The registry is a vast database that includes both hardware and software. Every time you install a Windows 95 program, the installation procedure updates your registry.
The registry modifications are much more automatic than some of the .INI file modifications that used to be common. Rarely, if ever, will you have to change your registry. Most registry changes occur automatically as you modify your system's hardware and software.
In addition, Windows 95 needs no AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. Although Windows 95 will respect these files when needed (such as when older legacy hardware's device drivers need real address space that Windows 95 will not easily give up), it does not need these files. In addition, only Windows 95's MS-DOS windows will look at the contents of your system files.
JUST A MINUTE:: As you progress through this book, keep in mind that Windows 95 is a complete operating system. Older Windows versions resided on top of MS-DOS, but Windows 95 includes MS-DOS.
TIME SAVER: Although Windows 95 eliminates many of the reboots that were so necessary under Windows 3.1, Windows 95 respects your reboot requests more easily. Windows 95 completely freezes up much less and you can often reboot a single program (and not your entire computer system) when a program crashes.
The single most important Windows 95 feature is the taskbar. Windows 3.1 did not
have a similar feature. Figure B.1 shows a sample taskbar. The taskbar resides at
the bottom of your screen as you work with Windows 95 programs. If you want to switch
to another running program, simply click that program's icon on the taskbar. The
taskbar acts like a jukebox for programs from which you can select whatever program
you want to activate next.
Figure B.1.
The taskbar lets you quickly switch between running programs.
When you start an application, Windows 95 adds that application's icon and command
button to the taskbar. When you close an application's window, Windows 95 removes
the program from the taskbar.
JUST A MINUTE::You can still switch between running programs using the Alt+Tab keystroke.
Windows 95 gives you all kinds of ways to modify the behavior, size, shape, and location of the taskbar. Part I of this book explains the taskbar in detail.
Windows 95 includes updated versions of both File Manager and Program Manager. There is absolutely no reason to start either program! As a matter of fact, run, don't walk, to your nearest computer and delete these programs from the disk drive!
The taskbar, described in the previous section, includes the Start button at the
left of the taskbar. When you click the Start button, Windows 95 displays a pop-up
Start menu. The Start menu's Programs command displays yet another menu. The
Start menu continues to cascade as shown in Figure B.2. These cascaded menus supplant
the program groups used by Program Manager. For example, if you want to start the
Windows 95 Paint program, you would follow these steps to produce the menu shown
in Figure B.2:
Figure B.2.
The cascading menus make program selection easy.
If you've used the Windows 3.1 File Manager, you'll have to agree with the observation that File Manager is sluggish, awkward, slow, and hard to learn well. (Other than that, File Manager's a great program!) Microsoft does offer an updated version of File Manager in Windows 95, but Microsoft also offers a brand new utility program named Explorer that completely replaces File Manager and makes File Manager completely obsolete.
Instead of opening a single window for each disk drive, Explorer opens a window for your entire computer. Windows 95 does not focus on disk drives because you don't focus on disk drives. You don't work on a bunch of disk drives; you work on a computer. Explorer attempts to be a computer manager that includes not only your disks and files, but also your CD-ROM drive, printers, and even hardware devices such as modems.
Figure B.3 displays the Explorer screen. The computer system used in Figure B.3
is a relatively simple computer with a single hard disk and floppy disk. In the right-hand
window, you'll see a scrolling list showing the drive C's top-level file folders
(the name Windows 95 uses for subdirectories). If you want to copy a file from drive
C to A, you only need to drag the file from the right-hand window to the A: icon
in the left-hand window. Using Windows 3.1's File Manager, you would have to open
two windows for the two selected drives before dragging the file.
Figure B.3.
The entire computer system appears in the left-hand Explorer window.
If you want to print a file, you can double-click over the Printer icon in the left-hand
window to open a printer folder and then drag the file from drive C to a printer
icon. Virtually everything you do inside the Explorer utility program is visual and
more intuitive than an equivalent task inside Windows 3.1's File Manager.
CAUTION: Don't initially use Windows 95's File Manager and Program Manager thinking that you will convert to the Windows 95 equivalents later, once you've become accustomed to the new environment. The best way to learn the Windows 95 environment is to use the taskbar and Explorer.
Hour 6, "Explore the Windows 95 System," explains in detail how to use Explorer.
Windows 3.1 followed the long-standing MS-DOS tradition of requiring that filenames consist of one to eight characters followed by a one to three letter extension. All of the following names are valid under Windows 3.1:
ACCTG.DAT REPORT1.DOC APRSALES.TXT LETRBOB.DOC
The 8.3 limitation doesn't appear too constricting does it? After all, you can probably figure out what these files contain from their names.
Windows 95 lets you give names to files that contain from 1 to 255 characters. All of the following are valid filenames as well:
Accounting data for the Nevada division Report for the First National Bank Building Fiscal Quarter 1997 April sales data for the Marketing Department Letter for Robert Barkley regarding his home purchase
Which group of filenames, the first group that follows the 8.3 rule or the second group of filenames, provides the most information? Obviously, the longer filenames are superior and let you describe exactly what a file contains.
JUST A MINUTE:: Windows 95 creates an internal table for the long filenames and also stores all files using the regular 8.3 rule as well. While inside Windows 95, you can refer to the file's long filename. If you copy the file to another computer and that computer does not contain Windows 95, the file will go to that computer with an abbreviated filename that follows the standard 8.3 convention.
Have you ever created a file and forgot the filename? Windows 95 contains a Find option on the Start menu that searches your computer for a file that matches a certain filename pattern (using wildcards), a specific modification and creation date, and even searches every file's contents for a word or phrase that you know is in the file.
JUST A MINUTE:: Not only does Windows 95 search one disk, but it will also search all your computer's storage devices, including CD-ROMs and the floppy disk drives, if you want the search to extend across all storage devices.
Hour 6 explains how to use the Windows 95 Find command.
Windows 3.1 supported MS-DOS applications fairly well. Windows 95 supports MS-DOS applications extremely well. Most of the MS-DOS games and programs that brought Windows 3.1 to its knees, now run flawlessly under Windows 95. Windows 95 provides more free memory for MS-DOS programs and lets you open several MS-DOS sessions at once.
One of the most important new MS-DOS support features in Windows 95 is the toolbar
that appears at the top of MS-DOS windows. Figure B.4 shows an MS-DOS window with
a toolbar. The toolbar provides advanced support for copying and pasting data to
and from Windows 95 programs. Also, you can resize the MS-DOS window, change the
MS-DOS properties, and change the font style and size used for text inside the MS-DOS
window.
Figure B.4.
The MS-DOS window contains a toolbar.
Hour 14, "Activate DOS-Based Applications," explains how to use the Windows
95 MS-DOS support features.
Microsoft completely rewrote the Help search engines. You can now search most help topics using a book and chapter approach. Help topics are organized into major categories (the books), broken down into sub-categories (the chapters), and then divided into individual screens that describe specific help topics (the pages of the chapters).
Most of the Help windows are smaller than their Windows 3.1 counterparts. Figure B.5 shows one such sample Help window. The topics are more organized and compact, so that you can focus on the subject you want help with.
In addition to being more focused, many of the Help windows contain hyperlinks
(connections to other areas of Windows 95) that you can click to perform actions.
For example, if you were to click the button towards the top of Figure B.5's Help
window text, the Help engine would immediately take you to a window where you could
change the background wallpaper graphic on the desktop.
Figure B.5.
The new Help windows offer better organization and hyperlink connections.
Windows 95 introduces the Plug and Play feature that lets you plug new devices into your computer without having to set hardware switches or determine appropriate interrupt settings (an interrupt signal that the computer receives to know that a device is active). Not all devices that you attempt to plug into your computer will be Plug-and-Play compatible, but almost all new devices made after the introduction of Windows 95 will support some or all of the Plug-and-Play standard.
Windows 95 continually scans your computer's hardware looking for changes in the hardware's configuration. Upon boot-up, Windows 95 will be able to detect whether or not you've installed a new hardware device. If you have, Windows 95 will automatically configure that device, make appropriate Windows 95 arrangements to control that device, and start Windows 95 without your intervention in the process.
JUST A MINUTE:: If you use a laptop that supports PCMCIA cards, you usually do not even have to power-off your computer to plug new PCMCIA cards into their slots.
If you do need to install hardware that is not Plug-and-Play compatible, Windows 95 does provide a hardware installation script (called a wizard) that walks you through the installation process and assists with hardware and software interface settings.
Hour 22, "Hardware: Big and Small," explains how to use the Windows 95 Plug-and-Play feature.
Windows 95 provides two new windows: the My Computer window and the Control
Panel window. These windows are shown in Figure B.6. The My Computer window gives
you an interface to your hardware devices. You can look at files on a disk drive
by clicking that drive. If you have a CD-ROM, you can view its settings by clicking
on the CD-ROM drive icon. You can change the ways your printers behave, and you can
change printer drivers if you need to.
Figure B.6. The new My
Computer and Control Panel windows.
JUST A MINUTE:: Notice that the My Computer window contains an icon labeled Control Panel. The Control Panel is accessible from both the Start menu under Settings and from the My Computer window. Several areas of Windows 95 are accessible from one of several places. When you need something, Windows 95 usually gives you a way to get to what you want.
The Control Panel provides the functionality of the Windows 3.1 Control Panel. You can access font information, change mouse and keyboard settings, add new software, and change the Windows 95 setup.
Hour 2, "Tour Windows 95 Now," discusses Control Panel windows, and Hour 3, "Understanding the My Computer Window," explains how to manage the Windows 95 My Computer.
This appendix only touches the surface of the new features of Windows 95. Now that you've seen an overview of the improvements that Windows 95 provides over Windows 3.1, perhaps you are more ready to tackle your new Windows 95 environment.
The best way to get acquainted with Windows 95 is, as with any new software, to try Windows 95 for yourself. Take Windows 95 on a test drive, open some windows, start utility programs, and play some games. There are several subtle, as well as drastic changes, that you will probably like. While you're testing Windows 95, take a moment to try these things:
What are you waiting for? Go have fun!
