Windows Basics:
Help - Demos

Step-by-Step:  Help Demos- Vista

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What you will learn:

to use Windows Search to find a program to view multimedia demonstrations to review basic skills and information

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To work with Help in Win98, skip to Win98 Help.
To work with Help in WinXP, skip to WinXP Help

Start with: with Taskbar showing.

Use Windows Vista Search: Start Menu

The Welcome Center opens by default whenever you start the computer. It has a hidden link directly to the demonstration videos. So how do you open the Welcome Center once you've closed it or stopped it from opening automatically??

We could search in Help for the demos, using the skills you learned in the last lesson. Instead we are going to use a different search feature to find the Welcome Center program.

Windows Vista Search can help you find programs and documents on your computer. It looks only in certain locations by default. That's a good thing! You don't want it to waste time looking in useless locations!

Windows Search is not the same as the Search Help feature from the previous lesson. Windows Search does NOT include Help articles in its results. So you cannot use it to search directly for the demos.

Windows Search is at the bottom of the Start menu and at the top right of many Vista windows, but not in an application window. From the Start menu you can look for programs and files. From a window, you can search only for files.

1. Click the Start menu button. The menu opens with the Search box ready for your typing already.
    
2. Type the letters we, which are the start of "Welcome Center". Notice as you type each letter how the list above changes. This is cool!!
    
   The results are grouped. Programs comes first.
   The results have names that either start with your letters or that have words within their names that start with those letters.
    
   More Search results: At the bottom of the list is a link See all results which opens a window that displays ALL of the search results. These results include items that have your letters anywhere within them, including text inside a document.
   
    
3. While the Welcome Center item is highlighted, press the ENTER key.
   The Welcome Center window opens.

   

   Stop 'Run at startup': Once you have learned your way around your computer, you may want to stop this window from showing up whenever the computer starts. Just uncheck the box at the bottom left. When you want to see the Welcome Center again, look in the Control Panel under System and Maintenance or, just to search (which is easier, don't you think??).
    

4. Click on the link Show all 14 items.
   The list of icons expands. Some of these new topics are quite useful!
    
5. Click on Windows Vista Demos.
   You may not notice what changed! The top of the window now gives you details about this item. A link to open it appears at the upper right. Did you expect this behavior??

   
    

6. Click the link Open Windows Vista Demos at the top
          OR
   Double-click the icon for Windows Vista Demos that you clicked before.
   A Help window opens with a list of demonstration videos.

   

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View Demo: Windows Media Player

We won't discuss all of the features of Windows Media Player, just enough for you to manage playing the demos.

1. Click on the link Demos: Desktop basics
   A page opens with links  to the video and to a transcript of the video. 

   

2. Click on the link to the transcript and read through it.
    
3. Return to the previous page by using the Back button.
    
4. Click on the link Watch the demo.
   A window opens for Windows Media Player. The demo starts immediately. These demos only last a few minutes each, but the player does not tell you how long they are.

   

   Across the bottom are the control buttons for Windows Media Player. These are similar in most media players.

   

   The button in the middle will show either the Play button (arrow) or the Pause button (two vertical lines). Just click on the button to toggle betweent the two.

   The name of the file that is playing shows at the bottom left of the window and also in the pane at the right. The name of the file may or may not match the title in the main player screen that you see as the video starts to play! 

5. Watch the Desktop Basics video, which includes an explanation of gadgets and the Windows Sidebar.
    
   Did you like learning from the video better or reading the transcript?
   What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?
   Do you prefer a lesson with step-by-step directions or one that just describes the possibilities?
    
6. Switch back to the Help window for Desktop Basics by clicking on its button on the Task bar
    
7. Click the Back button to return to the list of demos.
    
8. Watch some other demos.
    
9. When you are done, close the Windows Media Player, the Help window, and the Welcome Center.