one of these promising-looking buttons (“Back up your files”? Hey, yeah!) doesn’t actually do anything except change the billboard in the top part of the window. You have to double-click to open up the control panel or program you need to make changes. Figure 1-1: Getting Started offers links to various useful corners of the operating system. Most are designed to help you set up a new PC. (Click once to read a description, and then double-click to open the link.)
Here are a few highlights: •• Go online to find out what’s new in Windows 7. Sure enough: Takes you to a Web page describing the new features. •• Use a homegroup to share with other computers in your home. One of Microsoft’s most important promises is that it’s finally simple to set up a home network if you have more than one PC. By all means, double-click here to get started, but have Chapter 26 in front of you. •• Back up your files. Fires up the Backup and Restore Center, which is described on page 688. •• Personalize Windows. Sure, sure, eventually you’ll be plotting rocket trajectories and mapping the genome—but let’s not kid ourselves. The first order of business is decorating: choosing your screen saver, replacing the desktop background (wallpaper), choosing a different cursor shape, adjusting your monitor resolution, and so on. Double-click here to open the appropriate control panel. •• Choose when to be notified about changes to your computer. Windows 7 has tamed one of Vista’s most ornery features: User Account Control (otherwise known as “the infuriating nag box that pops up every time I make a change, asking, ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Are you sure?’ ”). However, UAC still gets in your face from time to time. Doubleclick here to open the User Account Control settings so you can tone it down.
22
windows 7: the missing manual