Introduction 1 About This Book 1 And Just Who Are You? 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: This Laptop Thing 5 Chapter 1: The Portable Computing Quest 7 The History of Portable Computing 7 The Xerox Dynabook 9 The Osborne 1 9 The loveable luggables 9 The Model 100 10 The lunch buckets 13 Dawn of the PC laptop 13 The search for light 15 Modern Laptops 17 The notebook 17 The subnotebook 18 The tablet PC 18 Chapter 2: A Laptop of Your Own 21 Do You Need a Laptop? 21 Why you need a laptop 22 Why you don''t need a laptop 23 Laptop Shopping 23 Things to ignore when buying a laptop 24 Things to heed when buying a laptop 24 Software for Your Laptop 25 The operating system 25 Other software 26 Laptop Hardware Buying Decisions 26 Important laptop hardware guts 26 Communications options 28 The green laptop 28 Service, Support, and Warranty 29 The Final Step: Buying Your Laptop 30 Part 2: Say Hello to Your Laptop 31 Chapter 3: From Laptop Box to Lap 33 Laptop Box 101 33 Removing the laptop from the box 34 "How long should I keep the box?" 36 Submitting the warranty 36 Set Up Your Laptop 36 Finding a place for the laptop 37 Charging the battery 38 "Should I plug the laptop into a UPS?" 39 Bye-Bye, Old Laptop 40 Deciding when to retire an old laptop 40 Disposing of the old laptop 40 What to Do Next 41 Chapter 4: To Turn On a Laptop 43 Turn On Your Laptop 43 Step 1: Open the lid 44 Step 2: Adjust the lid for optimal viewing 45 Step 3: Locate the power button 45 Step 4: Punch the power button 46 It''s Windows! 47 Running Windows for the first time 48 Activating Windows 49 Signing in to Windows 49 What''s Next? 51 Migrating your files 51 Reinstalling your programs 53 Adding other accounts 54 Chapter 5: To Turn Off a Laptop 55 End Your Laptop Day 55 Keeping the laptop on all the time 56 Finding the shutdown options 56 Shutting down your laptop 58 Restarting Windows 59 Putting Mr Laptop to sleep 60 Hibernating the laptop 61 Locking Windows 62 Signing out of Windows 62 Switching to another user 63 Shutting down when the laptop doesn''t want to 63 Shutdown Options and Configuration 63 Setting the power button''s function 63 Determining what happens when you shut the lid 65 Activating hibernation 66 Chapter 6: Traditional Laptop Tour 67 Around Your Laptop 67 Locating removable storage slots 68 Attaching the laptop to something sturdy 69 Keeping the air circulating 69 Discovering the webcam 69 The Pluggable-Innable Holes 70 Look at the Pretty Lights! 71 This Isn''t Your Daddy''s Keyboard 73 Exploring the keyboard layout 73 Finding the secret numeric keypad 74 Having fun with the Fn key 75 This Isn''t Your Momma''s Mouse 76 Using a touchpad 77 Obtaining a real mouse 78 Chapter 7: The Tablet PC Tour 81 Tablet PC Types 82 The Tablet PC Tour 83 The Pen Is Mightier than the Mouse 85 Introducing the digital pen 85 Using the pen as a mouse 87 Touchscreen Text Typing 88 Summoning the touch keyboard 88 Exploring the touch keyboard varieties 88 Typing control-key combinations 91 Scribbling text on the screen 91 Windows Does the Tablet PC 92 Special Tablet PC Software 94 Chapter 8: Your Laptop and Windows 95 The Big Windows Picture 95 Viewing the desktop 96 Exploring the Start button menu 97 Working on the taskbar 98 Visiting with the Action Center 100 Using the supersecret shortcut menu 101 Shouting at Cortana 101 Windows and Your Stuff 101 Exploring your laptop''s storage 101 Accessing your User Profile folder 103 Finding programs 104 Settings and Options 105 Opening the Settings app 105 Visiting the Control Panel 106 Using the Quick Settings 107 Accessing the Windows Mobility Center 108 Part 3: Out and About With Mr Laptop 109 Chapter 9: You and Your Laptop 111 User Accounts 111 Accessing your user account info 112 Eschewing an online account 112 Setting an account PIN 114 Changing your user account picture 115 Adding online accounts 116 The Perfect Display 117 Setting the display resolution 117 Changing the desktop wallpaper 117 Adding a screen saver 118 Setting the display orientation 119 Adjusting screen brightness 120 Removable Storage 120 Adding storage 121 Using the AutoPlay notification 121 Controlling AutoPlay settings 122 Ejecting media and storage devices 123 The Software Side 124 Adding new software 124 Removing software 125 Chapter 10: Portable Power 127 The Battery Will Get a Charge Out of This! 127 Using the battery (or not) 128 Locating the laptop''s battery 128 Monitoring the battery 130 Charging the battery 131 Using a second battery 131 Replacing the battery 132 When the Power Gets Low 132 Setting low-battery warnings 132 Using the Battery Saver 134 Reviewing the power management plan 136 Chapter 11: The Printing Chapter 137 The Great Printer Hunt 137 Finding printers in Windows 137 Connecting a printer directly to your laptop 139 Adding a network or wireless printer 140 "What is the default printer?" 141 Something Needs Printing 142 Printing a document 142 Stopping a printer run amok 144 Printing when you don''t have a printer 145 Printing a PDF document 145 A Portable Printer for Your Laptop 146 Chapter 12: Expanding Your Laptop''s Universe 149 USB Expansion Options 149 Understanding the USB thing 150 Attaching and removing a USB gizmo 151 Dealing with USB-powered devices 152 Using a USB hub 153 Perusing potential USB goodies 154 The Bluetooth Thing 155 Checking for Bluetooth 155 Pairing with a Bluetooth gizmo 156 The Laptop Becomes a Desktop 157 Using a full-size keyboard and mouse 158 Adding a monitor 158 Running the laptop with its lid closed 159 Chapter 13: O the Places You''ll Go 161 In the Bag 162 Features to look for 162 Things to pack in your laptop bag 163 Things to do before you leave 164 Flying with Mr Laptop 164 Is your laptop case one carry-on bag or half a carry-on bag? 164 Laptop inspection 165 All aboard! 165 Airplane mode 166 Air power 167 In-flight Wi-Fi 167 Café Computing 168 Find a good seat 168 Other tips ''n'' stuff 169 In a Hotel Room 169 Mind the Laptop''s Temperature 170 Chapter 14: Presentation Information 171 The Show Must Go On 171 Giving the dog-and-pony show 171 Setting up your presentation 173 Printing out a slide show 175 To Create a Better Slide Show 176 Starting your presentation 176 Driving home your point 177 Building a better presentation 178 Keeping your audience awake 178 Selling a presentation 179 Chapter 15: A Laptop at Play 181 The Laptop Media Player 181 Exploring Windows Media Player 181 Running the Photos app 183 Using the Groove Music app 184 Expand the Laptop''s Media Universe 185 Ripping music from a CD 186 Uploading pictures and videos from a phone or camera 187 Taking a picture 189 Media Sharing 190 Copying media to your OneDrive 190 Adding media from your OneDrive 191 Connecting to a network media player 192 Sharing your laptop''s media 193 Laptop Phone Calls 194 eBooks on Your Laptop 195 Part 4: Laptop Networking 197 Chapter 16: The Networking Thing 199 The Big Networking Picture 199 Make the Network Connection 202 Connecting the laptop to a wired network 203 Accessing a Wi-Fi network 203 Connecting to a hidden Wi-Fi network 205 Tethering to a smartphone 206 Break the Network Connection 207 Disconnecting from a wired network 207 Releasing the Wi-Fi connection 207 Chapter 17: Network Life in Laptop Land 209 Network Configuration 209 Locating network central 209 Setting the network security 211 Controlling the Wi-Fi radio 212 Forgetting a Wi-Fi connection 213 Getting the laptop''s MAC address 214 Your Laptop, Windows, and the Network 215 Setting your laptop''s network name 215 Exploring the network 217 Checking the sharing status 219 Sharing a folder 219 Chapter 18: Your Files from Afar 223 Files from Here to There 223 Walking files between computers 223 Using octopus net to connect computers 224 Quickly transferring files over Ethernet 225 Using the Windows Sync Center.