McGraw-Hill Tablet PC User Manual

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Bill Mann

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HowTo8 (8) / How to Do Everything with Your Tablet PC / Mann / 222771-0 / Front Matter

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DOI: 10.1036/0072230478

ebook_copyright 7.5x9.qxd 7/8/03 8:44 AM Page 1

This book is for Patti and Jenn, who once again put up

with the crazy hours and endless evenings at the keyboard I

put in to get this project done. You two are great. In addition,

this book is dedicated to the newest member of our household,

Lightning the kitten, for her clear love for my Tablet PC and

the many “paragraphs” she typed into the manuscript when

I wasn’t looking.

HowTo8 (8) / How to Do Everything with Your Tablet PC / Mann / 222771-0 / Front Matter

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About the Author

Bill Mann (Bedford, NH) is the author of more than a dozen books, plus numerous
technology articles for publications including Internet World, TECH Edge, Palm
Power, and Computer Bits. Bill’s past projects for McGraw-Hill/Osborne include I

Want My MP3! How to Download, Rip, & Play Digital Music and Genealogy Online
Special America Online Edition. He specializes in mobile and wireless gadgets, and

has written about most of the major handheld and wireless devices available in the
U.S. When not writing, Bill spends his time with his family and plays far too many
computer games.

About the Technical Editor

Chris De Herrera is webmaster of Tablet PC Talk (http://www.tabletpctalk.com),
a leading resource on Tablet PC news. His website, CEWindows.NET
(http://www.cewindows.net), assists users of Pocket PCs and Windows CE
devices. He has been recognized for the past five years as a Microsoft Most
Valuable Professional for Mobile Devices, which include the Pocket PC and
SmartPhone. You can contact Chris at [e-mail].

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Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

PART I

Get Acquainted with Your Tablet PC

CHAPTER 1 Meet Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Examine Your Tablet PC Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Turn Your Tablet PC On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Use the Pen to Control Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Work with the Windows Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Examine the Items on the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Find Your Way Around Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Learn About the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Learn About the Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CHAPTER 2

Explore Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Take Notes with Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Enter Text with the Pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Change the Screen Orientation for Comfort and Usability . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Post a Handwritten Reminder on the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Draw Pictures on the Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Try Out the Enhanced Microsoft Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Play a Game on Your Tablet PC Using the Pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

PART II

Set Up Your Tablet PC

CHAPTER 3 Configure the Tablet PC for Your Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Import Your Old Files and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Decide How You Will Transfer Your Files and Settings . . . . . . . . 32

Put the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to Work . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Configure the Windows Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Configure Accessibility Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Configure Language and Regional Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Configure the Windows Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Customize the Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Configure the Start Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Change Folder Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Configure the Explorer Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Configure Your Tablet PC Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Configure the Tablet and Pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Configure the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Configure the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Configure Your Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

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CHAPTER 4 Use Windows XP Tablet PC Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Create and Manage User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Modify Existing Accounts and Create New Ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Add Password Protection for User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Easily Share Your Tablet PC with Fast User Switching . . . . . . . . 70

Manage Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Understand File and Folder Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Manage Your Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Manage Your Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Manage Programs and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Get Your CD-ROM Drive Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Install Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Install Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Remove Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Remove Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Find Stuff with the Search Companion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Search for Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Use More Advanced Search Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Work with the Recycle Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

CHAPTER 5

Manage Your Tablet PC Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Install and Remove Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Install Plug-and-Play Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Install Non-Plug-and-Play Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Remove Plug-and-Play Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Remove Non-Plug-and-Play Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Manage Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Manage Sound, Speech, and Audio Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Manage Printers and Other Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Use Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Check the Status of Your Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Update Hardware Device Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Set Up Hardware Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

CHAPTER 6

Connect to Peripheral Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Choose Between Peripheral Formats and Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Choose Between Firewire and USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Choose Among External, PC Card, or CompactFlash Peripherals . . 109

Connect to Printers and Faxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Work with Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Work with Faxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Connect to Scanners and Digital Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Work with Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Work with Digital Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Connect to Other Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

CHAPTER 7

Set Up an Internet Connection for Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Install and Configure Dial-Up Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Configure Your Dial-Up Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Create and Use Dialing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

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Install and Configure Broadband Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Understand the Types of Broadband Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Install Your Broadband Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Configure Your Broadband Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Connect to the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Use the Internet Applications Installed on Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Explore Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Explore Outlook Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Work with Windows Messenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Use Remote Desktop to Control Another Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 156

CHAPTER 8

Use Your Tablet PC on a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Use Your Tablet PC on a Corporate Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Make the Physical Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Make the Logical Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Check the Status of a Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Connect to the Internet Across the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Use Your Tablet PC on a Home Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Make Network Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Build a Simple Home Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Figure Out What Hardware You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Buy and Install the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Connect the Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Run the Network Setup Wizard on Each Computer . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Troubleshoot Network Adapter Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

CHAPTER 9

Go Wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Understand Wireless Networking Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

What’s the Big Deal about Wireless? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Get the Terminology Straight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

What about Security? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Other Things to Know about Wireless Networking . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Connect Your Tablet PC to an Existing Wireless Network . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Build a Simple Wireless Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Decide How You Will Handle Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Figure Out What Hardware You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Buy and Install the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

PART III

Put Your Tablet PC to Work

CHAPTER 10 Understand Handwritten Input on the Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Understand Handwritten Input Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Understand Tablet PC Digital Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Learn Why Digital Ink Looks So Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Understand Characteristics of Digital Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Understand Tablet PC Handwriting Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Understand Gestures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Learn How to Get Better Handwriting Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . 215

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CHAPTER 11 Take Advantage of Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Explore the Accessories Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

The Accessibility Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

The Communications Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

The Entertainment Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

The System Tools Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Other Common Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Try the Snipping Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

CHAPTER 12

Get the Most from Those Multimedia Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Use Windows Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Upgrade to Media Player 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Start Using the Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Play Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

View a Video Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Listen to an Internet Radio Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Stock Your Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Play Content from Your Media Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Learn to Skin Your Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Try These Media Player 9 Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Take a Quick Look at Windows Movie Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

An Introduction to Windows Movie Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Should You Upgrade to Movie Maker 2? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Sketch, Annotate, Draw, and Collaborate with Corel Grafigo . . . . . . . . . 263

Make Your Tablet PC a Digital Sketchbook with Alias SketchBook . . . . 264

CHAPTER 13

Use Journal and Other Cool Tablet PC Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Take Advantage of Windows Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Learn All the Journal Fundamentals with the Journal Tutorial . . . 268

Explore Some Advanced Journal Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Apply These Tips to Work More Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Use the Tablet PC Input Panel for Pen Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Explore the Different Pen Input Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Experiment with Write Anywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Customize the Input Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Make Corrections to Your Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Try These Input Panel Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Read Your Favorite Magazines on Your Tablet PC with Zinio Reader . . . 280

Explore the World of eBooks with the Enhanced Microsoft Reader . . . . . 281

Configure the Tablet PC Buttons to Work with

Microsoft Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Download Free eBooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Activate Microsoft Reader and Shop for eBooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Experience Mobile Collaboration with Groove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Enhance Your Productivity with FranklinCovey TabletPlanner . . . . . . . . 291

Stay in Sync with Corporate Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Tie All Your Information Together with eBinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

View a Demo and Download a Trial Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Try Your Hand at These Tablet PC Power Toys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Thumbnail View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Tablet Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

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Puzzle Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Tic Tac Toe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

CHAPTER 14

Extend Office XP with the Tablet Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Download and Install the Office XP Pack for Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Uninstall the Tablet Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Repair Your Tablet Pack Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Use Handwriting in Word Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Add Handwritten Content in an Ink Drawing and

Writing Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Add Handwritten Comments with the Ink

Comment Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Use Handwriting in E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Use Handwriting in Excel Spreadsheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Use Handwriting in PowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Add Ink While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Add Ink While Presenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Take Advantage of the Tablet Pack Extension for Windows Journal . . . . 320

Use Journal Information in Outlook XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Insert Outlook Meeting Information into a Journal Note . . . . . . . 321

CHAPTER 15

Talk to Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Understand Speech Recognition Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Check Out This Speech Recognition Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Learn a Little about How Speech Recognition Works . . . . . . . . . 329

Discover the Types of Speech Recognition Systems . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Use Tablet PC Speech Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Train the Speech Recognizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Run the Speech Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Start Using Speech Recognition in Your Daily Work . . . . . . . . . . 334

Use These Tips for Speech Recognition in Specific Applications . . . . . . 337

Speak to Microsoft Office Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Speak to Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Speak to Windows Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Try These General Speech Recognition Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Try These Advanced Speech Recognition Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

PART IV

Fix What Ails Your Tablet PC

CHAPTER 16 Prevent Problems with Regular Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Maintain Your Tablet PC Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Maintain Your Disk Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Detect and Deal with Disk Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Defragment Your Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Free Disk Space with Disk Cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Schedule Maintenance Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Maintain Optimum Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Add Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Tune Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Adjust Processor and Memory Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Resize the Paging File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

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CHAPTER 17 Back Up Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Understand Your Tablet PC Backup Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Use Backup to Protect Your System and Personal Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Let the Backup or Restore Wizard Do the Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Use Automated System Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Use the Advanced Backup Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Use System Restore to Quickly Recover from Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Configure System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Create a Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Return the System to a Previous Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Undo the Return to a Previous Restore Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Prepare Your Tablet PC for Possible Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Prepare a System Recovery Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Configure Startup and Recovery Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Consider Using a Portable Automatic Backup System . . . . . . . . . 386

CHAPTER 18

Use the Tablet PC’s Tools to Solve Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Get Familiar with the Help and Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Get Right to It with the Fixing a Problem Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Run Dr. Watson When Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Use Windows Update to Fix Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Solve Problems with the Troubleshooters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Get Your Old Programs to Run on Your Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Use Other Tools for Diagnosing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Investigate Problems with System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Solve Specific Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Office XP Pack for Tablet PC Security Warning Appears

in Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Terminate Hung Programs with Windows Task Manager . . . . . . . . 403

Do a Reset to Recover from a Hung Tablet PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Make the Tablet Buttons Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Identify and Deal with Resource Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Repair Windows Problems with the Windows XP Setup Wizard . 409

Get Help with Remote Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Prepare Your Computer to Receive Remote Assistance . . . . . . . . 412

Request Remote Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Participate in the Remote Assistance Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

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Acknowledgments

I want to thank everyone at McGraw-Hill/Osborne who was involved in this
project, in particular Megg, Jenn, Carolyn, and Tana. It was a pleasure to work
with you, and I hope to do so again. In owe Tina a big thank you for getting me
the hardware I needed to do the project, and Chris the same for this tech editing.
Margot, thanks for handling this and all my other book projects. Last, but certainly
not least, my sincere thanks to all the folks who provided me with the information
(and the cool toys!) I needed to do the job.

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Introduction

The Tablet PCs are finally here. We’ve been hearing about them for years—small,
light, capable machines that you can write on as if they were a pad of paper or
a personal digital assistant. These three-pound powerhouses run a version of
Windows XP, so you can use them like high-end notebook computers and run all
your favorite applications. But you can also use them like virtually endless digital
notebooks or sketchbooks, entering information with a digital pen in environments
where a desktop or notebook computer just won’t cut it. You can even talk to them.

People have built tablet computers before. Some were ill-conceived, some
were underpowered, most were just ahead of their time. Even so, tablet computers
have found some niches where their unique characteristics have made them the
computer of choice. Now Microsoft and its partners have built the first Tablet PCs
that provide real benefits for general users like you and me.

Tablet PCs stake out a unique place in the market. They give you much of the
convenience of a personal digital assistant (PDA) like the Palm or Pocket PC
devices, but have the power to do real work. And with pen and voice for input,
you don’t have to do that work by sitting down and typing somewhere. If you need
to be able to take serious processing power with you wherever you go, or if you
spend a lot of time taking notes in meetings (where regular notebook computers
and the tappety-tap of their keyboards have become unwelcome), the Tablet PC
may be exactly what you need.

This book is meant to be your guide to the new breed of Tablet PC. This isn’t
some encyclopedic reference guide that covers every possible aspect of using a
Tablet PC. Instead, it is designed to be your guide to the things that you’ll need
to know to set up, use, and maintain your new machine. Beyond that, this book
introduces many of the new applications designed to take advantage of the
capabilities of the Tablet PC. I think you’ll find that this book tells you how to
do everything you’re likely to do with your machine.

I’ve divided the book into four parts. In Part I, “Get Acquainted with Your
Tablet PC,” you’ll do exactly that. We start at the very beginning, by examining
your Tablet PC and figuring out how to start it up, using the pen in lieu of a mouse,
and navigating around the user interface. Once you have the bare basics down, we
get down to work with a whirlwind tour of some of the unique benefits of the
Tablet PC. But this is no lecture—we fire up applications like Windows Journal,
the Tablet PC Input Panel, even a game. You get to experience for yourself some
of what makes the Tablet PC special.

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In Part II, “Set Up Your Tablet PC,” we’ll get into the nitty-gritty aspects of
owning and using a Tablet PC. By the end of this section, you’ll be able to
configure your software and manage your hardware, and generally set up your
shiny new Tablet PC to work the way you want it to. You’ll also be able to get
your Tablet PC connected to wired and wireless networks, as well as the Internet.
Imagine yourself sitting in a meeting with wireless access to the company
network, all on a machine scarcely much bigger or heavier than this book. Even
better, imagine yourself surfing the Web on your Tablet PC while sipping a glass
of wine in front of the fireplace.

In Part III, “Put Your Tablet PC to Work,” you’ll get to roll up your sleeves
and put your machine to work with the utilities and applications that come on your
Tablet PC. You’ll revisit the applications you played with in Chapter 2, but this
time you’ll learn how to use them in your day-to-day work. You’ll also get a tour
of some great applications that were either modified to work better on the Tablet
PC or written specifically for this new class of machine. Handwritten input and
spoken input are the two aspects of the Tablet PC designed to make using the
machine a more natural experience for us human beings. This is the part of the
book where you really learn about handwriting and speech recognition, including
lots of tips for getting the most from them in your work.

In Part IV, “Fix What Ails Your Tablet PC,” we look at preventive maintenance
on your new toy, as well as the all-important task of backing up your system.
Think about it: A Tablet PC is meant to be used more often, in more places, and
under more circumstances than any personal computer that came before it.
Knowing how to back up, maintain, and fix your Tablet PC could come in very
handy.

As I hope you can tell from this introduction, I’ve written this book in a casual,
easy-to-read style. It’s designed so that, to the extent possible, each chapter stands
alone. You can certainly read the book cover to cover, and I encourage you to at
least read the introduction to each chapter. But if you’re looking for specific
information, you can skip around without worry. To make the book more useful
to you, I’ve included certain helpful design elements. They are:

■

How to sidebars How to sidebars provide step-by-step instructions on
completing a particular task. They can be particularly important tasks, or
just tasks that are related to a subject we’re discussing in the chapter.

■

Did You Know sidebars Did You Know sidebars contain extra
information. They’re usually background info like historical notes or other
interesting tidbits.

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■

Note icons Note icons provide helpful information related to the topic at
hand. Be sure to read any Note you come across.

■

Tip icons Tip icons describe ways to make better use of an application or
feature, as well as anything else that might make things easier.

■

Shortcut icons Shortcut icons provide quicker/easier ways to do things.
They’re good to read if you want to make the best use of your Tablet PC.

■

Caution icons Caution icons flag things you need to be aware of. Always
read these to avoid potential problems.

And with that, you’re ready to learn how to do everything with your Tablet PC.
If you have any thoughts on the book, or the Tablet PC in general, I would love to
hear them. You can reach me by e-mail at: [e-mail]. Or you can
visit my web site at: http://www.techforyou.com.

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Par t I

Get Acquainted
with Your
Tablet PC

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Chapter 1

Meet Your
Tablet PC

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How to…

■

Examine Your Tablet PC Hardware

■

Turn Your Tablet PC On and Off

■

Understand Docking, Undocking, and Converting Your Tablet PC

■

Use the Pen to Control Your Tablet PC

■

Work with the Windows Desktop

■

Find Your Way Around Windows

The Tablet PC is a bid by Microsoft and its partners to evolve the notebook
computer into something more usable, more practical, more natural than the
machines most people use today. Since you’re reading this book, you’ve probably
bought yourself a Tablet PC, or had one provided to you by the IT department of
your company. Whichever the case may be, I’m going to assume that you want to
get the most out of your new toy (or burden, or tool) that you can.

Throughout the book, we’ll explore the capabilities and benefits of the Tablet
PC hardware and software. To do that, you’ll need a basic understanding of your
Tablet PC and the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system that runs on
it. So let’s start at the beginning, by investigating that shiny new machine.

Examine Your Tablet PC Hardware

When you take your Tablet PC out of the box, spend a few minutes looking it over.
Depending on the style of machine you have, your new Tablet PC may look like
an ultralight notebook computer. Or it may look like nothing so much as a small
flat-panel display that came off its stand. But whatever your new machine looks
like, somewhere among all the accoutrements of a modern notebook computer—
a spare battery, charger, cables, and whatnot—is a digital pen. This pen, and the
digital ink that “flows” from it, are what make Tablet PCs unique. You’ll learn the
basics of how to use this pen later in this chapter, in the section, “Use the Pen to
Control Your Tablet PC.”

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Throughout this book, when I refer to digital pen (or just pen), I always
mean the digital pen that came with your Tablet PC or any other digital
pen designed specifically to work with your Tablet PC. There are two types
of Tablet PC pens, so the pen from someone else’s machine might not work
for yours. A regular ballpoint pen or even a stylus from your Pocket PC
device definitely won’t work with your Tablet PC. They can, however, make
a mess of your machine’s screen, so make sure you use the correct pen.

Digital ink and using the pen to write with it are covered in Chapter 10.

Tablet PCs Come in
Many Shapes and Sizes?

While the kinds of Tablet PCs we’re talking about in this book all have to
conform to certain requirements defined by Microsoft, those requirements
leave room for a lot of variety. Tablet PCs come in two basic forms:
convertibles and slates. A convertible Tablet PC, like the Acer TravelMate
C100 shown next, has a built-in keyboard and can function like a regular
notebook, as well as a tablet.

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Turn Your Tablet PC On and Off

It’s time to turn on your Tablet PC. To do so, you must first provide power to the
machine. If you bought the machine yourself, the package it came in should have
instructions for providing power. If you are using a Tablet PC provided by the

The slate machines, such as the ViewSonic V1100 shown next, which are

sometimes also called pure tablets, don’t have built-in keyboards.

Some machines, like the Compaq Tablet PC TC1000 from Hewlett-Packard,
are even more chameleon-like and can be used as both a slate and a convertible.
Scattered throughout this book you’ll find descriptions of still other styles of
Tablet PCs, including machines designed for specialized uses or with other
unique features.

A docking station is an add-on for many Tablet PCs. These docks support
the Tablet PC when you are using it at your desk, usually providing additional
disk drives and ports for connecting to a wired network or other peripherals.
For slates, the dock can also provide connections to a keyboard and mouse.

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corporate IT department, the system should already be connected to power (and
the battery likely already charged).

Your Tablet PC should also have instructions for turning it on. The location of
a Tablet PC power switch isn’t something that’s specified by Microsoft, so you’ll
have to consult the documentation that came with your particular computer. Once
you flip the switch, your Tablet PC will go through its startup procedure. While
Tablet PCs are designed to resume from Standby mode in just a few seconds,
starting from scratch usually takes a minute or two.

If this is the first time anyone has turned on your Tablet PC, Windows
will walk you through some setup procedures. Just follow the onscreen
instructions and answer the questions and you should be done with that
process in a short while. If you are required to enter a username and
password, make sure you record this information so you can actually log
onto your computer when the time comes.

Once you get past any initial setup steps, you’re ready to log on to your
computer. If Windows asks for it, enter your username and password. If the
Windows Welcome Screen appears, use the pen that came with your Tablet PC
to tap the icon that has your username. After a minute or two, you will see the
Windows desktop.

If your Tablet PC is connected to a corporate network, it may be set up
to use a smart card for security. Your network administrators will need
to provide you with information on how to use the smart card.

You should not try to turn off your Tablet PC by flipping the power switch,
unplugging the machine from the wall, or anything like that. If you don’t
want to risk losing data and generally playing havoc with your system,
you need to follow the proper procedure when you want to turn off your
Tablet PC. This procedure is covered later in the chapter, in the section,
“Turn Off Your Tablet PC.”

Use the Pen to Control Your Tablet PC

In the previous section, I asked you to use the pen to tap an icon. That’s the most
basic way to use the Tablet PC pen. But you can use the pen to do more than just
tap—it can completely replace the mouse.

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I usually recommend that people play with new hardware or software to
get a feel for it, but not when it comes to using the Tablet PC pen. While
it isn’t hard to do, and the different actions soon seem perfectly natural,
if you don’t learn to use the pen the right way, right away, you’ll have
trouble using your Tablet PC.

The best way to learn to use the pen as a mouse replacement is to work through
one of the tutorials that come installed on Tablet PCs. The tutorial you’ll use is
named Get Going With Tablet PC, and you can run it by tapping Start | Get Going
With Tablet PC. The icon for this tutorial is on the left side of the menu that appears
when you tap Start, as shown next.

The first six screens of this tutorial are all you really need to go through to
learn to use the pen instead of a mouse. Starting with tips for holding the pen
(see Figure 1-1), the tutorial shows you how to single-tap (I’ll call this tapping in
this book), double-tap, and right-tap (also called press and hold). These actions
correspond to left-clicking, double-clicking, and right-clicking with a mouse.

One additional mouse-like capability of the Tablet PC pen is the ability to
hover. In Microsoft Windows XP, if you point the mouse at an icon on a toolbar
without clicking or moving it, the mouse is said to be hovering over the icon.
When the mouse pointer hovers over an icon, Windows can display a tooltip, or
other descriptive information related to that icon.

For the Tablet PC pen, the equivalent of hovering the mouse pointer over an
icon is hovering the pen tip over that icon. Because of the way they’re designed,

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Find Out What Kind
of Pen You Have

Now that you know there are two types of pens, you’re probably wondering
which kind your favorite Tablet PC has. If you’re still shopping for a Tablet PC,
your best bet is to ask. If you already have the Tablet PC, there are a few things
you can do. The easiest is to see if your pen contains a battery. If it does, your
pen (and the digitizer in the Tablet PC itself) is from FinePoint.

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Tablet PCs can detect their pens without the pen tip touching the screen. To make
this happen, you just need to place the tip of the pen close to the screen without
touching it.

Since the Tablet PC is sensitive to the pen and not to you, you can rest
your hand on the screen while using the pen, making it much easier
to hover.

Now that you’re trained in using the pen instead of a mouse, you’re ready to

start exploring Windows XP Tablet PC edition.

Work with the Windows Desktop

The Windows desktop occupies the majority of the screen and is designed to look
a lot like a real-world desktop. It’s a work space where you can open files, run

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FIGURE 1-1 The Get Going with Tablet PC tutorial teaches you how to use the pen in

place of a mouse.

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applications, and generally do your work. When you’re working with Windows,
you can imagine that whatever you are working on is lying on top of the desk
where you can get at it. Figure 1-2 shows what my Tablet PC screen looks like
when I start my system. What you see will vary—each manufacturer sets things up
a little differently. Also, I’ve been using my computer for some time, so I’ve made
changes to the default layout and installed additional programs to suit my needs.

Examine the Items on the Desktop

On your Tablet PC desktop, you’ll likely see a window (a rectangular area of the
screen surrounded by a frame and containing information related to a specific
activity) containing one or more Tablet PC tutorials. The window is in the center
of Figure 1-2. You’ll certainly see some icons, small pictures representing programs,
files, or commands, that you can activate. The pictures often serve as a visual
shorthand to give you an idea of what they represent.

For example, one icon you’ll see on the desktop is the Recycle Bin. This icon
looks like a little office trash can with a recycling symbol on its side. You can tell

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FIGURE 1-2 This Windows XP Tablet PC edition desktop shows some icons, the

taskbar, and an open window.

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at a glance, without reading the icon’s title, that the Recycle Bin is a place to discard
things. In Figure 1-2, all the icons are lined up along the left edge of the desktop,
but they could be placed anywhere, as shown next.

The other thing you can see on the desktop in Figure 1-2 is the taskbar, which
is covered in more detail later in the chapter, in the section, “Learn About the
Taskbar.”

Find Your Way Around Windows

Navigation around the Windows XP Tablet PC edition is virtually the same as
with previous versions of Windows. The only difference is that you can navigate
with the pen in addition to, or in place of, the mouse. With Windows XP Tablet PC
edition, you can use the mouse and the pen interchangeably without any restrictions.

Having said all that, two aspects of Windows XP that you may not be familiar
with are the taskbar and the Start menu.

Learn About the Taskbar

The Windows taskbar is one of the key components of the Windows XP user
interface. The taskbar is a row of buttons and icons that appears in a bar along one
side of the screen, usually the bottom. By default, your Tablet PC should start out
with the taskbar visible at the bottom of the screen. Figure 1-3 shows the taskbar.
Proceeding from left to right, the taskbar is divided into five sections: the Start
button, the Tablet PC Input Panel icon, the Quick Launch toolbar, an area holding
buttons for each running application, and the notification area.

■

Start button The Start button opens the Start menu and is covered in
detail in the “Learn About the Start Menu” section later in this chapter.

■

Tablet PC Input Panel icon This icon activates the Tablet PC Input
Panel (a tool that allows you to enter text into Windows applications
by writing or speaking it instead of typing it), which is covered in more
detail in Chapters 2, 10, and 15.

■

Quick Launch toolbar The Quick Launch toolbar is an area containing
icons for applications that you can start with a single tap of the pen. This

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area is not normally visible on the taskbar, but I recommend you activate it.
It’s a quick way to start the programs you use frequently.

■

Application buttons The area to the right of the Quick Launch toolbar
contains buttons representing each program that’s running. Tap a button to
bring the corresponding program into view. If you have several instances
of a particular program running simultaneously, Windows will group
them under a single button for easier handling. When you tap this button,
Windows displays a small menu you can use to choose which of the
grouped instances of the program you want to see.

■ Notification area At the end of the taskbar is the Notification area, a

place where Windows can provide information on the status of your computer.

Learn About the Start Menu

The Start menu is the launching point for most programs on any PC running
Windows XP. The Start menu is the menu that appears when you tap the Start button
on the Windows taskbar. This menu, which looks something like Figure 1-4, is
divided into two columns. The left column contains icons that start specific programs
and the All Programs menu (the Program menu), while the right column contains
icons that open specific folders, as well as special tools like the Control Panel, Help
and Support (online help), Search, and the DOS Command Line.

If you’ve customized your Start menu, it may look significantly different
than the one shown in Figure 1-4, and therefore, it may function somewhat
differently.

The eight Start menu sections shown in Figure 1-4 are listed here:

■

Pinned item list The pinned item list appears at the top of the left column.
It contains program icons ( pinned items) that remain in place unless you
explicitly move them.

FIGURE 1-3 Although relatively few people do so, you can customize the taskbar in

several ways.

Tablet PC Input Panel icon Running applications

Start button

Quick Launch toolbar

Notification area

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