[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.6.When you do get to the appropriate folder, click (or double-click) the icon for the file youwant to open.If the program you re using enables you to open multiple documents, and you want to open several fromthe current folder, you can hold down the Ctrl key as you point to or click the names of the files you wantto open.Then click the Open button to open them all.If, for whatever reason, you re unable to locate the icon for the document you want to open, rememberyou can always use the Search Companion to track it down, as discussed under Searching for LostFiles in Chapter 2.When Documents Get WeirdWhen you open a document icon, Windows decides which program to use to display that document bylooking at the document s file name extension.Although usually invisible to you, the extension is aperiod followed by one or more letters at the end of the file name.For example, WordPad (and MicrosoftWord) documents all have a.DOC extension, which is to say that Windows associates different types ofdocuments with different programs based on the document s filename extension.Sometimes theassociation won t exist, or won t be what you want, as discussed next.Windows cannot open a fileIf you attempt to open a document that Windows hasn t yet associated with a program, you ll come tothe dialog box shown in Figure 3-9.As the dialog box indicates, you can attempt to go online (if youhave Internet access) and look up the needed information.Alternatively, you can click the Select fromList button and select a program from the Open With dialog box shown in Figure 3-10.page 63 Windows XP BibleFigure 3-9: This dialog box appears when Windows can t associate a document with a program.Figure 3-10: The Open With dialog box enables you to select a program with which to open a document.If you know enough about the document you re attempting to open, you can enter a description of thetype of document it is in the dialog box.You can then choose which of the listed programs you want touse to open the program.If you like, you can set up a permanent association between documents thathave this file name extension and the selected program by choosing the Always use check box.If you renot sure, however, you would be wise not to select that check box!If you take a wild guess, and the program you chose can t open the document, you ll just see amessage to that effect, and no harm done.Then again, the program you chose might open thedocument and take its best shot at displaying it.When that happens, you re likely to end up with a mess.For example, Figure 3-11 shows a photograph that I opened in the Notepad program.Because Notepaddoesn t have a clue as to how to display a photo, it just displays the meaningless mess shown in thefigure.page 64 Windows XP BibleFigure 3-11: The Notepad applet making a vain attempt to display a photographIt s important to understand that when you see a mess like this, you do not want to save the document!If you do, you may never be able to open it in any program in the future! You need to close the program.If asked whether you want to save the document, be sure you choose No!That s not the program I wantedThe associations that Windows makes between documents and programs might not always be whatyou want them to be.For example, you might want to edit a picture in some graphics program such asPaint Shop Pro.When you click the document s icon, however, the picture opens in an entirely differentprogram.There are a couple of solutions to this problem:Open the program you want to use, and then choose File Open from that program smenu bar and open the document normally from the Open dialog box that appears.Or, in Explorer, right-click the icon for the document you want to open, and choose OpenWith from the menu that appears.Select the program you want to use to open the file.The section Expanding Your Open With Menu in Chapter 4 provides more information on using theOpen With menu.For now, we need to focus on one other type of program the ones that aren t verycompatible with Windows XP.Dealing with Troublesome ProgramsNot all programs run perfectly in Windows XP.Some programs just won t run at all.Others may runpoorly or require you to change some settings to get the program to look right on the screen.WindowsXP offers a new Compatibility mode that can greatly simplify the task of getting these errant programs torun correctly.To use the Compatibility mode, follow these steps:1
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]