Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition نسخه متنی

Menus

Windows uses menus to list commands in groups (Figure 1.21 ). Menus are especially convenient when you're new to a program because they show you what commands are available and make experimenting easy.

Experienced users prefer to use keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse to choose menu commands. Programs often provide a keyboard shortcut for a frequently used command, which appears to the right of the command on its menu line. To choose Copy, for example, press Ctrl+C. If no shortcut key is listed for the command, you can use Alt+ the menu's underlined letters instead.

Tips

Commands with a triangular arrowhead next to them have additional choices listed in a

submenu. To open a submenu, click or point to the command.

Checked commands (Figure 1.22 ) represent on/off options or mutually exclusive choices.

Dimmed commands are unavailable in the current context. Cut and Copy are unavailable if nothing is selected, for example.

Within individual menus, commands are grouped logically by horizontal lines called

command separators.

Some menus are consistent across programs. The File menu almost always has the commands New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, and Exit; the Edit menu has the commands Undo, Cut, Copy, and Paste.

To choose a menu command:

1. Click the menu name.

The menu appears, displaying its commands.

2. Point to the desired menu command.

3. Click to choose the command.

The menu disappears.

...

Most menu commands take effect as soon as you choose them. If a command needs more information to complete, it's followed by an ellipsis (...), which lets you know that a dialog box will appear to let you enter more information. The Find command in Figure 1.21, for example, has an ellipsis because the command isn't complete until you specify what you want to find.

Some commands, such as Properties and Help > About, show a dialog box but have no ellipsis because no more information is needed to run the command.

To choose a menu command by using the keyboard:

1. Hold down Alt; press the underlined letter in the menu name; then release both keys.

2. On the keyboard, press the underlined letter of a menu command.

3. If a submenu appears, press the underlined letter of a submenu command.

Tweak UI" sidebar in "Using the Start Menu" in Chapter 2.

Shortcut menus

A

shortcut menu (also called a

right-click menu or

context menu ) is a context-sensitive menu that appears when you right-click an item (Figure 1.23 ). Windows provides shortcut menus for nearly all interface elements: icons, files, folders, disks, desktop, taskbar, Start button, the Recycle Bin, and so on. Shortcut menus are among the most useful features in Windows. Try right-clicking any item to see whether a shortcut menu pops up.

Windows" later in this chapter.

To choose a shortcut-menu command:

1. Right-click an item.

The shortcut menu appears, displaying its commands.

2. Point to the desired menu command.

3. Click to choose the command.

The menu disappears.

To choose a shortcut-menu command by using the keyboard:

1. Select (highlight) an item.

2. Hold down Shift; press F10; then release both keys.

3. Press the underlined letter of a menu command.

Tips

Press the Application key (if your keyboard has one) to display the shortcut menu for the selected item.

To close a shortcut menu without choosing a command, press Esc or left-click outside the menu. (Right-clicking outside the menu only makes the menu jump to the pointer.)

If multiple icons are selected, right-click any one of them to open the shortcut menu for the group.

Uninvited Menu Items

Utilities, shareware, and other programs often add their own entries to shortcut menus with or without your permission. If a right-click menu gets too crowded, you usually can remove items via the programs' Options or Preferences dialog boxes; look for options labeled

context menu. WinZip, for example, adds Add to Zip File commands to Windows Explorer's shortcut menus. WinZip's Option > Configuration > Explorer Enhancements tab lets you show or hide these commands.

If no context-menu option is available, you can edit the registry (see "Editing the Registry" in Chapter 19). Many context-menu commands are in

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell . Double-click

shell to reveal the keys corresponding to each menu command. (You won't see and can't remove Windows' built-in commands.) Delete the keys that you don't want. In some cases, the keys are hidden elsewhere in

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT , and you'll have to hunt for the program's key (sometimes tricky

Adobe.Acrobat.ContextMenu , for example) or use Edit > Find to find the menu-item text (Scan for Viruses or whatever). Sometimes no keys are available, and you must live with the custom menu item. Back up your registry before you edit it.