Personal Computer 101 - learn about your PC 4 Free

What SW comes with my computer and how do I use it?

The software that comes with your computer varies with the vendor and type of computer you buy.   Windows computers may come with "extras" like MS Word®, MS Money®, MS Office® or other Microsoft® software.   But if you buy a lower prices computer it may well not come with any extra ("bundled") software.

However, the Operating System software of windows comes with an extensive list of programs that maybe of interest to you.   For example: a calculator, phone dialer, internet conferencing, video games, media player, audio recorder, video editor, screen magnifier, speech narrator, fax machine service, etc.

This utilities are available to you on the OS installation disc, if they are not in fact already on your disc.   To find out what utilities you currently have, you go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs.

There you will find Add/Remove Windows Components

Once you open it you will see in the middle window the major categories of Windows Utilities.    The category boxes Categories checked mean you have some of the utilities

that are checked mean you have some of the utilities in that category already on your computer. To see which ones you have, highlight the category and then click on the Details... option below the window.

This will show you a list of utilities in that category, and those that are checked are already on your system.

You can add or remove these utilities by either checking the box to add them or unchecking to have them removed. When you are done click Next> to have the system install and/or remove software as you requested. If you are not sure what you did, or you do not want to make changes, then make sure you click on Cancel to exit.
Showing utils Windows Components display

of Networking Services
Only the Internet Gateway DDCC and TCP/IP utils of the category are currently on this system according to the display. If I wanted to add Peer-to-Peer I would check the box next to it Categories checked mean you have some of the utilities

, then OK and then Next> in the background window to have it installed.

TIP: If you install the MS® Fax software utility, you may find that it severely delays the display of the desk top on the boot. To prevent this, if you know how to do it, is to go into the Start / Settings / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services and change the Fax service from Automatic to Manual. This will prevent it from starting everytime you boot but will still start when you use the utility to fax.

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keoni@isp.com