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  Help: Vista, Win7, Win8: Contents

The table of contents for Help for Windows shows categories of topics. "Getting started" is a good place to start!

Help - Table of Contents (Vista)  Help - Table of contents (Win7) Initial Help window (Win8)
Table of Contents for Help: Vista; Win7, Win8

Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step:  Help Contents - Vista, Win7, Win8

  Icon Step-by-Step
What you will learn: to open Windows Help and Support
to navigate the Table of Contents to find a topic
to navigate the topics and related topics

Icon: WinXPTo work with Help in WinXP, go to WinXP Help

Start with: Monitor with Windows Desktop showing Desktop and Taskbar showing

 

Icon: Windows VistaIcon: Windows 7 Open Help and Support Center: Start Menu

  1. Menu: Start | Help and SupportLeft click Click on the Start button to open the Start menu.
  2. Left click Click on Help and Support. The Help and Support Center window opens to its Home page.

    Help and Support window  Help - initial screen (Win7)

    Initial Help screen

Icon: Win8 Icon: Win8.1 Win8, Win8.1: Open Help and Support Center: Start Screen

  1. If necessary, switch to the Start screen.
    Method 1: Press the Windows key, Key: Windows logo or Key: Windows (Win7) or Key: Windows (Win8).
    Taskbar: Start screen thumbnail (Win8)Method 2: (Win8) Hover over the bottom left of the Taskbar until the thumbnail of the Start screen appears. Click the thumbnail.
    Method 3: (Win8.1) Click the Windows button Button: Windows Start (Win8.1) at the far left of the Taskbar.

    The Start Screen shows with tiles for your apps.
  2. Type 'help'. Windows 8 Search shows apps whose names match.Type 'help'. Windows 8 Search shows apps whose names match.

    Type help.
    The Search view appears with your typing in the Search box.
    Apps whose names match your typing appear on the left in Win8 and below in Win8.1. Help and Support is probably at the top of the list.  

  3. Initial Help window (Win8)If Help and Support is already selected, press the ENTER key.
    If Help and Support is not selected, Left click click on Help and Support.
    Windows switches to the Desktop and opens a window for Windows Help.

    The page for Help Home shows three categories: Get started, Internet & networking, and Security, privacy & accounts.

Table of Contents

  1. Open the table of contents:

    Help: Table of Contents (Vista)Icon: Windows Vista Vista: Left click Click on Button: Table of Contents for Help (Vista) the icon for Table of Contents or on Button: Browse Help (Vista) the Browse Help button in the Help toolbar. (Wonder why these icons are green and blue instead of both the same color??)
     
    Help - Table of contents (Win7)Icon: Windows 7Win7:Left click Click on Link: Browse Help Topics (Win7) the link Browse Help Topics  or on Button: Browse Help (Vista) the Browse Help button in the Help toolbar.
    The window changes to show the table of contents of Help article categories.


     

    Table of contents for the Get Started category (Win8)Icon: Win8 Icon: Win8.1 Win8, Win8.1: Left click Click on the Get Started category.
    A list of articles appears.
    The links to articles behave just like web links. Blue means an unvisited page. Purple means a page that you have visited before, but Windows will not remember forever what you have seen.

Navigate to an Article

Icon: Windows VistaIcon: Windows 7 Vista/Win7: Open a Help article

  1. Left click Click the link 'Getting started'.

    The window changes to a new page which lists articles in this category.

    An icon Icon: Help article (Vista) or Icon: Help article (Win7) with a question mark is a link to an actual article.
    An icon Icon: List of links (Vista) shaped like a book is a link to a list of links to articles or other lists.

    Bread crumbs: At the top of the page, a set of bread crumbs Help: breadcrumbs to Getting started Help - Breadcrumbs (Win7) shows you where you are in the structure of a set of web pages. This name comes from the fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel, who tried to leave a trail through the forest by dropping crumbs of bread. Their trail vanished when the birds ate the crumbs, so they could not get home!

    For this page, the bread crumbs tell you that within the Help pages (All Help) you are at the Getting started page, which is in gray/black in the bread crumbs because it's page you are looking at.

    Help: Getting started (Vista) Help: Getting Started (Win7)
     

  2. Left click Click the link Icon: List in Help (Vista) If you are new to Windows - the basics or Icon: List in Help (Vista) Windows Basics.
    The window changes and the bread crumbs get another level . Help: Breadcrumbs to 'If you are new to Windows - the basics'

    This page has one link directly to an article. The rest lead to lists. <sigh>

    Help: Getting started : If you are new to Windows - the basics Help: Windows Basics (Win7)

  3. Left click Click the link Icon: List in Help (Vista) Learn about your computer. The window changes again and another level of bread crumbs appears.

    Help: Breadcrumbs to 'Learn about your computer' Help: breadcrumbs = Learn about your computer

    All of the links on this page are to articles. At last!!

    Help: Learn about your computer (Vista) Help: Learn about your computer (Win7)

  4. Left click Click the link Icon: Help article (Vista) Introduction to computers.
    Finally, the window changes to show a page with information! But the bread crumbs have vanished! Sad Smiley face  Just like for Hansel and Gretel!

    This article can be opened from other pages, so there is more than one path to get to it.

    Help: article - Introduction to computers Help: Introduction to computers (Win7)

Icon: Win8 Icon: Win8.1 Win8, Win8.1: Open a Help article

  1. Help article = Get to know Windows (Win8)Left click Click the link 'Get to know Windows'.

    The article opens.

    These Help articles are plain with few illustrations.

    The window does not show the bread crumb navigation that previous versions had. Sad Smiley face

    There is no article about computers in general like the Introduction to computersIcon: Off site article that was listed by previous versions of Windows. I guess we are all supposed to know how computers work already! (If you don't, go through my Computer BasicsIcon: Change unit lessons.)
     

 

Navigating Inside an Article

When an article is too long to fit into your window, how do you get to the part that is out of sight? There are several methods which you will find useful.

Scroll

  1. Logitech mouse with scroll wheelIf you have a scroll wheel on your mouse:
    With the article open and the mouse pointer over the article, turn the scroll wheel on your mouse.

    Icon: Question How many lines does the page move at a time? The default is 3.
    You can change this behavior in the Mouse Properties dialog, which opens from the Control Panel.

    Icon: QuestionWhich way do you roll the mouse wheel to see something further down the page? Further up the page?
     

  2. Drag the scroll box.(Win8)Drag the scroll box.Drag the vertical scroll box at the right edge of the window.

    The height of this box shows the percentage of the article that is showing. For example, if half of the article is showing, then the scroll box is half as tall as the scroll bar.

  3. Click in the scroll bar itself, but not on the scroll box or arrows.Click in the scroll bar itself, but not on the scroll box or arrows.Left click Click in the scroll bar itself, but not on the scroll box or on the scroll arrows.

    Icon: Question How far does the page shift?

  4. Click a scroll arrow. Click a scroll arrow.Click the up scroll arrow.Left click Click on the scroll arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar.

    Icon: Question How far does the page shift?

  5. Scroll back to the top of the article.

Icon: Windows VistaIcon: Windows 7 Vista, Win7: Links

Bookmarks to sections of a Help articleAt the upper right of the article are some links to subtopics in article. A link to a place in the same document is called a bookmark.

  1. Left click Click on the third link at the top right of the article: What can you do with computers?
    The page jumps to the beginning of that section, which is at the bottom of the page.
     

Icon: Keyboard Keyboard

Keys: Arrow navigationKeys: NavigationSeveral keys on your keyboard can  help you navigate around the page.

  1. Press the Home key on your keyboard.
    The page jumps to the top of the document.
  2. Press the End key on your keyboard.
    The page jumps to the bottom of the document.
  3. Press the Page Up key.
    The article shifts by the amount that will fit in the window to show text that came before what you were looking at. So for this purpose a "page" is what fits in the window, not what would fit on a paper page.
  4. Press the Page Down key.
    The article shifts by the amount that fits in the window to show what follows the current text in the document.
  5. Press the Up arrow key several times and then the Down arrow key several times. The arrow keys move the document by one line.
  6. Use the method of your choice to return to the top of the article.
  7. Read the article.

Icon: Windows VistaIcon: Windows 7 Vista, Win7: Definitions

Words in green in a Help article have a popup definition.

  1. Screen tip: View definitionIn the article, move your mouse over the green words, such as operating system, and let the mouse hover. A screen tip appears that says "View definition".
  2. Left click Click on the green words.
    A definition appears as a screen tip floating over the page.

    Definition screen tip in a Help article

  3. Left click Click again to hide the definition in the article.

TipIn other situations a screen tip pops up as soon as you hover over the magic spot and vanishes when you move the mouse away.

Try it: Hover over the green phrase "screen tip" in the line above. The definition of the phrase appears. No clicking necessary!

Icon: Windows Vista Vista: Related Links

At the bottom, some articles have a list of related articles in a list called See also.

  1. Related links for a Help articleUse the method of your choice to move to the end of the article.
  2. Left click Click on the link Parts of a computer.
    A new article opens in the window.
  3. Read the article.

Return to a Previous Page

Articles do not have bread crumbs and there is no history list that you can view.  There is no obvious reason why!

You will have to use the Back button on the toolbar to get back to the previous page.

  1. Left click Click (multiple times if necessary) on the Back button Button: Back (Vista Help) Back arrow (Win8)on the toolbar until you have returned to the list where you started:
    If you are new to Windows - the basics
    or Windows Basics
    or Get Started.
  2. Open another article and read it, like 'Parts of a computer' or 'Touch: swipe, tap, and beyond'.
    There are no bread crumbs for this article.
  3. Return to the list using the Back button Button: Back (Vista Help) Back arrow (Win8).
  4. Read each of the remaining articles in this list.
    As you open these articles, the links will change color from blue to purple.

    TipTo change links back to blue:
    The pages you open are remembered by your browser's History list. If you want to change all the links back to blue, you must make Windows forget where you have been by deleting the browser's History list entirely. This will remove ALL of the pages that your browser remembers, including pages on the Internet. The History that you can see in your browser does not show the History items for Help files. Once again, no obvious reason!

  5. Help: Breadcrumbs - Getting startedIf your Windows version shows bread crumbs, on the page Learn about your computer,  Left click click on the link Getting Started in the bread crumbs
    You jump straight to that page and then...

  6. Icon: Experiment Experiment: Practice moving around in the Table of Contents sections and jumping back to a previous page with the bread crumb links.