Windows XP Professional

The Log On to Windows window will appear each time you start up your computer or log out of the Wellesley domain. To log in, you will need your domain user name and password. To find out more about domain accounts, please read the documentation on using your domain account.

1. In the Username field, type the username of your user account.
2. In the Password field, type your account password.
3. In the Log on to field, select WELLESLEY if you are logging into a domain account. Select (this computer) if you are logging into your local account.
4. Click OK.

If you are unable to log in with your domain account, please note the error message that you receive and contact the Help Desk. If you cannot install or unistall software and updates or if programs behave oddly after you have logged in, you may not be logged in as an administrator. If that is the case, you need to speak with someone who has "administrator" rights on the computer to give your domain account the rights you need. If no one is available please call the Help Desk. See Adding Other Users for details.

Users are required to install and log onto Cisco Clean Access to gain access to Wellesley College's network. Services such as FirstClass and Wellesley webpages are unavailable unless you are signed into the network. Clean Access makes sure your windows updates and virus scan definitions are up to date to ensure your computer is protected against viruses which helps keep the network safe and secure for everyone who uses the network.

For more information on Clean Access, please read the documentation on installing Clean Access or on logging into Clean Access

This icon is the Automatic Updates icon which appears in the System Tray (the lower right corner of the screen) whenever there are new critical security or software updates that you need to install on your computer.

When your computer detects that a new update is available to download and install, the following speech bubble will appear in the lower right corner of your screen stating: New Updates are ready to install.

Note: You may need to restart your computer after installing the updates, so remember to save your work. If you choose to install the updates at a later time, you may close the speech bubble and double-click on the icon at any time to have it prompt you about the updates.

When you are ready to install the updates, double-click on the Automatic Updates icon in the System Tray.

In the automatic Updates Ready to Install window, read about the updates by clicking on the Details button and then click Install. after installation is complete. If you are asked to restart your computer, click Yes.

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts.
2. Click Add....
3. In the Username field, enter the user's Wellesley College domain user name (i.e., wwendy).
4. In the Domain field, enter WELLESLEY. Click Next.
5. Select Standard User (Power Users Group) to add a user who cannot access your desktop or your documents folder. All students must be added as Standard Users.
6. Select Administrator to add a user who will have access to your files and can install software and windows updates.
7. Click Finish.

1. If programs behave oddly, you receive the error messages “Access Denied” or “permissions” error, or you cannot install software please ask the owner of the computer (who has Administrator privileges on the computer) to change your account's access level privileges (it should be set to Power User).
2. Wellesley College has thoroughly tested and can only support the Administrator and Standard (Power) Users groups.

1. Click Start
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. Click System Tools
5. Click Disk Defragmenter
6. Click the Analyze button
7. If you receive the message “You should defragment this volume” click the Defragment button.

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Click Internet Options…
4. Click the General tab
5. Click the Delete… button
6. In the Delete Browsing History window click Delete Files

Uninstall unnecessary programs

1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. Open Add/ Remove Programs
4. Select the program you want to remove
5. Click the Remove button

You may place new programs icons into the top left section of the Start menu by using the Pin command.

1. Click on the Start button to open the Start menu.
2. Find the program icon you wish to pin to the Start menu and right-click on it. You may add a program that is listed in the all Programs menu or a program that is listed in the most recently and frequently used section of the Start menu.
3. Select Pin to Start menu. The chosen program icon should appear in the top-left section of the Start menu.

1. Click on the Start button to open the Start menu.

• To unpin a program icon, right-click on any icon in the top-left section of the Start menu (above the divider) that you wish to remove. Then select Unpin from Start menu.
• To remove a program icon from the Start menu, right-click on the unwanted icon and select Remove from This List.

Note: The size of each Task Bar button will shrink so that all buttons can fit the length of the Task Bar

1. Go to to the Start menu and select the Control Panel.
2. If you see a link called Switch to Classic View near the top left of the Control Panel window, click on the link.
3. Double-click on Task Bar and Start Menu.
4. Under the Task Bar tab, uncheck the box for Group similar Task Bar buttons.
5. Click apply and then OK.

To add the My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer icons onto your desktop:

1. Right-click on empty space on the desktop and select Properties from the menu that appears.
2. Click on the Desktop tab.
3. Click on the Customize Desktop button.
4. In the General tab, check the box(es) for the icons you wish to appear on your desktop and then click OK.
5. Click OK again to close the Display Properties window. The chosen icons should appear on the desktop.

To add a program icon (a shortcut) onto the desktop:

1. Go to the Start > All Programs menu and find the program you wish to add to your desktop.
2. Right-click on the name of the program and select Send To: > Desktop (create shortcut). The icon for the program that you have chosen will appear on your desktop.

To remove any icon from your desktop:

1. Click and drag the icon into the Recycle Bin.
2. Right-click on the Recycle Bin and select Empty Recycle Bin.
3. Click Yes to confirm.

To search for any files or folders, click on the Start button and select Search.

A Search Results window will appear. The Search Companion Bar is present on the left side of the window. This side bar replaces the Search or Find window in older versions of Windows.

There are several categories of items to search for: Pictures, music, or video; Documents (word processing, spreadsheet, etc.); all files and folders; and Computers or people. Clicking on one of these links will send you to the next step in the Search where you can type in the search phrase and choose other advanced search options. The results of the Search will be displayed in the right side of the window.

You may open the Search Companion side bar in any folder or Internet Explorer window by going to the View menu and selecting Explorer Bar > Search.

To open the Control Panel, go to Start > Control Panel. There are two ways to view the Control Panel. The default view in Windows XP is the Category View as shown in the picture below. This view groups together common control options under a categorical heading and hides the other options.

The second view is the Classic View which allows you to see all the options in the Control Panel. To change from the Category View to the Classic View, click on the Switch to Classic View link near the top-left side of the Control Panel window.

Each person who logs into the computer has his or her own personal desktop. Any files on the desktop or in the My Documents folder as well as any program settings or preferences, desktop Backgrounds, etc. are stored separately for each person. These files are not accessible to anyone other than the person who owns them, except for an administrator (usually the person who owns the computer). To find out where these files are stored on the hard drive, see Where are my files located on the hard drive?

Each person who has logged into the computer will have his or her files and settings stored in a folder named with his or her user name. Only the person who is logged in (or an administrator) can access his or her personal folder. To find these user folders:

1. Double-click on the My Computer icon on the desktop or go to Start > My Computer.
2. Double-click on Local Disk (C:) > Documents and Settings.
3. Double-click on the folder with your user name or on the folder that you have access to.

For faculty/staff or public lab computers:

1. Go to Start > Run
2. Type "\\ntm"
3. Click OK

For personal computers:

1. Go to Start > Run
2. Type "\\ntm"
3. Click OK
4. In the Username field, type "wellesley\domain username" (for example: wellesley\wwendy)
5. In the Password field enter your domain password
6. Click OK

Once you double-click on a zip file to access its contents, a folder window that appears listing the contents of the zip file. Even though it appears as though you have extracted the files, in fact they are still zipped and may not be truly accessible until you extract all of the files.

If you receive the above Compressed (zipped) Folders Warning message when double-clicking on a file within the zipped folder, then click on the Extract all button and follow the directions starting at step 2 of Extracting files from a zipped file.

Extracting files from a zipped file:.

1. Right-click on the zip file and select Extract all.
2. The Extraction Wizard will appear. Click Next.
3. Click the Browse button and select the destination for the extracted files. You may create a new folder to store the files by clicking the Make New Folder button and then naming it. When you are finished selecting the location, click OK.
4. If there is a password set on the zip file, click on the Password button and enter the password in the field that appears.
5. Click Next.
6. The Show extracted files checkbox will be selected. Click Finish to close the Extraction Wizard. The folder that stores the extracted files will be automatically displayed.

Creating a zipped file:

Beside zip file extraction, you may also create zipped files in Windows XP. This is useful if you wish to compress a number of files or folders into one file.

1. Select the files or folders you wish to compress into a zip file (to select multiple files or folders, hold down the CTRL key while clicking on the item you wish to select).
2. Right-click on any of the selected items and choose Send To: > Compressed (zipped) Folder. a new zipped file should appear with the name of the file you had right-clicked.