CONFIGURING WINDOWS XP.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0. INTRODUCTION.
2.0. SYNOPSIS OF THE DESIRED WINDOWS SETTINGS.
3.0. HOW TO OPEN THE CONTROL PANEL SUB MENU FROM THE START MENU.
4.0. CONFIGURING FOLDER OPTIONS.
5.0. CONFIGURING THE MOUSE.
6.0. CONFIGURING THE TASK BAR AND START MENU PROPERTIES DIALOG BOX.
7.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES THEMES PAGE.
8.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES DESKTOP PAGE.
9.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES SCREEN SAVER PAGE.
10.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES APPEARANCE PAGE.
11.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES SETTINGS PAGE.
12.0. CONFIGURING YOUR VIDEO CARD AND MONITORS PROPERTIES PAGE.
13.0. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER YOU SAY YES TO KEEPING THE CHANGES.
14.0. USER PROFILES.


1.0. INTRODUCTION.

1. If you are using Windows Word Pad, rather than Micro Soft Word, you can turn on word wrap,
by pressing ALT + V, then O, then W, then ENTER. Think ALT + V o w. Once you've turned
word wrap on in Wordpad, that setting will always be maintained for the future, and you wont have
to do it again.

2. Now here is a general outline of the actions you will take to change the settings to Windows XP.
Following the outline, will be an in depth description of how to execute each action. If you are an
expert at windows, you can just read the following synopsis and immediately make the settings.
Otherwise, don't do anything yet. Just read the following to get an overview.

2.0. SYNOPSIS OF THE DESIRED WINDOWS SETTINGS.

For advanced users, the following details will provide enough information for you to to make the
correct settings without having to read the step by step procedures listed later in this document.
Here are the desired settings.

1. In the Folder options dialog you should have the following settings.
a. In the General Page, in the tasks area, the Use Windows Classic Folder radio button should be
checked.
b. In the General page, in the Browse area, you can select either one of the 2 radio buttons. It's up
to you. Either select Open Each Folder In Its Own window. Or select Open Each Folder In the
Same Window.
c. In the View Page, in the folder options list box, the following settings should be operative.
C1. Display the Full path in the Address bar. On.
C2. Display the Full path in the Title bar. On.
C3. Hide Extensions for known File Types. Off.


2. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Dialog Box you will make the following settings in the
Taskbar page:
A. Lock the Task Bar, checked.
B. Auto Hide the Task bar, not checked.
C. Keep the Task bar on top of other Windows, checked.
D. However, before you make these settings, you will need a sighted assistant to confirm that the
task bar is at the bottom of the screen, and that it is only one row thick.


3. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Dialog Box you will make the following settings in the
Start Menu page:
a. Though it is not a necessity for CakeTalking, it is recommended that the Classic Start Menu
radio button is checked.


4. Next, in the Display Properties Dialog Box you should have the following settings:
a. In the Themes page, select Windows Classic.
b. In the Background page, the background should be none.
c. In the Screen Saver page, set the screen save to none.
d. In the Appearance page, the Windows and Buttons should be Windows Classic. The Color
Scheme should be Windows Standard. And the Font size should be Normal.
e. In the Effects page, the screen resolution should be 800 by 600. The color setting should be
Medium 16 bit.
f. Press Enter on the Advanced button of the Effects page. In the General page that pops up, the
DPI setting should be Normal size (96 dpi).
g. Control Tab to the Adapter page, and press the List all Modes button. In the list all modes page,
the setting should be 800 by 600, High Color (16 bit) 60 Herz.


5. There are fancy mouses and mouse programs that can provide the mouse pointer with all sorts
of goodies that are not good for JAWS. If you have a special mouse like that, you will need to open
the Mouse Settings dialog, found in the Control Panel and make the following settings.
a. The mouse pointer should not be animated.
b. The mouse pointer should not trigger any animation effects.
Ok, so now it's time to actually make the settings. You will need to ALT+TAB between this
document and the other windows you will be working in.


3.0. HOW TO OPEN THE CONTROL PANEL SUB MENU FROM THE START MENU.

All the dialogs that you need to open in order to make settings can be found in the Control Panel.
Here's how to access the Control Panel from the Start Menu.

1. Get into the start menu by pressing the windows key (Or press CONTROL+ESCAPE)

2. Press the letter S, until you hear "Settings" or "Settings SubMenu". If there is only one item in
the Start Menu that starts with the letter S, then the Settings sub menu will pop open. If there are
more than one items that start with S, then the sub menu will not pop open.

3. If the Settings sub menu does not open, the press the RIGHT ARROW to open it up.

4. At the top of the Settings sub menu, is Control Panel. Press the right arrow to open the Control
Panels Sub Menu. This sub menu contains shortcvuts to all the dialogs you will need to access.


4.O. CONFIGURING FOLDER OPTIONS.

1. From the Sub menu of the Control Panel, select Folder Options and press enter.

2. The Folder options dialog has 2 pages. In the General Page, in the tasks area, the Use
Windows Classic Folder radio button should be checked. Arrow to it, if it is not selected.
b. In the General page, in the Browse area, you have 2 radio buttons. One is open each folder in
the same window. And the other is open each folder in a separate window. Which choice you make
is totally up to you. If there is a folder 1, that contains a folder 2, that contains a folder 3,
then if you click on folder 1, then folder 2, then folder 3, all the folders will stay open if you choose
the radio button named open each folder in a separate window. On the other hand, if you select the
radio button named open each folder in the same window, then the only folder that will remain
opened in our last example, will be Folder 3. The advantage of choosing to open each folder in a
separate window, is that all the folders are available for you to alt tab back to. On the other hand,
the advantage of choosing open each folder in the same window, is that you don't have alot of
folders open that will make alt tabbing to a desired application time consuming.

3. When you CONTROL TAB to the View Page, you will be focused on the Reset Folders
button.
You will be pressing this button after you make your folder options changes. For now, TAB to the
folder options tree view. Use your vertical arrows to move to the following items, and use your
space bar to toggle their state till they dispaly the following settings.
a. Display the Full path in the Address bar. On.
b. Display the Full path in the Title bar. On.
c. Hide Extensions for known File Types. Off.


5.0. CONFIGURING THE MOUSE.

If you have a standard mouse your settings will be automatically OK. However, if you have a
special program and a custom mouse like the Intelli, mouse you must make sure that it is not
animated. Animations create visual distractions for JAWS. These programs have settings that can
make Mouse movements trigger special effects. These should also be turned off, as they can
confuse JAWS. You can found your mouse settings in the Control Panel, under Mouse Settings. If
not you will find your special mouse program in the programs sub menu accessed from the start
menu. If you have a custom mouse, do the following:
a. Control Tab to the the appropriate pages to normalize the mouse settings.


6.0. CONFIGURING THE TASK BAR AND START MENU PROPERTIES DIALOG BOX.

1. The first 2 steps require the help of a sighted assistant. Have them check out the position of the
task bar. If it is not at the bottom of the screen, have them grab it with the mouse and drag it to the
bottom.

2. Then have your assistant check out the height of the task bar. It should be just one row thick.
This is the default setting. The icons that go on the task bar are by default, one row high. But it's
possible to resize the task bar so that two rows of icons can be on the task bar. However, if the
task bar is more than one row thick it will be taking up too much of the screen. If so, have your
assistant put the mouse pointer on the top edge of the task bar and drag it down so that the
Taskbar returns to the height of just one row. Now, the remaining task can be accomplished
without sighted help.

3. Now open the Task Bar and Start Menu Properties dialog. To do this, do the following:
a. Access the Control Panel from the Start Menu, and open its sub menu.
b. Press T, to select Task Bar and Start Menu. The dialog will pop open. You will say something
like, "Task Bar and Start menu Properties dialog. Task bar Page. Task bar Appearance. Lock the
Task Bar, checked."

4. The Task Bar and Start Menu Properties dialog box has 2 pages. The first page will most likely
be the "Taskbar" page. If you don't hear JAWS say Task Bar page, but rather hear "Start Menu
page," then press CONTROL+TAB to move to the Task bar page. In multi page dialog boxes like
this, in order to move from one page to another, you press CONTROL+TAB, or
CONTROL+SHIFT+TAB.

5. When you enter the Task bar options page, the item with focus will be the Lock the Task Bar
check box. If it is not, TAB till you get there.

6. We want the task bar to be locked so it can not be accidentally moved or increased in height. If
JAWS said, "not checked," then press the SPACE BAR to check the Lock the Task bar
checkbox.

7. Now tab once to move to the Auto Hide the task bar checkbox. It should say "Auto hide the
task bar, checkbox not checked." This is exactly what we want. On the other hand, if it says
"Check box checked" then press the SPACE BAR to uncheck the auto hide. The Auto hide option
makes the task bar disappear until a mouse pointer is moved to its position at the bottom of the
screen. It's an option that sighted users who want the maximum amount of screen visible,
sometimes use.

8. Now tab once to move to the Keep the Task Bar On Top of Other windows checkbox. We want
the task bar to always be on top of other open windows. JAWS most likely said check box
checked. However, if it said, "not checked," then press the SPACE BAR to check it.

9. The other default settings for the other check boxes on this page are not relevant for our
purposes. You can leave their checkbox state as it is, or change it. They are the following items.

A. Group Similar Task bar buttons. By default this is checked.
B. Show Quick Launch. By default this is not checked.
C. Show clock. As you may know, when you press INSERT+F12, JAWS will say the time on your
computer clock. However, the clock does not have to be displayed on the task bar, for JAWS to be
able to do this. Nevertheless, by default this option is checked.

10. Now, if you did not make any changes in the Task Bar page, then press ESCAPE to exit it.
Otherwise, press ENTER to establish the new settings.


7.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES THEMES PAGE.

1. Open the display Properties dialog by doing the following:
a. Access the Control Panel from the Start Menu, and open its sub menu.
b. Press the letter D, till you hear JAWS say "Display."
c. Press the ENTER key to open up the Display Dialog Box.

2. The display dialog is a multi page dialog box. You will hear JAWS announce the name of the
page first, and then the item on the page that has focus. Whenever you make changes in a
setting, press the Apply button. This will keep the change, but not boot you out of the dialog.

3. When you first enter the Display properties box, you most likely will be on the Background
page. If not, CONTROL+TAB to move to the Background page.

4. When you get to the Background page, you will find the focus is on the Themes combo box. If it
does not say "none", then press the home key to select "none" from the top of the list. Then press
the Apply button.


8.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES DESKTOP PAGE.

1. When you CONTROL TAB to the Desktop page, your focus will be on the background list box. If
it does not say "none", then press the home key to select "none" from the top of the list, and then
press the apply button.


9.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES SCREEN SAVER PAGE.

1. When you CONTROL TAB to the Screen Saver page, your focus will be on the screen saver
combo box. If you are going to use a screen saver this is where you select what it looks like.
Screen savers are animations that prevent static images of the screen from burning into your
monitors screen. They are triggered after a certain amount of time has passed when there's been
no user input into the computer.

2. Most modern monitors don't really need a screen saver. Screen savers are more for visual
entertainment. Screen savers are not a problem to JAWS unless they are triggered too often. If you
don't want a screen saver, press the home key to select none from the list, and then go to the
instructions that follow the next paragraph.

3. If you do want a screen saver, arrow down the list and pick one. Then press ALT + W, or tab a
few times, to get to the "Wait" edit field. Then type in the number 10 or more. This will ensure that
the screen saver will not start before 10 minutes or more of no activity.

4. If you do not want a screen saver, then if the combo box is not displaying "none", then press the
home key to select "none" from the top of the list, and then press the apply button.

5. Now CONTROL+TAB to the appearance page.

10.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES APPEARANCE PAGE.

1. When you Control Tab to the Appearance page. you will find the focus is on the Windows and
Buttons combo box.

2. Tab to the Color Scheme Combo Box. this should be set to Windows Standard.

3. Tab to the Font size combo box. This should be set to Normal.

4. If you made any changes, press the apply button.

5. CONTROL+TAB to the Settings page.

11.0. CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY PROPERTIES SETTINGS PAGE.

1. When you Control Tab to the Settings page, you will find your focus is on the drag the monitor
option. Tab until you get to the Screen Resolution Left Right Slider. The resolution should be 800
by 600 pixels. The slider is what you move to change your screen resolution. Screen resolution is
the number of pixels on the horizontal and vertical axis that windows uses to draw your screen.If
you did not hear JAWS say 800 by 600 pixels, use the Up Arrow to increase the resolution, or the
down arrow to decrease the resolution. Interestingly, this is the opposite of how the up and down
arrows usually change values.

2. Now tab once to the Color Quality combob box. It should be set to medium 16 bit.

3. if you made any changes, press the apply button.

4. Now Tab to the Advanced Button, and press ENTER. Your Video Card and Monitors Properties
dialog box will open. This dialog is named differently according to the name of your video card and
monitor.


12.0. CONFIGURING YOUR VIDEO CARD AND MONITORS PROPERTIES PAGE.

1. After you press the Advanced button in the Settings page, a multi page dialog opens containing
settings for your video card and monitor. In the General page, the DPI settings combo box should
be set to 96 DPI.

2. Control Tab to the Adapter page. Then tab to the List all modes button, and press the space
bar. The List all Modes list box will open.

3. In the List all Modes list box, you should see, 800 by 600, High Color (16 bit) 60 Herz. If not,
arrow to that option, and then tab to the Apply button and press space.

4. Press Alt + F4 to close the dialog and return to the Display Properties Dialog. If you made any
changes at all, Tab to the OK button and press enter in order to close the dialog. otherwise, just
press Escape.

5. If you did have to make changes, and pressed ENTER, there are two different scenarios for what
Windows XP will ask of you.


13.0. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER YOU SAY YES TO KEEPING THE CHANGES YOU MADE.

1. If you had to make changes to your windows settings them one scenario is that windows will
say "The settings you have chosen may cause some programs to operate improperly unless you
reboot your computer now." You then have the option to reboot now, or not to rebo