The Properties dialog box for a DVD drive contains a DVD Region page that controls the DVD encoding region set for the DVD player. To change the region, select the country you want in the list box and click the OK button.

Expert Knowledge: DVD Encoding Regions

In case you’ve managed to avoid the question of DVD encoding regions: As far as DVDs are concerned, the world is divided into eight regions or locales. Region 1 is the United States, Canada, and U.S. Territories. Region 2 is Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the Middle East. Region 3 is Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Hong Kong. Region 4 is Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Region 5 is Eastern Europe, Mongolia, North Korea, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, except South Africa. Region 6 is China. Region 7 is “reserved” for off-world use, perhaps. And Region 8 is for international vessels such as airplanes and cruise ships. DVD players are encoded to play only DVDs for their region. Almost all DVDs are encoded for the region in which they’re intended to be sold. There are also all-region DVDs that’ll play in any region. So to play a DVD, you need a player with a matching region code. Most consumer-electronics DVD players are coded for one region only. Some players can play discs for two, more, or all regions. Other players can be chipped modified, either by adding hardware, modifying the built-in hardware physically, or by entering an engineer’s code to reprogram the device to play DVDs with different regional encoding or even to play any regional encoding. Chipping is legal in most countries though some manufacturers pretend to disagree but typically costs a proportion of the cost of a cheap DVD player.

PC DVD drives are a little more flexible than most consumer-electronics DVD players. With most drives, you can switch region a certain number of times on a DVD drive before it goes into a locked state in which you can no longer change the region. The DVD Region page of the Properties dialog box for the DVD drive displays the number of times you can change the region again. Use them sparingly.

Why do DVDs have regional encoding anyway? In theory, it’s to let the movie studios control the release of the movie in different countries. For example, U.S.-made movies are often released in the United States several months before they’re released in Europe, and DVDs and videos of the movie are often released in the United States while the movie is still running in Europe. Regional encoding prevents most of the Europeans from viewing the movie on DVD until it’s released with Region 2 encoding.

In practice, regional encoding also enables the distributors to charge different prices for DVDs in different countries without being undercut by imported DVDs from the least expensive regions. For example, at this writing, DVDs in Region 2 are substantially more expensive than those in Region 1, and the European Union has been investigating whether this constitutes price-fixing.

Adding a Removable Drive

The first time you plug in a removable drive or local drive, Windows displays an AutoPlay dialog box offering you choices for what to do with it. The choices Windows offers depends on the content on the drive - for example:

Import Pictures This item appears if the drive contains pictures - for example, digital photos.

View Pictures This item also appears if the drive contains pictures. You may have a choice of using Windows in other words, Explorer or Windows Media Center.

Wireless Network Setup Wizard This item appears if you’ve put the setup files for a wireless network on a USB drive. See Article 27 for details.

Open Folder to View Files This item appears if the drive contains document files such as Word documents or Excel workbooks.

Speed Up My System This item appears if the drive is of a type that Windows can use for ReadyBoost see Article 15. Select the action you want to take. If you want Windows to take this action for every device you add that contains this type of file, select the Always Do This For check box this check box names the type of content involved - for example, Always Do This for Software and Games, or Always Do This for Pictures. Then click the OK button. Windows closes the AutoPlay dialog box and takes the action you specified.

Adding a Modem

Windows automatically loads the driver for a USB modem, a PCI modem, or a PC Card modem if it can find the driver. With a serial modem, however, things are more hit and miss: If you connect the modem before powering on the computer, Windows may notice the modem and load the driver for it assuming it can find the driver. But if you connect a serial modem while the computer is running, Windows tends not to notice the modem, even if you run the Add Hardware Wizard from the Device Manager window. To force Windows to detect a serial modem, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start Control Panel. Windows opens a Control Panel window.

2.In Control Panel Home view, click the Hardware and Sound link. Windows displays a Hardware and Sound window.

3. Click the Phone and Modem Options link. Windows displays the Phone and Modem Options dialog box.

4. Click the Modems tab. Windows displays the Modems page .

5. Click the Add button, and then authenticate yourself to User Account Control. Windows launches the Add Hardware Wizard, which displays the Install New Modem screen, as shown here.

6. Make sure your modem is powered on and that no other program is using it. If Windows doesn’t know the modem is there, no program should be able to use it.

7. Clear the Don’t Detect My Modem; I Will Select It from a List check box.

8.Click the Next button. Windows attempts to detect the modem. You’ll see a notification-area pop-up message saying that Windows is installing the modem.

9. The wizard should display a screen saying that the modem installation is finished. If it does, click the Close button to close the wizard. Sometimes, however, the wizard fails to notice the modem even though Windows is installing the driver software and then displaying a notification-area pop-up saying that the modem has been installed. If this happens, cancel the wizard, and then verify that the modem appears on the Modems page of the Phone and Modem Options dialog box.

Specifying Your Location

The first time you try to use a modem, Windows displays the Location Information dialog box demanding your location information unless you’ve given it already. Specify the details: your country and region; your area code or city code; any carrier code you need to enter; any number you dial to access an outside line; and whether the phone system uses tone dialing the norm for most modern exchanges or pulse dialing. Then click the OK button. Windows closes the Location Information dialog box.

Specifying Phone and Modem Options

After you close the Location Information dialog box, Windows displays the Phone and Modem Options dialog box with the Dialing Rules page foremost. Windows provides you with a default location named My Location with the area code you specified in the Location Information dialog box. Rename this location to something descriptive for example, Home or the name of the city or town. Click the Edit button and enter the new name in the Location Name text box on the General page of the Edit Location dialog box that Windows displays. Then click the OK button. Windows closes the Edit Location dialog box. Click the OK button, and Windows closes the Phone and Modem Options dialog box. For a laptop or other computer you take traveling, you’ll probably want to create other locations as well. Article 14 discusses how to do this.

Adding a Video Card

When you install a new video card, Windows may detect it on boot-up and display the Found New Hardware Wizard so that you can install the correct driver for it. Other times, you may have to change the video driver manually by using the Update Driver Software Wizard. After installing the driver for the new video card, you usually need to restart Windows. When you log back on, Windows displays the Display Properties dialog box so that you can test and apply the screen resolution and color quality you want. See Article 3 for a discussion of how to choose a suitable screen resolution and color depth.

Adding a Monitor

Adding a monitor tends to be simplicity itself, involving only a couple of cables. But Windows often identifies a monitor simply as Plug and Play Monitor and assigns it a generic driver. This driver works well enough for undemanding programs, but to get the best performance, use the Update Driver Software Wizard to install the latest driver for your specific type of monitor. If you’re seeing corrupted images on your monitor, or if the mouse pointer doesn’t respond properly to conventional stimuli, or if DirectX isn’t working, you may need to change the graphics hardware acceleration on your computer. Only some graphics drivers allow you to change the hardware acceleration. To change the hardware acceleration, take the following steps:

1. Right-click open space on the Desktop and choose Personalize from the context menu. Windows displays the Personalization window.

2. Click the Display Settings link. Windows displays the Display Settings dialog box.

3. Click the Advanced Settings button. Windows displays the Monitor and Graphics Card Properties dialog box. This dialog box’s title bar shows the name of the monitor and the graphics card.

4.Click the Troubleshoot tab. Windows displays the Troubleshoot page.

5. If the Change Settings button is available in other words, if it’s not grayed out, click the Change Settings button, and then authenticate yourself to User Account Control. Windows displays the Display Adapter Troubleshooter dialog box, as shown here.

6. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider one notch at a time from Full or wherever you find it toward None until the problems disappear. At each setting, click the Apply button, and check your computer to see what effect the change has had.

7. When the screen seems to be behaving as it should, click the OK button. Windows closes the Monitor and Graphics Card Properties dialog box, returning you to the Display Settings dialog box.

8. Click the OK button. Windows closes the Display Settings dialog box.

Setting Up and Using Multiple Monitors

Windows Vista lets you attach multiple monitors up to 10 to your computer to increase the amount of Desktop space available to you. This feature can make both work and play much easier - but it can also lead you to loading your desk with more monitors than it can comfortably provide a footing for. This discussion of using multiple monitors concerns only desktop computers to which you can add one or more extra graphics cards. But Windows also includes a feature called DualView that lets you use multiple monitors with portable computers and graphics cards with multiple outputs. Article 14 discusses this feature. If your graphics card supports two monitors, you should have no problem setting them up. Some graphics cards support two DVI monitors, while others can drive one DVI monitor and one VGA monitor. If in doubt about your graphics card’s capabilities, consult its documentation or the manufacturer’s website. To use multiple monitors on separate graphics cards, make sure that your graphics cards work together some graphics cards don’t and that your computer’s motherboard supports multiple monitors some motherboards don’t. The monitors, by contrast, don’t need to know about each other, as each gets its own input just as if it were the only monitor attached to the computer. So any monitor should work. You can mix CRTs and LCDs provided that each graphics card you use can handle the monitor to which it’s connected. To set up multiple monitors, first get everything working to your satisfaction with one graphics card and one monitor or two, if the graphics card supports two. Then power down your computer and insert the new graphics card. You can install multiple graphics cards and monitors at a time, but unless you’re very lucky and everything works, you’ll be looking at some doubly confusing troubleshooting. Connect the second monitor, then power on everything. Don’t be surprised if the boot-up display appears on the second monitor rather than your primary one. After you log on to Windows, it should discover the new hardware, which will trigger a Found New Hardware notification-area pop-up followed by the Found New Hardware Wizard. If Windows affects not to have noticed the new hardware, run the Add Hardware Wizard manually to add the graphics card and monitor. Next, open the Display Settings dialog box: right-click the desktop, choose Personalize, and then click the Display Settings link in the Personalization window. For each monitor you want to use, select the monitor and then select the Extend the Desktop onto This Monitor check box. Once you’ve done that, let Windows know where the monitors are positioned in relation to each other by dragging the monitor icons into their relative positions. If you get confused as to which monitor is which, click the Identify Monitors button to have Windows flash up the number of each monitor on the monitor. Your primary monitor is the monitor on which Windows displays the Welcome screen. You can change the primary monitor by clicking the icon for the monitor you want to make primary and selecting the This Is My Main Monitor check box. Because only the primary monitor can perform full DirectX acceleration and run DirectX programs full screen, it’s almost always best to make your primary monitor the one that’s connected to your fastest graphics card. Set the screen resolution, color depth, and refresh rate for each monitor as usual see Article 3 for details. Once you close the Display Settings dialog box, you should have a substantially enlarged Desktop. By default, the Taskbar appears on your primary monitor, but you can drag it to any of the other monitors as you see fit. If the Taskbar is unlocked, right-click it and choose Lock the Taskbar from the context menu to unlock the Taskbar so that you can move it. Maximizing a window maximizes it for the monitor it’s currently or mostly on. You can extend a “normal” window across two or more monitors by dragging its window border to the appropriate size. Doing so can occasionally be useful when you need to see a lot of information at the same time.

Check the Hardware Compatibility List before Trying to Install Multiple Monitors

Setting up multiple monitors can be a tricky and frustrating business. With some combinations of motherboards and graphics cards, you need to install the graphics cards in the right sequence in order to get them to work. Others work fine immediately. Others never work.

Before you try to implement multiple monitors, check the Hardware Compatibility List HCL at the Microsoft website, http://www.microsoft.com, for details of the graphics cards that are known to work in multiple-monitor configurations with Windows.

Configuring Power Management

If you have a laptop computer and use it on the road, power management tends to be an important part of your computing life. You’ve probably developed strategies to maximize your battery life while traveling, such as dimming the screen or slowing down the processor when you can accept poorer performance in the interests of longevity. Article 14 discusses the features that Windows offers for portable computers. If you have a desktop computer, power management tends to be less of a concern, because leaving your computer running usually isn’t a problem. But to keep your computer healthy, to keep your or your employer’s electrical bill to a minimum, and perhaps to contribute to keeping the polar icecaps in place, it’s a good idea to configure power management on your computer. Windows offers a variety of power-management settings that let you closely manage your computer’s power consumption. The following sections discuss these options. To configure power management, open the Power Options Properties window as follows:

1. Choose Start Control Panel. Windows displays a Control Panel window.

2. Click the Hardware and Sound link. Windows displays the Hardware and Sound window.

3. Click the Power Options link. Windows displays the Power Options window . The Power Options window contains different options depending on how your computer is configured. For example, the window for laptop computers includes options such as Choose What Closing the Lid Does and Adjust the Display Brightness, which don’t appear for desktop computers. The following sections show samples of power options from different computers rather than from a single computer.

Choosing a Power Scheme

First, choose a power scheme and adjust it as necessary:

1. Open the Power Options window as discussed in the previous section.

2. In the Select a Power Plan area, select the option button for the power scheme you want to use: Balanced, Power Saver, or High Performance. Each of these schemes has preset settings for controlling whether and when the computer turns off the display, puts the computer to sleep, and adjusts the brightness of the display on a laptop computer.

3. To see what the settings for the plan are, or to change them, click the Change Plan Settings link under the option button for the power plan you’ve chosen. Windows displays the Edit Plan Settings window .

4.In the Turn Off the Display drop-down list, set the delay in minutes or hours, or Never before Windows should turn off the display or monitor. For a laptop computer, you’ll typically want to set a short delay while it’s running on battery because the display typically uses more power than any other laptop component and a longer delay while it’s plugged in.

5. In the Put the Computer to Sleep drop-down list, specify how long Windows should wait before putting the computer to sleep.

display should be while running on battery and while plugged in.

7. If you want to choose advanced power settings, click the Change Advanced Power Settings link, and then work as described in the section “Choosing Advanced Power Options,” later in this article. Otherwise, save the changes to the power scheme by clicking the Save Changes button. Windows closes the Edit Plan Settings window, returning you to the Power Options window.

Creating Your Own Power Plan

Windows’ three built-in power plans Balanced, Power Saver, and High Perrmance give plenty of flexibility for most people, especially if you customize these power plans to suit your needs. But you may want to create your own power plans to give yourself even more options.

To create a plan of your own, follow these steps:

1. In the Power Options window, click the Create a Power Plan link. Windows displays the Create a Power Plan window, as shown here.

2. Select the option button for the power plan on which you want to base your custom plan.

3. In the Plan Name text box, type the name you want to give your plan.

4. Click the Next button. Windows displays the Change Settings for the Plan window, as shown here.

5. Choose settings for turning off the display, putting the computer to sleep, and if appropriate, adjusting display brightness. For a laptop computer as in this example, choose settings for both running on battery power and running when plugged in.

6. Click the Create button. Windows creates the power plan and adds it to the Select a Power Plan list in the Power Options window. You can then use the power plan by selecting its option button.

To delete a custom power plan, click its Change Plan Settings link in the Power Options window. In the Edit Plan Settings window, click the Delete This Plan link, and then click the OK button in the Power Options dialog box that Windows displays for confirmation as shown here.

Choosing Power-Button, Lid, and Password-on-Wakeup Settings

Windows also lets you configure what happens when you press your computer’s power button or buttons, whether Windows requires the user to enter a password after waking the computer up from sleep, and what happens when you close the lid of a laptop. To choose these settings, follow these steps:

1. In the left pane of the Power Options window, click either the Require a Password on Wakeup link or the Choose What the Power Button Does link. Windows displays the System Settings window .

• If your computer has two or more power buttons, the second link is called Choose What the Power Buttons Do.

• On a laptop, you can click the Choose What Closing the Lid Does link as well.

2.Use the When I Press the Power Button drop-down list or lists to specify what the computer should do when you press the power button: Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down.

3. If the System Settings window contains a When I Press the Sleep Button drop-down list, use it to specify what the computer should do when you press the sleep button: Do Nothing, Sleep, or Hibernate.

4. For a laptop, use the When I Close the Lid drop-down lists to specify what the computer should do when you close the lid: Do Nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, or Shut Down.

5. If you want to change the settings in the Password Protection on Wakeup area, click the Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable link, and then authenticate yourself to User Account Control. Windows makes the option buttons available. Select the Require a Password option button or the Don’t Require a Password option button as appropriate.

6. Click the Save Changes button. Windows returns you to the Power Options window.

Choosing Advanced Power Options

The settings you’ve seen so far let you configure the most important power options, but Windows also lets you set advanced options. To do so, follow these steps:

1. In the Power Options window, click the Change Plan Settings link for the power plan you want to affect. Windows displays the Edit Plan Settings window.

2. Click the Change Advanced Power Settings link. Windows displays the Power Options dialog box .

3.Choose settings see the description in the following sections. If a setting you want to change is unavailable, click the Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable link, and then authenticate yourself to User Account Control.

4. If you want to choose settings for another power plan, select it in the drop-down list near the top of the dialog box, and then repeat step 3.

5. When you’ve finished choosing settings, click the OK button. Windows closes the Power Options dialog box and returns you to the Edit Plan Settings window. If you need to reset the settings in the power plan to their defaults, click the Restore Plan Defaults button. The following sections discuss the advanced power options that you can set. Which of these options is available depends on your computer’s configuration and capabilities.

Additional Settings

This category contains the Require a Password on Wakeup setting. You need to click the Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable link and authenticate yourself to User Account Control before you can change this setting. Normally, you’d set this setting in the System Settings window.