11 Windows Control Panel This learning module is entitled, “The Windows Control Panel.” This lesson introduces you to several dialogs within the Control Panel, and discusses how certain Control Panel options may affect your computer’s overall performance and the way JAWS responds, depending on how these options are set. The Control Panel is a place you may wish to visit because it allows you direct access and control over many of the systems in your computer. My focus is on the Desktop and I have one program running, which is JAWS. You can open the Control Panel by opening the Start menu. Open the Start menu by pressing the WINDOWS KEY, then select the Settings sub-menu by pressing S, and there you will find the Control Panel menu option. Press ENTER to open the Control Panel. jaws says: enter. List view. Not selected… JAWS announced that I’ve landed in a list view and the first item is unselected. You also heard the number of items in your Control Panel. Remember, each computer may have a different number of items, so yours may be different than what you heard on the tape just now. The selections vary depending on operating systems and the software you have installed on your machine. Because this is a list view, the main areas of the Control Panel are arranged alphabetically. Before I give you a tour of the Control Panel, I want to make one adjustment, to maximize this window. You can maximize the window by opening the application control menu and selecting the maximize option. I will press ALT+SPACEBAR now. jaws says: alt space. Menu active. Restore unavailable. To move through items, press up or down arrow. r. Next, I'll press the letter X to select the maximize menu item and maximize the Control Panel. This will also close the menus. jaws says: leaving menus. Now our window is maximized. Remember the items you find in your Control Panel are here because you can investigate and/or make direct changes to the various components and systems that make up your computer. The first item in my Control Panel is Accessibility Options. To hear the description for accessibility options, I simply press the JAWS key command to say line, which is INSERT+UP ARROW. I’ll press this key now. jaws says: Accessibility options... So here, you can make changes related to accessibility issues, such as making modifications to your mouse, keyboard, or visual notices in place of sounds for individuals with hearing loss. I'll now point out three other areas within the Control Panel that you might find useful. On your own, you may want to go through the list one-by-one and hear the description on each item. I’m going to use first-letter navigation to move to the next item I’d like to show you. That’s the date and time item. I’m going to press the letter D to move to that item now. jaws says: d date slash time. I’ll press enter to open the date and time dialog now. jaws says: enter. Press INSERT+H for helpful keystrokes… The date and time properties dialog is a multi-level-tab dialog box. The first page that we land on is the date and time tab page. The second page, which is the time zone tab page, allows us to make changes to the current time zone that we’re in. The third page is Internet time. Remember, you can change from page to page in a multi-level-tab dialog box by pressing CONTROL+TAB. Sometimes you will simply keep going in a circle and land back on the first tab page. However, in some of these dialog boxes you may have to press SHIFT+CONTROL+TAB to cycle backwards through multi-level-tab dialog boxes that don’t wrap automatically. OK, our focus is on the date and time page. If you are not there, press CONTROL+TAB now to get to this tab page. The first control on this page is a combo box that allows us to make changes to the month. I can navigate this combo box by pressing the DOWN or UP ARROW keys, or by pressing the first letter of the month that I’d like to go to. I’ll demonstrate that for you. I’m going to press the letter S to move to September. jaws says: S. September. Note, if jaws does not speak, you may have to press the say line keystroke, insert up arrow. I don’t want to leave it on September, so I’ll press J to move back to January. Since there are three months that start with the letter J you may have to press that letter several times. The point I want to make here is that it is very easy to move to a specific month by using first letter navigation. I’m going to press TAB to move to the next control. jaws says: tab. Year. Date edit spinbox. And here’s the year. If I wanted to change the year, I could use the up or down arrow key to move it back or forward, one year at a time. I’m going to press TAB to move to the next control. jaws says: tab. Calendar… This control is a picture of a calendar. You can use your up or down arrow key to move back or forward a week, or use your left and right arrow to move a day at a time. I’m going to press TAB to move to the next control. jaws says: tab. Hour twelve. To set the value, use the arrow keys or type the value. We’ve landed in the first control that makes up the clock. You can adjust the hours, minutes, seconds, and whether it’s am or pm separately. To make adjustments in each one of these edit fields, you use the up and down arrow key. I’m going to press TAB twice to let you hear some of these controls. jaws says: tab. Minute… TAB. Second… I’m going to press ALT+F4 to close this dialog box because I don’t want to make any changes to the date or time right now. If you wanted to change your date or time, after making those changes, you would press the tab key to move to the OK button and press the spacebar to activate it. jaws says: ALT+F4. Control Panel, list view. Date slash time… We’ve returned to the Control Panel list view. And once again, our focus is on the date and time. Some of the items in the Control Panel you may never use. I’m going to show you two other items within the Control Panel that you might find interesting. The first is Sounds. I’m going to move to Sounds by repeatedly pressing the letter S. jaws says: S. Scanners and cameras. S. Scheduled tasks. S. Sounds and audio devices. Remember, since we’re in a list view, we can hear the description for this Sounds item. I’m going to press the JAWS command to say current line, insert+up arrow. jaws says: Changes the sound scheme… The Sounds control is something that you may want to take advantage of because it can provide some valuable audio feedback when certain system or program events occur. Let’s press enter to go into the sounds and audio devices properties dialog box. Discuss… The last item I’d like to show you is Display. I’m going to press the letter D until I hear Display. D. Date slash time. D. Desktop themes. D. Display. This option allows us to make changes to our Display. Discuss… We’re finished with our exploration of the Control Panel for now. However, if you would like to stop the tape and explore the Control Panel on your own using the detailed list, please do so now. I’m going to close the Control Panel window by pressing ALT+F4 now. ALT F4. Task bar. To move through items, press LEFT or RIGHT ARROW. End of "An Introduction to Windows, Section Five."