The Windows 7 help system is the best of all Windows versions

Windows 7 Help System

Windows 7 comes with the best Help system that has ever shipped with any version of Windows. It even has online components that you can refer to for the latest information on features. With the Help system, you can:

Locate specific help. Find help for nearly any topic.
Follow task tutorials. They guide you step by step through all sorts of procedures.
Search the Microsoft Windows 7 communities. All you need is an Internet connection.
Scan tips and tricks. Get help from Windows experts.
View the latest headlines. Read all about new Windows 7 features.

Displaying Help

The two methods of displaying Help within Windows itself are

Press F1 while on your desktop. Click anywhere on your desktop and then press the F1 key to load the top-level Windows Help system window. When you're using a program, pressing F1 displays the Help system for that program.
Click Help and Support from the Start menu. It's another neat function of the Start menu.

Specific help

After the Windows 7 Help and Support window displays, feel free to click any of the links to display the corresponding topic. However, you usually visit the Help system to search for specific help on a Windows feature or command. To search for a word or phrase within Help, follow these three steps:

Click within the Search Help box, at the top of the Help and Support window.
Type the word or phrase you want to search for and then press Enter. The fewer words you enter, the better the chance of getting a match that addresses your topic. The Help system hums happily to itself for a few seconds and then displays a results page.
To display the information in a topic, click the topic name.

Some steps have links, which you can click to open the dialog box or window in question or run the program mentioned in the Help text. To move backward through Help topics to where you started, click the Back button on the toolbar in the upper-left corner of the Help window. Some search results return technical articles - consider them Tips for Technonerds - that relate to the topic you found. Technical articles can include bug fixes, workarounds, or just explanations of what precisely is happening when you use a Windows feature.

Windows 7 assistance

If you can't find what you're looking for within the Help system, you can turn to Microsoft for direct support. In the bottom-left corner of the top-level Help menu, click the More Support Options button. Unless you have a very knowledgeable friend who has already mastered the Windows Remote Assistance feature of Windows 7, I strongly urge you to avoid using this option.

This process involves your friend connecting to your computer over the Internet and gaining control of Windows 7 - with all the possible nastiness that entails. I recommend that you turn to Microsoft support instead. If you lost your Internet connection or you don't have an e-mail address, naturally you can also contact Microsoft for support by telephone - at least for now. The number is always included in your Windows 7 installation documentation.

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