One of the most common windows used by technicians is the control panel window. A control panel is a method for configuring various Windows components. Each control panel icon represents a Windows utility that allows you to customize a particular part of the Windows environment. The number of control panels displayed depends on the type of computer and the components contained within the computer. Windows XP has two control panel views-classic and category. Figure XP-3 shows the Windows XP control panel category view.

The following exercises will help familiarize you with several control panel categories. The goal of this exercise is to make you able to use the appropriate control panels to configure a mouse, keyboard, and enable disabilities options. A computer with Windows XP installed is required.

1. Turn on the computer and verify that the operating system loads.

2 . Log on to Windows XP using the use rid and password provided by the instructor or lab assistant.

3. Click on the Start button and select the Control Panel option. Pick a Category should display in the right window. If it does not. click on the Switch to Category View option in the left pane.

4 . Click on the Printers and other Hardware control panel category. Click on the Keyboard icon. The Keyboard Properties window appears.

5. Click on the Speed tab. The Keyboard Properties window contains two tabs-Speed and Hardware. The Speed tab has three settings: repeat delay, repeat rate, and cursor blink rate.

6. The Repeat delay option configures the duration of wait time before a key starts repeating. This is especially important for people who do not type well or who have to use a device such as a pencil to press keys down. The Repeat rate is an adjustment for how fast characters repeat across the screen. The Cursor blink rate controls how many times the cursor blinks per second; Adjust each of these settings and test them using the Click here and hold down a key to test repeat rate area.

7.Configure the keyboard settings back to their original configuration.

8.Click on the Hardware tab. The Hardware tab is used to access the keyboard troubleshooting wizard and the keyboard driver. Click on the Properties button.

9. Click on the Driver tab. The Update driver button is used to load a new keyboard driver. Click on the Cancel button twice and return to the Printers and Other Hardware control category window.