Overview of Windows 95 Mobile Computing Features

Windows 95 eliminates many of the hardware and software configuration steps previously required when switching to or from a portable computer. Windows 95 uses hardware profiles to determine which drivers to load if the system hardware changes when you move to a new site. For more information, see Chapter 19, "Devices."

Users can be productive away from the office by using the following Windows 95 mobile computing tools:

• Briefcase allows users to update documents on a portable computer with source documents on a desktop computer or network as described later in this chapter.
• Microsoft Exchange provides remote access to electronic mail. For information, see Chapter 26, "Electronic Mail and Microsoft Exchange."
• Microsoft Fax allows users to remotely send and receive faxes. For more information, see Chapter 27, "Microsoft Fax."
• Deferred printing allows users to generate print jobs when a physical printer is not available. For more information, see Chapter 23, "Printing and Fonts."
• Direct Cable Connection allows users to connect a portable computer to a desktop computer to synchronize files and share other resources as described earlier in this chapter.

Other mobile computing tools, such as the following, help users manage a portable computer's limited battery power and disk space:

• With Advanced Power Management, users can use the battery indicator on the taskbar and a Suspend command on the Start menu to save power without turning off computer.
• With DriveSpace, users can free space on their portable computer's hard disk drive and floppy disks by compressing them. For more information, see Chapter 20, "Disks and File Systems."
• With Microsoft Exchange, users can view the headers of mail messages before deciding whether to download, preventing unnecessary messages from taking up disk space. For more information, see Chapter 26, "Electronic Mail and Microsoft Exchange."
• With Quick View, users can view the contents of a file in Windows Explorer by right-clicking a file icon. For information, see Chapter 22, "Application Support."