Starting one of the Office applications loads that program and its tools into your computer system’s RAM (working memory) so that you can begin working. If you’ve started an application in Windows XP or Windows Vista before, you’ll probably be able to find the startup commands for the Office applications and load the program of your choice on your own (but skip ahead in this section for a new trick that applies in Vista).

Otherwise, use these steps to start an Office application in either Windows XP or Windows Vista:

1. Click the Start button at the left end of the Windows taskbar. The taskbar appears along the bottom of the Windows desktop. The Start menu opens.
2. Click All Programs. A list of available programs appears. In XP, it appears as a submenu of the Start menu. In Vista, the list appears in the left column of the Start menu.
3. Click Microsoft Office. The available Office programs appear.
4. Click the desired Office program (Figure 1-12). The program window appears onscreen.

Some applications automatically open a new, blank file when you start them. Others prompt you to create a new file. Outlook automatically displays personal folder information, whereas OneNote opens the notebook page that you last worked with.

Vista provides you with a quick-and-dirty way to start any application, including the Office applications, as follows:

1. Click the Start button on the taskbar. The Start menu opens with the blinking insertion point in the Start Search text box at the bottom of the menu.
2. Type all or part of the name of the application you want to start. As shown in Figure 1-13, a list of matching applications (and files with the typed information in them) appears.
3. Click the desired Office program. The program window appears onscreen.

You also can create a desktop shortcut icon to use for program startup. To do so, drag the application name from the Start menu to the desktop. A shortcut icon will appear. You then can double-click that icon to start the program.

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