Windows

 

I) Basic Windows Skills

A) Taskbar

B) How to start a program 

C) What is a window

D) How to move from program to program

E) Features of menus that allow you to control things

F) How to turn off computer

G) Window’s Help files

 

II) Taskbar

       A) Runs across bottom of screen

       B) Time is on right of bar and Start is on left

       C) Contains icons that allow you to do work on computer

       D) Taskbar may be hidden except when arrow is over it

       E) To make it be there all the time, which is a good idea if you are a beginner—Start > Settings > Taskbar > unclick Autohide

                   

III) Starting a program

A)  Click Start button at left side of Taskbar

B)   Brings up a series of cascading menus

C)   Programs > Folders > Subfolders

D)  Folders within folders—move around menu then click to open the program you want

 

IV) Basic ingredients of all windows programs

A)  Every program opens up in its own window

B)   Title bar

1) Blue area at top of window

2) Has title of program occurring in the window

3) Has a small icon that stands for the program—every program has its own unique icon—even software that you install—icons represent programs

 

C) Windows can be moved

1) To move window put mouse arrow in title bar and drag

2) As you move it, it becomes a grey ghost

3) Let up mouse button to drop into new place

D) Windows can be made smaller and larger 

1) Minimize button (-) sign in upper right-hand corner

2) Program is stored on the taskbar—can have dozens of program buttons on taskbar

3) Push the button with the program’s name and its icon on the taskbar and it will enlarge

E) Windows can be made to fill up the whole screen—hit maximize button (square) in upper right corner

F) Windows can be restored to not being in full screen view (“normal” size)—it’s the icon in upper right-hand corner with two boxes

G) Windows can be made to be any size you want by pulling mouse over edge to become two-headed arrow—then drag and drop into new place

H) Windows can be closed

1) Click the “x” button in the upper right-hand corner on the title bar

2) Once closed no longer occupying memory, which means you’re making additional memory available—things will run smoothly if they were getting choppy

 

V) Moving from window to window

A)  Example of a way to use this—could open a window that lets you play an audio CD while playing solitaire

B)   You have a foreground (active) window and a background (inactive) window—foreground window usually has a blue line across the top and background window is usually greyed out

C)   Three ways to move between windows

1)    Click a program’s button on taskbar to bring up the program you want to use

2)    Click on the window you want to move to

3)    Toggle from one window to another—hold down the ALT key and hit the TAB key—a box will come up—lift the TAB key when the grey box is around the icon of the window you want to make active

 

VI) Feature of menus that allow you to control them

A)  Menus appear in grey bar right under task bar (menu bar)

B)   Click on one of menus—something that is referred to as a drop down menu will appear

C)   There is a menu underlined on each menu word—push ALT and the letter and it will be a way of choosing that command

D)  Put the mouse arrow over the command you want and click it

E)   Undo command—click Edit on menu bar—in many programs Undo will appear on drop down menu—puts things back the way they were before your last action

F)   Click file menu and you will find Print, Save and Exit commands

G)  Ellipses—means a dialog box will come up instead of having something occur automatically-- you will be able to choose what you want to happen and click OK (click cancel if you change your mind)

H)   Options means “Here’s how I fix software up to suit my purposes”)—3 ways to choose—and then click OK to make it so

1)    Empty circle—you can click in one—forces you choose only one option

2)    Boxes into which you can type numbers or words

3)    Check boxes that allow you to choose more than one option

 

VII) Closing your computer

A)  Close every window, including those stored on your taskbar, before you close computer—can click X in right-hand corner or go File > Exit on menu bar)

B)   Go to Start button on taskbar and choose Shut Down (either click in circles next to it or use tab key to move to it)

C)   If you’re having a problem and need to clear and start over, choose “Restart” instead of “Shut down”—your computer will shut partially down and then come immediately on again

 

VIII) Windows Help System

A)  How to access

1) Press F1 key

2) Help menu—click Help on menu bar and will get commands Windows has put in for the program you’re using

B)   Help displays in three ways

1)    Selecting a topic (Contents tab)

2)    Selecting an index (Index tab)

3)    Searching for specific terms (Search tab)     

C)   Click a topic or subtopic and answer will occur on right side of screen

D)  Help is step-by-step recipe style

E)   Hot words—if you click on a colored word, another screen (called a pop-up window) will show up—click background to make the pop-up window disappear

F)   To print instructions, Right-click and choose Print

G)  Some systems have Web Help command to help you get information off Internet

H)   First time you use help you might get the Find setup wizard—would recommend you leave the selection already chosen for you and then choose Next