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| Windows Basics ~ PCs 101, #2 |
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This article assumes you have read and understand these other articles first: Computers 101 - #1 - Hardware & Software Basics. You may have been using THE_WINDOWS_OS for years and still get something from this. Many people don't fully understand where THE_WINDOWS_OS ends and other software begins. When you consider that THE_WINDOWS_OS costs about $250 on average, and other Microsoft programs can cost $700 or much more, misunderstanding what you have and what you need can be unneccesarily expensive. Owned by the Microsoft corporation, THE_WINDOWS_OS is an Operating System. That means it is software that is specifically designed to control and coordinate all the functions of your computer's hardware. In short, it "operates" the hardware. Microsoft also makes other well-known software like the Microsoft Office group of programs. It's important to kinow that THE_WINDOWS_OS is just one of many operating systems that can be used on a PC. It just so happens that Microsoft "Windows" is the one most commonly used by PC manufacturers, so it's the one most of us start out with. This article was written primarily for "Windows XP", but the principals apply to "Windows Vista" and even some versions of Linux. To save confusion, when we mean "Microsoft Windows, the operating system", we'll say "THE_WINDOWS_OS" in ALL CAPS. Otherwise, the word "windows" means an actual window on your screen. THE_WINDOWS_OS uses a Graphical User Interface (GUI) as a way to get commands from you and give information back to you. It just means that everything is represented to you as graphics or pictures. You click, double-click, right-click, drag and more to input various commands. Since everything in THE_WINDOWS_OS is done this way, understanding the GUI gives you the ability to find your way in any task. - POINT AND CLICK BASICS Clicking: When we say "click" we are talking about a single-click of the left mouse button. "Double-click" means to click the left button twice rapidly. "Right-click" is a single-click of the right button. If we mean double or right-click, we'll say so, otherwise, "click" means just a single, left click. It is very important to be very careful and deliberate with the mouse. Clicking on the wrong thing or moving randomly while clicking can have rather mysterious and interesting results. Dragging: This is done by clicking and holding a mouse button and then moving the mouse while holding the button. It has the visual effect of dragging the item with the mouse. Almost anything can be moved by dragging. Items can even be dragged from one window to another ("Drag and Drop"). Be extremely careful doing this unless you know exactly what will happen. Moving a critical file to the the wrong place can be a disaster. - THE_WINDOWS_OS GUI BASICS Desktop: Let's start at the beginning. You've turned on your PC and THE_WINDOWS_OS is running. You are looking at a picture of possibly a flowing green field under a blue sky with the word START at the bottom-left corner. The picture may be different or just a plain color. This is the "Desktop" which means that there is nothing "on" it or showing. The desktop is what is left after all other items are closed or just not showing. The picture that is shown is referred to as the "Wallpaper" and can be changed to any picture or color. Icons: Your desktop most likely has little pictures on it called "Icons". An icon is just a symbol that represents something in the computer. It could be a program, a file, a folder or a command. Just about anything can be shown as an icon. Most icons are not actually the item they appear to be, but are in fact a "Shortcut" to the item. Double-clicking the shortcut icon will open or start the item just the same. Shortcut icons usually have a tiny white square with a black arrow in it's bottom-left corner. Taskbar: The bar across the bottom of your screen is called the "taskbar". It's made up of the START button at it's left end, the task area in the middle and the "System Tray" at it's right end. The task area shows a button for each window you have open. The system tray shows the system clock and special little icons that show important information. START Menu: Click that big START button to open the START Menu. They call it that because most things can be started from this menu. The funny thing is that this is also where you go to turn the computer off. Lots of jokes have been told about this odd little feature. Generally, everything can be found here, so if you can't find it, check the START Menu first. In the START menu, you will see a list of shortcuts for all the programs on your system as well as special system icons that represent various controls, tasks, folders and files. You will also see the most frequently used programs that you have clicked on in the past. Most menus will automatically expand a sub-menu when you point to an item that has other items within it. My Documents: This folder is created for you when THE_WINDOWS_OS is first setup. THE_WINDOWS_OS can have many user accounts and each one gets their own My Documents folder. It is the intended location for you to keep all your data. Whenever you save something, it should go here. Click My Documents to open it. Folder Windows versus Program Windows: When you open a folder, THE_WINDOWS_OS shows a list of it's contents in a "window" above or visually on top of the desktop wallpaper. THE_WINDOWS_OS also shows a button for each window on the taskbar for easy access. All folder windows will look the same based on your current settings. They have a blue bar at the top showing a little icon with the title of the window at the left and a red "X" at the right. Likewise, when you start a program it will usually show in a window similar to a folder window. The difference is that the program controls the window and how it behaves instead of THE_WINDOWS_OS. A program window's title bar usually shows the name of the file being viewed followed by the name of the program. Viewing Files: All files require a program to open, so you are actually looking at a program window. Most files can be opened by double-clicking them or their shortcut directly. THE_WINDOWS_OS then starts the associated program for it automatically. For instance, if you double-click a text file (with .txt at the end), THE_WINDOWS_OS will start the "Notepad" program to view the text file. Notepad is a small program that comes included with THE_WINDOWS_OS. Most operating systems come with programs to view the common types of files, such as a the "Internet Explorer" browser to view webpages (files with .html and others), "Paint" for basic image editing and drawing, and "Outlook Express" for sending and receiving email. Contrary to popular belief, "Microsoft Office" including "Word", "Excel", "PowerPoint", "Outlook" (full version) and others does not come free with THE_WINDOWS_OS. If any of these programs are on your computer, you paid at least $169 for it, perhaps hidden in the price of your PC. Selecting Text & Items Sometimes, you want to do something to more than one item. This requires that you select the items which highlights them in a different color. There are many ways to select multiple items, but we'll go over the simplest ways for the two most common tasks; text editing and moving items. When editing text, it is frequently easier to keep one's hands on the keyboard rather than using the mouse at the same time. The arrow keys along with the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys make selecting text very easy by holding the shift key while using them. Try this: Click START and find Notepad in your Start Menu and click it to start Notepad with an empty text file open. In Notepad, you can type anything you like. Once you have typed something, practice selecting. While holding either shift key down, move the cursor left or right using the arrow keys to highlight some text. Once it is selcted, you can Cut it by holding CTRL down while pressing X (CTRL-X). It's now on the clipboard ready for pasting. Move your cursor to any other location by pressing the arrow keys without the shift key held. Then Paste the text that you cut by holding CTRL while pressing V. To Copy the text, use CTRL-C. As you can see, these combinations give you lots of ways to edit text. As you might gather, pressing SHIFT-HOME highlights from your cursor position all the way to the leftmost beginning of the line, and SHIFT-END does same to the right end. SHIFT-PAGEUP selects everything back to the beginning of the current page, and so SHIFT-PAGEDOWN selects to the end of the page. It's also good to know that you can reverse any action by pressing CTRL-Z to "Undo." To move and copy icons, files and other objects, it is usually easiest to use the mouse. This is best done by drawing a box around the items by dragging a diagonal line from one corner of the box you want to create to the opposite corner. Try it on your desktop now by drawing an imaginary box around some icons. You should actually see the box as you drag your mouse and be able to select items inside the box. To select more than one group of items, you can press CTRL to add items to the selection without losing the previously selected items. Practice is the only way to fully understand selecting multiple items, just be careful that you practice on unimportant items. Cut, Copy & Paste One of the most powerful and popular features of any operating system is the ability to duplicate and move things around. "Cut" refers to removing one or more items from one place so they can be put elsewhere. "Copy" duplicates the items to the new place while leaving the original untouched. "Paste" is the final placement of the items. To move something, it is "Cut" from it's original location and then you use "Paste" to put it into the new location. To duplicate items, you use "Copy" instead of "Cut" and then use "Paste" to put a duplicate into the new location, leaving the original where it was. There are many ways to use Cut, Copy & Paste. The easiest that works anywhere is to Right-Click any item, click Cut or Copy, and then go to the new location, right click the background or click EDIT from the menu at the top, and click Paste. If both locations are in view, items can usually be dragged from one place to another. To be sure if it's being Cut or Copied, you should Right-Drag items to see options for the move. When you Cut or Copy something, it goes to a hidden place called "the clipboard." The system uses it as a holding place for anything waiting to be pasted. Learning to use the clibboard creatively can give you great power and control over your system. You can even copy what you see on your screen by holding the ALT key while pressing "Print Screen / SysReq" to copy the current view to the cliboard. You can then paste the image into any image editor program. But that is for another course. Window Control Buttons: Most windows have 3 control buttons at the top-right corner. They are (from left to right) "Minimize", "Maximize/Restore" and "Close". Point your mouse at them to see the name. The minimize button removes the window from the desktop, but leaves the button for it in the taskbar. Clicking that button will then restore the window back into view. The maximize/restore button will either maximize the window forcing it to fill the entire desktop or restore it back to it's previous size. The red "X" is the close button and does just that. A folder window is simply closed by it. A program window being closed usually shuts down that program which may result in data loss if you have not saved. Usually, you should only use the red "X" close button as a last resort and only if there is no other method of closing the window. Moving & Resizing Windows: When you point your mouse at the very edge of a window, your pointer will change to an arrow pointing in two different directions. You can drag that point in either direction to move that edge or corner of the window thereby resizing it. Dragging the blue title bar at the top of a window will move the whole window. - WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK IT OUT Right-Click EVERYTHING!: Almost everything in THE_WINDOWS_OS can be right-clicked to get a list of options. Right-Dragging will also give a list of how to handle the move. The list will tell you what can be done with the item. In the list, you will usually see "Properties". The properties of an item control how the system will show and manage that item. Be very careful in the properties controls because improper settings can cause serious problems. Getting Help: THE_WINDOWS_OS has a built-in help system that can at times be maddening, but sometimes can actually help. Always try it first to find your answer. These basics should enable you to get around your system to start the real learning. If all else fails, call your PC tech before you do anything you might regret. If you are ready, test your knowledge with this quiz.
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