Lecturer: Dalia Mirghani Foundation year Lec.1: Practical Exploring Windows 7 Computer For Health Sciences COMP101 Lecturer: Dalia Mirghani Year : 2016/2017

Microsoft windows Environment Microsoft created the Windows operating system in the mid-1980s. Over the years, there have been many different versions of Windows but the most recent ones are Windows Vista (2007), Windows 7 (2009), and Windows 8 (2012). Windows comes preloaded on most new PCs, which helps to make it the most popular operating system in the world.

Explore Windows 7 features:

Desktop Taskbar Window Icon Windows 7 Desktop Desktop Icons Let’s begin our study of Windows 7 with some definitions. These definitions apply to all computer systems ,so they are worthwhile to understand. The operating system is a software application that controls the activities of the computer. Behind the scenes ,it accepts input from devices, such as the keyboard and mouse, and directs output to the monitor and speakers. It keeps track of your files and folders on storage devices, such as disk drives and flash drives. It provides security for your computer system. It communicates with the other software applications you have on your computer and enables them to work together. The desktop is the screen that displays once you have turned on the computer and responded to prompts for your user name and password. This is your workspace. It is where you manage tasks on the computer. Your software opens on the desktop. You manipulate your files and folders on the desktop. The taskbar provides you with access to the software applications, enables you to move between the applications, and gives you access to system resources. It is a horizontal bar that appears at the bottom of the screen. A window is a space on the desktop representing a program, system resource, or data. Multiple windows can be open at one time, working independently as well as together. For instance, if you write a report on the latest sales for your company, you will open a spreadsheet and copy the net profit directly from the spreadsheet into the report document. Windows can be moved around the desktop, minimized to take up less space, and maximized to fill the desktop. Icons are small pictures that represent programs, files, folders, or other things on the desktop. Objects with the same characteristics, like file folders, have the same icon. Software icons are unique so that you can quickly find the software application. Don’t worry if the desktop you see in your office or at school is different than the one you have at home. Computers have unique configurations of installed programs and files. Windows 7 enables you to create a desktop environment with which you are comfortable by adding or removing icons that fit your needs. Start button Taskbar

The Start menu, accessed with a click on the Start button, lists the programs, folders and utility applications that are available on your computer. System folders Programs Control Panel The Start menu, accessed with a click on the Start button, lists the programs, folders and utility applications that are available on your computer. The Start menu is divided into panes, with similar items grouped on a pane. The left pane displays a list of programs that you commonly access on the computer. This gets you going quickly if you need one of these applications. If you use Microsoft Word consistently, it will appear on this list. Programs that you don’t use as frequently are accessed when you point to All Programs on the left pane. The right pane accesses your system folders, such as Documents, Pictures and Music. You open and adjust your system settings from this pane, using the Control Panel. You also log off, shut down, and get help using the right pane of the Start menu. Below the left pane, the Search box enables you to type keywords to complete searches for files or folders on your computer. Searching will be covered in a later slide in this presentation. Help and Support All Programs Shut down Search box Start button

Windows 7 uses a group of features called Aero Features Windows 7 uses a group of features called Windows Aero: Snap Peek Shake Flip

Snap: A quick way to resize and compare windows on your desktop.

Peek Peek gives you the power of X-ray vision. Simply point to the end of the taskbar and watch open windows instantly turn transparent, revealing all your hidden icons and gadgets.

Peek gives you the power of X-ray vision.

Shake When your desktop is cluttered with open windows, you can use Shake to select a single window and close the rest. Click on the top of the window you want to focus on, Shake it and the rest of the windows will disappear. Simply Shake the window again and the closed windows will reappear.

desktop is cluttered with open windows.

Flip Flip and Flip 3D are two more ways you can preview your open windows. Press and hold the Alt key and then press Tab to open the Flip view of your open windows. While still pressing the Alt key, you can Flip through the open windows by pressing the Tab key. Stop on the window you want to open and it will appear on the full screen

Flip

Flip 3D Press and hold the Windows key and then press Tab for a 3D version of Flip. Use the Tab key or Arrow keys to Flip through your open windows.

More windows 7 features:

Access a jump list Jump lists take you right to the documents, pictures, songs or websites you turn to each day.

Customize the Desktop You can right-click the Desktop and select Personalize. Themes Just as you can rearrange the items on your desk, you can customize your desktop to make it uniquely suited to your tastes. The screen saver, a series of moving pictures that appears when your computer has been idle for a period of time, along with background and window color, are selected from the Personalization window. Right-click on an empty portion of the desktop and select Personalize to open this window. The Desktop Backgrounds include built-in categories or you may select a personal picture from a folder on your computer. Many people enjoy placing family photos or pet photos on the background of their desktop. Likewise the screen saver, which provides privacy for your open files on the computer when you are away from your desk, is changed with built-in screen savers. The color of the borders of your windows is another change that you can make to your desktop. You can mix your own colors and change the intensity of the colors as desired. Different themes are built-in, downloaded from online theme libraries, or created by you. These change the desktop background, window color, sounds and screen saver all at one time. Desktop Background Window Color Screen Saver

Gadgets (Sidebar) Gadgets are programs that run on your desktop so that you can see information at a glance. Gadgets can give you information about the weather, date & time, news, traffic and more.

The Notification Area

Some Windows 7 Accessories Calculator To use the Windows 7 Calculator accessory, 1- Click the Start button, 2- Type calc, and 3- Click Calculator in the search results. The Calculator appears on your desktop.

Snipping Tool The Snipping Tool captures all or part of the computer display screen as a picture. You can save the picture and attach it to an e-mail or paste the picture into a document. 

The painter The Paint window opens. You draw on the canvas by simply clicking and dragging your mouse or using the brushes.

Sound Recorder If your computer has a microphone, you can record audio notes or reminders to yourself with the Sound Recorder accessory.

Sticky Notes To use Sticky Notes — an accessory that puts yellow notes directly on your computer’s desktop 

WordPad WordPad, always handy for basic word-processing, just got better. More formatting options, such as highlighting, bullets, line breaks, and new colors—along with picture insertion and zoom—make WordPad a surprisingly powerful tool.

For more Windows 7 features please visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features

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