Instructor: Shayna Keces , ext. 441 Introduction to Computers and the Windows Operating System Part 2 February 2004

Agenda Handling files Using Windows Explorer Saving files Opening files Deleting files Creating shortcuts Hard drive maintenance Appendix -- customizing your desktop Further study

Handling files Organized hierarchy My Documents (equivalent of filing cabinet) Folders (drawers) (eg. House related items) Subfolders (folders within drawer, eg. Letters) Documents (eg. letter to landlord)

Windows Explorer Open from “Programs” menu or right click on “Start” button or “My Computer” and click on Explore Left-hand pane is hierarchical organization of your computer (includes folders only, no files) + means subfolders are available under heading - means all folders have been displayed Right-hand pane lists all folder or files of the highlighted folder

Saving Files Saving files for first time is “Save as” “Save” will save previously saved item in same place as before wiping out original When saving a file always remember to check that “Save in” box is correct, (i.e. my documents) Failure to change to correct folder can make it difficult to find file when needed

Hands on practice Open Internet Explorer and try to save the page on your “C” drive in a folder called “Internet Pages” inside the “My Documents Folder. Press on down arrow beside the “Save in” box to reveal the menu Click on “C”drive Double click on My documents Folder in the big white box underneath the “Save In” box so that it appears in “Save in” box

Hands on practice cont. Click on icon for Create New folder Type “Internet pages” Double click on folder labeled “Internet pages” so that “Internet pages” appears in “Save in” box Click on Box entitled “File Name” Erase what’s there and type “Sample page” Click on “Save” button

Opening files Put cursor on word “File” in file menu and click. Move down the drop-down menu to “Open” and click If you do not get the Dialog box with the “Look in” box in it, click on the box labeled “Browse” Make sure you have the correct folder in the “Look in” box and file should appear in the big white box below the “Look in” box You can also open a file by finding it in Windows Explorer and double clicking on it

Hands on practice Open the web page you saved, using Windows Explorer Open Windows Explorer by right clicking on “Start” button and select “Explore” On the left pane, select “C” drive by clicking it The content of the C drive will be displayed on the right pane Double click on the folder “My documents”

Hands on practice cont. Double click on the folder Internet pages Double click on the file with the “Internet Explorer” icon to open the web page

Deleting files Deleting files must be done from a place where a file can be highlighted (eg. Windows Explorer or the big white box when you are opening or saving files) Highlight the file you want to delete and press the delete key. You can also, if your screen is not taking up the whole screen left click on the file and drag it to the recycle bin.

Hands on practice Delete the web page you saved from the “C” drive Close Internet Explorer In Windows Explorer, highlight the file you wish to delete if it’s not already highlighted Press delete on the keyboard and click yes to delete the file

Creating Shortcuts A shortcut is a pointer to a file or program on your hard drive A shortcut can be identified by an arrow in the icon Shortcuts can be deleted without deleting the original program To create a shortcut, open Windows Explorer

Creating Shortcuts, cont Find the file or program you want to make a shortcut for and click on it once to highlight it. Then right click on the item and select “Copy” Next open the folder where you want to put the shortcut and right click again. Highlight and click on “Paste Shortcut”

Hands on practice Open Windows Explorer In the left hand pane: Click on the + sign in front of the “C” drive Click on the + sign in front of “Program Files” Double-click on the “Accessories” Folder In the right hand pane: Right-click on the icon Mspaint Left-click on “Copy”

Hands on Practice cont. In the left-hand pane click on Desktop (on the right you will see the contents of the Desktop) Right-click in the right-hand pane and left click on “Paste Shortcut” Minimize Windows Explorer and you will see you have added a shortcut for Paint to your Desktop

Hard Drive Maintenance Monthly scan of your hard drive Checks your drive for bad segments and marks them so that hard drive does not try to save things there Monthly or semi-annual defragmentation Checks to make different parts of same file are not stored in different places on hard drive (happens when files are resaved many times) in order to improve performance of hard drive

Step By Step Double-click on “My Computer” Right-click on the “C” drive Click on Properties Click on folder labeled “Tools” Click on “Check now” under “Error-checking Status” (Will take a few minutes) Click on “Defragment Now” under “Defragmentation status” (Will take at least an hour and maybe longer)

Customizing Your Desktop Windows allows you to make adjustments to your desktop Double-click on the icon “My Computer” Double-click on the icon “Control Panel” Double-click on the icon “Display” Allows you to change background and screen saver Allows you to fool around with the colours for your window panes and bars (be very careful with changes to this, as you may have to live with it

Customizing Your Desktop cont. Settings is where you change the number of colours and size of screen (usually set to optimize your monitor but some programs may require you to change the settings).

Changing Your Background/Wallpaper Click on the “Background” tab On left side is pattern that you can use instead of the standard green You can also use any other picture by saving it as bmp (bitmap) file in the Windows folder on the “C” drive Scan it or take it from internet and save it using “Paint” program Can save as bitmap directly if you have a graphics program that will do it. Can usually use right click to save as wallpaper immediately if do not need to edit.

Hands on practice Go to Altavista ( Select images tab Enter a search term in Find box Select picture size (Wide wallpaper, - 800X600) Right click on picture Left click on Set as Background

Adding a Screen Saver A screen saver produces a constantly moving screen after a computer has been idle for a certain amount of time to prevent a single image from burning itself onto the screen To access screensavers available, click on tab that says “Screen Saver” Then click on down arrow in box under the title “Screen Saver”

Adding a Screen Saver, cont. Choose the screen saver you prefer (You can see how it will look on your screen by clicking on the Preview button) To exit Preview just move your mouse. You can adjust the amount of time it will take for the screen saver to be implemented by clicking on the up and down arrows in the box beside the word “Wait”

Further Study - Books Russ, Walter. The secret guide to computers : the world's top-rated computer tutorial W Gookin, Dan. PCs for dummies G659pc 1998 Microsoft Windows 98 step by step W5cat2 Maran, Ruth. Windows 98 simplified W5mar6 Ericksen, Linda. Quick simple Microsoft Windows W5er

Further Study - Videos Microsoft Windows 98 video tutorial [videorecording] V W5n Learning Microsoft Windows 98 [videorecording] V W5Lp Teach yourself Windows 95/98 [videorecording] V W5vi Working with Windows 95. Volume 1. Getting to know the new Windows environment [videorecording] V W5v1 Volume 3. Managing your documents [videorecording] V W5v3

Further Study – Internet Sites Using Windows 98 ndows/default.asp Using computers x.asp x.asp Windows help htm htm How to use Windows Explorer indows/explorer.shtml indows/explorer.shtml