U3A Computing Beginners Class Leader – Brian Moore Week 2 of 10 weeks. Mondays 4:15 to 5:45 pm

Today Switch on, Logging in using your personal accounts. Exploring Windows. Starting programs. This course will be using Windows XP. Those that have the newer Vista or Windows 7 should not worry too much, all the feature of XP are in. Vista and Windows 7 have more “Bells & Whistles” Also I will be using Office 2007 Programs. This is quite a change over Office Perhaps it’s time to change if that's what you have. My Documents & My Computer.

Starting up Here at Thomas More the computers are normally switched on already. You will need to switch on the monitor – a small switch underneath about 1” right of middle. You will now be at a screen showing Terms and Condition, left click on OK. Then Login with Username from my list and Password u3a.monday. OK on any other annoying screens. Most home computers with only one user account do not need Login.

Computer screen after logon After warning messages have been cleared

Explore Windows XP The Main Blue area is called the DESKTOP with Icons to start some programs. At home you can add your own picture. (But not here) The lowest line is called the TASKBAR. At the left is START and it gives access to all Windows features. Show it. Next is the QUICK LAUNCH which is the easiest way to start programs. Normally has Internet Explorer. On the right is the TRAY NOTIFICATION area and finally a Digital Clock.

What is a “Window” IT’s when you see a program or file. Its size can be changed by mouse drag, made full size or minimized. Show this. When you have several open you need to be able to select which you are viewing. Two ways = 1) Click on the one required on the Task Bar. 2) Use ALT & TAB. Hold down the ALT key just left of the space bar and at the same time press the TAB key until you get to the Window required. Show this.

Files and Folders Everybody has their own space on a computer to keep their own documents. It’s called MY DOCUMENTS and can be accessed by double clicking on its icon on the desktop top LHS or from the Start Menu. Think of it as a filing cabinet (The Computer) which has draws (My Documents), Folders (even Folders in Folders) and pieces of paper (Files). Folders are shown in Yellow and can contain yet more Folders, and Files.

Detail on My Documents The very top line in dark blue shows exactly where you are looking at. Next is File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help. File – is not much interest at the moment. Edit – contains Cut, Copy, Paste & Select All. These are the main way to move files & folders around. This needs care & practice, we will do shortly in a practical. View – Tiles is the default. I find Details useful as it allows you to sort. Favorites, Tools, Help – leave for now.

My Documents Explorer Bar At this point it best if we Left click on – View, then Explorer Bar, then Folders. Now a 2 nd Pane appears at the left which shows all the Folders and if you click on any one, its contents. This makes finding ones way around easier. Use the little + in a box to expand a folder and then if selected the RH pane will show its contents. At home this can be directly started by – Start, All Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer. But not here.

More on My Documents Standard Folders in My Documents are My Pictures, My Music, My Videos etc. Files are shown in an icon type which depicts the file type. I.E. a icon with W in the top LHS is a Word document – a letter. Selecting many Files using Shift & Ctrl. In a long list you can select the first folder or file then if you hold down the shift key and click further down it will select all in between. If instead you hold down the Ctrl key then only the files clicked on will be selected.

Renaming a group of files Something for the more experienced. If you want to rename a list of files with little effort do the following. Select the files to rename. Use Shift as explained. All but the last become light grey, the last dark blue ie selected. Type the new name, and then press ENTER. This last file will change to the new name and *** All the rest will change to the new name but made unique by the addition of (1,2,3 etc) ****

More Mouse actions While we are in My Documents it’s a god time to learn more Mouse actions. A LH single click on a folder or file will select it and it will turn blue. Now any other action i.e. copy will work on this. A LH Double click will do something. If a folder it will enter it and shows its contents. If a file it will try to run it. EG if it’s a Word document Word will open and show its content. A RH single click will open a sub menu of possible actions or information.

Mouse Continued Drag - keep the left button down while moving the mouse. Used for resizing, drawing and similar jobs. Drag and drop - drag an object and release the left button when it is in the right place. Used for moving objects. An “Object” is a fancy word for any icon file or folder. You have to be very careful to keep the LH button pressed until the right time.

My Computer Run from the Desktop or Start, like My Documents. Shows documents but also “Hard Disk Drives” (only at home). Here under My Computer you will see D: P: S: V: X: They are called “MAP Drives”. You will need to use “Shared Area (S:)”, Folder U3A, then U3A – Monday Group. This will be shown as S:\U3A\U3A - Monday Group. It contains files to be used by the whole class. Ignore the others.

Practical – Mouse Training for any new starters Get an assistant to help. Logon with your Username from the sheet provided. The Password = “u3a.monday” If you made a note last week use this. To start the mouse training program run the Program MousetutorBnoPaint.pps It is in S:\U3A\U3A – Monday Group\WK 1

Practical – Starting My Computer Run My Computer by = On the Desktop double LH click on “My Computer”. Then as explained earlier Left click on – View, then Explorer Bar, then Folders to show the left Pane. Look at “Shared Area (S:)” and “Drill” down by LH clicking on the small + to S:\U3A\U3A - Monday Group.

Practical – My computer Practice methods of selecting many Files using Shift & Ctrl with the mouse LH click. Copy some files and folders to your My Documents. Please be careful not to change S: in any way! So use copy, NOT cut. See next slide.

Copy Practice In the left pane go to and select WK 4. In Edit select Copy. Then go to My Documents and in Edit select Paste. The WK 4 files will then be copied here. Then in My Documents/WK4 practice moving and copying objects (Files and Folders). Move is Cut followed by Paste. Copy is Copy followed by Paste.

Showing Files Select your new My Documents\WK 4 Try other View options – Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List then finally Details. In Details are columns Name, Size, Type, Date Modified. By Name is a tiny arrow. This shows the sort order. Try clicking on each and see the results.

Web browsing If you have time double click on Icon “CreweNantwichU3A” in S:\U3A\U3A - Monday Group. It will go to LH click on Computing & I.T. Groups, then [CMPB] Computing Beginners. Then in the big right Pane on Computing (CMPB Downloads. You will see all my course material is available for you to download (get yourself a local copy). I am usually finalising the current week just before.

Course Material If you LH click on one of the following it will show= Open will show the file or you can Save it in your own “My Documents”. This one is very relevant for today.