Maneuvering around Windows

Alternate mouse

 Button or right mouse button

Accessories  tools

Accessories  gives the user the ability of accessing tools for performing day to day tasks. Although these tools can facilitate your task, they are not very specialized and may need to be replaced with a specialized tool.

Example of using shortcut menu

The shortcut menu options differ depending on where you click. It will in short provide you with the best menu option containing all the possible responses that you may want to use depending on where you click.

Minimizing, Maximizing  and Closing a Window  

Click on the My Computer  icon.

As you can see, on the top left hand corner, you have the 3 boxes

If you need to click on the buttons  for the following actions to take place

The left box will minimize a window

The middle box will maximize a window

The X will close that window

Resizing a Window

You can resize a window by moving the cursor to the lower left hand corner of the window, As soon as you see a double edge arrow, click on the left hand mouse  button, hold the left hand button down and move the mouse until the window is the required site.  Then release the left hand mouse button.

Performing tasks in windows

There are several different ways of performing the same task in windows. The user can select the most comfortable way for the user to perform her tasks. These options available are:

1. You could use the menu option at the top of the screen

2. You could use the toolbar  at the top of the screen

3. You could use the alternate mouse  button (right mouse button) to view the shortcut menu

Using the Menu options to copy a file (Method 1)

1. Double click on the My Computer  icon

2. Double click on the C drive

3. Select a file from the files  listed.

4. Single click on the file of choice

5. Move  your cursor to the 

6. Edit option in the Menu

7. Select the copy option from the Edit

8. Move  the cursor to the folder 1

9. Double click on the Folder 1 to open it

10. Click on the Edit option of the menu

11. Click on the Paste  option

Using the Toolbar to copy a folder (Method 2)

1. Double click on the My Computer  icon

2. Double click on the C drive

3. Select a folder from the list  of folders  by left clicking it

4. Click on the Copy  button on the toolbar

5. Move  the cursor to the folder1 and double click on it

6. Click on the Paste  option on the toolbar

Using the alternate mouse  click to copy a file (Method 3)

1. Double click on the my Computer icon

2. Double click on the C:

3. Select a folder from the list  of folders

4. Right click the folder of choice and choose the Copy  option from the short cut menu

5. Right click on the Folder 1 and choose the paste option from the shortcut menu.

Most people find it convenient to use the alternate mouse  button to perform tasks

Deleting a file

1. Select a file you want to delete

2. Right click on the file of choice and select the delete option from the shortcut menu

Renaming a file

1. Right click on the file you need to rename

2. Select the rename option from the short cut menu

3. Type the new name of the file

Creating a text file (Method1)

1. Double click on My Computer

2. Double click on the C: drive

3. Select Folder 1 by clicking on it

4. Double click on Folder 1

5. Right click on any empty space inside the folder window

6. Move  your cursor to New, then move your cursor to Notepad and click on it

7. Under the new file, type the name of the text file as textfile1

Creating a WordPad  file (Method1)

1. Double click on My Computer

2. Double click on the C: drive

3. Select Folder 1 by clicking on it

4. Double click on Folder 1

5. Right click on any empty space inside the folder window

6. Move  your cursor to New, then move your cursor to WordPad  and click on it

7. Under the new file, Type the name of the file as wordfile1

Creating a Paint file  (Method1)

1. Double click on My Computer

2. Double click on the C: drive

3. Select Folder 1 by clicking on it

4. Double click on Folder 1

5. Right click on any empty space inside the folder window

6. Move  your cursor to New, then move your cursor to Paint and click on it

7. Under the new file, Type the name of the file as paintfile1

Creating a Paint file  (Method2)

1. Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories àMove  down to Paint and double click on it.

2. Edit the paint file and save the file.

You can use the same method used in method2 of creating a paint file on Notepad and WordPad .

WordPad  Toolbar options

Opening WordPad  Document

1. Double click on My Computer

2. Double click on the C: drive

3. Double click on Folder1

4. Double click on wordfile1

Adding text and selecting text in a WordPad  Document

1. Left Click on the open document

2. Type, “This is my first WordPad  document.”

3. Select the text on the screen by Placing the cursor at the beginning of the text and holding the left mouse  button down and moving the cursor across the text.

 Copying and Pasting Selected text

1. Once the text on the screen has been highlighted

2. Click on the copy option on the toolbar

3. Move  the cursor to the end of the text and press enter.

4. Click on the paste option of the toolbar

5. You should see the text selected or duplicated on the second line

6. You can paste the same text as many times as you like

There are 2 ways of changing the font.

Changing the Text Fonts (Method 1)

1. Place the cursor at the beginning of the first line of text

2. Move  your cursor across the text holding the left mouse  button down

3. Make sure the text has been highlighted and selected

4. From the toolbar  Click on the downwards arrow for the fonts and choose the Courier font

5. From the Size box select size 20 and click on it.

6. From the Style , select Bold & Italics buttons

7. From the Font  Color box, choose the Red color and click on it.

8.  

9. Then, move the cursor to the next line and click on it to view the changes take effect.

 Changing the Text Fonts (Method 2)

1. Place the cursor at the beginning of the first line of text

2. Move  your cursor across the text holding the left mouse  button down

3. Make sure the text has been highlighted and selected.

4. Right click on the selected text and choose the font option

5. From the Font  option on the Font window select the Courier font

6. From the Size box select size 20 and click on it.

7. From the Style , select Bold & Italics buttons

8. From the Font  Color box, choose the Red color and click on it.

9. Then, move the cursor to the next line and click on it to view the change take eff

Saving a File in WordPad  (Method 1)

1. Click on the File option from the Menu and select SAVE

2. In the SAVE  IN textbox click on the downward arrow

3. Pick the path  to save as C:\Folder1 by clicking on the C drive and the folder1

4. In the FILE NAME textbox Type the name wordfile2

5. Finally click on the SAVE  button.

Saving a File in WordPad  (Method 2)

1. From the toolbar , Select the SAVE  icon.

2. In the SAVE  IN textbox click on the downward arrow

3. Pick the path  to save as C:\Folder1 by clicking on the C drive and the folder1

4. In the FILE NAME textbox Type the name wordfile2

5. Finally click on the SAVE  button.

Taskbar Exercises

The taskbar  is basically a monitoring center of what is currently happening within windows 9x , and also allows you to close windows and applications . We can also configure the taskbar as to its appearance on the screen and how certain icon can be added or removed from the start menu The taskbar allows us to review and alter all operation currently taking place in the computer,

Toggle Between Applications

1. Click on Start à ProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Calculator icon

2. Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Notepad icon

3. Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Paint icon

4. You can toggle between the open applications  in several different ways.

1. Method 1

From the Desktop, click on the gray region on top of any of the open window which forces that window on top or the other windows.

2. Method 2

From the taskbar , click on the buttons  representing any of the 3 open applications .  This will bring that window on top of all other windows and you can toggle between the different windows

3. Method 3

Press the Alt and tab key at the same time, which allows you to toggle between the different open applications  as you press tab.

Creating a Shortcut on the Desktop (Method 1)

1. Double click on the My Computer  Icon

2. Double click on the C: Drive

3. Double Click on the Folder1

4. Right click on the textfile1 and choose create shortcut from the menu options.

5. Drag the shortcut to the desktop.

Creating a Shortcut on the Desktop (Method 2)

1. Double click on the My Computer  Icon

2. Double click on the C: Drive

3. Double Click on the Folder1

4. Right click and Drag the file textfile1 to the desktop from the Folder1 window

5. From the dropdown menu, choose create shortcut here.

Change  the view options of a Window

1.      Click on Start à ProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Calculator icon

2.      Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Notepad icon

3.      Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories  and click on the Paint icon

4.      Right click on an empty section of the taskbar

5.      You can choose either:

1. Cascades windows

2. Tile Windows  horizontally

3. Tile Windows  vertically

4. Minimize all Windows

File Properties

1.      Double click on My Computer  icon

2.      Double click on the C: drive

3.      Double click on folder1

4.      Right click on the wordfile1 and choose properties from the dropdown menu.

5.      On the General  tab of the wordfile1 properties you can:

a.       View the file name, size, location, creation and modification date and time

b.      You can also view and change the file attributes by checking the read  only  and hidden  check boxes.

Viewing Hidden Files

1. Double click My Computer

2. Double click on the C: Drive

3. From the Menu options, select View and move your cursor to the folder options and click on it.

4. From the folder options window, select the view tab from the top of the screen.

5. From the Advanced settings section of the window under the subheading of hidden  files  and folders . Select Show All Files.

6. Click on Apply, then OK.

You should now be able to view all system files .

Changing the Desktop to an Active Desktop

1.      Double click My Computer

2.      Double click on the C: Drive

3.      From the Menu options, select View and move your cursor to the folder options and click on it.

4.      From the General  tab of Folder options, select the Web Style  radio button and click on ok.

To Customize style

1.      Double click My Computer

2.      Double click on the C: Drive

3.      From the Menu options, select View and move your cursor to the folder options and click on it.

4.      From the General  Tab of Folder options, select Customizeàselect Settings  

5.     Then customize the settings for Active Desktop , Browse folder options, View web  content in folder, Click items as follows.

Running Maintenance Wizard

1.      Click on Start à ProgramsàAccessories à System ToolsàMaintenance Wizard .

2.      On the Maintenance Wizard  screen, you can select Express  or Custom .

3.      Choose the Express  radio button and click on Next.

4.      On the Select a Maintenance Schedule  section night,- midnight to 3:00 am and click on next.

5.      On the Windows will perform the following tasks: Windows notice the three tasks checked,

a.       Speedup your most frequently used programs

b.      Check hard disk for errors

c.       Delete unnecessary files  from hard disk and click ok to finish.

Running a Scheduled Task

1.      Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories àScheduled Tasks

2.      On the scheduled tasks window, you should be able to see the 3 tasks-added by the maintenance wizard.

Adding a New Task

1.      Click on the Add Scheduled Task .

2.      On the Scheduled tasks wizard window, click on next

3.      From the list  of applications , click on Calculator and click on Next

4.      On the Perform this task section of the screen, choose the When I Log on Radio button, then click Next.

5.      Click on the Finish button. You should see the new task added.

Testing the new scheduled Task.

1.      Click on Start  and Logoff

2.      Click ok on the logoff window.

3.      Login again and click ok

4.    You should see the calculator run automatically.

Using Windows Explorer

1.      Click on Start àProgramsàWindows Explorer

2.      As you can see the screen has a Menu bar and a toolbar  at the top and the rest of the screen is vertically split in two section

3.      The left hand side defines the folder and the right hand side contains the contents of the folder selected from the left hand window.

4.      The Folders Pane has the Desktop on the top.  Beneath the desktop, you should see the My Computer , My Documents, Internet  Explorer  and Network Neighborhood, Recycling Bin  and only Services, icon (As you know these icons can be located on the desktop)

5.      Some of the icons have a + sign which means you can open or expand that icon to see what is inside it.

6.      If you click on the My Computer  + sign, you will observe that it contains the A drive, the C drive, the CD  Rom drive, Printer Folder, Control Panel , Dial up network  folder, scheduled task folder and Web Folder Icon.

7.      You can expand the C drive to reveal the files  and folder contained with it.  Once an icon has been expanded, it will have a  - sign next to it, which means that it can only be contracted back.

8.      Using the Standard method of Copying, Renaming, Deleting, that we learned before, we can perform all the file and folder manipulation within Windows Explorer .

9.    The advantage of using the Windows Explorer  is that everything is entered within on the screen, improving the user performance  in performing the task at hand.

Changing Your Views

1.      Double click on My Computer

2.      Double click on the C: Drive

3.      Maximize the window

4.      From the tool bar click  (     ) arrow down key to directly change your view to either Large icon, small icon list  and finally Details.

Recycling Bins

1.      Double click on My Computer

2.      Double click on C Drive

3.      Right click on textfile1 and select delete from the dropdown menu.

4.      Click on the Yes button from the confirm file delete window.

5.      Now, from your desktop, double click on the Recycle bin icon.

6.      Notice that the Recycle bin icon now has changed to a full bin

7.      From the content of the Recycle bin, scroll until you find the file of interest which was just deleted.

8.      Right click on the file you deleted and choose Restore  from the dropdown menu to return the file to its original directory .

9.      You can also empty the recycle bin by clicking on the file option in the menu and selecting the Empty Recycle Bin icon.

10.  Click on Yes on the Confirm multiple file delete window.  This will purge all files  deleted before.

11.  Close the recycle bin window.

Windows Help

1.      Click on Start à Help

2.      Under the Help  Window, you can see three tabs, the Content, the Index and the search tab

3.      You can use the Content Tab when you need help main windows issues

4.      You can use the Index when searching  for a help topic of interest, which has been listed in alphabetical order.

5.      You can use Search to type a research topic and make a search on that topic.

Troubleshooting Help

1.      Under the Contents tab, double click on the troubleshooting  topic icon.

2.      Under the troubleshooting  icon, double click on the Windows 98 troubleshooters icon

3.      From the List of Item in the Windows 98 troubleshoot menu, choose the topic you need to troubleshoot. e.g. networking

4.      You will notice the window 98 Network troubleshooting  appear on the right hand pane.

5.      Select the problem you are having from the list  of options. Then, click on next

6.      Using this tool, you can narrow down your option to discover the problem your system is facing and resolve the problem using the Help  solution.

Using Find

1.      Click on Start àFind àSelect File and Folder from the menu list .

2.      From the Find  window under the Name and Location tab, type the name of the file you intend to locate.

3.      Then, click on the Find  now button.

Specialized Find

1.      Click on Start àFind

2.      If you do not know the name of the file you need to find, you can use other criterion to find the file of interest such as the text contained in the file, the date the file was generated, the file type and size.

3.      Lets make a search on Contents. Type the word networking in the containing text box of the Name and Location tab

4.      Then, Click on Find  Now button.

5.      You will notice it will find many files  under that category and if you double click on any of the files, you should notice the “networking” text within the file

6.      You can also make a search by Date, click on Date tab, click on Find  All Files button, from the dropdown menu, choose Modified and then choose the radio button during the previous 1-month

7.      Lets make a search based on size.  Click on the Advanced tab. Under the size textbox, click on the dropdown menu and select at most and type 5 on the Next text box.

8.      Then, click on Find  Now button.

Questions

1. What are the different ways of copying files? (Choose all that apply)

1. Use toolbar

2. Use menu options

3. Use alternate mouse  button

4. Use double click

5. Use scroll bar

2. What are the different ways of finding a file? (Choose all that apply)

1. Find  file by name

2. Find  file by date

3. Find  file by size

4. Find  file content

5. Find  file by user

3. What is the function of the recycling bin? (Choose all that apply)

1. Backs up deleted files

2. Compresses deleted files

3. Purges unwanted files

4. Expands deleted files

5. Back up icons

4. Where can you change the file attributes

1. In file properties

2. In folder properties

3. In my computer

4. In the recycling bin

Answers

1.      A,B,C

2.      A,B,C,D

3.      A,B,C

4.      A