Microsoft Windows XP manual

Microsoft Windows XP ™ A Beginners’ Gu ide Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Introducing the Desktop ...................................................................................... 1 Windows and their Control .............................[...]

1 Introduction Microsoft Windows XP is the defau lt operating system installed o n IT Services PC s. An operating sy stem is a piece of so ftware which allows y ou to give instructio ns to the computer. Windows XP has a friendly Graphical User Interface ( GUI ) w hich u ses W indows, I cons, a M ouse and P oin ter (often referred to as WIMP ) . Thi[...]

2 A window similar to the one below should app ear - the use of My Computer will be covered later in these notes. If the win dow fails to app ear, you may not have double clicked p r operly. Try again. Tip: Pressing <Enter> when an icon is selected also open s the window. Whenever you open a Microsoft Windows XP window, several c onsistent fe[...]

3 2. Click on this cen tral control bu tton again (no w [Restore Down] ) and the win dow is its original s ize 3. Move the mouse pointer into the blue Title Bar , hold down the left mou se button an d drag the window slightly, to a new position on the screen, t hen release t he mouse butto n 4. Click on the left [M inimize] co ntrol button - the wi[...]

4 On the far left o f the Taskbar is the [Start] menu button, which will be discussed in detail shortly. On the far right, information such as the c urrent time i s displayed. The ico ns to the right of [Start] provide a quick launch for email etc. Multi-T asking and the Quick Launch Buttons This next exerci se demonstrates how the Taskbar is u sed[...]

5 This splits the sc reen, allowin g you to see all the open win dows at the same time. Nor mally, you would only have a couple of tasks runnin g when you do th is. Note that you can also Tile Wind ows Horizontally . 4. Repeat step 3 but t his time cho ose Show the Deskt op The display should now sho w the Desktop - all the ta sks have been iconise[...]

6 6. Try using the c alculator - either click on the buttons pro vided or use the keyboard 7. Close down the c alculator by clicking on the [Close] c ontrol button Other T askbar Facilities On the right-hand side of the Taskbar i s a group of ic ons, some of which may be of in terest. These include (starting at the fa r right):  Time/Date displa[...]

7 Windows XP allo ws you to name a file using as many characters ( excluding / : * ? " < > an d | ) as you like. Having said this it' s a good idea to use 8 o r less characters and to stick to letters, n umbers and hyphen/ underscore. Avoid using a fu ll stop as this usually separates a filename f r om its extension - eg .docx for[...]

8 The My Document s window displays seve ral icons, on e of which is Greek.doc . To load the file into Word : 2. Move the mouse pointer to the Greek.d oc icon and do uble click the mouse bu tton 3. Click at the end o f the text, to move the typing po sition, then type some more text 4. Click on the top [Close] control bu tton - when prompted, pre s[...]

9 A new fo lder will be created with the un helpful name N ew Folder . To rename it: 3. Type in the name you want for the fo lder (call this o ne Test - you don't have to delete the original name first) and press <Enter> Note that you can rename a file or folder at an y time by right clicking on the file/folder ico n and cho osing Rename[...]

10 Send To has made a s econd c opy at the top level in the file structure . This is its o ne weakness - it cannot be used to mo ve files into a specific fo lder on another drive . To test this out an d see what happ ens: 9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 above This time you will be warned that a file with the sam e name already exists. Note the in formation [...]

11 7. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Yes] to confirm this 8. Repeat step 5 but t his time select the Tem p folder 9. Note the slightly dif ferent wordin g in the Confirm Folder D elete dialog box then press <Enter> or click on [Yes] to con firm this The Recycle Bin The Recycle Bin is w here any files/folders that you delete from the hard d[...]

12 4. With the mouse pointer awa y from any ic on, hold down the mou se button and drag through the ico ns - a rectangle appear s and any icons it touches are selec ted 5. Release the mou se button and click away fro m any of the icons to c ancel the selection 6. Click on o ne of the icons to select it then hold down the <Shift> key and click[...]

13 1. Click on the [Sea rch] toolbar bu tton - the Search Com panion appears on the le ft hand side 2. Click on Al l files and folders 3. In the box labelled All or part o f the file name: type Greek 4. Click on the list arrow attached to the Look in: bo x and select My Documents (at the very top) 5. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Search] The fi[...]

14 Making Backups Though My Document s is back ed up for you by IT Services, you may want to mak e your own ba ckups on a USB pen, floppy/zip disk or cd. This will be particularly impo rtant if you wa nt to work on you r files away from the University (on y our own PC at home) o r if you want to keep files or email whe n you leave the University. I[...]

15 To re-enable the di sk: 4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 above but at step 3 close the hol e - the slider click s into place Compac t Disks Copying files to a compact disk is n’t qu ite as straightforward as i t is to a floppy or zip disk as it is a two-s tage process. First y ou copy the files into a tempora ry area then yo u write them to c d. This ca[...]

16 Shortcuts can be deleted like any other file or program ic on. When you delete a shortcut, it only deletes the icon; the o riginal file or program will still exist. 1. Click on the Sho rtcut to Greek.d oc icon to select it 2. Press the <Delete> key to remove it from t he Deskto p 3. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Yes] to confirm the del[...]

17 7. Use arrow keys to move the typin g position, type some mo re text then pre ss <Alt> then <f> to o pen the [Office Button] Note that the com mands have a letter next to them: 8. Type p for P rint t hen <Esc> to c ancel the print comman d and clo se the window Tip: The <Esc> key can be used to close dialog bo xes (includ[...]

18 3. Press <F7> fo r Spell Check then <Esc> to [Cancel] it 4. End by pressing <Alt F4> to Exit from Wor d 5. There is no n eed to save the file - type n or click on [No] Screen Dumps It's sometimes usefu l to be able to copy the whole or part of a screen and in sert it as a picture in a document. This is known as a screen du[...]

19 Using Windows Help In common with the Microso ft Office applications, Windows it self has a large amount of bu ilt-in help available. To load u p Help: 1. Click on the [Sta rt] button o n the Taskbar and select H elp and Support The Help and Support Centre windo w which appears is modelled on a web browser. You have a [Home] button, which alwa y[...]

20 ™ Trademark own ed by Microsoft Co rporation. © Screen shot( s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Co rporation. Copyright © 2008 : The University of Reading Last Revised: Decembe r 2008[...]