C:\Core\Apache\Apache2\htdocs\uploadedFiles\Kqqh0tYsfh5JETDZ13IUgBPBOXe1kmJ5\IntroductiontoComputers.pdf

Introduction to

Com puting

Ewing SeniorNet

Computer Literacy Center

October, 2004

Prepared by: J. Joel May

Edited by: Jane Petrie

Introduction to Computing -- Lesson 1

A. What we’ll learn

1. How to describe the various parts of computers and computer activities

2. How to get started in using the computer

B. Turn on the Computer

1. Find the switch and turn on the computer and (if necessary) the monitor

2. Watch what’s happening on the screen as the computer “ boot s”.

a) Checks out its memory and various other functions

b) Loads a series of programs called “drivers” which tell it how to function

c) Prepares to load the Windows program

d) When the computer finishes “booting”, you will see the " Desktop " on the

monitor. Desktop is an important word. We will refer to it often.

C. Parts of a Computer - Hardware

1. The System Unit – also called “the computer” or “the tower” (the square box near

the floor in the desk in front of you)

a) The disk drives

(1) “Floppy” disk (A:) - Why is it called "floppy"?

(2) Hard disk (C:) - More properly called a "fixed disk"

(3) CD-ROM (D:)

(4) What happened to B?

b) The “Mother Board”

(1) The CPU (Central Processing Unit)

(2) The Computer Memory

(a) ROM - Read Only Memory

(b) RAM - Random Access Memory

(3) The plug-in Cards or Boards

c) The Ports (Serial, Parallel, and USB - Universal Serial Bus)

2. The Monitor

a) Monochrome and color

b) The Video Card

c) How to adjust the display

3. The Keyboard

a) The “Typewriter” keys, especially:

(1) <ENTER>

(2) <TAB>

(3) <CAPS LOCK> vs <SHIFT>

b) The Function Keys

c) The Movement Keys

(1) Arrow Keys

(2) Insert, Delete, Home End, Page Up, Page Down

d) The Numeric Keypad and the Status Lights

e) ESC Key

f) CTRL Key

g) ALT Key

h) Slash and Backslash

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4. Pointing Devices

a) How a mouse works: The mouse controls the location of the cursor (also known

as the mouse pointer) on the monitor. Example: When we say: put the cursor

on the word Start on the monitor, it’s the tippy tip of the arrow on the monitor that

must be put on the word Start. The computer recognizes the location of only the

tippy tip of the arrow (cursor), not the bottom of the arrow, or the tail, only the

tippy tip of the arrow.

b) How to hold a mouse

c) The Left Button (issues commands)

d) The Right Button (displays "context sensitive" menus)

e) A left-handed mouse

f) Other pointing devices (trackball / touchpad / joystick

5. Other Peripherals

a) Printers

(1) Inkjet

(2) Laser

b) Modem/Fax

c) Scanner

d) Backup and Supplemental Storage

(1) Tape (usually internal)

(2) Zip or Jazz drive (may be external or internal)

(3) CD-RW (may be external or internal)

D. The "Brains" - Software

1. Operating Systems

a) DOS - Disk Operating System

b) Windows

(1) Version 95

(2) Version 98

(3) Version 2000

(4) Version XP (the one we 'll be using)

UNIX - Linux

d) OS/2

e) MacIntosh

2. Utilities

3. Applications - Software that helps you work or play better by performing a single task —

either general or specific

a) General

(1) Word Processors and Desk Top Publishing

(2) Data Bases

(3) Spreadsheets

(4) Browsers

(5) E-mail Programs

(6) Graphics

(7) Communications

(8) Integrated (Like Microsoft Works)

b) Specific

(1) Games

(2) Reference (phone books, road maps, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.)

(3) Genealogy

(4) Special purpose - Video Tape Inventory, Wedding Planning, Ham Radio

Contact Log

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E. Using the Computer

1. The Desktop

The Desktop term is important. We will refer to it often.

a) Icons and Shortcuts

b) The Taskbar

c) The Start Button

Looking at the cursor (mouse pointer): The tippy tip of the arrow of the cursor is the

controlling part of the cursor, not the bottom or middle of the arrow or the tail of the

arrow

2. How did Windows get its name?

a) Click on the Start Button: put the cursor on the word Start and click - A pop-up

menu appears (Remember, it is the tippy tip of the cursor that does the

controlling. Put the tippy tip on the word Start and click.)

Put your cursor (mouse

pointer) on the word

Run . The space

behind the word Run

will be highlighted --

in this case, blue.

Moving your cursor to a

word will highlight the

word. Move the cursor

up and down within the

Start Menu. As the

cursor touches a word,

the word becomes

highlighted. The

concept of highlight is

important. We will

refer to the term

highlight often.

b) Click on the word Run

c) A Dialog Box appears

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Titlle Bar

What’s This?

Close Button

Button

Drop-Down Arrow

Drop-Down

Text Box

Browse Button

(find a file)

OK Button

Cancel Button or

or <ENTER>

<ESC>

b) Type " sol " (no quotes) in the Text Box , then click the OK Button

c) The program window for Solitaire appears

Look at the name of the parts of this program window:

Title Bar

Menu Bar

Minimize Button

Resize Button (another name for this button is the Maximize/Restore Button)

Close Button

These names are important. We will refer to them often.

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d) Practice using the mouse to play Solitaire

(1) Move the mouse pointer (also known as the cursor) to the card you want to

move

(2) Press and hold down the left button on the mouse as you drag the card to its

new location

(3) Release the left button on the mouse to "drop" the card.

e) Practice using the commands on the Menu Bar

When you click on any word in the Menu Bar, a drop-down menu appears.

To close the menu (or make the menu go away), put your cursor anywhere

outside of the menu and click. This concept of closing a menu is important. We

will refer to “close the menu” often.

(1) To get a new deal, in the Menu Bar , click Game , then Deal

(2) To take back your last move, in the Menu Bar , click Game , then Undo

(3) To choose a different deck of cards, in the Menu Bar , click Game , then Deck

(4) To change the rules of the game, in the Menu Bar , click Game , then

Options

(5) To get help with the rules of the game, the Menu Bar, click Help, then Help

Topics. Note that all Windows Help Topics come in three flavors: Contents,

Index, and Search

3. Getting Help with Windows XP

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a) Click the Start Button - a pop-up menu appears

b) Click the words Help and Support

c) Explore the information available there – you can click on a topic or enter a

phrase in the Search Box at the top left

d) When you are finished, click on the Close Button (looks like

)

F. Close Down the Computer and End the Session

1. To close the program window, click on the Close Button in the upper right (looks like

If you have more than one window open, close each of them in turn using the Close Button

2. When you are back to the desktop, click on Start, then on Turn off Computer at the lower

right corner of the window. The Shut Down Windows dialog window appears

Turn Off

Button

OK Button

3. Click on the Turn Off Button. The Restart Button will cause your computer to turn off

briefly and then restart. The Stand By button puts the computer in a low-power use wait

mode

Wait until your computer finishes the closing-down process. (Some computers need

one more step to shut down: The monitor displays "It's now safe to turn off your

computer" on the screen. Turn off the computer with the push button on the front

panel of the tower.)

G. REMEMBER: NEVER JUST TURN THE COMPUTER OFF

1. Always close all open windows

2. Return to the Desktop

3. Click the Start Button

4. Select "Shut Down"

5. Click OK

6. (In some computers, one more step is needed to shut down: Wait patiently until you see

"It 's now safe to turn off your computer". Then you can press the button on the front panel

of the tower to turn it off.)

Introduction to Computing -- Lesson 2

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II. Using Software

A. Turn on the Computer

1. Find the switch and turn on the computer and (if necessary) the monitor

2. Watch what’s happening on the screen as the computer

a) Checks out its memory and various other functions

b) Loads a series of programs called “drivers” which tell it how to function

c) Prepares to load the Windows program

d) Displays its "Desktop"

B. Review of Windows XP

1. Icons and Shortcuts

2. Title Bar

3. Minimize Button

4. Resize Button (also called Maximize/Restore Button)

5. Close Button

6. Taskbar

7. Start Button

C. Open the program called WordPad

Click on the Start Menu

Move the cursor to All Programs. (Programs will now appear in blue. This

blue color indicates that the word Programs is highlighted. Highlight is an

important concept. We will use this term – highlight - often.)

Now that Programs is highlighted, click (the mouse)

Notice that a cascading menu appears to the right of Programs .

Carefully move your cursor into that cascading menu, and continue

moving your cursor within that menu up to the word Accessories.

Move your cursor into the cascading menu that appears to right of

Accessories and continue moving your cursor within that menu to

WordPad .

WordPad should now be highlighted (in blue). Click on WordPad . See

next page for a picture of what your screen should look like.

D. Insert the Practice Disk in Floppy Drive A: (Explain the policy of taking

them back at the end of each session)

1. Hold it in your right hand with your thumb on the label. The metal part of the floppy goes in

first.

2. Insert it firmly into the slot until you hear the click

a) In the Menu Bar, click File , then highlight and click Open

b) Click on the downward pointing arrow on the right-hand end of the Look In:

Drop-Down List Box

c) The Open window is now active. The active window always has a blue title bar.

(These lesson plans are NOT printed in color. So you must look at your

computer screen to see the blue Title Bar. Notice that the inactive WordPad

window is not blue.)

d) Click on the downward pointing arrow at the end of the drop-down list box next to

Look In:

e) We want to open a file (or document) that is on the 3 ½ inch Floppy A drive.

f) Highlight and click on the 3 ½ Floppy (A) in the Open window. What happens?

g) A list of the files on the 3 ½ inch Floppy (A) appears.

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h) Highlight and click Letter1.doc.

Letter1.doc now appears in the File Name text box.

Click Open

Program

Name

Title Bar

Minimize,

Bar

File Name

Restore/Maximize,

Close Buttons

Tool

Bar

drop-down

list box

choose

containing

Arrow

Font size

Fonts

here

Scroll Bar

slider

space between

Scroll Bar slider

and Down Arrow

Down

Arrow

E. Whenever the contents of any window are too big to display all at once on

the monitor, Windows displays a Scroll Bar.

1. To scroll down in the display, you can

a) Use the down-arrow key on the keyboard, or …

b) Position your mouse pointer over the down arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar

and hold down the left mouse button, or …

c) Position your mouse pointer over the gray slider in the scroll bar, press and hold

down the left mouse button and drag the slider down, or …

d) Left-click your mouse in the light gray area between the slider and the down

arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar, or …

e) Use the roller between the two buttons of your mouse.

f) NOTE: There is always more than one way to accomplish a task in Windows

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F. Correct a misspelled word (comuter) in the second line of the letter.

1. When the cursor is within the margins of the body of a document, the cursor changes from

an arrow to an I-beam. (Move the cursor from one side of the monitor to the other to see

the arrow and the I-beam.)

a) Position the cursor between the “u” and the “m” in the word comuter. (Note that

the cursor is now an I -beam.)

b) Click the mouse and then move the cursor to the side of the document.

c) There is now a blinking vertical line between the “u” and the “m”. (If the blinking

vertical line is not exactly between the “u” and the “m”, you can move the blinking

vertical line to that place by using the left or right arrow keys on the keyboard.)

d) That blinking vertical line is called the Insertion Point. We will refer to that term

often.

e) Find the misspelled words and grammatical errors in it and correct them.

G. Insertion Point -- What you need to know

1. The blinking vertical black line is called the Insertion Point . Anything you type on the

keyboard will be inserted into the document at the Insertion Point .

2. You can position the Insertion Point anywhere in your document by

a) Clicking the desired spot with your mouse

b) Using the arrow keys (up, down, right, left) to move the Insertion Point to the

desired spot

3. You can 't move the Insertion Point anywhere before the beginning of the document or

after the end of the document

4. The Backspace Key erases the character immediately to the left of the Insertion Point

5. The Delete Key erases the character immediately to the right of the Insertion Point.

H. Save the document (file)

1. To save your work, open the File Menu and choose Save As

a) You can click on the word File on the Menu Bar and then click on Save As in the

list of commands that drops down, or .

b) You can hold down the Alt key and type the letter F followed by the letter A .

Notice that typing F causes the File Menu to drop down and typing A selects the

Save As option. Do you see what 's happening here?

c) In the Save As Dialog Window that opens, select Floppy A drive in the drop-

down text box next to the words Look In:

In the text box next to the words File name , there is the present file name of our

document. Put your cursor in that box and click. (After clicking, move the cursor

to the side of the monitor and do not click.) Now you see the Insertion Point in

the File name text box. Delete the File Name by using the backspace key and/or

the delete key. Type a new file name for your letter in that same File name text

box.

d) Click the Save Button

You have now saved the original Letter1 with a new name. Look in the Title Bar

and see the new name

2. After your letter has been saved, close the Document Window by clicking on the Close

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Button in the upper right corner

I. Close Down the Computer and End the Session

1. To close the program window, click on the Close Button in the upper right (looks like

If you have more than one window open, close each of them, starting with the lower one,

using the Close Button

2. When you are back to the desktop, click on Start , then on Turn Off Computer - the Turn

Off Computer dialog window appears

3. Click on Turn off Computer

4. Wait until your computer finishes the closing-down process and displays " It's now safe to

turn off your computer " on the screen.

5. Turn off the computer with the push button on the front panel of the tower

J. REMEMBER:

NEVER JUST TURN THE COMPUTER OFF

1. Always close all open windows

2. Return to the Desktop

3. Click the Start Button

4. Select "Turn off Computer"

5. (In some computers, one more step is needed to shut down: Wait patiently until you see

"It 's now safe to turn off your computer". Then you can press the button on the front panel

of the tower to turn it off.)

Introduction to Computing -- Lesson 3

III. Some Basic Computing Skills

A. Review of Windows XP

1. Turn on ("Boot") the computer

a) Find the switch

b) If necessary turn on the monitor as well

c) Wait patiently until the desktop appears

2. The Windows XP Desktop

a) Icons and Shortcuts

b) Taskbar

c) Start Button

B. Using another program called Word

We will be using a program called Word. It is similar to the program WordPad that we

used last time. However, we want “spell and grammar” check our document (file).

WordPad does not have a spell and grammar check feature. The program called Word

does have the feature.

1. Run the program

a) From the Desktop, click Start , then Run

b) Type in “Winword.exe” (without the quotes)

c) Double-click on Winword.exe as shown above

d) The word processing program – Microsoft Word – is now open

e) (The program Word may be in another place on your computer.) From the

Desktop , click Start . Highlight and click All Programs . Look in the cascading

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menu that appears when you click Programs. Look for Word in that Menu.

Highlight Word and click.)

f) Click on File in the Menu Bar

g) Click on Open

C. Insert the Practice Disk into the Floppy Drive slot

1. In the “Look In:” text box, click on Floppy A drive

2. Find "Letter1.doc." This is the file you worked on last time

3. Double-click on it (or Single-click on it and then click on the Open Button)

4. The Word window containing your file (document) opens

5. Can you name the parts of the window that we learned last time?

D. Some Word Processing Techniques (I) - Spell Checking

1. The Spell Checker is located on the Tools Menu. There are several ways to access it:

a) Click on the Tools Menu then on Spelling and Grammar

b) Hold down either Alt Key and type TS (for Tools / Spelling)

c) Click on the Spelling Checker Tool on the Tool Bar (if you allow your mouse

pointer to hover over a tool, a small window containing its name will pop up)

d) Press the F7 Key

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e) (I told you that there was almost always more than one way of doing things in

Windows)

2. The Spelling Window will open indicating which dictionary is being used (in our case,

American English)

3. The spell-checker recognizes what it thinks is an error involving “Extra space between

words in our letterhead, but we will ignore the message and click on Ignore Once to go on

to the next error.

4. A new window appears showing us that “comuter” is “Not in Dictionary:”.

a) In the text box under " Not in dictionary ", the offending word appears. (It is also

highlighted in the document text)

NOTE: A word may be selected by the spell checker for two very different reasons

(1) It is actually misspelled

(2) It is spelled correctly, but it is not in the dictionary

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b) The "Suggestions:" Scrolling List Text Box displays the computer 's opinion of

how the word should be spelled. There may be several suggestions.

5. When an offending word is found, you must decide what to do. The buttons to the right of

the scrolling list box represent the options available.

a) Ignore Once - the computer will leave the word unchanged and go on to the

next word

b) Ignore All - same as Ignore but the computer will now ignore the word every

time it appears in the document

c) Add to Dictionary - the offending word is correctly spelled but not currently in

the dictionary. This choice will add the word to the dictionary

d) Change - the computer will change the offending word to the one in the Change

to: Text Box

e) Change All - same as Change, but the computer will change all occurrences of

the offending word in the entire document. BE CAREFUL OF THIS ONE

f) Options - lots of ways to customize the process

g) Undo - change your mind and undo the changes you’ve made

h) Close – Stop the spell checking process

6. When faced with a word that can be spelled in different ways (e.g. role vs roll) or a subtle

typographical error (e.g. tired vs tires), the spell checker will not catch the error. Thus

proof reading by human eyes is still necessary. For example:

Eye halve a spelling chequer

It came with my pea sea

It plainly marques four my revue

Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word

and weight four it two say

Whether eye am wrong oar write

It shows me strait a weigh.

A soon as a mist ache is maid

I nose bee fore two long

And eye can put the error rite

Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it

I am shore your pleased two no

Its letter perfect in it 's weigh

My chequer tolled me sew.

E. Some Word Processing Techniques (II) - Selecting, Cutting, Copying and

Pasting

1. Open another document

a) Click on the File Menu

b) Click on Open

c) In the Dialog Window that opens, be sure that 31/2 Floppy (A:) is selected in the

Look In: Drop Down List Box

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d) In the large window below find Martha's.wps

e) Double-click on it (or single-click and then click on Open) to open it

f) NOTE that more than one document can be open at a time in Works (we will find

this fact useful next time)

2. Notice that on the to-do list, December 13 th is before December 12 th . Let 's fix that using

the Cut and Paste method

3. Step One: Selecting the Text

a) Using the arrow keys , position the Insertion Point at the very beginning of the

line containing "December 13 th .

b) Hold down the Shift Key and press the Down Arrow Key three times to select

three lines of text

4. Step Two: Cutting (or Copying )

a) Select Cut (or Copy ) on the Edit Menu

b) When you Cut or Copy the selected text, a copy of it is placed in a part of the

computer 's memory called the Windows clipboard.

c) The difference between Cut and Copy is that when you Cut, the text is removed

from the original document, but when you Copy it isn't. But in either case, it is

placed on the clipboard

d) As always, there are other ways to do this:

(1) Hold down the Alt key and press ET to Cut (or EC to Copy)

(2) Use the Cut or Copy Tool on the Tool bar

(3) Use CTRL-X to Cut and CTRL-C to Copy

(4) Right-click on the selected text and choose Cut or Copy from the Drop-down

5. Step Three: Pasting

a) Now use the arrow keys to position the Insertion Point at the very beginning of

the line containing "December 14 th ".

b) Select Paste on the Edit Menu

c) The three lines we earlier selected suddenly reappear in this spot, pushing

December 14 th down to make room

d) As always, there are other ways to do this:

(1) Hold down the Alt key and press EP

(2) Use the Paste Tool on the Toolbar

(3) Use CTRL-V

(4) Right-click at the destination location and choose Paste from the Drop-Down

6. To see this demonstrated, use your Internet browser to go to

http://www.seniornet.org/howto/copy/copyrun.html

F. Save your work

1. To save your work, open the File Menu and choose Save As

2. In the Save Dialog Window that opens, give your document a new name (how about

"Stewart") and single-click the Save Button

3. Follow the same procedure to save a new copy of your letter. Name it "MyLetter2"

4. After your letter has been saved, close the Document Window by clicking on the Close

Button in the upper right corner

G. Close Down the Computer and End the Session

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1. To close the program window, click on the Close Button in the upper right (looks like

If you have more than one window open, close each of them in turn using the Close

Button

2. When you are back to the desktop, click on Start , then on Turn off Computer - the Turn

off Computer dialog window appears

3. Click your mouse on the Turn off Computer button

4. (Some computers need one further step: Wait patiently until your computer finishes the

closing-down process and displays "It 's now safe to turn off your computer". Then turn off

the computer with the push button on the front panel of the tower.)

H. REMEMBER: NEVER JUST TURN THE COMPUTER OFF

1. Always close all open windows

2. Return to the Desktop

3. Click the Start Button

4. Select "Turn off Computer"

5. Click “Turn Off”

6. (Some computers need one further step: Wait patiently until you see "It 's now safe to turn

off your computer". Then you can turn it off

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Choice of Activities for Sessions V and VI

(Pass out at the end of Session III)

£ More about Windows

£ More about Word Processing

£ Data Bases, Record Keeping

£ Spreadsheets, Keeping a Budget

£ Editing and Playing Music on the Computer

£ Editing and Organizing Photographs on the Computer

£ Using E-mail

£ Surfing the Internet

£ Other ____________________________________________

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