Elementary Windows XP

1. Elementary Windows XP This chapter-3 will cover: • The Basic Elements of Windows XP • Desktop • Icons • Shortcuts • Taskbar • Start Button • Start Menu • Using a Mouse • The Windows Keyboard • Keyboard Shortcut Keys • Cutting and Pasting • Running Simple Programs • WordPad • Paint • The Windows Media Player • Pinball

2. Windows XP Terminology • Windows XP uses the following terms to name or describe • its basic components: • Windows - rectangular portions of the desktop or screen that appear as separate “boxes” or panes • Desktop - an area of the screen where windows, icons and other elements are opened and manipulated • Icons - a small graphical representation of a program, a file or other object • Shortcut (or aliases) – a reference to an object so you can access it from another part of the GUI. • Menus - a window element that allow you to choose from a “listing” of choices • Toolbars - a graphical version of a menu • Pointer - the symbol representing the mouse’s business end • Pointing device - a mouse, trackball or touchpad

3. Many of these same objects can be found on UNIX, LINUX, Macintosh and other GUI based Systems. Standard desktop icons (shortcuts) Window Titlebar Menu Toolbars Start button Taskbar

4. Desktop • Desktop = GUI metaphor to define their workplace. • It is an on screen work area on which windows, icons, menus, and dialog boxes and other objects appear. • Can be configured in many ways to suit needs and tastes. • The way taskbar and start menu look and behave • Desktop background along with sounds and messages etc.

5. ICONS • They are small pictures or images that represent a program file, a data file or some command to perform a complex action. • It makes easy to initiate actions, open programs and files and manipulate objects. Standard Desktop Icons

6. Shortcuts • It is a quick and convenient way to run a frequently used programs or open a data file or folder without having to use the Start Menu or My Computer. • It is nothing but a link to the actual program or file or folder. • All data files that are opened by using a shortcut must have a file association. • It can also reference hardware devices such as printers and storage devices.

7. Taskbar • Acts as a container for other objects. • Provides a place to access programs that are opened. • To restore a program that has been minimized to a fully functional window by clicking its button on the taskbar. • Other features (Detailed discussion in later chapters): • The Start Button – gateway to the start menu • The Notification area – provides a place for notice of important programs that are running (System Utilities) and the system clock. • New features of XP taskbar: • Group buttons of common programs. • Hides icon in the notification area after short period of time, or if they have not been accessed recently. toolbar scrollbars Start button Show Desktop button Taskbar Notification Area Open Program buttons

8. Start Button • The Start Button opens the Start Menu. • Start Button also has a shortcut menu that can be accessed by right clicking on it. • This menu provides important features of windows such as windows explorer, taskbar and start menu properties, the search tool, and the ability to open the start menu as a folder.

9. The New XP Start Menu Current user • Basic division of Start Menu: • Current User • Pinned items list • The most frequently used program list • Standard items on the right • All programs and log off/turn off buttons Pinned List Most Frequently Used Programs List Click here for the Programs menu Turn off or log off the computer

10. The Classic style Start Menu Click here for the Programs menu Turn off or log off the computer…the current user is also shown here.

11. The Start Menu viewed as a folder in Windows Explorer Shortcuts (or menu items) on the Start Menu The Start Menu folder The Start Menu is actually a subfolder stored within the Documents and Settings folder (see above figure). To view the start menu as a folder, you can also select the Open option from the start button’s shortcut menu.

12. Before we start, a few Mouse Pointers… Because Windows XP is a GUI the preferred method of navigating the system is by way of a mouse. There are shortcut keys that can be used, but using a mouse is faster and easier for most people. • Parts of a typical mouse: • Right button • Left button • Scroll wheel • Mouse terms: • Right Click - clicking the right mouse button once • Left Click - clicking the left mouse button once • Double-click - clicking a button twice in rapid succession • Dragging - holding a button down over an object while moving the mouse • Dropping - letting the mouse button up after a drag

13. The Windows Keyboard • Windows PCs use tow basic types of keyboards that are classified by the number of keys they have: • 101-key Enhanced keyboard • 104-key Windows keyboard • The windows keyboard has some extra keys that address windows specific functions such as opening the start menu or opening the shortcut menu. • Many new style keyboards also include keys or buttons for connecting to the internet, sending and receiving emails, and adjusting the volume of the sound system – separate software needed to manage them.

14. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts are key combinations that can be substituted for mouse actions, and visa versa. They are fairly universal throughout Windows. Shortcuts can be found on most Windows application menus as shown on the Left. These are some of the most widely used shortcut keys. Ctrl+Z means, for example, press the Ctrl key and the letter Z key at the same time. Case does not matter.

15. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts A brief listing of the more widely used shortcuts are on the following slide. For more shortcuts and some additional information on this subject look to the Windows Help system. Search the index for “shortcut keys, for Windows XP”. The results of this search are displayed to the left.

16. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts

17. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts Probably the best known Windows keyboard sequence is: Ctrl+Alt+Del Thiscan be used under Windows 98 to attempt to recover from a frozen or hung system. It may or may not do anything at all, it will usually reboot the troubled PC as the solution. Windows XP uses the same sequence, however the operating system is more stable and it actually works to solve a problem or shutdown the offending software.

18. Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts Entering Ctrl+Alt+Del will open the Windows XP Task Manager window, which can be used to switch to, or end any unresponsive application simply by selecting it from a list (detailed discussion in the later chapters). Task Manager

19. Cutting and Pasting • The process of selecting either some text or another object (such as a shortcut or an icon), removing it from its current position and placing it somewhere else is called “Cutting and Pasting”. • Copying an object or text is used to place a copy of the selected item in another location while leaving the original intact. • Cutting/Copying and Pasting can be done using both a mouse and the keyboard.

20. Cutting and Pasting Step 1: To Select text (or an object): • Select the text by clicking on it once with the left mouse button • To select more than one Word of text: • Select the text by clicking on the beginning of the text you want to select with the left mouse button and dragging the cursor over the rest of the text you want to use. You can do this process in either direction and also span multiple lines or pages. • To select more than one Object: • Select the first object by clicking on it once with the left mouse button then press and hold the Control key while you click the rest of the objects you want to select. • To select all the text or objects in the window: • Place the mouse cursor in the window that contains the objects and, • From the Edit menu, click the Select All command Or, • Press the Ctrl-A shortcut keys

21. Cutting and Pasting Step 2: To Cut or Copy an object or text: • Select the object(s) or text as noted in the previous steps • Right click to display the pop-up menu • Select either Cut or Copy from the menu Step 3: To Paste the selected object: • Place the mouse cursor at the desired location • Right click to display the pop-up menu • Select Paste from the menu

22. Cutting and Pasting You can perform these operations by using the following keyboard shortcuts instead of selecting a command from a menu: Cut Ctrl+X Paste Ctrl+V Copy Ctrl+C Select All Ctrl+A Selected text Pop-up or Shortcut menu Cutting, Copying and Pasting text using WordPad

23. Running Simple Programs There are four main ways to run, open or launch a program with Windows XP: • Clicking an Icon on the desktop. • Selecting a command from the Start Menu. • Using the Start MenuRun command. • Clicking on a file that is associated with a program. The first two methods are much the same and use the basic idea of a GUI. Toolbars, Menus and Icons can all be used to launch programs or open files. The Run command is a way that allows a user to enter a program’s filename and other parameters on a command line. This is much the same way it is done under DOS or other text-based operating systems. For instance, you could enter the command wordpad.exe, and the program WordPad would open.

24. Running Simple Programs File Associations are another way for Windows to further automate its GUI. By associating a data file with a specific program used to open it you can run a program and open the selected data file. If you double click on a data file, it will open the associated executable file if it has one, or you will see a dialog like: When you see the dialog box shown here, no program is currently associated with this data file. At this point, you can either select the program you want to use to open this file, or let Windows try to assign one. The association can be just for this current operation or you can make it a permanent association, so that Windows will always open this type of file with the selected program. Associations recognize a file’s extension; this is the only way that files are associated with programs. It important to understand that changing a file’s extension can leave it with out a program that will open it.

25. WordPad • Windows XP includes two word processing programs, NotePad and WordPad. NotePad is a very basic text editor while WordPad gives you more complex editing capabilities such as embedding graphics into a document. • WordPad also allows you to save your documents in a format that further allows them to be opened and edited in Microsoft Word. • Files with the DOC extension are associated with WordPad unless Microsoft Word is installed. In that case, Word is the default program for this extension. • To run WordPad from the Run command on the Start Menu: • Click the Startbutton, then • SelectRun…, next • Enter “wordpad” in the text box, as shown in Figure 3.14. • Press the OK button. • If you do not know the name of the file or the file’s path, you can click the Browse button to use the Windows Explorer to locate it. The Run dialog

26. WordPad

27. Paint • Windows Paint is a graphics and drawing program that has been included with Windows XP • With it, you can create, view or manipulate images and save them in many different file formats. • Paint will also open whenever you select a file from your system that is associated with it by it. You can cut or copy screen images or other objects and paste them into Paint to modify or save then as a graphics file (Creating a screen capture file is discussed in detail in later chapter).

28. Paint To run Paint from the Start Menu: • Click the Start button, then • SelectAll Programs, next • Select the Accessories submenu, then • Click the Paint command as shown here Paint Menu command Selecting the menu command to start Microsoft Paint

29. Paint • The default image type is a bitmap (.bmp) file. • Other image file formats supported by Paint are: • JPEG(*.JPEG, *.JPG, .JPE, *.JFIF) • GIF (*.GIF) • TIFF (*.TIFF, *.TIF) • PNG(*.PNG) Microsoft Paint with no file selected