STUDENT WORKBOOK. Teach Yourself: Computer Basics Expert. In 24 Hours or less

Transcription

1 STUDENT WORKBOOK Teach Yourself: Computer Basics Expert In 24 Hours or less

2 Student Workbook

3 Table of Contents Section 1: Understanding Applications... 1 Lesson 1.1: Application Basics... 2 Step-By-Step... 3 Skill Sharpener...13 Lesson 1.2: Basic Applications...14 Step-By-Step...15 Skill Sharpener...21 Lesson 1.3: Working with a Window...22 Step-By-Step...23 Skill Sharpener...28 Lesson 1.4: Working with WordPad...29 Step-By-Step...30 Skill Sharpener...35 Lesson 1.5: Working With Applications...36 Step-By-Step...37 Skill Sharpener...46 Section 2: Web Browsers and the Internet...47 Lesson 2.1: Basics of Web Browsers...48 Step-By-Step...49 Skill Sharpener...55 Lesson 2.2: Browsing the Web...57 Step-By-Step...58 Skill Sharpener...62 Lesson 2.3: Working with Bookmarks...63 Step-By-Step...64 Skill Sharpener...72 Lesson 2.4: Working With Web Pages...73 Step-By-Step...74 Skill Sharpener...79 Lesson 2.5: Printing Web Pages...80 Step-By-Step...81 Skill Sharpener...88 Index...89

4 Section 1: Understanding Applications In this section you will learn how to: Start a program Move around in a program Launch help from within an application Halt a frozen program Exit a program Use the Task Manager Use Notepad Use WordPad Use Calculator Use Paint Use a window Use minimize, maximize, and restore Scroll in a window Move a window Switch between windows Resize windows Open the Control Panel Install an application Uninstall an application Find an installed application

5 2 Lesson 1.1: Application Basics Now that we have covered the essentials concerning how to interact with your computer, it s time to learn how to use programs. Your operating system provides a platform or environment for programs to run in. Your operating system manages the memory, hard drive, and CPU usage for all programs running to ensure that each program gets their share. In this lesson, we will learn in more detail how to use and interact with application programs on a computer system. Even though we are using Windows Vista in this manual, the applications in this lesson are some of the basic, default programs found in all versions of Windows.

6 3 Step-By-Step In this exercise, you will open an application, save a file from within the application, and then get help from within the application. 1. To begin, display the Start menu and choose the All Programs option:

7 4 2. When the list of program options appears, locate and click on the Accessories folder:

8 5 3. When the list of item under Accessories appears, click on the WordPad option: At this point, the WordPad application should open on your screen.

9 6 4. When WordPad opens, type the sentence This is a simple practice document :

10 7 5. Next select the text that you just typed by dragging your mouse over it. Use the font type drop list and the font size drop list to change the font of the selected text to 20 point Courier New:

11 8 6. Once you have changed the font, click the File menu and choose the Save As option:

12 9 7. In the Save As dialogue, browse to an appropriate folder for saving a file; enter the name PracticeExercise1.1Finish in the File name field and then click the Save button to save the file:

13 10 8. Next, click the Help menu and then click the View Help option:

14 11 9. At this point, you should see a Help window open to display various topics related to the WordPad application:

15 Close the Help window by clicking the close button (white X on a red field) in the upper right. After you close the Help window, go ahead and close the application by clicking the File menu followed by the Exit option:

16 13 Skill Sharpener Objective Task To know how to stop a program with the Task Manager. Start the WordPad application as in the previous exercise. Once the application appears on your screen, start the Task Manager. In the Task Manager, locate the WordPad application and shut it down, but before you do, capture a screenshot of the Task Manager with the WordPad item selected in it. To capture a screenshot, press the Print Screen button on your keyboard. This is located by the F12 key at the top of the keyboard. (You can paste your screenshot into a word processing program or Paint and save it). Hints Follow-up Questions Use the Ctrl + Alt + Del shortcut to start the Task Manager. You should click the Applications tab in the Task Manager to list the running applications. What other useful information can you learn from the Task Manager?

17 14 Lesson 1.2: Basic Applications In this lesson we will discuss some of the basic applications that come with the most popular brand of desktop operating system in use today; namely, Microsoft Windows.

18 15 Step-By-Step In this lesson you will use the Calculator application to perform some basic and advanced calculations. 1. To begin, display the Start menu, and choose All Programs, followed by the Accessories option, followed by the Calculator option. At this point, the Calculator application will open in Standard view: 2. Press the Num Lock key on your keyboard to activate number lock. This will allow you to enter numbers using the keyboard. Type 100 to ensure Num Lock is on:

19 16 3. Press + 20, click the % button and click =: 4. Click MS to enter 120 into the memory. A small M will appear in the window: Click C to clear Calculator back to 0.

20 17 5. Enter the number and click the sqrt (square root) button: 6. Click View Scientific to switch to scientific view:

21 18 7. Click MR to recall 120 from memory. Click the Bin radio button. This will convert 120 into binary (the number system used by computers): The number is Binary for 120. Notice how all of the numbers except 1 and 0 have been disabled from use, as well as a number of other commands.

22 19 8. Click the Oct radio button to change 120 (in binary) into octagonal (base-8 number format, where only 8 digits are used): Notice that only the digits 0-7 are active.

23 20 9. Now, let s change 120 from octagonal number format to hexadecimal format. Hexadecimal numbers include digits 0-9, and then letters A-F to represent (Hexadecimal numbers are used to represent colors on a computer.) Click the Hex radio button: Click the Decimal radio button to return to the original value, Close Calculator.

24 21 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task Hints Sample Data Follow-up Questions To understand more about the workings of the Paint application. You want to experiment with the different cropping, selecting, and typing options in Paint. Open one of the sample pictures in your Public folder. Experiment with the two selection tools at the top, including their alternate uses. Use the options in the Image menu to manipulate the image, and then use the text tool to create a title for the image. The alternate commands for the tools in the toolbar are located just under the toolbar. The alternate commands are different for each tool. Use an image in your Public Pictures folder. Try saving the file under the different file formats. How does the image look? How does the size of the file change? (You can see the file size by first saving the file, and then opening the folder where the image is saved to let your mouse pointer hover on top of the icon. The file size will be listed in the small pop-up information box.)

25 22 Lesson 1.3: Working with a Window Every program was designed with a purpose in mind. If you are just starting to use a computer, you will learn that there are hundreds of types of programs out there that can all run in an operating system. From the simplest game to the most advanced physics simulation, if it runs in Windows Vista, you can manipulate the window the program operates in very easily. In this lesson you will learn how to manipulate a window as well as learn how to keep your desktop neat and organized.

26 23 Step-By-Step In this exercise you will practice some different window manipulation techniques learned in this lesson. 1. Begin by navigating to your exercise files folder and opening the files named PracticeExercise1.3a, PracticeExercise1.3b, and PracticeExercise1.3c, by double clicking the respective icons:

27 24 2. Right-click an empty space on the Taskbar and click Show Windows Stacked:

28 25 3. Minimize PracticeExercise1.3a and PracticeExercise1.3b to the Taskbar. Orient PracticeExercise1.3c to occupy about ¼ of the screen:

29 26 4. Click the Taskbar icon for PracticeExercise1.3a and manipulate it until it fills the bottom half of the screen:

30 27 5. If you are using Windows Vista Ultimate, click the Flip3D icon in the Quick Launch bar ( ), and click on PracticeExercise1.3b: 6. Choose any of the three exercise files. Move your mouse to the bottom-right corner until your mouse becomes. Click and drag the corner of the window to create the smallest possible window: 7. Close all exercise files to complete this exercise.

31 28 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task Hints Sample Data To practice different window manipulations available in Windows Vista. Your friend has installed Windows Vista but has a hard time keeping all of their windows in order. Open at least five different windows and show them how to organize the windows on their desktop. Don t forget about Alt + Tab for quick changes! Feel free to use any Exercise Files as examples.

32 29 Lesson 1.4: Working with WordPad We have already discussed WordPad briefly in Lesson 1.2 of this section. Now, we will examine WordPad a little more closely as we take a look at some of its basic functions and tools. In this lesson, you will learn how to launch WordPad, how to enter text, how to edit text, how to save files, how to open files, and how to close WordPad.

33 30 Step-By-Step In this lesson you will open a WordPad file, edit it, and then save it under a new name. 1. To begin, open WordPad using the Start menu. 2. Click the File menu followed by Open: 3. In the Open dialogue, choose PracticeExercise1.4 from the Section 1 folder of your Exercise Files: 4. Each paragraph in the document says the same thing, though each contains either one spelling error or one grammatical error. Find and fix these errors.

34 31 5. Highlight the second paragraph (not the title): 6. Click the Center command:

35 32 7. Highlight the third paragraph (excluding the title) and click the Align Right command:

36 33 8. Apply the Times New Roman font to the first paragraph, make the second paragraph size 20 font, and italicize the third paragraph:

37 34 9. Click the File menu followed by Save As. When the Save As dialogue box appears, name the file PracticeExercise1.4Finish, and save it in an appropriate location: Click Save. 10. Close WordPad.

38 35 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task To improve your ability to edit text documents. The Step-By-Step exercise in this section asked you to fix simple mistakes in three identical paragraphs. Perhaps there is a quicker way to do this task Open the sample data to be used with this exercise and ensure the first paragraph is correct. Then, simply copy and paste the first paragraph in place of the second and third. Apply the proper paragraph formatting (center and right-aligned) to the second and third paragraphs. Sample Data

39 36 Lesson 1.5: Working With Applications The previous lessons in this section focused on working with applications that are packaged with the Windows operating system. In this lesson, the discussion will involve applications in general, with an emphasis on applications that must be installed separately.

40 37 Step-By-Step In this lesson you will install a program on your computer. (Note: This exercise is based on installing the free Microsoft Word Viewer on a Microsoft Windows system. This program allows you to view Word documents without installing Microsoft Word and is available from Microsoft s Web site.) 1. In this exercise, you will install a Microsoft Word Viewer application. To proceed with this exercise, you must download the Word Viewer application from a Microsoft Web site. You should be able to find the free viewer program by typing the term Word Viewer into a popular search engine (like Google). Make sure that you only look at links to legitimate Microsoft Web sites when you are searching for the application. When you download the program make sure you are downloading from a legitimate Microsoft Web site: Download the file to a location on your system that you can access easily (like your desktop) and, as an added precaution, you can also scan the downloaded file with an antivirus program. Note: If you are unsure about how to download this file, consult your instructor.

41 38 2. Before you begin the installation process, right-click on the installation file and click the Properties option on the popup menu:

42 39 3. In the Properties dialogue that appears, click the Digital Signatures tab: Here you can see that the downloaded file has been digitally signed by Microsoft. If this signature is not available, you should make sure that you have indeed downloaded the file from a legitimate Microsoft Web site before you install it.

43 40 4. To install the program, start by double clicking on the downloaded file: When you double click on the file, the process will begin. You should just follow the directions that are provided for you as the program installs. Before the actual installation begins however, you will see the EULA for this software appear. To install the program, you must signify your acceptance of this agreement, and then click Next: 5. In the next stage of the installation process, you can choose a folder to install the application into:

44 41 For this application, accept the default location provided and just click the Install button to continue.

45 42 6. Once you click the Install button, the various files for the application will be extracted and installed on your system: At this point, just let the install process continue until completion. If you wanted to cancel the installation, you could just click the Cancel button. When using Windows Vista, you may have to give administrative permission for the program to install before the installation will begin.

46 43 7. Once the program installation has completed, you should see a message box that looks something like this: At this point, click the OK button to complete the process.

47 44 8. Now, if you display the Start menu and then click the All Programs option, you should see a Word Viewer Option appear in the list of available programs: Just click this option to open up the newly installed Word Viewer program.

48 45 9. Close the Word Viewer program by clicking the close button (white X on the red field) in the upper right corner.

49 46 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task Hints To uninstall a program. You will uninstall the Word Viewer program that you installed in the preceding lesson. Uninstall the Word Viewer application from your system. Use the Programs option on the Control Panel: Remember to double check that you are uninstalling the correct program before you begin the uninstall process!

50 47 Section 2: Web Browsers and the Internet In this section you will learn how to: Open a Web browser Change the home page Open a new Web page in a new window Show and hide toolbars Get help Enter a Web address Use hyperlinks Use the back and forward buttons Use stop and refresh Show or hide Web page images Fill out Web forms Bookmark a page Use bookmarks Create a bookmark folder Add bookmarks to a folder Delete bookmarks Use a search engine Perform a search Create an Advanced search Copy text and messages Save a Web page Download files Use Print Preview Use print commands Change the page orientation Change the paper size Change margins Set range options Set the number of copies

51 48 Lesson 2.1: Basics of Web Browsers Accessing the Internet is one of the most common activities performed by home computers. To access Web sites over the Internet, you will need a connection to the Internet (through your Internet Service Provider, or ISP), and you will also require an application program that is designed for accessing Web sites on the Internet. These application programs are called Web browsers. In this lesson, you will learn about some common Web browsers and how to open a Web browser. You will also learn how to change your home page (the default Web page that your browser goes to when you open it), how to open a page in a new window, how to show and hide browser toolbars, and how to find help if you need it.

52 49 Step-By-Step In this lesson you will create a toolbar for Internet Explorer. 1. Begin by opening the Internet Explorer Web browser: 2. Once the browser has opened, right-click on any of the toolbars to display the pop up menu:

53 50 3. If the Lock the Taskbars option has a check mark beside it (in the pop up menu), click the option to remove the check mark:

54 51 4. Right-click in an existing toolbar again. On the pop up menu, enable the Menu Bar, Status Bar, and the Links toolbar:

55 52 5. Click and drag the three enabled toolbars so the Menu bar is above the Links toolbar and the Command Bar is expanded as far to the left as possible. At this point, your browser window should look something like this:

56 53 6. Right-click on a toolbar, point to Customize Command Bar, and click the Show Only Icons option: 7. Right-click on a toolbar area again, point to Customize Command Bar, and click Add or Remove Commands:

57 54 8. Remove the Page command from the right column by selecting the command and clicking Remove: Repeat this action for the Research and Feeds commands as well. 9. Highlight the Copy command in the left column and click Add: Repeat this action for the Paste and Cut commands:

58 55 The commands that you added should now appear in the right column. 10. Click the Close button in the Customize Toolbar dialogue, and look at the command toolbar in the Internet Explorer Browser: You should see buttons for the commands that you added. Skill Sharpener

59 56 Objective Briefing Task Hints To specify a default home page in your browser. Your friend wants to see a specific Web page every time he starts his browser. He has asked you to help him set up his default home page. Choose a particular (perhaps your favorite) Web page and set it up as the default home page for your browser. Use the Tools menu followed by the Internet Options menu item.

60 57 Lesson 2.2: Browsing the Web The main purpose of a Web browser application is for viewing and interacting with Web pages over the Internet. This process of browsing or surfing the Web will be the focus of this lesson. In this lesson you will learn how to use Web addresses, hyperlinks, the Back and Forward buttons, the Stop and Refresh buttons, how to show or hide Web page images, view previously visited pages, and fill out Web forms.

61 58 Step-By-Step In this exercise you will use Internet Explorer 7.0 to navigate through some Web sites. 1. Open Internet Explorer. At this point, whatever web page is set as the default home page will be displayed. 2. Click in the Address text box. Press Delete or use the Backspace key to erase the URL of the home page: 3. Click in the Address text field again and erase the previous address. Type

62 59 When you press your Enter key, the browser will load the Microsoft Web site. (Note that we didn t add the www. at the beginning of these addresses. For most addresses, the www. is not needed; you can simply type whatever.com and the page will load. However, this is not always the case! If your browser gives an error after you enter an address, try adding the www. to the beginning of the address.)

63 60 4. Click the pull-down arrow to the right of the Address text field: 5. Open a new Internet Explorer window by pressing Ctrl + N on your keyboard.

64 61 6. Click the Home button in the new Internet Explorer window to navigate back to the default home page: 7. Click the Close button on all Internet Explorer windows.

65 62 Skill Sharpener Objective Task To learn how to use your browser s Back, Forward, Stop, and Refresh buttons. Open up your Web browser, and enter into the browser s address bar. Once the page loads, click any hyperlink in the page to load the linked page into your browser. Perform this same action on any hyperlink in the next page that loads. Once you have followed two links, click the Back button in the browser until you are back to your original starting page. When you reach the starting page, click the Forward button, followed immediately by the Stop button. Once you have stopped the page from loading, click the Refresh button to reload the page. Follow-up Questions Why might you want to stop a web page from loading?

66 63 Lesson 2.3: Working with Bookmarks There is no doubt that once you start surfing the Web, you will find some Web pages and sites that are interesting or useful. You will likely want to visit these pages again in the future. Most browsers support a mechanism that allows you to bookmark your favorite sites so you can easily return to them. In this lesson, you will learn how to bookmark a page and how to use the bookmarks that you create. You will also learn about bookmark folders, and how to delete existing bookmarks.

67 64 Step-By-Step In this exercise you will practice accessing your bookmarks. 1. To begin, open the Internet Explorer Web browser: 2. Click the Favorites icon ( ) on the left-hand side of the Internet Explorer window.

68 65 3. Click the Pin icon ( ) in the Favorites Center to stick it to the left side of the Internet Explorer window:

69 66 4. Click the Microsoft Web sites folder in the Favorites list to expand its contents:

70 67 5. Click the Microsoft At Home item from the folder contents: The Microsoft At Home page will load into your main browser window.

71 68 6. Next, click the Favorites menu on the browser s menu bar. Choose the MSN Web sites option, followed by the MSN money option:

72 69 7. When the MSN Money Web site opens, click the Favorites menu followed by the Add to Favorites option: 8. At this point, you will see a message box that looks something like the following appear: Even though this Web site is already included in the favorites, click the Add button to add it to the Favorites list again.

73 70 9. Next, click the Favorites menu and right-click on the Bookmark option that you just added to the Favorites list: In the right-click/pop-up menu, click the Delete option to delete the Favorite.

74 In the Delete File message box that appears, click the Yes button to delete the Favorite: 11. Close Internet Explorer.

75 72 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task To understand how to add Web sites as bookmarks. Your friend wants you to show them how create a list of bookmarks to their favorite sites. Browse to five of your favorite Web sites. Make each site a bookmark. Create a folder that appears in your list of bookmarks, and add the five new bookmarks to the folder.

76 73 Lesson 2.4: Working With Web Pages Web Browsers are used to provide access to Web pages and Web sites over the Internet. There is a wealth of information and services available through the Internet but to take advantage of this, you must know the basics of working with search engines and Web pages. In this lesson, you will learn how to find and use a search engine, how to copy text and images to a document, and how to save a Web page on your local system.

77 74 Step-By-Step In this lesson, we will perform several searches using two popular search engines. 1. To begin, open Internet Explorer. 2. Type Making Chicken Soup in the Search Bar: Press Enter. Scroll through a few of the search results and make note of the results that are returned: 3. Next, type into your address bar and press Enter:

78 75 4. When the Google search engine loads into your browser, type Making * Soup into the search field: Remember, the * character is a wildcard character, so a variety of results are to be expected.

79 76 5. Your search results might look something like those shown above.

80 77 6. Next, enter Making Chicken Soup in quotation marks as shown below: When you click the Search button, only results that have exact matches to the search term will be returned:

81 78 7. Next, type * Chicken Soup into the Google search box: This time, when you click Search or press Enter, exact results will be shown: 8. Close Internet Explorer.

82 79 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task Hints Follow-up Questions To understand how different search engines work. There are literally hundreds of search engines available on the Internet, and they all work in different ways. To satisfy your curiosity, you decide to do a bit of reading into what makes one search engine different from another. Open Internet Explorer and perform searches using the same search terms, but different search engines. Take note of how the results from different search engines differ. Remember that you can use multiple search terms and quotations to narrow your search. Use a search engine to find a Web site called Search Engine Showdown. Use this Web site to find which search engines return the most results.

83 80 Lesson 2.5: Printing Web Pages In the last lesson we learned how to copy and paste text and images from a Web page to a word processing document. In this lesson we will learn how to use the printing functionality built into a Web browser (Internet Explorer in this case).

84 81 Step-By-Step In this lesson, we will print a Web page. 1. To begin, start the Internet Explorer Web browser: 2. Next, browse to a Web site that is of interest to you.

85 82 3. Once your Web site opens in the browser, click the File menu, followed by the Print Preview option:

86 83 4. When Print Preview opens, if part of the Web page does not fit across the width of the page, click the Page Setup ( ) button: In the Page Setup dialogue, select the Landscape radio button:

87 84 Click OK to return to the Print Preview window, and then click the Print icon ( ).

88 85 5. The page should now be horizontally oriented in the Print Preview screen. To print the page, click the Printer icon in the upper left of the preview: Click the Close button in the upper right to close the Print Preview window.

89 86 6. Place your mouse at the beginning of a paragraph of text in your Web page. Click and drag your mouse to select a few paragraphs of text. 7. Click the File menu, followed by the Print option:

90 87 8. In the Print dialogue, click the Selection radio button: Click the Print button to print the selected paragraph. 9. Close Internet Explorer.

91 88 Skill Sharpener Objective Briefing Task To become more familiar with printing from Web pages and Web sites. You have been asked to put together a report on Internet search engines for an upcoming meeting. Browse the Web to find some information on a variety of Internet search engines. Print out a paragraph of text (from a Web site) that discusses some aspect of your favorite search engine. In addition, you should also print out the actual search engine Web page as well. Follow-up Questions Can you think of a way to combine the selection that you printed, as well as an image of the search engine Web page, into one seamless document for printing?

92 89 Index Applications Calculator Number modes...18 Installing...40 Saving... 9 Starting... 5 Browsing the Web History...60 Command Area... 49, 51, 53 Digital Signature Viewing...39 Files Opening...30 Saving...34 Flip3D...27 Internet Service Provider...48 Links Toolbar... 51, 52 Print Preview...82 Quick Launch...27 Search Bar...74 Status Bar...51 Taskbar... 24, 25, 26 Using a Window Window anatomy...22 Windows Minimizing...25