Introduction to K200 Part 1: Getting to Know the STC Computer By Margaret Lion Part 1: Getting to Know the STC Computer This manual was specifically written to help you understand using the computer resources at Indiana University. It will primarily familiarize you with the operating system Windows 10 in the Student Technology Center (STC) labs. What you learn in the manual can be applied to all computers in the STC labs across campus. You can also apply the knowledge to any computer, though you will probably have to adapt as a non STC lab computer will look different than what is shown. Before You Begin You are a human being. You have a big, bad, fast, powerful human being brain. Your brain can process more information more quickly than any STC computer. So, when working with computers and learning new skills you must ratchet back your big bad human brain and pretend you are talking to a two year old. Remember when you were a small child and you were trying to learn to tie your shoes? Remember how you had to do this one small step at a time. First you had to take the shoe laces in each hand. Then you had to cross them over each other. Now as an adult you can tie your shoes without thinking. However, the task of tying your shoes is the many small tasks put together. This is how a computer thinks! Computers must do things one small step at a time. This may make your big bad human brain crazy. But if you remember to think of your computer as a child, it will make your life easier. Slow down, take your time, perform each small task and you will find that you move through the work and learn quickly. So read this manual word for word and perform the tasks it instructs step by step. This will prepare you for your work in K200. Windows 10 Windows 10 is an operating system (OS). An operating system is software that enables a computer to work. Think of the OS as functioning like the autonomic nervous system in the human body. The autonomic nervous system keeps you breathing, blinking, and digesting without you having to think about it. The OS controls such functions as: The appearance of your screen; Opening and closing programs; Startup and shutdown procedures; General navigation Note. A computer must have an operating system to work. If the OS can t support the software, the software may not work on the computer. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 1
techniques; and, Controls the hardware attached to your computer, including its memory, disk drive space, attached devices such as printers. 1 The OS also helps the user interact with other pieces of software on the computer. Windows 10 is a graphical user interface or GUI (pronounced goo ey ) program. This means it will use icons to represent programs. For example, the Recycle Bin on your Desktop looks like a trash can. Since this is where you will throw away or delete what you don t need, the trash can image is appropriate. Also the Computer icon looks like a computer and the Logoff icon shows a key to emphasize security. Windows. Whenever you open a program, a drive or a folder using Windows 10 you will see objects in a window. Hence the name Windows for Microsoft s operating systems. FYI. For more information about Windows 10, go to the K200 Class Resources page and read the PowerPoint presentation Technology Onion Windows 10. http://www.iub.edu/~sphk200/resources.html#ppp. Logging on When you first sit down to a computer in any STC lab you will see the words Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to log on. This is asking for your IU ID and password. You cannot do anything with the computer until you log on. If at this point you do not have an IU ID and password, talk with your instructor. Note. Whenever you see a blue circle or an hour glass next to the mouse pointer on a computer screen, do NOT press any keys! This is the computer s way of telling you that it is working. Wait until the blue circle or hourglass is gone before pressing any keys. This gives your computer time to complete its original task. Welcome to the Desktop When you first log onto a computer in a lab at IU this is what you will see: 1 Technological Onion Operating Systems (OS) PowerPoint presentation for K200 By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 2
1. IU Desktop background 2. Icons 5. Task buttons 3. Taskbar 6. Notification area 4. Start button 7. Search window By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 3
This is called the Desktop. When you sit at a desk all of the material you need to work, like paper and pens, will be on the desk s top. The same is true of this screen: Everything you need to operate your computer is here for you to access. This is why it is called the Desktop. Parts of the Desktop are: 1. IU Desktop background. This is the assigned graphic IU puts on computers in STC labs. 2. Icons. This is a graphic representation of a disk, folder, file, or program on the computer. 3. Taskbar. Displays the Start button, the Notification area, and any programs, folders, or files that are open. 4. Start button. The button that you click to access programs, files, and folders on your computer. 5. Task buttons. These buttons show programs that are open. For the above example, Firefox and Word are open. 6. Notification Area. This area tells you date and time as well as the status your USB stick. 7. Search. Type name of program, folder, or file you need to find on the computer. All STC computers are designed to look and act the same way. Thus if you go to any other STC lab on the Bloomington campus, the computers will look and act exactly as they do in SPH 154. However other computers will not look the same even if they have the same parts. For example, a taskbar might be blue instead of black. Though it looks different it still performs the same function. Access Drives, Folders, and Files From your Desktop you can access drives, folders, and files on your computer. A drive is hardware for folder and file storage. A folder is storage area on a drive. A file is data such as a picture, piece of music, or Word document. Another way to think of drive, folder, and file is this: Your drive is a filing cabinet, the folder is a specific folder, and the file is a piece of paper or item you have placed in the folder. One way to begin viewing the computer s drives, folders, and files is to double click on the Computer or the This PC icon. A window will open looking similar to the picture below. When you do this, you are accessing Windows Explorer on the computer. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 4
1. Address bar 3. Search box 4. Folder list. 5. Devices and drives. 2. Navigation pane 7. Content pane. 6. Network locations. 1. Address bar. Shows you where you are on the computer. 2. Navigation pane. Show quick access icons to areas on the computer or a network you will need to access. 3. Search box. Helps you find files or folders on the computer. 4. Folder list. Shows icons to major folders on computer. 5. Devices and drives. Displays drives such as USB stick, DVD/CD, this computer can access. 6. Network locations. Shows other computers and/or networks that this computer can access. Note: Box (I) will be accessed from this area. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 5
7. Content pane. Gives a more detailed view of folders, devices and networks the computer can access. Look at the above picture you will see that in the address bar has the words This PC in it. This shows you are looking at all of the drives, networks, and devices this computer can access. Some can be access by both the Navigation pane and the Content pane. Remember: Naming Drives. Drives are given letters by the computer to identify them. The names automatically given will be letters from the alphabet. Hard drives are usually called C. Whenever you plug in a USB stick to a computer, the computer will assign it a letter. Typically, in SPH 154 the USB will be given the letter of D, though a few machines may also name it E. It does not matter what letter a computer gives the USB stick. Start Button Let s begin with the Start button to access a program called WordPad. Think of WordPad as a scaled down version of Microsoft Word. 1. Click the Start button. The Start menu will appear and look similar to the picture below. 2. Click Start Search box. 3. Type WordPad. 4. Click on WordPad which should be at the top of the menu. 5. WordPad will open. It will look similar to Microsoft Word, but it has many fewer functions. 6. Type your full name and K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology at the top of the document. 7. You will now save this document using the steps given in the next part. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 6
Username. Frequently access programs. Search. Save and Work On the Desktop You will hear the words save your work to the Desktop a lot in K200 a lot. You save your work to your Desktop so that you know where it is when in class. Files and folders can easily get lost as you can often forget where you saved your work. So save to the Desktop EVERY TIME YOU WORK IN CLASS! That way you can find your work and so can your instructor when you need help. Save the previously mentioned WordPad document using the following steps: 1. Click File in the top left corner. A menu will drop down. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 7
2. Click Save As The Save As window will appear. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 8
Desktop icon. 3. Look at the top of the Save As window. You will see the words This PC > Documents in the top text box. This means that you work will be saved in the Documents folder on the computer. YOU DO NOT WANT THIS!! You MUST save to the Desktop. 4. Click Desktop in the left side pane. Your Save As window will change, looking similar to the picture below. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 9
5. You will now see Desktop in the top text box. You will also a folder that has your full name. Don t worry about this folder as we will not use it. 6. At the bottom of the window you will see a textbox labeled File name. Inside the textbox you will see Document.rtf. Under the File name textbox, you will see the Save as type textbox. Inside that textbox you will see the words Rich Text Format (RTF) (*.rtf) and a drop down arrow. This means that unless you change the file type, this file will save in rich text format. This is fine so leave it as it is. 7. To name this file type, Lastname_Firstname_Wordpad_Practice.rtf in the File name textbox. Note that adding your name is one of the file naming strategies you will use throughout the class. So whenever you see Lastname_Firstname you will type your last name and first name. Example: Lion_Margaret_Wordpad_Practice.rtf. 8. When you have finished typing the new name, click the Save button. 9. Your work will now be saved. You can see the name of the document in the title bar of WordPad. See the example below. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 10
New file name in Title bar. Open Software You can open any software that is on your computer by following the steps you took to open WordPad in the Start Button instructions. You can test this by typing Word, Excel, Dreamweaver, or Audacity in the Start Search box. Remember: The extension on a file identifies what type of file it is and what program created it. For example, when you see a document with.rtf in the extension you know that WordPad, or even Word, created it. However, if a document has.xlsx as an extension, then you know that Excel created it. Proceed to Canvas and take the Part 1: Getting to Know the STC Computer quiz. Quiz will be worth 40 points. By Margaret Lion, Dept. of Kinesiology, Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington, for K200 Microcomputer Applications in Kinesiology. 2016 11