Computer Basics II Handout Objectives: 1. Getting familiar with your Keyboard. 2. How to Install Programs. a. From Web b. From CD c. How to Uninstall 3. How to Create Users 4. Group Permissions and Full Control 5. System tools. a. Disk Clean Up b. Defragmenter 6. Help and Support. 7. Search tool. 8. Ctrl+Alt+Delete 9. Short Cut Commands 1. Your keyboard. ENTER or RETURN - Moves the cursor down one line and to the left margin. Enter also process commands such as choosing an option in a dialog (message) boxes and submitting a form. DEL or DELETE - Deletes the character at cursor and/or characters to the right of the cursor and all highlighted (or selected) text. BKSP or BACKSPACE - Deletes the character to the left of cursor and all highlighted text. SPACE BAR - Moves the cursor one space at a time to the right
SHIFT KEY - Use the shift keys to type capital letters and to type the upper character on keys with two characters on them CAPS LOCK - Locks the keyboard so it types capital letters (a light goes on when caps lock is on) TAB - Moves the cursor five spaces to the right (number of spaces are usually adjustable). Tab moves to the next field in a form or table (Shift-Tab for previous field). ARROW KEYS - Moves the cursor around document without changing text The Control Panel Keyboard Properties. 2. How to Install Programs. To download and install a program from the Web 1. Click the download link on the software company s Web site. When prompted, click Save. 2
2. In the Save As dialog box, click the Save in down arrow, and then click Desktop. Make note of the file name. Then, click Save. 3. Internet Explorer downloads the file, which may take several minutes. When the download is complete, click Close. 4. Right-click your system clock, and then click Show the Desktop. 3
5. Locate the file on the desktop, and double-click it to start the setup program. 6. If the Security Warning dialog box appears, click Run. 7. During setup, click Next to move to the next page of the setup program, and then click Finish on the last page. If the page prompts you to enter information, you can do so, or you can simply accept the default information that the setup program entered. 4
After the program is installed, you can delete the setup file from your desktop. To open your new program, click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click the program s icon. To install a program from CD 1. Insert the CD into your computer. Setup will start automatically. If it does not start after several seconds, double-click My Computer on your desktop (or click the Start button, and click My Computer), right-click your CD drive, and then click AutoPlay. 2. During setup, click Next to move to the next page of the setup program, and then click Finish on the last page. If a page prompts you to enter information, you can do so, or you can simply accept the default information that the setup program entered. 5
3. Once your program is installed, you can start it by clicking the Start button, clicking All Programs, and then clicking your new program s icon. How to uninstall Open Programs and Features by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Programs, and then clicking Add\Remove Programs. Select a program, and then click Uninstall. Some programs include the option to change or repair the program in addition to uninstalling it. But many simply offer the option to uninstall. To change a program, click Change or Repair. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. 6
3. How to create Users To set up user accounts 1. Log on to your computer as an administrator. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 2. Under Pick a category, click User Accounts. 3. Under Pick a task, click Create a new account. 7
4. In the User Accounts wizard, on the Name the new account page, type the name for the user. You can use the person's full name, first name, or a nickname. Then click Next. 5. The User Accounts wizard displays the Pick an account type page. Click Limited, and then click Create Account. 6. To create another account, return to step 3. Note: In these steps, you created a limited account. Limited accounts offer better security than Computer administrator accounts. However, limited accounts cannot make systemwide changes or install some applications. If you need to make changes to your system, log on with the administrator account you used to create the new accounts. 8
Now that you have added new user accounts, you can change the default display pictures or create passwords for the accounts. How to choose pictures or create passwords for user accounts By default, accounts have standard pictures but do not have passwords. You can add your own picture for each account, which can make it easier and more fun for children and adults to identify their accounts. To prevent other users from accessing an account, create a password. To either choose a picture or create a password 1. Log on to your computer as an administrator. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 2. Under Pick a category, click User Accounts. 3. Under or pick an account to change, click the account for which you want to choose a picture or create a password. 9
4. To choose a custom picture a. Click Change the picture. b. Click Browse for more pictures. 10
c. Click the picture you want to display for that account, and then click Open. Windows XP will display the picture you select on the logon screen. 5. To create a password to prevent other people from using an account a. Click Create a password. b. On the Create a password page, type the password twice. Optionally, type a password hint. Then click Create Password. 11
6. To choose pictures or create passwords for other accounts, return to step 3. 4. Group permissions and Full Control You may find it easier to assign permissions to groups rather than to individual users this saves you from having to maintain access control for each user. You can also allow a group (or individual) full access to the file or folder, rather than selecting individual types of access permissions. To do this, select the Full Control option when setting permissions. Then, you can just select Deny for any type of access you want to exclude for the group (or individual). The type of permissions you can grant depends on the type of object. For example, the permissions for a file are different from those for a registry key. Some types of permissions are common, including: Read permissions Modify permissions Change owner Delete To set, view, change, or remove file and folder permissions: 1. Open Windows Explorer. (Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.) 2. Locate the file or folder that you will be adding permissions to. 3. Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab. (If you do not see the Security tab, you may not be joined to a domain. 12
4. Next, choose the group or user name. If you need to add a group or user, click Add. Type the name of the group or user for which you want to set permissions, and then click OK. (When you add a new user or group, this user or group will have Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, and Read permissions by default.) If the group or user is already listed, click the name of the group or user. To remove a group or user from the Group or user names dialog box, click the group or user name you want to remove and click Remove. 5. Now that you have selected the group or user, you can adjust their permissions: To allow or deny a type of permission, select the Allow or Deny check box in the Permissions for User or Group dialog box. 6. If the check boxes under Permissions for User or Group are shaded, or if the Remove button is unavailable, then the file or folder has inherited permissions from the parent folder. Access rights set up for the parent folder carry down to its subfolders. To display the Security tab Open Folder Options in Control Panel. (Click Start, click Control Panel, click 13
Appearance and Themes, and then click Folder Options.) On the View tab, under Advanced settings, clear the Use simple file sharing [Recommended] check box. By using the access control feature available in Windows XP Professional, you can help ensure that only the people you want to access the files and folders on your network are able to get to them. 5. System Tools Disk Cleanup Utility To keep a PC running smoothly, regular maintenance is critical. Many users shy away from maintenance tasks, thinking it is a long, drawn out manual affair, but the Disk Cleanup Utility can easily determine which files on a hard drive may no longer be needed and delete those files. In addition to freeing up potentially significant amounts of hard drive space, using Disk Cleanup on a regular basis can significantly improve system performance. Starting Disk Cleanup Disk Cleanup is available on both Home and Professional versions of XP. The utility can be accessed in any of the methods listed below. Click Start Programs Accessories System Tools Disk Cleanup In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup. Use the drop down menu arrow to select the drive you want to clean. Click [OK] and Disk Cleanup will analyze the selected drive to determine the amount of space that can be freed. 14
Note: Be patient. Analyzing the drive can be a lengthy process depending on drive size and contents. Once the drive analysis is complete a list of file categories will be presented for your selection. Instead of automatically proceeding with cleanup once the drive analysis is complete, Disk Cleanup allows you to review the categories of files that can be deleted. Click on any of the categories to display more information relative to that category in the Description section of the window. If you're unsure if you want to delete the files in a category from the description, use the [View Files] button. File Categories in Disk Cleanup Utility 15
These are ActiveX controls and Java applets downloaded from Web sites that are temporarily stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder. It's not program files or zip files that you have downloaded from other locations. Temporary Internet Files This refers to Internet Explorer's cache of Web pages that are stored on the hard drive for quicker viewing. None of your personal web settings are affected by selecting this category, nor does it delete any cookie files. Recycle Bin The main thing to be aware of in this category is that it only refers to the Recycle Bin for the selected hard drive or partition. This is important since XP uses an individual Recycle Bin for each drive and partition, not just one as is the case in some Windows versions. Temporary Remote Desktop Files These files are the result of using the Remote Desktop utility. If you repeatedly use Remote Desktop with the same computer or group of computers, leaving these files intact will maintain the speed of future connections. Deleting them will necessitate downloading the remote systems icons and wallpaper the next time a connection is established. Setup Log Files These are really pretty useless unless you have a specific reason to go back and see what occurred during XP setup. Backup Files For Previous Operating System I mentioned this category earlier as one you may not have, but if you did upgrade from a previous Windows version and selected the option to be able to uninstall XP, it may well exist. It takes some major hard drive space to copy all the files necessary to back up a previous system's core files, drivers, etc. This entry can range anywhere from a few hundred megabytes up to a gigabyte, so unless you are still considering dumping XP this is a good category to select. Offline Files Users with slower dialup connections and those using laptops frequently make websites they use often available offline. Depending on how many levels deep you save the sites, they can eat up gigabytes of hard drive space very quickly. Worse than taking up space, the sites often contain outdated information. Compress Old Files 16
Unlike the other categories, Compress Old Files doesn't delete any files from the drive. It compresses files that Windows hasn't accessed for a specified period of time. The files are still available, but there will be a slight increase in access times because the files will be decompressed the next time they are accessed. Note that when Compress Old Files is highlighted an Options button appears. Clicking it will allow you to set the number of days to wait before an uncased file is compressed. There may be other categories that appear in your Disk Cleanup window, but in all cases, highlighting the item will display an explanation of the category in the Description area. More Options Tab In addition to the categories that appear on the Disk Cleanup tab, the More Options tab offers additional opportunities for freeing up hard drive real estate. There is nothing on this tab that isn't available elsewhere within XP in stand alone fashion, but having them grouped here does serve as a convenient reminder. In Windows XP there are three choices available on the More Options tab: Windows Components, Installed Programs, and System Restore. Windows Components The Cleanup button in the Windows Components section launches the Windows Components Wizard. Select a general category of components and drill down using the Details button to locate the desired Windows component. Installed Programs The Cleanup button in the Installed Programs section opens the Add/Remove Programs dialog box. Any installed program can be removed by selecting the individual program 17
and clicking the Change/Remove button. You cannot batch programs together to be removed. Each removal operation must be treated as a separate entity. System Restore Clicking the Cleanup button in the System Restore section opens a dialog box where it asks if you are sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point. The difference between using this option and going directly to System Restore is that you have no option to selectively delete restore points with this method. It's "all but most recent" or nothing when accessed via Disk Cleanup. Click Yes or No depending on your choice. Post Disk Cleanup Procedures Using Disk Cleanup will almost certainly rid your system of a substantial amount of unneeded files. You could stop here and not suffer any ill consequences, but there are a lot of gaps and empty spaces on the hard drive where the files were removed. This would be an excellent time to run Disk Defragmenter to organize the hard drive into contiguous sections. The hard drive heads will spend less time seeking all the pieces of a file and you'll see another performance boost. Disk Defragmenter Utility When files are created, deleted, or modified it's almost a certainty they will become fragmented. Fragmented simply means the file is not stored in one place in its entirety, or what computer folks like to call a contiguous location. Different parts of the file are scattered across the hard disk in noncontiguous pieces. The more fragmented files there are on a drive, the more performance and reliability suffer as the drive heads have to search for all the pieces in different locations. The Disk Defragmenter Utility is designed to reorganize noncontiguous files into contiguous files and optimize their placement on the hard drive for increased reliability and performance. Accessing Disk Defragmenter Disk Defragmenter can be opened a number of different ways. The most common methods are listed below. Start All Programs Accessories System Tools Disk Defragmenter Start Administrative Tools Computer Management. Expand Storage and select Disk Defragmenter The first two methods take you to a standalone window containing Disk Defragmenter. The last method opens Microsoft Management Console and displays Disk Defragmenter as one of the snap-in modules. In all cases, a window similar to the one below will be displayed. 18
When Disk Defragmenter first opens you'll see a list of the hard drives displayed at the top of the screen. The Estimated Disk Usage before Defragmentation and Estimated Disk Usage after Defragmentation will be blank until a drive is selected and the Analyze button is clicked. After the Analyze button has been clicked and the process completes the window shown above opens with a brief recommendation of what action Disk Defragmenter thinks should be taken regarding the drive. 19
An Analysis Report contains quite a bit of additional information about the selected drive. The bottom pane, Most Fragmented Files, lists the files in descending order that are the most fragmented. In spite of the recommendation not to defragment this particular disk, I went ahead and clicked the Defragment button. The results of that choice are shown above in the Estimated Disk Usage after Defragmentation section. The graphical representation clearly shows that not only have the red lines depicting fragmented files been eliminated, many of the contiguous files indicated by the blue have been repositioned toward the beginning of the drive, reducing the amount of searching the drive heads have to do to locate a file. After the defragmentation process completes, clicking the View Report button will bring up the Defragmentation Report 20
6. Help and Support. To find or get more help and support go to the start button under Help and support you ll find more options on how to deal with the computer errors. This is the index page of the help Section. 7. Search tool. To search for files or folders you can go to the start button under search. Then from this side bar you can filter your search 21
8. Ctrl+Alt+Delete This keyboard shortcut option will help you end frozen programs or errors. These are few of the options that you may get but in order to end a bug or error in a program you click on the Task Manager. There you have the option to stop the program by clicking end task 22
9. Shortcut Commands Here are the options, how you can create a shut down shortcut in your computer Shutdown.exe -s t 05 c shutdown the computer Shutdown.exe -r t 05 c restarts the computer -t indicates the delay, in seconds, before the computer is restarted/shutdown/logged -c Displays a message in the shutdown/restart window that appears and the message needs to be enclosed in quotation marks 1. Right click on the Desktop. Left click on New > Shortcut. 23
2. In the type the location: textbox enter the shutdown.exe -s, parameter is used to shut down the computer. 3. Click the Next > button. 4. In the type a name for this shortcut: textbox enter Shutdown or other name of your choice Click the Finish button. 5. After completing these steps, right click on the shut down shortcut and change the icon. 24
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