Day 25
After this lesson you will be better able to:
Navigate the Windows 9X interface
Manipulate the Start bar
Use the taskbar
Better use the explorer
Use Network Neighborhood
Manipulate the Recycle Bin
Customize your windows
Fundamental Step
The Interface
Here we see:
The desktop
Icons
Start Button
Task Bar
Minimized Application
System Tray
The desktop is the space, which a user may work in. It is the background, which holds all of the opened windows, icons, and the taskbar. You may right-click on the desktop to bring up more options and settings for your computer. The pop-up menu looks like this:
The “View Desktop”
Icon looks like this:
.
Icons are elements, which allow the user a shortcut to his/her programs. Shortcuts are easy to create. One way to create a shortcut is to right-click on the desktop. See the image below.
The Start menu is structured to have the user’s programs on top. Below these the menu shows the standard menu commands and tools. These are “Programs,” “Documents,” “Favorites,” “Documents,” “Settings,” “Find,” “Help,” and “Run.” Below these are the “Log Off User” and “Shutdown” shortcuts.
The Task Bar holds the Start Button, Quick Launch, taskbar (with opened programs), and the System Tray.
Minimized Applications are placed on the taskbar. A user may have many applications opened at once. To switch between opened applications, the user may click on the other application’s icon on the taskbar.
This shows you what programs are working in the background. These are normally anti virus programs and other utilities.
Using Windows Explorer
To start the Windows Explorer, just right-click on the Start button and select “Explore.”
Explorer is a nice utility, which allows the user to view, browse, rename, print, create shortcuts, delete, cut, copy, and move the users files and folders. It also allows you the ability to perform maintenance on your system. The user can also customize windows.
“-,” “+,” and the “X”
Folders
Files
The My Computer Icon can be found on your desktop. It is a shortcut to all of your drives, printers, control panels, and Networking.
Network Neighborhood is used the same way as Windows Explorer, except the user manipulates files, which are not on his computer.
This folder acts as a temporary storage for folders and files, which you are deleting. To delete items, just drag and drop them into the Recycle Bin or right-click on the item and select “delete.” To remove the items (frees up space) from the bin, just right-click the Recycle Bin and select “Empty Recycle Bin.”
The Control Panel is the tool, which we use to edit many of the options found within Windows. In the Control Panel, I use the following icons often:
|
Icon |
Purpose |
|
Add New Hardware |
To add new hardware, if Windows does not auto detect it. |
|
Add/Remove Programs |
To install and uninstall most programs. |
|
Date/Time |
To adjust date and time settings |
|
Desktop Themes |
To adjust the way Windows 9X looks |
|
Display |
To adjust the screen display |
|
Internet Options |
To adjust the options found within the Internet. |
|
Modems |
To add, adjust, and test modems. |
|
System |
A special configuration program, which allows the user to view and adjust many settings. |
Once you click on the system icon, you are presented with the “General” data about your system. The first information is about the version of your Windows. Next is who the OS is registered to, along with the product number. Lastly, we see the system information with the maker of the CPU shown, the generation of the CPU, and the amount of RAM. An OEM photo can be added below the picture of the screen by simply creating an image file with the size of 180 X 114, naming it OEMLOGO.BMP, and placing it in the system folder. The result is the change as seen below.
The next tab is called “Device Manager,” which allows you to manage your hardware devices.
The next tab is the Hardware Profiles tab, which allows the user to edit the hardware profiles, of course!
The last tab is the Performance tab. Here the user can edit the file system, graphic adapter performance, and the virtual memory settings. It is possible to change the size of the swap file or to change the location of this file.
Questions
Attendance
Second Hour
Problems
1.
Write down the steps
to removing the “Shortcut” 
image from all of your desktop icons.
2.
Write down the steps to add a shortcut to the Control Panel just under the word Settings on the Start Menu.
3.
Write down the steps to adding a new shortcut to the “Quick Launch” area.
4.
Write down the steps to removing the AOL folder found in the Start Menu’s Program folder.
5.
Write down the steps to removing the AOL folder from my C drive. Do be sure to tell me the programs that you would open to help you.
6.
You have installed a modem in a friend’s PC. Using the Control Panel, write down the steps for turning down the volume of that modem.
