INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS - Telstra

SUBJECTGETTING TO KNOW YOUR MOUSETIME10 minutesMOUSING ABOUTNow that you’re at the login screen or in youroperating system, you’ll be able to take control ofyour mouse.Place the mouse on a flat surface – it can beanything, as long as it’s solid and smooth enoughto support sliding the mouse over it without liftingthe mouse up off the surface. Then slide the mousearound in any direction while looking up at themonitor. Don’t press any buttons on the mousejust yet, just practice moving it across the surface.See a little pointer on the screen? See how it moves(within the borders of the screen) corresponding tothe way you move the mouse?This is how mouse control works. Don’t worry, it’squite intuitive and you’ll get used to it very quickly.It’s because it’s so intuitive that we’ve been usingmice to control personal computers since the 1970s.There are other ways to control the computer,with touch screens, track balls, track pads, voicerecognition and a variety of other gizmos availablenow, but the mouse is still the mainstay.This is what the mousepointer looks like most ofthe time in Windows. Certainapplications may changethe shape of mouse pointer,however, depending on theneeds of the applicationON LAPTOPS: THE TOUCH PADIf you’re running this workshop on a laptop rather than a desktop computer,you might not have a mouse at all. Instead you’ll have what’s called a touchpad. It will be located just below the keyboard, and have one or more buttonsjust above it. The buttons serve the same functions as the mouse buttons.The pad also serves the same function as a mouse – to move the pointeraround – although in the case of the touch pad, the mechanics are a littledifferent. To move the mouse pointerwith a touch pad, you glide your fingerover the pad in the direction you wantto move the pointer. Don’t worry if yourun out of room; just lift your finger offthe pad and move it back to a pointwhere you have room. The pointer willstay in place.A touch padIf you prefer a mouse, you can attacha mouse to a laptop using any of thelaptop’s USB ports.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 7

MOUSING ABOUT:WHAT DOES IT DO?So what function does the mouse serve anyway?The mouse is used to point at things on screen. Itrepresents a way for you to tell the computer“I want that”. It’s used to select which applicationyou’d like to run, and also to control elements withinan application, such as pressing buttons in theapplication.It’s also used to navigate around documents andapplications. Say you have written a letter that’stoo big to be viewed on the screen at once. Some ofthat letter will be “off-screen”, and you can use themouse to view the rest of the document. If you wantto insert an extra word or paragraph, or change aword or paragraph, you can use the mouse pointer toselect the area of the document you want to change.MOUSING ABOUT:THE MOUSEBUTTONS ANDSCROLL WHEELEvery mouse has at least one button on it. Most miceon computers running Windows have at least two,and may also include what’s called a scroll wheel.Most typical mice have two buttons – a left buttonand a right button – as well as a little wheel wedgedbetween them, the scroll wheel.Left mouse buttonScroll wheelRight mouse buttonIn Windows, each button has a different function.The left button is the most commonly used button.Clicking the left mouse button tells the computer“activate whatever the pointer is currentlypointing at”.The right button is the context button, and itsfunction is different depending on what you’repointing at. Most often, it gives options relating towhatever the pointer is pointing at.For example, if the pointer is on an application, theleft button would start that application, while theright button might give you the options to delete theINTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 8

application, or move it somewhere else, or close it ifit’s already running.The scroll wheel is special. In the example above,where an on-screen letter was too big to be seen allat once, the scroll wheel would be used to scroll thedocument down the screen, revealing the parts of itthat are hidden.MOUSING ABOUT:THE CURSORIn text editors, the mouse pointer is supplementedby an element called the cursor, which is usuallya vertical line that flashes continuously.On computers, you can always jump to any pointin the text and type. Extra words inserted into themiddle of a paragraph will push words after themoutward rather than overwrite them. You can jumpinto any point in a document and make edits.The cursor tells you where in the document you’recurrently editing or writing. New words that youtype will appear where the cursor is. If you press thebackspace button, letters just before the cursor willbe deleted.You can move the cursor using the mouse. To do that,you’d take the mouse pointer to the point in the textyou’d like to place the cursor and left-click.The cursor flashes tolet you see where it islocated in a documentMOUSING ABOUT:LET’S PRACTICEOkay, let’s practice some mouse controls.If you’re still on the Windows login screen, move themouse pointer to a name on the screen. If there’smore than one login, you may need to ask aboutwhich to use. Then perform a single click on the leftmouse button (known as a left-click). If there’s nopassword on the computer, then Windows shouldappear. What you’ll see here is called the “desktop”– it’s from here that you launch your applications.For now, we’re not going to launch any applicationsor do anything (we’ll be getting to that in a bit), butINTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 9

MOUSING ABOUT:LET’S PRACTICEwe can practice our mouse movements and clickinga little.Move the mouse pointer to any blank space on thescreen. Practice left-clicking and right-clicking.You’ll see, whenever you right-click, that a menuwill appear on screen – this is the context menu.To make it go away, just left-click somewhere onthe screen other than on the menu. If you left-clickone of the menu options, something will happendepending on what you’re pointing at.There’s a special move that we should practice hereas well. It’s called the double-click, and it takessome people a little bit of time to master. To doubleclick, you have to press the left button twice in veryquick succession. If you’re not quick enough, it willregister as two single clicks.Double-click is often used for starting applicationsfrom the computer’s main screen. The first clickselects the application. The second click starts it.You don’t always need to use double-click to launchan application, but in some cases you may need to.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 10

SUBJECTALL ABOUT KEYBOARDSTIME10 minutesWHAT’S AKEYBOARD?The keyboard is your digital typewriter. It is the wayyou enter text into your applications.But it also serves other functions as well. In additionto the usual letters and numbers you might expect,there is a whole bunch of other keys whose functionis not all that obvious.Some of these include:The Enter keyThis is used to end a paragraph or signal that yourtyping is complete.The Shift keysFor letters, this switches between upper and lowercase. Hold down a Shift key while typing a letter, andyou’ll get the upper case version of that letter. If youlook on the keyboard above the number keys, as wellas the punctuation keys, you’ll see extra symbols,like #, ,%, {} and so on. If you hold down the Shiftkey while pressing the numbers, you’ll get thosesymbols instead.The Caps Lock keyPress it once, and every letter you type willthereafter be in upper case. Press it again to returnto regular lower case.The Ctrl (Control) and Alt keysThe use of these depends on the application. Likethe shift key, they’re typically used in conjunctionwith a letter or number, where you press the Control/Alt key and the letter at the same time. Mostcommonly, they’re used for what are called keyboardShiftCaps LockCtrlAltCtrl and Alt keys areoften used for keyboardshortcutsThe standard layout ofa QWERTY keyboardINTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 11

WHAT’S AKEYBOARD?shortcuts. Instead of taking your hand off thekeyboard and using the mouse, a lot of applicationslet you use shortcuts to achieve certain functions.For example, pressing Control and Z at the sametime in a text editor un-does the last thing you did tothe document.The Tab keyUsed in some applications (like spreadsheets andweb browsers) to jump to the next field.The navigation keys – four arrow keys as well andHome, End, Pg Up (page up), Pg Dn (page down)TabWhen working with text, these let you move thecursor without having to reach for your mouse.The Backspace and Delete (Del) keysIf you make a mistake when typing, the Backspacekey will delete that last letter you typed. The Deletekey works in the opposite direction, deleting theletter after the cursor.DeleteBackspaceThe F keys (F1, F2, F3 etc.)These serve a function similar to the Control andAlt keys, letting you access certain applicationfunctions without having to reach for the mouse.F1, for example, usually brings up the Help screen.The Esc (escape) keyThis often used if you want to “back out” of whateveryou’re doing. Its particular use is dependent on theapplication. In some cases, for example, it mightclose the application, or abort a particular functionthat you started.F1F2ESCSome keyboards have additional buttons as well, forcontrolling volume or quickly launching applicationsusing only the keyboard.WHY QWERTY?Most English language keyboards use what may seem like a bizarre letterlayout: Qwerty (named for the first six letters on the first row of letter keys).There are some odd historical reasons for this layout. It was originallydesigned for use in mechanical typewriters in the 19th century, allowingprofessional secretaries and typists to type faster by putting the mostcommonly used letters in more conveniently accessible places. But it wasalso designed so that typists couldn’t go too fast and cause the mechanicalhammers on the typewriters to jam up.Of course, modern electronic keyboards don’t jam up, and there aretheoretically more efficient keyboard layouts that could be used. But we’ve allbecome so accustomed to Qwerty that it has remained in common use.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 12

SUBJECTUSING A COMPUTERTIME20 minutesLAUNCHING ANAPPLICATIONEnough talk: it’s time to play. Let’s start by launchingan application.Before we get started, however, we do need to notethat not all computers are alike when it comes tolaunching applications. It depends on your operatingsystem. Version 7 of Windows is different fromVersion 8 of Windows, which is different from MacOSused in Apple Macintosh computers. Still, theprinciple is the same no matter what. You locatethe application icon with your mouse pointer andleft-click or double-click on it.WHAT’S AN ICON?An application is represented on the screen byan icon, a graphical symbol that typically showsthe logo of the application. For example, InternetExplorer is represented by the icon opposite:WordPad, a text editor, is represented by the iconopposite:Application icons can be present in a number oflocations:On the main desktop:App icons on the mainscreen of Windows 8On a bar at the bottom of the screen:INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSOn Windows 7, and on the‘Home’ view of Windows 8(accessed by left-clickingthe Desktop button), youcan start apps from the barat the bottom of the screenPAGE 13

WHAT’S AN ICON?Inside a menu the appears if you left-click on theWindows icon on the bottom left:In Windows 7 andWindows 8.1, youcan left-click on theWindows logo on thebottom left of thescreen. This will bringup a menu of items.Left-clicking on one ofthem starts the app –or opens up a deepermenuWHAT’S A WEB BROWSER?We’ll actually take a quick walk through using a web browser in a short while,but the short explanation is that a web browser lets you explore the endlesslibrary and limitless shopping mall that is the World Wide Web. To access theWeb, you just need to open your web browser and type in the address of a website to view that site’s contents.LAUNCHING ANAPPLICATIONLet’s practice launching an application. In thescreen, find the Internet Explorer icon.Move your mouse so that the mouse pointer isdirectly on top of the Internet Explorer icon.Now just left-click. (Note, if the icon is on the maindesktop in Windows 7, you’ll have to double-click onit).The Internet ExplorerlogoThe application will launch and you’ll see it pop upon your screen, either in a “window” – which is theframe on the desktop in which the application runs –or full screen.Internet explorer runningin a window (and open totelstra.com.au)INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 14

CLOSING ANAPPLICATIONNow let’s close the application.If you look to the top right of the screen or theInternet Explorer you’ll see a button marked withan X. This is the close button.X marks the spotMove your mouse pointer over it and left-click. Thiswill close the application.If you’re curious, the two buttons next to it havedifferent functions. The square button makes theapplication blow up to fill the whole screen. The linehides the app but does not close it – you can make itreappear again by clicking on the application icon onthe bar at the bottom of the screen.Try opening and closing Internet Explorer, and anyother applications that take your fancy that might beinstalled on the workshop computers!MOVING WINDOWS AND MULTITASKINGUnless you’re launching applications from the start page in Windows 8, mostapps you launch will appear in a frame in the middle of the screen. The frame iscalled a window (from which the operating system gets its name).So why does this happen? It’s because the computer is designed so that youcan have several applications open at once and even on the screen at thesame time; you don’t have to close one before opening another. This is calledmultitasking.You can move and resize windows as you like. To move a window, take yourmouse pointer to the top bar of the window, where there aren’t any buttons.Click on the left mouse button and keep the button held down. Still holdingdown the left button, move the mouse – you’ll see that the window moves withit. When the window is where you want it, let go of the mouse button and thewindow will fix in place. This is what we call “dragging and dropping”.Windows alow you to haveseveral applications openat onceYou can also resize windows. Move your mouse right to the edge of the frame.The mouse pointer will change to an arrow: horizontal arrows at the left andright edges; vertical at the bottom; diagonal on the bottom corners. Then, leftclick and hold (as above) and drag the frame outward or inward to resize thewindow. Practice resizing windows.SHUTTING DOWNA COMPUTERWe should make a special note here about shuttingdown a computer.To turn a computer off, you generally shouldn’t justswitch the power off. The computer needs to storethe things in its memory before it does that.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 15

SHUTTING DOWNA COMPUTERTo shut down in Windows 7, take the mouse pointerto the Windows icon on the bottom left of the screen.Left-click and a menu will appear. Then move themouse pointer to the Shut Down button and click.In Windows 8, move your mouse pointer to the lowerleft-hand corner of the screen and right-click.A menu will appear. Now move your mouse pointer toShut down or sign out. Another menu will appear tothe right of that. Move the mouse pointer toShut Down and left-click.Thankfully, on most computers now you can also justpress the power button – which has the same effectof doing the above. The computer won’t immediatelyswitch off, but it will start the shut down process.Try shutting down the computer and restarting it.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 16

ACTIVITYLET’S CREATE A DOCUMENTTIME20 minutesSTARTING TOMAKE IT WORKNow let’s start actually doing something with ourcomputer.The first thing that we’ll do is create a document inWordPad. This will be a text document. You wouldcreate a text document if you wanted to type a letteror create a list.Just follow these steps:1. Launch WordPad.Look for thisicon to openWordPadIn Windows 7, you do this by left-clicking on theWindows icon on the bottom left-side of the screen.A menu will pop up with different application iconsand names. Is WordPad there? If yes, left-click onit. If not, then move the pointer to and left-click onAll Programs. A new list of even more applicationicons will appear. Move your mouse pointer and leftclick on Accessories. Yet more options will appear,including Wordpad. Left-click on it.In Windows 8, move your mouse to the bottom lefthand corner of the screen. You’ll see a down arrowicon. Move your mouse pointer on top of it and leftclick. A new page will appear with an icon for all ofthe installed applications. Find the icon for WordPad,move your mouse pointer to it, and left-click.2. WordPad will appear, ready to go.On the top part of the window, you’ll see a wholehost of icons: these are used for formatting, fonts,checking and moving text around. Don’t worry aboutthose for now. The main part of the window will bea blank white space – this is where we’ll be typing.Note the flashing cursor in the white space.The cursor markswhere you willstart typingINTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 17

LET’S CREATE ADOCUMENT3. Start typing on the keyboard.Try this:Pressing the Enter key to end a paragraph.Holding down the Shift key to make charactersupper case and to access symbols.Using the Backspace key to delete a letter you’vejust typed.4. Entering text will start to exceed the screen.If you enter enough text, it will start to exceedthe space on the screen. Then something strangehappens. A bar will appear on the right-hand side ofthe window. This is called a scroll bar, and it lets youscroll the document up and down.The scroll barTo use the scroll bar, take your mouse pointer andmove it on top of the bar. Then left-click and holddown the mouse button. Then, holding down thebutton, move the mouse and down to scroll thedocument, and release the button when you’re done.You can also use the scroll wheel on the mouse.Try rolling the scroll wheel to scroll through thedocument.5. Your cursor remains at the end of the text.Note that the cursor will stay at the end of the textyou’re typing. But now we’re going to move it. Grabyour mouse and move the pointer to somewherein the text you’ve already typed (note also that theshape of the mouse pointer has changed – it will nowlook like a cursor itself).What the mousepointer looks like inWordPadLeft-click in the text. You’ll see that the cursorhas moved.6. Type a letter key to see new text.You’ll see that the new text appears where the cursoris, pushing out the old text.7. Move the cursor by pressing the arrow keys.Each press of an arrow key moves the cursor onecharacter left or right, or up or down one row.Give it a try.8. Use your mouse or the arrow keys to move thecursor back to the end of the document.9. Save the document.This will store the document in the computerpermanently (until it’s manually deleted), so thatyou can open it again later. You’ll be able access thesaved document even if the computer is turned offand on again.INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERSPAGE 18

LET’S CREATE ADOCUMENTYou could try saving the document by moving yourmouse pointer to and clicking on the Save icon on thetop of the screen, but we’ll try using a shortcut keyinstead. Hold down the Ctrl key and press S.A Save window will pop up. This is where we will givethe document we just created a name and store it.The File name barDown the bottom, next to File name:, you’ll seea white bar (probably with the word Documentwritten in it). This is called a field, and where we’llenter the name we want to give the document. Totype into a field, you’d normally have to move themouse pointer to the field and left-click on it. Thatwill put the cursor in the field; then you can type.In this case, however, that’s already done for youby WordPad. All you really need to do is type thedocument’s name (eg. My Shopping List) andpress Enter.10. After you’ve saved your document, close WordPadby left-clicking on the X on the top righ

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS BASIC GUIDE TECH SAVVY SENIORS The NSW ‘Tech Savvy Seniors’ program is a key initiative of the NSW Ageing Strategy and the Telstra Digital Literacy Strategy. ‘Victorian Tech Savvy Seniors’ is a Seniors Card Age Friendly Partners program with Telstra delivering training through rural and remote libraries across Victoria.