Tips For Using A Windows XP Computer
This describes how to use your computer. It will not make you an expert. But it will teach you the basics that most people want and need.
[ Note: I created this page to help my mother and father use their new computer. ]
The first thing that you need to know is how to use your Mouse. To do this, move your Mouse until the Mouse cursor is over the underlined word "Mouse" below. When it is, click the left Mouse button.
click here ===> Mouse
If nothing happened then try again. Be certain that you keep the mouse still while you press and release it's button.
Here are all the essential basic topics. Learn all of these, in order, before you learn a more advanced topic.
Here are some advanced topics. Learn these as you need them.
[end of topics]
Mouse (part 1)
If you are reading this then you have already used your Mouse once successfully. You clicked on a link, an underlined word "Mouse", to get here. Congratulations!Try it again.
click here ===> Mouse (part 2)
Mouse (part 2)
Another thing that you can do with your Mouse is pushing buttons. A very important button is the Back Button. Learn how to use it now.Click here ===> Back Button
Practice your Back Button. When you are comfortable with it:
click here ===> Mouse (part 3)
Mouse (part 3)
Another thing that you can do with your Mouse is using Scroll Bars. Learn how to do this now.Click here ===> Scroll Bars
Mouse (part 4)
Your Mouse can be used for many things. But they almost always involve the following 2 steps.
- First move your mouse until the mouse cursor on the display is over the thing that you want to select or activate.
- Next, click your left mouse button. Be certain that you do not move the mouse during your clicks because that can confuse the computer.
- Click once to select or activate buttons, already open windows, panes, text areas, menus, or menu items.
- Click twice to open programs, files, or folders.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Click On Back Button Now
NO, DON'T, IT'S ONLY THE TITLE OF THIS SECTION
When you seeat the end of any section on this Web page, it means that you have reached the end of the section, and you should stop. Do not scroll down beyond that point.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
If you understood that section then you should click your mouse on your Back Button. It will return you to where you were before you came to that section, and you can continue reading there.
If you did not understand any of that section then you should scroll up and click on some the links in the section to explain anything that you did not understand.
If you do not know where your Back Button is then click here.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Back Button
Your Back Button is the most important control in your Web browser. You are reading this with your Web browser now.Your Back Button is probably near the top left of your Web browser window, is square or rectangular, and has on it either the word "Back", or an arrow or other symbol pointing to the left. Look for your Back Button now, but do not click on it yet.
Each time you click on your Back Button, your Web browser should take you back to where you were the last time you clicked on a link. Try this now.
Practice using your Back Button until you are comfortable doing it.
Click on your Back Button now, but return here to continue.
If you become lost while browsing any Web page then you should click on your Back Button to return to a familiar place to get your bearings.
- [ Note, there is another button, the Forward button. It probably has a right arrow on it and is near your Back Button. It does the exact opposite of the Back Button. ]
- [ Note, on some Web sites the Back Button sometimes does not work. This happens if a Web page goes quickly to another page without you clicking on a link But you can back out of these traps by:
- holding down the mouse button on the Back Button ; or
- clicking on a small rectangular button immediately to the right of the Back Button.
A list of previous places you visited will be displayed. Try viewing this list now.
Clicking on an element of the list allows you, with one click, to do the equivalent of clicking on the Back Button multiple times, and skip over trapping pages. ]
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Window Switching
Window Switching is important when there is more than one window open on your screen. For example, one window might be displaying this tips file that you are reading to help you with your e-mail, and the other window might be your Outlook Express e-mail program.You can switch windows in either of the following ways:
- You can Window Switch with your mouse.
Look at the buttons on your task bar at the bottom of your screen. The button of the window on top appears darker, as if pressed in.
When you click on a different button, it becomes the one darker one, and it's associated window will pop to the top.
- You can Window Switch with your keyboard.
Press [Alt-Tab]. This means that you hold down one of the [Alt] shift keys while you press the [Tab] key. The [Alt] keys are on each side of the [space-bar].
A small window will appear allowing showing the windows available. Each time you press press [Alt-Tab] a box will move to the next window. When you release the [Alt] shift key the selected window will pop to the top.
Note, this works only if there is more than one window in your screen.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Scroll Bars
When a program is showing you something that will not fit in it's window, it can show only part of it. But it usually gives you a Scroll Bar to let you see the other parts.The vertical scroll bar is on the right side of the widow. You should be able to see one now. Look over there >===>
A scroll bar can have up to 5 parts. Each part does something different.
- There is a button [v] at the bottom of the scroll bar. Each time you click on it, you will scroll down a little. Try this now. Remember, if you get lost then click on your Back Button.
If you hold the mouse button down there then you will scroll down continuously. You will stop when you are at the bottom.
- There is a button [^] at the top of the scroll bar. Each time you click on it, you will scroll up a little. Try this now. Remember, if you get lost then click on your Back Button.
If you hold the mouse button down there then you will scroll up continuously. You will stop when you are at the top.
- There is a rectangular slider somewhere between the two buttons. If you put your mouse cursor on the slider and hold down the left mouse button while you move the mouse cursor up and down, then you will scroll up and down. Try this now.
- If there is any space between the top button and the slider and you click in that space, then you will scroll up one window full.
- If there is any space between the bottom button and the slider and you click in that space, then you will scroll down one window full.
There are two types of scroll bars.
- Vertical scroll bars let you scroll up and down. This is the type that I described above.
- Horizontal scroll bars work in a similar way, and let you scroll left and right, but they are not used as often. Usually they appear at the bottom of a window.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Touch Typing
This section will not teach you how to be a secretary. But it will teach you how to become a fast computer touch typist while getting work done.First you should note the following about your keyboard in the diagram below.
- The home key positions, where your 8 fingers rest, are shown in bold red. The fF and jJ keys usually have bumps on them so you can find them without looking.
- The [space-bar] is pressed with either of your thumbs.
- The keys that your 8 fingers press are grouped into slanted columns.
+-- 4th-finger-left \ \ +-- 3rd-finger-left \ \ \ \ +-- 2nd-finger-left \ \ \ \ \ \ +-- 1st-finger-left \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ +-- 1st-finger-right \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ +-- 2nd-finger-right \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ +-- 3rd-finger-right \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ +-- 4th-finger-right \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ +--+ \ \ +--+ +--+ \ \ +--+--+--+ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ `~ 1! 2@ 3# 4$ 5% 6^ 7& 8* 9( 0) -_ =+ Backspace Tab qQ wW eE rR tT yY uU iI oO pP [{ ]} \| Caps-Lock aA sS dD fF gG hH jJ kK lL ;: '" Enter Shift zZ xX cC vV bB nN mM ,< .> /? Shift Ctrl Alt ====space-bar==== Alt Ctrl \ +-- left or right thumbsHere is the procedure. Do the following steps for every key that you type. Use it whenever you type something into your computer, for example, e-mail.
- Look at the screen at the text cursor. This is the place, usually marked by a blinking line or block, where the next key that you press will be displayed.
- Without looking at the keyboard, press the next key that you want. If you do not remember it's position on the keyboard then guess.
- If the key displayed was not the one that you wanted then:
- Delete it by pressing the [Backspace] key.
- Find the correct key. Look at your keyboard or at the keyboard diagram above if you need to.
- Move the appropriate finger to the key, but do NOT press it yet.
- Go back to the beginning of this procedure.
This procedure might seem complicated at first, but soon it will become automatic. This procedure will help you:
- see and correct mistakes immediately;
- learn the key positions;
- become fast and accurate.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Viewing And Editing Text With Your Keyboard
Most programs, including text editors, word processors, and e-mail programs, let you edit text in similar ways. To do basic text editing in these programs, do the following:If the text area is more than a single line of text the the following keys are probably also supported.
Select the text area if needed.
The text area is the usually white rectangular area in which you want to add or change text.If a text cursor is there, which usually appears as a blinking vertical line, then the area is already selected. If not then click your mouse in the text area to select it. The text cursor should appear there.
Move the text cursor if needed.
If the text area is empty then you do not need to do this.But if there is some text there then you might want to move the text cursor to the place where you want to add or edit text. Changes happen only at the text cursor. You can move the text cursor in two ways.
- You can move it with your mouse. Move your mouse cursor so that the point of the arrow is between the two characters where you want to make the change, and click the left mouse botton. Use the scroll bars if needed.
- Use keyboard keys. Here are keyboard keys that move the text cursor.
- [left arrow] moves the text cursor to the left one character. If it was already at the beginning of the line then it might move to the end of the previous line.
- [right arrow] moves the text cursor to the right one character. If it was already at the end of the line then it might move to the beginning of the next line.
- [up arrow] moves the text cursor up one line.
- [down arrow] moves the text cursor down one line.
- [Pg Up] moves the text cursor and scrolls up one window full of text.
- [Pg Dn] moves the text cursor and scrolls down one window full of text.
- Most normal printable keyboard character, such as letters, digits, puncuation marks, and spaces, will be inserted at the point of the text cursor, and the text cursor will move past it.
- The [Backspace] key deletes the character to the left of the text cursor.
- The [Del] key deletes the character to the right of the text cursor.
- The [Home] key moves the text cursor to the left end of the line.
- The [End] key moves the text cursor to the right end of the line.
[qqq add cutting and pasting text]
- The [Enter] key inserts a [new-line] character at the position of the text cursor. Any text after the cursor will be moved down one line, and so will the cursor.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Printing Documents
Most programs allow you to print the documents with which they deal, including word processing documents, Web pages, and e-mail messages. To print a document that you are viewing, do the following:
- In your program window, in the menu bar at the top, select: File and Print.
- This will probably display a dialog box in which you may change parameters such as number of copies, etc. After you have made any desired changes, select Print or OK.
- After your document is printed, remove it from the printer.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Microsoft Interactive Training
Microsoft Interactive Training is an audio-visual presentation about Windows XP. It covers the basics and some advanced topics.To run the Microsoft Interactive Training
You do not need to view every topic. You can select and view only the topics that interest you and play them.
- Click the Start Button.
- On the Start Menu, click [My Computer].
- In the My Computer folder, double click [Shared Documents].
- When the My Documents folder opens, double click [Windows XP Interactive Training].
- In the dialog box that appears, click [OK].
- If the trainer does not begin playing immediately, click the first topic of the topic list and next click on the play button, which appears as a triangle pointing to the right.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Word Processing
This section explains the basics of the WordPad word processing program. You can use it to create and print documents consisting mainly of words, such as personal and business letters.
- First open a WordPad document Window.
If you are creating a new document then:
- Activate your [Start] button.
- Activate the [All] Programs menu.
- Activate the Accessories menu.
- Activate the WordPad program.
But if you are going to work an existing document then Window Switch to it's WordPad windows. If it is not already open then:
- Activate your [Start] button.
- Activate the "My Documents" item.
- In the "My Documents" folder, find and double click the document on which you want to work.
- Activate the WordPad program.
- Save and name your empty document to disk by doing the following:
- Select the [File] menu bar item.
- Select the [Save As] menu item.
- In the dialog box that appears, type the name you want for the file in the "File name" field and click the Save button.
- Edit your document. For information about how to do this see:
- Save your document to disk by:
- Select the [File] menu bar item.
- Select the [Save] menu item.
- To print your document see Printing Documents.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Using E-mail
The following assumes that you are using Microsoft's Outlook Express e-mail program, and it has already been set up for you e-mail.
- Activate your [Start] button.
- On the Start menu, activate [E-mail, Outlook Express].
- From here you can:
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Using The Web
To use the Internet's World Wide Web:
- Activate your [Start] button.
- From the Start menu, activate the [Internet, Internet Explorer] program.
- Browse the Web using Internet Explorer.
- If you have the address of a Web page that you want to view, for example "www.yahoo.com":
- then select the [Address] box near the top of the browser window,
- type the Web address into the box,
- and press the [Enter] key. The page should be displayed.
- When you are viewing a page, click on links on that page to view other Web pages. When you click on a link your browser takes you somewhere else.
A link usually appears as one or more underlined words, often blue or purple. Your mouse cursor changes from an arrow to a hand when it is over a link.
- Click on your Back Button to go back to the previous place from which you came. It has a green and white left arrow on it. It is near the upper left corner of the browser window.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Send And Receive E-mail
This does two things:
- Receives any new messages and puts them in your Inbox.
- Sends any mail that you have created in your Outbox. Note that if you work online in Outlook Express, then messages are sent immediately, so the Outbox is always empty.
To send and receive e-mail at any time, click the [Send/Recv] button in your Outlook Express window.
Note, if you go online when you start Outlook Express, then Outlook Express will do this once automatically.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Read The Mail In Your Inbox
To read the mail in your Outlook Express Inbox:
- In your Outlook Express window, click on your Inbox folder. This displays a window pane containing a list of messages in that folder.
Messages in the message list pane have picture icons that mean things. Here are some common ones:
- A closed envelope indicates that the message has not been read.
- An open envelope indicates that it has.
- An open envelope with a little red left arrow on it indicates that it has been replied to.
- A paperclip indicates that the message has one or more attachment files, such as a picture or sound file.
- A triangular flag means that you have flagged this message. It might mean that you want to reply to it later. To turn the flag of a message on or off, click your mouse on that spot.
- Click on a message in the message list pane to read the message's contents. It will become highlighted and it's content will appear in the message pane below the message list pane.
If the message's content is longer than the pane then Use the scroll bar at the right side of the message pane to scroll through it to read the entire message's content.
- To read a different message, click on a different message in the message list pane You might need to use the scroll bar at the right side of the message list pane to view the entire list.
- Note that the message list pane is normally sorted by time and date received, which is displayed in the rightmost column in the pane. You can sort the message list pane in order of any of the columns by clicking on the column heading button. If you click the same button two times in a row it will sort in reverse order.
- When you are finished reading all the messages you can reply to some of them or create new ones.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Creating Outgoing E-mail
In your Outlook Express program window:
- Click on the [Create Mail] button. A New Message composition window will appear.
- Address your message by doing the following.
- Click on the [To:] button to the left of the To field. Your [Address Book] window will appear. In the [Address Book] window:
- For each person to whom you want to send the message do the following:
- Find and select the name of the person to whom you want to send the message. The easiest way is to click on the name in the list box on the left side.
If the person is not in your [Address Book] then click on the [New Contact] button and add the person first.
- Depending on how you want this recipient to be handled, click on either:
- the [To:] button,
- the [Cc:] button, or
- the [Bcc:] button.
This will copy the person's e-mail address to the [Message recipient] column.
Repeat this for any other persons to whom you want the message to go.
- When the message has been addressed to all persons, click the [Address Book]'s [OK] button.
- Click in the [Subject:] text box and type the Subject of your message there.
- Click in the text area of the [New Message] composition window. This is the large white rectangle at the bottom of the window. A blinking text cursor should appear there. Type your message there.
For information about typing and editing text, see Touch Typing and Viewing And Editing Text With Your Keyboard.
- When you have finished your message, click the [Send] button.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Replying To Mail In Your Inbox
To reply to a message in your Outlook Express Inbox:
- Select the message to which you want to reply. Do this the same way you selected messages when you Read The Mail In Your Inbox.
- Click the Reply button. A message composition window will appear.
- Address and write your message in the message composition window the same way you did when Creating Outgoing E-mail. The only differences are:
- The To: field has been filled in for you automatically. You may add to this if you want.
- The Subject: field has been filled in for you automatically. You may change this if you want, but this is usually not done in replies.
- The message body contains the text of the message to which you are replying, preceded with a line that reads: "----- Original Message -----" . You may delete it, or insert your reply text before it or within it as you wish.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
Forwarding Mail In Your Inbox
To forward a message in your Outlook Express Inbox to somebody else:
- Select the message that you want to forward. Do this the same way you selected messages when you Read The Mail In Your Inbox.
- Click the Forward button. A message composition window will appear.
- Address and write your message in the message composition window the same way you did when Creating Outgoing E-mail. The only differences are:
- The Subject: field has been filled in for you automatically.
- The message body contains the text of the message which you are forwarding, preceded with a line that reads: "----- Original Message -----" .
- If there were any attachments in the original message, for example pictures, these will appears as file names listed above in the Attach: field instead of appearing in the message body. But the recipient(s) should see them inside the message.
[Click on (Back) button now.]
How To Edit This File
To edit your notes do the following:
- Switch to your [Tips.htm, Notepad] window by clicking on it's Taskbar button. If you have not opened this window yet then do the following instead.
- On the [Tips.htm, Microsoft Internet Explorer] menu bar, activate [File, Edit with Notepad]. A Notepad editor window will appear containing the Tips.htm source text.
- Scroll to the end of the Notepad window. I put your notes near the end to make them easy to find.
- Edit your notes the same way that you edit an e-mail message. Make changes only inside the area marked for your notes.
See Viewing And Editing Text With Your Keyboard for more information.
- When you are finished, on the Notepad menu bar, activate [File, Save]. This will save the changed Tips file to disk.
- Switch to your [Tips.htm, Microsoft Internet Explorer] browser window by clicking on it's Taskbar button. On the menu bar, activate [View, Refresh]. Your changes should appear in the browser window.
- Repeat as needed.
------------ Beginning of Notes. ------------ Put all notes in this area. ------------ End of Notes. ------------