Explain about the ‘Windows’ operating system.
This is a simple Operating System to learn and use. The user need not memorise or type many commands. We find small pictures called icons on the screen which can be used to run programs. This is called GUI (Graphic User Interface). Microsoft Inc. of USA developed the Windows Operating System. It has undergone many versions such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP and the latest version is Windows Vista.
When we switch on the computer, the OS is the first software programme that is loaded. This is called booting. After the process of booting first the Windows opening screen and then another screen called Windows Desktop appears. The small pictures on the desktop are called icons. The icons represent application software that are stored in the computer. The name of the program is written below the icon.
At the bottom of the desktop we find a grey coloured strip called task bar. On the left of the task bar is a button named Start. The right side of the task bar shows the time. The task bar shows all the programs that are currently running on the computer.
Mouse : We find an arrow shaped pointer on the screen, the movement of which is controlled by moving the mouse. The mouse has two buttons on it. Clicking the left button once indicates a choice or selection. Clicking the left button twice in rapid succession causes the selected application or command to run or begin operation.
When we click on the start button on the task bar, a box with a list of options opens up. This is called a Menu. As you move the mouse over the choices in the menu, the item below the pointer is highlighted.
Window : A window is the part of the desktop that is used by an application software. All application programs that we use will have a window.
A window has six important parts.
• Border
• Title Bar - contains minimize, maximize, close buttons
• Menu Bar - contains menus with options for different tools
• Tool Bar - contains icons of the tools of application which
o are frequently used.
• Large empty white portion - actual working area
• Status Bar - at the bottom of the window.
Files & Folders : When you draw a picture or write a letter using a computer, this picture or letter is stored in digital form as a file. A file is a unit of stored data or programs. It has a file name and a type for identifying it. The names may contain file extensions.
A collection of files kept together is called a folder. It can contain files of many types. Just as files, folders also have names. Folders do not have extensions. A folder can have sub-folders inside it. (Sub-folders are folders within folders.)
Windows Explorer : Windows explorer is an application in Windows 98 which is very useful for finding, storing and working on files and folders stored on the computer. You can directly open files and folders, create, copy, rename and delete files.
To open Windows explorer,
Click on the Start button.
Click on programs Windows Explorer
The explorer window opens. It has a title bar, a menu bar and a tool bar. Below these, the window is divided in to two halves with a status bar at the bottom.
The left pane shows the different disk drives and folders starting from the desktop. The view seen in the left pane is called a file structure and can be compared to an inverted tree. If you consider the desktop icon as the base of the tree, then all the other folders and drives are the branches. Clicking on any of these drives or folders willopen the folder and shows its contents in the right pane. The right pane shows the content of the drive (sub-folders and files) or folder you have selected in the left pane.
In the left pane, you can see tiny boxes joined vertically containing a plus (+) sign or a minus (-) sign. Each of these tiny boxes has a horizontal branch with a folder or drive icon attached to it. A plus sign indicates that there are more branches or sub-folders, while a minus sign indicates that there are no more sub-folders. If you click on any plus sign, the smaller branches or sub-folders under that folder or drive can be seen. If you click on a minus sign, all the smaller branches or sub-folders are hidden again.
Creating a new folder : Creating a new folder to save your files is very easy using Explorer. Click on File on the menu bar, select New and click on Folder. A new folder is created now and is seen at the bottom of the list showing the contents of the drive C. The name of the folder is New Folder and it is highlighted in a different colour. Click on the highlighted name and enter (type) the required folder name (eg. SBI) and click once outside the folder. A new folder named SBI is created.
When you click on any of the icons in the folder box, the right screen displays the contents of all the folders and files stored inside the icon you clicked. To oen any folder or file, move the mouse pointer to the right screen and double click on the selected icon.
The view option : You can change the way the files and folders appear o the main display screen of Windows Explorer. Explorer gives you four options.
Click on the View menu. It has four options.
• Large icons displays the icons in large size.
• Small icons shows the icons in small size on the display. This is useful when there are a large number of items to be seen.
• List option shows the icons as a list.
• Details option shows the icons as list with details of each file or folder name, size, type and when it was last opened or modified.
Working with files and folders :
Explorer allows you to manage your files and folders with ease.
Selecting files and folders : You can select a file or folder by simply clicking on it. You can select more than one file if you wish. To select adjacent files, click on the first file. Hold the Shift key down and click on the last file you want to select. All the files between the first and the last one you picked will be selected. If you want to select more than one file and they are not adjacent to each other, click on the first file. Hold the Ctrl key and pick out the other files you want one by one.
Copy or moving files and folders : Windows allows you several ways of copying or moving folders. You can copy or move files by :
• Dragging and dropping them
• Using the menu option
• Using the icons on the tool bar
• Using key board shortcuts
• Using the shortcut menus that pop up when you right-click on the mouse.
Drag and Drop : Select the file or folder you want to move. Keep the left mouse button pressed. Without removing your finger from the left button, drag the icon and position it over the folder you want this file to be dragged into. Release the button. The file or folder will be placed in the new location.
Cut and paste : Select the file or folder. Click on the Edit menu and click cut. Open the folder or disk where you want to put this file or folder. Click paste on the edit menu. The file or folder that you cut has been pasted in the folder in the new location.
You can also use the icons on the tool bar to do this. After selecting the file or folder to be cut, click on the Cut icon. Similarly, select the destination and click on the paste icon to copy the cut file.
Copy and paste : Select the file or folder that you want to copy. Click on the Edit menu and click copy. Open the folder or disk where you want to put this file or folder. Click paste on the edit menu. The file or folder that you copied has been pasted in the folder in the new location. You can as well use the Copy and Paste icons for this purpose as is done in Cut and Paste process.
Finding files and folders : The hard disk contains hundreds of folders with many files inside each folder. Windows has a program that will help in locating such files.
Move the mouse pointer over the start button and right click. A small shortcut menu appears. Click on Find… A window opens where the required information is to be typed.
This utility helps you to find files in three ways :
i) Using the name and location of the file.
ii) Using the date on which it was last modified.
iii) Using some text that appears in the file.
The Name & Location option assumes that you remember at least some part of the file name. Type the portion you remember in the file name in the box titled Named :. Choose [C:] in the Look in box. Click Find Now button. All the files and folders containing the portion of the file name you typed will be displayed for you to find the file you want.
The Date modified option is useful when you remember the approximate date on which you created or modified the file you are searching for. Choose this option and ifll in the dates between which you remember working on those files Clicking on Find Now will list all the files created or modified between the dates you have specified.
The Advanced option can be used when you remember the file size or some line of text contained in the file that you are looking for. The Find option is also available as part of the Tools menu in Windows Explorer.
Some useful utilities :
Computer needs maintenance to work well. The main storage area of the computer is hard disk. Over a period of time, there is a possibility that physical and logical errors can occur in the hard disk. Files in the memory will also require rearranging periodically. Some of these problems can be corrected by a few applications that help keep the memory of the computer in order. The two most useful of these applications are the scan disk and Disk Defragmenter
SCANDISK : ScanDisk is used to check the hard disk for logical and physical errors. Wherever possible, the damaged areas re repaired. Areas that can not be repaired are identified as bad sectors and are not used for storage. To start ScanDisk click --
StartProgramsAccessoriesSystem ToolsScanDisk
The scandisk window opens. Click on the check box Automatically fix errors so that ScanDisk automatically tries to repair any errors that are detected.
ScanDisk works in two ways. It checks all files and folders and make any corrections, if required. This is called Standard scan. This is the option that is selected by default. It can also scan the surface of the hard disk, repair and check for bad sectors, in addition to checking files and folders. This is Thorough scan. You can select the drive you want to check, click on the type of scan you want to be done on the drive and click Start. The scanning starts and on completion, the results are displayed on the screen. Click on Close to return to the ScanDisk Screen. Close ScanDisk. It is advisable to run ScanDisk on the computer at least once a month.
DISK DEFRAGMENTER : This application can be used to rearrange the files, remove gaps and make clear space available on the hard disk for file storage. This will improve the performance of the computer. To start this application –
StartProgramsAccessoriesSystem ToolsDisk Defragmenter
The “Select Drive Window” opens. Select the drive you want to defragment and click on OK. Defragmentation usually takes a few hours. It is advisable to run this application at least once in a quarter.
COMPRESSING FILES : Files in computers occupy larger space and it becomes difficult to copy them on to a floppy due to their size particularly when the file size is more than the space available on a floppy. Also file handling will be difficult due to their larger size. Hence, compression of a file (also known as Zipping a file) facilitates file handling and copying of files easier. There are several programs available that compress files so that they occupy less bytes.
Zipped files occupy less space on any storage device. Hence copying files from one device or drive to another is much faster. Another advantage is that we can group related files into a single folder and then zip it.
Zipping a file : Files can be zipped in two ways. One method is by using Windows Explorer and the other one is by directly using the WinZip program.
Zipping through Windows Explorer : The following steps are to be followed :
a) Open the explorer window
b) Select the file to be zipped
c) Right click on your selection
d) A shortcut menu opens and click on Add to .zip
With this the file will be zipped which occupies considerably lesser space than the original one
To open a zipped file, you have to first unzip it. For this, select the file first and then right click. A shortcut menu appears wherein select either of the two options – Extract to or Extract to Folder. In Extract to option, you have to choose the folder in which you want to save the unzipped file. The Extract to Folder option creates a new folder with the same name as the zipped file and saves the unzipped file in the new folder.
To zip or unzip a group of files, select all the required files and follow the above procedure.
WORDPAD : Windows 98 contains a word processor called WordPad which appears on your ProgramsAccessories menu. WordPad contains many formatting features and can accept documents created in several word processing programs. WordPad edits, loads and saves documents in the following formats : Word for Windows, text documents, Rich Text Format (RTF) documents.
WordPad contains a tool bar that you can display to help you access common commands more easily. WordPad also supports the uses of Ruler and format bar that help you work with WordPad's advanced editing features. It automatically wraps the text to the next line without pressing 'enter' key at the end of each line. The text (matter typed) can be made bold, italised and underlined with the help of B I U letters on the format bar.
You can also change the font (a type style) as well as its size by clicking the drop-down lists and selecting the required font from the list. Different options are available on menu bar and tool bar for opening a file, saving, editing, printing etc.
Under the Edit menu you have the options like cut, copy, paste which are useful to move text / copy text from one place to another place. To execute this task, you have to select the text first and the open Edit menu and click on 'cut' or 'copy' as the case may be. Click the mouse outside the highlighted area. Move cursor to the required place where the cut/copied text has to be inserted. Click 'paste' in the edit menu. You will find the text you have 'cut' or 'copied' inserted at this point..
NOTEPAD : NotePad also appears in the Accessories menu group but is a scaled-down version of WordPad and offers very few of the formatting capabilities that WordPad offers.
CALCULATOR : Another useful accessory is Calculator which is very useful for carrying out calculations without searching for a calculator in your desk. Standard and Scientific calculations can be done through this.
