Just Enough XP

These screen shots are from my home machine. Your machine will be different. (For example, I bet you don't have Dungeon Siege on your machine)

This is really something to become accustom to. Things change, but you should still be able to use the machines.

• Starting Applications
  • Some applications have icons on the desktop, just click them.
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  • Some applications can be started directly from the start menu.
    • This contains frequently used applications.
    • As well as some that are there more permanently.
  • Just click on the start menu and then on the application.
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  • Finally, some applications must be started through the program menu
    • Click on the start button.
    • Click on the All Programs button to bring up a list of applications.
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    • You may need to click on a program group to bring up an additional menu.
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• Managing the Desktop space.
  • The windows desktop contains a taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
  • This includes a workspace manager that contains a list of currently running applications.
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  • The active application is marked.
  • Start a couple of applications and notice that they appear in the workspace manager.
  • Click between applications and notice how the active application is highlighted in the workspace manager.
  • Left clicking on the application entry will either iconify or deiconify that task.
  • If we right click on the task application image in the work space we can activate a menu with additional choices.
  • 
  • try this.
  • We can also minimize an application by clicking the left most button on the right side of the window.
  • 
  • try this.
  • The rightmost button of this group will exit an application.
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• Resizing Windows
  • We often want to change the size of a window.
  • We can tell windows to cover the entire screen with the application.
  • This is done via the middle button of the set.
  • In this State, the window has not been set to the screen size, by pressing the button, it will be resized to.
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  • In this state, the window is set to be the screen size, pressing the button will return it to the previous size
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  • Windows can be resized by grabbing any edge.
  • When you do this the cursor will change to an arrow indicating the directions you are allowed to resize from this position.
  • By grabbing a corner you can change the width and height.
  • By grabbing a side you can change the width
  • By grabbing the top or bottom you can change the height.
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  • You can move windows about the screen by grabbing the title bar
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  • If you haven't been, do these things.
• Navigating the File System
  • Windows organizes the file system primarily by drives.
  • You can see the drives by clicking on the My Computer icon on the desktop (if it is there)>
  • Or by clicking on the My Computer choice on the start menu.
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  • That will bring up a list of drives something like this:
  • Notice the S: drive, as well as any media that you have added.
  • I will look at my Travel Drive (I:) for the next few examples.
  • Left clicking on the drive will open it.
  • A single right click on the drive, you can bring up a menu
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  • Notice you can eject this drive from here since it is a usb travel disk.
  • Click on properties.
  • This displays information about the drive.
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  • Take some time to explore the options here.
• Managing Files
  • A secondary way to organize files is by creating folders on a drive.
  • Right click on the S drive or your usb disk to open it.
  • You may have an empty screen or there may be some files there already.
  • Right click on the window outside of any of the drive icons.
  • This will bring up a menu like this:
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  • A new folder will appear titled New Folder
  • To rename the folder to something more sensible (like CSCI 104
    • Right click on the folder.
    • Select Rename
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    • This will allow you to edit the name of the folder
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    • Just edit the name. (backspace, type etc)
  • We need to get some data to play with.
    • Go to my web page.
    • Go to the class page.
    • Click on the Data Sets choice on the menu
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    • Click on the Student Data Sets link.
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    • Right click on the Chapter 5 link and select save Link As ....
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    • This should bring up a window that looks like this.
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    • Save this on your S drive, or usb drive.
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    • I saved my copy on the desktop, you can do this, but the S: drive would be more appropriate.
    • Double clicking on this icon will open the folder using the zip utility.
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    • Drag this folder to your S or usb drive.
  • XP gives us a number of ways to look at files inside of a folder
    • This is all controlled by the Views Button at the top of the Windows Explorer window.
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    • By selecting different views, we can look at the files in a directory in different ways.
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    • Most of the time the Icon view is the default.
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    • The Tiles is more useful than the icon view.
    • 
    • I find this less informative. Try it out.
    • The Thumbnail view is useful when working with images.
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    • The list view is usually not as useful either.
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    • The Details view contains the most information, but it is more complex to use.
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    • The List of the files can be sorted in any number of ways.
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    • This last method is most useful when you are looking for a file you just worked on.
  • Searching for a file.
    • Pressing the Search Icon will bring up the search menu.
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    • You have a number of choices of files you wish to search for.
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    • Selecting a type of search brings up the following dialog.
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    • As the search proceeds you will see first
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    • And then finally:
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    • Notice the documents on the right that match the search.
    • You can move, copy or open any document that you find.
  • Other File View
    • Clicking on the Folders icon will give you an alternative view of the file system.
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