• Mouse Use and Keyboard Shortcuts
• Windows Terms
• Start Menu
• Desktop
• Taskbar
• File Management
• Windows Help and documentation

MOUSE USE AND KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Key operations of the mouse are:

• Click. Left-click on mouse. Used to make a selection or initiate a command.
• Double-click. Left-click twice on mouse. Used to initiate a command.
• Right-click. Used to give a short-cut menu. This is especially useful.
• Drag. Keep left mouse button pressed as move the mouse.

WINDOWS TERMS

An Icon is a symbol that represents a program or document.
The Desktop is the display of icons that appears when all programs are minimized.
A Toolbar is a collection of small icons that usually appears at the bottom of the screen and at times elsewhere on the screen.
A menu is a list of commands e.g. File.
A command is a command e.g. File | Print.
An option is an option within a command e.g. File | Print Area | Set Print Area (in Excel).
 

START MENU

In Windows there are usually several ways to do the same thing.
The Start menu is the foolproof but sometimes slower way to access programs and files and setup the computer.

The Start menu appears at the lower left corner. [If it does not appear, because the "auto-hide" option for the taskbar has been selected, then move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and wait for the Start menu button to appear.]

The Start menu includes the categories:

• Programs: gives access to programs such as Excel.

[Alternative is to double-click on program icon if it appears on the desktop or click on program icon if it appears on taskbar].
• Documents: lists the most recently opened documents (such as Excel workbooks).
• Settings: used to change many of the Windows settings on the computer (such as the taskbar).
• Find: used to find files or folders on the computer.

[Alternative if you know where the file is located is to use My Computer on the desktop Windows Explorer
• Help: gives on-line Windows help by individual topics or commands (and in some versions of Windows may include a short tutorial).
• Run: runs programs.

[Use this when the program does not appear under programs e.g. when installing new software from disk or CD].

DESKTOP

The Desktop is the display of icons that appears when all programs are minimized.
For recent versions of Windows, to see the desktop click on the Show Desktop icon on the bottom taskbar.
A quick way to initiate a program is to double-click on the icon on the desktop. Not all programs will appear as icons on the desktop, however, unless you do a lot of customizing of the desktop.
 

TASKBAR

The bottom taskbar has a limited number of icons of selected unopened programs and all open programs.
The quickest way to initiate a program is to double-click on the icon on the taskbar. However, there is room for only a few program icons on the taskbar.
 

FILE MANAGEMENT

To locate a file with unknown location use Start Menu | Find.
When you know where the file is then use My Computer (on the desktop) or Windows Explorer (in Start Menu | Programs and possibly on the desktop and/or on the taskbar) to e.g. copy a file.
For further details click on Start Menu | Help and choose Index and search under files.
 

WINDOWS HELP

Resources include:

• Windows help files. Obtained from Start Menu | Help
• Windows manual.
• Self-paced training tutorials available on-line.

At U.C.-Davis go to http://spt.ucdavis.edu/
and then the easiest course to obtain is the text-based courses at http://spt.ucdavis.edu/tbt/tbtdocs/index.html