Basic Computing

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Computer Literacy Course Outline

Introduction

• Hardware o System  Hard disk  Floppy disk  Compact disk  Flash drive o Monitor o Keyboard o Mouse

• Windows (Microsoft) o Desktop  Icons o Start menu o Programmes/applications and files/folders


MS Word and Excel

• Keyboard – letters, numbers and special keys • Menus – File, Edit, View etc • Typing and selecting – keyboard and mouse control • Cut n Paste • Copy n Paste


Internet Browsing

• Google • Browsers • Websites / addresses


Emailing

• Email providers: hotmail,yahoo etc • Creating an account • Logins and passwords • Sending emails • Saving and printing












Hardware

Basic1.JPG


WINDOWS

Made by the company “Microsoft”, Windows is the programme that runs the computer system. It is called windows because it shows programmes on windows in the main screen. This is HYPERGRAPHICS – pictures within pictures.

The starting screen is called the Desktop, which has got little ‘icons’ on it. When you click on an icon, a new window will open.

icons windows

Start menu clock

Controlling windows:

Windows are controlled by the pointer and the mouse. The buttons on the top of the window will open and close the window.

Minimize close


Open

Windows is a filing system: All work is saved as a file, which is stored in a folder:


Folders




Files



MicroSoft WORD

Word is a word-processing program, used for writing documents (eg. Letters, essays, stories etc.)


Menus:


File : Open, Save your work as files. Print your work

Edit: Copy and Paste bits of text

View: How you see the page you are working on

Insert: Add pictures, information, data to your page

Format: Change the look of the letters, font, size… as well as add colour

Tools: Spelling, grammar and language tools

Table: Add tables for presenting information

Window: Work on many documents at once using multiple windows

Help: Get help from the automated programme



MicroSoft Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet program











Use Excel to work with tables, adding data to the cells The cells are numbered from A1 (in the top left corner) onwards ….


Add numbers and text to the cells



Formulas: You can use a formula to do automatic functions like calculating the SUM:



Or



will give the sum of all the figures in the cells A1 to A5



Copy & Paste

1. Select text:

• Click & Drag to highlight text. Hold down the left mouse button Move the cursor over the text to highlight it.


2. Copy :

• Press Cntrl + c • Or Select : Edit Copy


3. Paste

• Press Cntrl + v • Or Menu: Edit Paste





Cut & Paste: Repeat this exercise using Cut & Paste (just use Cut instead of Copy)










Internet

The internet is a huge collection of information that anyone can add to (write) and look at (read).

It consists of text (writing) images (pictures, graphics), audio (music and sound) and video files. It is organised in pages of HYPERTEXT – ie text within text, which are navigated by links (also called hyperlinks or weblinks).





Internet Explorer is a program for looking (browsing or surfing) at the internet


Menus Type in website address here






Click on a link (hyperlink or weblink)to goto another page (webpage). Weblink



These are usually underlined




Google.com is a very popular website used to search for other websites



Type in a word here and press Google Search Google will find websites related to that subject/ word. This is called a keyword search.

e-mail

To use email you will need to register for an email account

You will need a username and password



Enter your username or ID

Enter your password

Press Login


• You Email account will be split into folders or boxes. • The Inbox is where your incoming messages are stored (messages sent to you) • The Sentbox or Out box is where copies of emails that you have sent are stored. • You can save Draft emails in the draft box. • Select Compose or Write to send a new message.



• To send an email you need to write the correct email address in the To: box • Write a title to your message in the Subject: box • Then write your message in the main box • Then press Send