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WINDOWS BASICS

Prof. Yitzchak Rosenthal
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Mouse terminology
Cursor:
Picture on screen that moves when you move the mouse. Used to point
to items on the screen.

Left Click:
click once on the left mouse button

Right Click
click once on the right mouse button

Click
(same as Left Click)

Double Click
click twice (quickly) on the left mouse button

Drag
click on the left mouse button (don't let go) while moving the mouse.
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Desktop terminology
desktop
the whole screen

icon
a small picture

taskbar
the bar on the bottom of the desktop

system tray
the rightmost area of the taskbar

start menu
click on the word "start" on the leftmost area of the taskbar to access this menu. The "start menu"
contains a list of the programs that are installed on the computer.

sub menu
a menu within a menu

taskbar icon
an icon that is on the taskbar

context sensitive menu
menu that pops up when you "right click" on an item. Different menus will pop up depending on where
you right-click.
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Program terminology
program
execute / run

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Window terminology
Window = the rectangle on the screen that
contains the display of a running program

Title bar = bar on top of a window. Contains
the "name" of the window.

Active window = the window that is currently
attached to the keyboard. This window is on
top of the other windows and has a dark blue
title bar.

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opening/closing/moving/resizing windows
opening/closing/moving/resizing windows
close button
minimize button
maximize button = double click title bar
restore button = double click title bar
resize
drag window


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Window terminology
Portions of a window
menu
pane: portion of a window
separator bar: a line between two panes of a window, can
usually drag the bar to resize the panes
scroll bar: 3 different ways to control:
click in empty area
drag "elevator" button
click on arrows on ends of scrollbar
toolbars
toolbar button
tool tip: move cursor over toolbar button and wait 1 second to see a
short description of what the button does. Tip disappears after a
couple of seconds.
Many programs allow you to choose which tollbars are visible with
the "view | toolbars" menu choice
drag a toolbar to "dock" it to a different location
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Windows dialog boxes and controls
dialog box: A small window that is launched by a
program. Used to interact with the user.

modal dialog box: A dialog box that will not let you
work with the application unless you respond to it.

Windows Controls: different types of controls
textbox
radio button
check box
dropdown list
select list
etc.

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Context Sensitive Menus
Right clicking usually displays a
context sensitive menu

This means that the menu
choices will be different
depending on where you clicked

Example
Right click on empty area of desktop
to see one context sensitive menu.

Right click on empty area of taskbar
to see a different set of menu
choices.
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Multiple Document Interface (MDI)
Multiple Document Interface (MDI)
Some programs allow you to open up several windows (child windows) inside the
main window (parent window). You can minimize/maximize/close/resize each
child window independently inside the parent window.
The Parent window has the standard Minimize/Maximize/Restore butons
Each child window also has its own Minimize/Maximize/Restore buttons


Window menu has
choices to
arrange the child
windows or
to select
a specific child
window
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Selecting Items
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Selecting
Most programs
allow you to select
items by either

clicking with the
mouse on an item

or clicking and
dragging the
mouse around
some items.

Selected items are
often highlighted in
blue (or other
colors see word
example)
File selected in Windows Explorer
(click on filename)
Text selected in Word (click and drag)
Cells selected in Excel (click and drag)
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Selecting Multiple Items at Once
If you select multiple items you can work with them
as a group.

For example you select multiple files in Windows
Explorer and then drag the entire group of files to a
different folder.

Two ways to select multiple files:
Shift + click : Selects a contiguous range of items
Ctrl + click : Selects multiple individual items

(Examples on next two slides)
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Selecting With Shift-Click
Shift + click
Selects a contiguous range of items

Step 1
click on first item (dont press shift)





Step 2
hold down shift
and click on last item
at same
time.
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Selecting With Ctrl-Click
Ctrl + click
Selects multiple non-contiguous items.

Step 1
click on first item
(dont press Ctrl)





Step 2
Click on every other item
while at the same time
pressing Ctrl.
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Select multiple non-contiguous ranges in Excel with Ctrl + click
and drag
Step 1
click on first cell in first range and drag (dont press Ctrl)






Step 2
While pressing Ctrl click and drag for every other range

Whatever you do now will be done to all the selected cells
(e.g. change the color for all these cells)
Selecting with Ctrl-Click: Excel Example
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Clipboard terminology
Clipboard:
area in computer memory that stores information copied from a
program

How to use the clipboard

Select information to copy to clipboard

Then do one of the following
copy: either choose "edit | copy" menu or press ctrl-c
cut : either choose "edit | cut" menu or press ctrl-x

Choose location where you want to put the information (in the same or
in a different program)
paste: either choose "edit | paste" or press ctrl-v
paste special: choose "edit | paste special" - not in all programs
allows you to paste information from the clipboard in a different format
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Common hot keys
Hot Key
a "hot key" is a key sequence that you press on the keyboard to make
windows or a program do something.
This involves pressing either the "Alt", "Ctrl" or "Shift" key at the same
time as pressing another key on the keyboard.
Some hot key sequences involve pressing 3 keys at the same time.

Common Hot Keys
alt-tab = switch windows (next)
shift-alt-tab = switch windows (previous)
ctrl-c = copy current selection to clipboard
ctrl-x = cut (or delete) current selection and put contents on clipboard
ctrl-v = paste clipboard contents into active program
ctrl-esc = show start menu
alt-(underlined letter in menu) = choose menu
PrtScr = copy a picture of the desktop to the clipboard
Ctrl-PrtScr = copy a picture of the active window to the clipboard