Windows Basics

Read this chapter to get basic information on how to:

Work on the Windows desktop

Work with document and program windows

Manage files and folders

Use shortcuts

For more detailed information about Windows, see your Microsoft Windows documentation.

About the Windows environment

After your computer starts, the first screen you see is the Windows desktop. The desktop is like the top of a real desk. Think of the desktop as your personalized work space where you open programs and perform other tasks.

Your desktop may be different from the example shown below, depending on how your computer is set up.

Desktop components

Icons are graphic representations of objects on the desktop that you select and open, such as a drive, disk, folder, document, or program. Buttons are graphic representations of controls that you use to change the state of desktop elements such as the window size.

Desktop icons, buttons, and elements	Description
	My Documents is a folder where you store your personal files. You can create other folders to save files in, but My Documents is easy to find because it is on the desktop. Double-click My Documents to view your personal files and folders.
	The My Computer icon provides access to drives and other computer controls. Double-click the My Computer icon to view the drives and folders on your computer.
	The Recycle Bin is where files, folders, and programs that you discarded are stored. You must empty the Recycle Bin to permanently delete them from your computer. For instructions on how to use the Recycle Bin, see "Deleting files and folders".
	Drive icons represent the various drives on your computer, such as the diskette drive, hard drive, and CD drive. Double-click a drive icon to view files and folders located in the drive.
	Microsoft Internet Explorer is a program called a browser that lets you view Web sites and Web pages on the Internet. Double-click this icon to open the browser.
	Gateway has provided an easily accessible interactive guide called HelpSpot, designed to provide help information and let you quickly discover and use the features of your computer. Double-click the HelpSpot icon to begin.
	The Gateway.net and AOL icons let you connect to the Gateway.net or America Online ISP (Internet Service Provider). Double-click either the Gateway.net or AOL icon to dial one of the services.
	The Start button provides access to programs, files, help for WIndows and other programs, and computer tools and utilities. Click the Start button, then open a file or program by clicking (selecting) an item on the menu that opens.
	The Quick Links hotlinks provide convenient access to beneficial Web sites. Visit the Web site shown on the Quick Link by clicking it with your mouse.
The taskbar is the bar at the bottom of the screen containing the Start button on the left and a clock on the right. Other buttons on the taskbar represent programs that are running. Click a program taskbar button to activate its window.

Window components

When you double-click the icon for a drive, disk, folder, document, or program a window opens on the desktop. This example shows Local Disk (C:) in My Computer after double-clicking the Local Disk (C:) icon.

Every program window looks a little different because each has its own menus, icons, and controls. To find out more about window controls, see your Microsoft Windows online Help.

Window element	Description
	The title bar is the horizontal bar at the top of a window that shows the name of the program and document.
	Clicking the minimize button reduces the active window to a button on the taskbar. Clicking the program button in the taskbar opens the window again.
	Clicking the maximize button expands the active window to fit the entire screen. Clicking the maximize button again restores the window to its former size.
	Clicking the close button closes the active window or program.
	Clicking an item on the menu bar starts an action such as Print or Save.

Using the Start menu

You can start programs, open documents, customize your system, get help, search for files and folders, and more using the Start menu.

To open the Start menu, click the Start button on the lower left of the Windows desktop. The Start menu opens showing you the first level of menu items.

When you move the mouse pointer over any menu item that has an arrow next to it, another menu, or submenu, opens and reveals related files, programs, or commands. Click a file or program to open it.

Working with files and folders

You can organize your documents and programs to suit your preferences much like you would store information in a file cabinet. You can store these files in folders and copy, move, and delete the information just as you would reorganize and throw away information in a file cabinet.

About drives

Drives are like filing cabinets because they hold many files and folders. A computer almost always has more than one drive. Each drive has a letter, usually Local Disk (C:) for the main drive and 3½ Floppy (A:) for the diskette drive. Depending on your system, you may also have more drives such as CD/DVD or Zip drives. Each drive has its own letter.

To see the files and folders on a drive, double-click the drive icon. If you do not see the contents of a drive after you double-click the drive icon, click View the entire contents of this drive.

About folders and files

Folders are much like the folders in a file cabinet. They contain files and other folders.

Files are much like paper documents--letters, spread sheets, and instructions--that you keep on your computer. In fact, all information on a computer is stored in files.

To create a folder:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop. The My Computer window opens.

2. Double-click the drive or folder, for example 3½ Floppy (A:) or Local Disk (C:), where you want to put the new folder.

The drive or folder window opens. (If you do not see the contents of the drive or folder, click View the entire contents....)

3. Select File, then New, then Folder. The new folder is created.

4. Type a name for the folder, then press Enter. The new folder name appears under the folder.

Copying and moving files and folders

The basic skills you need to copy and move files are copying, cutting, and pasting.

When you copy and paste a selection, you place a copy of the file you selected on the Windows clipboard, which stores it. Then, when you decide what folder you want the copy to go in (the destination folder), you paste it there.

When you cut and paste a selection, you remove the file from its folder and place the file on the Windows clipboard. When you decide where you want the file to go, you paste it there.

The clipboard stores whatever you cut or copy until you cut or copy again. Then the clipboard contains the new information only. Therefore, you can paste copies of a file into more than one place, but as soon as you copy or cut a file again, the old file is deleted from the clipboard.

To copy a file or folder to another folder:

1. Right-click the file or folder that you want to copy. A menu opens on the desktop.

2. Select Copy from the menu.

3. Open the destination folder.

4. With the pointer inside the folder, right-click the mouse button.

5. Select Paste. A copy of the file or folder appears in the new location.

To move a file or folder to another folder:

1. Right-click the file or folder that you want to move. A menu opens on the desktop.

2. Select Cut from the menu.

3. Open the destination folder.

4. With the pointer inside the destination folder, right-click the mouse button.

5. Select Paste. The file or folder you moved appears in its new location and is removed from its old location.

Deleting files and folders

When you throw away paper files and folders, you take them out of your file cabinet and put them in a trash can. Eventually a trash collector empties the can and takes the trash away.

In Windows, you throw away files and folders by first moving them to Windows trash can, the Recycle Bin, where they remain until you decide to empty the bin.

The Recycle Bin not only serves as a receptacle for files that you want to delete, it also serves as temporary container for those unwanted files. You can recover any file in the Recycle Bin as long as the bin has not been emptied.

To delete files or folders:

1. Select the files or folders that you want to delete. For instructions on how to select multiple files and folders, see "Shortcuts".

2. Right-click, then select Delete from the pop-up menu. Windows moves the files and folders to the Recycle Bin.

To recover files or folders from the Recycle Bin:

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon. The Recycle Bin window opens listing the files and folders you have deleted since the last time you emptied it.

2. If you want to recover all the files and folders in the bin, click Restore All.

- OR -

If you want to recover individual files and folders, select them from the list, then click Restore. (For instructions on how to select multiple files and folders, see "Shortcuts".)

Windows returns the deleted files and folders to their original locations.

To empty the Recycle Bin:

Caution

Emptying the Recycle Bin permanently erases any files or folders in the bin. These files cannot be restored.

1. Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop, then select Empty Recycle Bin from the pop-up menu.

- OR -

Open the Recycle Bin window by double-clicking the Recycle Bin icon, then click Empty Recycle Bin.

Windows asks you if you are sure that you want to empty the bin.

2. Click Yes. Windows permanently deletes all the files in the Recycle Bin.

Browsing for files and folders

A file or folder that you need is rarely right on top of your Windows desktop. It is usually on a drive inside a folder that may be inside yet another folder, and so on.

Windows drives, folders, and files are organized in the same way as a real filing cabinet--they may have many levels (usually many more levels than a filing cabinet, in fact). So you usually will have to search through levels of folders to find the file or folder that you need. This is called browsing.

To browse for a file:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.

2. Double-click the drive or folder that you think contains the file or folder that you want to find.

3. Continue double-clicking folders and their subfolders until you find the file or folder you want. (If you do not see the contents of the folder, click View the entire contents of this folder.)

Searching for files using Windows Search utility

If you are looking for a particular file or folder or a set of files or folders that have characteristics in common, but you do not remember where they are stored on your hard drive, you can use the Windows Search utility to search by:

Name or part of a name

Creation date

Modification date

File type

Text contained in the file

Time period in which it was created or modified

You can also combine search criteria to refine searches.

Files and folders found using the Search utility can be opened, copied, cut, renamed, or deleted directly from the list in the Search results window.

To find files and folders using the Search utility:

1. Click Start, then select Search, then For files or Folders. The search dialog box opens.

2. If you want to search by file or folder name, type in all or part of the file or folder name in the Search for files or folders named box in the left pane of the window.

If you type all of the name, Search will list all files and folders of that name.

If you type in part of the name, Search will list all of the file and folder names containing the letters you typed.

3. Click Search Now. When the search is completed, Windows lists the files and folders whose names contain the text that you searched for.

You can open a file, folder, or program by double-clicking the name in the list.

Using advanced search options

Search can find files meeting more criteria than file name. You can select options to narrow your search by clicking Search Options and selecting the options that you want:

Date searches for files that were created or modified on a specific date or during a specific period.

Size searches for files of a specific size.

Type searches for files of a specific type, such as a program or a text document.

Advanced Options give you access to further search options.

Shortcuts

The following table shows a few shortcuts that you can use in Windows and almost all programs run in Windows. For more information on Windows shortcuts, see your Windows or program documentation.

To...	Do this...
Copy a file, folder, text, or graphic	Select the item, then press Ctrl + C.
Cut a file, folder, text, or graphic	Select the item, then press Ctrl + X.
Paste a file, folder, text, or graphic	Select the item, then press Ctrl + V.
Select multiple icons on the desktop	Click the first icon, press and hold down the Ctrl key, then click each of the remaining icons that you want to select.
Select multiple items in a list or in an Explorer window	Click the first item, press and hold down the Ctrl key, then click each of the remaining items.
Select multiple adjacent items in a list	Click the first item in the list, press and hold down the Shift key, then click the last item in the list.
Permanently delete a file or folder	Click the file or folder, then press Shift + Delete.
Rename a file or folder	Select the file or folder, press F2, type the new name, then press Enter.
Close the active window or program	Press Alt + F4.
Switch to a different file, folder, or running program	Press Alt + Tab.