Getting to know your computer Introduction
This is intended to be a very basic introduction to personal computers (PCs) which will enable you to:
switch them on and off
understand what is shown on the screen
find your way around the machine and make it do things for you Our other downloadable documents will show you how to:
use a computer program called Word for writing letters, lists etc learn how to send and receive emails (electronic letters)
use a program called an Internet browser to do your shopping, pay bills and just find things that you want to know
The session starts with a brief explanation of what a computer is. You don’t have to read it but it may help you to understand what is going on inside it. It may also serve to remind you that a computer is just a machine (like the vacuum cleaner or the washing machine) which is there to work for you.
Hopefully you will learn to love your computer (ahh!!) but, at the very least, we want you to see that it is nothing to be afraid of.
We hope that you enjoy the session and find it useful. If you don’t then please let us know how we can make it better.
Have fun.
What is a computer?
Hardware and Software
Computer people call the actual bits of machinery that you can touch and pick up hardware. The things which you use to make the computer do something (like writing a letter or using the internet to do some shopping) are called software. Each individual piece of software is called a program (for example, you will use a program called ‘Word’ for writing letters and a program called ‘Internet Explorer’ for using the internet).
NB By the way, I can spell using British English but many of the terms used with computers are always spelled in American English because that’s where so much of the hardware and software comes from. So you’ll see, for example, ‘program’ instead of ‘programme’ and ‘disk’ instead of ‘disc’.
An office in a box
A computer is like an office in a box. In your office you would have –
Some filing cabinets for storing things you need to keep but are not working on right now
An in/out tray for the things you are about to work on or have just finished or where you are waiting for something to happen
Somebody to do the work – You
A typewriter
In a computer these things are all contained in a box (sometimes called the system unit) –
Instead of a filing cabinet full of paper your work is stored electronically on a disk (sometimes call a hard disk or HDD). Disks can store lots of information and keep it for a long time but it may take a few seconds for the computer to locate it
Instead of an in/out tray your computer uses high speed memory (sometimes called RAM or Random Access Memory) which allows you to move very quickly around inside a document, add new information and make changes.
The person doing the work is replaced by the computer’s CPU (sometimes called the Central Processing Unit or processor)
Instead of a typewriter the computer uses
o A display screen (called a Visual Display Unit, or VDU) so that you can see what is happening
o A keyboard so that you can type words
o A mouse to move around inside the computer’s files and tell it what you want to do.
If you need to put something on paper (such as a letter) then the computer uses a printer but you can also send things to people straight from the computer without printing them.
We’ll look at how to use the screen and the keyboard and the mouse in the next section.
Switching the computer on and off
Before you can use the computer you will need to turn on both the box and the screen
How the box turns on
Computers usually have an ordinary rocker switch on the back of the box and you would simply push one side for on and the other for off
BUT
You should leave this switch on all the time and NOT use it to turn the computer on and off. Computers need to do all sorts of things to make sure your information is safe and that everything will work properly the next time you want to use it. For that reason they need to decide for themselves when it is safe to switch off the power supply.
To start your computer all you need to do is press the push button on the front of the box once. You will probably hear the fan inside the box start spinning and there may be an indicator light as well to show you that the unit is on.
How the screen turns on
You can leave the screen turned on all the time, if you wish, but it will use a tiny amount of electricity all the time, even if you are not using it.
Screens usually have a simple, on / off rocker switch and an indicator light to show that they are on. Unfortunately the switch is sometimes on the front, sometimes close to the power cable on the back and sometimes even under the bottom edge of the screen. You will just have to explore or ask somebody else to show you where it is.
How the printer turns on
If you have a printer then it will probably have an on / off rocker switch close to
where the power cable connects to it or on one side of the machine. When you turn it on it will make various noises as it warms up and checks that it is working properly.
There may also be an indicator light.
Switching things on
If you have a printer then you should turn it on first
So that you can see when the computer is ready for use, turn the screen on next
Finally turn on the box.
It may take several minutes for the computer to start up during which time lots of things will happen on the screen. You can ignore all this activity. The best advice is to just wait for five minutes by which time the computer should be ready to work.
Switching things off
Turning off a computer is called ‘shutting it down’. You have to tell the computer that you want it to shut down and then wait for it to stop working (you will hear the fan stop). You will find out how to shut down the computer later in the course when you understand how to use the mouse and keyboard.
Once the computer has stopped working you can switch off both the screen and the printer
Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointer
Here you will learn a few new terms and some basic skills which you will need to use your computer.
Windows
When you have started your computer the screen should look something like this:–
This is called the desktop
The background picture is called wallpaper and it can be any picture that you choose
The line at the bottom with the start button on the left and the time on the right is called the task bar
Every time you start a program a new window opens on the desktop. You’ll see what that looks like at the end of this section. You can have lots of windows open at the same time, if you want to.
Icons
The little pictures all over the screen are called icons. They are used to represent things on the computer for example -
o The icon named My Computer (top left corner) lets you see what is stored and where it is on the computer and helps you find items that you have lost
o The Recycle Bin (bottom right corner) is the dustbin where you put things you don’t need anymore
The screen you can see has lots of icons on it but you might only need two or three and you can set them up for yourself or ask somebody to help you.
You might, for example, want an icon for your shopping list or one that you use when you want to write a letter. But how do they work?
Mouse and Pointer
Your computer uses a system called point and click to make things happen and for this you need to use the mouse –
The mouse has two buttons called the left button and the right button and sometimes, as in the picture, a wheel between them. At the moment we are only going to need the buttons. If you move the mouse a little and look at the screen you will see an arrow which we call the pointer and every time you move the mouse the pointer moves too. Here’s how you use the mouse:-
1. How to hold the mouse:
First, don't hold the mouse, in the sense of picking it up and cradling it.
It needs to be in contact with a flat smooth surface.
Reach for the mouse with your right hand. Rest your palm on the mouse's back. Drape your thumb and little finger on either side of the mouse.
Now you're in a position to push the mouse around. We'll do a final fitting in step 5.
2. Moving the mouse:
Look for the pointer, , on the screen. If you have trouble finding the pointer, jiggle the mouse to and fro for a moment. Hold the mouse as described above and, while looking at the pointer on the screen, move your hand from right to left. Notice how the pointer moves from right to left (if it changes shape as it moves don’t worry about it for now) Keep your eyes on the screen while resting your hand on the mouse.
Move your hand closer to your body and then away towards the screen. Notice how the cursor moves up and down the screen.
3. Clicking with the mouse:
The two buttons on the mouse are for ‘clicking’. Mostly you will only need to use the left mouse button for this course.
The left mouse button will be doing most of the work. You'll want to keep your right index finger "on the trigger," by resting it on the left mouse button. Don't suspend your finger above the button because your finger will grow tired. Just rest your left forefinger gently on the left button.
To click, hold the mouse steady and bear down momentarily with your index finger on the left mouse button (almost like tapping it). You should hear a "click" as you depress the mouse. The button should be depressed for only an instant; the downward click and the upward click should merge into one sound. This is called a single click or just click.
Sometimes you need to double click and all you have to do is to click one after the other quite quickly. This takes some practice but once you have found out how to do it you’ll never need to think about it again.
4. Dragging with the mouse:
There is one other thing you can do with a mouse which is called dragging.
We’ll talk about it again when you need to do it but here’s how it works.
Move the mouse so that the pointer is over one of the icons.
Press and hold down the left button
Whilst holding the button down, move the mouse across the screen.
The icon will move too
Release the button and move the mouse again. The icon will stay where you put it. This is called dragging and dropping.
There are other things you can use dragging for but we’ll explain that later.
5. Final Fitting: Since every hand is different, you'll have to find the right
position for your hand. People with smaller hands might rest their hand on the
mouse, with their finger on the left mouse button; others with larger hands might arch their hand slightly over mouse, gently "standing" their index finger on the mouse button and resting the heel of their hand on the mouse pad or work surface. The important thing is to find what's comfortable so you can relax and stop worrying about the mouse and do what you need to do.
How it all works together
Let us say that you want to write a letter or a shopping list. You need to use a
‘program’ called Microsoft Word or usually just Word. There are two ways to start (or ‘run’) this program.
The easy way is to use an icon on the desktop. If you look at the picture above you will see that I have circled the Word icon in the middle of the screen. If you look at your computer you will probably find the icon at the left-hand edge of the screen (if it isn’t there then ask somebody for help).
If you move the mouse pointer so that it is over the icon (aim for the middle with the point of the arrow) and ‘double-click’ the left button, the program will start after a few seconds and a ‘window’ will open which looks like the picture below.
The other way to start a program is by using the start button (circled at the lower left of the screen in the above picture). This is a more difficult way to start a program which you can use once you have had some practice.
Word Icon
Start Button
Once Word starts to run you will see a window that looks like this. (I have started typing a letter just to show you what the program is for.)
The Menu Bar shows a list of headings for groups of instructions. If you move the mouse pointer to point at any of the words and then click once with the left button you will see more options displayed of things you can do to change your document.
Circled at the top right of the screen are the window controls. These are used to control the size of the window and to stop the program
o If you move the pointer to the dash and click the left button the window will ‘minimize’. That means it will disappear from the screen and appear as a label on the task bar (as shown in the picture). The program is still running but it’s out of your way.
o To re-open the window, move the pointer to the minimized document on the task bar and click the left button.
o If you move the pointer to the two little squares and click the window will open to its maximum size (usually to occupy the whole screen). If you click the same box again then the window will go back to the size it was before.
o If you move the pointer to the ‘x’ and click, the program will start to close. Usually it will ask you if you want to save the work you have been doing before actually stopping.
Menu Bar
Window Controls Left to right- Minimise Maximise Close
Minimised documents
That is how you control everything on your computer. Next we will look more closely at how you use some important programs.
