Log in to a public workstation, entering your login and password and connect both your central filestore and a printer[2]. Set your chosen printer as the default printer by double clicking on the name of the printer in the Warning dialogue box, the name of the printer will change to a red typeface.
When you have completed your login, and have chosen to connect the central resources you require, the new Desktop will appear on the screen. This is a plain blue background displaying a number of icons or small pictures such as the one on the right. These act as links, which you can open by double‑clicking with the left mouse button. The use of these icons is described later in this document.
The Start[3] button is at the bottom of the screen, at the left-hand end of the Task Bar. Click on it with the left mouse button to display the menu choices available.
Move the mouse up the menu (there is no need to hold the mouse button down), and you will see each option (an icon with a description beside it) highlighted in turn.
Some options have an arrow beside them: as you move the mouse over these, sub-menus are displayed and these may also have sub-menus. Clicking once with the left mouse button on any menu item will open the application or folder[4] it describes. The illustration below shows the screen with the Start Menu and several sub-menus expanded.
Move the mouse back down the menu and then across until Settings, Control Panel is highlighted. Then single click the left mouse button to open Control Panel.
Control Panel is the folder that contains the applications we need to change the way the desktop looks. It is illustrated below with some of its features labelled.
Under Windows NT[5] you access the applications you want to use, and create and manipulate files directly from the desktop. Windows NT refers to directories as Folders and their contents as Files. A folder may contain other folders.
The following is a brief explanation of each of the items labelled in the illustration above. You will become more familiar with them as you use them.
The Title Bar shows the name of the application or of the document you have opened. If you have more than one window open, the title bar of the active window will be of a different colour or intensity from the others.
The Window Title depends on the type of window. It usually shows the name of the application and the name of the file you are working on.
The Menu Bar lists the available menus.
Most applications have a File menu, an Edit menu and a Help menu, as well as menu options unique to themselves. Some windows also have a Tool Bar, which enables you to access frequently used menu options easily.
Scroll Bars allow you to move around and view other parts of a document or a list when the display is too big to fit into the window area. Instructions for using these are below.
Maximise and Minimize buttons (chosen with the mouse) enlarge the active window to fill the entire desktop or reduce the window to an icon on the Task Bar. By default, windows open to occupy only part of the screen. When a window is enlarged to full size, the Maximise button changes to the Restore button and clicking on it reduces the size of the window.
The Close Button will close down the current application, this can also be done by selecting the File menu and Exit.
The Window Border is the outside edge of the window. You can use both this and the Window Corner to change the size of a window. This is covered in the next section.
The Status bar keeps you informed of the applications current status, such as when it’s saving a file or printing or repaginating a document.
Single click the left mouse button on the Maximise button at the top right-hand corner of the Control Panel screen. The screen will expand to fill the entire desktop. Now click on the Restore button and the window will return to its usual size.
Click on the Minimise button. Now you will see that Control Panel has become an icon on the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen. Click on the icon to restore the Control Panel window.
Move the mouse cursor over the bottom Window Border.
You will see that the cursor changes into a double-headed arrow.
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse downwards over the desktop to enlarge the window, then release the mouse button.
Move the mouse pointer to the right-hand bottom window corner and when it changes to a diagonal double-headed arrow, hold the left mouse button down again and drag downwards and to the right. Then drag back up again until the scroll bars appear. This time both sides of the window will be affected.
Place the mouse cursor over one of the scroll bars and hold the left mouse button down. Move the mouse up and down and you will find you can see areas of the display that were hidden from the current window.
In Windows you can have several applications open at the same time and you will often need to move windows around on your screen.
Place the mouse cursor over the Title Bar of the window and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the mouse and you will find the window moves with the cursor. When you release the button, the window stays where you dropped it.
Click on the button in the top right-hand corner of Control Panel to close it.
Open Word 2000 by clicking on the Start button and selecting Word 2000 from Word Processing.
Type in a few lines of text. Copy some of this document if you can’t think of anything to type.
Highlight some of the text by positioning the mouse cursor to the left of the text you wish to highlight, keeping the left mouse button held down drag the mouse to the right. When you reach the end of the text you want to select, let go of the mouse button.
Click on the Copy Icon on the Toolbar at the top of the screen, or select copy from the Edit menu.
Move the mouse cursor to the end of the text you have typed and click once to anchor the cursor there. Now click on the Paste Icon on the Toolbar. Your highlighted text will appear again in the new position.
Highlight some more text and this time, experiment with the Cut Icon. You will find that the text you cut will disappear from its original location, but you can still paste it to another position in the document.
One of the most useful features of the Windows environment is that it allows you to copy or move text, data, pictures or other information from within a file or from one application to another.
Remember: Data from Excel worksheets and records from Access are pasted into Word as Word Tables, complete with column widths and font formatting. Text separated by tab characters from Word is pasted into Excel in rows and columns of cells, and records from Access are pasted into Excel as rows with each field as a separate column.
When pasting from one application to another and where possible, Windows NT will try to paste these items in a format that can be edited in the recipient application.
If the application you are pasting into can’t edit the item you are pasting, it inserts it as an embedded object. To edit an embedded object you double click with the left mouse button on the object. The source program in which it was created will open so that you can edit it.
If Windows NT cannot manage either of these options, the item you paste will appear as a static object that cannot be edited.
Normally, you should connect to your filestore and printers when you log in, but sometimes you may wish to connect to your filestore, or to change your selection of printers from within Windows NT.
Select Connect Central Resources from the sub-menu reached from UWA_PCW Utilities on the Start Menu.
A Login and Password dialogue box will appear offering you the option to connect your Central File Store and then you will be able to decide which printers you wish to connect[6].
This is actually a shortcut, which gives the same view as selecting Explorer[7] from the Start menu.
Double click with the left mouse button on the Explore My Computer icon.
After a moment or two, the Explorer window will appear on the screen. You will see it is divided into two areas: on the left, all the drives you are connected to and all the folders available are displayed as a list.
On the right-hand side you can see any other folders available and the contents of the highlighted folder.
Double click on the icon on the left-hand side which shows your filestore (e.g.) and you will see its contents displayed on the right-hand side.
This is the icon that acts as a shortcut to allow you to access the World-Wide Web. This is described fully in Help Sheet 31 – Internet Explorer for Windows 95 and Windows NT[8].
You can drag unwanted files from Explorer directly into the recycle bin. This has the same effect as deleting them. If you drag something to the recycle bin by mistake, you can open the bin by double clicking on it and drag the file back to where it should be in Explorer[9].
You can change the appearance of your desktop quite easily in Windows. This is often useful if you find the colours hard on your eyes or if you would like to use larger print. You can also change the colour and background of your desktop. Unfortunately, Windows NT won’t remember these settings on public workstations[10]; you will need to reset them each time you log in.
To try making some changes, first open My Computer by double-clicking on the icon (on the desktop) with the left mouse button.
Open Control Panel by double clicking with the left mouse button on the Control Panel icon within My Computer.
If Control Panel is still open from the previous exercise, you can make it the active window by clicking once on an exposed portion of it.
To choose a different set of windows colours and, if you wish, a larger font size, select and open the Display icon by double clicking on it with the left mouse button.
The following dialogue box will appear.
Click on the down arrows to see the choices that are available to you.
When you select one of the options by clicking on it, a sample of the display you have chosen will appear. Try out some of the options.
Click on Apply to apply the colour scheme to your Desktop.
Click OK to close the dialogue box.
To enlarge the font of the windows Title Bars, click the left mouse button on Active Window.
Then click on the Down arrow beside Size, select a larger size and click on Apply
Under Windows, there is often more than one way to carry out a task. This time we will use the right mouse button menu to reach Display Properties.
Click the right mouse button anywhere on the desktop to display a menu.
Click Properties and use the dialogue box to select your options.
Changing he mouse buttons from Right to Left Handed.
Click on Start, then choose Settings, select and open the Control Panel.
Now double click the left- mouse button on the mouse icon.
This displays the Mouse Properties dialogue box.
Physically move the mouse cable to
the left-hand side of the computer.
Click the left mouse button
to select Left-handed and then click
on Apply.
This reverses the mouse buttons’ operation[11].
Windows NT Help is located on the Start menu.
Single-click the left mouse button on Help, and an option box will appear.
Under Contents, double-click the left mouse button on any of the book icons to open them, then click on a question mark to view the topic.
Clicking on the Display button will either display the help file for that subject or display a list of Help topics relevent to that subject.
The Help window will stay on top of the other applications you have open so that you can refer to it as you work.
Remember: You can move the Help window by dragging it around the desktop so that you can refer to it whilst you work and can still see what you are doing.
Click on Help again and click on the Index tab.
This sort of dialogue box can be used in two ways. Either type a subject in the box at the top, and then choose the option you want when the Topics Found box appears, or use the scroll bars to find the topic you want .
Again clicking on the Display button will either display the Help file associated with that subject or display a list of topics.
The Find option works in a similar way, but enables you to refine your search more finely.
Remember: Always log out properly - If you leave yourself logged in, others could read your files or access your filestore. They could send malicious mail in your name, or use up your entire printer quota and you would be held responsible.
To do so, close down any applications you have open, remembering to save your work properly and make copies on the M: drive and/or on floppy disk.
Double click the left mouse button on the Logout and End Session icon on the desktop.
There will be a short delay and then the workstation will automatically begin the logout procedure[12]. You will be prompted to confirm that you actually do want to log out.
Click on OK or press Enter.
[1] Help sheets are available for many of the applications on public workstations. You can read them or print them out from the World Wide Web. The URL is http://www.inf.aber.ac.uk/support/helpdesk/helpsheets.html
[2] If you have any trouble connecting, please go to a Help Desk.
[3] You can also open the Start Menu with the Start key, which carries the Windows logo and is located between the Control (Ctrl) and Alt keys to the left of the Space Bar on newer keyboards.
[4] Windows NT places all files and applications in ‘folders’.
[5] A note for former Window 3.11 users - Program Manager has been replaced by the Start Menu described above. File Manager has also been replaced and now you will need to use Explorer to locate and manage your files. Help Sheet 12 describes this in more detail.
[6] Please note Printer connections automatically drop after one hour if they have not been used, so do not connect to a printer until you are ready to use it.
[7] All the information you need to use Explorer is contained in Computing Help Sheet 29 - Explorer for Windows 95 and Windows NT (http://www.inf.aber.ac.uk/support/helpdesk/helpsheets.html).
[8] See previous footnote for URL.
[9] This will only work for items deleted from the D: or A: drive, it will not work for items on your M: drive.
[10] This is because we don’t have enough disk capacity to store a profile for each of the University’s 10,000 users.
[11]Right‑handed users may wish to reverse this process now and return the buttons to theirdefault settings. Don’t forget to click on Apply with the right-hand button this time!
[12] In which you will be prompted to save any unsaved work in applications you have forgotten to close down.