SAWLA POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Web Development and Database Administration Level I

MODULE TITLE: Operating Personal Computer

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• MODULE DESCRIPTION:
• This Module defines the competence required to operate a personal
computer, including starting the PC, logging in, using and
understanding desktop icons and their links to underlying programs,
navigating a directory structure, saving work, printing, closing down
the PC and word processing.

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• At the end of the module the trainee will be able to:
• LO1. Start the computer
• LO2. Access basic system information
• LO3. Navigate and Manipulate desktop environment
• LO4. Organize basic directory/ folder structure and files
• LO5. Organize files for user and/or organization requirements
• LO6. printer installing

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LO1: Start the computer

• This learning outcome to provide you the necessary information

regarding the following topics –
• Specifically, upon completion of this learning outcome, you will be
able to –
• Check peripheral device connections for correct position
• Understand OHS standards
• Check input voltage for the device based on the OHS standards
• Switch the power on at both the power and computer

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 Information Sheet 1 Checking Peripheral device connections

Computer
An electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data, and can be programmed with instructions
that it remembers. The physical parts that make up a computer (the central processing unit, input, output
and memory) are called “hardware”. Programs that tell a computer what to do are called “software”.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

The computing concept

A computer (also referred to as a PC) can be used for various functions, eg. word processing, spreadsheets,
databases, business accounting, desktop publishing, accessing the Internet, sending email, playing games,
movies, music, etc.

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• Monitor (or Screen or VDU - Visual Display Unit)
• The monitor (or screen) enables the operator to view data (and to alter it before printing it
out).
• System Unit containing CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• The System Unit can contain storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk drive and CD ROM
drive. A chip (called a Central Processing Unit) within the system unit processes data and relays
messages to and from the keyboard, monitor, disk drives and printer.
• Keyboard: The computer keyboard has the standard QWERTY layout with extra keys for specific
functions.
• Speakers: The speakers play sound when on-capable features are accessed on the computer.
• Mouse: A mouse is used to select menu options, text and graphics displayed on the monitor.
• Printer: A printer is used to print text and graphics onto paper.
• Hardware: The physical components of a computer system - everything that you can touch -
are called hardware.
• Software: The programs used on a computer are called software. This includes system software
and application software such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc. System software is
necessary in order to run a computer and all applications within it.
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• The System Unit: The System Unit contains the Central Processing Unit (CPU, also referred to as the
“processor”), motherboard, memory, video card, sound card, and other internal devices. It also has disk
drives for storage media, and ports for external devices.
• The Processor 
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of your computer. It is a “chip” where your computer
interprets and processes information. It relays messages to and from the keyboard, monitor, disk and printer.
• Hard Disk, Floppy Disk and CD ROM Drives
Drives are used to store and access data. A hard disk drive is a permanent storage device within your
computer. Floppy disk and CD ROM drives allow you to read data from portable media (CDs and floppy
disks).
• Video Card
A video card fits inside your computer and determines the resolution (fineness of information) and number
of colors your monitor can display. In addition to color, some video cards allow the display of graphics such
as graphs, circles and geometric designs as well as text.
• Memory
Your computer has a brain that processes information and a memory that stores the information. The
memory is not a permanent storage place for information. It is only active while your computer is turned on.
To avoid losing your work you should save data on a disk (i.e. hard disk or floppy disk) for permanent storage
(i.e USB or memory stick).
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 • Identifying the parts of a personal computer
• A peripheral device is defined as a computer device connects to
a computer system to add functionality., such as a keyboard or printer, that
is not part of the essential computer (i.e., the memory and microprocessor).
These auxiliary devices are intended to be connected to the computer and
used.
• There are many different models of personal computers. They include
desktop personal computers (PC), notebooks and laptops but they all have
the same basic hardware parts:
• a keyboard
• mouse/touch pad/trackball
• monitor (screen)
• System unit.
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• The diagram below shows a typical set up of a personal computer.

Figure 1: The typical set up of a personal computer

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• Another type of personal computer is a notebook. A notebook is a compact
computer that is easily transported and can be powered by batteries.

Figure 2: Notebook computer

• How computer works
• The computer system needs people, data, hardware and software to
operate. The process for getting data in, processing the data and getting the
information out is known as input/process/output.

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 • Input
• Input is the data that is entered into the computer. It is entered through input devices. Some
examples of input devices are:
• mouse
• keyboard
• microphone
• scanner
• digital camera
• joy stick
• touch pad
• MP3 player
• Digital video player (plays DVDs).
• Using a mouse (input device)
The mouse is used to move the mouse pointer around the screen and
to perform tasks such as moving and opening folders or files. A mouse could
be attached to a computer with a cord or it may be cordless (a remote mouse).
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• You see the position of the mouse on the screen by seeing a symbol. The
mouse symbol moves around the screen as you move the mouse. Depending
on the task you are doing, the mouse symbol could look like any of the
following.
• A mouse pointer: means you can click on an item, such as a folder icon,
to select it or move it.
A timer: means the computer is busy processing a task so you need
to wait until the computer finishes the task and the symbol changes
back.
Flashing insertion point: When you click the mouse the insertion
point will flash if text can be entered or deleted.
I I-beam: This shows you where your mouse is when it is hovering
over text.
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 • Output
• Output is what the computer displays as a result of processing data (e.g
calculations or instructions). Some examples of output devices are:

Figure 3: A computer with typical input and output devices

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 • Process
• Processing refers to the computer performing operations and calculations (using the data
that has been input and software). This processing of data is done by the central
processing unit (CPU) that is housed in the system unit.
• Table 1: Computer system have the following two main parts Eg.
Hardware Software
   

Peripherals:  
Microsoft Windows
      Microsoft Word
Mouse External CD Writer   Microsoft Excel
Monitor Printer   Microsoft PowerPoint
Keyboard Scanner   Microsoft Internet Explorer
      Computer Games

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• Information Sheet 2: Understanding OHS standards
• Definition
• Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) - A planned system of working to prevent illness and
injury where you work by recognizing and identifying hazards and risks. - Health and safety
procedure is the responsibility of all persons in the computer and technology industries.
• Purpose of OHS
• The purpose of the Health and Safety policies and procedures is to guide and direct all
employees to work safely and prevent injury, to themselves and others. All employees are
encouraged to participate in developing, implementing, and enforcing Health and
Safety policies and procedures. The six main categories of hazards are:
• Biological. Biological hazards include viruses, bacteria, insects, animals, etc., that can cause
adverse health impacts. ...
• Chemical. Chemical hazards are hazardous substances that can cause harm. Gases, dusts,
fumes, vapors and liquids.
• Physical: Slippery floors, objects in walkways, unsafe or misused machinery, excessive
noise, poor lighting, fire.
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 • 5 basic workplace hazards
• The most common hazards are from chemicals, fires, repetitive motion, electricity
and fall related injuries. Keeping your employees safe can ensure a happier, more
productive workplace. Build safety policies that address the specific hazards in your
workplace.

• Health problems
• There are a number of health problems that you can suffer if you use ICT devices incorrectly or
for too long. The main ones are: 
1. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
2. Back and Neck Strain
3. Eye Strain and Headaches 17
 Safety Issues
• There are a number of safety issues that can arise from using ICT devices. Some of these safety issues
include:
• Electrocution: Most ICT devices require an electrical power source. Whenever you have electrical power
sources you run the risk of the electrocution. 
• Tripping over wires: ICT devices with wires can make a room a potential hazard. Trailing wires are easy
to trip over if they are not secured or tucked away. 
• Trailing Cables
• Computer equipment is often connected to lots of cables: power, network, etc. If these cables are laying on
the floor, they can cause people to trip over them

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• Heavy equipment falling on you: Some ICT devices (like computer screens, system units)
are fairly heavy and can cause injury if they fall on you. Equipment should be positioned securely on
strong desks and tables well away from the edge.

• Fire risks
• ICT devices require power from a mains outlet. If too many devices are plugged into
a single main at the same time it is possible to overload the circuit and start an
electrical fire.

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• Spilt Drinks or Food: If any liquids are spilt on electrical equipment, such a s a
computer, it can result in damage to the equipment, or an electric shock to the user.
Solution: Keep drinks and food away from computers

• Overloaded Power Sockets

• Plugging too many power cable overloaded, overheating, and a fire starting.
• Solution: Never plug too many cables into a socket. Always make sure there are fire

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• Information Sheet 3: Checking Input voltage
• Power supply is an important component of the system, and there is no computer that
will be able to work without it. It provides all the consumers inside computer case with
the required electrical energy, while converting the AC voltage that comes from the
electric socket into a constant one. Choosing a power supply for a computer, you need to
be guided by its power, based on the number of consumers that will be connected to it.
If the power supply fails, the entire computer will not be able to operate. That’s why the
power supply unit should be the first one to check in case your computer is not starting,
and there are several ways to do this. It can be stated that the power supply does not
work in the proper mode (or there is another problem) in case you notice the following
“symptoms” in your computer: When you press the power button, nothing happens,
that is, there is no light, no sound indication and coolers do not start to rotate. Since the
power supply is a component that supplies other elements with a constant voltage.

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• Steps to check the computer power supply voltage
1. Plug the power supply into the wall.
2. The power supply's fan should start up. If it doesn't then it's dead.
3. If the fan starts up, then it could be the motherboard that's dead.
• Starting a computer running
• Starting your computer is also known as booting the computer. It is important to switch
your computer on in the correct way because the computer will check the peripheral
devices on start up. Starting the computer will also start the operating system.

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• Figure 1: If the power switch on the system unit is off (no light), then you need to turn on the computer
parts in the correct sequence
• Sequence for starting a computer
• 1. Check peripheral device connections.
• 2. Turn on power at the power outlet.
• 3. If the monitor has a separate switch, turn it on.
• 4. Switch on the printer.
• 5. Check to see if there is a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive if your computer has one. Eject the disk to
ensure the computer starts from the hard drive.
• 6. Switch on the system unit. If using a desktop PC, the power switch is usually a button on the front or side
of the system unit. If using a laptop, the power switch is usually at the top of the keyboard.
• 7. The computer will perform a start-up routine. When the start-up routine has completed then the
operating system will start. 23
 • Sequence for shutting down a computer
• Follow this sequence if you do not have to log off first.
• Close all files (remember to save your latest work if necessary).
• Close all software programs.
• Remove floppy disks or other storage media from drives if necessary.
• Click on Start on the taskbar. Select Turn Off computer from the Start menu.
• Check that Turn off is selected.
• Click on OK to confirm. Your computer may automatically turn the power off but if not
you will get a message like ‘It is now safe to turn off your computer.’
• Switch off the computer and the power outlet.

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• Information Sheet 4: Switching on Power at both the powe and computer
• Logging on
• The computer you are using may have been set up so that you need to log on to the
computer in order to be able to access the software and stored data, and commence
using it. This is a security feature that is often in place for computers in the workplace,
school, college or other large organisation.
• If you need to log on you will see a box on the screen asking you for two items of
information that you need to type in:
• 1. Username
• 2. Password.

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• Sequence for Switching on Power of computer
1. Check peripheral device connections.
2. Turn on power at the power outlet.
3. If the monitor has a separate switch, turn it on.
• Shutting down a computer
• Follow this sequence if you do not have to log off first.
1. Close all files (remember to save your latest work if necessary).
2. Close all software programs.
3. Remove floppy disks or other storage media from drives if necessary.
4. Click on Start on the taskbar. Select Turn Off computer from the Start menu.
5. Check that Turn off/shut down is selected.

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 • Logging off
• If you have had to log on to the computer when you started the session, then you need
to log off when you finish your session on the computer.
• Logging off means you are disconnecting the computer from the network and no one
else will be able to access the same computer unless they also have a log on (username
and password). You must log off the computer regardless of whether or not you will be
turning off the power.

THANK YOU…!!!

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• LO2: Access basic information system
• Getting familiar with the desktop environment
• Using the mouse
• One of the most useful tools for working on a computer is the mouse. The mouse is used
to move a pointer or cursor around the screen, in order to select a button or icon to
perform a particular task, or to access, move or copy data. When you create your own files
using application software (like a word processor) you’ll use the mouse to help you write
and edit text or other data.
• Doing tasks with the mouse
• There are a variety of mice available. Apple computers have a single button, while PCs can
have either two buttons (a left and a right button) or three buttons (left, middle, right).
The left and right mouse buttons, however, are commonly used by PC operating systems.

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• Some common ways that you can use a mouse with two buttons include:
• Left-click: One click of the left mouse button allows you to choose something on the screen.
• Right-click: One click of the right mouse button will often open up a shortcut menu.
• Double-click: Quickly clicking the left button twice allows you to open a selected file or
folder.
• Click-drag: Left-click on an item, such as a file icon, and keep holding the mouse button
down, then drag the item to move it to a new location. Another common function that
click-drag performs is with text. For example, when you are inside a word document, left-
click at the start of a sentence and drag to the end of the sentence to select that sentence.

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• A mouse may also have the additional feature—a scroll wheel—that
enables you to use the mouse to scroll up and down a window instead of
using the window’s scroll bars.
• Desktop windows
• The desktop is the background screen that appears as soon as the computer has
finished starting up. The desktop is part of the operating system software, so its
appearance is controlled by system settings. There are several useful items on the
desktop including:
Icons: An icon is a small picture that may appear on your desktop.
Double left-clicking on an icon is an easy way to open a program,
files or other items (such as storage drives). Icons allow you
quick access to all of these items.

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• There are several features of windows including:
• Title bar: This is a bar that appears at the top of the window. It often includes the name
of the program or folder.
• Minimize: This option shrinks the window to its smallest size. It will now only appear as
an option on the task bar. The program is still open; left-clicking on it in the taskbar will
restore it to its regular size.
• Maximize: This options makes the window expand to its largest size.
• Close: This will close the window. If you need to save your work, a program will usually
ask you to save before closing.
• Scroll bar: This is a slider on the right-hand side of the window that allows you to move
down the contents of the window, in the same way you might have scrolled down a
website page. Left-click and drag the slider, or left-click on the down and up arrows in
order to move up or down the window contents.

• Minimize Maximize(Restore down) close

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 • The task bar
• The Task bar is a horizontal bar at the very bottom of the desktop. It shows any
applications or windows that are open. If there is more than one document open in an
application, it will show the name of the application and the number of files open. It
also shows the time and short cuts for any other items open on the desktop.

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 • The Start menu
• You can left-click the Start button on the Task bar to see the Start menu. This menu
allows you to:
• access information about the computer system you are using
• access controls for changing the way that information is displayed
• access application programs that are installed on the computer.

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• Next we’ll look at the settings you can access in the Control Panel. The
Control Panel can be selected in the Start menu

• or

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 • Accessing system information and settings
• The Control Panel
• The Control Panel enables you to view and change settings to things like:
• System and security User Account
• Network and Internet Appearance and personalization
• Hardware and sound Clock, language and region
• Programs(Installed Software's) ease of access

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 • Customize the desktop
• It is possible to customize your desktop, for example, to change the background pattern
and the style of the text displayed by the operating system. You do this through the
Control Panel through the Appearance & personalization icon.
• Now, on your own computer, follow the steps below to customize the desktop on your
computer.
• 1. Right-click on the Desktop empty space.
• 2. left-click on the personalization icon.
• 3. Left click on Themes
• 4. select desktop icon settings

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 • Change the date and time
• Follow these steps to change the date and time on your computer clock.
• 1. Click on Control Panel on the desktop.
• 2. Double-click on the Clock, language and region icon.
• 3. click on set date or time icon.
• 4. click on change date or time icon.

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 LO 3: Navigate and Manipulate Desktop Environment
Information Sheet 1: Creating and Customizing Desktop icons
1.1 Desktop Overview
• A computer desktop provides you with an easy way of identifying, organising and
accessing stored data and programs on your computer.
• A computer desktop can display shortcuts to get to application programs and storage
devices (such as the hard drive).
All these shortcuts are displayed on the desktop as icons. There are different styles of
icons depending on what they represent (although later you find out how you can
change an icon graphic to suit your preference). To go to the shortcut, you double-click
on the icon.

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• Icon for accessing Icon for accessing shared Icons for deleted Icons for internet browsing
disks on computer files on a network files
Figure 1: Different styles of icons you might find on the desktop
• Create desktop icons/shortcuts
• Now try customising your own icons/shortcuts on your desktop. For the following
examples, the operating system Windows is used. We will practice two ways of
creating a desktop icon:
• 1. Click and drag an item from a menu.
• 2. Use the Create shortcut command in a window’s File menu.

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• Create a desktop icon to open a program
• Click on Start on the Task Bar.
• Click on All Programs.
• Under All Programs, click on Accessories.
• Under Accessories, click on Paint and drag this item to the desktop. (If you don’t
have Paint on your computer then select a different program.)
• You should now have an icon/shortcut to the program on your desktop.
• Create a desktop icon to open the DVD/CD drive
• You can also place shortcuts to storage media drives on the desktop. You would do
this if you are regularly using these items.
1. Double-click on My Computer (on the desktop).
2. Click DVD/CD Drive and drag this item to the Desktop.
3. The following icon will now be on your desktop:

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 1.4 Create a desktop icon to open a folder
• Double-click on My computer (on the desktop).
• Double-click on one of the drives listed under Hard Disk Drives. You will now see a list
or group of folders that are stored on that drive.
• Click once on one of the folders stored on the drive. The name of the folder will now be
highlighted (which means it is selected).
• Right Click on the Folder and move down to the desktop and click on

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 • Customize the appearance of icons
• Rename an icon(F2)
• 1. Right-click on the icon you want to rename so that a menu appears.
• 2. Move the mouse down the menu and select Rename. The name of the icon is
now highlighted (which means it is selected).

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• Delete the shortcut to the DVD/CD drive:
• 1. Right-click on the DVD/CD icon/shortcut so that a menu appears.
• 2. Click on Delete.
• 3. Click on Yes to confirm you want to delete this icon.

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• Change the size of icons
1. Right-click on an empty area of the desktop—not on an icon. A menu appears.
2. Click on view. A Properties box appears then select the size Large,Medium
or small icon.

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 • Arrange icons on the desktop
• When you have a lot of icons or shortcuts on the desktop you may want to organise them according to
either:
• Their name (alphabetical order)
• Their size (the amount of data that the icon points to)
• Their type (group icons for files made with the same program)
• When they were modified (group the icons according to when they were last customised).
1. Right-click on an empty area of the desktop—not on an icon. A menu appears.
! ! !
2. Click on Arrange Icons by, then from the sub-menu choose your preference.

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• LO4: Organize Basic Directory/ Folder Structure and File
• Information Sheet 1: Creating and Naming Directories and subdirectories
1.1 How data is typically stored on a computer
• Data files such as word documents can be kept on a computer for future uses such as editing and
printing. To find documents you will need to store them in an organised fashion—in the same
way you might file documents like lesson notes, bills, letters and bank statements at home.
• Just as you might use folders to organise your personal or business documents, you also store
your computer documents in folders. A folder is only a device for grouping files in the same
location, not a data file.
• Folders and files can be stored on a computer’s desktop or on a storage device which will be
able to store hundreds or thousands of documents.
• Folders can be created or moved so that they sit within another folder, and so on. Other terms
for describing this structure of files and folders grouped within folders are directory and sub-
directory.
• You will need to decide where you want to save files. There are several types of storage devices
that may be an option for you, depending on your computer setup.

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 1.2 Storage devices
1.2.1. Hard disk drive (HDD)
• Your computer will have a hard disk drive. The hard disk drive is in the
system unit. The hard drive is where the operating system and application
programs are kept. If you are using a Microsoft Windows operating system,
there is also a location called My Documents on the hard drive for storing
your data files. You can also have a removable hard disk drive which has the
advantage of being able to store a large amount of data and be transported
and connected to other computers.

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 1.2.2. Floppy disk drive (FDD)
• A floppy disk is the least expensive storage media. They don’t hold a lot of
data but they are easily transportable. They can be damaged by smoke,
heat, magnets and liquid.

1.2.3. Memory stick/flash drive/thumb drive/pen drive/USB drive

• All these terms refer to a small drive that you plug into a USB port (an input
connection on the system unit). They are small (about the size of a
disposable lighter) and can be carried easily. They hold more data than a
floppy disk.

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• CDs (compact disk)
• CD-R: (compact disk read-only) are read-only format which means you can read the data
but you can’t write (add) data to the CD. They often have application programs or music
stored on them.

• CD-RW: (compact disk read-write) another form of CD that you can read and write to.
This means you can add or copy data to this type of CD. You will need a CD burner to do
this.

1.3 Using desktop shortcuts

• Some of the icons are automatically placed on the desktop when Windows is installed.
You can also create shortcuts. Shortcuts are icons that represent files, folders or
programs. They are really only a link to the real file or program. In other words, they are
like a nickname that stands for a person's real name.
• All shortcuts have a little arrow in the lower-left corner of the icon. This indicates that the
icon is a shortcut.
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 1.4 Creating a new folder:
• In other ways You can create folders from:
• the desktop (right click the mouse, choose new, then folder)

• Locate the directory or folder in which you want to create a new sub-
directory/folder.
• Double-click on this folder to open it.
• In the folder window click on the File menu and select New then Folder.
This creates a new (empty) folder inside the folder you have opened.
• Type in the name of the new folder (to replace the default text ‘New
Folder’.)

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• Drive contains three folders under My Documents:
• 1. Customers
• 2. Staff
• 3. Warehouse.
• The Customers folder has four sub-folders:
• 1. CD Basement
• 2. Gig Shop
• 3. MP3 to go
• 4. Music Beat.

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• In My Documents the main heading is called a directory. The sub-folders are
called sub-directories.
• Follow these steps to create a new folder in document:
• Open Documents
• Right Click on empty space
• Scroll down to New on the menu
• Click on Folder from the sub-menu
• Give the folder a name

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• Identifying Attributes of Directories
• Attributes of Directories
• Sometimes you will need to check the attributes of a file or folder to ensure you use it appropriately. Or you
may wish to set attributes to read-only so that data is not lost or changed by someone.
• Attributes define the type of file or directory which could be:
• read-only
• hidden
• archive
• system.
• To check or change the attributes of a file:
• 1. Double-click on My Computer on the desktop.
• 2. Double-click on a data drive and find a document file.
• 3. Right-click on the file you want to check.
• 4. Select Properties from the menu.

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• Move subdirectories between directories
• Use “Cut” to Move a Folder
• Following these steps to move a folder
1. Right click on the folder you want to move
2. Click on Cut in the shortcut menu that appears
3. Right click on an empty space in the new folder
4. Click on Paste from the shortcut menu that appears. The moved
folder then becomes a sub-folder of the new folder.

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 • Renaming folders
• You will notice that there is a '+' (plus) or '-' (minus) sign next to the main folders or
directories. The `+' sign indicates there are sub-folders (sub-directories) within this
folder. When the folder has a minus sign beside it, it means that all the sub-folders
within the folder are on view.
• You can rename a folder in the same way that you rename a file.
• Follow these steps to rename a folder:
• Open My Documents
• Find the folder you want to rename and right click on it
• Select Rename from the shortcut menu that appears
• Type the new name on top of the old name. As you type, the old name will remove
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• Access directories on your computer
• You can view folders on a drive and the contents of the folders through
windows. clicking on a drive icon or a folder icon opens a window which
shows you its contents.
• Figure 1 shows a view of the directories and sub-directories (folders) that
are stored on a floppy disk.

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LO5: Organize files for users and/or Organization Requirements

Using System browser to search derives

Use the search tool to find specific files
• Sometimes files are saved or moved to locations that you can’t remember or just don’t
know. There may be thousands of folders in a hard drive which would be impossible to
browse in order to find a lost file.
• Luckily there is search tool that is part of a computer’s operating system. This tool runs an
automatic search on a drive or within a specific directory (using keywords or the file
name) to find a file or folder.
• OS Search -- that can help you find anything on your computer, including pictures.
Windows Search accepts various parameters so that you can customize your search and
find only files of a specific type.
• You can open the Search Companion (the search tool in Microsoft Windows) in a number
of different ways—here are three ways to do this.
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• Search tool- type here anything you want to find your file, folder, program
etc….

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• Additionally you can search your file and folder

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 • Select, open and rename groups of files
• Sometimes you may wish to select, open or rename more than one file at a time.
• Select and open more than one file: -
• 1. Hold down the Control key (CTRL) and click on each file you want to select.
Don’t release the Control key until all the files are selected.
• 2. Right-click on one of the selected files and select Open from the menu.
• Naming and renaming files
• You name a file at the same time that you create it. File names can contain up to
255 characters (any keystroke on a keyboard). They can have spaces, commas,
and semicolons and can be in upper and lower case. However, files cannot
contain the following characters:

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• You can rename files at any time. This is useful if you decide the name is not easy for
other people to identify. To rename more than one file
• Select the files to be renamed as you did in step 1 above.
• Right-click on one of the selected files and select Rename from the menu.
• Type in the new file name.
• Follow these steps to rename a file:
• Open My Documents
• Find the file you want to rename and right click on it
• Click on Rename from the shortcut menu that appears
• Type the new name on top of the old name. As you type the old name will disappear
• Press Enter or click outside the file name

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 • Moving and copying files
• On the computer, you can copy or move a file (or a folder) in a number of ways. This helps to keep
files organized.
• Moving a file
• Follow these steps to move a file:
• Open My Documents
• Find the file you want to move.
• Right click on the file
• Select Cut from the shortcut menu that appears
• Open the folder where you want to place it (make sure this is created first)
• Right click on an empty space on the screen
• Click on File
• Click on Paste from the menu

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 • Copy, cut and paste files across directories
• Cut, Copy and Paste are tasks you can do in all application programs and windows
such as a folder or drive window. You need to make a selection first so that you
can cut or copy the selection and then paste it in another location.
• With cut, copy and paste you can remove or move a folder or a file as follows:
• Cut: Remove file from current location.
• Copy: Make a copy of the file.
• Paste: Place a copied or cut file into another location.
• Copying a file
1. Right click on the folder you want to copy
2. Click on copy in the shortcut menu that appears
3. Right click on an empty space in the desktop or another location
4. Click on Paste from the shortcut menu that appears.
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 • Dragging a file to a new location
• Follow these steps to drag a file to a new folder:
• Go to My Documents
• Find the correct folder and click on it to open it
• Find the file you want and click on it
• Attach the mouse pointer to the file
• Use the left mouse button to drag and drop the file into the new
folder

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 • Copy files to a disk
• Copying files means that you can leave the files in their current location and place copies in another
location. For example, you can copy a file from the hard disk and save it on a floppy disk or flash drive.
• Here are the ways you can do this.
• Copy and Paste a file
• 1. Locate the file you want to copy.
• 2. Right-click on the file. Click on Copy in the menu.
• 3. Right-click in a new location. Click on Paste in the menu.
• Drag a file from one disk to another
• When you drag a file or folder from one disk or storage media (such as a hard disk) to another (such as
a flash drive), a copy of the file or folder is automatically made at the new location.
• When you do this, make sure you have the destination folder or drive in view—in a window or on the
desktop.

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• Click and hold down the mouse button on the file you want to copy.
• Drag the file to the destination. If you drag the file on top of a closed
folder and release the mouse button, then the file will be copied
inside that folder.
• Using Keyboard
• Open the USB drive in File Explorer, locate the pictures or the folder
 containing the pictures, and press Ctrl+C. Then, in File Explorer, go to
the location you want to copy the pictures (e.g., Pictures on the left to
open your Pictures folder), and paste them by pressing Ctrl+V.

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• Windows command prompt
• The following examples use the Windows command prompt to copy files
from one drive to another. For general information about using the
command line, see our Windows command line guide.
• Using the copy command
• You can use the copy command from the command line to copy files.
• to copy files.
• Copy C:\myfile.txt D:
• The above command would copy the file "myfile.txt" on the C: drive to
the D: drive.
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• Restoring files
• There might be an occasion when you send a file to the Recycle Bin by
mistake, not realizing that you might still need that file for some reason.
Sometimes you might not have kept a copy on file and so need to restore
it (get it back).
Restoring a file from the Recycle Bin
• Follow these steps to restore a file that is in the Recycle Bin:
• 1. Double click on the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop to open it
• 2. Right click on the file you would like to restore
• 3. Click on Restore from the shortcut menu that appears
Note: The file is restored in its original location.

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 • Delete and restore files
• You may need to delete files or folders, for example, when you no longer
need them or when they are copied to another disk.
• Here are two ways you can delete a file (a folder can be deleted in the
same ways).
• Right-click on the file you want to delete
• Right-click on a file.
• Left-click on Delete in the menu.
• The file is now moved to the Recycle Bin which sits on the desktop.

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• Drag the file to the Recycle Bin
• Another way to delete a file is to drag it to the Recycle Bin on the
desktop:
• Click on the file and hold the mouse button down as you drag it to the Recycle
Bin.
• When the file is directly on top of the Recycle Bin the bin will be highlighted. At
this point release the mouse button and the file will be moved into the bin.

• Figure 6: Icon for the Recycle Bin in Windows

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 • Empty the Recycle Bin
• Deleted files and folders stay in the Recycle Bin until you empty the bin. If
you empty, the Recycle Bin anything in it will be permanently deleted
(unable to be restored from the desktop). It is a good idea to empty the
Recycle Bin on a regularly basis, as deleted files take up storage space on
the computer.
• To empty the Recycle Bin:
• Right-click on the Recycle Bin icon.
• Select Empty Recycle Bin from the menu. (If there are no files in the bin
then this option will be faded.)
• The files that were previously deleted (transferred to the bin) are now
permanently deleted.

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• Erasing and formatting Disks
• Erase and format Disk Drive
• You can format a disk if you want to erase the contents of the disk. You might
want to do this because you no longer need the data that was stored and you
want to reuse the disk. You might also want to format the disk if it has a virus.
• To format an external drive in Windows:
• Plug your drive into the computer and, if necessary, into a wall outlet.
• Open click the “This pc" section in the sidebar, and find your drive.
• Right-click on the drive and choose "Format."
• Under "File System," choose the file system you want to use. See the above
section for more details on which one to pick.
• check the "Quick Format" box.
• Click "Start" to format the drive. You'll get a notification when it's done (it
should only take a few seconds).
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• When you're done, open up the drive in Windows Explorer and you can
begin dragging files to it, or backing up your computer.

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LO6: Print Information

• Basic Printer Concepts

• A printer is a device that accepts text and graphic output from a computer and transfers the
information to paper, usually to standard size sheets of paper. Printers vary in size, speed,
sophistication, and cost. In general, more expensive printers are used for higher-resolution color
printing.
• The four printer qualities of most interest to most users are:
• Color: Color is important for users who need to print pages for presentations or maps and other
pages where color is part of the information.
• Resolution: Printer resolution (the sharpness of text and images on paper) is usually measured in
dots per inch (dpi).
• Speed: If you do much printing, the speed of the printer becomes important. Inexpensive printers
print only about 3 to 6 sheets per minute.
• Memory: Most printers come with a small amount of memory (for example, one megabyte) that can
be expanded by the user.

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• Some Examples of Computer printers:
• Inkjet Pinter.
• Laser Printer.
• Plotters Printer.
• Dot-matrix Printer and.
• Thermal Printer.
• Inkjet Printer: - Inkjet printers one of the user friendly computer
printers. ...
• Laser Printer:
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 • Check printers you can access
• If printing over a network, there may be more than one printer you
can access. To check the printers that you have access to:
• Click on Start and then select the Control Panel.
• Double-click on Printers and Faxes to open this item.
• In Printers and Faxes, you see the names of the computer/s that you
should be able to access.

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• Figure 1: Printers and Faxes (under the Control Panel) where you can see
the printer/s you have to access. Check printing preferences for a printer
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• Printing preferences include options for printing such as:
• the size of the paper you are printing to
• whether the document you are printing has a horizontal (landscape)
or vertical (portrait) layout
• whether you want to print on both sides or only one side of the paper
• how many copies of the document you want to print?
• You can change these options every time you send a document to the
printer but you can also set default options so that your preferred
options are the default until you change them.

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• To check or change the default printing preferences for your printer: -
1. In the Printers and Faxes window right-click on the name or icon of
the printer. (See Figure 2)
2. Select Printing Preferences from the menu.

Figure 3: The Printing Preferences for Microsoft Office Document Image Writer 80
3. To change the paper size, you want to print on, click on the arrow next to the
box
4. under Page size. Select a different paper size from the popup menu.
5. To change the orientation of your document page, click in the button next to
either
6. Portrait or Landscape.
7. Click OK to save any changes or Cancel to keep the same settings.
• The preferences box for a printer will have different options depending on the
model of the printer, but the basic options shown in Figure 3 should be available
for all printers. You can select more printing preferences in a program’s Print box
at the time of printing.
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 • Selecting the default printer
• Printers that you can access from your computer may be directly
connected to your PC or you may have access to printers over a
network. A network printer could serve many computers, so you may
not be the only person sending jobs to a printer. In this case it is
particularly useful to be able to view the progress of your print jobs as
they may be sitting in a queue waiting to be printed. You can also
cancel a print job after you have sent it to the printer.

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 • Default Printer
• If you have access to more than one printer, then one of those
printers will be the default printer. This means it is automatically
selected when you send a job to print. In Figure 1 you can see that
the default printer has a tick on it.
• To set a printer as the default printer:
1. In the Printers and Faxes window right-click on the name or icon of
the printer.
2. Select Set as Default Printer from the menu.

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Figure 2: Right-click on a printer to select Set as Default Printer—to make this printer
the default. If you only have one printer available, then you will not need to set a
default printer.

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 • Print documents
• You can send a document to the printer from the desktop or from within the application program
that created the document.
• Print one or more documents from the desktop: To print one or more documents from the
desktop:
• Open a folder that contains one or more documents.
• Click on the name of the file you want to print.
• To print more than one file, hold down the Control (Ctrl) Key on your keyboard and keep clicking on
files to add them to the selection.
• When all the files are selected, right-click on one of the selected files. Select Print from the menu.
• All the files you selected will be sent to the printer.

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• Print a web page
• To practice printing a document from within an application program, try
printing a page from a website. Your computer needs to be connected
to the Internet and have a web browser such as Internet Explorer.
• Double-click on the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop to open the
program. (If your web browser is not on the desktop you may need to
open the program from Start then the All Programs menu.) When the
browser program is open you will see the Internet Explorer menus at
the top of the window.
• Click on the File menu then select Print from this menu.
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• The Print box allows you to change the printer and change the
printing preferences for the job. (Note that any changes here do not
permanently override the default settings)

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• Figure 5: The Print box allows you to change print settings and to print from
within an application
• When you have made any changes to the print options click on Print to send the
page to the printer or click on Cancel if you don’t want to print the page. You can
print a document from within any application program in the same way. That is:
• Open the document you want to print (Double-click on the filename if it is not
already open.)
• Click on the File menu then select Print.
• In the Print box check the printing preferences for your job.
• Click on Print.

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 • View the progress of print jobs
• If a document is taking a long time to print or the printer is busy with
other people’s print jobs, you can check all the jobs that have been
sent to a printer and see where your job is in the queue.
• From the queue you can also delete a print job if you decide you want
to cancel it. To view the progress of a print job:
• Open Printers and Faxes in the Control Panel.
• Double-click the printer icon to open the print monitor where you can
see the jobs currently in the queue for that printer.

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 • Printing Information
• View the progress of print jobs
• If a document is taking a long time to print or the printer is busy with
other people’s print jobs, you can check all the jobs that have been
sent to a printer and see where your job is in the queue.
• From the queue you can also delete a print job if you decide you want
to cancel it. To view the progress of a print job:
• Open Printers and Faxes in the Control Panel.
• Double-click the printer icon to open the print monitor where you can
see the jobs currently in the queue for that printer.
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• Figure 6: Close up of a print queue
• The print monitor lists the files that have been sent to the printer which are
either in progress or waiting to be printed. The order of files in the list is the
order they will be printed. Check the Status column (next to Document
Name) to see the name of the file that is currently printing. Once a job has
printed it will disappear from the queue.
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