INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE DESKTOP



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  ABOUT THE DESKTOP   KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY USE THE MOUSE
  USING THE WEB WITH THE DESKTOP
  MAKING SHORTCUTS TO YOUR WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES

NOTE: System colors and settings may vary per system, and your system's colors and settings may be different than mine. That's OK.

KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY USE THE MOUSE


A Mouse

     To be able to perform tasks on the Desktop requires you to use the mouse. It is a good idea to be familiar with the mouse's parts and its techniques. The mouse rolls on a ball which moves the mouse's cursor (normally an arrow, as shown; also called pointer) . When you begin moving the mouse, this cursor moves, a process called hovering (for help on hovering, click here to play a game which requires you to hover to win). Once you stop hovering and allow the cursor to rest, the cursor is pointing. The mouse has two buttons: the left mouse button and the right mouse button. The left mouse button carries as three functions: the single-click, which is used to open the Start Menu and its items, to select files, navigating between pages on the Internet, etc., the double-click, which is used to open files, and the ability to select text by holding down the left mouse button as you hover across the text, or drag and dropping desktop icons, files between folders, by first select a file, then holding down the left mouse button and moving the item (called dragging), then releasing the left mouse button when you have found a spot to place the item which you moved (called dropping). For help learning drag and dropping, click here to load a puzzle. You must drag and drop each piece to fit together. The right mouse button carries only one function: the right-click, used to change the attributes, settings, etc., of a file.

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ABOUT THE DESKTOP

As the opening image shows of this tutorial, the Desktop is broken down into many parts. It is through the desktop you will perform all of your tasks. The long bar at the bottom of your screen is called the Task Bar, which also holds the Start button, the Quick Launch Bar (on systems with IE 4.0 or higher), the System Tray, and finally, the System Clock. The Start button contains a menu, called the Start Menu, which lists many of the programs on your computer for quick access. The Quick Launch Bar provides access to your programs from the Desktop. The System Tray contains settings for many programs and devices, such as the volume of your speakers. The System Clock displays the time, and by hovering, the date will display. Finally, programs that you have opened are called tasks; if you are currently using these tasks, they are known as active tasks, and appear as "pushed down" in the Task Bar; if you are not currently using the program, it is known as aninactive task, and appears to be a button at rest in the Task Bar. The background of the Desktop generally contains an image, called wallpaper, and to access system programs to perform tasks like deleting your files, you must click on an icon to open the program.

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USING THE WEB WITH THE DESKTOP

You're probably wondering "What does the Desktop have to do with the web?" ALOT! You may know that you can have an image as your wallpaper, but in addition, you can also have a web page as your wallpaper! Perhaps you can create a web page of your favorite web sites, or even the ones you use the most! Whatever is the reason, here are the instructions for both selecting an image and a web page as your wallpaper.

Your wallpaper is normally a bitmap image: you'll have to enable a feature called the Active Desktop, which you enable you to use GIF and JPEG files, in addition to web pages. To enable this feature, right-click anywhere on the wallpaper to bring up a menu. Hover Active Desktop, and click View as Webpage in the expanded menu that appears. Now, to set an image or a web page as your wallpaper, right-click again to bring up the same menu, and click Properties. A Display Properties window will appear, normally with the Wallpaper tab active. Simply choose from the list provided (to add an image or web page to this list, the images must be in the Windows folder, while all the web pages in the WEB subfolder of the WINDOWS folder), or click the Browse button to find your wallpaper. When you have found it, click the OK button to set it as your current wallpaper.


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MAKING SHORTCUTS TO YOUR WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES

Shortcuts make it easy for you to quickly access a certain web site on the web or a file on your computer. To easily access the web pages on your computer, or web sites on the web, right-click anywhere on the Desktop. A menu appears. Hover New and click Shortcut in the expanded menu that appears. A Shortcut Wizard dialog will appear. The wizard is very self-explanatory, but to prepare you for what it asks, make sure you know where the file is located on your computer, and the complete URL (include http://) if you are creating a shortcut for a web site on the web.


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