SC ICT CertificationLevel 1

SC ICT CertificationLevel 1

01 Desktop Basics

By Ross Parker

THE DESKTOP01.1

• Why do nerds make things look easy?

• “The mysterious process by which difficult things become simple”.

• Learn to master the computer “desktop”:– Increase efficiency– Enjoy computing– Dazzle your colleagues– Become a Zen master!

Mastery of the desktop

Desktop as a metaphor• The desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is

a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users more easily interact with the computer.

• The desktop metaphor treats the monitor of a computer as if it is the user's physical desktop, upon which documents and folders of documents can be placed.

• A document can be opened into a window, which represents a paper copy of the document placed on the desktop.

• Applications (calculator, word processor) are available

The DesktopDirectory

FileWallpaper

Start button Running applications

Visible application

Mouse pointer

System tray

The Clipboard

• Ever use cut, copy and paste?

• Wonder where things go when you cut and copy?

• The answer is the clipboard.

Warning

The following exercises are for Windows XP.

Most skills apply to other Operating Systems (with some variations)

Windows explorer

Explorer, directories, files

Directory

File

BASIC INPUT01.2

Mouse magic

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Right button

Scroll wheel

Left button

Mouse magic II

• Single Left Click aka left click, click, select

• Double Left Click aka double click

• Single Right Click aka right click

• Left Drag and Drop aka drag and drop

• Right Drag and Drop aka right drag and drop

• Links/Buttons vs Icons

Keyboard: single keys

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Tab

Super

InsertPrint Screen Num Lock

Scroll Lock

F2 F5F1

AltControl

Shift

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES01.3

Keyboard: multiple keys

• Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V• Ctrl-S, Ctrl-Shift-S• Ctrl-O• Ctrl-P• Ctrl-F• Super-D• Alt-tab

• How do you discover these?

Explorer, directories, files II

• Directory Structure: stay organised!• File extensions• Hidden Files• Selecting Files

– Mouse, Shift and Ctrl– Lasso/Rubberband

• File View• Arrange Icons By• Locating a file by typing it's name

Manipulating Text

• Highlighting Text– Mouse

• Left mouse button• Double click• Triple click (so extreme!)

– Keyboard• Shift• Ctrl• Arrow keys• Page Up, Page Down

• Find, Find and replace

OUTRODUCTION01.4

Sharing

There are many, many such tricks.

With computers, no one knows everything.

Does anyone have any to share?

Practice

Remember

Practice makes perfect!

Licensing• All original work used here is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share

Alike 3.0 Unported license. For more details please look at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.

• This license has been chosen to permit a high degree of sharing, whilst protecting the author’s control as to how the content is used.

• Please respect this license and use accordingly!• Recycled and borrowed works from other sources are used under appropriate

licenses, which are not affected by this license. The original source is always given. • All original work created by Ross Parker (Sha Tin College, English Schools

Foundation, Hong Kong), except where specified.