The Start button is the key point on any Windows based operating system. Going to the start button allows the user to start programs, make adjustments to the operating system, install hardware and software and change settings on peripherals such as scanners, printers and monitors. Microsoft must have an incredible sense of humor as you must go to the Start button in order to shut down the computer. In this Chapter you will learn about a variety of features available through the Start button.

The pop-up menu has many different options. In this section we will be learning the Programs, Favorites, Documents, Settings, Find, Help, Run, Log Off and Shut Down options. It is also worth noting that if your mouse is not working for some reason there is a key on most keyboards with the Microsoft Windows symbol on it. Pressing this key will activate the pop-up menu in the same way as clicking on the Start button.

At the top of the list of selections on the pop-up menu is the Programs selection. This selection is the gateway to launch nearly all the programs installed on your computer.

You do not have to left-click on the "Programs" button in order for the menu to pop-up, it will do so automatically when the user holds the mouse pointer over the selection.

The arrow located on some buttons in a pop-up menu are called extension menus. The function of this arrow is to reveal the presence of sub menus located in a hierarchical manner underneath the selection.

Notice that the "Help" and "Run" buttons do not have the arrow, this means that in order to select that option, you must left click on it once.

Under the programs menu sub-menus will appear revealing choices of programs you may wish to launch. The menus can appear to the right or left and sometimes a little bit of manual dexterity is necessary to launch a program from its menu choice. Move the mouse in such a way that the mouse pointer does not slip off of the choice as you slide left or right.

After you have highlighted the program desired, left-click once on it. Then wait while your computer loads the desired program.

Notice the arrows pointing to the right of some programs. This means that there is another menu screen. To see this menu, you must highlight that program. The new menu will pop-up automatically.

In order to practice opening and closing a program in the context of a small project you may go on a little side trip detour. A brief lesson on using Microsoft Word is found at http://www.kckps.org/courses/using_word.pdf (.pdf file ... use browser's back button when finished)

You may use this lesson as practice in opening programs and documents and at the same time learn a bit about Microsoft Word and how to use it. When you are finished, come back here and continue.

The Start menu contains the favorites menu choice. This choice allows you to quickly access favorite web sites, favorite files and favorite folders on your computer.

You can now open favorite sites from almost anywhere on your computer. In fact, you'll notice that it is available not only from the Start menu, but from the menu bars in My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Windows Explorer, Control Panel, and even the Recycle Bin.

To open a favorite site or a favorite Web site from the Start menu:

Click the Start button, point to Favorites, and then click the place that you want to go. Items that you have saved as a favorite will be found there

To drag and drop items on the Favorites menu:

To rearrange items on the Favorites menu, click Start, point to Favorites, and then drag the item (any folder, program, or shortcut) you want to its new location.

Many software programs have "Favorites" as a selection on the menu bar. All the favorites are links to the same places, just different places to access it.

To add a page to your list of favorite pages:

1. Go to the page you want to add to your Favorites list.
2. On the Favorites menu, click Add to Favorites.
3. Type a new name for the page if you want to.

Tips

• To open one of your favorite pages, click the Favorites menu, and then click the page you want to open.
• As your list of favorite pages grows, you can organize them into folders.

The "Documents" button will display the names of files from various programs so that you can access them very quickly. Documents that you have recently had open or have modified are listed here under this selection.

The documents choice lists the most recently used documents of any known type. This feature is useful to quickly locate a document on which you were working without having to use the Windows Explorer or without opening an application.

The My Computer area opens to all the drives, folders and files on the computer. Select folders or files with a single click and launch files or open folders with a double-click.

On your desktop, "My Documents" is represented by a folder with a sheet of paper in it. When you save a file in a program such as WordPad or Paint, the file is automatically saved in My Documents unless you choose a different location. One recommendation is that the user creates a number of sub folders under the My Documents folder in order to keep items organized and easily found. One of the most common problems of new users of computers is the tendency to lose files by forgetting their location. Be proactive in this area and head off the problem before it arises.

The settings button is the gateway to controlling the preferences and options available to you concerning the operation of your computer. The settings you can adjust are all found under the following choices. (Windows 98 ... Windows XP will be a little different)

• Control Panel – Make adjustments to a variety of settings on your computer such as the date/time, Network, Printers, Keyboard, Mouse, Display, Modems and Fonts. The availability of these options on the District Novell network is dependent upon what level of log-in is used (student, teacher, network, administrator)
• Printers – Add, delete and make adjustments to printers connected to the computer or to the network.
• Taskbar and Start Menu – Make adjustments to the programs and features accessible to your on the bottom task bar as well as add, and delete programs available on the start menu pop-up.
• Folder Options – Make adjustments to the look of files and folders in the "My Computer" area and in the "Windows Explorer" program. These are the main navigation areas to explore and change what is on your computer.
• Active Desktop – Make adjustments to the look and feel of the Desktop.
• Windows Update – Sends you to the Microsoft Web site for windows update information.

The control panel is probably the most often used setting on the computer. It allows you to make many adjustments to the devices attached to your computer, to your monitor for example, and also allows you to add and remove hardware or software. In the school district a student will not have access to this area with a student Novell password. This prevents students from removing programs or icons or creating other unwanted mischief. Teachers will have access to the control panel using a teacher log-in. Network administrators have full access to all features.

Some of the often used areas of the control panel include the following:

• Date/Time – Make changes to the date and time for the computer should that become inaccurate. The date and time are used often in word processors to automatically insert the date and/or time in documents.
• Desktop Themes – This is only used when the user wants to make changes to the look and feel of the desktop. This would include graphics on the desktop, screensavers, text color, link color and sounds.
• Display – This controls the appearance of the computer screen on the monitor. For example, you can change from one screen size to another (ie 640x480 to 600x800).
• Add/Remove Programs – As the name implies, this feature allows you to delete installed programs from your computer or add new ones.

While you can make changes to the date and time, it should be noted that with the newer versions of Windows the changes from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time and back are taken care of automatically by the computer.

The display area creates a custom look to your desktop. An example would be using your own photographs or designs as the background graphic. You can also change screen savers and make technical adjustments to the operation of your monitor such as screen size or refresh rate.

A personalized desktop theme may not be available to all computers in the district. Especially those used by students. Instead the District has elected to use a standard appearance provided by the Novell Application Launcher and not allow users to make such changes.

This feature is unavailable to students and should be used in very limited ways by staff members. Installing programs can create complications such as licensing violations, virus infections and conflicts with other software. Most all of the software that is needed comes already installed on District computers.

There are several ways to locate files. The simplest is opening the start menu and going to Find (Search). Choose Files and Folders. Make sure the proper folder shows in the "Look in:" box under the Name and Location tab.

Click on the Name and Location tab and type in the name or part of the filename you are looking for.

If you don't know the name of the file, you may elect to search by Date. To do so, click on the Date tab and then enter the date or date range during which the file was last modified. This type of search will return lots of files if you choose a large range. It is best used if you can narrow the date down to a specific day. Try finding notepad.exe. Try finding all the files modified yesterday.

Searching for files or folders by date can be very useful in finding files. For example, if you saved a file but did not notice what subdirectory it was placed within, you can construct a search for files created that day. This will vastly limit the number of potential files to look at. In most cases you will easily find your files.

Searching for files can also be done using the file type characteristic or the file size characteristic. For example, you might want to limit your search to Microsoft Word documents (.doc) or raw text files (.txt). You might also want to look for files above a certain size limit (ie. 1000K). This will come in handy when you are looking for old, large files to remove to make more space on your hard drive.

When you run into trouble while using Windows, you really do not need a manual. Computer help is just a click away. Help buttons are available in several ways. Clicking the Start button and then Help will get help for Windows operations. Help is content sensitive. This means when you are in a program and need help, the help is geared for the program you are using. A shortcut for finding help is the F1 key. A really helpful way to get help is to use the "what's this" choice from the menu. With this choice you can just point to the item in question and get a pop-up screen that discusses the topic.

In the Office package, Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint a special help feature is called the Office Assistant.

Click Start, and then click Run.

In Open, type the location and name of the program you want to start.

Notes:

• To select the location or name of the program, click Browse.
• To select a program you started recently, click the arrow in Open, click a program in the list, and then click OK.
• You can open a file or folder or connect to a shared computer by typing its path in Open.
• You can connect to an Internet or Intranet site by typing its address – for example, www.microsoft.com – in Open.

Type the drive letter followed by a colon (:) and back slash (\). Example c:\

Type the names of the folders and subfolders that contain the file, typing backslashes before each folder name. Example c:\My Documents

Type the name of the file. A backslash should precede the file name. Example c:\My Documents\filename.doc

If you use file names that contain spaces or exceed eight characters in length, enclose the path in quotation marks. "c:\My Documents\filename.doc"