This is not intended to serve as a tutorial, but more as a reminder of topics covered.

Windows

• Windows versions (chronological order, more or less): Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home and Professional versions), Vista scheduled for early 2007.
• Desktop - icons (shortcuts), task bar at bottom with start button
• Mouse - left click, right click, click vs. double click
• Start menu - arrows indicate more options
• Operation of a window - move windows around by holding mouse down in title bar; minimize, maximize, restore down, close, and resizing windows, scrollbars - Click arrows, drag the box, click between box and arrows (page up or page down). Restore down can be useful if you want several windows open at a time.
• When you minimize an application, it continues to run and will show up in the Task bar. The same effect is created if you launch a program without closing another program (the previously launched program is minimized and appears in the task bar
• Showing the Windows Desktop - With a number of programs open, minimizing the program in the window will result in the program most recently used now appearing in the window. It may take several minimization steps to get back to the desktop appearing. A quick way to get to the desktop is to right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, and select Show the Desktop.
• Another way to cycle among the open programs (those that are in the task bar and the one that currently is in the main window) is to hold down the Alt key while repeatedly pressing the Tab key -- whichever program is highlighed with a box will be maximized when one releases the Alt key.
• Folders (directories) and files - files typically have extensions (3 letters following a period) that indicate what type of file it claims to be
• Windows Explorer  (some of this applies in My Computer as well)-
  • Right click on Start button, or from Start menu, or double click Icon on desktop if there is one;
  • - sign means subfolders are visible in folders pane;
  • + sign means that subfolders not visible in folders pane (click to expand)
  • Nothing means there are no subfolders;
  • To see folder contents - click on folder;
  • Create a new folder - File, New
  • Changing the view (Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, Detail)
    • filmstrip - this will only appear as an option if images are in the folder. This shows several thumbnails (smaller images) at the bottom and a larger view of one of them, with back and forward buttons to change which picture is displayed in the larger view
    • thumbnails - only really useful for images (shows a small version of the image)
    • tiles - shows full file name, not clear what the advantage of this view is
    • Icons - long file names not fully displayed; this is the Windows default
    • List - shows full file name, other info (file type, title, author, last date modified, file size) displayed in mouseover
    • Details - file name, file type, last date modified, file size displayed - 1 row per file - column widths can be adjusted by dragging boundary (true in many Windows applications), and files can be sorted by clicking at top of column, clicking again sorts in reverse order, so files can be sorted alphabetically, or by file type, or last date modified, etc. -- This is the view I find the most useful
  • Selecting a sequence of files - Click the first one, hold down shift key, and click the last one
  • Selecting several files, but not in sequence - Click the first one, hold down the ctrl key while clicking additional ones
  • Moving files by dragging and dropping - if you drag and drop by left click, it is a move; if you drag and drop through a right mouse click, it gives you a choice as to whether you want to move it, copy it, or create a shortcut in the new location to the file.
  • Menu - Edit, Copy (Ctrl c); Edit, Cut (Ctrl x); Edit, Paste (Ctrl v) -- The keystroke commands are useful to learn partly because sometimes they will work even when there is no menu alternative available
  • Renaming files - (1) right click on file or folder, (2) click name twice-- do not double click, (3) File, rename
  • Delete a file - right click on file, and select delete
  • Launch an application - double click on a file whose extension is associated with that application
  • Recycle Bin - When you delete files on your hard drive, they go into the "recycle bin". This permits you to recover these files until you decide to empty the recycle bin. The Recycle Bin is located at the bottom of the list of drives and folders in Windows Explorer. To recover a file, right click on the file and select Restore. This puts the file back in the location where it was before you deleted it.
• Creation of a shortcut - Rightclick on empty portion of desktop, then fill in the blanks; if you are creating a shortcut to a program and that program already exists on the start menu, then you can create a shortcut by dragging from the Start menu onto the desktop. If you are creating a shortcut to a program, practically all of them will be located in the folder Program Files.
• Windows Task Manager - Launch by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys at the same time or by right-clicking on an empty section of the task bar and selecting Task Manager. The Applications tab of the Task Manager allows you to shut down individual programs when they "stop responding" without having to reboot the entire computer.

Control Panel

Start>Control Panel. This permits access to a variety of functions of computer; some of these functions may not be available for particular categories of users

• Display Properties > Start>Control Panel>Display Properties. There are 5 tabs here:
  • Themes - Windows Classic, Windows XP - depending on whether Windows Classic or Windows XP is chosen, the choices you see in Control Panel will differ; I am presenting it the way things look in Windows Classic -- switch to Windows XP and see how the alternatives change
  • Desktop - can set background for desktop
  • Screen Saver - can set what appears if your computer is inactive for a specified amount of time
  • Appearance - can set appearance of text boxes, buttons, etc.
  • Settings - you can change the resolution of the monitor (e.g. 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x720, 1280x960, 1280x1024)
• Add or Remove Programs - This is where you should go to remove a program from your computer rather than trying to delete the files and folders in Windows Explorer since files elsewhere on your computer may have been changed by the presence of the program. This is also where you go to Add (or remove) Windows Components. For example, IIS is a part of Windows XP Professional but not of Windows XP Home, however, even in Windows XP Professional, it is not installed by default, so one must use the Add (or remove) Windows Components feature to install it.
• Folder Options
  • View - Hide extensions for known file types -- I recommend unchecking this box so that extensions are shown - can help protect against viruses (one can see the true extension rather than thinking it is something else through use of two periods in the file name), useful when creating links in web pages (is the file you are linking to .htm or .html)
  • File Types - can change the association between a file extension and a program - If you double click a file in Windows Explorer or My Computer, Windows will try to open that file with the application that is associated with that particular extension -- e.g. .html and .html files are opened with the default browser, .doc files are opened with Word, etc.When you install a program, it will generally ask you whether you want to use that program with particular file types that it will list. When you install a browser, it asks whether you want that program as your default browser, which is another way of asking the same question. This association is what it will change and thus you may want to be careful about changing the association for various file types to the new program. If you want to change an association, click on the association and then click the "Change" button in the "Opens with" portion and then you select the application you want.
• Internet Options - This sets many properties of Internet Explorer, the browser which is part of Windows, according to Microsoft. There are the following tabs:
  • General - Allows one to set which page is used as the home page by the browser (where it starts) when you open the browser; allows you to delete cookies and temporary internet files, and delete the history (explain what each of these are)
  • Security - ability to classify internet sites into different security zones
  • Privacy - settings for various kinds of cookies
  • Content - Content Advisor (can use for controlling what content can be viewed) and AutoComplete settings
  • Connections
  • Programs - The setting for Email programs will determine which email program is opened if one double clicks on an email link in Internet Explorer
  • Advanced - settings which most users won't need to change
• Printers and Faxes - To cancel a print job, double click on the printer you are using, which will bring up a window with the jobs being printed. Click on the document, and then in the menu choose Document>Cancel. However, to select Start>Control Panel>Printers and Faxes>double click on Printer>click on Print job and then select Document>Cancel is a lot of steps. Instead, you can cancel much quicker -- once you start printing something, there will be a little print icon in the middle of the status bar and you can then double click that to open up the window and then click on the Print job and select Document>Cancel as before.

Word

Chapter 1

• Show toolbar buttons on 1 row vs. 2 rows - click the toolbar options button (gray with arrow) - this also displays the buttons you don't see if there isn't enough room with the row specification you have made)
• The Word Window
• Insertion Point
• Menu - the most recently used options appear first - if you wait a moment or click the arrow at the bottom, a full menu appears; alternatively, double clicking the name of the menu right away makes the entire menu appear
• Entering text - font size in points (1/72 of an inch) - default font is Times Roman 12point
• As you type, if you see red lines, that indicates Word thinks you have made a spelling mistake, if you right click, it will suggest possible alternatives in bold. A green line indicates a possible grammatical mistake
• Word wrap (soft return) vs. hitting enter (hard return) to force to a new line
• Displaying formatting - using the Show/Hide toggle button - backwards Paragraph symbol - useful for determining how many spaces are between words and where there are hard returns you don't want
• Zoom - doesn't affect how the document is printed, only the magnification level on the screen
• Backspace (deletes to the left of the insertion point) vs. delete key (deletes to the right of the insertion point)
• Deleting text by selecting it, hitting backspace or just starting to type
• Checking Spelling & Grammar as You Type - Tools>Options>Spelling and Grammar - you can check or uncheck boxes to control how this works
• Saving a document - application window vs. document window, use meaningful names, can use spaces, you don't need to specify the extension (.doc). In this dialog box, there is an icon to create a new folder
• Formatting text - select the text and then apply formatting - alignment, font and font size, bold, italics, underline
• Edit>Undo (Ctrl Z) and Edit>Redo (Ctrl X) commands
• Selecting a line - click to the left of a line; selecting word by word - Ctrl+Shift and then use right arrows to add, left arrows to subtract words from the selection
• Inserting Clip Art - Insert>Picture>Clip Art and then enter keywords for search. Double click on one of the alternatives or click the arrow next to the alternative and select Insert.
• Resizing a graphic - Click anywhere on the graphic to select it -- you will see sizing handles appear on the sides and corners of the document if it is selected. You can then resize by dragging these handles or by selecting Format>Picture>Size where you can enter precise measurements. Uncheck the aspect ratio box if you want to change the aspect ratio (relationship of width to height) in the picture.
• Saving a document - File Save or File Save As. If the document hasn't been saved before, File Save functions the same as File Save As and allows one to specify a location and filename for the document. If the file has been saved before, then File>Save will overwrite what was there previously (will not keep the former version). If you want to keep the former versoin, save the new version with a different filename or put it in a different location.
• Printing a document - File>Print gives you some options whereas clicking the print icon on the toolbar prints the whole document immediately. To cancel a print job, double click the print icon on the taskbar that will only show up while the document is printing. This is a much faster way to cancel than selecting Start>Control Panel>Printers and Faxes>Select the printer>Highlight the document in the list and then choose Document>Cancel.
• File>Print>Options and File>Print>Properties - what you see in each will depend on your printer but these allow options just as printing only in black and while and in draft mode, to save both time and expense.
• Insert vs. overtype mode - The default mode is insert mode where typing text does not delete existing text; to switch to overtype mode where typing text deletes existing text, doubleclick the OVR in the middle of the status line at the bottom.
• Bullets and Lists

Chapter 2:

• MLA and APA documentation styles - I will not ask you to know these styles, but instead will tell you how to do the various things involved in such a style -- e.g. how to set margins
• Changing Margins - File, Page Setup>Margins (top, left, right, and left)
• Line spacing - Line Spacing Icon or Format>Paragraph>Indents and Spacing
• Using a Header to Number Pages, # of Pages, etc. - View, Header and Footer - a header will appear 1/2" from the top of the page, whereas a footer will appear 1/2 from the bottom of the page; a header or footer appears in every page of the document and is very similar from page to page, with minor variations such as the page number
• Normal and Print Layout View - Headers/footers don't display in normal view but do display in Print Layout View
• Indenting paragraphs - Format>Paragraph>Indents and Spacing>Special>First Line and then specify amount of indentation. One can also bring up this menu by right-clicking in a paragraph and selecting Paragraph. Alternatively, one can drag top triangle in ruler. To indent every line in a paragraph, in the Indents and Spacing tab, specify the left indentation or drag the small square in the rule. Subsequent paragraphs you type pick up formatting of previous paragraph
• Word autocorrect feature - if you type teh, Word will change this to the and also capitalize it. If you put your cursor over a word it has changed like this, you will see a small blue box below the text and if you click the down arrow, you can undo these changes or stop doing them in the future. The substitutions Word makes are shown if one selects Tools>AutoCorrect Options. One can add changes to this list, e.g. using your initials to spell out your name. The exceptions are the exceptions to the general rules -- e.g. abbreviations are shown because otherwise the first word after an abbreviation would be capitalized because Word would interpret the period in the abbreviation as the end of a sentence. To turn off corrections as you type, select Tools>AutoCorrect Options>Auto Correct>and uncheck the box for "replace text as you type".
• Applying changes to entire document - Edit, Select All, and then specify formatting
• Insert footnote - Insert>Reference>Footnote. Notice you can convert footnotes to endnotes and vice versa. To see the footnote in normal view, chohose View>Footnotes, doubleclick note number, or put your cursor over the note number. To change the style of footnotes, you can right click on the note text and choose Style and then modify the appropriate style. To delete a footnote, delete the note number. To move a footnote, move the note number.
• Word Count - Tools>Word Count and you have an option whether or not to include the words in footnotes and endnotes. File>Properties>Statistics also present word count information, but doesn't include an option to count those in footnotes and endnotes. You should remember the existence of File>Properties when you transmit a Word document electronically to someone else because there may be information in there that you don't realize you are disclosing.
• Automatic Page Breaks vs. Hard Page Breaks (Insert>Break>Pagebreak or Ctrl Enter)
• Hanging indent - paragraph formatting - all lines of a paragraph are indented except the first (Format>Paragraph>Indents and Spacing>Special>Hanging. In Word, subsequent paragraphs you type pick up formatting of previous paragraph
• Hyperlinks - If you type a URL (e.g. www.nvcc.edu), Word automatically turns it into a hyperlink. If the user cursors over the URL, a tooltip appears that indicates that a Ctrl click will launch the browser with that URL
• Shortcuts to select text- triple click for a paragraph, double click for a word
• Edit>Copy (Ctrl C) and Edit>Paste (Ctrl V). The Ctrl V is useful to remember because it will work some places where there is no menu available to choose Edit>Paste.
• Paste Options Button - When you copy text, a paste options button may appear and if you click on it, it gives you the option of having the pasted material match the formatting of where you are pasting it.
• Search and Replace - Edit>Find and Edit>Replace. The searching goes forward from the insertion point. One can undo replaces.
• Synonyms - Right click on a word and choose Synonyms. If you select word, and then choose Tools>Language>Thesaurus, it will give various meanings for the word and then synonyms for each meaning, so this cam be much more useful than selecting synonyms right off.
• If you hold down the alt key and click on a word, the definition will appear in the research pane at the right.
• Insert>Symbol>Special Characters - can be used for foreign language characters; there are other alternatives if one is making extensive use of foreign characters

Chapter 3:

• Resume wizard - File, New, Other Documents, Resume Wizard
• Setting tab stops - Format>Tabs -- then enter the position of the tab and the type of tab, and then click set. Another way to set tabs is to click the tab selector at the left end of the ruler to cycle through the various tab choices to select the type of tab and then click in the ruler to position the tab. By default, tabs are placed every 0.5" If you set a tab, it eliminates the default tabs to the left of it. Tthe tab stop only affects the portion of the document below where the tab stop is entered. We set left-aligned, right-aligned, center, and decimal tabs.
• Clipboard - If you do Edit>Copy twice, the Office Clipboard will appear on the right with the two items you have placed on the clipboard. You can then select which items you want to paste. The Office Clipboard can hold 24 items whereas te Windows clipboard only holds one, so doing edit>copy twice only retains the last one. .
• Tables - Table>Insert Table and select number of rows and columns, or Table>Draw Table and then draw rectangle from upper left to lower right and then draw in rows and columns. To delete the table, Table>Delete>Table. Table Move handle -- position the cursor anywhere in the table and the move handle will appear just outside the upper left hand corner of the table. If you don't want the table borders and rows and columns to print, then you can select Table>Table Properties>Table>Borders and Shading>none.
• Tools>Letters and Mailings>Envelopes and Labels>Envelopes
• Adding a border to a paragraph -- make sure that you have an extra paragraph mark below the paragraph you want to border, so that the border is not carried forth to subsequent paragraphs - Format, Borders and Shading
• Nonbreaking space - Ctrl Shift spacebar -- prevents two words from splitting at the end of a line if separated only by nonbreaking space
• Nonbreaking hyphen - Ctrl Shift hyphen - prevents words from breaking at the end of a line if separated by a dash
• Columns - Type text, select it, and then select Format, Columns
• Widow and orphans prevented in default setting - widow is last line of paragraph displays by itself at top of page; orphan is first line of paragraph displays by itself at bottom of page
• Keeping paragraph with next - With cursor in first paragraph, choose "keep with next" in Paragraph Formatting; e.g. to keep a heading with the subsequent paragraph, particularly if the "heading" is followed by a paragraph marker
• File>Save as Web Page - will create an htm or html file and often a folder and you will need to have both on the website for your page to appear

Revised: June 4, 2006, comments to William Pegram, wpegram@nvcc.edu