Windows XP - Getting Started

8/8/2019 Windows XP - Getting Started

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Windows XP

Getting Started


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Windows XP Getting Started

Getting Started

Getting Started ............................................................................................................................ 2What is Windows? ......................................................................................................................3Starting Windows........................................................................................................................ 4Screen Layout .............................................................................................................................5

My Documents..................................................................................................................................5My Computer ....................................................................................................................................5My Network Places...........................................................................................................................7Internet Explorer ...............................................................................................................................7The Recycle Bin................................................................................................................................8Working with the Recycle Bin...........................................................................................................8The Start Menu.................................................................................................................................9The Quick Launch Bar ....................................................................................................................10The Task Bar Tray..........................................................................................................................10

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Starting Windows

Windows XP will start automatically when your computer is switched on. However, you will need to log on to

Windows before you can use the system.

Type your user name - this will be provided by your system administrator

Click the mouse pointer in the Password box and type your password - again, this will beprovided by your system administrator.

Click in the Domain box and type your domain name. A domain is an arrangement of computerson a network, referenced by a single name. All computers in the that share a single set of securityand network resources

Click on OK

If you always log onto the same computer, you will only have to enter your password each time you log on - your

user name and domain name will be remembered and entered automatically.



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Screen Layout

My Documents

My Documents is the default folder in which applications will store any files you create. As this folder is

accessible from the desktop, it is easy to open and edit documents stored here.

Double click on the My Documents icon on the Windows Desktop to view all files and folders stored here. A

default folder named My Pictures is created inside My Documents - this is where any images you create should

be stored.

My Computer

My Computer is used to display and work with the contents of your computer, and to manage the filesstored on various drives of your computer.



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Files are stored on the various drives of your computer:

Hard disk drives are stored permanently inside the system unit and are usually the main storage medium of

a PC. Hard disks are large in capacity and as such are used to store the programs that you install on the

computer, as well as any data you enter.Floppy disk drives are used to write data onto floppy disks - usually 3 inches in size. Floppy disks can

only hold a limited amount of information so are not used to store programs or large amounts of data.

CD ROM drives are becoming increasingly popular, using laser technology to read from compact disks.

Each storage drive is assigned a letter by the operating system. The letters are usually as follows:

Letter Drive

A Floppy disk drive

B Second floppy disk drive - if available

C Hard drive

D CD ROM drive

E - Z Additional hard drives or network drives

To see the drives you have access to:

Double click on My Computer.

The resulting dialog box will display the drives you may access - the example below shows three hard drives,one DVD drive, one CD drive and one floppy disk drive:



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My Network Places

My Network Places gives you access to the resources of the network your computer is connected to,including the following:

File servers

Print servers

Other members of your workgroup

Shared folders

Web folders

FTP Sites (see note below)

Any other network resources such as scanners, plotters, etc.

When you double click on the My Network Places icon, you will be able to view resources on allcomputers of the network or only those computers in your workgroup. You can also add new networkresources that you will be able to reconnect to at a later stage.

Internet Explorer

The Internet Explorer icon on The Desktop launches Internet Explorer - a web browser that allows you to accessinformation from the computers that make up the World Wide Web, one of the many services offered on the

Internet.



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Once Internet Explorer is open, type the URL of the web page you wish to visit in the address bar, then click on

Go to view the page.

The Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin is used as a temporary storage place for deleted files and can be used to restore

files deleted in error. Only files deleted from local drives will be sent to the Recycle Bin, although it ispossible to see if a file will be recycled by the confirmation message displayed when the file isdeleted:

The following message shows that the file will be sent to the Recycle Bin:

While the following message shows that the file will be deleted permanently:

Working with the Recycle Bin

It is possible to see whether the Recycle Bin contains files that can be restored. The following iconsshow a Recycle Bin containing files and an empty Recycle Bin respectively.



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To view the contents of the Recycle Bin:

Double click on the Recycle Bin icon on The Desktop.

Right click on the file you wish to restore.

Choose Restore.

The Start Menu

The start button is positioned at the beginning of the task bar at the bottom of the Windows XP desktop.



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The following items appear by default in the Start menu:

Menu Item Description

All Programs Displays a list of programs that can be run

My Documents Creates a link to the My Documents folder

My Recent Documents Displays a list of the last 12 documents that have been opened in Windows XP

My Pictures Creates a link to the My Pictures folder

My Music Creates a link to the My Music folder

My Computer Creates a link to the My Computer folder

My Network Places Creates a link to the My Network Places folder

Control Panel Displays the system components for which you can change settings

Printers and Faxes Displays the system components for which you can change settings

Search Enables you to find a file, folder or e-mail message

Help and Support Starts the Windows XP help system

Log Off Used to log off the network without switching your computer off

Shut Down Used to switch off your computer

The Quick Launch Bar

The Quick Launch Bar is located in the task bar along the bottom of the screen and is used to launch applications

and utilities that are used on a regular basis.

The Quick Launch Bar can be customised to contain shortcuts to commonly used applications and files. As the

task bar is always visible, these shortcuts will be available when any application is running.

The following quick launch bar has been customised to contain shortcuts to all Office 2003 applications:

The Task Bar Tray

The tray at the end of the task bar shows the current time, and gives other indications such as which programs

are currently running. In the following task bar tray, we can see that the following are running:

Outlook 2003 (with unread messages)

A dial-up connection e.g. an internet connection from a home computer

Instant Messenger chat service

Norton personal firewall security

Norton antivirus security



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Position the mouse over the time to show the current date:
