This site is here to help the first time PC users get to know the very basics of their new PC.
Based on windows 98/ME.
If you get a bit more advanced check out my other PC Help sites. which also include Digital Photo, Digital Video & Backing up your data.

The Desktop

The desktop is the first screen you see when windows starts, and your home screen.
It holds important icons, shortcuts and the taskbar.

The Quick Launch is where you can drag shortcuts to
your most used programs for easy access.

On this part of the taskbar you can switch between
Programs/Folders that you have already open.

E Mails

To send E mails
1. Open Outlook Express and click on New Mail

2. Type the address of whom you want to send the e mail to.

3. Type a Subject.

4. Type the Message that you want to send.

5. Press Send.

Tip: Send the first few e mails to yourself, so that you know that they sent OK when you receive them back.

Sending pictures by e mail

. Sending a photo by e mail can be done in two ways. You can ether attach it as a file or insert it on the page with your message. If you attach it as a file you must make sure that the person you are sending it to has a program that will open it .Again this is another good reason for saving photos in JPEG (see Scanning) format as most people will have a photo package that will open this format. To insert a file just click on insert - picture. Then browse to where the picture is that you want to insert is You can then drag it to where ever you want in the page
When sending photos by e mail it is important to keep the file size down because it will take forever to send and for the other person to receive it. A good way to do this is to resize the photo in your photo package (see Digital Photo) and when you are saving it as JPEG format you will get an option to save at a lower quality. This will make it faster to send and receive.

How to create a new folder

Open My Documents folder and Right click on an unoccupied area, then go to New and select Folde. Then rename the new folder to what you want. To rename: just right click on the folder and rename. You can make new folders in folders as much as you like. Then when you want to save it will ask you where to, so just select where you want and save.

You might often find that when you want to open that file up again that you cannot find it. The best way to avoid this is to create a new folder in my documents. For instance, if you are working on a new project you could create a folder called "new project" and put it where ever you want. Then when you want to open it just double click on it,

COPY AND PASTE

For example, you want to copy this sentence. Simply highlight the sentence by left clicking and dragging across the sentence. Then right click and "copy". Open your word pad, right click and paste.

Internet

The Address Bar
If you know the exact address of the web site that you are looking for, type the address in the
address bar. E.g. If you were looking for Greater Sites you would type www.greatersites.net
in the address bar.

Search Engine
If you are looking for a web site that you do not know the address of, you would type
what you are looking for in a search engine. e.g. Holidays. But if you search for Holidays
you will end up with thousands of results. So to narrow down your search, type
holidays+France, this way the search engine will only look for Holidays in France.

Remember: to type Internet Address and E-mail Addresses in lower case NOT CAPITALS.

Favorites
If you visit a site that you like and would like to visit it again at another time, just click on "favorite's" and select "add to favorite's" or "bookmark". Now the next time you want to go back to that site just select it from your favorite's". You can always delete it again if you want. Just right click and delete. Not before long your "favorites" list becomes huge so now it's time to organize your "favorites".To do this open your browser, select "favorite" and "organize". You can then create new folders. For example, you had a lot of pages on sport. You could create a folder and call it "sports", then drag the pages you want and drop them in the folder and so on,

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl & S = Save
Ctrl & C = Copy
Ctrl & V = Paste
Ctrl & Z = To Undo last move
Ctrl & B = Bold
Ctrl & I = Italic
Ctrl & U = Underline.
You will forget what these keyboard shortcuts are they are hinted in the menu's.

The Mouse

When you left click.
To open a folder or file on your desktop or in a folder.(Double click)
To Drag, Drop or select a file/program.(Single click keeping it pressed down)



Left Click for Selecting, Clicking & Dragging

When you right click.
To bring up options on a file or folder.
To drag a file to folder and get an option on what to do with it.

Right Click gives you options.

Printing

To print just go to file menu and press print.
To print a highlighted part of a document or webpage, after you press print tick selection before you press OK.

Tip: If you press Properties you will get an option to print in draft or lower quality, this helps to save on ink.

Programs

Your programs menu holds links to all the programs that you have installed on your PC.

Scanning

When you launch your Scanner Program, first do a Preview then by holding the left click & drag the pointer over the part of the image that you want to scan. Then when you are happy with the selection press scan.
The dpi/Resolution (Dots per square inch)
If you are using the photos to view in your PC only scan at around 100 to 150 dpi. But if you intend to print the images up the dpi to around 200 to 250. There is no point in going any higher as it will take ages to scan and use up loads of unnecessary disk space.
Saving Photos:
If you want to keep the file size down, save your photos in JPEG format.
Normally, when saving photos from a photo package, the default setting is BMP or some other format . Before you save a file, you can name it. Just under where you name it, you will get a list of options. Choose JPEG or (*JPEG). This will keep down your file size a lot. And nearly all photo packages recognize this format.

Word/Type

Changing font size and color in Word Pad

You can also highlight text, by holding down the shift button and using the arrow keys on the keyboard.
To save Document go to file and save, or to Save the same Document under a
defferent name go to file and Save As
After you press save for the first time in any Document you will get an option to name the Document.

To save: Press save and give your document a name.

For example, you want to copy this sentence. Simply highlight the sentence by left clicking and dragging across the sentence. Then right click and "copy". Open your word pad, right click and paste.

What to do when
Your PC Freezes

1. Press CTRL ALT & DEL. you will then see a window like the one above. This gives you an option to End Task on the program that has caused the problem. Press End Task and wait 15 seconds and End Task on the second window that opens.

2. If after Pressing CTRL ALT & DEL. don't work press it a few more times and your PC just might restart.

3. If the first 2 steps fail just press the reset button, but only if the first 2 steps fail.

To view to contents of a Floppy Disk or CD-ROM.
Double Click on My Computer, from their you can access all your Drives.
e.g. You want to view the contents of your CD-ROM, once you are in My Computer just Right Click on your CD-ROM Drive and select Open.

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