How to Select (or highlight)

Selecting the data that you want to work with is fairly simple. There are only a couple of techniques really.

The Click. The easiest is to click on the thing.

The Box. The second easiest is to draw a box from the lower right to the upper left-- this works great when you want to work with a group of things.

The Shift. This technique is for selecting groups by clicking on the first thing you want, holding down the shift key and then clicking on the last thing you want to select. This highlights all the items between the first click and the last.

The CTRL. Same technique as with the shift key, but if you use CTRL, you can select items out of sequence-- say, the first, third ninth and 432nd.

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Where did the Icons go?

As a general rule, most of your programs put an icon in the start menu. Click "Start", then "Programs" and you will see a list of the installed programs. The big hint here is that at the bottom of this list, you will see an 'item' that is two down arrows, one on top of the other- what that indicates is that the computer is only showing you the frequently used list. Click on the down arrows and you will see the complete list.

The same is true in program menus. If you have a program that you never print from... the menus will be truncated according to which items you frequently use. Consequently, you might not see "Print" as an option under "the File" menu. Just click the down arrows for the full list.

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The computer is frozen, how do I shut down?

Simultaneously press "Ctrl-Alt-Del" on your keyboard, then release the keys. Click on the menu item 'shutdown', then click on turn off. You will hear the computer become silent-- the fans will stop turning. Once you hear that silence, count to ten before you turn the computer back on.

If the computer really won't shut down... Press and hold the power button until the machine becomes silent. Again, wait ten seconds before you turn the computer back on.

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How To Use Every Computer Program Ever Made

That headline really sounds like quite a boast, but it’s quite true. You can learn how to use any computer software by understanding how they work. All computer programs, no matter what they propose to do, work by using the same patterned sequence. Simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. You select What you want to work on. WHAT

2. You choose the Action that you want the software to take. ACTION

3. You tell the software Where to put the result. WHERE

Just in case that 1,2,3 didn’t ring true for you, here is the list again using different words.

1. What. the Data. the Object. i.e. File…. Word. Paragraph. Picture.

2. Verb. the Process. the Operation…. “File, Save..” “Copy/Paste” “Cut” “Make Bold” “Make Italics”

3. Destination. OK, there aren’t very good words for where. This step is slightly confusing because sometimes the where is oblivion (when you delete). And sometimes the answer is “right here”, meaning the thing you selected in the first place.

EXAMPLES:

Print a file. The file is selected when you are viewing it. You add the verb “File, Print”. You pick which printer.

Click on a web link. You are selecting the document at that location and viewing it on your screen.

Bold Text. You select the part of the text that you want bold and then find the verb bold (usually Edit, Format, Font, Bold).

Feel free to add some examples!

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