Business Computing Tips
By Karen Fainges

Part 2 or the series of basic computer terms and actions.

Applications - These are programs that let you do things on the
computer. There are a lot of technical definitions for the
difference between applications and programs on the computer, but
in practice, the terms are pretty interchangeable.

CD - CDs for computers look exactly like music CDs, in fact music
CDs work in your computer too. They go into the largest slot,
which is opened by pressing the furthest button to the right of
the drive. CDs go into the drive written side up. Normally known
as drive d:

Clipboard - A program that works in the background of your
computer, but you rarely see it. It holds all the information you
cut or copy until you are ready to paste it. All you really need
to use it is to know is that it works.

Cursor - The symbol on the screen that shows where you are in
your work. Normally shown as a blinking vertical line.

Default - For anything on your computer there are choices. If you
had to make all these choices every day it would drive you mad.
So the computer is set up with defaults that make the majority of
these choices for you. Then it will do these things unless you
tell it otherwise. For example, when you open a new page in word,
the default sets the type and size of the font, the margins, the
size of your page, the types of toolbars you can see, the
background colour of the page and a host of other things.

Desktop - The main screen you use to get to everywhere else. This
is the first screen you see once windows has finished loading.

Dialogue Box - Every now and then, grey boxes appear on your
screen with error messages, information about something you have
just done and other general information. They are called dialogue
boxes and must be read and closed down before you can continue.
To close them, normally you hit the OK button or answer a
question by clicking on the answer with your mouse.

Documents - The information you have put into a program or
application. For example, if you open Word and then write a
letter, the letter itself is called a document. It becomes
confusing when they use the same term for other things that
aren't normally called documents, like say pictures. Basically
just remember anything you work on inside a program is normally a
document.

Drives - There are two types of drives, fixed drives (drives that
can't be removed easily) which is typically drive c, and movable
drives such as floppy discs, CD's, DVD's & external memory. Each
different drive can be accessed by double clicking on MY COMPUTER
on your Desktop and then double clicking on the drive you want.

Floppy disc - Otherwise know as a 3 1/2 " disc. These discs are
plastic squares that can hold 1.44 meg of information which is a
few small pictures, one full page colour one or about 5000 pages
of text. These discs go into the smallest slot in the front of
your computer with the small metal circle side down. Normally
known as drive a:.

Font - Computer speak for writing or text.

Hard Drive - Stored inside the computer, this is where most of
the information is stored on your computer. Normally known as
drive c:

Icons - Normally found on your desktop, these are the pictures
used to represent programs or pieces of information on your
computer. Clicking on them allows you to open programs and
documents.

Menus - Menus are the words normally found across the top of
applications. In windows programs, they start with FILE then have
headings like EDIT VIEW & HELP. Anything you want to do while in
the program can be done using the commands under these headings.
To access them, slide the mouse over the word until it gets a
small box around it & then click. In more recent programs, you
sometimes need to keep your mouse over the double arrow symbol at
the bottom of the menu group for a second or two, to get all the
options available. Some menus offer two or three options and then
those options offer extra options. To access these, go to the
first item, then slide directly across to get the next one. This
can be tricky, so don't worry if you need a couple of tries to
get the right one. If you end up in the right place, hit the Esc
key on the top left of the keyboard until all the menus close and
then try again.

Monitor - The TV like screen where you can see what is going on
in the computer: mostly.

Mouse wheel - Some mouses have a small wheel on the mouse between
the left and right mouse buttons. Otherwise known as a scroll
wheel, it allows you to scroll down a page without taking your
hand off the mouse. In order to work, you must click into the
area you want to scroll.

Programs - These are the things you open that let you do things
on the computer. There are a lot of technical definitions for the
difference between applications and programs on the computer, but
in practice, the terms are pretty interchangeable.

Shortcuts - Shortcuts let you go straight to where you want to go
in your computer without having to go through the Start button or
explorer.

START button. - Normally found at the bottom left hand corner of
your screen, this button once clicked on with your mouse, gives
you access to all the programs on the computer, the setting to
check when things go wrong, the most recent documents you have
been working on, and is, ironically, how you tell your computer
you are finished and to close it down.

Taskbar - The area (normally at the bottom of the screen) that
holds the Start button and clock. It let's you see what programs
you have open and bring them back up into your workspace by
clicking on their icon.

Tool bars - Normally found at the top of the page, toolbars hold
Icons that let you do the everyday things in one step like
printing, copying and pasting.

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"It has to be practical, it has to be cheap, and it has to work."
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