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ALL ABOUT COMPUTERS

Introduction to Computers

The purpose of this course is to help you become competent with computer
technology. Computer competency refers to acquiring computer-related
skills. They include the effective use of popular application packages and
the Internet. Today, computer competency is undoubtedly a prerequisite in
all walks of life.

To begin with, you must understand the impact of computers in the world
today. Computers are affecting our lives is some way or the other. Airline
and railway reservations, telephone and electricity bills, banking, medical
diagnoses, weather forecasts… the list of services using computers is almost
endless.

A computer is a device that allows you to input data, process data quickly
and efficiently, receive outputs and store data. Thus a computer consists of
one or more input devices, output devices, storage devices and a processing
unit.

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 WINDOWS VISTA
WINDOWS BASICS
What is an Operating System?

Mac

Other Operating Systems

Mac OS: “Mac OS” is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user
interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their
Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is
credited with popularizing the graphical user interface. It is a powerful, easy-
to-use operating system that is popular with professional graphic designers,
desktop publishers and many home users.

One of the latest versions of the Macintosh operating system is “Mac OS X”,
also known as “Tiger”. It provides powerful features such as “Spotlight” and
“Dashboard Widgets”. Spotlight is an advanced search tool that can rapidly
locate files, folders, e-mail messages, addresses and much more. Dashboard

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Widgets are specialized programs that constantly update and display
information.

The next version of Mac OS, “Leopard” includes “Boot Camp” which allows
appropriately equipped Apple computers to use both Mac OS and Windows
XP.

UNIX and Linux: UNIX is a powerful multitasking operating system that was
developed in 1969. It was originally designed to run on minicomputers in
network environments. Now, it is also used by powerful microcomputers
and Web servers.

Linux is a popular version of UNIX. It was initially created as a hobby in 1991

by a graduate student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in
Finland. He allowed free distribution of the operating system code and
encouraged others to modify and further develop the code.

Introduction to Windows Vista

Windows Vista has a more elegant and sophisticated looked than all previous
versions of Windows. The new Vista interface is great to look at, with a lot of
added functionality making working in Vista a really pleasant experience --
and a more secure one.
Windows Aero: This is the graphical user interface for Windows Vista. Its
name is a contraction of the words Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and
Open. It includes new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons and
animations which are visually very appealing. Glass window borders and
surfaces make the interface both professional and beautiful.

Windows Sidebar: This is a long, vertical bar that is displayed on the side
of your desktop. It contains mini-programs called gadgets, which offer
information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. To
add a gadget, right-click on the side bar and select “Add Gadget”. Now
simply drag a gadget from the Gadget gallery onto the sidebar. To remove a
gadget from the sidebar, move your mouse over it and click on the “X” sign
next to it. Additional gadgets can also be downloaded from the Microsoft
Gadgets website by clicking on “Get more gadgets online”.

Search Boxes: Search boxes are prominently integrated into Windows

Explorer, the Start menu, Control Panel, Windows Internet Explorer and Help.
So no matter where you are, you can always search for related files, folders
or information. Two types of searches are supported: Regular search,
where a search is performed when you click the “Search” button, and
Instant search, where the results are displayed immediately as you type.

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Utilities: “Utilities” are specialized programs designed to make computing
easier. There are various utility programs such as:

a) “Troubleshooting” or “diagnostic programs” that recognize and

correct problems before they become serious.

b) “Antivirus programs” that guard against programs that can damage

your computer system.

c) “Uninstall programs” that allow you to safely remove programs that

you do not need from your hard disk.

d) “Backup programs” that make copies of files to be used in the event

of the originals being lost.

e) “File compression programs” that reduce the size of files for easy
storage and transfer over the Internet.

Windows Vista has maintenance utilities such as “Disk Cleanup” and

“Disk Defragmenter”. Disk Cleanup is used to remove unnecessary files on
your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, and
Disk Defragmenter is used to rearrange your files so that they are not broken
up.

Backup

“Backup” is a utility program included with Windows Vista that makes a

copy of all or selected files that have been saved onto a disk. It helps to
protect you from the effects of a disk failure. Click the “Start” button and
select “Control Panel”. Under “System and Maintenance”, click “Back up
your computer”. You may backup your entire computer by clicking “Back up
computer”. To backup specific files, you may use the “Back up files” button.

To enter settings regarding where the backup is to be stored and which files
are to be backed up, click “Change settings”. The “Backup Status and
Configuration” window is displayed.

Click “Change backup settings”. Click “Continue” in the “User Account

Control” window. Specify the location where you wish to store the backup
and click “Next”.

In the displayed window, specify the file types that you wish to backup and
click “Next”. Specify how often and when you wish to take a backup. Now
click “Save settings and start backup” to begin the backup process.

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Disk Cleanup

When you surf the Web, many nonessential files are saved on your hard disk.
“Disk Cleanup” is a utility that eliminates such files and frees up valuable
disk space and improves system performance. Click the “Start” button and
select “All Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Disk Cleanup”. In the
displayed window specify whether all files or only your files are to be cleaned
up. Then select the drive you want to clean up and click “OK”.

The space that will be made free by the cleanup is calculated and the files
suggested for cleanup are displayed. Verify the files and click “OK”. In the
displayed window, click “Delete Files”.

The disk cleanup process begins and the selected files are removed.

Disk Defragmenter

Files are stored and organized on a disk according to “tracks” and “sectors”.
A track is a concentric ring. Each track is divided into wedge-shaped sections
called sectors.

The operating system tries to save a file on a single track across contiguous
sectors i.e. sectors that are adjacent to each other. However, this is not
always possible and the file has to be broken up or fragmented, into small
parts that are stored wherever space is available.

Whenever a file is retrieved, it is reconstructed from the fragments. After a

period of time, the hard disk becomes highly fragmented and results in
slower operations.

“Disk Defragmenter” is a utility program that eliminates unnecessary

fragments and rearranges files and unused disk space to optimize
operations. It runs automatically at a scheduled time by default. Click the
“Start” button and select “All Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Disk
Defragmenter”. Click “Continue” in the “User Account Control” window. You
may modify the scheduled time for defragmentation by clicking “Modify
schedule”.

To specify which partitions of your hard disk you wish to defragment, click
“Select volumes”. To start the defragmentation process, click “Defragment
now” and click “OK” in the displayed window.

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Utility Suites: A “Utility Program” performs a specific task. When several
utility programs are combined into a single package, it is known as a “Utility
Suite”. Buying the package is less expensive than buying the programs
separately. Three popular utility suites are McAfee Office, Norton
SystemWorks and V Communications.

These suites also include programs that protect your system from
dangerous programs called computer “viruses”. Viruses enter your
computer in various ways such as opening e-mail attachments and
downloading from the Internet. Virus protection programs set up a barrier to
viruses attempting to enter a computer system. These protection programs
are loaded into memory and run continually in the background and monitor
all operations looking for actions associated with viruses.

Norton SystemWorks

The Norton SystemWorks utility suite includes the following:

“Norton AntiVirus” is a collection of antivirus programs that can protect

your system from different viruses. Existing viruses are removed and the
virus list is automatically updated so that your system is checked for the
newest viruses.

“Norton CleanSweep” is a collection of programs that help you to safely

remove programs that you do not need. They also compress and make
backups of programs, as well as clean up your hard disk. They protect
existing files from damage when new programs are installed.

“Web CleanUp” is a collection of programs that remove unnecessary files

from your computer such as temporary files, history files and cookies.

“GoBack Personal Edition” can be used to restore system configurations,

locate lost files and repair damaged files.

“Norton Utilities” is a collection of separate troubleshooting utilities that

can be used to prevent and fix problems and improve system performance.
“One Button Checkup” integrates several of the separate utilities. It is a
quick evaluation that looks for typical PC problems and alerts you
accordingly.

Device Drivers: “Device drivers” are specialized programs designed to

allow particular input or output devices to communicate with the rest of the
computer system. When a new device such as a mouse or a printer is added

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to a computer system, a new device driver must be installed before it can be
used. Each time the computer system is started, the operating system loads
all device drivers into memory.

Windows supplies many device drivers which are automatically installed

when a new device is connected. If a particular device driver is not included
with the Windows systems software, it is supplied by the manufacturer of the
product. When a device driver needs to be manually installed, wizards
provided by Window assist you in the process. For example, the “Add
Printer” wizard provides step-by-step guidance for installing a driver for a
printer.

Ex.: Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel”. Under “Hardware
and Sound”, click “Printer”. Click the “Add a printer” button on the toolbar to
display the “Add Printer” wizard. Follow the onscreen instructions to install
the driver.

Sometimes, when your computer behaves unpredictably, you could try

reinstalling or updating your device drivers. Windows makes it easy to
update your drivers using “Windows Update”. Click the “Start” button and
select “All Programs → Windows Update”. In the left pane, click “Check for
updates”.

To see if updated drivers are available, click “View available updates”.

Windows Update will list any updated drivers that are available for devices
installed in your computer. If updates are available, click the driver that you
want to install, and then click “Install”.

Some of the security and safety features of Windows Vista are as follows:

Windows Defender: This is a software product which is a part of Windows

Vista. It is designed to prevent and remove spyware. Spyware on your
computer could result in information being transmitted from your computer
without your knowledge.

Windows Firewall: This helps in guarding your computer against many

types of malicious software.

User Account Control: This is an infrastructure that requires user consent

before allowing any action that requires administrative privileges such as
installing new software or changing system settings.

Parental controls: An administrator can apply parental control restrictions

to other users on the computer. Facilities include web content blocking,

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restrictions on what kind of games may be played and what programs may
be executed.

Exploring the Desktop

Desktop

When your computer is booted up and ready to use, the screen you see is
called the “Desktop”.

It is the background for all programs and contains the commands needed for
accessing those programs. The background graphic is called “Wallpaper”.
The desktop can be customized to suit individual needs.

Icon

Another important graphic feature that you find on the desktop is an “Icon”.
Icons are small pictures that are linked to programs. Most icons and toolbar
buttons display a “Tool Tip” containing a brief description of the item when
you rest the mouse pointer on it.

Double-clicking on the icon runs the program or accesses the file and right-
clicking accesses a menu offering options, actions and properties. Icons can
be moved around on the desktop by clicking and dragging them. Vista’s live
icons graphically depict the content of files stored on your computer.

Recycle Bin

The "Recycle Bin" on the desktop serves as a trash can. When you delete a
file or folder, it goes into the Recycle Bin where it stays until the bin is
emptied. Double-clicking on the icon opens a window that shows you its
contents. If you delete something you shouldn't have, you can find it in the
Recycle Bin and restore it to its proper place. When the Recycle Bin is
emptied, everything in it is permanently deleted.

Taskbar

At the bottom of the screen, you see a long, thin bar which is called the
“Taskbar”. The currently active tasks are displayed in the form of buttons on

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the taskbar. When you move your mouse over a button, a thumbnail image
of the window is displayed.

The taskbar has a circular button displaying the Windows logo at one end
and a clock on the other. The button at the left end is the "Start" button
which is used to start a program, open a document, get help, find
information and change the system settings. If you click on the "Start"
button, a box called a “Menu” appears. This menu contains several items.
Some of them have sub-items which can be accessed by clicking on them.

You may see icons on the taskbar, too. These are called "Quick Launch"
icons that allow one-click access to frequently used programs. The right end
of the taskbar is the “Notification” area. In the “Notification” area, to the
left of the clock are several icons that indicate the tools that are
automatically started when you turn on your computer and are running in
the background, such as antivirus protection. This area also temporarily
displays icons while a tool is in use, such as a printer when printing is in
progress.

Personalize your Desktop

You may set different display properties for your desktop. Right click on the
desktop and select “Personalize”.

Changing the Wallpaper: You can make your desktop as attractive and
colorful as you wish by setting a wallpaper of your choice. For this, click on
“Desktop Background”. In the “Picture Location” box, select the location of
the picture. Now from the pictures displayed, make your choice by clicking
on it. You may use the “Browse” button to search for a background picture
from another location not in the list. Specify how you want the picture to be
positioned and click on “Change background color” to select a color to fill the
space not used by the picture.

You may also save a picture from a Web site as your desktop background.
Right-click the picture and then click “Set as Background”.

Setting a Screen Saver: A screen saver is a program that displays an

image, animation, or just a blank screen on a computer after no input has
been received for a certain length of time. Screen savers were originally
designed to prevent damages (called burn-in) to CRT screens. The screens
manufactured nowadays are much more resistant to damages. To set a
screen saver, click on “Screen Saver” in the “Personalization” window. Now

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select “3D Text” from the list. In the “Wait” field, specify the number of
minutes of idle time after which you want the screen saver to start.

Click “Preview” to see how the selected screen saver will appear on your
monitor. To clear the screen saver after it has started, simply move your
mouse or press any key. To change the setting options for your screen saver,
click “Settings”. In the “Custom Text” box enter some other text, say “Good
Morning!”. In the “Rotation Type” box, select “See-saw”. Now click “OK”.
Click “Preview” once again to see how the screen saver will look with the
new settings. Click “OK” to save your settings. In this way, you may try using
other screen savers and make changes to the related settings.

Changing the Mouse Pointer: You may choose a different mouse pointer
and also change the way it appears during activities such as clicking and
selecting. Click on “Mouse Pointers” in the “Personalization” window. Now
select a different scheme from the “Scheme” list. In the “Customize” box,
you can see the way your mouse pointer will appear when different actions
are performed.

You may even specify a different pointer for a specific action. Click on “Busy”
in the “Customize” box and then click “Browse”. You can see a variety of
cursors displayed in the “Browse” window. Click on one and then click
“Open”. Click “OK” to save your settings.

Changing the Display Settings: You may change various settings related to
the display of your monitor. Click on “Display Settings” in the
“Personalization” window. Screen resolution refers to the clarity of the text
and images on your screen. At higher resolutions, items appear smaller, so
more items fit on the screen. At lower resolutions, fewer items fit on the
screen, but they are larger and easier to see. Under “Resolution”, move the
slider to the resolution you want. In the displayed figure, you can see the
recommended resolution based on the size of the monitor.

Changing the Display Settings: You may change various settings related
to the display of your monitor. Click on “Display Settings” in the
“Personalization” window. Screen resolution refers to the clarity of the text
and images on your screen. At higher resolutions, items appear smaller, so
more items fit on the screen. At lower resolutions, fewer items fit on the
screen, but they are larger and easier to see. Under “Resolution”, move the
slider to the resolution you want. In the displayed figure, you can see the
recommended resolution based on the size of the monitor.

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To get the best color display from your monitor, you may make a selection
from the “Colors” box. Windows colors and themes work best when you have
your monitor set to 32-bit color.

Another consideration in getting the best possible display from your monitor
is the screen refresh rate. If the refresh rate is too low, the monitor can
flicker, causing eye strain and headaches. Click “Advanced Settings”. A
refresh rate of at least 75 hertz generally produces less flicker. Click the
“Monitor” tab and make a selection from the “Screen refresh rate” box and
click “Apply”. Click “Yes” in the displayed window and then click “OK”. To
save your settings, click “OK” in the “Display Settings” window.

You may explore the various other options in the “Personalize” window to
further personalize your Windows experience.

Using Windows Vista

The “Start” button is one of the most important features in Windows, as it is

the starting point for most features on your computer. To use your computer,
you need to start application programs and access files you have created
using these applications. As you learn more about Windows Vista, you will
find there are many ways to perform the same task.

The list of programs on the Start menu is divided into two parts. The first
part is the “Pinned Items List”. The programs on the pinned items list remain
there and are always available for you to click to start them. You can add
programs to the pinned items list.

The next part is the “Most frequently used programs list”. Programs are
added to the most frequently used programs list when you use them.
Programs you have not recently used are removed from the list and replaced
with the more recently used programs.

Pointing to an item in the “Start” menu moves the selection cursor to the
item and displays a pop-up description. Clicking an icon in the “Start” menu
starts a program or accesses an item or feature immediately. When you
point to an item with an arrowhead symbol, a submenu with additional
options is displayed.

Documents: “Documents” is your personal folder. It is a convenient place to

store documents, graphics, or other files you want to access quickly.

Pictures: The “Pictures” folder in Windows Vista offers a variety of options

for viewing and managing your digital pictures. From within “Pictures”, you

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can view photos at different sizes, rotate them, view a slide show, print
photos or copy photos to a CD.

Music: The “Music” folder is the place where Windows automatically saves
all the audio clips you download from the Internet or save on your hard drive
with Windows Media Player. To play a particular audio file that you have
saved, simply double-click on it.

Computer: This item in the “Start” menu is used to access drives, printers
and other hardware, the “Control Panel” and other system applications.

Network: “Network” displays shortcuts to shared computers, printers, and

other resources on the network. The shortcuts are created automatically
whenever you open a shared network resource, such as a printer or shared
folder.

Control Panel: Using the Control panel, you can access many support
applications that enable you to customize the appearance and functionality
of your computer system. From the Control Panel, you can access hardware
settings for the keyboard, mouse, printers and modem; as well as settings
for the monitor display and sound.

Help and Support: You can click “Help and Support” to learn how to use
Windows Vista, obtain troubleshooting information, receive support and
more.

All Programs: Clicking “All Programs” opens a list of programs currently

installed on your computer.

Date and Time Settings

The “System Date” and “System Time” are the date and time as maintained
by the computer's internal clock. Windows uses these settings to identify
when files are created or modified. Changing the date and time manually: To
make changes to the system date and time, click on the “Start” button and
select “Control Panel → Clock, Language, and Region → Date and Time”.

On the “Date and Time” tab, click on “Change date and time”. Now click the
correct day, month, and year under “Date” to set the date.

To set the time, enter the correct time into the box under “Time”. To change
only the hour, double-click the hour, and then click the arrows to increase or

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decrease the value. Similarly you may change the value of the minutes,
seconds and the AM/PM indicator. Now click “OK”.

Changing the Time Zone: Time zones are areas of the Earth that have
adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. To
change your time zone, click “Change time zone” on the “Date and Time”
tab. Select your current time zone from the list and click “OK”.

Updating the Date and Time: You may also synchronize your computer clock
by an Internet time server. For this, make sure you are connected to the
Internet. On the “Internet Time” tab, click “Change Settings”. If the box
against “Synchronize with an Internet time server” is empty, click on it.
Select the appropriate server and then click “Update Now”.

Changing the date and time display: You may change the way in which your
computer displays the date and time. Select “Control Panel → Clock,
Language, and Region → Regional and Language Options”. On the “Formats”
tab, select your current format and then click “Customize this format”. Enter
the formats you require on the “Time” and “Date” tabs of the “Customize
Regional Options” window.

Working with Windows

A window is a rectangular section on the screen that is used to display

information and other programs. Each program that you open is opened in
its own window. Most windows have the same basic parts:-

Title bar: This displays the name of the window which indicates which
program is running.

Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons: These buttons reduce the

window to a button on the task bar, enlarge it to fill the whole screen, and
close it, respectively

Menu bar: This contains several items that that you can click to make
choices in a program.

Scroll bar: This lets you scroll the contents of the window to see information
that is currently out of view.

Borders and corners: You can drag these with your mouse pointer to
change the size of the window.

Sizing and Moving Windows: To make the desktop more workable, you
can move and size windows. Using the buttons in the Title Bar you can

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minimize the window, maximize the window to its largest size, restore the
window to the original size or close a window.

Changing the Size of the Window: You can change the size of the
window by pointing to the border of the window with your mouse and
dragging to make it smaller or bigger. Dragging a corner changes the height
and width simultaneously.

Moving a Window: To move a window, point to the title bar and drag the
window to the new location on the desktop.

Scrolling a Window: When there is more information in a window than can

be viewed on the screen, scroll bars appear on the window. There are two
types of scroll bars Vertical and Horizontal. To scroll you can either click the
arrow of the scroll bar or you can drag the scroll box to move the content
within the window.

Arranging windows automatically: You can also have the windows on

your desktop automatically arranged. To choose an arrangement, right-click
on an empty area of the taskbar, then choose one of the options “Cascade
Windows”, “Show Windows Stacked”, or “Show Windows Side by Side”.

Dialog Boxes: A dialog box is a special type of window that asks you a
question, allows you to select options to perform a task, or provides you with
information. Data may be entered using push buttons, option buttons, check
boxes, text boxes, list boxes, combo boxes and other such controls.

Windows Controls: Most windows have “controls” that allow you to select
commands, change settings, or perform other actions related to the working
of the window. Let us have a look at some of them.

Menus: To keep the screen free of unnecessary items, menus are hidden
until you click their titles in the “menu bar”. To choose a command listed in a
menu, click on it. If a command is shown in gray, it is unavailable and cannot
be clicked.

Some menu controls are shown by an arrow next to a word or picture.

Command buttons: A command button performs an action when you click

it. Command buttons may also appear as small icons without any text.

Split buttons: These buttons change into two parts when you point to
them. Clicking the main part of the button performs a command, whereas
clicking the arrow opens a menu with more options.

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Option buttons: Option buttons enable you to make one choice among
multiple options. They are also called “radio buttons”.

Check boxes: Check boxes enable you to select one or more independent
a single option only, you can choose multiple options at the same time
using check boxes.

Sliders: A slider enables you to adjust a setting along a range of values by

dragging the slider toward the value that you want.

Text boxes: A text box is used to type textual information. This is the most
commonly used windows control.

Drop-down lists: These are similar to menus. Here, options are available
for selection instead of commands to be executed. A drop-down list shows
only the currently selected option when it is closed. The other options are
displayed when you click the control.

List boxes: A list box displays a list of options that you can select from.
Unlike a drop-down list, some or all of the options are displayed without
having to open the list.

Tabs: In some dialog boxes, information is displayed on multiple tabs. The

currently selected tab appears at the front. You can switch to a different tab
by clicking on it.

Using Help

With Windows Vista Help features, you may search across multiple remote
and online providers to get the most information for the topic that you are
investigating. Click the “Start” button and then click “Help and Support” to
display the “Windows Help and Support” window.

In the “Search Help” text box, you may enter the keywords you wish to
search on. Click on the magnifying glass or press “Enter” to display a list of
related topics.

You may click on any topic under “Find an answer” to see help for that topic.
You may perform tasks related to Security, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
by selecting appropriate options.

Under “Ask someone” you may click on the various links for additional
assistance and support from friends, Windows communities or from Microsoft
Customer Support online.

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Under “Information from Microsoft” you will find guidance on various tasks
which will make your experience of working with Windows Vista smooth and
convenient.

Working with Multiple Windows

The capability to run multiple programs at the same time is called

“Multitasking”. This makes working with your computer more like you would
actually work, allowing you to switch easily between tasks without having to
put one away before beginning the other. On the Start menu click
“Computer” and then “Help and Support”. You can see that each program is
displayed in its own window.

Opening a New Window: Notice the “Document1” icon on the desktop. This
indicates that clicking this link will open the associated item on your
computer, in this case, the Microsoft Word document named “Document1”.
Double-click on it.

A new window opens on the desktop and the taskbar displays an additional
button for this open window. There are now three programs running at the
same time, “Windows Help and Support”, “Computer” and “Document1”. As
more windows are opened, the taskbar buttons resize themselves
automatically to fit in the taskbar.

The “Document1” window is the active window, that is, the window currently
in use. You can tell it is the active window because the taskbar button and
title bar appear dark whereas those of the inactive windows are dimmed.
Multiple windows can be open on the desktop at once, but only one window
is active at a time. When a new window is opened, it appears in the size in
which it was last used and at any location on the desktop. The newly opened
window is automatically the active window and appears on top of other open
windows on the desktop.

Switching between windows:

Using the taskbar: Each running program has a corresponding button on the
taskbar. To switch to a specific program, just click its taskbar button. The
window in which the program is running appears in front of the other
windows. This is now the “active” window.

If the taskbar becomes too crowded with buttons, then the buttons for the
same program become grouped into a single button. Click the button to see
a menu of the items in the group, then select an item to make it the active
window.

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Using ALT+TAB: You can cycle through all open windows and the desktop by
holding down the “Alt” key and repeatedly pressing the “Tab” key. Release
the “Alt” key to show the selected window.

Using Windows Flip 3D: This feature allows you to flip through a cascading
stack of your open windows. While holding down the Windows logo key,
press the “Tab” key repeatedly or rotate the mouse wheel to cycle through
open windows. Release the Windows logo key to display the window at the
front. Alternatively, click any part of a window in the stack to display that
window. You may also click on the “Switch between windows” icon on the
taskbar to enable the “Windows Flip 3D” feature.

Shutting down Windows Vista

It is very important to shut down Windows Vista correctly. Do not turn off the
computer by pressing the power button as you may lose valuable data.

To turn off your computer, click the “Start” button, and then click the
“Power” button in the lower right part of the Start menu. This action puts
your computer in “sleep” mode.

When you click the arrow next to the “Lock” button, you see various options.
Let us see what each of them does.

Switch User: This enables you to switch to another user without closing the
programs of the current user.

Log Off: If you share the computer with someone else, select “Log Off”. This
closes all your open programs but does not put the computer off.

Lock: This is used to lock the computer when you do not want anyone else to
access your files.

Restart: This closes all open programs, shuts down Windows and restarts the
computer once again.

Sleep: Sleep is a power-saving state. It saves all open documents and

programs, and allows you to resume working within seconds.

Shut Down: To shut down your computer completely, use this option. It
closes all open programs, shuts down Windows and puts off your computer.

Organizing Your Work

Files and Folders

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In a computer, a “file” is an item that contains a collection of related
information. Examples of files are text documents, spreadsheets, digital
pictures, and even songs. Your computer represents files with icons. By
looking at a file icon, you can tell what kind of file it is. Some common file
icons are displayed.

A “folder” is a container in which you can store files. Arranging files into
logical groups makes it easy to locate any particular file. It is a named area
on a disk that is used to store related subfolders and files. A folder within a
folder is known as a “Subfolder”.

Windows Vista offers “Live Icon” views of files and folders. You can
graphically view the content saved on your computer in ways that enable
you to visualize what is inside a folder or file.

Using Computer

To open the “Computer” window, click on the “Start” button and select
“Computer”. This displays the “Windows Explorer” which shows you the
contents of your floppy disk, hard disks, CD-ROM drive, and network drives.
You can also search for and open files and folders, and gain access to options
in the Control Panel to modify your computer settings.

You know that Windows has some common folders such as Documents,
Pictures, Music and others that you can use to organize your files. The panel
at the left is the Navigation pane. At the top, commonly used folders are
displayed under the heading “Favorite Links”. You can view additional folders
by clicking “Folders” at the bottom of the Navigation pane. This displays the
“Folders list”, where you can click any folder to navigate directly to it. When
you click a location in the Navigation pane, the folder contents in the right
panel change to display the contents of the location you clicked.

In the Folder List, folders created in the main folder appear indented below
the main folder. Subfolders appear indented below their parent folders. So a
“Folder System” is made up of folders and subfolders. A Folder System is
also called a “Directory System”. When you move the mouse pointer into the
area of the Folders list, you see a small triangle next to each folder which
has subfolders. Click the triangle to expand the folder. Click the resulting
triangle to collapse the expanded list. To close the Folders list, click “Folders”
again.

Click the “Organize” button to organize the contents of a folder. Click

“Layout” to specify whether to display Menus, a Details Pane, a Preview

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Pane, and/or the Navigation Pane. Let us select “Menu Bar”. You can now see
a menu with the items File, Edit, View, Tools and Help.

Click the “Views” button to specify how you wish to view the contents of a
folder. You can choose from the options: Extra Large Icons, Large Icons,
Medium Icons, Small Icons, List, Details and Tiles.

Sorting and Grouping Files and Folders: You may click on any column
heading to sort the files by that column. Clicking again reverses the sort
order from ascending to descending.

Using Windows Explorer, you can copy, move, rename, and search for files
and folders. For example, you can open a folder that contains a file you want
to copy or move, and then drag the file to another folder or drive. You can
use the context menu that appears on right-clicking the mouse to perform
various functions.

Working with Folders

Creating Folders: Using the Folders list, you may select the location where
you wish to store your data files. Let us click on “Documents”. To create a
new folder, select “File → New → Folder” from the menu bar. A folder icon
with “New Folder” written next to it is displayed. You may type a new name
for this folder.

Folder and File Names: When a file or folder is created, it must be assigned a
name. The following characters cannot be used in a folder or file name: \ / : *
?><|

If you think you will need to use a folder frequently, drag it to the Favorite
Links area. These links let you open folders quickly, no matter which folder
you are presently in.

Renaming Folders: To rename a folder, click on the folder name and select
“File → Rename” from the menu bar. Alternately, you may select the folder,
right-click and select “Rename”.

Deleting Folders: When you no longer need a folder you can delete it. If you
delete a folder containing subfolders and files, all the subfolders and files
contained within the folder are removed. Select the folder that you wish to
delete. Press the “Delete” key or select “File → Delete” from the menu bar.
Confirm deletion by clicking “Yes” in the “Folder Delete” window.

Working with Files

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The name of a file consists of two parts, the File Name and the Extension.
Different types of files are stored with different extensions. For example, a
document created using Microsoft Word 2007 is stored with the extension
“.docx”, while a document created using Notepad is stored with the
extension “.txt”.

Copying a file: You may make a copy of a file. For this, click on the file name
and select “Edit → Copy” from the menu bar. Now this file can be copied to
one or more locations. Click on the folder you wish to copy it to. Now select
“Edit → Paste” from the menu bar. The file that was copied remains at the
original location. A copy of it is created at the new location. A file can also be
copied to a folder by selecting ““Edit → Copy To Folder” from the menu bar
and clicking on the appropriate folder in the “Copy Items” window.

Moving a file: You may move a file from one location to another. For this,
click on the file name and select “Edit → Move To Folder” from the menu bar.
The “Move Items” window is displayed. Now click on the location you wish to
move the file to and then click “Move”. The file is removed from the original
location and placed at the new one.

Drag and Drop: All Windows applications have the ability to copy or move
selections using the “Drag and Drop” feature. First, select the item to be
copied or moved. Then, point the mouse to it and drag the pointer to the
new location by keeping the mouse button pressed. You may now drop the
selection by releasing the mouse button.

Selecting Multiple Files: When you want to copy or move several files into the
same folder, you can select these files to copy or move them at the same
time. Keep the “Ctrl” key pressed and then select multiple files.

To quickly select adjacent files you may similarly use the “Shift” key.

To select all the files and folders in the window, click “Select All” on the
“Edit” menu.

Renaming and deleting a file: A file can be renamed or deleted in the same
way as a folder by clicking on it and selecting “File → Rename” and “File →
Delete” respectively.

Finding Files: If you are looking for a specific file from a large number of files
in a folder, you can use the Search box at the top to search the current
folder. Type anything you can remember about the file, such as part of its
name. If you do not know which folder to search, you can use the Start menu
to search instead. Type in the Search box, and then click a result to open it.

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Using Shortcuts

You may need to use a particular file or folder stored on your computer
frequently. To access the location of this file quickly, you can create a
shortcut icon for the location and place it on the desktop.

To create a shortcut to your folder, locate the folder you have created to
save your work. Point the mouse pointer to the folder name, right-click and
select “Send To → Desktop (create shortcut)”.

A shortcut icon with an arrow at the bottom left appears on the desktop. The
default name of the shortcut is the same as your folder name followed by the
word “Shortcut”. You may use this shortcut to quickly access your data file
location again.

Using Applications

Using Notepad

Some useful applications are available as a part of Windows Vista.

Using Notepad: “Notepad” is a basic text editing program and it is most

commonly used to view or edit text files. To start Notepad, click “Start” and
select “All Programs → Accessories → Notepad”. If necessary, re-size the
“Notepad” window to an appropriate size. When the application first opens, a
blank workspace is ready for you to begin typing to create a new document.

Editing a Document: One of the advantages of using a computer is that

you can edit the contents of your file. In the open Notepad, type your Name
and then press “Enter”. Type your Address and press “Enter” again. Take the
mouse cursor to the beginning of your name and press “Enter” twice. Press
the “Up Arrow” key twice and then type the date.

Formatting a Document: You may wish to change the way your text
appears. For this, select “Format → Font” from the menu bar. In the “Font”
window, select the font along with the style and size you require. Press “OK”
to apply your selection to the complete text in your document.

Saving Files: A permanent copy of the work you have created using an
application program is stored as a file on the disk only when you save it. If
you fail to save the file, all the changes you have made will be lost. Select
“File → Save As”. In the “Save As” window, you may specify the location

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where you wish to save the file and the name of the file. Click “Save”. Your
file is stored with the extension “.txt”.

Printing a Document: Now, you may want to print a copy of your

document. Select “File → Print” from the menu bar. Another way is to do this
is by directly pressing “Ctrl+P”. This method is called using a “Keyboard
Shortcut”. Make the appropriate selections from the “Print” window and
click “Print”.

A lightweight editor: Notepad is a basic text editor that you can use to
create simple documents. Because Notepad supports only very basic
formatting, you cannot accidentally save special formatting in documents
that need to remain pure text. This is especially useful when creating HTML
documents for a Web page because special characters or other formatting
may not appear in your published Web page or may even cause errors.

Using WordPad

Using WordPad: “WordPad” is an application used to create rich text

documents. WordPad includes many features and can be used to create and
format large and complex text documents. To start WordPad, click “Start”
and select “All Programs → Accessories → WordPad”. A new blank document
is displayed.

Toolbars: The buttons on the main “Toolbar” are shortcuts for common file
management tasks, such as creating or saving a file.

The buttons on the “Format Bar” are used to change the format of text.

The “Ruler” is used to set tab stops by clicking on it where you want a tab
stop to appear. A tab stop specifies the place that the cursor stops at when
you press the “Tab” key. You can delete tab stops by dragging them off the
ruler.

The “Status Bar” provides additional information about the buttons and
commands in WordPad.

Menus: Let us have a brief look at the different menus available on the
menu bar. Each menu has different menu items. The “File” menu is used to
perform tasks related to your document as a whole. You may create, open,
save and print your documents using this menu. The “Edit” menu is used to
perform tasks related to the content of your document such as entering and
modifying your data. The “View” menu is used to specify whether or not you
want to display the toolbar, format bar, status bar and the ruler. The “Insert”

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menu is used to insert the date and time and other objects in your
document. The “Format” menu is used to enhance the appearance of your
document content. The “Help” menu contains items through which you can
get assistance whenever you require.

Entering text: As you type, the text automatically moves to the next line
when it reaches the right edge of the margin. This feature is called “Word
Wrap”.

Editing text: After you have entered your text, you may need to make
some modifications. This is called “Editing” text. The first change you want
to make to this document is to add a title. Click at the beginning of your text.
The insertion point is positioned at the top of the document, ready for you to
begin entering text. Press “Enter” twice and then use the “Up Arrow” key to
move the insertion point up. Now enter the title and press “Enter”.

After looking over the text, you may decide to remove a word. The two most
common means to remove text are to use the “Backspace” key to delete
unwanted characters to the left of the insertion point, or the “Delete” key to
remove characters to the right.

You can also select the text you want to delete and then press “Delete” to
remove it. To select text, drag from one end of the area of text to the other.
A quicker way to select a word is to double-click on it.

Formatting Text: You decide you want to improve the appearance of the
title by applying various formatting effects to the text. You want to center it
between the margins, make the characters larger and display the characters
in a color. Before you can apply the formatting effects, you first need to
select the text you want to format. Since you want to select the entire title,
you can click in the left margin of the line to select the entire line quickly.
You may use the “Center” button on the Format Bar to center the title.

To further enhance the appearance of the title, you would like to increase
the font size. “Font size” refers to the height and width of printed characters.
Font size is measured in points, which refers to the height of the character,
with a point equal to about 1/72 inch. Most documents use a font size of 10
or 12 point. Click the “Font Size” drop-down list button on the Format Bar
and select the font size you wish.

Finally, you will make the title text bold and apply a color to it. Click the
“Bold” button on the Format Bar to add a bold effect. Click the “Color” button
and select a color of your choice. The title now appears in the selected color.

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Saving a file to the Desktop: If you like how the document looks then you
may save the document. If you plan to use this file again shortly, you can
save the file on the desktop using a new file name for easy access. To save
the document, select “File → Save As…” from the menu. The “Save As”
window appears on the screen. Type the desired file name and select
“Desktop” as the location to save the file. Then click "Save" to save the file
on the desktop. Your file is stored with the extension “.rtf”.

The document icon for the WordPad file appears on the desktop. Notice that
this icon does not display the arrow symbol that appears in shortcut icons.
This is because the file is actually stored in the desktop folder and the icon is
not a shortcut to an object that is in another location.

To open this file, double-click on the file name on the desktop. The
associated program, WordPad in this case, is started, and the file is opened
and displayed in the workspace. The file name is displayed in the title bar
before the program name and the Windows taskbar displays a button for the
open application.

Let us now see some additional features of WordPad.

Finding and Replacing Text: To find or replace specific characters, select

“Edit → Find” or “Edit → Replace” from the menu and specify your search
criteria in the “Find what” field. If you want to replace that text with other
text enter it in the “Replace with” field. Click “Replace” to replace the
original text with the new text.

You may click “Replace All” to replace all occurrences of the original text.
You may refine your search by checking the boxes against “Match whole
word only” to find whole words matching your search criteria and “Match
case” to make your search specific to capital and small alphabets.

Moving, Copying and Deleting Text:

To cut text that you want to move to another location, select the text, and
then select “Edit → Cut” from the menu. To copy text for writing to another
location, select the text, and then select “Edit → Copy” from the menu. To
paste text you have cut or copied, place the insertion point where you want
to paste the text, and then select “Edit → Paste” from the menu.

You may undo your actions by selecting “Edit → Undo” from the menu.

Creating a graphic using Paint

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Another application that is included with Windows is “Paint”, a drawing
program that can be used to create and modify graphic images. To start
Paint, click “Start” and select “All Programs → Accessories → Paint”.
Generally, when we create a file, we open the application first, and then
create and save the file.

You may wish to create a blank file on the desktop. Select “File → Save”. The
“Save As” window is displayed. Specify the location as “Desktop” and then
select the type of file you want to create from the “Save as type” list. In this
case you will create a blank file called “New” on the desktop using the “24
bit Bitmap” image file type. Your file is stored with the extension “.bmp”. The
text under the icon displays the default icon name "New". Since the file is
blank, the desktop icon displays a blank square. Now, you are ready to open
the file and create a graphic. Let us create a logo for your organization,
which is the picture of a palm tree.

Since you want to use Paint to create the graphic, you need to select this
application by clicking on the icon on the desktop. The Paint program is
loaded with the blank file open. Paint has many of the same features,
including a title bar, menu bar and status bar as you have seen in the other
application programs.

Try to draw a picture of a palm tree, similar to the one shown above, that
you can add to the document you previously created using WordPad. The
Paint program also includes a toolbar, called a toolbox. By default the
toolbox is displayed on the left edge of the window. The toolbox buttons are
used to draw shapes, fill shapes with colors, edit the drawing and so on.

Displayed at the top of the window is the color box that is used to add color
to the graphic. The white area in the workspace is the drawing area where
you may create the drawing. The pre-selected icon is the “Pencil” button.
You can tell it is selected because it appears in a box.

The mouse pointer appears as a pencil when this tool is selected and you are
pointing to the drawing area. The tool you select is drawn when you drag or
click in the drawing area.

First, you need to draw the plot of grass below the tree.

The “Ellipse” tool creates an ellipse or circular shape. When you move the
mouse pointer into the drawing area, it changes to a plus (+). To begin
drawing, move the pointer to where you want the circle to begin. A circle or

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ellipse is created by dragging the mouse until the shape is displayed as you
want it to appear.

You have created a simple oval shape with a black outside borderline and
white interior. Notice the three additional buttons, called “fill-style” buttons,
displayed at the bottom of the toolbox. The first button draws an ellipse with
an outline border in the selected fill color without filling the object. This is the
default selection and the setting you have used.

The second button draws an outline border and also fills the object with the
selected fill color. The last fill style creates an object without a border using
the selected fill color.

Adding Color: You now want to fill the shape with a green color. You may
do this by selecting colors from the color box. The color box consists of two
areas, the “select colors area” and the “color palette”. If you select colors
before creating a shape, the outline of the shape is created using the
foreground color, while the inside of the shape is filled with the background
color. To set the background color, right-click in the color palette. You need
to delete the oval and replace it with another that contains color.

Using the “Brush” Tool: Next, you want to create two tree trunks. You
need to use the Brush tool to create the shape and apply the color at the
same time. The brush applies the foreground color when you drag to create
the shape. You may change the foreground color to brown. The Brush tool
creates broad lines of color as you drag.

Using the “Eraser”: You may make mistakes or to not like the appearance
of your drawing. For this you may need to erase sections of your drawings.
To clean up the drawing, you can use the Eraser tool to delete the parts of
the trunk you may not like. The eraser uses the background colors.

Using the “Airbrush” Tool: Finally, you want to create the palm fronds.
You need to use the Airbrush tool for this purpose. This tool also provides
several "spray" shapes. Using different shapes can add interest to the
drawing. The Airbrush sprays with the foreground color. To use the
background color, drag with the right mouse button held down while
spraying.

Creating a Custom Color: Since the color selection of green colors on the
palette is limited, you may create a custom color. Double-click on a color in
the color box. The “Edit Colors” window contains a palette of basic colors,

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many of which are displayed in the color box. The green color you selected is
the selected color in the “Basic colors” palette.

Click “Define Custom Colors >>” to display the color area to the right. This is
a color matrix. To define a custom color, you may click anywhere on the
matrix. You can also use the slider on the color gradient bar at the right to
change the elements, such as hue and saturation, associated with the
selected color. The box below the matrix displays the selected color. Click
“Add to Custom Colors” and then click “OK”. The custom color automatically
becomes the foreground color and replaces the originally selected green.
Now you may apply this color to the fronds.

Your logo is now ready. The “Save” command saves the document as it
appears onscreen to the same file name, automatically replacing the original
contents with the new contents. Now see the live icon representing your
Paint document. You can see a small picture of the graphic you created.

Let us now see some additional features of Paint.

Drawing a Straight Line: In the toolbox, click the “Line” icon. At the bottom of
the toolbox click a line width. Drag the mouse to draw the line. Press the
“Shift” key while dragging to get a straight line.

Drawing a Curved Line: In the toolbox, click the “Curve” icon. At the
bottom of the toolbox, click a line width. Draw a straight line by dragging the
pointer. Click on the page where you want one arc of the curve to be, and
then hold down the left mouse button to drag the pointer to adjust the curve.
Release the mouse button and repeat this step for a second arc. You can
only create two curves for each line.

Drawing a Rectangle or Square: In the toolbox, click the “Rectangle” icon

to create a square-cornered shape, or click the “Rounded Rectangle” to
create a round-cornered shape. At the bottom of the toolbox, click a fill style.
To draw a rectangle, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer
diagonally in the direction you want. To draw a square, press the “Shift” key
while dragging the pointer.

Drawing a Polygon: In the toolbox, click the “Polygon” icon. At the bottom
of the toolbox, click a fill style. To draw the polygon, hold down the left
mouse button and drag the pointer to draw a straight line. Click on the page
where you want each new line segment to appear. Repeat these steps and
double-click when done.

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Typing and Formatting Text: In the toolbox, click the “Text” icon. To
create a text frame, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer
diagonally to the size you want. On the text toolbar, click the font, size and
style you require. Click inside the text frame to type text.

Changing the Picture Size: To change the size of your picture, select
“Image → Attributes” from the menu. Enter the dimensions you require. You
may also resize your picture by dragging the image resize handles that are
located at the bottom right corner and along the sides of your picture.

Copying between Applications

Now you can insert the logo of your organization (the palm tree) into your
WordPad document. To do this, you need to copy the graphic from Paint and
insert it into the WordPad document. You can select an item from an open
document and copy it to another location in the same or another document.

You can copy the entire picture or any part of the drawing by selecting an
area. Since the drawing occupies almost the entire space, you may select
the entire drawing area. A dotted line identifies the selected area, in this
case the entire picture. Contents of the selected area are copied to the
Clipboard.

Embedding an Object: You are now ready to insert the picture into the
WordPad document. You would like the palm tree picture that is stored in the
Clipboard to be centered at the top of the document.

The insertion point appears at the center of the blank line. This is because
the “Center” feature was in effect for the line the insertion point was on
when the two new lines were created. Now you are positioned in the
document where you want the picture inserted.

An object can be inserted into another document by pasting, linking or

embedding it. The “Paste” and “Paste Special” commands on the “Edit”
menu are used to insert a copy from the Clipboard into a document. You will
embed the palm tree object in the document. Select “Edit → Paste”.

The graphic of the palm tree that was stored in the Clipboard is pasted into
the document. It is surrounded by a box and eight solid squares called
“handles”. These indicate the object is selected and can be manipulated. You
can adjust the size of any selected object by dragging the handles in the
same manner as sizing windows.

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Editing an Embedded Object: After looking at the inserted graphic, you
may decide you want to add some text inside the graphic. To edit an
embedded object, you can open the object server by double-clicking on it.
This allows you to edit the embedded graphic from within WordPad.

Paint, the server application is opened within WordPad, and the graphic
appears in its own editing window. Notice that there is still only one Paint
application button in the taskbar. This indicates that the Paint program has
not been opened a second time in its own application window. Also notice
that the title bar still displays "WordPad" and if you scroll down, the text of
your document is still displayed.

You now have access to the Paint menu and toolbar so you can edit the
object while you are still in the WordPad document. The Text tool is used to
add text to a Paint object. You may want to add the company name to the
grass area of the graphic. When adding text, you first create a box, called a
text frame and then type the text inside it. If you do not like how your text
box looks, you can always use “Edit → Undo” from the menu and try it again.

The text frame displays an insertion point, and the “Fonts” window is
displayed. It shows the default type style and size that will be used when you
type the text entry. You may want to increase the font size to 14 point.
Before typing the text, you can also choose a color for the text. The color
that is applied to the text is the foreground color. To make the background
the same as the grass, you make the text frame transparent so that the
background is visible.

You may verify that the original file created using Paint, containing the palm
tree, has not changed. Since no changes were made to the file, you are not
prompted to save the file before it is closed. WordPad is displayed again,
because it was the last-used application.

Previewing, Printing and Saving

Although you still plan to make several formatting changes to the document,
you want to give a copy of the document to a friend to get feedback
regarding the content and layout.

To save time and unnecessary printing and paper waste, it is always a good
idea to preview on screen how your document will appear when printed. The
“Print Preview” feature displays each page of your document in a reduced
size so you can check the layout. Select “File → Print Preview” from the
menu.

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The Preview window displays a reduced view of how the current page will
appear when printed. This view allows you to check your page layout before
printing. The flyer looks good and does not appear to need any further
modifications immediately.

The Preview window also includes its own toolbar. You can print the flyer
directly from the Preview window using the “Print” button.

To save the current document, click the “Save” icon on the Toolbar.

Cleaning up the desktop

You have a few files stored on the desktop of your computer. You may want
to clear these from the desktop and move them to the folder where you
store your data.

Double-click the shortcut icon you created to your data location. Open the
folder where you save your files. Right-drag the selected icons to the right
pane of the window. Choose “Move Here” from the shortcut menu. Select
“View → Refresh” from the menu to refresh the display of the window.

You can now see that the file icons are no longer on the desktop and are now
located in the selected folder. Finally you will remove the shortcut icon. The
desktop should be cleared of all icons you created and should appear the
same as when you started.

Using Calculator

Using Calculator: “Calculator” is an application which performs functions

parallel to a handheld calculator. It performs basic arithmetic, such as
addition and subtraction, as well as functions found on a scientific calculator,
such as logarithms and factorials. To start Calculator, click “Start” and select
“All Programs → Accessories → Calculator”.

Performing a simple calculation: To perform a simple calculation involving

addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, perform the following steps:

First, type the first number in the calculation. Then, click “+” to add, “-” to
subtract, “*” to multiply, or “/” to divide. After that, type the next number in
the calculation. Type other operators and numbers in the same way. Finally,
click “=” or press the “Enter” key to get your result.

The functions of the different buttons on the Calculator are as displayed.

Backspace --> Removes the last digit of the displayed number.

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CE --> Clears the number displayed at that time.

C --> Clears the entire calculation.

MC --> Clears the numbers in the memory.

MR --> Recalls a number from the memory.

MS --> Stores numbers in the memory.

M+ --> Adds the displayed number to the memory.

Sqrt --> Calculates the square root of the number on the screen.

% --> Calculates percentages.

1/x --> Calculates the reciprocal of the displayed number.

Performing a scientific calculation: Your calculator can be made into a

full-functioned scientific calculator. For this, select “View → Scientific” from
the menu. You have a choice of four numbering systems: Hexadecimal,
Decimal, Octal and Binary. In addition to handling simple calculations, the
Scientific Calculator has complete trigonometrical calculations, programming
calculations and statistical calculations for averages and standard deviation.

Word Processing

Overview of Word Processing

What is Word Processing?

Typing text using a computer is commonly known as Word Processing. The

activity of word processing includes typing text using the keyboard and using
various facilities of formatting, editing, printing etc. Word Processor
Applications help you to create different types of written documents such as
personal letters, form letters, brochures, faxes and even professional
manuals. Through a word processor you can create, modify, store, retrieve
and print part or all of a document. With a few keystrokes, you can easily
correct errors, move paragraphs and reprint your document. Documents that
you use often can be saved as templates, for example, an invoice form.

Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer are a few of the popular Word
Processors.

Creating and Editing a Document

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Introduction to Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a complete Word Processor Application. To start the

Microsoft Word application, click on the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Word 2007”.

Microsoft Word offers a wide variety of options to design documents. Word

comes with a variety of templates for almost every purpose. You can also
create your own templates.

Additionally, you can create various indexes and tables in text documents.
You can define the structure and appearance of the indexes and tables
according to your needs.

Microsoft Word contains numerous functions to assist you in creating

perfectly styled documents. Text can be formatted multi-columnar and have
text frames, graphics, tables, etc. integrated into it. The text frames can be
linked anywhere, even beyond page limits to create a newspaper format.

The User Interface

The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The
Microsoft Office user interface is uniform across most of its components. It
consists of three main parts:

1) The Office Button

2) The Quick Access toolbar

3) The Ribbon

The Office Button: This appears at the top-left corner of your screen.
Clicking the Office Button displays the “File” menu. This contains commands
for opening, saving, printing, and closing a file. In Word, a file is called a
“document”.

The Quick Access toolbar: This appears to the right of the Office Button
near the top of the screen, displaying icons that represent commonly used
commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. It is designed to put your most
commonly used commands in a place where you can always find them. To
add an additional command to the Quick Access toolbar, click the arrow on
the right. You can add an icon to the toolbar by just clicking on an icon
name, such as “New”, from the menu that appears. Once the “New” icon is
added, you can simply click on it when you need to create a new document.

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Now, click “More Commands”. Under “Choose commands from:” you can see
a list of commands that you may add to your Quick Access toolbar. Click an
icon and then click the “Add” button. Click “OK”. You can see that your
chosen icons now appear on the Quick Access toolbar. To remove an icon,
right-click on it and select “Remove from Quick Access Toolbar”.

The Ribbon: The Ribbon is a component of the Office Fluent user interface.
It consists of:-

a) Task-oriented tabs.

b) Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks.

c) Command buttons in each group that carry out a command or display a

menu of commands.

For example, the “Home” tab has the “Clipboard”, “Font”, “Paragraph”,
“Styles” and “Editing” groups. The “Clipboard” group in turn has the “Paste”,
“Cut”, “Copy” and “Format Painter” command buttons.

The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in Word:

The “Home” tab has common formatting commands, styles, bullets, and
copy/paste.

The “Insert” tab contains all items that can be inserted into the file, such as
pictures, clip art, pages, and text boxes.

The “Page Layout” tab contains margin, orientation, and spacing properties.

The “References” tab contains the most common items needed when
generating a professional paper, including footnotes, citations, table of
contents, and index.

The “Mailings” tab contains the items needed for a mail merge.

The “Review” tab contains spell check, thesaurus, and track changes.

The “View” tab contains the view options for the document and is the
location of the Switch Windows command to move between files open in that
application.

You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs.

When you move your mouse over most command buttons, a “Super-tooltip”
is displayed. This provides a detailed description of what the button does.

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Equivalent keyboard shortcuts are also displayed if applicable. You may use
them when you are more familiar with the commands.

The tabs, groups, and command buttons change as you take on various
activities. When you first launch most of the Microsoft Office applications
you’ll find yourself in the Ribbons Home tab, which includes the most
commonly-needed commands. At the right end of the Ribbon, you see a
question mark symbol. Clicking this brings up the Help window related to the
Office application that you are using.

Access keys: Access keys are another type of keyboard shortcut used to
access the Ribbon. They relate directly to the tabs, commands, and other
things that you see on the screen. You first need to press the “Alt” key. You
then see little labels, or badges, showing the Key Tips for all the tabs. After
you press a key to activate a particular tab, the badges showing the Key Tips
for the commands on that tab appear. Every single command on the Ribbon,
the Microsoft Office Button menu, and the Quick Access Toolbar has an
access key, and every access key is assigned a Key Tip.

You can hide the Ribbon if you wish to have more space to write. For this,
right-click anywhere on the Ribbon and choose “Minimize the Ribbon”. To
restore the Ribbon, right-click any tab and choose the “Minimize the Ribbon”
command again.

Creating New Documents

Let us now learn to effectively use Microsoft Word using the following simple
Case Study.

You are working for Global Tours and Travels. You are required to create a
document listing the special offers of your company. You want your
document to be attractive and at the same time informative. You decide to
create a document like the one displayed above. We shall now learn step-by-
step, how to include all such features into your document.

When you first start Word, a new blank document is opened. It is like a blank
piece of paper that has certain default settings which are the most
commonly used settings.

When an existing word document is open, to create a new blank document,

click the Office Button and select “New”. Now click “Create” in the “New
Document” window.

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A “Template” is a pre-designed document designed for common purposes
such as a fax, invoice or business letter. You may create a new document
using standard templates provided by Word by clicking on a template name
in the “New Document” window.

Entering and Formatting Text

Let us now enter text into a new document. Type "SPECIAL OFFERS". Press
"Enter" once to come to the next line. To insert a blank line, press “Enter”
once again. Now type “Come to any of the offices”. Let us insert some more
text.

Setting up the way a page of text will look by entering certain attributes is
called “Formatting”. A “Font” is a design for a set of characters.

Selecting Text: To select a section of text, click at the point you want to
begin and drag your cursor to the right and release it when you have
reached the end of the selection.

Changing the Font: Let us select the text “SPECIAL OFFERS” and change
the font. When text is selected, a "Mini Toolbar" is automatically displayed. It
remains semi-transparent until you move your mouse pointer over it. It
provides easy access to the most-used formatting commands. You will be
comfortable using it after you are more familiar with the Word application.

For now, let us use the command buttons on the Ribbon. On the “Home” tab,
in the “Font” group, from the drop-down menu, move your mouse over the
different fonts displayed. The "Live Preview" feature allows you to have a
preview of how the selected font would affect the appearance of the text,
without actually applying it. Click on the font you would like. Similarly, you
may change the Font Size. To make the text appear in italics, click the
“Italic” icon. To change the color of the text click on the arrow next to the
“Font Color” icon and select a color.

Making text Bold: To enter text with a bold display, on the “Home” tab,
click on the “Bold” icon in the “Font” group and begin text entry. To make
existing text bold, select it and then click on the “Bold” icon.

Underlining: To underline your text, select it and then click on the

“Underline” icon in the “Font” group. You may choose other underline styles
and colors by clicking on the arrow to the right of the “Underline” icon.

Justifying Text:

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Select the text you would like to justify. In the “Paragraph” group, you may
select Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right or Justify. Click on Center.

Changing Line Spacing: Select the text you would like to change the line
spacing for. Click the “Line spacing” icon in the “Paragraph” group and make
your selection.

Displaying formatting marks: You can display nonprinting characters in

your text, such as paragraph marks, line breaks, tab stops and spaces. For
this, click the “Show/Hide” icon in the “Paragraph” group. To remove the
display, click on this button once again.

Saving, Closing and Opening files

Saving Documents: Your file is stored with the extension “.docx”. There
are three ways to save a document.

1. Using the shortcut keys “Ctrl+S”.

2. Click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

3. Click the Office Button and select “Save”.

When you save a new file for the first time, the “Save As” window is
displayed. Enter the name, folder and location for the file and then click
“Save”.

Closing a File: To close a file, click the Office Button and select “Close” or
use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+W”. Alternatively, you may click on the “X”
shaped icon at the top right corner of the window or use the keyboard
shortcut “Alt+F4” to exit the Word application.

Opening Documents: There are many ways in which you can open a
document. You may use the shortcut keys “Ctrl+O”. Alternatively, you may
click the Office Button and select “Open”. Then, navigate to the location of
your document, select the file and click “Open”. You may open a recently
used document by clicking on the Office Button and then clicking a
document name under the list of “Recent Documents” displayed on the right.

Moving through Text

Moving through text using the Keyboard: You can use the arrow keys and
other keys on the keyboard which are shown above to position the cursor at
the location you want to type or modify text.

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Moving through text using the Mouse: You can use the mouse to move the
insertion point to a specific location in a document. When you can use the
mouse to move the insertion point, it is shaped as an I-beam. Click at the
point where you wish to position the cursor.

Using Automatic Editing Features

Using AutoCorrect: You may use the numerous features provided by

Microsoft Word to automatically correct your document. Click the Office
Button, and then click “Word Options”. Now click “Proofing” and then click
the “AutoCorrect Options” button. On the “AutoCorrect” tab, you may check
the boxes against the options you require. These corrections are effected as
you enter your text. You can see that the “Correct TWo INitial CApitals”
option is checked. Now try typing the text “HAppy” with two initial capitals.
As it is typed, you can see that it is corrected. You can even replace some
text with alternate text as it is typed using the “Replace text as you type”
option. Ensure that the box against the option is checked. Now enter numeric
“1st” in the “Replace” box and alphabetic “First” in the “With” box. When
you type the digit “1” followed by the alphabets “s” and “t”, they are
replaced by the text “First”.

Building Blocks: Building Blocks in Word are designed specifically for the
addition of frequently used content to your documents.

Creating a Reusable Building Block: Select the text or graphic that you
want to store as a reusable building block. On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text”
group, click “Quick Parts”, and then click “Save Selection to Quick Part
Gallery”. In the Create New Building Block window, enter a unique name for
the building block in the “Name” field, say “Global Tours Logo”. Select
“AutoText” from the “Gallery” drop-down list. Now click “OK”.

Using a Building Block: Let us insert this building block into another
document. Click where you want to insert a building block in the document.
On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, click “Quick Parts”, and then click
“Building Blocks Organizer”. Click “Gallery” to sort by gallery. Click on a
building block name and then click “Insert”.

Using AutoComplete: Another useful feature is “AutoComplete”. Begin

typing the unique name of the building block you created; type enough so
that the name is different from that of any other building block and then
press “F3”. The building block is inserted.

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When you begin typing in the name of a month, such as “January”, Word
brings up a little box above the incomplete word. If you then press “Enter”,
Word automatically finishes the name.

Automatic Spelling and Grammar checking: Click the Office Button, and
then click “Word Options”. Now click “Proofing” and then check the boxes
against the spelling and grammar checks you require. These checks are
enforced as you enter your text.

Let us leave the default settings. Simply click “OK”. Now enter the sentence
“Discounts are available on international tickets” with the word “Discounts”
incorrectly spelled. You can see that as soon as this word is entered, it is
underlined with a red wavy line. Once you correct the spelling, the wavy line
is removed. Now remove the word “Discounts” from the sentence. This
results in a grammatically incorrect sentence. This time, a green wavy
underline appears. Re-enter “Discounts”. The green wavy line disappears
since the sentence is grammatically correct once again.

Navigating a Document

There are different ways you can move through your document. Some of
them are as follows:

1. Use the Up, Down, Right and Left Arrow keys on your keyboard.

2. You may also use the “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys on your keyboard.

3. Alternatively you may use the scrollbars on the right and bottom of your
screen.

4. Use the “Ctrl+Home” keys to go to the beginning of the document and the
“Ctrl+End” keys to go to the end.

You may navigate to a specific item in your document. To display the line
numbers in a document, click the “Page Layout” tab and select “Line
Numbers → Continuous” in the “Page Setup” group.

Let us move to a specific line number. Click the “Home” tab and select
“Find” in the “Editing” group. On the “Go To” tab of the “Find and Replace”
window, click “Line” in the “Go to what” list. Now enter the line number to
which you wish to go and click the “Go To” button. Your cursor moves to the
specified line. Click “Close” in the “Find and Replace” window. You can also
navigate to a specific page, section, footnote, endnote etc. using the “Go To”
tab of the “Find and Replace” window.

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To remove the display of line numbers, click the “Page Layout” tab and
select “Line Numbers → None” in the “Page Setup” group.

Editing a Document

After entering the text of a document, you would like to proof read it for
accuracy and completeness and modify or edit the document as needed.

Selecting and Deleting Text: In order to delete a section of text, you may
select it and press “Delete”. To remove individual characters, you may press
"Delete" for characters to the right of the insertion point and "Backspace" for
characters to the left.

To delete an entire word, you may also use "Ctrl+Delete" for words to the
right of the insertion point or "Ctrl+Backspace" for words to the left. To
delete a blank line, click on that line and press “Delete”.

Undoing and Redoing Editing Changes: After making some changes, you may
decide they are not necessary after all. You can reverse your last action by
using the “Undo” command. Let us first delete a line of text. Select the entire
line and press “Delete”. Now to undo this action, you may select “Undo”
from the Quick Access toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Z”. The
line is displayed once again.

You can also redo an action that has been undone. For this, select “Redo”
from the Quick Access Toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Y”. The
line that was displayed is now deleted.

Working with graphics

Inserting Graphics: You now wish to insert a picture of one of the buses of
your company along with your company name. Click at the point where you
wish to insert the picture. You may select from the various options available
in the “Illustrations” group on the “Insert” tab. Let us insert a picture from an
existing file on the hard disk. Click the “Picture” icon. In the “Insert Picture”
dialog box, specify your picture and its location and click “Insert”. The
picture now appears in your document.

Sizing and Moving Graphics: You may change the graphic that you have
inserted in respect of size, location, color etc. To change the size, click on the
picture. It is surrounded by eight boxes called “sizing handles”. Point to a
handle and drag with your mouse to the size you require. To move your

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picture, place the cursor on the picture and drag with your mouse to the new
location.

Previewing and Printing a Document

Previewing a document: It is always a good practice to preview your

document onscreen before you print it. To view a document in the Print
Preview mode, click on the Office Button and select “Print → Print Preview”.
The Print Preview tab appears when you view the current document in the
Print Preview mode.

One Page: Click this icon to display one page in the preview window.

Two Pages: Click this icon to display two pages in the preview window.

To display Multiple Pages, click the “Zoom” icon and select “Many pages”. To
specify the number of pages to view, click on the icon below the “Many
pages” button and drag towards the right and down.

Zoom: The “Zoom” icon can also be used to specify the zoom percentage.
The preview size will be adjusted accordingly.

The Zoom level can be adjusted using the slider at the bottom right of the
window. Drag the slider to the right or left as required.

Shrink One Page: Click this icon to prevent the document from being
printed on an additional page. This is particularly useful for documents which
have only a small amount of text on the last page.

Printing a document: There are two ways to print a document:

1. Click the Office Button and select “Print” from the menu.

2. Use the shortcut keys “Ctrl+P”.

The “Print” window is displayed. Default settings are displayed which are
normally acceptable. Let us have a look at few of the basic options you might
need to change,

In the “Name” field, you may select the name of the printer on which you
wish to print the document.

Under “Print Range”, you may specify whether you wish to print the entire
document or a specific part.

In the “Number of copies” box, you may specify how many copies of the
document you wish to print.

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Under “Zoom”, in the “Pages per sheet” box, you may specify how many
pages of your document you want printed on a sheet of paper.

After you have entered your options, click “OK” to print the document.

You may also select “Print→ Quick Print” from the Office Button menu. It lets
you print a document with one click but does not offer the flexibility to
specify whether to print all or just part of your document, number of copies
and other such things.

REVISING AND REFINING A DOCUMENT

Revising a Document

Spelling and Grammar checking: There are two ways you can do this:

1. On the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, select “Spelling &

Grammar”.

2. Use the keyboard shortcut “F7”.

The “Spelling and Grammar” window appears only when a mistake is found.
When the spelling checker encounters a word it doesn’t recognize, it
determines which words in its dictionary are similarly spelled and displays a
list of those words in the “Suggestions” box, with the most likely match
highlighted. Click on the correct spelling and then click “Change”. When the
checking is completed, you are informed accordingly. You can see that the
incorrect spelling has been corrected.

Some words, such as proper nouns which are not really errors may be shown
as spelling mistakes. You may add these words to the dictionary by clicking
the “Add to Dictionary” button. They are no longer displayed as spelling
mistakes.

You may click “Options” in the “Spelling and Grammar” window to specify
the spelling and grammar checks that you require.

Thesaurus: The “Thesaurus” is a dictionary of synonyms which you can use

to find words that are synonymous with a term.

There are two ways to start the thesaurus.

1. On the “Review” tab, in the “Proofing” group, select “Thesaurus”.

2. Press “Shift+F7”.

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You now see a panel on the right. In the “Search for:” text box, enter your
expression, say “Contact”. Select “Thesaurus: English (U.S.)” from the
dropdown list below. Click on the arrow to the right of the search box. A list
of synonymous terms is displayed. You may point to a synonym of your
choice and specify the action you wish to perform by viewing the drop-down
list. You may choose from the options Insert, Copy and Look Up.

When you select “Insert”, the word is inserted at the current cursor position.
Select “Copy” to copy the word which can be pasted to another location.
Select “Look Up” to look up further variations of the selected word.

Moving and Copying Selections

Using Copy: Let us select some text for copying to the clipboard. The
document itself does not change, but any existing clipboard contents are
overwritten. You may use any of the following methods:

1. On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, select “Copy”.

2. Press “Ctrl+C”.

Paste: This command is used to insert the contents of the clipboard into the
document. The contents are inserted at the position of the cursor. Any
selected text or objects are replaced by the pasted contents. You may use
any of the following methods for pasting:

1. On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, select “Paste”.

2. Press “Ctrl+V”.

Using Cut and Paste: You may decide to move a section lower down in
your document. For this select it and use “Cut” to move the selected section.
The “Cut-Paste” commands involve deleting the section from the document,
moving it to the clipboard and then pasting it to a location of your choice. On
the other hand, the “Copy-Paste” commands create a copy at the new
location, leaving the original location unchanged. You may use any of the
following methods for cutting:

1. On the “Home” tab, in the “Clipboard” group, select “Cut”.

2. Press “Ctrl+X”.

Now move lower down in the document and click where you want to place
your selection. Then press “Ctrl+V” to paste.

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Drag and Drop: All Windows applications have the ability to copy or move
selections using the “Drag and Drop” feature. Let us now move the text back
to its original location. First, select the item to be copied or moved. Then,
point the mouse to it and drag the pointer to the new location by keeping the
mouse button pressed. You may now drop the selection by releasing the
mouse button.

Working with Multiple Documents

Opening a Second Document: Save the current document by clicking the

“Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Now open a second Word document
by clicking “New” in the Office Button menu. Click “Create” in the “New
Document” window. A blank document is displayed in a new window. This
becomes the “active” program. The previous document is the “dormant”
program now.

Copying between Documents: The dormant program appears dimmed on

the taskbar. Make it active by clicking on the taskbar. Click “Select” in the
“Editing group on the “Home” tab. Click “Select All” from the menu
displayed. Copy the contents by clicking “Copy” in the “Clipboard” group.

Move to the new document by clicking on the taskbar. Paste the contents by
clicking on “Paste” in the “Clipboard” group of the “Home” tab.

Inserting Page Breaks

To control document paging so that important titles and headlines appear on

the top of the pages, you may need to insert Page Breaks just before them
so that they start on a new page. Let us leave our graphic on the first page
and display the other text on the next page. To insert a Page Break, place
the cursor at the point where you want a new page to begin and click “Page
Break” in the “Pages” group of the “Insert” tab. Alternatively, you may use
the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Enter”. A fixed page break is inserted and the
cursor is now at the beginning of the new page.

Finding and Replacing text

Finding Text: You may search for a word or phrase in a document. Select
“Find” from the “Editing” group on the “Home” tab or press “Ctrl+F” to
display the “Find” tab of the “Find and Replace” window. Enter some text,
say “office” and click “Find Next”. Click “Find Next” once again. The next
occurrence of the specified term after the current cursor position is selected.

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Finding and Replacing: You may search for a word or phrase in a
document and replace it by some other text. Select “Replace” from the
“Editing” group on the “Home” tab or press “Ctrl+H” to display the
“Replace” tab of the “Find and Replace” window. Enter the text you wish to
find in the “Find what” field and the text with which you wish to replace it,
say “new office” in the “Replace with” field.

Replace: You may click this button to replace the next occurrence of the
search text by the specified new text.

Replace All: You may click this button to replace all occurrences of the
search text by the specified new text. A window appears showing the
number of replacements made.

More: You may click this button to specify additional search options. This
function provides many advanced options to help make your search as
specific as necessary to find what you are looking for.

Inserting the Current Date

Let us now insert the current date into this document. Position the cursor
above your text and select “Date & Time” from the “Text” group on the
“Insert” tab. Select the format you require. If you want the date to be
automatically updated when the current date changes, check the “Update
automatically” box. This updating is seen when you next open your
document.

Modifying Page Layout

Changing Margin Settings: To set margins, select “Margins” from the “Page
Setup” group on the “Page Layout” tab. You may click on any of the
available options or click “Custom Margins” to enter your own specifications.
On the “Margins” tab, you may enter your requirements in one or more of
the fields.

Let us change the left and right margins to 4 inches each. Click “OK”. You
can see that your document is displayed with wider side margins. Click
“Undo” on the Quick Access toolbar to revert to the original margins.

Changing the Orientation: You may orient your document vertically or

horizontally by clicking on “Orientation” from the “Page Setup” group of the
“Page Layout” tab. Select from the “Portrait” or “Landscape” options.

Entering the Page Size: To set the Page Size, select “Size” from the “Page
Setup” group on the “Page Layout” tab. You may click on any of the

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available options or click “More Paper Sizes” to enter your own
specifications. On the “Paper” tab, you may select the paper size from preset
formats like A4, A5, etc. from the drop-down list. You may also manually set
the dimensions you require in the “Width” and “Height” fields. Click “OK” to
save your settings.

Paragraph Formatting in detail

Indents: Indentation determines the distance of the paragraph from either

the left or the right margin. Select a paragraph of text. Then click on the
“Page Layout” tab. In the “Paragraph” group, you may specify your indent
requirements in the “Indent Left” and “Indent Right” boxes. Press “Undo”
twice on the Quick Access toolbar to remove these indents.

Alternatively, you may use the “Decrease Indent” and “Increase Indent”
icons in the “Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab for indenting your text.

Spacing: You may specify the spacing between paragraphs by adding space
above or below selected paragraphs. For this use the “Spacing Before” and
“Spacing After” boxes in the “Paragraph” group on the “Page Layout” tab.

Setting Tab Stops: A “Tab Stop” is the amount of spacing that is applied
each time you press the “Tab” key. When more than a single space is
required to be inserted between words, it is advisable to use tabs rather than
spaces to avoid problems with text alignment. Let us learn to set the position
of a tab stop in a blank document. If you do not see the horizontal ruler
displayed just below the Ribbon, click the “View Ruler” button at the right
corner. In the “Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab, click on the arrow at
the bottom right. This brings up the “Paragraph” window. On the “Indents &
Spacing” tab, click “Tabs” to display the “Tabs” window. In the “Default tab
stops” box, enter “2 cm” and click “OK”.

Now enter the text as shown, pressing the “Tab” key after each word. You
can see on the ruler that each word appears at a distance of 2 cm from the
other.

You can also use your mouse to set the tab stops in the “Ruler”, although
this method is not as precise. You can quickly set tabs by clicking the ruler at
the location you want your tab stop. Now enter the same text pressing the
“Tab” key after each word. You can see that this time, the distance between
the words is as per the new tab stops specified.

Character Formatting in detail

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 Changing the capitalization of text: You may change a portion of text in
respect of case. This means you may specify which parts you want in capital
letters and small letters. Select the text “Time Table”. Now, click on the
“Change Case” icon from the “Font” group. You may select an option from
the menu displayed. Let us select “UPPERCASE”. You can see that your text
is displayed with all capital letters.
Highlighting: Select some text to highlight. Click on the arrow next to the
“Text Highlight Color” icon in the “Font” group and select a color.
Effects: On the “Home tab, in the “Font” group, click on the arrow at the
bottom right. This brings up the “Font” window. You may specify effects for
your text by checking the boxes against the effects you require on the “Font”
tab.
Format Painter: You can copy the formatting applied to a section of text to
another section. First, let us change the font color of a section of text. Now to
copy the formatting of this text, select it and click on the “Format Painter”
icon on the “Home” tab in the “Clipboard” group. You can see that your
mouse pointer changes to a paint brush. Now, drag it over the text to which
you wish to apply the same format.
Creating Lists
You may want to display the information about the special offers that you
have entered as an itemized list so that it stands out from the rest of the
text. You may use a bulleted list or a numbered list. Bulleted lists are
normally used to list logically related information. Numbered lists are
normally used to convey a sequence of events.
Bulleted List: Select your text and then click on the arrow next to the
“Bullets” icon in the “Paragraph” group of the “Home” tab and select a bullet
style. Your text now appears as a bulleted list.
Numbered List: Alternatively, you may decide to go in for a numbered list.
In that case, click on the arrow next to the “Numbering” icon in the
“Paragraph” group of the “Home” tab and select a numbering style.
Joining and Separating Numbering: You have the option to restart
numbering, continue numbering or even skip some numbers from the
previous list used. Simply right-click on the number and select from the
options “Restart at”, “Continue Numbering” or “Set Numbering Value”.
Using Hyperlinks
Inserting Hyperlinks: You now want to give information related to the
different routes and their timings. Giving all this information in a single
document will crowd the document. Also, the document will lose its clarity
regarding the main information that it is meant to convey. So you may use a
“Hyperlink”. A hyperlink is a connection to a location in the current

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document, another document or to a Web site. A hyperlink may be in the
form of text or a graphic.
Let us insert a hyperlink to another document called “time_table.docx” which
contains the complete time table. This document exists in the same folder as
your document. Place the cursor in your document at the point where you
wish to insert the hyperlink. In this case, we shall use the text “Time Table”
as a hyperlink. Select this text.
There are two ways to insert a hyperlink:
1. Use the shortcut keys “Ctrl+K”.
2. Click the “Hyperlink” icon in the “Links” group on the “Insert” tab.
Use any of them to display the “Insert Hyperlink” window.
Because you wish to create a link to another document, click “Current
Folder” and then click on “time_table.docx”. Click “OK”. You now see that the
hyperlink text is underlined. When you press the “Ctrl” key and click on this
text, you can view the time table document.
Removing Hyperlinks: To remove the hyperlink while retaining the text,
right-click on it and select “Remove Hyperlink”.
Inserting Shapes
Word offers many predefined shapes that you can insert into your document.
Click “Shapes” in the “Illustrations” group on the “Insert” tab to display the
various shapes that you can use.
You now wish to insert a banner at the bottom of your document. Under
“Stars and Banners” select the “Double Wave” banner.
Drag your mouse to create your shape of the size you wish. You may use the
sizing handles to modify the size of the shape. You may also drag to place
the shape at another location.
To make this banner more attractive, make a selection from the “Shape
Style” group.
Let us add some text to this banner. Right click on the banner and select
“Add Text”. Now enter your text. You may format the text by selecting it and
using the mini toolbar displayed.
Editing while previewing
Now you will preview your document to see if any changes are required. To
view a document in the Print Preview mode, click on the Office Button and
select “Print → Print Preview”. The Print Preview tab appears when you view
the current document in the Print Preview mode.

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When the mouse pointer moves over the document it is shaped as a
magnifying glass with a plus sign. Click on the page you wish to magnify to
see it in normal size. Click again to see it in a compressed size.
When you wish to edit the document, uncheck the box against the
“Magnifier” button in the “Preview” group on the Print Preview tab. The
mouse pointer changes to an “I” beam. This indicates that you can now
make changes to the text. Make your changes and then click “Close Print
Preview” to close the preview window. You may now save your changes.
Inserting Objects
You may insert external objects such as pictures, video clips, a spreadsheet
or even another word document into your current document. You can edit
the object later using the application which created the source file. For this,
select “Object” from the “Text” group on the “Insert” tab.
You may create a new object to insert or insert an existing one from a file.
Let us insert an existing spreadsheet created using Microsoft Excel. In the
“Object” window, click on the “Create from File” tab.
Check the box against “Link to file” if you want your document to be updated
whenever the file containing the inserted object is edited. Check the box
against “Display as icon” if you want to display your object as an icon.
Click “Browse” and navigate to the file you wish to insert. Now click “Insert”.
Click “OK” in the “Object” window. You see that the object is now a part of
your document
Using Additional Word Features
Creating Multilevel Lists
A multilevel list shows the list items at different levels rather than at one
level. Different items are indented to represent their level in a document’s
structure. It makes the hierarchy of items in a document very clear and easy
to understand.
Creating a multilevel list: Click where you want to begin your list. On the
“Home” tab, in the “Paragraph” group, click the “Multilevel List” icon and
select a list style.
Now enter your list. Use the “Tab” key to go to the next level and
“Shift+Tab” to move up one level. You can easily change the level of an item
in the hierarchy by simply increasing or decreasing the indent by using the
“Tab” or “Backspace” keys respectively.
Saving to a New Folder

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Next, you will save the multilevel list you have created in a folder on your
disk. You will use this folder to hold related files. You can create a new folder
at the time you save a file.
The steps to save the file are:
1. Click the Office button and select “Save As”.
2. Enter the appropriate location where you wish to place the file in the
“Save in” field.
3. Click “New Folder”.
Type the name of the new folder in the “Name” field in the “New Folder”
window and press “Enter”. The new folder is created as a subfolder in the
active directory.
Press “Save” to save your file with the same name in the new folder. If you
wish to change your file name, make appropriate changes in the “File name”
field and then click “Save”. Your document is now saved in the newly created
folder.
Hiding Spelling and Grammar
When you go through a document, you sometimes notice that many spelling
and grammar errors are indicated by red and green wavy lines. They are
mostly for words that are not in the dictionary. You may turn off the display
of these errors if you do not wish to be distracted as you work.
Click the Office Button, and then click “Word Options”. Now click “Proofing”.
At the bottom of the window, check the boxes against “Hide spelling errors in
this document only” and “Hide grammar errors in this document only” and
click “OK”.
The red and green wavy lines are no longer displayed. You can still run
spelling and grammar checks manually by using functions like “Spelling &
Grammar” on the “Review” tab at any time you wish.
Formatting Documents Automatically
There are two ways in which you can format your document automatically.
Using Click and Type: On a new blank page, switch to the Print Layout
view by selecting “Print Layout” from the “Document Views” group on the
“View” tab. Move the mouse pointer across the page and observe the
change in it. As you move the mouse pointer over different areas, the I-beam
pointer displays an icon indicating the formatting that will be applied when
you double-click at that location.
The chart displayed in the figure lists the different pointer shapes and
formatting that is applied.

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You can use this method to quickly insert text, graphics or other items in a
blank area of a document, avoiding the need to enter blank lines. Double-
click at the center of the document. You can now enter text which will be
formatted as per the pointer shape.
Applying Styles: This is the second way in which you can format your
document automatically. A particular style can be applied to a heading or
any other text to improve its appearance or make it stand out clearly. In the
document displayed, let us apply different styles to different heading levels.
Select the main heading. On the “Home” tab, in the “Styles” group select the
“Heading1” style. This style is now applied to your selected text. Similarly,
you may apply styles “Heading2” and “Heading3” to subsequent heading
levels. This makes your document attractive as well as clear.
To see the complete list of styles click on the arrow at the bottom of the
“Styles” group. Click on a style to apply it to the selected text.
Creating a Table of Contents
A Table of Contents is a listing of the topics that appear in a document with
their associated page references. It shows you at a glance, the topics that
are included in the document and makes it easier to locate information.
Let us create a Table of Contents for the document you created in the
previous assignment. Place the cursor at the beginning of the document. On
the “References” tab, in the “Table of Contents” group, select “Table of
Contents”. Click “Insert Table of Contents” at the bottom of the window that
comes up. The “Table of Contents” window appears.
Click on the “Table of Contents” tab. You may enter your specifications here.
For now, it is best to use the default settings. Simply click “OK”. Your table of
contents is ready. You may now press the “Ctrl” key and click on any
heading to move to the related content in your document.
Updating the Table of Contents
Updating the Table of Contents: You may introduce new headings or move
certain information to another page in your document at a later stage. You
can see in the displayed document that “Region 3” is not displayed in the
table of contents. You would need to update your table of contents.
On the “References” tab, in the “Table of Contents” group, select “Update
Table”. The “Update Table of Contents” window is displayed. You may
choose to update page numbers only or the entire table. Select “Update
entire table” and click “OK”. You can now see “Region 3” in the table of
contents.
Formatting a Document Section

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You may need to apply specific formatting to only a part of your document.
To do so, you can create sections within the document and apply the
formatting to the required section. Let us consider the document we had
created earlier. Position your cursor before the first point. To insert a section
in your document, select “Breaks” from the “Page Setup” group on the “Page
Layout” tab.
Under “Section Breaks”, select the type of section break you wish. “Next
Page” moves the section to the new page. “Continuous” creates the section
at the cursor position. “Odd Page” or “Even Page” starts the section on the
next odd or even numbered page. Let us select “Continuous”.
Formatting a section: Let us now make some changes to the section that
you have created. Click on the arrow at the bottom right of the “Page Setup”
group. In the “Page Setup” window, change the left margin to “5”. Under
“Preview”, ensure that “This section” is selected in the “Apply to” field. Click
“OK”. You can see that the text in the section after the cursor position gets
indented as per the new left margin.
Using Footnotes and Endnotes
Footnotes or Endnotes are used to explain, comment on, or provide
references for text in a document. Sometimes, meanings of difficult words
are given in the form of footnotes. A footnote or an endnote consists of two
linked parts — the note reference mark and the corresponding note text.
Footnotes appear at the end of each page and endnotes appear at the end of
the document.
Inserting a Footnote: To insert a footnote, position your cursor at the text
you want the footnote to appear. Select “Insert Footnote” from the
“Footnotes” group on the “References” tab. A reference mark is inserted at
the point you selected and you are taken to the bottom of the page. Type
your footnote. When you are done, right-click the footnote and select “Go to
Footnote” to take you back to the insertion point in the main body so you
can continue working on your document.
Endnotes: You may insert endnotes in the same way using the “Insert
Endnote” button in the “Footnotes” group on the “References” tab.
You may make changes to your footnotes and endnotes in respect of
numbering, location and format by clicking on the arrow at the bottom right
of the “Footnotes” group.
Deleting a Footnote or Endnote: When you want to delete a note, simply
delete the note reference mark in the document window. Deleting the text in
the note does not delete the note.
Adding Bookmarks

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A Bookmark is used to mark a certain location in a document. It identifies a
location in the document or a selection of text that you name for future
reference. Adding a Bookmark: You now wish to insert a bookmark before
the text “Contact Us”. Click before this text. Then select “Bookmark” from
the “Links” group on the “Insert” tab.
In the “Bookmark” window, enter a name for your bookmark and click “Add”.
Moving to a specific bookmark: Select “Bookmark” from the “Links”
group on the “Insert” tab. Click on the bookmark and then click “Go To”.
Your cursor now moves to the bookmark location. Click “Close” in the
“Bookmark” window.
Showing Bookmarks: Click the Office Button, and then click “Word
Options”. Now click “Advanced”. Under “Show document content”, check the
box against “Show bookmarks” and click “OK”. If you have assigned a
bookmark to an item, the bookmark appears in brackets on the screen. If you
have assigned a bookmark to a location, the bookmark appears as an I-
beam.
Deleting a Bookmark: To delete a bookmark, select “Bookmark” from the
“Links” group on the “Insert” tab. Click on the bookmark and then click
“Delete”.
Formatting Picture Layout
Sometimes, you may need to change the position of a graphic, drawing or
object in your document or type some text around it. You can define the
wrapping style around an object.
Changing the Object Position: Click on the picture. Under “Picture Tools”,
on the “Format” tab, in the “Arrange” group, select “Position”. Move your
mouse over the various options under “With Text Wrapping” and click on
your choice. Your text now appears by the side of the picture.
Wrapping text around graphics: To change the way text wraps around
the picture, click on it and then click on the “Format” tab under “Picture
Tools”. Select “Text Wrapping” in the “Arrange” group and choose a suitable
option from the ones displayed.
Referencing Figures
Setting References: A cross-reference is a reference from one part of a
document to related information in another part. You first must define a
reference target for the cross-reference. You can also set cross-references to
the captions of charts and tables. Clicking on the reference takes you to the
referred location in the document. In contrast to hyperlinks, references allow
you to move within a document, but not among multiple documents.
Click on the figure you want to refer to. You must now add a caption to this
figure. This caption will be used for reference. Select “Insert Caption” from
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the “Captions” group on the “References” tab. In the “Caption” window,
enter your caption, select the position of the caption and press “OK”.
Now let us insert a cross-reference for this reference. Position your cursor at
an appropriate location. Enter your text, say “For your information, see “.
Select “Cross-reference” from the “Captions” group on the “References” tab.
In the “Cross-reference” window, select “Figure” as “Reference type” and
“Entire Caption” as “Insert reference to” from the respective drop-down lists.
Under “For which caption:” click on the appropriate caption and then click
“Insert”. This displays the caption near your text. Now click “Close”. You may
now press the “Ctrl” key and click on the caption to see the captioned
picture.
Creating a Simple Table
A table is used to organize information into an easy-to-read format of
horizontal rows and vertical columns.
Inserting a Table: To insert a table, select “Table” in the “Tables” group on
the “Insert tab. You may drag with your mouse to specify the dimensions of
the table or click “Insert Table”. In the “Insert Table” window, enter the Table
size in respect of number of rows and columns. Click “OK”. Your table is
displayed on the screen. We have created a table with 2 rows and 5 columns.
Entering data: Click on a cell and enter your data. Press “Tab” to move to
the next cell.
Inserting additional rows and columns: To insert additional rows or
columns at a later stage, click in the table. Under “Table Tools”, click on the
“Layout” tab. In the “Rows & Columns” group, select “Insert Above” to insert
a row above the current row. Select “Insert Below” to insert a row below the
current row. Similarly, “Insert Left” inserts a column to the left and “Insert
Right” inserts a column to the right. To insert multiple rows or columns,
select the same number of rows or columns required to be inserted and then
click on the appropriate icon.
Shifting Cells: You may shift a few cells or a complete row or column.
Select some cells which you would like to shift. Click on the arrow at the
bottom right of the “Rows & Columns” group. In the “Insert Cells” window,
select “Shift Cells Right” and click “OK”. You see that the data has been
moved to the right and a new blank column has been inserted.
Sizing a table: To quickly change the overall table size, drag the resize
handle at the bottom right corner of the table to an appropriate location.This
handle appears whenever the mouse pointer rests over the table.
Moving a table: To move your table, place the cursor on the top left corner
and drag with your mouse to the new location.

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Formatting a table: This is similar to formatting a document, except that
the formatting affects the selected cells only. You may select the cells, and
use the different formatting options from the “Home” tab. Let us center the
text in the first column of the table displayed. Select the first column and
click the “Center” icon in the “Paragraph” group
Borders: You may specify the border style for your table. Click in the table.
Under “Table Tools”, click the Layout tab. In the “Table” group, click
“Select”, and then click “Select Table”. Now, under “Table Tools”, click the
“Design” tab. In the “Table Styles” group, click the arrow next to the
“Borders” icon and select “Borders and Shading”. In the window that comes
up, click on your choice in the “Style” box.
Now let us remove the borders of the table. For this click on the arrow next
to the “Borders” icon and select “No Border”.
Using table Styles: A quicker way of applying formats to a table
automatically is to use the Table Styles offered by Word. The available auto
formats consist of a combination of fonts, colors, patterns, borders and
alignment settings. Click in the table. Under “Table Tools”, click the “Design”
tab. In the “Table Styles” group, you may make your selection.
Sorting Data
Word can quickly sort text, data or numbers according to specified criteria in
ascending or descending order. Let us sort data contained in the time table
document displayed. Move the pointer over the table until you see a four
headed arrow at the top left corner. Click it to select the table. Under “Table
Tools”, on the “Layout” tab, in the “Data” group, click “Sort”.
In the “Sort” window, you may select the options that you want. Let us let
the displayed field “Coach Number” remain as the field to sort by. Click
“OK”. You can see that the data in the table is now sorted by Coach Number.
Sorting a List: The “Sort” feature and various sorting options can also be
used for non-tabled text. For this, select the text and then click the “Sort”
icon in the “Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab. For now, let us leave the
default options in the “Sort Text” window unchanged. Simply click “OK” to
see a sorted list.
Inserting Headers and Footers
Headers and footers provide information that typically appears at the top
and bottom of each page in a document and helps the reader to locate
information in a document. The same header and footer can be used
throughout the document or different ones can be used in different sections.
Inserting a Header: Let us now add a header to the document you created
previously.

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Select “Header” in the “Header & Footer” group on the “Insert” tab. A list of
header styles is displayed. Click on the first one. The header area becomes
active. Press the “Tab” key twice and enter the name of your company in the
header area. Now click “Close Header and Footer” on the “Design” tab under
“Header & Footer Tools”.
Inserting a Footer: You may insert a “Footer” in the same way as the
header. Select “Footer” in the “Header & Footer” group on the “Insert” tab
and select the style “Blank (Three Columns)”. The footer area becomes
active. Click in the first placeholder and enter the word “Comfort”. Enter the
words “Style” and “Economy” in the second and third placeholders in the
same way. Now click “Close Header and Footer” on the “Design” tab and
scroll down to see your footer.
Inserting the Page Number: You may insert the page number and the
total number of pages in your document on every page of your document at
a position of your choice. For this, select “Page Number” in the “Header &
Footer” group on the “Insert” tab. Now click on “Bottom of Page”. From the
list displayed, scroll down and click on “Bold Numbers 3”. Click “Close
Header and Footer” on the “Design” tab. You now see the page number and
number of pages displayed at the bottom right of the page. Inserting the
page number at the bottom of the page overwrites a previously inserted
footer, if any. Similarly, inserting the page number at the top of the page
overwrites a previously inserted header, if any.
Checking the document
After your document is ready, you may like to check it in respect of spelling
and grammar as well as formatting consistency.
Click the “Spelling & Grammar” icon in the “Proofing” group on the “Review”
tab. Choose “Ignore All” for all proper names, special terms and
abbreviations. Respond appropriately to any other located errors.
Checking Formatting Inconsistencies: To turn on this feature, click the
Office Button, and then click “Word Options”. Now click “Advanced”. Under
“Editing options”, check the boxes against “Keep track of formatting” and
“Mark formatting inconsistencies” and then click “OK”.
Word indicates formatting inconsistencies with a blue wavy underline. It
identifies different formatting schemes that are very similar to each other. If
the Format Consistency Checker finds at least two instances of a scheme
that are identical, it offers you the opportunity to make all similar formatting
schemes identical to the format scheme that occurs most frequently.
In the document displayed, select the word “North”. Now, right-click on it
and select “Styles → Select Text with Similar Formatting”. You can see the
words “East” and “West” highlighted as well. This is because all three words
have been entered by applying a specific style. You may recall that you

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learnt about applying styles in the assignment titled “Formatting Documents
Automatically”.
In the document displayed, the word “South” has been entered using the
size and font of an existing style without applying the style. Right click on
this underline to display formatting suggestions. You may choose to ignore
or remove the inconsistency from the different options displayed.
Printing Selected Pages
You know that to print a document, you need to click the Office Button and
select “Print” from the menu. The “Print” window is displayed.
Under “Print Range”, select “All” to print the entire document.
To print only selected pages in your document, you may use either the
“Current page” or “Pages” option under “Print Range”.
Pages: You may use this option to print only the pages that you specify in
the “Pages” field. To print a range of pages, use the format “3-6”. To print
single pages, use the format “7, 9, 11”. If you want, you can print a
combination of page ranges and single pages, by using the format “3-6, 8,
10, 12”.
Selection: You may use this option to print only the selected areas or
objects in the current document.
Click “OK” to print your document.

Changing the Display of the Document

Creating Newsletter Style Columns
A newsletter is a common application for newspaper columns. In a
newsletter, narrow columns help the reader read the articles more quickly.
The default column style is one column across the full width of the page.
Select the text that you wish to display in columnar format. Then, select
“Columns” in the “Page Setup” group on the “Page Layout” tab. You may
click on the number of columns you require. Click “More Columns” to display
the “Columns” window. Let us select “Two” as the number of columns under
“Presets”. You may select other settings for the size and display of the
columns under “Width and spacing”. You may apply these column settings to
the whole or part of the document. Click “OK”. Your text is displayed in
columnar format.
Using Word Art

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WordArt is used to enhance your documents by changing the shape of text
and adding special effects such as 3-D and shadows. Let us use WordArt to
enhance the heading of the document created. Select the text “Special
Offers”. On the “Insert” tab, in the “Text” group, select “WordArt”. The
“WordArt Gallery” is displayed.
Click on a style. The “Edit WordArt Text” window is displayed. You may
change the font, font size and font style if you wish. Then click “OK”.
Click on the “Format” tab under “WordArt Tools” to modify the WordArt as
per your requirements.
Spacing: To modify the spacing between the characters of the WordArt, click
on “Spacing” in the “Text” group. Now select “Tight”. You can see that your
text has been adjusted accordingly.
3-D Effects: You may apply 3-D effects to your WordArt text. On the “Format”
tab, click “3-D Effects”. To select an effect, click on the left side of the
displayed box. To change the direction of the 3-D effect, click “3-D Effects”
once again and click the appropriate “Tilt” button on the right side of the
displayed box. In this way, you may enhance your WordArt text.
Inserting Symbols
To insert Symbols or Special Characters in your document, select “Symbol”
in the “Symbols” group on the “Insert” tab. Click “More Symbols” to display
the “Symbol” window.
On the “Symbols” tab, click on a symbol of your choice and click “Insert”.
Then click “Close”. The symbol is inserted at the current cursor position.
Adding a Drop Cap
Drop caps are the first character/s at the beginning of a paragraph that are
enlarged, covering several lines.
Let us use a drop cap in our document. Select the first letter “C” from the list
of offers. Then select
“Drop Cap” in the “Text” group on the “Insert” tab. Click “Drop Cap Options”
to display the “Drop Cap” window. Click on “Dropped” under “Position”. Then
set the “Lines to drop” field as “2”. You may also specify the font and the
distance of the drop cap from your text. Leave them unchanged for now.
Click “OK” to display the drop cap in your document.
Using Mail Merge
Using Mail Merge
The Mail Merge feature combines a list of data, typically a file of names and
addresses with a document to create new documents. The names and

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addresses are entered (merged) into the document in the blank spaces
provided. The result is a personalized letter.
You wish to mail your document about special offers to a large number of
people. This is very simple using Word’s Mail Merge feature. A wizard guides
you and in a few steps, your letters to everyone are ready. A personal touch
can be added by addressing each person by his individual name at the top of
the document.
Let us add the text at the beginning of our document as shown.
Starting the Wizard: Select “Start Mail Merge” in the “Start Mail Merge”
group on the “Mailings” tab. Select “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard” to
display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to
"Letters" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next
wizard step.
Selecting the starting document: Now, select "Use the current
document". You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking
"Previous". Now, click "Next"
Creating a List: Let us create a list of people we wish to send our document
to. Select "Type a new list" and then click "Create". The "New Address List"
window is displayed. Enter the Title, First Name and Last Name of the first
person. Click "New Entry" to add subsequent entries. After you are done,
click "OK". The "Save Address List" window appears. Enter your file name,
say "List1" and click "Save". Click "OK" in the "Mail Merge Recipients"
window.
Inserting Fields: Now, since you are ready with your letter, you may add
the items that you wish to be incorporated in it. Click after the word "Dear".
Enter a space. We are now ready to insert the field names. Click "More
items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window. Click on Title, then on
"Insert". Similarly, enter the fields First Name and Last Name. Now click
"Close". You see that the field names are now inserted in your document.
Make sure to insert a space between each field. Click "Next".
Previewing Letters: You now see a preview of the letter to the first person on
your list. Use the right and left arrows to preview letters to the others. You
may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list.
Click "Next" to complete the merge.
Printing or Editing Letters: You may now click "Print" to print your letters
or click "Edit individual letters" to make changes to any letter. You may make
your selections from the windows that are displayed.
Printing Mailing Labels
Now that your letters are ready, you want to create labels for the envelopes.

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Starting the Wizard: In a new blank Word document, select “Start Mail
Merge” in the “Start Mail Merge” group on the “Mailings” tab. Select “Step
by Step Mail Merge Wizard” to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set
the document type to "Labels" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard
to go to the next wizard step.
You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now click
"Label options". The "Label Options" window is displayed. Here, you may
select the type of printer, the type of label product, and the product number.
For now, select “Formtec” in the “Label vendors” box and "Formtec AT-7210"
under Product Number and click "OK". Then click "Next".
Selecting Recipients: You have a list of people you wish to send your
document to. Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse". In the
"Select Data Source" window, navigate to the location of your list. The
default location is the sub folder “My Data Sources” in the “Documents”
folder. Click on your list "List1" in the appropriate location and then click
"Open".
The "Mail Merge Recipients" window is displayed. Let us now include address
details. Click on the name of the list in the box at the bottom and then click
"Edit". Enter the Address Line 1, Address Line 2 and City fields for all the
people in the list. After you are done, click "OK". Click “Yes” to confirm the
address details in the window that comes up. Now click “OK” and then click
"Next".
Inserting Fields: Now, you may add the names and address details on the
labels. Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window. Click on
the Title field, then on "Insert". Similarly, enter the fields First Name, Last
Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2 and City. Now click “Close”. You see
that the field names are inserted in your document.
Arranging Fields: Let us now arrange the fields. Press “Enter” after the Last
Name field to bring the Address Line 1 to the next line. Similarly, move the
Address Line 2 and City fields to the following lines. Then insert a space
before each field in the first line.
Replicating Labels: You may copy the layout of the first label to the other
labels. Click "Update all labels". Click "Next".
Previewing Labels: You now see a preview of the labels. Use the right and left
arrows to move between labels. You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make
changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the merge.
Printing or Editing Labels: You may now click "Print" to print your labels or
click "Edit individual labels" to make changes to any label.
Preparing and Printing Envelopes

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Sometimes, you may want to quickly address a single envelope instead of
printing and pasting a label.
Starting the Wizard: In a new blank Word document, select “Start Mail
Merge” in the “Start Mail Merge” group on the “Mailings” tab. Select “Step
by Step Mail Merge Wizard” to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set
the document type to " Envelopes" and click "Next" at the bottom of the
wizard to go to the next wizard step.
You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now click
"Envelope options". The "Envelope Options" window is displayed. You may
specify different settings related to the appearance and printing of the
envelope on the "Envelope options" and "Printing options" tabs. On the
"Envelope options" tab, select an appropriate Envelope size and click "OK".
Now, click "Next".
Selecting Recipients: You already have a list of people. Let us make
envelopes for some of them. Select "Use an existing list" and then click
"Browse". In the "Select Data Source" window, browse to the location of your
list, click on "List1" and then click "Open". The "Mail Merge Recipients"
window is displayed. Un-check the boxes in front of the names for which you
do not want envelopes and then click "OK". Now click "Next".
Arranging your envelope: Let us use the "Address block" feature. Click
"Address block". This directly inserts all address fields on your envelope. In
the “Insert Address Block” window, you make changes as required. For now,
simply click “OK”. You may use "More items" to insert any individual items
you wish, as you did for labels. Click “Next”.
Previewing Envelopes: You now see a preview of the first envelope. Use the
right and left arrows to preview other envelopes. You may click "Edit
Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the
merge.
Printing or Editing Envelopes: You may now click "Print" to print your
envelopes or click "Edit individual envelopes" to make changes to any
envelope.
Merging for sending E-mails using Outlook
You may also want to e-mail your document so as to reach out to a larger
number of people. You can use the Mail Merge task pane to create a group e-
mail distribution. For this, your system must include a compatible e-mail
program, such as Microsoft Outlook.
Starting the Wizard: Select “Start Mail Merge” in the “Start Mail Merge”
group on the “Mailings” tab. Select “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard” to
display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to "E-mail
messages" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next
wizard step.

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Selecting the starting document: Now, select "Use the current document".
You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now,
click "Next".
Selecting Recipients: You already have a list of people. Let us use this list.
Just ensure that you have entered the e-mail addresses of the people on the
list. Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse". In the "Select Data
Source" window, browse to the location of your list, click on "List1" and then
click "Open". In the "Mail Merge Recipients" window, click "OK". Now click
"Next".
Inserting Fields: Now, since you are ready with your message, you may add
the items that you wish to be incorporated in it. Click after the word "Dear".
Enter a space. Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window.
Click on First Name, then on "Insert". Now click "Close". Then, click "Next".
Previewing your messages: You now see a preview of the first e-mail
message. Use the right and left arrows to preview other messages. You may
click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to
complete the merge.
Sending mails: You may now click "Electronic Mail" to send your e-mails. The
"Merge to E-mail" window is displayed.
In the "To" field, verify that "Email_Address" is displayed. In the "Subject
line" field, type the subject line you want to use for all the messages. In the
"Mail format" field, select the mail format you want to use. Under "Send
records”, select the records you want to merge. Then click "OK".
Using Standard Templates
Using a Template from Word
Every Microsoft Word document is based on a template. A template
determines the basic structure for a document and contains document
settings such as fonts, key assignments, menus, page layout, special
formatting and styles.
You may use any of the standard templates provided by Microsoft Word for
your document such as Resumes, Brochures and Reports. Let us create a
new document based on an existing template. Click the Office Button and
select “New” from the menu. In the right left panel, under “Templates”, click
“Installed Templates” to see a list of templates.
Selecting the Template type: Click on the “Equity Letter” template and then
press the “Create” button. A new document is displayed with pre-defined
settings.
Adding details: Just click on the parts marked in square brackets and enter
your details. Replace body text with your own text. You may make changes if
required.
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Saving the document: You may save this file just like a normal document.
Click the Office Button and click on the arrow next to “Save As”. Now click
“Word Document”. In the “Save As” window, enter “Special Package” in the
“File name” field and click “Save”. Your document is created based on the
template you selected. To exit the Word application, click the Office Button
and then click the “Exit Word” button at the bottom right.
Word Processing in Other Languages
Language Settings in Windows Vista
Setting a language for the Windows Vista operating system: By default
Windows Vista does not support entry in certain languages. Hence, before
you can start using some languages on your computer, you must configure
Windows Vista to be able to use fonts specific to those languages. You can
do this by configuring the language settings in the “Clock, Language, and
Region” option of the “Control Panel”.
Click on the “Start” button. Then click “Control Panel”. If you see the “Classic
View” displayed, click “Control Panel Home”. Now, click “Change keyboards
or other input methods” under “Clock, Language, and Region” This displays
the “Keyboards and Languages” tab of the “Regional and Language Options”
window. Now click “Change keyboards”. In the “General” tab of the “Text
Services and Input Languages” window, the box at the top displays the
default input language. In the box at the bottom, you see a list of languages
that Windows Vista has been configured to use. Click “Add” to add a new
language.
In the “Add Input Language” window, let us add the Arabic language as an
example. Click on the plus sign in front of “Arabic (Saudi Arabia)”. Now click
on the plus sign in front of the word “Keyboard” displayed below it. Check
the box next to the first keyboard type and click “OK”. Now, click “Apply”
and then “OK” in the “Text Services and Input Languages” window. Finally,
click “OK” in the “Regional and Language Options” window.
Using a Configured Language in Word
Start the Microsoft Word application. Click on the “EN” icon on the taskbar.
Click on the “Arabic” language in the window that comes up. Now start
typing your text. You can see that your text appears in the new language.

SPREADSHEET
Overview of Excel
Introduction
You have recently accepted a new job as an Administrative Assistant with All
Saints High School. Currently the school records are maintained on paper

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forms and stored in file cabinets organized alphabetically. Although the
information is well organized, it still takes time to manually leaf through the
folders to locate the information you need.
The school has purchased new computers and it plans to computerize all
administrative operations. You are responsible for maintaining the exam
records of all students.
You will prepare the Exam Record of students in Microsoft Excel 2007.
Microsoft Excel is the world’s most widely-used spreadsheet program, and is
part of the Microsoft Office suite. To start the Microsoft Excel application,
click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Office Excel 2007”.
A spreadsheet is like an accountant’s ledger, consisting of rows and columns.
It is mainly used for different type of calculations varying from very simple to
complex.
An electronic spreadsheet or worksheet is made up of rows and columns,
filled with numerical or textual data. This data can be edited, new data can
be added, and unwanted data can be deleted.
Features of Microsoft Excel 2007
Features of Microsoft Excel 2007:
- It is a general purpose electronic spreadsheet used to organize, calculate
and analyze data.
- It is very easy to manage, since you can add, change, update and delete
data with a few keystrokes.
- You can create well-designed spreadsheets that produce accurate and
professional-looking results.
- You can create charts to represent data more effectively.
- All data is stored in the computer, therefore there is no paper used.
Whenever a hard copy is required, whole or part of the spreadsheet can be
printed.
The User Interface
The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The
Microsoft Office user interface is uniform across most of its components. It
consists of three main parts:
1) The Office Button
2) The Quick Access toolbar
3) The Ribbon

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The Office Button: This appears at the top-left corner of your screen. Clicking
the Office Button displays the “File” menu. This contains commands for
opening, saving, printing, and closing a file.
The Quick Access toolbar: This appears to the right of the Office Button near
the top of the screen, displaying icons that represent commonly used
commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. It is designed to put your most
commonly used commands in a place where you can always find them.
The Ribbon: The Ribbon is a component of the Office Fluent user interface. It
consists of:-
a) Task-oriented tabs.
b) Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks.
c) Command buttons in each group that carry out a command or display a
menu of commands.
The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in Excel:
The “Home” tab has some of the most commonly used buttons, like those for
cutting and pasting information, formatting your data, and searching for
important pieces of information with search tools.
The “Insert” tab lets you add special ingredients like tables, graphics, charts,
and hyperlinks.
The “Page Layout” tab helps you in getting your worksheet ready for the
printer. You can specify margins, paper orientation, and other page settings.
The “Formulas” tab helps you build useful formulas that can resolve a great
deal of problems.
The “Data” tab lets you get information from an outside source for analysis.
It also includes tools for dealing with large amounts of information, like
sorting, filtering, and grouping.
The “Review” tab contains proofing tools like spell check. It also has buttons
that let you add comments to a worksheet and manage revisions.
The “View” tab lets you select from a variety of viewing options. It also
enables you to view several separate Excel spreadsheet files at the same
time.
You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs.
For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, please refer to the
following:
Topic: Word Processing
Lab: Creating and Editing a Document

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Assignment: The User Interface
Workbooks and Worksheets
In Microsoft Excel 2007, a single file or document is called a workbook. It
contains a collection of one or more worksheets and, optionally, chart sheets
containing graphic pictures of your worksheet data. Each worksheet can be
used to organize different types of related information.
The worksheet is divided into a grid of rows and columns. The intersection of
a row and a column is called a cell. To enable you to explore massive
amounts of data in worksheets, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 supports up to 1
million rows and 16 thousand columns per worksheet. Specifically, the Excel
2007 grid is 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns which works out to more
than 17 billion cells. The columns are named as A, B, C,… AA, AB, …AZ, BA,
BB,… XFD and the rows are numbered from one onwards. Each cell has its
own address called the cell address.
A special feature of Excel is “AutoCalculate”. By default, Microsoft Excel
automatically recalculates formulas when the cells that the formula depends
on have changed. Excel also calculates workbooks each time they are
opened.
At the bottom of the workbook window are tabs that give you instant access
to other worksheets in the workbook.

Navigating the Excel Worksheet

There are several methods for navigating a worksheet. To enter data in a
cell, you must first move to the cell. The simplest way is to click the cell that
you want to activate with the mouse.
You can use the arrow keys to move left, right, up or down. As you move
from one cell to another, the reference or address of the active cell appears
in the Name Box.
Cell address: The address of a cell is made up of two parts – the column
name and the row number. Suppose you want to refer to a cell in the third
row and fifth column, the address of that cell will be E3.The number of the
third row is obviously 3 and the name of the fifth column is E.
To view the part of the worksheet that is currently not visible, use the
vertical scroll bar on the right edge of the window or horizontal scroll bar at
the bottom of the window.
To move among the worksheets in your workbook, you need to click the
worksheet tabs.
There are some keyboard shortcuts to navigate within the worksheet.

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- Page Up and Page Down keys can be used to move up or down one screen
- Use the Home key to move to column A of the current row
- Use “Ctrl+Home” to go the cell A1 and
- “Ctrl+End” to go to the cell in the last row and last column that contains
data.
To activate a particular cell, use the F5 function key or press “Ctrl+G”. Type
the address of the cell you want to make active and click “OK”.
To select a group of cells, click in the cell you want to begin, drag your cursor
and release it when you have reached the end of the selection.

CREATING AND EDITING

Creating a New Workbook

When you first start Excel, a new blank Excel workbook is opened. It is here
that you will be entering the data. There is another way to create a new
blank worksheet.
Click the Office Button and select “New”. Now click “Create” in the “New
Workbook” window.
Template: You may also create a new workbook using a template. A
template is a file that is provided by the application in a “ready to use” form.
It includes predefined settings that can be used as a pattern to create many
different types of workbooks. For example a Sales Report, Balance Sheet,
Expense Statement, etc.
Whenever you create a new workbook using a template, the same default
settings are used.
A template file has an extension “.xltx”. You can also design and create your
own workbook templates.
Entering and Editing Data
After you are presented with a blank worksheet, you can enter data in it. To
enter data, move to a cell where you want to enter data and type the entry
using the keyboard.
Click in cell A1 to activate it and type ‘Roll_No’ and press “Enter” to complete
the entry. The cell pointer will move down one row. Continue typing the data
in column A as shown in the accompanying figure. When you finish entering
data in one column, activate cell B1 and repeat the same procedure as you
did for column A.

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While entering the data in the “Name” column, you will see that the data
overflows into the next column, that is, column C. Leave it as it is for now.
We will see later on, how to adjust the column width. Enter data in all five
columns as shown.
Correcting typing mistakes: While entering the data, if you make a typing
mistake, use the “Backspace” key on the keyboard to erase the wrong
character typed and continue typing.
The “Delete” key on the keyboard can be used to clear the contents of a cell.
To overwrite the contents of a cell simply make the cell active and type
whatever you want to.
You may wish to change only a part of the text in a cell. For this, double-click
on the cell. Now move the cursor to the point at which you want to edit the
text. You may make the changes you require.
To remove individual characters, press "Delete" for characters to the right of
the insertion point and "Backspace" for characters to the left.
Below the Ribbon, you see the Name Box on the left and the Formula Bar on
the right. You can use the formula bar to enter and edit data, instead of
editing directly in your worksheet. This is particularly useful when a cell
contains a large amount of information. When you start typing in the formula
box, a checkmark and an "X" icon appear just to the left of the box. Click the
checkmark to confirm your entry, or "X" to roll it back.
Resizing the Formula or Name Box: To make it easier to view and edit a large
amount of text in a cell, you can adjust the size of the formula box in the
formula bar. To adjust the height of the formula box, move your mouse over
the bottom of the formula box until the pointer changes to a vertical two-
headed arrow and then drag with your mouse to where you want it.
To accommodate long names, you can also resize the name box. To adjust
the width of the name box move your mouse between the name box and the
formula box until the pointer changes to a horizontal two-headed arrow and
then drag with your mouse to where you want it.

Changing Column Width

Now you will adjust the width of the column B. Move the mouse to the
boundary between column B and column C in the bar where column names
are given on top. The shape of the cursor will change to a double sided arrow
pointing to the right and left. Double click on the boundary while the cursor
is a double sided arrow. The width of the column will be automatically
adjusted to the maximum length of characters in the column.
You can also click and drag the mouse to adjust the width of the column.
Place the mouse on the boundary between the columns. When the cursor
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shape changes, click and drag the mouse to widen the column as much as
needed. The height of a row can be changed in a similar manner.
You can also specify the width of the column by clicking on a column and
selecting “Format → Column Width” in the “Cells” group on the “Home” tab.
Enter the column width and press “OK”.
Saving, Closing and Opening a Workbook
Now that all the data has been entered, you must save the file. To save a
file, click the Office Button and select “Save As”. Then type ‘Exam Record’ in
the box in front of the label “File name” and then click on the “Save” button.
Your file is stored with the extension “.xlsx”. The name of the workbook
appears in the “Title Bar”.
Now close the file. To close the file, click the Office Button and select
“Close”.
It is a good practice to save a file often to prevent data loss due to
unforeseen circumstances like power failure. As soon as you have opened a
new file, save it. Keep saving it as you work.
Once a file has been saved, to save it again, click the Office Button and
select “Save” or use the keyboard shortcut, “Ctrl+S”.
Another way to save is file is, to click the “Save” icon on the Quick Access
toolbar.
To open an existing workbook, click the Office Button and select “Open” or
use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+O”. From the window that is displayed,
browse to select the file you want to open. Now click “Open”.
Moving Cells
You now have to add a heading to the worksheet. To do so, you must make
place on the worksheet.
Select all the data you have entered, by placing the mouse in cell A1. Then
click and drag the mouse up to the last cell containing data to be moved. The
background color of the cells changes as you drag the mouse. Release the
mouse when you reach cell E11.
You now have to add a heading to the worksheet. To do so, you must make
place on the worksheet.
Select all the data you have entered, by placing the mouse in cell A1. Then
click and drag the mouse up to the last cell containing data to be moved. The
background color of the cells changes as you drag the mouse. Release the
mouse when you reach cell E11.
You may also use the “Cut” and “Paste” commands to move cells. Select the
data from the cells to be moved and then select “Cut” in the “Clipboard”

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group on the “Home” tab. A moving border appears around the selection.
Click on the cell where you want to move your data and then click on the
upper part of the “Paste” icon in the “Clipboard” group on the “Home” tab.
Centering and Merging Cells
To merge and centre headings:Type the headings in appropriate cells as
shown in the accompanying figure. Let the text overflow into the neighboring
cells. You will soon see how to bring the heading to the center of the data.
Select cells starting with A1 to E1 and click on the “Merge & Center” icon in
the “Alignment” group on the “Home” tab. As soon as you click on the icon,
all the selected cells are merged and the heading is centered. Do the same
for the other headings – , Exam Record and Class VIII – B, one heading at a
time
You have to now insert cells to make place so that we can give a combined
heading for the three subjects. Select the cells C8 to E8 and right-click on the
selection. Select “Insert” from the pop-up window and select “Shift cells
down” from the “Insert” window.
In the cell above Sub1, type ‘Marks’. Merge and center ‘Marks’ above the
three subject marks as shown in the accompanying figure. Move the data for
‘Roll_No’ and ‘Name’ one row down, as shown in the figure.
Using Formulas
Formula: A formula is nothing but an expression that performs calculation on
data contained in the worksheet. In Excel, a formula always begins with an
equal sign (=) and uses arithmetic operators like +, -, *, /, %, and ^ to
perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percent and
exponentiation respectively.
A formula is evaluated from left to right and in the following order: percent,
exponentiation, multiplication and division, addition and subtraction.
If a formula contains operators of the same precedence, they are evaluated
from left to right.
Formula AutoComplete: The Formula AutoComplete feature makes entering
formulas very simple. When you begin typing a formula, Excel displays a
drop-down list of matching items, including a description of each item. When
you see the item you want, press Tab to enter it into your formula.
You now have to calculate the total marks for each student. In regular
Mathematics, Total Marks secured = Marks of Subject 1 + Marks of Subject 2
+ Marks of Subject 3. To do this in Excel, you have to make use of a formula.
Type ‘Total’ in cell F8. Move the cursor down and type ‘=C10+D10+E10’ and
press “Enter”.
The total of the marks for the three subjects is displayed in cell F10 as 248.

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You have now to calculate the percent marks for each student. In regular
Mathematics, Percentage = Marks secured multiplied by 100 and divided by
the Maximum Marks. Type ‘Percent’ in cell G8. Move the cursor down and
type ‘=F10 * (100/300)’ which is the formula to calculate percentage and
then press “Enter”.
The Percent marks for the three subjects are displayed in cell G10 as
82.66667.
What-If Analysis: If you change one or more numbers in your spreadsheet, all
related formulas are recalculated automatically. Thus you can change the
value in a cell and see the effect on other related cells. This is called “What-If
Analysis”. Let us change the marks of one student. You can see that the
value in the “Percent” field is changed automatically.
Duplicating Cell Contents
You have to calculate the ‘Total’ and ‘Percent’ marks for all students in the
same way. But you don’t have to type the formula every time. The formula
can be copied and pasted in the other cells.
Select cells F10 and G10. Right-click anywhere in the selection Select “Copy”
from the pop-up window. Alternatively, you may use the keyboard shortcut
“Ctrl+C” or select “Copy” from the “Clipboard” group on the “Home” tab. A
moving border appears around the selection. This indicates that the contents
have been copied.
Select all cells from F11 to G19. Right click in anywhere in the selection.
Select “Paste” from the pop-up window. You may also use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl+V” or select “Paste” from the “Clipboard” group on the
“Home” tab. The formula for adding marks and calculating percent is copied
from cells F10 and G10 respectively and pasted into all selected cells.
The contents of several continuous cells, that is, a range, can also be copied
and pasted in a similar manner on the same worksheet, another worksheet,
another workbook or in a totally different application,to cancel the moving
border, press Esc key.
In the Formula Bar, observe the formula you have pasted in cell F11. It shows
“=C11+D11+E11”.
The formula in cell F12 is “=C12+D12+E12”.
The row numbers have changed relative to the positions of the cells
containing the formula. This is called “Relative Cell Referencing”.
Range: A range is a selection of two or more cells. The cells in a range can be
adjacent or non-adjacent.
An adjacent range is a block of adjoining cells. A non-adjacent range is two or
more cells or ranges that are not adjoining.

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In formulas, an adjacent range is specified by giving the starting and ending
cell addresses separated by a colon (:). Let us select the range A11:A18
using the mouse. Click on the cell A11 and drag to the cell A18. Now select
C14:F21.
A non-adjacent range is specified by giving the cell addresses separated by a
comma (,) like A4, C7, E9. Click on the first cell, press the “Ctrl” key and then
click on the next two cells.
Using Functions
A “Function” is a prewritten formula that performs calculations
automatically. You have to decide whether a student has passed or failed.
The condition for a student to pass is that he must secure at least 35 percent
marks. In regular English, you would write this condition as follows: If
percentage is greater than or equal to 35, the student will be declared
“PASSED”, otherwise he would be declared “FAILED”. In Excel, you will use
the “IF” function. Type the heading ‘Result’ in cell H8 and type the function
as shown in cell H10. =IF(G10>=35,"Pass", "Fail"). Press “Enter”. The result
of the function is displayed in cell H10. “Copy” this function and “Paste” it in
the cells from H11 to H19. The results for all students are displayed.
You now have to give Grades to the students according to their marks.
The grades will be given as follows:
Percent marks greater than or equal to 80, A+ grade
Percent marks greater than or equal to 75, A grade
Percent marks greater than or equal to 60, B grade
Percent marks greater than or equal to 50, C grade
Percent marks greater than or equal to 35, Pass grade
All others fail.
You will again use the “IF” function to do so. It is possible to nest multiple IF
functions within one Excel formula. This means a new “IF” statement is
started inside another “IF” statement. This is called “nested IF”. Let us learn
to use a nested IF this time.
Type the heading ‘Grade’ in cell I8 and type the function as shown in cell I10.
=IF(G10>=80, "A+", IF(G10>=75, "A", IF(G10>=60, "B", IF(G10>=50, "C",
IF(G10>=35,"PASS", "FAIL")))))
Press “Enter”. The result of the function is displayed in cell I10. “Copy” this
function and “Paste” it in the cells from I11 to I19. The grades for all students
are displayed.

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Now to find the maximum, minimum and average marks scored by the
students, you can make use of some statistical functions.
Type ‘Maximum marks’, ‘Minimum marks’ and ‘Average marks’ in cells B22,
B23, and B24 respectively.
To insert a function in cell C22, activate it. Select “Insert Function” in the
“Function Library” group on the “Formulas” tab. From the window that
opens, click in the drop down box next to “Or select a category”. Select the
“Statistical” category.
From the “Select a function” list, select “MAX” from the alphabetical list of
functions and click “OK”. The “Function Arguments” window is displayed.
Here you can enter the numbers or the range from which you want to find
the maximum number. Type the range as ‘F10:F19’ next to “Number1” and
click “OK”.
The maximum number in the range is displayed in cell C22 as 262.
Observe the formula bar to see how the function is written. It is written for
you by Excel as =MAX (F10:F19)
Now, to find the minimum marks, you have to use “MIN” function. Activate
cell C23.
Select “Insert Function” in the “Function Library” group on the “Formulas”
tab. Since the “MAX” function has been most recently used, the “Statistical”
category will already be selected. If the category is something else, select
“Statistical” from the “Or select a category” list. From the “Select a function”
list, select “MIN” from the alphabetical list of functions and click “OK”.
The Function Arguments window is displayed. Enter the numbers or the
range from which you want to find the minimum number. Type the range as
’F10:F19’ next to”Number1” and click “OK”.
The minimum number in the range is displayed in cell C23.
Observe the formula bar to see how the function is written. It is written for
you by Excel as =MIN (F10:F19)
There is another way of using functions. You can simply type the function
you want to use in the cell. To find the average marks, you have to use the
“AVERAGE” function.
Activate cell C24, and type ‘=Average (F10:F19)’ in it. Press “Enter” to
complete the entry.
The result is displayed in cell C24.
You can type all the functions in the same manner whenever you want to use
them.

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Formatting the Worksheet
You can make your spreadsheet look more coordinated and professional by
using Styles and Themes.
“Styles” are individual designs that can be applied to different parts of the
document. You can choose from a variety of predefined styles by selecting
“Cell Styles” in the “Styles” group on the “Home” tab.
“Themes” are universal designs that unify all of the styles. A theme consists
of a color palette, font set, and effects. You may access the theme gallery by
selecting “Themes” in the “Themes” group on the “Page Layout” tab.
The accompanying figure shows an enhanced view of the worksheet. Let us
see how we can enhance our worksheet which looks quite plain.
Adding a thick border: Select the range of cells from A8 to H19 and click
on the arrow next to the “Borders” icon in the “Font” group on the “Home”
tab. Now select “Thick Box Border” from the displayed list. A thick border is
displayed around the entire range.
Alignment: To bring the headings to the center, you must first select all of
them. To select all headings, click in cell A1. Hold down the Ctrl key and click
in cells A4, A5. With the Ctrl key still held down, select range A8:H8 and
range C9:E9.
To bring the headings to the center, click on the “Center” icon in the
“Alignment” group on the “Home” tab. All the headings are centered. You
may use the “Align Text Left” or “Align Text Right” icons to move the
headings to the left or right if you wish. While the headings are still selected,
you can make them bold. If the headings are not selected, select them first,
then click on the “Bold” icon in the “Font” group on the “Home” tab.
Changing the “Font” and “Font Size” of the headings: Select cell A1
and click on the “Font” list in the “Font” group on the “Home” tab. A list of
fonts is displayed. Select “Bodoni MT Black”. Then click on the “Font Size”
list and select 14. The font and the font size of the heading are changed.
Changing the font color of the headings: Select all headings and click
on the arrow next to the “Font Color” icon in the “Font” group on the “Home”
tab. A window of colors is displayed. Select “Blue”. The font color of all
headings is displayed with the color Blue.
Decimal Places: The percent marks are displayed with many decimal
places. You want the percent marks to be displayed with only two decimal
places. Select the range of Percent marks. Select “Format” in the “Cells”
group on the “Home tab. Now click on “Format Cells” and from the window
that opens, click on the “Number” tab. Select “Number” from the “Category”
list and change “Decimal places” to 2. Click “OK”. The numbers in the
“Percent” range are displayed with two decimal places.

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Highlighting: To highlight the range of “Maximum, Minimum and Average
Marks”, select the range B22:C24. Click on the “Fill Color” icon in the “Font”
group on the “Home” tab. Select the color “Yellow”. The cell range is filled
with the color Yellow.
Indenting: To adjust the indenting of the contents of a cell, click on the cell.
Then, in the “Alignment” group on the “Home” tab, click on the “Increase
Indent” or “Decrease Indent” icon as required.
Working with Graphics
You now have to insert the logo of the School. To do so, activate cell G3 and
select “Clip Art” in the “Illustrations” group on the “Insert” tab. In the “Clip
Art” panel at the right, type ‘concepts’ in the “Search for:” box.
Check in the boxes before “My Collections” and “Office Collections” in the
drop down list of “Search in”. Click in the box before “Clip Art” in the drop
down list of “Results should be” and click “Go”.
Resizing the graphic image: Click on the “Bull’s Eye” image. It will be bigger
in size. You have to resize it so that it occupies less space and looks
proportionate to the rest of the data on the page.
To resize it, click on the lower right corner handle of the image, and drag the
mouse so that the image becomes smaller in size. Release the mouse when
the image becomes the desired size.
Entering the Date
Inserting a row: Click on row number 7 on the left side. Right click and select
“Insert”. One Row will be inserted.
To insert multiple rows, select an equal number of rows. This means that
when you select four rows, four more rows are inserted. Activate cell A7 and
type ‘Date:’. Then place the cell pointer in cell B7 and select “Insert
Function” in the “Function Library” group on the “Formulas” tab.
Select “Date & Time” as category. Select “Date” as function and click “OK”.
Type the “Year” as ‘2007’, “Month” as ‘02’ and “Day” as ‘21’ in the “Function
Arguments” window. Click “OK”.
The date is displayed as “2/21/2007” in cell B7.
Formatting the date: To change the date format, right-click in cell B7 and
select “Format cells”. The “Format Cells” window is displayed. Click on the
“Number” tab. Select “Date” from the “Category” list and select the “Type”
as “14-Mar-01”. The sample format is visible in the “Sample” box. Click “OK”.
The date is displayed in the format 21-Feb-07.
Previewing and Printing

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The worksheet is now ready. You can print it. Before getting a hard copy, you
can preview the worksheet. If you do not like the way it looks, you can make
more changes. To preview your worksheet, click on the Office Button and
select “Print → Print Preview”. The “Print Preview” tab appears when you
view the worksheet in the Print Preview mode. Click “Close Print Preview” in
the “Preview” group to close the preview.
Everything seems to be OK. But the logo of the school needs to be moved
up, in line with the school’s name.
Moving the graphic image: Click and drag the “Bull’s Eye” image so that it is
in line with the school’s name. Release the mouse when done.
The image can also be moved by using the arrow keys on the keyboard by
selecting it first. Click on the image to select it. Use the right arrow key to
move the graphic image to the right, left arrow key to move it to the left and
so on.
Printing the worksheet: Click the Office Button and select “Print → Print” or
use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P”. Select the printer name from the list in
front of “Name”. Under “Print Range” enter “Pages From” as ‘1’ To ‘1’. Select
“Active Sheet” under “Print what” and click “OK”.
Sorting Data
Excel can quickly sort text, data or numbers according to specified criteria in
ascending or descending order. In the worksheet displayed you can see a list
of people along with their ages. Let us sort this list according to the names.
Click in any of the cells containing names and then click “Sort & Filter” in the
“Editing” group on the “Home” tab. To sort the list in ascending order of
names, click “Sort A to Z”.
To sort it in descending order, click “Sort & Filter” and select “Sort Z to A”.
Now, to sort this list according to the ages of the people, click in a cell
containing an age and follow the same procedure. When you click the “Sort
& Filter” icon, you see the options “Sort Smallest to Largest” and “Sort
Largest to Smallest”. This is because previously it was an alphabetic list and
now it is a list containing numbers that is being sorted.
To sort the list in ascending order of ages, select “Sort Smallest to Largest”.
Now if you had to sort the data in the worksheet containing student marks
that you previously created in descending order of roll numbers, you would
need to follow a slightly different procedure. This is because this worksheet
contains headings and information other than simply data. First select all
columns which contain data and then select “Sort & Filter → Sort Largest to
Smallest” in the “Editing” group on the “Home” tab.
Using Charts

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Learning about Charts
You have to present the exam results of the students of class VIII-B. The
most easy and effective manner to do this would be to present it in the form
of a chart.
A chart is a visual representation of data and conveys the information in an
easy to understand and attractive manner.
There are different types of charts available in Microsoft Excel 2007 such as
Column charts, Line charts, Bar charts, Area charts, Bubble charts and many
more. You may select a suitable type depending on the data you want to
chart and the emphasis you want the chart to impart. Here you will learn to
make a single data series chart.
Parts of a Chart: A chart has different parts as labeled in the accompanying
image.
Chart Title – The tile of the chart “Student Vs Marks”.
Value Axis – The Y-axis on which the value is shown.
Value Axis Title – The title “Marks”.
Category Axis – The X-axis on which the category for which you have charted
the values is shown.
Category Axis Title – The title “Name”
Chart Area – The entire area on which the chart is drawn.
Legend – The legend, as in a map, shows which color is used to represent
what: “Series 1” in this case.
Creating a Chart
To present the marks of all students as a chart, select the “Name” range
(B11 to B20), hold down the “Ctrl” key and select the “Total” range (F11 to
F20), without selecting the titles in cells B9 and F9.
On the “Insert” tab, in the “Charts” group, select “Column”. Now select
“Clustered Column”, the first image from the Chart sub-types displayed. You
can now see the chart on your worksheet. You can make changes to your
chart and enhance its appearance using various “Chart Tools”. If you do not
see “Chart Tools” displayed on the Ribbon, click in the chart area to ensure
that the chart is selected. Now, under “Chart Tools”, on the “Design” tab,
select a suitable style from the “Chart Styles” group.
Now let us add more details in our chart. For this we shall use the “Labels”
group on the “Layout” tab under “Chart Tools”. Click “Chart Title” and select
“Above Chart”. Now type the title ‘Student Vs Marks’. As you type, it appears

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in the Formula Bar at the top. Press “Enter”. The chart title is displayed
above your chart.
Similarly, to enter the description for the X-axis, select “Axis Titles → Primary
Horizontal Axis Title → Title Below Axis”; type “Names” and press “Enter”. To
enter the description for the Y-axis, select “Axis Titles → Primary Vertical Axis
Title → Rotated Title”; type “Marks” and press “Enter”.
Data Labels are used to label the elements of a chart with their actual data
values. Select “Data Labels → Outside End”. You can now see the actual
marks of each student.
Moving the chart: Click on the chart and when the mouse pointer changes to
a four-headed arrow, drag it to a position of your choice.
Sizing the chart: Click on the center of any side of the chart or at a corner.
When the mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, drag to a suitable
size.
To print only the chart, select it by clicking in the chart area. Now click on
the Office Button and then select “Print”.
Modifying a Chart
You may decide that you want to plot only the marks of Subject 1 in the
chart. For this, click on the “Design” tab under “Chart Tools”. Now click
“Select Data” in the “Data” group. The “Select Data Source” window is
displayed. Now, on your worksheet, select the cells that contain the data that
you want to appear in the chart. This time, select the data in the “Name”
column and “Subject 1” column and click “OK” in the “Select Data Source”
window. You can see that the chart displays the marks of Subject 1.
After a chart has been created, you can even change the Chart Type. On the
“Design” tab under “Chart Tools”, select “Change Chart Type” in the “Type”
group. Select “Bar” in the left pane of the “Change Chart Type” window and
then click “Clustered Bar” in the right pane. Now click “OK”. Your chart
appears as a bar chart.
You may enhance the appearance of your chart. Click on the “Format” tab
under “Chart Tools”. Select a Shape Style from the “Shape Styles” group.
Then select a WordArt Style from the “WordArt Styles” group. You may
explore the various other options on the “Format” tab to further enhance
your chart.
Managing a Workbook
Correcting Errors
While entering data, if some spelling mistakes have been made, the spelling
checker locates all misspelled words and proposes the correct spelling.

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Place the cell pointer at the beginning of your worksheet or from wherever
you want to start checking for errors. Select “Spelling” in the “Proofing”
group on the “Review” tab or use the keyboard shortcut “F7”.
The “Spelling” window is displayed and one by one every word in your
worksheet is checked. If a spelling is found to be wrong, options are
displayed in the “Suggestions” box from the spelling checker’s dictionary. In
that case, select the correct word from the suggestions list and click on the
“Change” button.
If there are more than one occurrences of the same word spelt wrongly, click
on the “Change All” button. If the spelling is correct but shown as incorrect
for some reason, click on “Ignore All” or “Ignore Once” whichever is
appropriate.
When you click on any button such as “Change”, “Ignore” etc., the spelling
checker moves to the next word. If you change a word which you did not
want to, click on “Undo Last”.
Some words, such as proper nouns which are not really errors may be shown
as spelling mistakes. You may add these words to the dictionary by clicking
the “Add to Dictionary” button. When the checking is completed for the
entire worksheet, a message saying so is displayed.
Working with Sheets
You want to make the exam record for another class now. You can use the
same format of the worksheet. You do not have to type all the headings once
again. Simply copy them from one sheet to another.
Select all headings in the range A1 to H10. Right-click on the selection and
click on “Copy”.
On the sheet tabs below, click on Sheet2. The Sheet2 will be displayed.
Right-click in cell A1 of Sheet2. Select the “Paste” option. The range copied
from Sheet1 is pasted in cell A1 of Sheet2.
You may make changes in this sheet for another class. All you need to do is
to add data. A whole new worksheet with the same layout but with different
data is ready.
Moving or copying sheets: Right click on the Sheet1 tab. Select the “Move or
Copy” option. The “Move or Copy” window is displayed.
You may copy a sheet to another workbook. In the “To book” list, select the
book you want to move the sheet to. You can also select the sheet before
which you want to insert it. From the “Before sheet” list, select the sheet. To
copy the sheet, click in the “Create a copy” check box.
You may also move or copy sheets with the mouse. Click a sheet you want
move and drag it to the place you want to copy it and release the mouse

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button. While you drag, a solid black triangle appears along with a blank
page icon. When you release the mouse, the sheet will be moved to the new
location.
To copy a sheet with the mouse, hold down the “Ctrl” key while you drag a
sheet. A ‘+’ sign appears on the page icon while copying the sheet. When
you copy, another copy of the sheet is made. The number of the copy
appears in brackets in the sheet tab
Naming a sheet: When you have many sheets, it becomes difficult to
remember what data is stored on each sheet. You can name the sheet
accordingly, to give you an idea of what data is stored on the sheet, without
opening the sheets.
Double-click on the name of the sheet. The name will be highlighted. Simply
type the new name.
The name of the sheet is changed.
Manage a sheet: When you right-click on the sheet tab, a number of options
are displayed in the pop-up window. Through the options in this window, you
can insert, delete, rename, move or copy, select all sheets, and change the
tab color.
If you select “Insert”, the “Insert” window is displayed, from which you can
select whether you want to insert a worksheet, a chart or something else. If
you select “Delete”, the current sheet will be deleted after confirmation.
You may change the tab color of sheets to distinguish between the data
stored on each sheet. For this, right-click on a sheet tab and select “Tab
Color”. You can select all sheets by selecting the “Select all sheets” option.
To deselect the sheets, right click in any of the sheet tabs and select
“Ungroup Sheets”.
Using Autofill: Autofill is a feature of Microsoft Excel 2007 that makes
entering a series of headings easier by logically repeating and extending the
series.
Autofill recognizes and automatically extends data and alphanumeric
headings as far as you specify.
Type the entry ‘January’ in a cell. Move the mouse to the corner of the
selection. You will see a black plus sign. This is the fill handle. Drag the
mouse as far as you want the cells to fill and release the mouse. All the
range you selected will be filled with names of months starting with January.
Other such autofill entries are - days of the week in short, names of the
months in short, number series like 1000, 2000, 3000, etc.
Absolute reference: An absolute reference is a cell or range reference used in
a formula whose location does not change when a formula is copied. To stop

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the automatic relative cell references, type a $ (dollar) character before the
column and row number. This makes the cell reference absolute.
When a formula containing an absolute cell reference is copied to another
row or column in the worksheet, the cell reference does not change.
For the Final exam, 20% of the Unit Test marks are to be calculated.
Prepare the data as shown in the accompanying figure in the neighboring
space, starting with cell ‘J1’. You may copy the Roll Nos and the Names, but
data for marks will have to be typed.
Now, to calculate 20% marks, activate cell M6 and type ‘=L6 * $O$2’ in it. By
adding ‘$’ before ‘O’ and ‘2’, you have made the column and the row
references absolute.
Copy this formula from cell M6 to the remaining students and check the
formula for each student in the “Formula Bar”. Although the formula has
been copied, the reference of cell O2 has remained constant.
Referencing multiple sheets: While working you may have to reference data
from more than one sheet. This is called referencing multiple sheets. Now,
Sheet1 has the value 100 in cell A1 and Sheet2 has the value 200 in cell A1.
Let us now go to Sheet3. Here, in the cell A1, enter “=Sheet1!A1+Sheet2!
A1” and press “Enter”. You can see that the sum of the figures on the other
two sheets is displayed here. Thus “Sheet1!A1” refers to cell A1 on Sheet1.
Zooming the worksheet: In Microsoft Excel 2007, there can be data in a
number of rows and columns all of which cannot be seen at the same time.
At such times, you can change the display percentage of the sheet. Select
“Zoom” in the “Zoom” group on the “View” tab. In the zoom window you
may select a zoom percentage of your choice. If you reduce the percentage,
more data will fit on the screen and vice versa.
Managing Large Sheets
You already know the massive size of the worksheet in Microsoft Excel 2007.
You can work in any part of the worksheet at any time. But the problem
comes when you need to refer to some other part while working in one part
of the sheet. At such times, you can view two areas of a worksheet and lock
rows or columns in one area by splitting or freezing panes. You can then
scroll in one area of the worksheet, while rows or columns in the non-scrolled
area remain visible.
Splitting Panes: You can split the window either horizontally, vertically or
both horizontally and vertically.
To split the window vertically, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell
other than the first one in the top row. Select “Split” in the “Window” group
on the “View” tab. Now both panes have a common vertical scroll bar but

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individual horizontal scroll bars to enable you to move separately in the two
panes.
To split the window horizontally, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell
other than the first one in the leftmost column. Select “Split” in the
“Window” group on the “View” tab. Now both panes have a common
horizontal scroll bar but individual vertical scroll bars to enable you to move
separately in the two panes.
To split the window both horizontally as well as vertically, place the cell
pointer in the appropriate cell where you want the split to appear. Select
“Split” in the “Window” group on the “View” tab. You can see that three
panes have appropriate vertical and horizontal scroll bars. When a window is
split both horizontally and vertically, the top left pane freezes. Also, if you
click on the top left cell, selecting “Split” in the “Window” group on the
“View” tab results in a horizontal and vertical split.
To remove a split, select “Split” in the “Window” group on the “View” tab
once again.
Freezing panes: With the “Freeze Panes” option, you can freeze either, or
both, rows and columns. This means that, regardless of where you are in the
worksheet, you can see the information in those rows and/or columns at all
times. You can freeze information in the top and left panes of the window
only.
To freeze the left pane of the window, place the cell pointer in an appropriate
cell other than the first one in the top row. Select “Freeze Panes → Freeze
Panes” in the “Window” group on the “View” tab. Moving using the
horizontal scrollbar keeps the column numbers in the frozen pane
unchanged.
To freeze the top pane of the window, place the cell pointer in an appropriate
cell other than the first one in the leftmost column. Select “Freeze Panes →
Freeze Panes” in the “Window” group on the “View” tab. Moving using the
vertical scrollbar keeps the row numbers in the frozen pane unchanged.
Let us assume that you wish to have the headings and roll numbers & names
of the students visible always. For this, click the cell below and to the right of
the row and column you want to freeze. Select “Freeze Panes → Freeze
Panes” in the “Window” group on the “View” tab. As you scroll through your
worksheet, you can see that the frozen panes are visible at all times.
To freeze the top row or first column, select the appropriate options from
those displayed on selection of “Freeze Panes” in the “Window” group on the
“View” tab.
To remove the freeze, select “Freeze Panes → Unfreeze Panes” in the
“Window” group on the “View” tab.

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Forecasting Values
Goal Seek: One of the features of Microsoft Excel is analyzing data. During
analysis, you often come across situations, where you have to see the effects
of changing selected factors in a worksheet. If you know the result that you
want from a formula, but not the input value the formula needs to get that
result, you can use the Goal Seek feature. It is a method which aids you in
forecasting values.
For example, if a student has failed, you want to find out, how much he
should have scored in the failed subject to score pass marks.
Student with Roll Number 6 has failed. You can see that he has scored very
poor marks in one of the three subjects. You now want to find out, how many
marks he should have scored in that subject so that he would have secured a
Pass grade. You can do this with Goal seek.
Activate cell F16, containing the “Total” marks of the student. Select “What-
If Analysis → Goal Seek” in the “Data Tools” group on the “Data” tab. In the
“Goal Seek” window, type ‘105’ (the passing total marks) in the “To value”
box. Click in the “By changing cell” field and then click C16, the cell with the
marks below pass level. Click “OK”.
The “Goal Seek Status” window is displayed. The value in cell C16 is adjusted
to get the target value. Click “OK”. The marks in the failed subject are
adjusted to 35.
Headers, Footers and Print Settings
Page orientation: Depending on the area of the worksheet you want to print,
you can change the orientation of the page so that data can be fitted
accordingly.
If there is more data to be fitted on one page, you can change the page
orientation to landscape. The default setting is “Portrait”.
Click on the Office Button and select “Print → Print Preview”. If the data is not
properly visible on the page, you may change page orientation to
“Landscape” by selecting “Orientation” in the “Page Setup” group on the
“Page Layout” tab.
Header and Footer: Before you print your data, you may decide that the
pages of your worksheet must have a header and footer. The header and
footer give additional information about the data on the page. The text that
appears in the top margin of the page is called the Header. The header is
usually the title you would give to the page. The text that appears in the
bottom margin of the page is called the Footer. The page number is usually
given as the footer. If you have say 15 pages in your workbook, you can use
the “Header & Footer” option to add the same header and footer on each
page.

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Select “Header & Footer” in the “Text” group on the “Insert” tab. A box is
displayed at the center of the header area. Here, you may enter the text
“First Term Exam Report”. Press “Enter” and type ‘Class VIII B’ on the second
line. Now press the “Tab” key. This displays another box to the right. On the
“Design” tab under “Header & Footer Tools”, click on “Current Date” in the
“Header & Footer Elements” group. This will insert the date.
Now click “Go to Footer” in the “Navigation” group. We shall insert the page
number in the box displayed. For this, click on “Page Number” in the
“Header & Footer Elements” group. Press “Tab” and then press the “Esc” key
to complete creation of the footer.
Click on the Office Button and select “Print → Print Preview”. Check the
layout and close the preview by clicking “Close Print Preview” in the
“Preview” group.
Printing selected worksheets: You do not always need to print the entire
workbook. You can print selected sheets in the workbook.
Select all the sheets you want to print by clicking on the sheet tabs. Use the
“Ctrl” key to select more than one sheet. Click on the Office Button and
select “Print”.
In the “Print” window, select the name of the printer from the list in the
“Name” field. In the “Print What” section, click on “Active sheet(s)” and then
click “OK”.

Presentation Graphics

Overview of Presentation Graphics

Introduction to Presentation Graphics
If you have to make a presentation to an audience and you want it to be
good, you can choose from a variety of computer tools called Graphics
Presentation Programs. These programs are designed to help you to create
an effective presentation, whether to the Board of Directors of a company or
to your fellow colleagues. An effective presentation puts your point across
clearly and in an interesting manner.
Graphics Presentation Programs include features to handle pictures, text,
movies and sounds, charts and tables. With a few keystrokes you can quickly
change, correct and update the presentation. In addition, a Graphics
Presentation Program may also suggest layouts and color and animation
schemes for different types of presentations and offer professionally
designed templates to help you to create a presentation that is sure to hold
the attention of your audience.

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Each presentation is divided into slides. Each slide shows a different screen
to your audience.
Exploring Microsoft PowerPoint: To start the Microsoft PowerPoint application,
click on the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office →
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007”.
You see the familiar Microsoft Office 2007 user interface which consists of:
1) The Office Button which displays a menu containing commands for
opening, saving, printing, and closing a file.
2) The Quick Access toolbar which displays icons that represent commonly
used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo.
3) The Ribbon which has Task-oriented Tabs, Groups and Command buttons.
The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in PowerPoint:
The “Home” tab contains the basic formatting tools.
The “Insert” tab contains the basic set of objects which you can insert into a
slide.
The “Design” tab contains tools to design your slides.
The “Animations” tab contains tools to animate objects and create
transitions between slides.
The “Slide Show” tab contains tools that control how the slide show is
presented.
The “Review” tab contains tools which help you proofread and correct a
presentation.
The “View” tab contains tools which help you view your presentation in the
most suitable way.

You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs.
For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, you may see the
assignment titled “The User Interface” in the “Microsoft Word” topic.
Creating a Presentation
Using Installed Templates
A “Template” is a pre-designed presentation designed for common purposes
such as a photo album or a quiz show. You may create a new presentation
using a template provided by PowerPoint. Click on the Office Button and
select “New”.

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In the left panel, under “Templates”, click “Installed Templates” to see a list
of templates. Click on a suitable one and then press the “Create” button. A
new presentation is displayed with pre-defined settings. You can make
changes as required.
PowerPoint Presentation Views
Viewing a presentation: A “view” is a way of looking at a presentation.
Microsoft PowerPoint has three main views: Normal View, Slide Sorter View,
and Slide Show View.
Slide Sorter View: Click the “View” tab. Select “Slide Sorter” in the
“Presentation Views” group. This is an exclusive view of your slides in
thumbnail form. When you have finished creating and editing your
presentation, Slide Sorter View gives you an overall picture of it, making it
easy to reorder, add, or delete slides.
Normal View: Select “Normal” in the “Presentation Views” group. This is the
main editing view. It has three working areas. On the left are the “Slides”
and “Outline” tabs. Click on the tab names to view the respective tabs. The
“Slides” tab shows your slides as thumbnail-sized images while you edit. This
makes it easy to navigate through your presentation and to see the effects
of changes. You can also rearrange, add or delete slides. The “Outline” tab
shows your slide text in outline form.
In the Normal View, on the right you can see the “Slide Pane”, which displays
a large view of the current slide. On the bottom is the “Notes Pane” in which
you can type notes that you want along with a slide.
Slide Show View: Select “Slide Show” in the “Presentation Views” group or
press “F5” on your keyboard. This view takes up the full computer screen,
like an actual slide show presentation. In this full-screen view, you see your
presentation the way your audience will. You can see how your graphics,
timings, movies, animated elements and transition effects will look in the
actual show.
You may also change the presentation views by clicking on the buttons
displayed on the “Status Bar” at the bottom of the screen.
To actually run a slide show, you may select “Slide Show” in the
“Presentation Views” group on the “View” tab or click the “Slide Show”
button at the bottom right of the status bar. Now, if you need to make
changes to the way your slide show runs, you may use the options available
on the “Slide Show” tab. Here, you can find various tools that control how
the slide show is presented. For example, you may specify the timing
between the display of each slide and which slides are to be hidden during
the presentation.
Creating your First Slide

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You are working for a company which offers various educational courses. You
wish to create a presentation which introduces your company and tells about
its numerous activities. When you start PowerPoint, you see a blank
presentation in Normal View with the default name “Presentation1”. In the
Slide Pane on the right, you see two boxes. These are called “Placeholders”.
Click in the first placeholder and type the name you want to give your
presentation. In the second placeholder type a subtitle.
Applying a Theme: You may enhance the appearance of this slide which
looks quite plain. Click on the “Design” tab. In the “Themes” group, click on
the arrow at the bottom right to see all available themes. Now click on a
theme of your choice.
You may need to change some of the text that you have entered on your
slide.
Editing in the Slide Pane: You may make changes directly in the slide pane.
In the existing slide, let us assume you need to make changes to the title.
First, click on the text in the title. The title is now a selected object and is
surrounded by a selection rectangle. An insertion point is displayed to show
your location in the text. You may now edit the text as you wish.
Using the Outline Tab: Alternately, you may make editing changes to your
text on the Outline tab. These are simultaneously reflected in the Slide Pane.
Sizing and Moving Placeholders
You know that placeholders are boxes that are part of most slide layouts.
These boxes hold title and body text or objects such as charts, tables, and
pictures. Click on the title text.
Sizing a placeholder: The “Sizing Handles” at the sides and corners of the
selection rectangle can be used to adjust the size of the placeholder. When
you move your mouse over a sizing handle the pointer becomes a two-
headed arrow. Dragging a corner sizing handle adjusts both the height and
width at the same time. The sizing handles at the sides are used to adjust
only the height or the width.
Moving a placeholder: You may wish to change the position of your
placeholder. To move a placeholder, click in an area between the sizing
handles on the side borders. When the pointer becomes a four-headed
arrow, you can drag to the location you wish.
You can see a “Rotation Handle” which is a round arrow at the top of the
placeholder. It can be used to rotate the placeholder to any angle. To rotate
a placeholder, drag the rotation handle in the direction that you want to
rotate it.
Saving and Opening a Presentation

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To save your presentation, you may click the Office Button and select
“Save”. In the “Save As” window specify the location at which you wish to
save your presentation. You may use the default name for your presentation
or enter a new one. Now click “Save”. You may also use the keyboard
shortcut “Ctrl+S”. Your file is stored with the extension “.pptx”. Now click the
Office Button and select “Close” to close this file.
To open a file that you have previously saved, click the Office Button and
select “Open”. In the “Open” window, browse to the location of your
presentation and click on the file name from the displayed list. Click the
“Open” button to display the selected file on the screen.
To open a recently used presentation you may click the Office Button and
then click on the presentation name in the list displayed under “Recent
Documents”.
Using a Slide Layout and Inserting Pictures
A Slide Layout refers to the arrangement of elements, such as text, pictures,
tables, charts and movies, on a slide. Let us create a new slide by specifying
a layout. Click on the “Home” tab. In the “Slides” group, click on the lower
part of the “New Slide” icon. The available layouts are displayed. Select a
suitable one. You can see a new slide with the specified layout.
Enter the title and text as shown.
Similarly, create a slide using the “Picture with Caption” layout. Enter the
title and text as shown. To display a picture of your company logo on your
slide, click the picture icon. In the “Insert Picture” window, browse to the
location of your picture file. Click on the picture name and then click “Insert”.
Let us also insert the same picture on the first slide we created. Click on the
first slide on the Slides tab in the left pane. Now click on the “Insert” tab. In
the “Illustrations” group, select “Picture”. As you did earlier, in the “Insert
Picture” window, browse to the location of your picture file. Click on the
picture name and then click “Insert”.
The picture is displayed on your slide in a placeholder. You may change the
size and position as required.
Enhancing the Picture: You may make changes to the picture by using
various Picture Tools. Click on the picture. Now click on the “Format” tab
under “Picture Tools”. In the “Picture Styles” group, click on the “More”
arrow to see all available picture styles. You may click on a style of your
choice.
You may apply other effects to your picture by selecting from the various
options available under “Picture Effects” in the “Picture Styles” group on the
“Format” tab.
Changing Fonts and Formatting
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Changing Font and Font Size: Let us change the Font and Font Size of the
text on the second slide. Click on the second slide on the Slides tab in the
left pane. Now click on the “Home” tab. Select the text to be formatted by
highlighting the text on the slide. You may select the desired Font and Font
Size from the “Fonts” group. You will now observe that the text has changed
to the new font of the size you selected. You may also increase or decrease
the font size by clicking on the “Increase Font Size” and “Decrease Font
Size” icons in the “Fonts” group.
Formatting: Enhancing the appearance of the slide to make it more
attractive, readable and user-friendly is called formatting. Applying different
formatting to characters and paragraphs can greatly enhance the
appearance of the slide.
Changing Font Effects and Color: From the “Fonts” group, you may select
other effects such as Bold, Italic, Underline and Text Shadow by clicking on
the respective icons. You may also change the color of the font by clicking on
the arrow to the right of the “Font Color” icon and making your selection.
Changing Alignment: You may change the alignment of text by clicking on
the “Align Text Left”, “Center” and “Align Text Right” icons in the
“Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab. Let us center the title of the slide.
Bullets and Numbering: You may enter text as a bulleted or numbered list.
Let us create such a list on the third slide. Click on the third slide on the
Slides tab in the left pane. Now to create a bulleted list, select the text and
then click the arrow to the right of the “Bullets” icon in the “Paragraph”
group on the “Home” tab. Make your selection from the various bullet styles
displayed. Similarly, to create a numbered list, you may use the
“Numbering” icon in the “Paragraph” group on the “Home” tab.
Changing the Background Style: To change the background of your slides,
click on the “Design” tab. Select “Background Styles” in the “Background”
group and make your selection.
Changing Page Properties: Select “Page Setup” in the “Page Setup” group on
the “Design” tab. In the window displayed you may specify the size and
orientation of your slides and then click “OK”.
Checking Spellings

As you may have entered the information on previous slides, you may have
unknowingly left several typing errors uncorrected. To correct the misspelled
words, click on the “Review” tab. Now select “Spelling” in the “Proofing”
group or use the keyboard shortcut “F7”. In this way you can check the
spellings on all the slides of the presentation at one time.

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For each word that is misspelled, a dialog box will appear and will prompt
you to effect suitable corrections. If you do not wish to change what you
have typed, click “Ignore”. You may choose “Ignore All” if the word appears
many times throughout the presentation.

To correct a word that is spelt incorrectly, you may highlight one of the
suggestions displayed or manually correct it yourself by typing in the correct
word in the “Change to” box. Click “Change” to make the correction or
“Change All” if there are multiple instances of the misspelled word in the
presentation.

When your entire presentation has been scanned, you will be informed
accordingly.

Inserting, Moving and Deleting Slides

Inserting a Slide: You know that you can insert a new slide by selecting “New
Slide” in the “Slides” group on the “Home” tab. To insert a slide between two
slides, click on the slide after which you want the new slide on the “Slides”
tab and then click on the “New Slide” icon.

Moving a Slide: To move a slide in Normal View, select one or more slide
icons on the “Slides” tab, and drag to a new location. To select multiple
slides in a row, press “Shift” before clicking the slide icon and then drag.

If you have a large number of slides in your presentation, you may find it
more convenient to use the Slide Sorter View to view all your slides and
change their positions. Change to Slide Sorter View by clicking on the “Slide
Sorter” button on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. Now click on
the slide you wish to move and drag it to a new location. Let us move all
slides back to their original positions.

Deleting a Slide: You may use either the Normal View or the Slide Sorter
View to delete a slide. Let us revert to Normal View by clicking the “Normal”
icon on the Status Bar. Now to delete the blank slide that was just inserted,
click the slide icon on the “Slides” tab. You may now select “Delete” in the
“Slides” group on the “Home” tab or press the “Delete” key on your
keyboard.

Running a Slide Show

Running a Slide Show: Once all the slides are in the order that you want, you
can see how your presentation would look when viewed by an audience to

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run a presentation, click on the “Slide Show” tab in the “Start Slide Show”
group, click “From Beginning” or use the keyboard shortcut “F5” to view the
complete presentation You may click or press the spacebar to move to the
next slide.

Viewing the slide show from the current slide: To do so, on the “Slides” tab,
click the slide icon from which you wish to view your slides. Then click the
“From Current Slide” icon in the “Start Slide Show” group on the “Slide
Show” tab.

Previewing and Printing a Presentation

Previewing A Presentation: As you work with your slides, you may wish give
copies to your colleagues for their comments. To save time and unnecessary
printing and waste of paper, it is always a good idea to preview onscreen
how your slides will appear when printed. To see a preview of your slide in a
window on the screen, click on the Office Button and select “Print → Print
Preview”. The “Print Preview” tab appears when you view the slide in the
Print Preview mode. Click “Close Print Preview” in the “Preview” group to
close the preview.

Web Page Preview: To preview your presentation as a web page, you need to
add the “Web Page Preview” command to the Quick Access toolbar. Click on
the Office Button and then click “PowerPoint Options”. In the window
displayed, click “Customize” in the left pane. Under “Choose Commands
from:” select “All Commands”. From the list displayed below, select “Web
Page Preview”. Now click “Add” and then click “OK”.

You can see the “Web Page Preview” button on the Quick Access toolbar.
Clicking it displays your presentation as it would look in a web browser. Click
the “Outline” button at the bottom left to hide the left pane. You may view
all the slides by using the “Next Slide” and “Previous Slide” buttons at the
bottom of the screen.

Printing a Presentation: Click the Office Button and select “Print → Print” or
use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P”. The “Print” window is displayed.

Print range: Under Print range you may specify which of the slides you want
to print. You may print all slides, the current slide only or any selection of
slides.

Print what: Here, you may specify whether you wish to print the slides,
handouts, notes pages or outline view.

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Color/grayscale: Here, you may choose the color quality of the prints.
Choosing the “Grayscale” or “Pure Black and White” option allows you to
print without color.

Enter your options and click “OK”.

Modifying and Refining a Presentation

Finding and Replacing Text

Finding Text: You may search for a word or phrase in your presentation. Click
on the “Home” tab. In the “Editing” group, click “Find” or press “Ctrl+F” to
display the “Find” window. Enter some text and click “Find Next”. The next
occurrence of the specified term after the current cursor position is selected.

Replacing Text: Click "Replace". In the "Replace" window, you may enter the
new text in the "Replace with" field. Click “Replace” to replace the current
word with the new word. Click “Replace All” to replace all occurrences of the
search text by the specified new text. A window appears showing the
number of replacements made.

Finding and Replacing: Alternatively, to replace text you may select

“Replace” from the “Editing” group on the “Home” tab or press “Ctrl+H” to
display the “Replace” window.

Match case: You may check this box for a case sensitive search.

Find whole words only: You may check this box to search for whole words
matching the search criteria.

Creating a Text Box and Inserting a Hyperlink

You may insert hyperlinks in your slides. A hyperlink is a connection to a

location in the current document, another document or to a Web site. Let us
insert a hyperlink from the third slide to the first slide. Click on the third slide
icon on the “Slides” tab. First let us create a small text box below the text on
the slide.

Inserting a text box: A text box is a container for text or graphics. To create a
new text box click on the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, click “Text Box".
Click on the slide below the existing text and drag with the mouse to draw
the textbox.

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Adding text to a text box: You will notice that the text box displays an
insertion point, indicating that you can enter text in it. Enter the text “Go to
Slide 1”. As you type the text in the text box, it is automatically resized as
needed to display the entire entry. You may also change the size and
position of the text box by using the sizing handles.

Inserting a Hyperlink: Select the text entered in the text box. Now click on
the “Insert” tab. In the “Links” group, click “Hyperlink”. In the “Insert
Hyperlink” window, under “Link to:” click on “Place in This Document”. Under
“Select a place in this document”, click on “First Slide”. Now click “OK”.

You can see that the hyperlink text is underlined. When you run the slide
show, clicking on this link takes you to the first slide.

Create and Enhance a Table

You may wish to display some data in tabular form in your presentation.
Create a new slide using the “Blank” layout by selecting “New Slide” in the
“Slides” group on the “Home” tab. To insert a table, click on the “Insert” tab.
In the “Tables” group, click “Table”. You may specify the dimensions of your
table by dragging with the mouse or by clicking “Insert Table”. In the “Insert
Table” window, enter the number of rows and columns and click “OK”.

A “Design” tab is displayed under “Table Tools”. You may select a table style
from the gallery displayed. Click the arrow at the bottom right to view all the
available styles. Select a suitable one. You may size or move your table as
required.

Now you are ready to enter the table content. Enter the headings and details
in the other rows as shown. You may enhance the appearance of the text in
your table. Let us change the style of the heading text. Select the text and
then click “Quick Styles” in the “WordArt Styles” group on the “Design” tab
under “Table Tools”. You may select a style from the gallery displayed.

Using SmartArt

A “SmartArt” graphic is a visual representation of your information and

ideas. Using SmartArt graphics, you can effectively communicate your
message in a quick and simple way. You may choose from various categories
such as Process, Hierarchy, Cycle, Relationship and others. Each category
contains several different layouts.

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Let us create a SmartArt graphic to describe the course structure of one of
the courses offered. First create a new slide using the “Blank” layout. Click
on the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “SmartArt”. In the
“Choose a SmartArt Graphic” window, select a category. Now select a
suitable graphic and click “OK”.

In the graphic displayed on your slide, you may enter text directly by clicking
the text boxes. Alternatively, you may click “Text Pane”, in the “Create
Graphic” group on the “Design” tab, under “SmartArt Tools. This displays the
text pane where you can enter your text. Close the text pane by clicking the
“X” icon at the top right corner.

Changing Colors: You may apply color variations to the shapes in your
SmartArt graphic. In the “SmartArt Styles” group on the “Design” tab under
“SmartArt Tools”, click “Change Colors”. Now make your selection from the
gallery displayed.

Applying a SmartArt Style: A SmartArt Style is a combination of various

effects that you can apply to the shapes in your SmartArt graphic to create a
professionally designed look. In the “SmartArt Styles” group, click the arrow
at the bottom right to view all the available styles and select a suitable one.

Create a text box above the SmartArt graphic and enter the text as shown.
Now click “Quick Styles” in the “Drawing” group on the “Home” tab. You may
select a suitable background style for your text box from the gallery
displayed.

Inserting Clips and Clip Art

You may insert “Clips” and “Clip Art” in your slides. A “Clip” may be a single
media file, including art, sound, animation or movies. “Clip Art” refers to a
ready-to-use picture. We shall insert a clip as well as Clip Art on one of our
slides. Click on the slide containing the SmartArt graphic on the Slides tab.
Now click on the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click “Clip Art”.

Let us first insert a small clip. A clip is a file that can contain sounds and
animations. In the panel displayed on the right, in the “Search for” box, enter
a word or phrase that describes the clip or the file name of the clip. Since
yours is a company having operations related to computers, let us look for a
clip using the word “Computer”. In the “Search in” list box, ensure that “All
collections” are searched by checking the box against “Everywhere”. Let us
search for clips of the type “Movies”. For this, in the “Results should be” list

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box, check the box against “Movies”. Ensure other boxes are unchecked.
Now click “Go”.

A number of related clips are displayed. Simply click on the one you wish to
insert and drag it to a suitable place on your slide. You may change the size
of the clip as required.

Let us now insert some Clip Art. “Clip Art” refers to a ready-to-use picture. To
insert Clip Art, check the box against “Clip Art” under “Results should be”
and ensure other boxes are unchecked. Now click “Go”. From the pictures
displayed, drag a suitable one onto your slide.

To see the clip that you inserted actually playing, you need to run the slide
show. For this, click the “View” tab and select “Slide Show” in the
“Presentation Views” group.

Create and Enhance Shapes

PowerPoint offers many predefined shapes that you can insert into your
document. Create a new slide using the “Blank” layout by clicking “New
Slide” in the “Slides” group on the “Home” tab. In the “Drawing” group, click
“Shapes” to display the various shapes that you can use.

Under “Basic Shapes”, click on “Hexagon”. Drag your mouse to create a

shape of the size you wish. You may size and position the shape as required.

Adding Text: To add text within the shape, simply start typing as shown in
the figure. The entered text appears at the centre of your shape.

Coloring the Shape: You may apply color to the shape by choosing from a
variety of background styles. Click “Quick Styles” in the “Drawing” group and
select a style from the gallery displayed.

To enter a title above the shape, you may create a text box as shown in the
slide in the figure.

Changing the Presentation Design and Color Scheme

Changing the Presentation Design: After you have created many slides, you
may decide to give a totally new look to your presentation. Click on the
“Design” tab. In the “Themes” group, click on the arrow at the bottom right
to see all available themes. Now click on a theme of your choice. On the
“Slides” tab, you can see that the new theme has been applied to all the
slides.

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Changing the Color Scheme: To change the color scheme, click on “Colors” in
the “Themes” group on the “Design” tab. You may select a color scheme by
clicking on it. It is applied to all slides.

Adding Animation and Other Effects

“Animation” refers to the addition of special visual or sound effects to your

slides. In PowerPoint build effects are animations to slide contents.

Applying animation to an object: Let us add some animation effects to the

graphic in the slide shown. First, click on the graphic. You can see it is
surrounded by a box. Now click on the “Animations” tab. In the “Animations”
group, click in the “Animate” list box and select “Fly In”. You can view the
animation effect right away on your slide.

Now, click “Custom Animation” in the “Animations” group. In the panel at the
right, click the arrow in the list box below the “Speed” list box and select
“Start After Previous”. This results in the animation starting after the
previous slide. Now click “Play” to view your animation.

Applying transition effects: A transition specifies how the display changes

when you move from one slide to another. On the “Animations” tab, in the
“Transition to This Slide” group, click on the “More” arrow to see all the
available transition styles. Click on a suitable one. To associate a sound with
your transition, select one from the “Transition Sound” list box.

You may specify how you wish to move to the next slide, whether on the
click of the mouse or after a stipulated time by entering related details under
“Advance Slide”. Click the “Apply to All” button if you want the same
transition effects for all slides. You may click the “Preview” icon in the
“Preview” group to view the transition effects for the current slide.

Changing the Slide Master

You know that slides can be created using different layouts. You can see the
various available layouts when you click on the lower part of the “New Slide”
icon in the “Slides” group on the “Home” tab. The “Slide Master” is used to
make global changes to the slides in your presentation. This ensures
consistency and saves time. To see the Slide Master, click on the “View” tab.
In the "Presentation Views" group, click “Slide Master”. You can see a
number of slide icons in the left pane. If you move your mouse over them,
screen tips explain they are masters for different layouts.

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Click on the slide icon related to the “Blank Layout”. You see the master slide
in the right pane. Any change made to this slide will be reflected on all slides
created using the “Blank” layout. Let us change the background style. Click
“Background Styles” in the “Background” group on the “Slide Master” tab
and select a suitable one.

Now close the Master View by clicking on “Close Master View” in the “Close”
group. On the “Slides” tab, you can see that all the slides with the “Blank”
layout have the new background style applied.

Creating Notes Pages

You can create “Notes Pages” that include extra notes for yourself while you
give your presentation, or for your audience. In Normal View, use the “Notes
Pane” at the bottom of the slide to write notes about your slide.

To view your notes page, click the “View” tab. Click “Notes Page” in the
“Presentation Views” group. You may also use this view to enter or edit notes
by clicking in the lower placeholder.

Printing Handouts

You can print your presentation in the form of handouts with one, two, three,
four, six, or nine miniature slides on a page. These can be used by your
audience to follow along as you give your presentation or for future
reference.

Printing Handouts: Click the Office Button and select “Print → Print” or use
the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P”. The “Print” window is displayed.

Print range: Under Print range you may specify which of the slides you want
to print. You may print all slides, the current slide only or any selection of
slides.

Print what: Select “Handouts”.

Slides per page: Select the number of slides you wish to print on one page.
Let us select 4.

Order: Select the order of printing the slides, whether horizontal or vertical.
Let us select “Vertical”.

Scale to fit paper: Check this box to print the slides of a size suitable to fit on
the sheet of paper.

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Frame slides: Check this box to print the slides with an outer frame.

Click “Preview” to view your handouts onscreen and “Print” to print them.

Using Headers and Footers

Headers and Footers are used to add information such as slide numbers, the
time and date, a company logo or the presentation title to the top of a
handout or notes page in your presentation, or to bottom of a slide, handout
or notes page.

Adding a Footer to a Slide: Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Text” group, select
“Header & Footer”. On the “Slide” tab in the “Header and Footer” window,
check the box against “Footer”, and then type the text that you want to
appear at the bottom of the slide in the center. To insert the date, time and
slide number on the slide, check the appropriate boxes. Select any other
options that you want and then click “Apply”. To display the same footer
information on all slides, click “Apply to All”.

Adding a Header or Footer to a Handout or Notes Page: In the “Header and

Footer” window, on the “Notes and Handouts” tab, select the “Header” or
“Footer” check box, and then type the text that you want to appear at the
top or bottom of each notes page or handout. Click “Apply” or “Apply to all”.

Hiding the Footer: To hide the footer on a specific slide, click the slide icon
on the “Slides” tab. Click the “Insert” tab and in the “Text” group, select
“Header & Footer”. On the “Slide” tab of the “Header and Footer” window,
clear the “Footer” check box and click “Apply”. To hide the footer on the title
slide, check the box against “Don’t show on title slide”.

Duplicating and Hiding Slides

Duplicating a Slide: In a presentation, if you need to duplicate a slide, it can

be quite easily achieved. Duplicating a slide creates a copy of the selected
slide and places it directly after the selected slide. On the “Slides” tab, click
the slide you wish to copy. Click the “Home” tab. In the “Slides” group, click
“New Slide” and click “Duplicate Selected Slides” below the layouts
displayed.

Hiding a Slide: If there is a slide that you do not want to display to a

particular audience, you may hide the slide. To hide a slide, right-click the
slide on the “Slides” tab and select “Hide Slide”.

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The hidden slide icon with the slide number inside appears next to the slide
that you have hidden. When you run your presentation, this slide will not be
displayed.

To show a slide that you have previously hidden, right-click the slide that you
want to show, and then click “Hide Slide”.

There is another way in which you can hide a slide. Click on the slide that
you wish to hide on the “Slides” tab in the left pane. Then on the Ribbon,
click the “Slide Show” tab and select “Hide Slide” in the “Set Up” group. The
hidden slide icon with the slide number inside appears next to the slide that
you have hidden. Click the “Hide Slide” icon on the Ribbon once again to
show the hidden slide. The hidden slide icon is then removed.

Learning to Control and Annotate a Slide Show

Navigating the Slide Show: Running the slide show and practicing how to
control the slide show helps you have a smooth presentation. For example, if
someone has a question about a previous slide, you can go backwards and
redisplay it. You may move to any slide in your presentation. Right-click on a
slide during the slide show. A menu is displayed as shown. Use the “Next”,
“Previous”, “Last Viewed” and “Go to Slide” options to move between slides.

Annotate a slide show: During your presentation, you may want to point to
an important word, underline an important point or draw checkmarks next to
items that you have covered. For this, right-click on the slide and select
“Pointer Options” from the menu displayed. Let us select “Ballpoint Pen”.
You can then move your mouse and use it as a pen on your slide. Also, you
may decide the color of this pen by using the “Ink Color” option.

Documenting a File

Documenting a file: Document properties are details about a file that help
identify it. These may be a descriptive title, the author name, the subject,
and keywords that identify topics or other important information in the file.
Before saving the completed presentation, you may wish to include some
related documentation with the file. Click the Office Button and select
“Prepare → Properties” from the menu. In the “Document Information Panel”,
click the arrow next to “Document Properties” to select the set of properties
that you want to change, for example, “Advanced Properties”.

In the window displayed, click on the “Summary” tab. Enter your details on
this tab. Now click “OK” and close the Document Information Panel.

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Using Advanced Presentation Features

Creating a New Presentation from Existing Slides

To make the task of creating a new presentation easier, you may use the
slides from one of your existing presentations.

Copying a slide: You may want to copy the slide which describes a course
structure from your presentation to a new presentation. To do this, on the
“Slides” tab, right-click the slide to be copied and select “Copy”.

Now create a new presentation by clicking on the Office Button and selecting
“New”. In the “New Presentation” window, select “Blank Presentation” and
press the “Create” button. Right-click the first slide in the new presentation
and select “Paste”. The copied slide will be inserted in the presentation after
the current slide. You may make any changes with respect to colors, themes
etc that you require.

Saving the new presentation: Before you make any additional changes, you
may save the file as a new presentation. Save the file by clicking the Office
button and selecting “Save”. Specify the location and the new file name in
the “Save As” window and click “Save”.

If you want to use all slides from a presentation in a new presentation,

simply save the presentation with a new name. Click the Office Button and
select “Save As” and enter the new file name and location. Click “Save”. Now
you may make changes to the new presentation as required. Your original
presentation does not get affected.

Adding Action Buttons

You may add action buttons on your slides to perform functions such as
playing sounds, moving to another slide or running another program when
you click on them. Let us use an action button to play a sound in the slide
shown in the figure. Click the “Insert” tab. In the “Illustrations” group, click
“Shapes”. Under “Action Buttons”, click on the “Sound” icon.

Now drag with the mouse to create the button of the size you require. The
“Action Settings” window is displayed. This has two tabs, “Mouse Click” and
“Mouse Over”. As the names suggest, the actions specified are performed
when the mouse is clicked on the button and moved over the button
respectively. Let us use the “Mouse Click” tab. Check the box against “Play
sound”. Select “Chime” from the list of sounds.

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During the slide show, when you click on this button you can hear the sound
of a chime. You may perform various actions using action buttons such as
moving to another slide or running another program.

Delivering Presentations

Rehearsing timing: Before delivering a presentation, it is important to

rehearse the timing, so that you are sure that it fits within a certain time
frame. PowerPoint includes a timing feature that records the length of time
spent on each slide and the total presentation time while you are rehearsing.
You may use the recorded times to advance the slides automatically when
you actually give your presentation. Click the “Slide Show” tab. In the “Set
Up” group, select “Rehearse Timings”.

The “Rehearsal” toolbar appears, and you can see the timing in the “Slide
Time box” at the right. Click “Next” to move to the next slide.

After you set the time for the last slide, a message box displays the total
time for the presentation and asks you to confirm that you wish to keep the
recorded slide timings. Click “Yes”.
“Slide Sorter” view appears and displays the time of each slide in your
presentation. Now when you run your slide show, the slides advance
automatically as per these settings.

If you do not want the slides in your presentation to advance automatically

as per the slide timings recorded, on the “Slide Show” tab, in the “Set Up”
group, clear the “Use Rehearsed Timings” check box.

Now, your presentation can be delivered and you are ready to impress your
audience. To exit the PowerPoint application, click the Office Button and then
click the “Exit PowerPoint” button at the bottom right.

Internet
Internet Basics
What is a Network?

When computers are connected to each other, they form a network. A

network may consist of just two computers next to each other or can even
extend to a large number of computers located in different parts of the
world.

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A “computer network” is a communication system that connects two or more
computers so that they can exchange information and share resources.
Computers in a network can be set up in different ways to suit the needs of
users.

To understand computer networks, you need to get familiar with certain

terms which are as follows:

Node: This is a device that is connected to a network. It could be any device

such as a data storage device, a printer or a computer.

Client: This is a node that uses a resource from another node. Typically, a
client is a user’s microcomputer.

Server: This is a node that shares resources with other nodes. A dedicated
server is a computer that specializes in performing specific tasks. Dedicated
servers are typically used for websites that have high traffic, and are quite
powerful. A non-dedicated server can function as both a client and a server.

Hub: This is the central node for other nodes. It may be a server or simply a
connection point for cables from other nodes.

Network Administrator: This is a person who is a computer specialist

responsible for efficient operation of the network and implementation of new
networks.

Distributed Processing: This is a system where computing power is located

and shared at different locations. In decentralized organizations, computer
systems at different locations are networked to a main or centralized
computer.

Host Computer: This is a large centralized computer, usually a minicomputer

or a mainframe.

Network interface cards (NIC): These are expansion cards located within the
system unit that connect the computer to a network. They are sometimes
referred to as “LAN adapters”.

Network operating systems (NOS): They control and coordinate activities

such as electronic communication and resource sharing between the
computers and devices on a network.

Now that you are familiar with the terminology related to computer
networks, let us have a look at the types of networks.

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Network Types: Different types of channels allow different kinds of networks
to be formed. Telephone lines for example may connect communications
equipment within a home or building. Networks may also be citywide and
even international. The network types based on the geographical area they
serve are local area, metropolitan area and wide area networks.

Usually when computers in one office are connected to one another, the
network is known as a Local Area Network or LAN for short. When this is
done over longer distances, the network is known as WAN which stands for
Wide Area Network.

The nodes of a LAN are in close physical proximity, within the same building.
Typically, LANs span distances less than a mile and are owned by individual
organizations. They are used to link microcomputers and share printers and
other resources.
While LANs have been widely used within organizations for years, they are
now being commonly used by individuals in their homes. These LANs are
called “Home Networks” and allow different computers to share resources,
including a common internet connection.
A “Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)” is the next step up from the LAN. MANs
span distances up to 100 miles. They are frequently used as links between
office buildings that are located throughout a city. Unlike a LAN, a MAN is
jointly owned by a group of organizations or by a network service provider
who charges a fee to provide network services.
Wide Area Networks (WANs) are countrywide and worldwide networks. They
provide access to regional service (MAN) providers and span distances
greater than 100 miles. They use microwave relays and satellites to reach
users over long distances. The widest of all WANs is of course, the Internet
which spans the entire globe.
Network Architecture: This describes how a network is arranged and how
resources are coordinated and shared. Network architecture encompasses
network configurations and strategies. Configurations describe the physical
arrangement of the network while strategies define how information and
resources are shared.
Configurations: A network can be configured or arranged in several ways.
This is called the network’s topology. The four principal network topologies
are star, bus, ring and hierarchical.
In a “star network”, a number of small computers or peripheral devices are
linked to a central unit which is the “network hub”. The hub may be a host
computer or file server. All communications pass through the central unit
and control is maintained by “polling”. Each connecting device is asked or

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“polled” whether it has a message to send and is allowed to send its
message in turn.
An advantage of the star topology is that it can be used to support a “time-
sharing system”. This means that multiple users can share resources (or
time) on a central computer. The star topology is commonly used to link
microcomputers to a mainframe containing an organization’s database.
In a “bus network”, there is no host computer and each device handles its
own communications. All communications travel along a common connecting
cable called a “bus” or “backbone”. Each device examines information as it
passes along the bus to see whether it is the intended recipient. This
arrangement is commonly used for sharing data stored on different
microcomputers.
In a “ring network”, each device is connected to two other devices, forming a
ring. There is no central computer and messages are passed around the ring
till they reach the correct destination. Distributed data processing is possible
using a ring network. Processing tasks can be performed at different
locations and programs, data and resources can be shared.
The “hierarchical network” consists of several computers linked to a central
host computer, just like a star network. However, these computers are also
hosts to smaller computers or peripheral devices. A hierarchical network is
useful in centralized organizations. For example, microcomputers in a
department are connected to individual departmental minicomputers. The
minicomputers are in turn connected to the corporation’s mainframe which
contains data accessible to all.
Strategies: Every network has a strategy of coordinating the sharing of
information and resources. The most common network strategies are
terminal, client/server and peer-to-peer.
In a “terminal network”, processing power is centralized in one large
computer, usually a mainframe. The nodes are either terminals with little or
no processing capabilities or microcomputers running special software that
allows them to act as terminals. Many airline reservation systems are
terminal networks.
“Client/server networks” are based on specialization and use one computer
to coordinate and supply services to other nodes on the network. Server
nodes coordinate and supply specialized services and access to resources.
Client nodes request the services. Client/server networks are widely used on
the Internet.
In a “peer-to-peer network”, nodes have equal authority and can act as both
clients and servers. For example, microcomputers may obtain files from
other microcomputers as well as provide files to them.

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Organizational Internets: Most large organizations have a wide range of
network configurations, operating systems and strategies. Internet
technologies are applied to integrate all these networks. Communication
within and between organizations is supported using intranets and extranets.
Intranets: Many organizations have internal networks similar to the Internet
which have web pages that contain company information, newsletters,
pricing structures etc. and from where standard forms can be downloaded.
Such networks are known as “Intranets” and may or may not be connected
to the Internet. An Intranet is accessible only from within the organization.
Extranets: An “Extranet” is an intranet, or part of an intranet, which can be
accessed by certain external users via the Internet. Specific information such
as product ranges, prices, online order forms etc. may be made available to
suppliers or potential customers using an extranet. Entry into extranets is
controlled by usernames and passwords which establish the identity of the
user and grant access to the areas of the extranet that he is entitled to view.
The main points of difference between an intranet and extranet are as
follows:
1) An intranet is a private network within an organization while an extranet is
a private network that connects more than one organization.
2) Like the public Internet, intranets use browsers, web sites and web pages.
They provide e-mail and other services accessible only to those within the
organization. Extranets are used by some organizations to allow suppliers
and others limited access to their networks. The purpose is to increase
efficiency and reduce costs.
Firewalls: A “firewall” is a system that secures a network, shielding it from
access by unauthorized users. Firewalls can be implemented in software,
hardware or a combination of both. In addition to preventing unrestricted
access into a network, a firewall can also restrict data from flowing out of a
network.
Most organizational firewalls include a special computer called a “proxy
server”. It acts as a gatekeeper, mediating traffic between a protected
network and the Internet. All communications between the internal network
and the outside world must pass through it. It then decides whether it is safe
to allow a message or file to pass into or out of the organization’s network.
What is Internet?
The word “Internet” is derived from the word inter-networking which means
connecting different networks together. Thus the Internet can be termed as a
Network of Networks.
History of Internet: In the second half of the decade from 1960 to 1970, the
United States Department of Defense began a project on computer networks.

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This project was named ARPANET. Gradually, after 1970, Universities,
Government Departments and Research Centers also began using this
network.

To send data along telephone lines, wireless telephones and even satellites,
researchers developed a new set of rules called Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol or TCP/IP. The roots of the giant network called
Internet can be traced back to this project.
By 1993 the concept of Internet had changed completely. Instead of having a
central system of limited machines, new independent centers were created
in different places. This led to the birth of the modern Internet.

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Today the Internet has become a popular medium for information. You can
have access to entertainment, information, companionship and many other
opportunities on the Internet. It has become a popular medium for business,
education, shopping, playing, advertisement and news.
“Shopping” is one of the fastest-growing Internet applications. Using the
Internet, you can search for bargains and make purchases or simply window
shop or look for the latest fashions.
“Searching” for all types of information has become very convenient using
the Internet. You can find the latest local, national and international news
using the Internet. You can access some of the world’s largest libraries
directly from your home computer.
“Entertainment” in different forms such as movies, music and games is
available using the Internet. You have additional options such as live
concerts, movie previews, book clubs and more.
“Education” or “e-learning” which supports flexible learning anywhere,
anytime for anyone is possible due to the Internet. You can take classes on
various subjects. Some courses are free while others have to be paid for.

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Transactions of large industries are also effected over the Internet. With the
help of Internet, monetary transactions are also being carried out. This is
known as e-commerce.

Electronic Commerce i.e. e-commerce is the buying and selling of goods over
the Internet. For a buyer, it offers the convenience of purchasing at any hour
of the day or night. It does away with the need to physically travel to the
seller’s location. The Internet offers a chance to survey a wide variety of
products.
From the seller’s perspective, the costs associated with operating a retail
store can be eliminated. Also, a seller is not required to maintain a physical
inventory of goods and products are shipped directly from warehouses. The
Internet offers a chance to reach out to a larger number of customers.
While there are numerous advantages of e-commerce, there are some
disadvantages too. These include the inability to provide immediate delivery
of goods, the inability to “try on” prospective purchases and questions
relating to the security of online payments.

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Tips on how to shop online: When you shop online, it would be useful to keep
the following suggestions in mind.
1) Consult product review sites: These sites offer evaluations or opinions on
products. “www.consumersearch.com” and “www.epinions.com” are
examples of review sites on the Web.
2) Use a shopping bot: A shopping bot is an automated shopping assistant
that searches the Internet for the best price of a product. You can enlist it to
compare prices. Two well-known shopping bots are located at
“www.mysimon.com” and “www.shopping.yahoo.com”.
3) Consult vendor review sites: Even if a vendor offers attractive prices, you
need to check his reputation before placing an order. You may visit vendor
review sites such as “www.gomez.com” and “www.bizrate.com”.
4) Select a payment option: Once you have selected the product and the
vendor, you have to place the order and make the payment. Security of your
credit card number is important. You may consider payment options from
sites such as “www.private.buy.com” and
“www.americanexpress.com/privatepayments”.
There are three basic types of e-commerce:
1) “Business-to-consumer (B2C)” involves the sale of a product or service to
the general public or end users. This arrangement often eliminates the
wholesaler by allowing manufacturers to sell directly to customers. Existing
retail stores use B2C e-commerce to reach out to customers through the
Web.
The three most widely used B2C applications are as follows:
“Online banking” enables customers to perform various banking operations
such as accessing account information, transferring funds, paying bills and
applying for loans without having to visit the bank.
“Online stock trading” allows investors to research, buy and sell stocks and
bonds over the Internet.
“Online shopping” as you know includes buying and selling consumer goods
over the Internet.
2) The second type of e-commerce “Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)” involves
individuals selling to individuals. This is done in the form of classified ads or
an auction. In “Web auctions”, sellers post descriptions of products at a web
site and buyers submit bids electronically.
There are two basic types of Web auction sites:

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a) “Auction house sites” sell directly to bidders. The merchandise presented
is typically from a company’s surplus stock. You can often get bargain prices
and these sites are generally considered safe places to shop.
b) “Person-to-person auction sites” provide a forum for buyers and sellers.
They facilitate the bidding process but are not involved in completing
transactions and verifying the authenticity of the goods sold. Buyers and
sellers need to be cautious while interacting with these sites.
3) The third type of e-commerce “Business-to-business (B2B)” involves the
sale of a product or service from one business to another. This is typically a
manufacturer-supplier relationship. For example, a furniture manufacturer
would require raw material such as wood, paint and varnish which he would
purchase from the related suppliers.
Security: The single greatest challenge for e-commerce is the development
of fast, secure and reliable payment methods for purchased goods. The three
basic payment options are as follows:
1) “Cheques” are the most traditional and cheque purchases take the
longest time to complete. The buyer mails a cheque to the seller. If it is a
valid cheque, the purchased item is dispatched by the seller.
2) “Credit card” purchases are faster and more convenient. But credit card
fraud over the Internet by criminals known as “Carders” is a major concern
for both buyers and sellers.
3) “Digital cash” is electronic currency that only exists online. It is a system
that allows a person to pay for goods or services by transmitting a number
from one computer to another. Buyers purchase digital cash from a bank
that specializes in electronic currency and use it to purchase goods. Sellers
convert it to regular currency through the bank. This method is more secure
than credit cards.
For a list of digital cash providers, see the displayed figure.

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Web Utilities: Utilities are programs that make computing easier. “Web
Utilities” are specialized utility programs that make using the Internet and
Web easier and safer. Some utilities facilitate sharing resources over the
Internet while others enhance the capabilities of your browser.
Web-based applications: Normally application programs are owned by
individuals and organizations and stored on the computer’s hard disk. The
aim of “web-based services” such as ThinkFree is to free users from owning
and storing applications. This free service provides access to programs
similar to Microsoft’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
A “web-based application” is a software package that can be accessed
through a web browser. Most application service providers (ASPs) charge a
fee to access and use their applications. To use a web-based application, you
must connect to the ASP’s web site. The ASP downloads a copy of the
requested application to your computer’s hard disk drive from where you can
run it. When you exit the program, it is automatically deleted from your hard
disk.
File transfer protocol (FTP): FTP is an Internet standard for transferring files.
“Downloading” is the process of copying a file from a computer on the

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Internet and saving it on your computer. You can also use FTP to copy files
from your computer to another computer on the Internet. This is called
“uploading”.
Plug-ins: “Plug-ins” are programs that are automatically started and operate
as part of your browser. Many web sites require you to have some plug-ins in
order to view their content fully. Some widely used plug-ins include Acrobat
Reader from Adobe, Windows Media Player from Microsoft, QuickTime from
Apple, RealPlayer from RealNetworks and Shockwave from Adobe. These are
used for a variety of purposes ranging from viewing and printing documents
to playing audio and video files.
Some plug-ins are included in browsers and operating systems. Others need
to be installed before they can be used by your browser. To learn more about
plug-ins and how to download them, you may visit some of the sites listed in
the displayed figure.

Filters: “Filters” are programs that block access to selected sites. The
Internet has a lot of content which is not suitable for unrestricted viewing.
Filters allow parents of young children as well as organizations to block
access to certain sites and set time limits. Additionally, these programs can

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generate reports regarding time spent on the Internet as well as at individual
web sites, chat groups and newsgroups.
For a list of some of the best known filters, have a look at the displayed
figure.

Internet Security Suites: An “Internet security suite” is a collection of utility

programs designed to maintain your security and privacy while you are on
the Web. These programs control spam, protect against computer viruses,
provide filters and much more. Two of the best known Internet security
suites are from McAfee and Norton.
Using Internet you can communicate with or find out about what is
happening in any part of the world. It is popularly known as the "Information
Highway" which is used as a versatile means for information sharing.
Chatting with your friends in virtual chat rooms is another facility that is
available. You may chat using the keyboard.
Anyone with access to the Internet can exchange text, data files, and
programs with any other user. Today, using voice chat, you can also chat

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with the other person as if you were talking on the telephone. You can also
play different games on the Internet.
There are a large number of applications that can be used on the Internet for
various purposes.
Examples are Electronic Mail (e-mail), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet to
connect to another computer, Newsgroups, Mailing lists, Chat groups, World
Wide Web (WWW or Web) and Instant Messaging.
Communications: Computer communications is the process of sharing data,
programs and information between two or more computers. Some of the
applications that depend on communication systems are as follows.
E-mail: This provides a fast and efficient alternative to traditional mail by
sending and receiving electronic documents.
Instant Messaging: This supports direct, “live” electronic communication
between two or more individuals.
Internet Telephone: This provides a low cost alternative to long distance
telephone calls using electronic voice delivery.
Electronic Commerce: This means buying and selling goods electronically.
What is WWW?
The World Wide Web (WWW) is information organized in the form of Web
pages containing text and graphic images. You can retrieve documents, view
images, animations and videos; listen to sound files, exchange voice data
and view programs that run on practically any software in the world.
It is easy to get the Internet and the Web confused, but they are not the
same thing. The Internet is the actual physical network made up of wires,
cables and satellites. It connects millions of computers and resources
throughout the world. When you connect to this network you are described
as being “online”. The Web is a multimedia interface to the resources
available on the Internet. This means that web pages consist of multiple
media such as text, graphics, video, animation and sound.
The World Wide Web was originally developed in 1990 at CERN, the
European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The World Wide Web Consortium
now manages it. The name of its website is http://www.w3.org.
You can access the World Wide Web on the Internet by using any browser
application such as Mozilla, Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc. A web page is
simply a document formatted in a standard language known as Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML). It contains hypertext links represented by
underlined text and images that lead to related information.

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Web pages also can contain special programs called “applets” that are
generally written in a programming language such as Java. Java applets are
used for presenting animation, displaying graphics, providing interactive
games and more.
"Web Surfing" means moving through different web pages. This may be done
by following hyperlinks, either from a search or through a series of linked
pages. You may even move between pages at random, in the course of
learning something, or just having fun.
The information on WWW can be classified in different categories based on
the type of their content such as Business and Commercial, Educational,
Advocacy (to influence readers to support a cause or idea), News, Statistical
Information and Personal Information.
Information Flow Over the Internet
Sending and receiving devices follow a set of communication rules for the
exchange of information. These rules for exchanging data between
computers are known as “protocols”.
The Internet uses some rules or standard set of protocols for communication
between computers. This ensures uniformity among users using various
types of computer systems. Protocols are used to create an Internet
connection for your computer and they handle the data transfer over
network lines.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the name of the
core protocol used on the Internet. Using this protocol, the information to be
transmitted is broken down in the form of small packets. Each packet
contains the address of its destination computer as well as the computer of
its origin.
The other protocols are Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and Serial Line Internet
Protocol (SLIP).
A network also has components called “Routers” that help choose the best
path for an individual
packet to travel and reach its destination. The packets are reassembled at
the destination to get the original information.
TCP/IP: The essential features of this protocol involve:
1) Identifying sending and receiving devices AND
2) Reformatting information for transmission across the Internet.
Identification: Every computer on the Internet has a unique numeric address
called an “IP address (internet protocol address)”. These addresses are used
to deliver e-mail and to locate web sites. Because these numeric addresses

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are difficult to remember, a system was developed to automatically convert
text-based addresses to numeric IP addresses. This system uses a “domain
name server (DNS)” that converts text-based addresses to IP addresses. For
example, if you enter a URL, say “www.example.com”, a DNS might translate
it to an IP address say, “198.103.132.4” before a connection can be made.

Communication Systems
“Communication Systems” are electronic systems that transmit data from
one location to another. Every communication system has four basic
elements which are as follows:
1) Sending and receiving devices: These may be computers or specialized
communication devices.
2) Communication channel: This is the actual medium that carries the
message. It may be a physical cable or it can be wireless.
3) Connection devices: These act as the interface between the sending and
receiving devices and the communication channel. They convert messages
into packets that can travel across the communication channel.
4) Data transmission specifications: These are procedures that coordinate
the sending and receiving devices by defining the way in which the
messages will be sent across the communication channel.
For example, when you send an e-mail, your computer would be the
“sending device”. Your modem would be the “connection device” which
would modify the message so that it could travel efficiently across the
“communication channel” which is the telephone line. How the message is
modified and sent would be described in the “data transmission
specifications”. At the receiving end, another modem modifies it once again
so that it can be displayed on the “receiving device” which would be another
computer.

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Communication Channels: You know that communication channels are an
essential element of every communication system. There are two categories
of communication channels. One category connects sending and receiving
devices by providing a physical connection such as a wire or cable. The other
category is wireless.
“Physical Connections” use a solid medium to connect sending and receiving
devices. They include telephone lines, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable.
Telephone lines consist of twisted-pair cable which is made up of hundreds of
copper wires. A single twisted pair culminates in a wall jack into which you
can plug your phone and computer.
Coaxial cable is a high-frequency transmission cable and consists of a single
solid-copper core. Coaxial cable is used to deliver television signals as well
as to connect computers in a network.
Fiber-optic cable transmits data as pulses of light through tiny tubes of glass.
Compared to coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable is lighter and more reliable at
transmitting data as compared to coaxial cable.

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Wireless Connections: Wireless connections use air to connect sending and
receiving devices. They do not use any solid substances like wires and
cables. Primary technologies used for wireless connections are infrared,
broadcast radio, microwave and satellite.
“Infrared” uses infrared light waves to communicate over short distances.
Since the light waves travel in a straight line, sending and receiving devices
must be in clear view of one another. One of the most common applications
is to transfer data from a portable device such as a notebook computer or
PDA to a desktop computer.
“Broadcast radio” uses radio signals to communicate with wireless devices.
Cellular telephones and many Web-enabled devices use broadcast radio to
place telephone calls and to connect to the Internet. Some users connect
their notebook or handheld computers to a cellular telephone to access the
Web. Most Web-enabled devices follow a standard known as “Wi-Fi (i.e.
wireless fidelity)”.
“Microwave” communication uses high-frequency radio waves. Microwaves
travel in a straight line and therefore can be transmitted across relatively
short distances. Microwave is a good medium for sending data between
buildings in a city or a large college campus. For longer distances, the waves
are relayed by microwave stations with microwave dishes or antennas.
“Bluetooth” is a short-range wireless standard that uses microwaves.
“Bluetooth” is the name of a new technology that promises to change the
way we use machines. We see a large number of cables in our offices, homes
and everywhere else. We often have a hard time trying to figure out which
cable needs to go where. Bluetooth is essentially a cable-replacement
technology which tries to solve this problem.
Conceived initially by Ericsson, Bluetooth is a small, cheap radio chip to be
plugged into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc. It creates a wireless
personal area network (PAN) and provides a way to connect and exchange
information between two devices over distances of about 30 feet. It aims to
simplify data synchronization between Internet devices and other computers.
“Satellite” communication uses satellites orbiting above the earth as
microwave relay stations. Satellites can amplify and relay microwave signals
from one transmitter on the ground to another. They can be used to send
and receive large volumes of data.
The “Global Positioning System (GPS)” is a network of 24 satellites
developed by the United States Department of Defense which continually
sends location information to the earth. GPS devices use that information to
determine the geographical location of the device. GPS devices provide
navigational support in some automobiles. They are sometimes mounted
with a monitor to display maps and with speakers to provide spoken
directions to the driver.

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Let us look at a summary of communication channels.

Connection devices: We have seen that connection devices act as the

interface between the sending and receiving devices and the communication
channel. A great deal of computer communication takes place over
telephone lines. Telephones send and receive analog signals which are
continuous electronic waves. Computers, on the other hand, send and
receive digital signals which are binary signals.
Modems: The word “modem” stands for modulator-demodulator.
“Modulation” is the process of converting digital signals to analog form.
“Demodulation” is the process of converting analog signals to digital form.
The modem thus enables digital microcomputers to communicate across
analog telephone lines.
The speed at which modems transfer data is called “transfer rate”. This is
typically measured in “bits per second (bps)”. The various units to measure
transfer speed are shown in the displayed chart.

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There are four basic types of modems: external, internal, PC Card and
wireless.
The “external modem” stands outside the computer and is connected by a
cable to the computer’s serial port. Another cable connects the modem to
the telephone wall jack.
The “internal modem” consists of a plug-in circuit board inside the system
unit. A telephone cable connects the modem to the telephone wall jack.
The “PC Card modem” is a credit card-sized expansion board that is inserted
into portable computers. A telephone cable connects the modem to the
telephone wall jack.
A “wireless modem” may be internal, external or a PC Card. Unlike other
modems, it does not use cables. It sends and receives signals through the
air.
Connection Service: Standard telephone lines and conventional modems
provide a “dial-up service” which is quite slow. Large corporations lease
special high-speed lines from telephone companies which provide very high

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capacity. These lines are known as T1, T2, T3 and T4 lines and do not require
conventional modems.
While special high-speed lines are very expensive, there are other affordable
connections which provide significantly higher capacity than a dial-up
service. These include DSL, cable modems, satellite and cellular services.

“Digital subscriber line (DSL)” uses existing telephone lines to provide high-
speed connections. ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) is one of the
most widely used types of DSL.
“Cable modems” use existing telephone cables to provide high-speed
connections.
Satellite/air connection services use satellites and the air to send data to
users at faster rates than dial-up connections.
“Cellular services” are used by mobile devices and laptops. These devices
use “3G cellular networks” to download data from the Internet.
Let us compare typical user connection costs and speeds.

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Data Transmission: Several factors such as bandwidth and protocols affect
how data is transmitted.
Bandwidth: This is a measurement of the width or capacity of the
communication channel. It indicates the volume of information that can
move across the communication channel in a given time. Audio and video
files require a wider bandwidth than text documents to be transmitted. There
are three categories of bandwidth.
“Voiceband” is used for standard telephone communication. Microcomputers
with standard modems and dial-up service use this bandwidth. This is also
known as low bandwidth.
“Medium band” is the bandwidth used in special leased lines to connect
minicomputers and mainframes as well as to transmit data over long
distances.
“Broadband” is the bandwidth used for high capacity transmissions.
Specialized high-speed devices and microcomputers with DSL, cable and
satellite connections use this bandwidth.

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How Do We Connect?
“Connectivity” is a concept related to using computer networks to link
people and resources. You can connect your microcomputer by telephone or
other telecommunications links to other computers and information sources
almost anywhere. With this connection, you are linked to the world of larger
computers and the Internet.
In the past, wired devices were required to be able to connect to the
Internet. In the last five years, there has been a dramatic change in
connectivity. Today, there is widespread use of mobile and wireless
communication devices for gaining access to the Internet. This is just the
beginning of the “Wireless Revolution” which will change the way we
communicate and use computer technology in a big way.
An “Internet Service Provider” is a company that provides access to the
Internet for a monthly fee. The service provider gives you a software
package, username, password and access phone number. The providers are
already connected to the Internet and provide a path or connection for
individuals to access the Internet. Colleges and universities mostly provide
free access to students. Some companies also offer free Internet access.
“National Internet Service Providers” are providers who operate primarily on
a National level. They are basically large telecom companies that have
nationwide coverage and operations. They provide access through standard
telephone lines or cable connections.
“Wireless service providers” do not use telephone or cable lines. They
provide Internet connections with wireless modems and other wireless
devices.
If a computer is part of a local area network (LAN) that has connectivity to
the Internet, you can access the Internet through the LAN.
Using a telephone, you can connect your Personal Computer (PC) to the
Internet. To do so, you need a device called the “Modem”. Using the modem
and dialer software, the PC connects to the server of an Internet Service
Provider (ISP). This is how the PC establishes a connection to the Internet
through an ISP.
You can also connect to the Internet using a leased line. In this method, the
data transmission rate is much higher. Besides these, there are also other
options for connecting to the Internet. Examples are DSL, Cable Modem, Set
Top Boxes and other propriety solutions.
Browsers
A Web Browser is a software tool used to browse the Internet. It is a special
application program that brings information from any part of the world
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through the Internet to your computer screen. Using a browser, you can
communicate with any computer over the Internet.
A browser does the work of connecting to the Internet and locating and
displaying web pages. It allows navigation from one page to another.
Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Mozilla are some examples of the
browser applications that are commonly used.
Each web site has a distinct, separate and unique address. This address is
known as the Uniform Resource Locator or URL in short. You can connect
directly to a web site by typing the URL of that site in the address bar or
location bar of the web browser.
The first part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) presents the “protocol”
used to connect to the resource. Protocols are rules for exchanging data
between computers. The protocol “http://” is the most widely used Web
protocol. The second part presents the “domain name”. It is the name of the
server where the resource is located. The last part of the domain name
following the dot is called the “top-level domain (TLD)”. It identifies the type
of organization or what country the website is from. For example “.com”
indicates a commercial site and “.in” indicates India.
Most browsers have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This allows easy
viewing of text, images, and animations, playing audio and video files and
running programs.
Navigating the Web
Using Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer is a world-class browser that is designed to support various
internet standards across a variety of platforms. Since it is created by
Microsoft, it is closely integrated with the Windows operating system. With
an Internet connection and Internet Explorer, you can find and view
information about anything on the Web
To start Internet Explorer, click on the “Launch Internet Explorer Browser”
icon on your desktop. If you do not see this icon, click on the “Start” button
and select “All Programs → Internet Explorer”.
At the top, you see a long rectangular box called the “Address Bar”. When
you want to visit a website, type the website address or URL in the address
bar, for example, http://www.microsoft.com/ and press “Enter”.
Another way to navigate the web is to go the address bar and type what you
are looking for. Say you are looking for “digital cameras”. Type “digital
camera” and press “Enter”. Internet Explorer automatically sends your query
to a search service and displays the results. The URL of the web page is
displayed in the address bar.

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To the right of the address bar, you can see the “Refresh” button. You may
use this to reload a web page. The “Stop” button to its right is used to stop a
page from loading. Use the “Back” button to the left of the address bar to go
to the previous page you were on. If you clicked the Back button and you
want to move forward to the page you were on just before you clicked it, you
may use the “Forward” button. To quickly go back to a website you visited
earlier, you may click the down arrow just to the right of the Forward button
and select the webpage from the dropdown list.
Below the address bar, you can see a toolbar. Right-click on a blank space on
the toolbar and select “Menu Bar”. You now see a menu displayed above the
toolbar.
Home Page: The default page displayed when you start Internet Explorer is
called the “Home Page”. The Home Page of a website is the opening or main
page of the website, which is intended chiefly to greet visitors and provide
information about the site or its owner. You may change the Internet
Explorer Home Page to a site of your preference. Select “Tools → Internet
Options”. On the “General” tab, you may enter your preferences under
“Home page”.
Tabbed Browsing: Tabs enable you to have multiple websites open in one
Internet Explorer window at one time. You can quickly switch between open
websites by simply clicking on the tabs. To create a new tab, click the “New
Tab” button or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+T”. To close a tab, click on
the “X” to the right side of it.
Quick Tabs: To see a thumbnail view of all the websites you have open in
your tabs, click the “Quick Tabs” button to the left of the first tab. Click on a
thumbnail to view a particular website.
To access the Internet Explorer Tabbed Browsing options, select “Tools →
Internet Options”. Under “Tabs”, click “Settings”. In the “Tabbed Browsing
Settings” window, you may enter the settings you require.
AutoComplete: Internet Explorer automatically records Web addresses, forms
data, and passwords. To access the Internet Explorer AutoComplete options,
select “Tools → Internet Options”. On the “Content” tab, under
“AutoComplete”, click “Settings”. In the “AutoComplete Settings” window,
you may enter the settings you require.
You can scroll through a web page using the horizontal and vertical
scrollbars.
Selecting links: When you point to a link on a web page, the pointer changes
to a hand and the URL is shown in the status bar. When you click on the link,
the web page related to the link is opened. Links may be in the form of
underlined text, buttons or pictures.

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Using frames: The browser area can be divided into different scrollable areas
called frames. When you click on a link on one page included in a frame, the
related page is displayed in another frame. You may adjust the size of the
frames by dragging the border between the frames.
Viewing thumbnails: Thumbnail images are small images shown on a web
page because of space limitations and the time required for downloading.
Click on thumbnails to view related documents.
Displaying web pages in other languages: Some Web sites offer their content
in several languages. To view these pages in your preferred language, you
can add languages to your list of languages in Internet Explorer. Select
“Tools → Internet Options”. On the “General” tab, click “Languages”. In the
“Language Preference” window, click “Add”. In the “Add Language” window,
select the language you want to add and click “OK”. Click “OK” in the other
windows as well. If you speak several languages, you can arrange them in
order of priority. If a Web site offers multiple languages, content will appear
in the language that has the highest priority.

Using the Favorites Center

Internet Explorer Favorites are used to save links to sites that you want to
visit again. Creating a list of favorites allows you to visit those sites with a
single click, rather than having to type the sites URL each time you want to
visit it.
Adding items to the Favorites list: Go to the page that you want to add to
your list. Click the “Add to Favorites” button on the toolbar and select “Add
to Favorites..”. The “Add a Favorite” window is displayed. You may type a
new name for the page in the “Name” text box.
You may organize your favorite pages in folders and save items under
different folders. To place this favorite in an existing folder, from the “Create
in” drop-down list, select the desired folder and click “Add”.
Alternatively, you may create a new folder for a favorite. For this, click “New
Folder”. Enter a name for the new folder in the “Create a Folder” window and
click “Create”. Now click “Add” in the
“Add a Favorite” window.
The “Favorites” list contains all the favorites you have created. This list
appears under “Favorites” when you click the “Favorites Center” button on
the toolbar. If you would like to display the Favorites Center at the left of
your screen at all times, you may pin it to the window by clicking on the “Pin
the Favorites Center” button. To unpin it, simply click on the “X” shaped,
“Close the Favorites Center” icon.

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Organizing your Favorites: You may wish to organize your favorite pages by
topic. Click the “Add to Favorites” button, and then click “Organize
Favorites”. In the “Organize Favorites” window, you may use the different
buttons in the lower part to create, rename or delete a folder. You can also
move items from one folder to another by using the “Move” button or
dragging the item to the appropriate folder
You may also use the Menu Bar to add items to your Favorites list and to
organize your Favorites. For this, select “Favorites → Add to Favorites..” and
“Favorites → Organize Favorites” from the Menu Bar.
Using the History list: Internet Explorer keeps track of the web pages you
have previously visited in the form of history. To view the History list, click
the “History” button in the Favorites Center. Now, click on one of the
calendar icons. History items are displayed sorted by website. Click on one of
the yellow icons to see what pages you visited at a particular site. You may
then click on a website link to open the related page.
You may re-sort your History items by clicking on the arrow next to the
"History" button and making your selection.
To delete an item from the History List, right-click on it and select “Delete”.
Click “Yes” in the displayed window.
Using Forms
Forms are part of the web page that can help you to enter data, such as your
name, address, phone number, and so on. For example, you may have to
enter your personal details while booking an airline ticket online. A form may
have text boxes, check boxes, buttons, pop-up menus or drop-down lists.
You can fill information in it and submit the form contents by clicking on
buttons provided.
Online Application Forms: Online Application Forms are forms that are given
to the user to fill when connected to the Internet. These must be filled in
carefully before they are submitted. Preliminary validations are performed on
some fields. Some mandatory fields must be entered before the data is
accepted. The form shown is used to register for a Yahoo mail account. Once
you have completed your registration, you can login to your account and use
all facilities available.

Printing and Saving Web Pages

Printing and saving web pages: To print the current page, select “File →
Print” from the menu. The “Print” window is displayed. You may print all
pages, selected text, the current page, a specific page or range of pages by
making the appropriate selection under “Print Range”.

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Previewing a web page: To have a look at how a page will look before it is
printed, you can use the Preview option. For this, select “File → Print
Preview” from the menu.
Saving an entire web page: Select “File → Save As” from the menu. The
“Save Webpage” window is displayed. Specify the location at which you wish
to save your file. You may save the web page with a new name by making
changes in the “File name” field. You may choose a format for the page
from the dropdown list in the “Save as type” field. Now click “Save”.
Saving an image from a page: You may wish to save only an image from a
web page. For this, position the mouse pointer over the image. Right-click to
display a pop-up menu. Choose “Save Picture As”. The “Save Picture”
window is displayed. Choose a folder in which to save this image. Type a file
name for the image and then click “Save”.
Saving a page without displaying it: Position the mouse pointer over the link
to the web page you wish to save. Right-click to display the pop-up menu.
Choose “Save Target As”. The “Save As” window is displayed. Specify the
location at which you wish to download the web page. Type a file name and
then click “Save”. Click “Close” when the download is completed.
Finding Information on the Web
Using Search Services
As you know, there is a vast ocean of information available on the World
Wide Web. Search services help you to quickly locate information about a
specific topic from multiple websites. A number of search tools have been
developed and are available on different web sites. A search can be done by
entering a keyword, a descriptive world or phrase or by browsing a topic list.
Search services can be categorized into two types, web directories and
search engines. Web directories are databases of Internet sites that are
organized by topics or subjects. Search engines are also huge databases of
web sites, but typically offer no categories or differentiation between
different types of material.
Search services can be categorized into two types, web directories and
search engines. Web directories are databases of Internet sites that are
organized by topics or subjects. Search engines are also huge databases of
web sites, but typically offer no categories or differentiation between
different types of material.
Search engines provide two different search approaches: Keyword search
and Directory search. In a keyword search, you enter a keyword or phrase
reflecting the information you want. The search engine compares your entry
against its database and displays a list of “hits” in the form of hyperlinks to
related web pages. For example, if you entered the keyword “travel” you get

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thousands of hits. These are ordered according to those sites most likely to
contain the information requested and are usually in groups of 10.
You may find relevant information on the web using “Subject Directories”.
Subject directories are collections of Internet resources organized into
subject categories. They are useful for looking for information on a specific
subject or to gain familiarity with a topic. Advantages of subject directories
are that they generally contain good quality sites and they save time since
subject wise information is available.
Let us have a look at the Google subject directory. Enter the URL
“http://directory.google.com” in the address bar and press “Enter”. You can
see the Google directory on your screen showing links to various subjects.
Clicking on a subject will show you more detailed lists from which you may
make your selections.
Using the Search Box: One of the new features of Internet Explorer 7 is the
“Search Box” located at the top right. You can search the internet using
most search engines from the search box instead of going to other search
engine sites. If you want to find something on a page you are currently on,
click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select “Find
on this Page”. Enter your search criteria and click “Next”.
Using the Search Box: One of the new features of Internet Explorer 7 is the
“Search Box” located at the top right. You can search the internet using
most search engines from the search box instead of going to other search
engine sites. If you want to find something on a page you are currently on,
click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select “Find
on this Page”. Enter your search criteria and click “Next”.
You may change the default search engine if you wish. For this, click on the
down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select “Change Search
Defaults”. Click “Set Default” and then “OK” to make the search provider
you just added as the default one.
Metasearch Engines: When you research a topic, you may need to visit
different web sites in order to use different search engines. This would be
time-consuming and duplicate responses would be inevitable. “Metasearch
Engines” offer an alternative. They are programs that automatically submit
your search request to several search engines simultaneously. The
metasearch engine receives the results, eliminates duplicates, orders the
hits and provides the edited list to you.
You can see a list of some metasearch engines available on the Web in the
displayed table.

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Specialized Search Engines: These search engines focus on subject-specific
web sites. They save your time by narrowing your search. For a list of a few
specialized search engines, have a look at the displayed table.

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Content Evaluation: You must keep in mind that not all information available
on the Web is accurate. In fact, anyone can publish content on the Web.
Many sites such as Wikipedia.com, allow anyone to post new material,
sometimes anonymously and without critical evaluation. To evaluate the
accuracy of information found on the Web, you need to consider the
following points.
Authority: Is the author an expert on the subject? Is the web site an
individual’s personal one or an official one?
Accuracy: Has the information been critically reviewed for correctness? Does
the web site provide a method of reporting inaccurate information?
Objectivity: Is the information reported biased or based on actual facts? Does
the author gain personally by convincing the reader or changing his opinion?
Currency: Is the information up to date. Is the date when the site was
updated specified?
Google

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“Google” is one of the most popular search engines. Start the Internet
Explorer browser and type www.google.com in the address box. Press
“Enter” to display the Google home page.
Searching by Topic: The Google web site interface consists of many links to
various topics and a search text box. You may click on the link of your
choice. Click “more” to view additional links. Click “even more” to see some
more useful links.
Searching by Keyword: Some simple tips for entering keywords are be
specific, use more descriptive words as opposed to general ones, use
multiple words and leave out non-essential words.
Type the keyword on which you wish to search in the search text box. Then
press the “Google Search” button”. The search results displayed have links
to the pages containing matches to your desired keyword. The result
displayed is page wise if the resulted list is big. Click the links to visit the
related web pages.
I am Feeling Lucky: You may try using the "I am Feeling Lucky" button when
you have entered your search terms. This takes you straight to the most
relevant website that Google finds for your query. You will not see the search
results page at all, but if you do, the "Iam Feeling Lucky" site would be listed
on top.
Advanced Search: Once you know the basics of Google search, you might
want to try Advanced Search, which offers numerous options for making your
searches more precise and getting more useful results. Click “Advanced
Search” to enter your options.
Preferences: You may configure your search exactly as you want it. Click
“Preferences” to enter your requirements. You can filter inappropriate
material, set the interface language and search for pages written in specific
languages.
Language Tools: Click “Language Tools” to specify your language
preferences for a particular search. If you typically search only pages in a
specific language, you can save this as your default search behavior on the
“Preferences” page.
Communication Using E-Mail
Using Web E-Mail Services
You know that communication is the most popular Internet activity. At a
personal level, friends and family can stay in touch even when separated by
thousands of miles. At a business level, electronic communication has
become a standard and preferred way to stay in touch with suppliers,
employees and customers.

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E-mail, or electronic mail, enables communication by sending and receiving
written messages via a computer over the Internet. You need an e-mail
program and a connection to the Internet. This is a very powerful tool for
communication and a prime reason for the popularity of Internet. E-mail has
become very popular because of its speed, low cost and absence of time
restrictions. The use of e-mail in our country, especially in urban areas, has
increased rapidly in recent years.
Just as every web page has a unique address, similarly every e-mail account
has a unique address. A complete e-mail address is normally in the form of
“ahmed@yahoo.com”. In this, “ahmed” is the name of the person;
“yahoo.com” is the name of the domain or server.
When an e-mail is sent, it is not necessary for the person to whom the e-mail
has been sent to be available, or for his computer to be on. The mail sent by
you is sent to the mail server. When the mail server identifies the recipient, it
sends the message to his address. At the other end, the identity of the
recipient is verified and then the mail is forwarded. When the recipient
switches on his computer and connects to the mail service, all the mail that
has been received is downloaded to his computer.
There are basically two types of e-mail services you can use. The most
popular is the free web mail service that many web sites provide. Some of
the examples are mail.Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Rediffmail.com,
Indiatimes.com, etc. The other is based on Post Office Protocol (POP3) using
which you may download mails onto your computer or send mails stored on
your hard disk.
To use the e-mail facility the user has to register with the web site providing
the facility. The web site has a registration page that will ask you to enter
some information and also make you accept a user agreement. You have
already seen how to fill in an online form. The website provides you with a
unique user name and you can also specify a password.
Creating an e-mail account is fairly simple. Let us create a free e-mail ID on
Yahoo.com. To go to the Yahoo home page, type “www.yahoo.com” in the
address bar and press “Enter”. Now, click “Free Mail: Sign Up”. You see a
form displayed on your screen.
The first step is to fill out your personal information. Next, enter an ID which
will act as both your login name and your email address. If the ID you select
has already been taken by someone else, try a variation of the name. After
you have chosen a name, you have to create a password.
Then you may enter an alternate e-mail address if you have one. Select a
security question and enter a suitable answer. You will be asked to answer
this question in case you forget your password.

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You may check the “Marketing Preferences” box if you wish to receive
promotional offers from Yahoo by e-mail. To verify your registration, type the
code shown in the box exactly as you see it.
Read the "Terms of Service" agreement and “Privacy Policy” by clicking on
the related links and check the box after “Do you agree?” to confirm that you
agree to them. Now click the “Create My Account” button. Your e-mail
account is then created and you may use it to send and receive messages.
The different websites have different features for the e-mail facility they
provide. Some of the common features are a Login Page, Inbox, Address
Book, Auto Reply and Customized Signature. Besides these, many more
personalization features are also provided.
Login Page: To access your mail account, you must first login. For this, you
have to enter the user name you selected during the registration process
and also your password. The website authenticates your user login
information and then provides access to your mailbox.
A typical e-mail message has three basic elements: header, message and
signature.
The header appears first and includes the following information:
Addresses: Addresses of the person sending, receiving and optionally
persons receiving copies are generally included in an e-mail message. You
know that an e-mail address has two parts. The first part is the user’s name
and the second part is the domain name which includes the top-level
domain.
Subject: This is a one-line description used to present the topic of the
message.
Attachments: You can attach files such as documents and pictures to a mail
message. If a message has an attachment, the file name is displayed in the
header area on the attachment line.
After the header area, comes the actual message text. Finally, the signature
line provides additional information about the sender. Typically, in case of
official mails, this information includes the sender’s name, address and
telephone number.
E-mail, like many other valuable technologies does have some drawbacks.
We often receive many unwanted e-mails. These are mostly related to
commercial advertising, often for products of questionable quality, get-rich-
quick schemes, or something similar. This unwelcome junk mail is called
“spam”.
In an attempt to control spam, some countries have anti-spam laws as part
of their legal system. This has limited impact because a lot of spam
originates from other countries as well. A more effective approach has been
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the development and use of “Spam Blockers”. These programs use a variety
of approaches to identify and eliminate spam. The Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail
program which is available for free download at “www.mozilla.com” comes
with built-in spam blocking software.
In the United States of America, the CAN-SPAM Act has been enacted which
requires that every marketing-related e-mail provides an opt-out option.
When the option is selected, the recipient’s address is to be removed from
future mailing lists.
Using Newsgroups
A newsgroup is a forum on the Internet for discussions on a specified range
of subjects. Newsreaders are used to gain access to various types of
newsgroups, to download and read news messages, and to post replies to
them. Newsgroups are also called discussion groups.
To start the Microsoft Outlook application, click on the “Start” button and
select “All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Outlook 2007”. If
you have not previously set up a newsreader, Microsoft Outlook
automatically sets up the Windows Mail Newsreader. This newsreader is a
Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) newsreader, which you can use to
download newsgroup content and then work with it when you are not
connected to the Internet. Select “Go → News” from the menu.
If you do not find the “News” item in the “Go” menu of Microsoft Outlook,
perform the following steps. On the Standard toolbar click the "Toolbar
Options" arrow. Point to "Add or Remove Buttons", and then click
"Customize". Click on the "Commands" tab. In the "Categories" list, click
"Go". In the "Commands" list, click "News", and drag it and place it in the
"Go" menu. You may then close the “Customize” window.
In Windows Mail, you can see that there is a default news account named
“Microsoft Communities”. This indicates that you may subscribe to a
newsgroup of your choice on the Microsoft news server.
Adding a News Account: Let us add a new account. Select “Tools →
Accounts” from the menu. In the “Internet Accounts” window, click “Add”. In
the window displayed, click on “Newsgroup Account” and then click “Next”.
Enter your name as you want it displayed and click “Next”. Now, enter your
e-mail address. Click “Next”.
Here you are required to enter the Internet News Server Name. Enter the
server name and then click “Next”. When “Congratulations” is displayed,
click “Finish”. You can see this account under the “News” heading in the
“Internet Accounts” window. Also, a folder with this name is created in the
list of folders in the left panel.

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Click “Close”. You see a window asking whether you would like to view a list
of available newsgroups. Since this list needs to be downloaded from the
news server, ensure that you are connected to the Internet and click “Yes”.
The list is downloaded and the “Newsgroup Subscriptions” window is
displayed. On the “All” tab, you may click on the group you wish to subscribe
to. Use “Ctrl+Click” to select multiple groups. Then click “Subscribe”. Now
click “OK”. The names of the newsgroups appear in the folder list. To
unsubscribe from a group, right-click on its name and select “Unsubscribe”.
Click “OK” to confirm.
Click on a newsgroup name in the folder list to see a list of messages. You
may read any message you wish by double-clicking on it. To print this
message, select “File → Print” from the menu bar.
You may choose to reply to a message. Click “Reply Group” to send a reply
to all members of a group and “Reply” to reply to the individual sender of the
message. Select “File → New → News Message” to create a new message to
send to the complete group.
Using Messengers for Instant Messaging
Instant Messaging enables you to have a conversation with another person
or a group of people concurrently. It is similar to e-mail. The difference is
that you can send and receive messages as soon as they are typed. If both
parties are online at the same time, you can have a complete conversation.
There are different instant messengers available such as Yahoo messenger,
Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, Google talk etc.
To use a messenger, it must first be downloaded from the Internet and
installed on your computer. Now, download the Windows Live Messenger and
install it.
Select “Start → All Programs”. In the “Windows Live” folder, click “Windows
Live Messenger” to start the Windows Live Messenger.
Enter your e-mail address and password and then click “Sign In”.
Adding a Contact: Before you can chat with someone, you need to add his
name to your list of contacts. Click the “Add a contact” button. In the
“Instant Messaging Address” box enter your contact’s e-mail address. If your
contact does not have Windows Live Messenger, enter your message in the
“Personal invitation” box and check the box against “Also send an e-mail
invitation to this contact”.
If you wish, you may add additional information in the “Contact”, “Personal”,
“Work” and “Notes” sections. Click “Add Contact” after you are done.
You can see that the contact is displayed in your list. In the contacts list, you
can see which of your contacts are online and offline at any given time. You

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can chat with any contact who is online. When a contact comes online, you
are notified about it.
Chatting with your contact: Now, you are ready to begin your chat. In the main
Messenger screen, double-click the name of an online contact. In the box at the
bottom of the conversation window that comes up, type your message and click
“Send” or simply press “Enter”. This message is displayed immediately on your
contact’s screen.
In the same way, messages from your contact are displayed on your screen. You
can see the complete conversation in the upper section of the “Conversation”
window.
“Emoticons”, also called “Smileys”, are symbols that help to convey emotion or
additional meaning in a written statement. You may send an emoticon along with
your message. Type your message and then select an emoticon from the list. When
you click “Send”, the emoticon is sent along with the text.
You can also send messages to contacts who are offline. When you click on the
name of a contact who is offline, you are informed about his status. Offline contacts
will receive the messages once they come online.
Changing the Color Scheme: You may change the color scheme of the Messenger
application by clicking on the Paint Brush icon at the top of the main Messenger
window and selecting a color of your choice.
Changing the Display Picture: You may change the picture that is displayed against
your name. Click on your name at the top of the screen. Click “Change display
picture”. Choose a picture and then click “OK” in the “Display Pictures” window. The
new picture is then displayed.
Specifying Other Settings: You may specify other settings such as the way your
name is displayed in a conversation. For this, click on your name at the top of the
screen. Click “Options”. In the window displayed, you may click on the different
categories in the left pane to specify related settings.
Changing your Status: You may wish to display a specific status against your name
such as “Busy”, “Out to lunch” etc. For this, click on your name at the top of the
screen and then click on the status you wish.
Saving your conversation: You may save your complete conversation. For this, click
on the “Show Menu” icon to the right of the Paint Brush icon in the conversation
window. Now select “File → Save”. Click “OK” in the window that comes up. In the
“Save As” window, enter the file name in which you want to save it and press
“Save”. After you have completed your chat, you may close the conversation
window by clicking “Show Menu” and selecting “File → Close”.
Right-click on a contact’s name in the main window to perform various activities
such as sending an e-mail, editing contact details, deleting the contact etc.
Social Networking

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One of the fastest growing uses of the Internet is “social networking” i.e.
connecting individuals to one another. There are three basic categories of
social networking sites: reuniting, friend-of-a-friend and common interest.
“Reuniting” sites are designed to connect people who have known one
another but have lost touch. When you join a social network by connecting to
a reuniting site, you provide profile information such as your age, gender,
school name etc. This information is added to the site’s database. Members
can search the database to locate individuals. Many sites even notify you
when someone joins with parts of his profile matching yours. Two popular
reuniting sites are Facebook and Classmates Online.
“Friend-of-a-friend” sites are designed to bring together two people who do
not know each other but share a common friend. For example, a network
could be started by an acquaintance who provides his profile information and
list of friends. You could then visit his site to connect to his friends and join
his list of friends as well. Two well-known friend-of-a-friend sites are
Friendster and MySpace.
“Common interest” sites bring together individuals that share common
interests or hobbies. For example, if you are looking for business contacts,
you might join LinkedIn. If you wanted to locate or create a special interest
group, you might join Meetup.
You must consider carefully what you are disclosing before providing
information to any site or individual. For a summary of social networking
sites, see the displayed table.

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 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Overview
Introduction to Databases
You have recently accepted a new job as an Employment Administrator with
All Saints High School. You are responsible for maintaining the employment
records for all employees of the School.
Currently, the employment records are maintained on paper forms and
stored in file cabinets organized alphabetically. Although the information is
well maintained, retrieving any kind of information is time consuming. You
need to manually leaf through the pages to locate the required information.
Also making reports quickly is a difficult task.

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The school has recently purchased new computers and the management
now wants to update the employee record system to an electronic database
management system.
The software tool that you will use to accomplish the task you have been
assigned will be Microsoft Access 2007. It is an electronic database
management system which can store, organize, access, manipulate, and
present information in many different ways.
In the following labs, you will learn how to create a database, enter data, edit
data, print and preview data and much more, using Access 2007.
What is a database? : A database is an organized collection of related
information. Typically, the information in a database is stored in a table.
Tables are made up of vertical columns (called fields) and horizontal rows
(called records). The tables are related or linked to one another by a
common field.
Each row is a record which contains all the information about a person, thing
or place. Each column is a field which is the smallest unit of information
about a record.
Access 2007 is a relational database management application that is used to
create and analyze a database. A relational database is the most widely used
database structure. Here, data is organized in linked tables.
Creating a Database
Introduction to Access
To start the Microsoft Access application, click on the “Start” button and
select “All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Access 2007”. The
first screen that appears is the “Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access”
page.
In Access, every database is stored in a single file which has the extension
“.accdb”. That file contains database objects, which are simply the
components of a database. The four main objects in an Access database are
Tables, Queries, Forms and Reports.
Tables store information. The table object is the basic object and has to be
created first, before any other objects are created. You can create as many
tables as you need to store different types of information.
Queries let you quickly perform an action on a table. Usually, this action
involves retrieving a piece of information. However, you can also use queries
to make changes to your database.
Forms are windows that you create and arrange in order to easily view or
change the information in a table.

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Reports help you print some or all of the information in a table. You can
choose where the information appears on the printed page, how its grouped
and sorted, and how its formatted.
The features of Access 2007 are as follows:
-Once the data is entered in the database, you can quickly search the table
to locate a specific record based on the data in a field.
-It is easy to add, delete and modify records from a table.
-Its capability to sort records in a table according to different fields can
provide more meaningful information.
-You can analyze the data in a table and perform calculations on different
fields of data.
-You can quickly produce reports using some Access features.
-Your tables, queries, forms and reports are displayed as tabbed objects in
the Access window. By clicking the object tabs, you can easily switch
between various objects.
Access provides you with a wide variety of templates that are ready-to-use
databases that contain all that is needed for performing a specific task. For
example, there are templates that can be used to track issues, manage
contacts, or keep a record of expenses. Template databases can be used as
they are, or you can customize them to suit your needs. Several templates
are displayed under “Featured Online Templates”, and more become
available if you click one of the categories under “Template Categories” at
the left of the Access window.
Creating a New Database
Creating a database entails several basic steps: planning, creating, entering
and editing data and then previewing and printing.
Planning is the first step in the development of a database. You must
understand the purpose of the database. You must plan the design of your
database in respect of how many tables will be required, what data each of
them will contain and how will they be related. You must know how the
structure or layout of each table in the database must be. For this you must
study the existing employee records.
After studying the existing record keeping procedures and the reports that
are created, you decide to create several separate tables of data in the
database.
The main table will include the employees’ basic information. Another will
contain information of all the departments in the School and a third one will
contain the payroll of the employees.

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For now, you will create only the table containing the employee information.
Creating a database: Now that you have designed the database, it is time to
create it so that the data can be stored in it. Click “Blank Database” under
“New Blank Database”. In the panel at the right, the default database name
is displayed in the “File Name” box. Change it to “Employee.accdb”. You
may specify the location where you wish to store your database. Click on the
“Browse” icon to the right of the file name. In the “File New Database”
window, click on “Desktop” in the left panel and then click “OK”. Now click
“Create”.
You see the familiar Microsoft Office 2007 user interface which consists of:
1) The Office Button which displays a menu containing commands for
opening, saving, printing, and closing a file.
2) The Quick Access toolbar which displays icons that represent commonly
used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo.
3) The Ribbon which has Task-oriented Tabs, Groups and Command buttons.
For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, you may see the
assignment titled “The User Interface” in the “Microsoft Word” topic.
At the left, you see the “Navigation Pane”. When you open a database or
create a new one, the names of your database objects such as tables, forms
and reports appear in the Navigation Pane. To open a database object,
double-click the object in the Navigation Pane. To apply a command to a
database object, right-click the object and select an item from the context
menu that appears.
The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical bar, to provide you
with a larger work area. To minimize the expanded Navigation Pane, click the
arrow in the upper corner. To expand the minimized Navigation Pane, click
the arrow at the top.
Creating a Table
Access provides different window formats called “Views” to display and work
with the objects in a database. The two most commonly used views are
“Datasheet View” and “Design View”. Datasheet view shows the data in the
database. It also allows you to enter and edit the data. Design view allows
you to create or change a table, form, or other database objects, and
configure the fields. You can also set keys and restrict the values entered
here. But you cannot change the data in design view. The “View” icon in the
“Views” group is used switch back and forth between the Datasheet view
and the Design View.
Access creates your first database object, a table named Table1 which is
completely blank, with no defined fields. At the bottom of the screen you see
the words “Datasheet View” on the “Status Bar”. This indicates that you are
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now in datasheet view. This view provides a row and column view of the data
in tables, forms, and queries. In Datasheet view, you can edit fields, add and
delete data, and search for data. You may also create a table using this view.
We shall use the “Design View” to create a table. This view can be used to
create and view the design of all types of database objects such as tables,
forms, queries and reports. Click on “View → Design View” in the “Views”
group. Before defining the fields in a table, you need to enter a name for the
table. In the “Save As” window, the default name “Table1” is displayed.
Enter the Table Name as “Emp Info” and click “OK”.
You can now see the name of your table in the Navigation Pane on the left.
The “Emp Info” tab is displayed in the document window on the right. Before
you can enter data into a table, you must create the structure of the table,
meaning the fields that will hold the data.
Let us first understand what is meant by a “Primary Key”. A primary key is a
field or set of fields in your table that provide Access with a unique identifier
for every record. You must specify a primary key for all tables. Access
automatically creates an index for the primary key, which makes queries and
other operations fast. Access also ensures that every record has a non-blank
primary key field, and that it is always unique. When you create a new table,
Access automatically creates a primary key and assigns a field name of "ID"
and the AutoNumber data type to it. You will learn about the different data
types shortly.
Now let us begin creating the table structure.
Field name: A field name is used to identify the data stored in a field. The
name can consist of letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters, except
a period (.), an exclamation (!), and brackets([]). You cannot start the name
of a field with a space. Following are some examples of valid field names:
First name, Phone No, Subject1, etc.
Type “Employee ID” as the field name and press “Enter”. You can see a
small key to the left of the field name indicating that this field is the primary
key of the table.
Data type: The data type defines the type of data the field will contain. It is
important to choose the right kind of data type before you start entering
data in the table. Access provides a number of data types to choose from.
Click on the drop down menu button to select the “Data Type”.
Following are the data types you can use.
Text: It is the default data type and is used to store text entries, like words,
combinations of words and numbers, and numbers that are not used in
calculations. Examples are names and phone numbers. You can enter up to
255 characters in a text field.

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Memo: It is used to store text that is too long to be stored in a Text field.
Summary of a book is an example.
Number: It is used to store numbers only. Calculations can be performed on
the numbers stored in a Number field. Marks in an exam is an example.
Date/Time: It is used for storage of date and time information. For example,
Birth date, Date of joining, etc.
Currency: This is similar to the Number data type, but is formatted to display
decimal places and the currency symbol. For example, Price, Fees, etc.
AutoNumber: It is a unique, sequential number that is automatically
incremented by one whenever a new record is added to the table.
Yes/No: This data type accepts only two values – Yes or No, True or False,
and On or Off. It can be used for fields like Fees Paid, Pass, etc.
OLE Object: This data type is used to store images, documents, graphs etc.
Hyperlink: This is used to store web addresses.
Attachment: This is used to store images, spreadsheet files, documents,
charts and other types of supported files to the records in your database.
Description: The “Description” text box is used to describe the field. Giving
this description is optional. Type the description wherever applicable. Click
“Save” on the Quick Access toolbar and switch to Datasheet View by clicking
“View → Datasheet View” in the “Views” group. The description that you had
entered is displayed in the “Status Bar”. Switch back to Design View by
clicking “View → Design View” in the “Views” group.
Select the “Text” data type. When you select a data type, its default
properties are displayed under “Field Properties”. Information about the data
type is displayed in the left panel and on the right hand side is the help box
displaying information about the current task.
As you can see, the default field size of the “Text” data type is 255.
A field property is a characteristic that helps define a field. Each data type
has its own set of field properties. Some of the more common properties are
as follows:
Field Size: It decides the maximum number of characters that can be entered
in the field.
Format: Specifies how the data is displayed in the table and printed.
Input mask: Simplifies data entry and controls what data is required and how
it is to be displayed.
Caption: Specifies a field caption or a prompt for the user to enter data.

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Default Value: It specifies a default value for a field to be automatically filled
in at the time of data entry. This value can be changed.
Validation Rule: Restricts the data entry to meet certain conditions or
requirements.
Validation Text: It is displayed when the validation rule is violated.
Required: Specifies whether or not a value must be entered in a field before
the record is stored.
Allow Zero Length: Specifies whether or not an entry containing no value is
valid. If you set it to “Yes”, it can be used to indicate that you know no value
exists for a field.
Indexed: An index is used to speed up queries, sorting, and grouping
operations run against large amounts of data. This field property specifies
whether an index is to be created on that field.
Now, let us change some of the defaults. Click the “Field Size” property text
box. Double-click on 255 to select it and type ‘4’ to change the field size.
Click with the mouse in the “Field Name” column to enter the next field
name. Type ‘First Name’ and select “Text” as the “Data Type” from the drop
down menu. Click in the “Field Size” property box and change the field size
to ’15’. Do not make any other changes.
In the same manner, enter the information shown in the table until you come
to the “Birth Date” field. Select the “Data Type” of this field as “Date/Time”
from the drop down menu. Click in the “Format” property box and open the
drop down list. Select “General Date”. Follow the same procedure for the
next field – Date_Of_Joining.
The “Photo” field is of a different type – you want to store the photo of the
employee. So select the “Data Type” as “Attachment”.
The structure of your table is now ready. You may change the primary key
simply by clicking on another field name and then clicking on the “Primary
Key” icon in the “Tools” group. Let us change the primary key back to
“Employee ID” as before. You must save your table structure before you can
start entering data into the table. Click on the “Save” icon on the Quick
Access toolbar.
Entering and Editing Data
You can now start entering data in the table. But you cannot do so until you
change the view. We used the Design View to define the structure. We now
need to switch to Datasheet View. Click on “View → Datasheet View” in the
“Views” group. You can see that the name given to the field with the data
type Attachment has been replaced by a paperclip icon.

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The insertion point can be seen in the first column of the first row, that is, in
the “Employee ID” column. Type the employee’s ID number. Use the right
arrow key or press “Enter” to move to the next field. If you make a mistake
while typing, use the “Backspace” key to delete characters to the left of the
insertion point or the “Delete” key to delete characters to the right of the
insertion point. Check that you type data exactly as it appears in the
accompanying table. Remember not to use any spaces before or after the
data. See that there is consistency in the data that you enter. For the date
fields, you may enter the date directly or use the Date Picker displayed at
the right of the field. Complete the information for the first record except for
the “Photo” field.
Inserting a picture: The photo can be inserted as an attachment. Double-click
in the attachment field to open the “Attachments” window. Now click “Add”.
In the “Choose File” window, navigate to the location of the picture file. Click
on the picture and then click “Open”. You can see the name of the picture in
the “Attachments” window. Click “OK”. To see that the picture has really
been inserted, double-click in the attachment field. Now double-click on the
name of the picture in the “Attachments” window.
You have been informed by the HR department, that an employee has
resigned and is no longer an employee of the School. Then you must delete
that employee’s record.
Deleting a record: Select the record to be deleted by clicking the “Record
Selector”. This is the small box to the left of the record. You may drag with
the mouse to select multiple records. On the “Home tab”, in the “Records”
group, click “Delete”. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Click “Yes” to
delete the record.
Changing Column Width
The data you have entered may not be completely visible in the Table’s
column. You may adjust the column width. For this, position the mouse on
the right border of a column header. Then drag in the desired direction, left
or right until you get the desired width.
Alternatively, you may adjust the column width to a specific number of
characters. For this, right-click a columns name and select “Column Width”.
This displays the “Column Width” window where you can type the desired
value. Then click “OK”.
Preview and Print a Table
The table is now ready and you want to print it. Before printing it is advisable
to preview it. Click on the Office Button and select “Print → Print Preview”.
Previewing the table gives you an idea how the table will look after it is
printed. It displays the table in a reduced size so that you can see the layout.
The document will be printed using the default settings. If you want to

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change some settings you may do so. The “Print Preview” tab appears when
you view the table in the Print Preview mode.
You can see the preview consisting of one, two or multiple pages if there is
more data than can fit on one or two pages. The page is displayed with a
heading and date in the “Header” and the page number in the “Footer”. If
you want to change the page orientation, click on the “Landscape” icon in
the “Page Layout” group.
Check once again whether everything is as you want it and click on the
“Print” icon. To close the preview, click the “Close Print Preview” icon. You
may also print the table by clicking the Office Button and selecting “Print →
Print” from the menu or use the shortcut keys “Ctrl+P”. The “Print” window
is displayed.
The “Print Range” section of the window lets you specify how much of the
document you want to print. Select “All” to print all records. Select “Pages
From” to specify the number of the pages you want to print. To print pages
that are continuous, enter the page range. For example, to print pages 1 to
5, in the “Pages From:” field, type ‘1’ and in the “To” field enter ‘5’.
To print selected records, select “Selected Record(s)”. After you have
entered your print specifications, click “OK”.
The “Print Range” section of the window lets you specify how much of the
document you want to print. Select “All” to print all records. Select “Pages
From” to specify the number of the pages you want to print. To print pages
that are continuous, enter the page range. For example, to print pages 1 to
5, in the “Pages From:” field, type ‘1’ and in the “To” field enter ‘5’.
To print selected records, select “Selected Record(s)”. After you have
entered your print specifications, click “OK”.
Close and Open a Table and Database
You have finished working with the employee database for now and you want
to stop working but continue later on. You have to close the table and
database that you have created and have been working on until now.
Closing a table: Multiple table tabs may be open at one time. To close a
table, you may first click on the related tab to make it active. Since you have
just one table open presently, simply click on the “X” shaped icon at the
right end in line with the table name. If you have made any changes that
have not been saved, Access will prompt you to save them before closing. If
you click “No” to discard changes, the table will close without saving the
changes. Clicking on “Cancel” will not close the window and you will be able
to continue working. Click “Yes” to save changes. The table tab will close.
Closing the database: Next, you have to close the database. Click on the
Office Button and select “Close Database”. You are now back to the “Getting

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Started with Microsoft Office Access” page. You may create a new database
or open an existing one.
To exit Access, you may click the Office Button and then click the “Exit
Access” button at the bottom right.
Opening the database: When you need to work once again with the
“Employee” database, in the “Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access”
page, click on the database name in the list displayed under “Open Recent
Database” on the right. Sometimes, you may not see the name of your
database in this list. In such a case, click “More…” at the top of the list. In
the “Open” window, navigate to the location of your database and click
“Open”. Your Database window is displayed. To open the “Emp Info” table,
double-click the table name in the navigation pane. The table will open in
Datasheet View.
Making Copies of Database Objects
Copying a database object: You can make a copy of an object in the
database such as a table, including its structure and data. Let us make a
copy of the table “Emp Info”. Click the table name in the Navigation Pane.
Now click the Office Button and select “Save As”. In the “Save As” window,
you may accept the default name displayed or enter a new name. Let us
modify the default name. Enter the words “(with data)” at the end of the
name and click “OK”. You can see the new table displayed in the Navigation
Pane and the data displayed in the document window on the right.
Sometimes, you may need to copy only the structure of a table. This would
save time in creating a new table which required similar fields but had
different data to be entered. Let us create another copy of the “Emp Info”
table. This time, we shall copy the structure only. Right click on the name of
the “Emp Info” table in the Navigation Pane and select “Copy”.
Now right click once again in the Navigation Pane and select “Paste”. In the
“Paste Table As” window, select “Structure Only” under “Paste Options”.
Enter the words “(structure only)” at the end of the name and click “OK”.
Double click on the new table name in the Navigation Pane. In the document
pane, you can see that only the structure of the table has been copied and
there is no data contained in it.
You may use the Copy-Paste method to copy both the data and structure of a
table by selecting “Structure and Data” under the “Paste Options” in the
“Paste Table As” window. This is an alternative method to using the “Save
As” option of the Office Button.
Making a Copy of the Database
You can make a copy of the complete database. This copy would be identical
to the existing one complete with its objects and data. For this, click the
Office Button and select “Save As → Access 2007 Database”. If any database

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objects are open, you see a window asking whether the objects can be
closed. Click “Yes”.
In the “Save As” window, enter the location and the name for the new
database, say “Backup_Employee.accdb” and click “Save”. The new
database is created identical to the original database.
Modifying a Table
Customizing and Inserting Fields
If you look through the records, you realize that there is no uniformity in the
data entered in the “State” field. Also, you have forgotten to add two fields!
The PIN code number needs to be added to make the address complete and
the gender of the employee also needs to go on record.
You can easily make all these changes and put restrictions on the way data
is entered or displayed. You can even add and delete fields.
To set the display format, you need to first change to Design View. For this,
click on the upper part of the “View” icon in the “Views” group on the
“Design” tab. Make the “State” field the current one by clicking on it. You
want all the records to display the name of the state in uppercase.
The field’s “Format” property can be defined to tell Access the way you want
the data to be displayed. To define the format, you can use the four symbols
used in the table shown.
So, to change the “State” field’s format to display it in uppercase, you have
to enter the appropriate symbol in the “Field Properties” window. Move to
the “Format” field property text box and type ‘>’.
Change to Datasheet View Click on “Yes” to save changes. You can see that
all data in the “State” field is displayed in uppercase.
Now, you must insert those fields which you have missed while designing the
database the first
time. One is the “Pin Code” and the other is the “Gender” of the employee.
The “Pin Code” field should be after the “State” field and the “Gender” field
should be after the “Phone” field.
To do so, switch to Design View. Make “Phone” the current field. Select
“Insert Rows” in the “Tools” group on the “Design” tab. A row is inserted
between the “State” and “Phone” fields. Type ‘Pin Code’ and make its data
type as “Text”.
In the “Size” field property, type ‘7’ and in the “Format” field property text
box, type ‘@@@ @@@’ with a space after the first three characters. This will
display the PIN codes of all records in the same format. For example, BS83DT
will be displayed with a space between BS8 and 3DT.

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Repeat the procedure for inserting a row and adding the “Gender” field after
the “Phone” field. Enter its “Data Type” as “Text”, “Field Size” as ‘1’ and
“Format” as ‘>’. Save the new table structure by clicking on the “Save” icon
on the Quick Access toolbar. Now switch to Datasheet View. The table is
displayed with two new columns which have no data in them. Fill in these
empty fields in all the records.
While looking through the records, you observe that most of the employees
are from “Bristol” State and that there are more males than females as
employees. So, by setting the default value of the “Sate” field to “Bristol”
and that of “Gender” to “F”, you can make data entry a bit quicker.
A default value is used to specify a value that is automatically entered in a
field when a new record is added. This value can either be accepted or
another value can be entered by the user while adding a new record.
Switch to Design View and make the “State” field the current one by clicking
on it. Click on the “Default Value” property text box and type “Bristol” in it.
Similarly, make the “Gender” field the current one and click on the “Default
Value” property text box. Type ‘M’ in it.
Switch to “Datasheet” view. Save the design changes related to default
values. Observe that the new blank record has the “State” and “Gender”
fields already filled with values. This is because of the “Default Value”
property that you have set for these two fields.
You want the “Gender” field to accept only two values – “M” for male and “F”
for female. Setting the “Validity Check” option makes sure that the values
entered by the user are valid for the field type.
A validation rule is an expression that defines acceptable values. An
expression is a formula consisting of a combination of symbols that
evaluates to a single value.
You can also add validation text, which is an explanatory message that
appears if the user enters invalid information in a field for which a validation
rule has been set. If you do not give a message, Access displays a default
message but it does not clearly explain the reason for the error.
The table above shows some examples of validity rule settings and
corresponding messages.

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Adding a Validity Rule: Switch to Design View and click on the “Gender” field.
In the “Validation Rule” property box, type ‘ “M” Or “F” ’ and in the
“Validation Text” property box, type ‘Please enter either “M” or “F” only.
Now, switch to Datasheet View. You will be asked to save the changes. Click
“Yes”.
A warning message box is displayed saying that the data integrity rules have
been changed. When you make changes to the structure of a table, you
often make changes that could result in the loss of data or existing data may
become invalid. Access asks you if you want to check the existing data with
the new validity rule. For now, click “No”.
Type the data shown in the table in the new record. The “State” and
“Gender” fields are already filled with default values. You may change them
if required.
Now try entering an invalid value in the “Gender” field. Type ‘k’ or any other
letter in either upper or lower case, except ‘F’ or ‘M’. The warning message is
immediately displayed. Click “OK” to continue. Press “Backspace” and enter
valid text.

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Finding and Replacing Data
Finding and Replacing data: If you want to search for some information in the
table and also replace it, you may use the “Find” and “Replace” icons in the
“Find” group on the “Home” tab. The “Find” command locates all specified
values in a field and the “Replace” command finds a value and automatically
replaces it. Finding and replacing data is fast and accurate but you have to
be careful not to replace unintended values.
Now, you have been told to make two changes. One is that the “State”
names should all be shortened to 2 lettered names. That means you have to
replace “Bristol” with “BS”, “EASTSIDE” with “ES”, “NORTHSIDE” with “NS”
and so on. The other is that, one of the employees, “Jenny Smith” is married
and needs to change her “Last Name” and “Address”.
You need not do this manually. You may use the “Find and Replace” feature.
While in the “Datasheet” view, click in the “Last Name” field of the first
record and select “Find”. The “Find and Replace” window is displayed with
the “Find” tab selected. In the “Find What” box, type “Smith”, the last name
of the employee. The “Look In” box displays the “Last Name” field because
the field was the current one when the command was given. You want to
match the whole field, not part of it. So, in the “Match” box, select “Whole
field”. In the “Search” box, select “All”. You want Access to find a perfect
match to what you have typed in the “Find What” box, so, click in the “Match
Case” check box and click “Find Next”.
The first occurrence of the search criteria specified is highlighted. Check
whether it the record you are looking for. If it is, close the “Find and Replace”
window and make the necessary changes in the “Last Name” and the
address fields.
Click on the “Cancel” button if you do not want to perform any action.
Now, you have to make changes in the “State” field. So click in the “State”
field and select “Replace”. Click on the “Replace” tab and type “Bristol” in
the “Find What” box. In the “Replace With” box, type ‘BS’. The “State” field
will already be selected in the “Look In” box. Select “Whole Field” in the
“Match” box and “All” in the “Search” box. Click in the “Search Fields As
Formatted” check box which finds data based on its display format. Click
“Find Next”.
Clicking on the “Cancel” button, cancels the command. If the text is found
and it is the one you want to replace, then click on the “Replace” button. If
you make changes to a single record, using the “Undo” command will cancel
the last action as long as you have not made any further changes to the
table. Once you move to another record or move to another window, the
“Undo” command has no effect. Use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Z” or click
on the “Undo” icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Your original data appears.

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The “State” field in the next record is highlighted. Since you want to replace
all the fields containing “BRISTOL” with “BS”, click on “Replace All”.
Instantly, the data in all the fields containing “BRISTOL” is replaced with
“BS”. A warning message is displayed by Access, warning you that the
replace operation cannot be undone. You are asked whether you want to
continue, click on “Yes” because that’s what you want.
If you remember, you had set the default value for the “State” field as
“Bristol”. So you need to make a change in the default value too since you
now need “BS”. Switch to Design View and click in the “State” field. In the
“Default Value” property box, type “BS” and switch to Datasheet View. Save
the changes made to the table. You will see that the new record at the end
has the default value changed to “BS”.
Let us have another look at the various options available in the “Find and
Replace” window.
By default, the “Look In” list contains the name of the field in which your
cursor is currently positioned. If you want to search the entire table, you may
select the name of the table from the list.
In the “Match” list options, “Whole Field” finds only data that is exactly the
same. “Any Part of Field” finds data anywhere in the field. “Start of Field”
finds data only at the beginning of the field.
The “Search” box allows you to specify the direction to follow while
searching. The options are Up, Down, and All (which is the default).
If you check the box against “Match Case”, the search returns only those
instances of the text that have the same case (i.e., uppercase or lowercase)
as the specified text. For example, a search for “Smith” with the initial
alphabet “S” in uppercase and “m-i-t-h” in lowercase will not display “SMITH”
with all uppercase letters or “smith” with all lowercase letters.
Sorting Records
In the first lab, you had seen what a primary key is and what its importance
is. You also saw that the records in a table are arranged according to the
primary key. But the Accounts department has requested for the employee
list in alphabetical order. How are you going to give it to them?
To arrange the records in the table in alphabetical order, you can sort them
on a single field – the field on the basis of which you want to arrange them.
In this case, the “Last Name” will be the field which you will use to sort
records.
Sorting: Sorting the data often helps in finding some particular information
quickly. In Access, you can sort data in ascending or descending order. You
can sort on one field or more than one adjacent field. When you select
multiple columns to sort, Access sorts records starting from the leftmost

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column and moves to the right across the columns. The new sort order is
saved with the table data and automatically applied every time you open the
table.
To return to the primary key sort order, the temporary sort must be
removed.
In the “Datasheet” view, observe the order of the records before sorting.
They are sorted on the “Employee ID” field which is the primary key. Now,
click in the “Last Name” field of any record. Select the “Ascending” icon in
the “Sort & Filter” group on the “Home” tab to display the records sorted by
Last Name.
Observe the order of records after sorting on the “Last Name” field. You see
that Ted and Tom are sorted by Last Name but not by “First Name”. Tom’s
record appears before Ted’s which is not in ascending alphabetical order. To
sort first by “Last Name” and then by “First name”, you need to sort on
multiple fields.
To sort on multiple fields, sorting is done from the leftmost field. So, “Last
Name” must be to the left of “First Name”.
To change the order of fields, switch to Design View. Click in the “Field
Selector” of the “First Name” field. This is the small box to the left of the field
name. Now drag the mouse down until you see a black line under the “Last
Name” field. Then release the mouse. The “Last Name” field moves up one
row so that it is the second field in the field name list. Click “Save” on the
Quick Access toolbar.
Switch to Datasheet View to see the order of the fields. The records are
displayed according to the changed order of fields.
To sort on multiple fields, you need to select the two fields. To select the two
columns, in Datasheet View, position the mouse pointer in the column
heading of “Last Name”. The cursor will change to a solid black arrow
pointing downwards. Drag to the right to select the next column – “First
Name”. Both the columns will be highlighted.
Select the “Ascending” icon in the “Sort & Filter” group on the “Home” tab
again. Observe the records of Tom and Ted now. They are arranged
alphabetically first by “Last Name” and then by “First Name”, so Ted’s record
comes first and then comes Tom’s record.
To remove the temporary sorting order, select “Clear All Sorts” in the “Sort &
Filter” group. The records will again be displayed in the order of the
“Employee ID” field.
Creating Forms
Using the Form Wizard

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Being the one to be in charge of the employee records database, one of your
main objectives is to make the database easy to use. Seeing the records at
all times in the form of rows and columns can be tiring to the eyes. To make
it easy to view and use, Access provides a feature to create onscreen forms.
A form is a database object that is mainly used to enter and display records
and make changes to existing records onscreen. Forms are based on a table
and contain design control elements like descriptive text, titles, labels, lines,
boxes and pictures.
It is desirable for the onscreen form to be similar to the paper form filled in
by each new employee when hired. The information on this form will be used
as an input source for the new record that will be added for the new
employee.
The “Form Wizard” feature of Access makes it very easy to design forms. It
guides you through the steps required to create a form.
Using the Form Wizard: Click on the “Create” tab. In the “Forms” group, click
“More Forms → Form Wizard”.
The “Form Wizard” window is displayed. Information regarding what you are
supposed to do in each step is mentioned on the top in the “Form Wizard”
window. Read it so that you know what you are supposed to do in that step.
In the “Tables/Queries” list, the name of the current table “Emp Info” is
displayed. The fields from the current table are displayed in the “Available
Fields” list. Select the fields from the list one by one. Click on “Employee ID”
and click on the button with “>” symbol on it. The field name is displayed in
the “Selected Fields” list now. The button below this can be used to move all
fields into the “Selected Fields” list. The other two buttons below this, as you
may have realized can be used to move fields back into the “Available
Fields” list.
Select all the fields in the same manner as the first field and click on “Next”.
In the next step, the layout of the form is displayed. “Columnar” is selected
by default. Leave it as it is and click on “Next”.
In the next step, you are asked to select the style of the form. Select a
suitable one and click “Next”. The next step is the last step, where you are
asked to give the form a name and save it. “Emp Info” will be displayed by
default. If not, type it and click “Finish”.
The form is displayed with the first record’s contents in it. The field names
are on the left with the corresponding data in boxes in front of them. At the
bottom of the form window is the record number indicator. You can move
one record up or down by clicking on the “Next record” or “Previous record”
buttons respectively. The “First record“ button takes you to the first record
and the “Last record” button takes you to the last one. Click on the “New
(blank) record” button to add new records.To close the form, click the close

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button on the form. You can see your form name displayed in the navigation
pane on the left.
Let us learn to modify the design of the form we created. Open the form
once again by double clicking the form name in the Navigation Pane. Now
switch to Design View by selecting “View” in the “Views” group on the
“Home” tab.
Click on the field displaying the photo of the employee. You see a box with a
dotted outline enclosing the picture and the field label “Photo”. At the top
left corner you see a four-headed arrow. Click on it and drag the picture to
position it a little lower down in the form.
Now let us change the label “Photo”. Click on it and enter “Photograph”.
Click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar to save your changes and close the
form.
Adding Records in a Form
A new employee has recently joined the School and you need to input all
related information into the database. You will add this information using the
form you created.
To add records, you first need to open the form. In the navigation pane,
double-click on the form name “Emp Info”. The form will be displayed. Click
on the “New (blank) record” button at the bottom of the window. The form
with all blank boxes is displayed. Of course, the “State” and the “Gender”
fields have their default values.
You can start typing the data of the new employee as shown in the
accompanying figure. In this way, you can enter and view as many records
as you want. After you are done, click “Save” on the Quick Access toolbar.
Now, click on the table name in the navigation pane and scroll if required, to
see all the records that you have entered. You can see that both the form
and the table are open on two separate tabs. You may click on the tab
names to switch between them.
Queries and Reports
Using Queries
To get any information, it is necessary to frame a question. Framing it
correctly will give you the most accurate information. For example, if you ask
at the railway enquiry counter – “Is there a train to Central Park?” you will
most probably not get the expected answer. But if you ask, “When is the
train to Central Park?” you may get the most appropriate answer “It leaves
on Tuesday morning at 6:30 am”.
So framing a question correctly is important. In Access, to get information
stored in the tables, you have to put questions in the form of queries.

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Query: A query is a request for specific data in a database. Queries are used
to view data in different ways, analyze and even change existing data.
Queries can be used as a source for forms and reports because they are
based on tables.
Access saves each query in your database, like any other database object.
Once you’ve saved a query, you can run it any time you want to take a look
at the actual data that meets your specifications.
Creating a query in Access is very much similar to creating a table or form,
which you have already done. There are five types of queries in Access:
Select query, Crosstab query, Parameter query, Action query and SQL query.
The most common is the “Select” query, which you are going to use.
A “Select” query retrieves the requested data from one or more tables and
displays it in a query datasheet in the order you specify.
Using the Query Wizard: Click on the “Create” tab. In the “Other” group, click
“Query Wizard”. You will find this wizard similar to the one you used to
create a form.
The “New Query” window is displayed with “Simple Query Wizard” selected.
Click “OK” to display the “Simple Query Wizard” window. In the
“Tables/Queries” list, the “Emp Info” table is already selected. If not, select
it.
In the “Available Fields” list, you see all the fields in the “Emp Info” table. To
select the required fields, select them one by one and click on the “>”
button. Select the following fields – “Employee ID”, “Last Name”, “First
Name”, “Address”, “City”, and “Phone”. Click “Next”.
Here, accept the default name for the query or type a new one and click
“Finish”. The query is displayed with all the records in the table, but with
selected fields.
Modifying a Query: There was nothing very different in this query. It was very
simple. But now, you have a request from the Administrative department,
they want a list of all employees, who have been in service for at least five
years, for a “5 Years Service Award” they want to give. This is very
interesting. How are you going to specify this condition? You need to make
some modifications in this query you have just created.
While the query is open, click on the “Home” tab. Switch to Design View by
clicking on the upper part of the “View” icon in the “Views” group.
In the document window, at the top, you can see all the fields of the table
used for the query in a small window. In the lower part, the fields selected in
the query are displayed. Now, to know about the employees who have been
in service for 5 years or more, you need to check their dates of joining the

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organization. For this, you need to modify the query by adding the
“Date_of_Joining” field and specifying criteria.
If you do not see the “Date_of_Joining field in the window at the top, scroll
down a bit. Then, double-click on this field. It is displayed in the first blank
box after the “Phone” field. You must now specify a criterion for this field.
Specifying criteria: You need the list of employees who have been in service
for at least five years. In the criteria row, type the condition as ‘>= 1/1/2001
AND < 1/1/2002’ and press “Enter”. As soon as you press “Enter”, Access
adds the “#” signs before and after the dates to identify the values in the
expression as dates.
Running a query: To see the result of this query, click on the “Run” icon in
the “Results” group on the “Design” tab. The records matching your criteria
are displayed.
Saving the query: You now need to save this modified query. For this, click
the Office Button and select “Save As”. Type the name ‘5 Year Service’ in the
“Save As” window. Confirm that the “As” box has “Query” displayed in it.
Click “OK”. Now close the query tab.
SQL (Structured Query Language) is a powerful database language used in
queries. Each query that you create has an underlying SQL statement, which
you can view or edit by selecting “View → SQL View” in the “Views” group on
the “Home” tab. Now close the query tab.
Creating Reports
There is another request from the Administrative department – they need an
address report of all employees sorted by name. You will do this with the
help of the “Report Wizard” that is provided by Access.
A report is a printed output generated from tables and queries. It might be a
simple listing of all fields or of selected fields based on a query.
You will be creating this address report based on the “Emp Info” table.
Using the Report Wizard: Click on the “Create” tab. In the “Reports” group,
click “Report Wizard”.
The “Report Wizard” window is displayed. In the Tables/Queries list, select
“Table: Emp Info”.
Select fields “Last Name”, “First Name”, “Address”, “City”, “State”, “Pin
code”, and “Phone” one by one by clicking on the “>” button, as you did
while selecting fields for the query. Click “Next”.
In the next “Report Wizard” window, there is an option for grouping fields,
which you are not going to need, so click “Next”.

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The next “Report Wizard” window asks for the sort order of the records to be
printed in the report. You can sort the records by up to four fields in either
ascending or descending order.
You need the address list of employees in ascending order of “Last Name”
and within that in ascending order of the “First Name”. So, select “Last
Name” as the first field and “First Name” as the second field and click
“Next”.
In the next window, you are asked about the layout of the fields and the
page. You can have the fields laid out as either columnar, tabular or justified
and the page can be oriented either as a portrait or a landscape.
Click in the check box that says, “Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a
page” and click “Next”.
The next window lets you select the style of the report. Select a suitable one
from the list and click on “Next”. The next window is the last step of the
wizard. Here enter the report title as “Employee Address List”, click on
“Preview the report” and click “Finish”.
The preview of the report is displayed with the title and footer and all the
records arranged in the specified sort order. But if you see the report
properly, the headings and contents of some fields are not displayed
completely. You need to make some changes. To make these changes, you
need to modify the report layout. For now, close the report tab by clicking on
the “X” shaped icon at the right end.
Modifying Report Layout
Modifying report layout: Double-click on the report name in the Navigation
Pane. Switch to Layout View by selecting “View → Layout View” in the
“Views” group.
Now, the first thing you need to do is to exchange the order of the fields
“First Name” and “Last Name”. Click on the heading “Last Name”. When the
mouse pointer appears as a four-headed arrow, drag to the right to position
it after the “First Name” column. You can see that the complete column is
shifted to the right.
If you see that a heading is not displayed completely, click on it. A box
appears around it. When the mouse pointer appears as a two-headed arrow,
drag the right edge of the box to a suitable size.
Similarly, where the data is not displayed completely, click on it. Then drag
the right edge or lower edge of the box that appears to a suitable position.
You may find that the “State” field is too big for its two character contents.
You can reduce its size and make space for the other fields.

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To see the preview, select View → Print Preview” in the “Views” group. Check
if all the data contents are visible on the page. If they are still not properly
visible, you may move and resize the fields again as required. Save the
report either by using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+S” or by clicking “Save”
on the Quick Access toolbar. Click “Close Print Preview” to close the preview.
Printing a Report
Printing a report: The report is now ready to be printed. Click the Office
Button and select “Print” or use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+P”. The “Print”
window is displayed. Select the printer from the “Name” list. Select the “Print
Range” by clicking on “Pages From” and typing ‘1’ to ‘1’. Click “OK”.
Creating a Report from a Query
There is a requirement to print a report of all those employees who were
listed for the five years service award. To create this report, you can make
use of the query you created to list those employees.
To create a report from a query, you have to follow all the same steps you
performed to create a report from the table. The difference is that, in the
“Report Wizard”, instead of the table, you will select the query.
Click on the “Create” tab. In the “Reports” group, click “Report Wizard”.
The “Report Wizard” window is displayed. Select the query “5 years service”
from the Table/Query list. Add all fields in the “Available Fields” list by
clicking on the “>>” button and click “Next”. Click “Next” once again.
The next “Report Wizard” window asks for the sort order of the records to be
printed in the report. You need the report in ascending order of the “Last
Name” and within that, in ascending order of the “First Name”. So, select
“Last Name” as the first field and “First Name” as the second field and click
“Next”.
In the next window, you are asked about the layout of the fields and the
page. You can have the fields laid out as either columnar, tabular or justified
and the page can be oriented either as a portrait or a landscape.
Click in the check box that says, “Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a
page” and click “Next”.
The next window lets you select the style of the report. Select a suitable one
from the list and click “Next”. The next window is the last step of the wizard.
Here give a report title as “5 Year Service Awards”, click on “Preview the
report” and click “Finish”.
You can see in the preview, all the records of employees who have worked
for five years. Close the preview. Then close the database by clicking on the
Office Button and selecting “Close Database”.

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Protecting the Database
Using Passwords
Assigning a password: Microsoft Office Access 2007 provides a number of
features that can help make your data more secure. One of the first things
you can do in this direction is to use a password for accessing your database.
The steps to create and apply a password to your database are as follows.
First, open the database in “Exclusive” mode. For this, click on the Office
Button and select “Open”. In the “Open” window, navigate to the location of
your database. Click the database file and then click the arrow next to the
“Open” button and select “Open Exclusive”. Your database is now open.
Click the “Database Tools” tab. In the “Database Tools” group, click “Encrypt
with Password”. In the “Set Database Password” window, type your password
in the “Password” box, and then re-type it in the “Verify” box. Now click
“OK”. It is very important that you remember your password. If you forget
your password, it cannot be retrieved. Store the password in a secure place
from where you can recover it in case you forget it, but away from access by
unauthorized people. Close the database by clicking on the Office Button and
selecting “Close Database”.
Using a password: Open the password protected database as you open any
other database. The “Password Required” window appears. Enter your
password and click “OK”. Close the database by clicking on the Office Button
and selecting “Close Database”.
Removing a password: Open the database in Exclusive mode. Enter your
password in the “Password Required” window and click “OK”.
Click the “Database Tools” tab. In the “Database Tools” group, click “Decrypt
Database”. In the “Unset Database Password” window, type your password
and click “OK”. Close the database by clicking on the Office Button and
selecting “Close Database”. Your database can now be accessed without a
password the next time it is opened. You may exit Access by clicking on the
Office Button and then clicking the “Exit Access” button.

PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGER

Getting started with Outlook
Introduction to Microsoft Outlook
Your cherished dream has come true; your company has decided to give
laptops to each of its key employees. So you do not have to worry anymore
about sharing your Personal Computer. You have decided to use this
opportunity to its maximum potential and are eager to personalize your work
environment. You want to use tools to organize your contacts, schedules etc.

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With Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, you have an integrated solution for
managing your time and information. It can be used to organize and track all
types of information. Some of the important tasks that can be performed
using Microsoft Outlook are maintaining a personal calendar of
appointments, events and meetings, and storing addresses.
Starting Microsoft Outlook: To start the Microsoft Outlook application, click on
the “Start” button and select “All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft
Office Outlook 2007”.
Using Calendar
When you open Microsoft Outlook 2007, you will see a navigation pane on
the left which contains categories such as Mail, Calendar, and Contacts etc.
The upper portion of the navigation pane contains “Category specific tools”
for working with different types of information. The bottom portion contains
Category buttons for different tasks.
The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical button bar, to provide
you with a larger work area. To minimize the expanded Navigation Pane,
click the arrow in the upper corner. To expand the minimized Navigation
Pane, click the arrow at the top.
The To-Do Bar on the right gives you a consolidated view of your calendar,
upcoming appointments, tasks and important mail enabling you to prioritize
your work. If the To-Do Bar is not visible at any time, click “View → To-Do
Bar → Minimized”. This enables you to see a minimized view of the To-Do Bar
at all times.
To begin with, we shall take a look at the calendar. Click the button
corresponding to “Calendar” in the navigation pane. The calendar for the
current month is displayed in the category specific tools window. The “Day”
view, having today’s date and time divisions, is displayed in the information
viewer on the right.
Creating an Appointment
Your immediate concern is to record all your important appointments in the
calendar. Let us create an Appointment. Select the month from the calendar
by using the arrows. Select the day. In the time slot type ‘Meeting with the
client’. Press “Enter”. Your appointment has now been recorded. By default
an appointment is allotted half an hour.
Let us create another appointment and enter more details. Select the time
slot of 6 pm for the appointment in the information viewer of the Outlook
window. Click the “New” button on the Standard toolbar. The “Untitled -
Appointment” window is displayed.

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Type ‘Meeting with maintenance people’ as the “Subject”. Press the tab key
and type ‘Factory Premises’ as the “Location”. Select 7 pm as the “End time”
from the drop-down list.
You may wish to be reminded about your appointment by a bell. On the
“Appointment” tab, in the “Options” group, select the amount of time in the
“Reminder” list before the appointment when you want the reminder to
appear. To turn a reminder off, select “None”. In the “Show As” field, you
may select the way in which you want your appointment to appear in the
Calendar. Select “Out of Office”.
In the text box below, type your notes, say ‘Take along the maintenance log
file & purchase bills’. Now click on the “Save & Close” button in the “Actions”
group. You can see that one hour has been allotted for this appointment. The
“Out of Office” indicator is displayed at the left corner. You can also see the
appointment on the To-Do Bar at the right. You may click the To-Do Bar to
expand it and view details. Click it once again to return to the minimized
form.
Creating a recurring appointment
There are some meetings which take place on a regular basis, such as
meetings with your Accounts Manager. Click on the “Today” tab in the
Standard toolbar. Click on Monday in the next week in the left panel. Click
the 9 am time slot.
Select “Actions → New Recurring Appointment”. You can specify details of
the appointment in the “Appointment Recurrence” window. Under
“Appointment time” you may set the start and end time of the appointment.
Select the end time “10:30 AM” from the drop-down list.
Under “Recurrence pattern” you may specify the days in the week when the
appointment is going to occur and also if it is going to occur daily, weekly,
monthly or yearly. The current setting is “Weekly”, “Recur every 1 week on
Monday”. Let us keep this setting unchanged.
Under “Range of recurrence” you may specify the time frame for your
recurring appointment. The current setting is “No end date”. You may keep
this setting. Click “OK”.
In the “Untitled - Appointment” window type ‘Weekly meeting - Accounts
Manager’ as the “Subject” and ‘Accounts office’ as the “Location”. Click on
“Save & Close” on the “Recurring Appointment” tab, in the “Actions” group.
Now click the Monday of the next week and the following week on the
calendar. You can see that the recurring appointment has been recorded.
Creating an event
There is a two day exhibition for Product Promotions to be held in two weeks.
Since it will last for at least 24 hours, such an entry is called an Event.
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Click on the Monday of two weeks later, in the date navigator window. Right-
click in any of the time slots and select “New All Day Event”.
Type ‘Product Promotion Exhibition’ as the “Subject”. Type ‘International
Trade Center’ as the “Location”. Select the next day from the “End time”
drop-down menu. Set the “Reminder” to 2 days in the “Options” group” of
the “Event” tab.
To mark the calendar to show that you will be out of office during these days,
select “Out of Office” from the “Show As” list. Click on the “Save & Close”
button in the “Actions” group.
Changing the calendar view
By default, you can view your calendar on Day/Week/Month basis. This
means that you may click on the related button to see the appointments on
your calendar as you wish.
In addition, you can view your calendar based on different criteria. Select
“View → Current view”.

Creating a task list

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A task is a personal work related action item. A task can occur only once or
happen on a recurring basis, such as a weekly report. For your weekly
meetings with your assistants, you have several tasks that need to be
completed.
Click on the “Tasks” button in the Navigation Pane. If there are any tasks
that have been entered previously, they are displayed. To change the view
to a simple list, if necessary, select “View → Current View → Simple List”.
Click in the “Click here to add a new Task” text box. Type ‘Create
presentation displays for Product Promotion’. Click in the “Due Date” text
box and select a date from the calendar. Press “Enter”. Your task has now
been recorded.
Create the following tasks in a similar way:
1. Meeting with the Accounts Department.
2. Meeting with the maintenance staff.
3. Meeting at the Yoga Club.
Updating the status of a task: Double-click on a task’s “Subject”. The “Task”
window is displayed. Enter today’s date as the “Start date”. From the
“Status” drop-down menu, choose the option “In Progress”. From the
“Priority” drop-down menu choose the option “High”. Set the “% Complete”
to 25%. Click on “Save & Close”.
To change the view to a detailed list, select “View → Current View → Detailed
List”.
This view shows detailed information about each task. It includes different
columns for priority, subject, status, due date, percentage complete and
categories.
Setting up Categories
A category is a descriptive keyword or phrase to which you can assign
related items. Outlook 2007 offers you Color categories that allow you to
group information in a way that allows you to find and track all information
most effectively. To set up your categories, select “Actions → Categorize →
All Categories”. Outlook has certain predefined categories. You may make
changes as per your requirements.
Creating a new category: Click “New” in the “Color Categories” window. Let
us enter the category name as “Personal”. Click “OK”
Renaming a category: You may rename an existing color category to make it
more meaningful. Select the Yellow Category and click “Rename”. Now enter
the category name as “Time & Expenses” and click “OK”.

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Categorizing tasks: Select the task “Meeting at the Yoga Club” from the list.
To assign a category to this task, right-click in the “Categories” column.
From the available categories list, select “Personal”. Now the task has been
assigned to the “Personal” category.
Similarly, assign the following categories to the tasks as follows:
1. Meeting with the Accounts Department – Blue Category
2. Meeting with the maintenance staff – Orange Category
You can use the same categorization techniques for other Outlook item like
appointments and mails.
Sorting tasks
Sorting tasks is the process of rearranging items in ascending or descending
order. For example, you might want to sort your tasks by Status or Due Date.
To switch to the “Detailed List” view, select “View → Current View → Detailed
List”. Clicking in a column heading other than “Task Subject” sorts the list
according to that column. In the “Detailed list” view, click on the column
heading “Categories”. You see that the tasks are sorted in ascending order
by Categories. The next time you click, they are sorted in descending order.
You may also sort tasks by using the “Arrange By” option from the View
menu. You may sort your tasks according to Subject by selecting “View →
Arrange By → Subject”.
Using a task timeline
In the Tasks Timeline view, the tasks are arranged according to their due
dates. To change the view to “Task Timeline”, select “View → Current View →
Task Timeline”. Scroll the time line window to view all the tasks. In this view,
each task will be represented by a task symbol. The subject of the task is
also displayed.
Now to return to the “Detailed list” view, select “View → Current View →
Detailed List”.
Updating the task status
You can update the status of the task at any time and specify the status and
percentage completed. To update the status of the task, the “Status” column
must be visible. For example, you can see this column in the “Detailed List”
view. Select “View → Current View → Detailed List”. Click in the “Status”
column next to a task. From the drop-down list, select “Completed” and
press “Enter”. You can now see that this task appears crossed out with “%
Complete” as 100%.
You may click on the “Delete” icon on the Standard toolbar to delete a
completed task from the list.

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Printing tasks and calendar items
Many times you may need to print out your task list and appointment
calendar so that it is available during a meeting.
Select “File → Print”. The “Print” window is displayed. Here you need to
specify details about the Printer, the Print style, Print range and Copies.
If necessary, select the appropriate printer for your system from the “Name”
drop-down list. The “Print style” section specifies the format in which you
want to print your task list. Here two styles are available, “Table” or “Memo”.
The “Print range” section allows you to specify the rows in the table that are
to be printed.
The “Copies” section allows you to enter the number of pages and copies.
Click on the “Page Setup” button. Click on the “Header/Footer” tab. Let us
make some changes.
Type your name in the left header text box. Select and delete the user name
from the left footer box. Click “OK”.
Before printing it is always a good idea to take a preview of the document
you want to print. Click on the “Preview” button. To display the preview in
actual size, click on the “Actual Size” icon in the toolbar. If everything is OK,
click on the “Print” button in the preview window. Click “OK” in the “Print”
window.
Similarly, to print the appointments, select “Calendar” in the Navigation
pane. Select “View → Current View → Active Appointments”. Now, select
“File → Print”.
Creating Notes
The “Notes” tool is used to create a reminder for yourself. Notes are an
electronic version of paper notes that you use to jot down quick reminders.
Let us assume that you need to create a note to remind you to send an email
message for an event. Click the button corresponding to “Notes” in the
navigation pane. Confirm that the “Notes” view is set to “Icons”. Click on the
“New” icon on the Standard toolbar.
A blank yellow colored note window is displayed. Type the required message
and then close the window. You can reopen the note and make changes to it
by double-clicking on it.
Using the Address Book
What is an Address Book in Outlook
The Address Book is an electronic book, which includes detailed information
of all the people with whom you communicate. You can choose to enter

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different types of information such as business and home address, phone
numbers, email addresses, nick names, birth-dates and anniversaries. By
referring to your address book you can contact or communicate quickly with
any individual from the contact list. Like other outlook tools, “Contacts” has
several views like “Business Cards”, “Address Cards”, “Phone List”, “By
Category”, “By Company” and others.
Adding and Removing Contacts
To add a contact, click “Contacts” in the navigation pane. Click the “New”
button from the Standard toolbar. The “Untitled - Contact” window is
displayed.
On the “Contact” tab, you can see the “General” button of the “Show” group
highlighted. Here, you can enter the basic contact information such as “Full
Name”, “Company”, “Addresses”, “Phone numbers” etc.
Several of the fields include drop-down lists that allow you to further
customize the information for each contact.
Enter the required information in the appropriate fields. Click on the "Save &
Close" button in the “Actions” group.
You can view the entire contact list in the “Business Cards” format. The
names are automatically listed in ascending alphabetical order. By double-
clicking on the contact you may edit the information.
If you want to delete a particular contact from the contacts list, right-click on
the contact and select “Delete”. You may also delete a contact by selecting
“Edit → Delete” or pressing the “Delete” key after selecting the contact.
Importing & Exporting Contacts
You may need to save your contacts to a file so that they are available for
use in the future. This is called “Exporting”. This file can then be used to
copy details of your contacts to another location or another computer. This is
called “Importing”.
Exporting contacts: Select “File → Import and Export”. The “Import and
Export Wizard” window is displayed. This wizard guides you through the
complete procedure. Choose “Export to a file”. Click “Next”.
Choose “Personal Folder File (.pst)” from the “Create a file of type” list box.
Click “Next”.
Select the “Contacts” folder from the “Select the folder to export from” list.
Click “Next”.
Click on the “Browse” button. Specify the location where you wish to save
the exported file in the “Open Personal Folders” window. Type ‘Contacts’ in
the “File name” text box. Click “OK”.

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Now click “Finish”. In the “Create Microsoft Personal Folders” window, click
“OK”.
The contacts you entered are now saved in a file and will be available when
you want to import them later.
Importing contacts: Select “File → Import and Export”. In the “Import and
Export Wizard” window, choose “Import from another program or file”. Click
“Next”.
Choose “Personal Folder File (.pst)” from the “Select file type to import from”
list. Click “Next”.
Click on the “Browse” button. Select the file from the appropriate location
and click “Open”. Since there is a possibility that your imported file may
contain contacts which you already have, you may select from three
possibilities with regards to duplicates. Select the appropriate option and
click “Next”.
Select the “Contacts” folder from the “Select the folder to import from” list.
Now click “Finish”.
The new contacts will be incorporated into the existing list.
Searching Address Books
You can search for an address and the information associated with it in the
address book.
In the “Find a contact” box on the Standard toolbar, type the name of the
contact you want to find and press “Enter”. Outlook will search all the
available address books.
You can enter a partial name (such as “Hyosuke”), first or last name, e-mail
address and company name. To quickly open a contact you have previously
searched for, click the arrow in the “Find a contact” drop-down list, and then
select the appropriate name.
Creating and editing mailing lists
A mailing list is a collection of contacts. This list is saved with a name. It
provides an easy way to send messages to a group of people. You may add
contacts from different address books into your list. You can also enter new
contacts.
Creating a mailing list: To create a mailing list, select “File → New →
Distribution List”. In the “Name” field, type a name for the mailing list. On
the “Distribution List” tab, in the “Members” group, click “Select Members”.
Under “Address Book”, select the address book that contains the e-mail
addresses you want in your distribution list. In the list below, select the

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name, and then click “Members”. Do this for each person you want to add to
the distribution list, and then click “OK”.
Adding other members: You may also add members that do not exist in your
address books to your mailing list. For this, click “Add New” in the
“Members” group in the “Distribution List” window. Enter details in the “Add
New Member” window and click “OK”. Now click “Save & Close” in the
“Actions” group. The mailing list is saved in your “Contacts” folder by the
name you give it.
Editing a Mailing List: To make changes to your mailing list, double-click on
the list name in the “Contacts” folder. The “Distribution List” window is
displayed. You can now make the changes you require. Let us delete a
member from this list. For this, simply click “Remove” in the “Members”
group. Now click “Save & Close”.
Creating Mails: To create a mail to send to all members of a mailing list, click
“Mail” in the navigation pane. Click the “New” button on the Standard
toolbar. The “Untitled Message” window is displayed.
Click on “To” to display the “Select Names” window. Then click on the name
of the mailing list and after that click “To”. Now click “OK”. You can see the
name of the mailing list in the message window. This mail can then be sent
to all members of the list after completing other details.
Using Outlook for E-Mailing
Setting up a Mail Account
A very important feature of Outlook is sending and receiving e-mail. You may
create your mails offline and connect to the Internet only when you are
ready to send them. Additionally, all incoming mail can be stored on your
hard disk. You may disconnect from the Net and read your mails at leisure.
You are holidaying in Malaysia and you want to send an e-mail to your
friends back home. You first need to set up your mail account. Click “Mail” in
the navigation pane.
Select “Tools → Account Settings”. On the “E-mail” tab, click “New”. On the
“Auto Account Setup” screen, check the box beside “Manually configure
server settings or additional server types” and click “Next”. Under “Choose
E-mail Service”, ensure that “Internet E-Mail” is selected and then click
“Next”.
In the “Internet E-mail Settings” screen, under “User Information”, enter your
name and email address.
Under “Server Information”, select Account type, either POP3 or IMAP
depending on the type of mailbox you use. POP3 is generally used.

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Enter the respective server names provided by your Internet Service Provider
(ISP) in the “Incoming mail server” and “Outgoing mail server (SMTP)” fields.
Under “Logon Information”, enter your email address in the “User Name”
field and the password for that account. Ensure that the “Remember
password” box is checked. Click the “More Settings” button.
On the “Outgoing Server” tab, check the box “My outgoing server (SMTP)
requires authentication” and click “OK”.
Click “Next”, and then click “Finish” on the “Congratulations!” screen. Now
click “Close”.
Creating an E-mail Message
Creating a Mail message: This is also known as “Composing” a mail. To send
an e-mail, you must enter details such as the e-mail address of the recipient,
the subject and the content of the mail. Click the arrow next to the "New"
button on the Standard toolbar and select "Mail Message".
In the “Untitled Message” window, click on the "To:" button. This brings up
the “Select Names” window. Select the appropriate “Address Book”. Then
click on a name from the list to whom you wish to send the mail and click the
“To ->” button. Use the “Cc ->” and “Bcc ->” buttons in the same way for
entering the addresses to which you wish to send copies to. “Cc” stands for
carbon copy and “Bcc” stands for blind carbon copy. If you add a recipients
name using “Bcc”, the name is not visible to other recipients of the message.
You may add multiple names to any of the fields. Click “OK”. You may also
directly type in e-mail addresses not included in your address book.
Now enter the subject and in the large white box below the subject field,
type your message.
Using Attachments
Attachments are separate files that are sent along with your e-mail message.
They can be compared to a covering letter sent with a parcel or a birthday
card sent along with a present. Attachments do not form part of your e-mail
message but they can be opened and viewed or edited by the e-mail
recipient. You can attach all sorts of files to an e-mail, including
spreadsheets, word processor documents, database files, even sound
recordings and graphic images.
Attaching a file: You now want to send some digital pictures of Malaysia
along with your message. While composing the message, click on the
Paperclip Icon in the “Include” group. Specify the location and name of the
picture files on your computer that you would like to attach. You may select
multiple files by holding down the “Ctrl” key while you click each file. All files
in a folder can also be selected by clicking “Organize” on the toolbar and
then clicking “Select All”. Now, click “Insert”. The list of files attached is

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displayed just below the Subject Field. You may remove incorrect file
attachments by clicking them and pressing the “Delete” key.
Sending Mail
After you have finished entering all information, click the “Send” button. If
you are not connected to the Internet, your mail is stored in the “Outbox”.
When you connect, mails from the Outbox are sent to the intended
recipients. You may also click the “Send/Receive” button when connected to
send mails which are in the Outbox. A copy of all sent messages will be kept
in your “Sent Items” folder.
Drafts: You may create a draft of a mail and send it at a later stage. For this,
create a mail as described earlier. Instead of clicking the “Send” button, click
the “Save” icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Your mail is now stored in the
“Drafts” folder. You may edit your message at any time by clicking on the
“Drafts” folder in the left panel and then double-clicking on the related
message in the right panel.
Receiving Mail
Receiving Mail: By default, when you start Microsoft Outlook, all mails that
you have received are deposited in your “Inbox”. You can see this folder in
the left panel. Click on it to see a list of all mails received in the center panel.
Here you can see details such as the sender’s name and the subject of the
mail. You may also use the “Send/Receive” button to send and receive mail.
Reading Mail: In the center panel, click on the mail whose content you wish
to see. You can now read the message displayed in the right panel which is
the Reading Pane.
Viewing and Saving an Attachment
Viewing an attachment: You may also receive attachments from your friend
like the ones you sent. It is very important to know how to view them. In
order to view an attached file, the recipient needs to have a copy of the
software application that was used to create the attachment initially. For
example, if you have received a picture as an e-mail attachment, then you
must have the related software installed in order to see it.
One of your friends has written to you that she has paid your college fees
since you are out of town. She has also written about submission dates for
your projects. She has attached a picture of her visit to Malaysia last year.
When you receive an attachment in a message, and want to quickly see
what the attachment contains without opening it, you can preview it. For
this, simply click the attachment In the Reading Pane. To return to the
message body, click the “Message” button. To open an attachment of a mail
in your Inbox, right click on the attachment name and select “Open”.

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Saving an attachment: To save an attachment of a mail in your Inbox, right
click on the attachment name and select “Save As”. Specify the location to
save the file and then click “Save”.
Replying to and Forwarding a Mail
Replying to a mail: You now want to thank your friend for paying your fees.
To reply to her mail, click on the Inbox folder and then click on the mail in
the center panel. Now click the “Reply” button. A new mail message window
is displayed. You can see that the recipients e-mail address and subject with
the words “RE:” before it are already filled in. Also, the original mail that you
had received is appended at the end. You may make any changes you
require. Enter your mail content and send it like any other mail.
Forwarding a mail: You might want to convey the information related to the
project submission dates to another friend. You may forward the mail that
you have received. For this, click on the mail from the Inbox and then click
the “Forward” button. A new mail message window is displayed with the
original mail content and the subject. You can also see the original sender’s
name and e-mail address as well as the date and time it was originally
received. Now, enter the e-mail address of the person you wish to send it to
in the “To:” field. The “Subject” field displays the words “FW:” followed by
the original subject. This may be changed if required.
Let us edit the content to remove the statement regarding the payment of
fees. You may also make any other changes to the message that you wish.
Now send it like any other mail.
Handling mails in the Inbox
Sorting Mails: You may sort the mails in your Inbox by selecting a suitable
option by clicking on the “Arranged By:” button in the center panel. You may
sort your mails by date received, subject, sender’s name etc. You may click
on the box to the right of the “Arranged By:” field to reverse the sort order.
Saving Messages: To save a mail that you have received to another place on
your hard disk, click on it and select “File → Save As” from the menu bar. In
the “Save As” window, enter details regarding the location where you wish to
save the mail and click “Save”.
Printing Messages: To print a mail, click on it and then click on the “Print”
button on the Standard toolbar.
Deleting Messages: To delete a mail, click on it and then click on the
“Delete” button on the Standard toolbar. The message will be deleted and
moved to your “Deleted Items” folder. You may want to empty the Deleted
Items folder to make free space for additional storage. For this, right-click on
the folder name and select “Empty Deleted Items Folder” and then click
“Yes” in the window that comes up.

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Using Instant Search
The “Instant Search” feature helps you to quickly find items in Microsoft
Office Outlook 2007. The Instant Search pane is always available in all of
your Outlook views, such as Mail, Calendar and Contacts. Let us use it to find
a message in your Inbox. Simply type a word in the search box. The moment
a match is found, the related mail is displayed.
You can make your search more focused by clicking the “Expand the Query
Builder” arrow. Type your search text in the From, Body, Subject, or To fields.
To display more search fields in the Query Builder, click “Add Criteria”, and
then select the search fields you want from the list.
You can use the same search techniques to find any Outlook item.
Using Flags
Flags are very useful throughout Outlook. You can use a flag to quickly
create a follow-up item that can be tracked in the To-Do Bar, in your Inbox,
and even in the Calendar. All flagged mail items get added to the to-do bar
making it easy for you to keep track of the tasks and mail that you need to
reply to or act upon.
Let us flag a mail in the Inbox. Click on the flag symbol next to an important
mail. You can see that it gets added in the To-Do Bar. When you have taken
the necessary action, you can click the flag once again. It is replaced by a
tick and is removed from the To-Do Bar.

MAKING IT WORK FOR YOU

CD Writing
What is CD Writing?
CD Writing is also known as “Burning of a CD”. A burned CD is a CD that has
been written by using a process that involves using a device called a “CD
Writer” or “CD Burner” to burn indentations into the CD. The reasons for
burning a CD might be to create a backup of your files or simply to backup
frequently used CDs. To burn a CD you need both a CD burner and CD
burning software. Windows Vista comes with software that will burn your CDs
for you.
There are two types of CDs:
1) Recordable CDs - also known as CD-R
2) Rewriteable CDs - also known as CD-RW
On CD-R disks, the space can only be used once, although you may add files
over multiple sessions until the total space has been used. On CD-RW disks,

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the space can be erased and re-used many times. However, CD-RW disks
can only be used on CD-RW drives and not on ordinary CD-ROM read-only
drives. CD-RW disks are also more expensive.
Before you can copy files to a CD, the disc must first be prepared using a
process called formatting. You may format a CD using either the “Live File
System” or “Mastered” format. By default, Windows burns discs in the Live
File System format.
Live File System discs enable you to copy individual files immediately to a
disc. This is a convenient format if you need to copy a few files at a time. You
may delete individual files or reformat the disc to create additional disc
space when you use a rewriteable disc.
Mastered discs enable you to burn multiple files to a disc at one time. This
format is advisable if you need to burn a large collection of files, such as a
music CD. Creating such a disk requires as much free space on your hard
disk as the capacity of the disc you are burning.
Burning a CD using Windows Vista
Using the Live File System format: To write a CD using the Live File System
format, perform the following steps:
Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer. This is the “Destination
Drive”. In the window that appears, click “Burn files to disc”. In the “Burn a
disc” window, enter a name for this disc, and click “Next”.
It takes several minutes for the disc to be formatted in the Live File System
format. When the formatting is complete, an empty disc folder opens.
Open the folder that contains the files you want to write to the CD in another
window. This is the “Source Drive”. Re-size and arrange the windows in such
a way that both the “Source Drive” and the “Destination Drive” are visible on
the screen. Now drag the files to be copied into the empty disc folder. As you
drag files into the disc folder, they are copied automatically to the disc.
Using the Mastered format: To write a CD using the Mastered format,
perform the following steps:
Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer. In the window that
appears, click “Burn files to disc”. In the “Burn a disc” window, enter a name
for this disc and then click “Show formatting options”. Click “Mastered” and
then click “Next”.
An empty disc folder opens. Open the folder that contains the files you want
to burn, and then drag the files into the empty disc folder. The files are
copied to a temporary folder on your hard drive. You may change the files in
this folder if you wish. Let us delete one of the files.

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After you are sure about the files to be written to the CD, on the toolbar, click
“Burn to disc”. The selected files are copied to the disc. When the disc
burning is complete, the disc burner tray will open and you can remove the
disc.
You may write the same files to another CD by checking the box against
“Yes, burn these files to another disc”. Now, click “Next”
Erasing a CD
A rewriteable CD may be erased and written many times. If you use the Live
File System format, you can delete one or more files to make more room on
the disc. To delete a specific file on a disk, click on the file name. To select
more than one file, hold down the “Ctrl” key while you click the files you
want. Now, press the “Delete” key.
To erase all files on a disc, on the toolbar, click “Erase this disc”. In the
window that is displayed, click “Next”. Click “Finish” when the process is
complete.
Virus Protection
What is a Computer Virus?
A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that spreads by
inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. An
example of an executable file is a program, COM or EXE file. A computer
virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by
inserting itself into living cells. While viruses can be intentionally destructive,
for example, by destroying data, many other viruses are fairly benign or
merely annoying.
The insertion of a virus into the program is termed as an "infection", and the
infected file, or executable code that is not part of a file, is called a "host". A
virus can infect different parts of the computer’s operating and file system.
Viruses are one of the several types of malicious software. The term “virus”
is often extended to refer to worms, Trojan horses and other such software.
A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program.
However, a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another
program to spread itself. Worms harm the network and add to network
traffic, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer.
Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as their malicious
activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself.
A “Trojan Horse” is a malicious program that is disguised as or embedded
within legitimate software. “Spyware” is software designed to take control of
another computer system without the consent of the owner. An “Identity
Theft” is a harmful act by deliberately impersonating a person, for example,
using someone else’s credit card. “Adware” is a software package that

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automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a
computer.
Virus Protection
Are you worried that the precious data computer on your computer could be
destroyed due to a virus attack? Did you know that your private e-mail could
also be intercepted by unauthorized persons? It is even possible for others to
gain control over your computer system. Fortunately, Internet security suites
are available to protect you against all these hazards.
Today, due to the popularity of the Internet, network-borne worms are more
common than viruses. Anti-virus software, originally designed to protect
computers from viruses, has in turn expanded to cover worms and other
threats such as spyware, identity theft and adware.
Some of the popular antivirus packages are Norton Antivirus, MacAfee, AVG
Antivirus and Quick Heal. Antivirus software consists of computer programs
that attempt to identify and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious
software. This software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish
this.
The first is scanning all files to look for known viruses matching definitions in
a virus dictionary. The second is identifying suspicious behavior from any
computer program which might indicate infection. Such analysis may include
data captures, port monitoring and other methods. Most commercial
antivirus software uses both of these approaches, with an emphasis on the
virus dictionary approach.
It is important to regularly scan your computer using a good anti-virus
program. You must keep your antivirus program updated by downloading the
latest releases by your antivirus program vendor. Always scan floppies and
CDs for viruses, before copying data to your hard disk. Even if CDs are read
only, the files on them may already be infected.
The first step towards making your computer safe while you are on the
Internet is to install an Internet security suite. This can be installed either by
downloading from the Internet or from a disc provided by the vendor. On-
screen instructions guide you through the installation process. Once
installed, the software is automatically activated each time you start your
computer. It continually works to ensure your security and privacy. You are
alerted when any possible threat is detected.
“VirusScan” is one of the programs included in an Internet security suite. It
controls how frequently your computer is scanned for viruses. When a file is
checked, it is compared to the profile of known viruses. An infected file is
either deleted or quarantined (i.e. moved into a protected area where it
won’t cause any more harm).

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A “Personal Firewall” is a program that controls network traffic to and from a
computer system. It allows access only to authorized users and applications.
“Privacy Service” is another program included in an Internet security suite
that helps protect your privacy online. You can use it to block certain Web
sites, prevent sensitive information from being sent over the Internet and
block unwanted advertisements.
Using Windows Update: “Windows Update” is software designed to keep your
computer current and more secure by automatically downloading and
installing the latest security and feature updates from Microsoft. You may
run Windows Update by connecting to the Internet and selecting “All
Programs → Windows Update” from the Start menu.
Getting More from Your Computer
Listening to Music
You can use your computer for lots more than just computational activities.
To listen to music, you may use your Windows Media Player or download
other players such as Winamp and Real Player from the Internet. A sound
card and speakers (or earphones) are also required to hear audio.
Audio files in mp3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) format are optimized for
storing music in compressed format. Because these music files are
compressed, a large hard drive is not required to store them. This means you
can store thousands of songs without running out of hard drive space.
However, you can always copy music to a CD to free up space.
You may also listen to music online. Playing video or sound in real time as it
is transferred to your computer over the World Wide Web is called
“Streaming”. Streaming requires a powerful computer and a fast connection
since the file is not stored on your computer.
Streaming has two advantages over downloading. First, there is no download
wait when streaming. You can hear the music as soon as your player starts
receiving the stream. Second, after the music has finished playing, no files
are left on your computer to take up space.
All done
Downloading Music
Rather than traveling to a store to buy a music CD, buying online is fast and
convenient. There’s nothing worse than buying a CD after you have heard a
good song, only to find it’s the only good song in the album. By downloading
from the Internet, you can choose to purchase individual songs, if so desired.
If you hear a great song on the radio, you can log onto one of the music sites
and download it within seconds.

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The best way to find the music you want on the internet is to use a search
engine. There are many popular sites for music lovers such as Music-
Sites.net and music.lycos.com. Once a song is found, listen to a sample to
make sure it’s the one you want before downloading it. If it is not a free
download, you will be prompted to type in a valid credit card number to pay
for the music.
You must specify the location on your computer to store the downloaded file.
A Download Manager window shows the progress of the download. Once
downloaded, double-click the file to play it. By downloading music, you may
create a large music collection on your computer. It can be copied on CDs or
a digital MP3 player so that you can take it wherever you wish.
While downloading music, you must respect copyright laws. Although many
sites offer pirated music, there are others from which you can download legal
music. If you are downloading pirated digital files, you could be subject to
steep fines or other penalties, and they could be exposing your computer to
viruses, spyware and other unwanted software.
TV Tuner Card
A “TV tuner card” is a computer component that allows television signals to
be received by a computer. This means that your computer can serve both
as a computing device as well as a television. Most TV tuners also function as
video capture cards, enabling the recording of television programs onto a
hard disk. You may include video clips from television as part of a
presentation. Many TV tuners can function as FM radios.
The card contains a receiver, tuner, demodulator, and an analog-to-digital
converter for analog TV. Like TV sets, each version is designed for the radio
frequencies and video formats used in each country. Broadcasts can also be
digitally recorded by the computer for later replay, or distribution to other
computer users.
Most internal tuners do all the low level demodulation needed to convert a
radio signal into an on-screen image using a hardware chip and do not need
to use the CPU. Some cheaper tuners cannot do much of the signal
processing and rely on the systems CPU for that task.
Once a TV tuner card has been installed, you may view your favorite TV
shows, even while running other applications. For this, click the “TV” icon on
the desktop. Size and move the television window and control box window.
Then select the channel.
You may capture a video playing in the TV window into a digital file. For this,
specify the location on your computer in which you wish to save the video
clip by clicking the “Properties” button. Then click the “Record” button to
start recording. To stop recording, click the “Stop” button.

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Once you have saved the video clip, you may use it in any way you like. You
may add it to a Web page, mail it as an attachment or include it in a
presentation. Let us insert the clip in a presentation. For this open the
presentation file and click on the “Insert” tab. Now in the “Media Clip” group,
click the “Movie” icon. Navigate to your clip and press “OK”. Choose “When
Clicked” in the window displayed. Then size and move the image of the clip
as required.
To play the video clip, you may click on its image anytime during the
presentation.
PC to Mobile: Sending SMS
SMS is an abbreviation for “Short Message Service”. It is a globally accepted
wireless service for sending messages of up to 160 alphanumeric characters
between mobile subscribers and external systems such as email, paging, and
voice mail systems. SMS is a very popular service, particularly among young
people.
This service is available on digital Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks
allowing text messages to be sent and received via the network operators’
message center to your mobile phone, or from the Internet, using an "SMS
gateway" website. If the phone is powered off or out of range, messages are
stored in the network and are delivered at the next available opportunity.
You require Internet connectivity and an SMS service provider to be able to
send an SMS from your PC to a mobile phone. There are numerous sites
providing paid SMS services. There are others that provide this service free
of cost as well. You have to register with a site in order to send SMS using
the interface provided.
Today, SMS is used by organizations for marketing, as well as for providing
value-added services such as reminders for payments, information about
flight delays, current events, sports news and much more.
What is Spam?
E-mail, like many other valuable technologies does have some drawbacks.
We often receive many unwanted e-mails. These are mostly related to
commercial advertising, often for products of questionable quality, get-rich-
quick schemes, or something similar. This unwelcome junk mail is called
“spam”.
Spam Blocking Software
In an attempt to control spam, some countries have anti-spam laws as part
of their legal system. This has limited impact because a lot of spam
originates from other countries as well. A more effective approach has been
the development and use of “Spam Blockers”. These programs use a variety
of approaches to identify and eliminate spam. The Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail

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program which is available for free download at “www.mozilla.com” comes
with built-in spam blocking software.
Training Spam Blocking Software: After you install Mozilla Thunderbird, you
need to train it to recognize unwanted messages. When you have received a
message in your Inbox which you consider to be spam, select it and then
click the “Junk” icon on the toolbar. An icon appears between the Sender and
Date fields indicating that the message is spam. Similar messages will be
marked as spam in future. If at any time you decide that the message is not
spam, simply select it and click the “Not Junk” icon. The spam indicator is
then removed. After reviewing your actions for several weeks, Mozilla
Thunderbird will become more efficient in recognizing spam and taking
appropriate action.
Creating a Junk Folder: You may choose to move new junk messages to a
separate folder. For this select “Tools → Account Settings” from the menu. In
the left panel, under “Local Folders”, click “Junk Settings”. Check the box
against “Move new junk messages to:”. Then make a selection for the
location of the Junk folder and click “OK”.
Specifying Friends: You may create a “White List” i.e. a list of e-mail
addresses that should never be blocked, such as those of family and friends.
To specify a white list, select “Tools → Account Settings” from the menu. In
the left panel, under “Local Folders”, click “Junk Settings”. Check the box
against “Do not mark mail as junk if the sender is in:”. Then make a selection
from “Personal Address Book” or “Collected Addresses” which contains the
addresses of all viewed mail messages. Now click “OK”.
Blocking Images: Some e-mail messages contain images that let spammers
know that you have received them. Once spammers know that your e-mail
address is valid, they will continue to send mails. By default, Thunderbird
blocks remote images in messages. When you receive a message with
remote images, Thunderbird displays an alert stating that remote images
have been blocked, and the images in the message body are replaced with
simple place-holders. If you do want to view the remote images, all you need
to do is click the "Show Images" or "Load Images" button that appears to the
right of the alert message.
What is Speech Recognition?
Are you tired of typing lengthy documents using your keyboard? Now, you
have an alternative. You can use your voice to control your computer. You
can verbally say commands that the computer will respond to, and you can
dictate text to the computer. This ability to accept voice input is called
“Speech Recognition”. For this, you need to have a microphone connected to
your computer.
To set up your computer for Windows Speech Recognition, you need to do
three things: set up your microphone, learn how to talk to your computer,

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and train your computer to understand your speech. Speech Recognition is
available only in English and a few other languages.
Setting up your microphone: Click the “Start” button and select “Control
Panel → Ease of Access”. Now select “Speech Recognition Options → Set up
microphone” and follow the instructions in the wizard.
Learning to talk to your computer: Windows comes with a speech training
tutorial to teach you the commands used with Speech Recognition. To run
the tutorial, click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel → Ease of
Access”. Now select “Speech Recognition Options → Take Speech Tutorial”
and follow the instructions in the tutorial.
Training your computer to recognize your speech: Click the “Start” button
and select “Control Panel → Ease of Access”. Now select “Speech Recognition
Options → Train your computer to better understand you” and follow the
instructions in the wizard.
Controlling your computer: Speech Recognition listens and responds to your
spoken commands. You can use Speech Recognition to run programs and
interact with Windows. There are various commands you can use with
Speech Recognition such as selecting a menu option, clicking or double-
clicking an item, switching to an open program, scrolling up and down and
many more.
Dictating text: You can use your voice to dictate text to your computer. For
example, you can dictate text to fill out online forms or dictate text to a word
processing program to type a letter. Click the “Start” button and select “All
Programs → Accessories”. Now select “Ease of Access → Windows Speech
Recognition”. A window appears at the top of the screen which shows you
the working of the speech recognition software. To start dictating, open the
program you want to use or select the text box you want to dictate text into
and then begin speaking.
What is Digital Video Editing?
In the past, when you needed to compile movies or required professional-
quality editing of home videos, you required the services of photo labs or
studios. You can now manage this on your own using special software.
“Digital Video Editing” is the process of editing videos on a computer using
digital video editing software.
The process of Digital Video Editing involves three steps.
1. Input: Captured video and audio files are sent to the system unit for
processing.
2. Editing: The files are subdivided into a series of clips that can be merged
to form a new file and special effects can be added.

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3. Output: The edited video is stored on hard disks or optical disks for later
viewing or additional editing.
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a feature of Windows Vista that enables you to
create home movies and slide shows on your computer, complete with
professional-looking titles, transitions, effects, music, and even narration.
You can also use Windows Movie Maker to publish your movies and share
them with your friends and family. Start the application by clicking the
“Start” button and selecting “All Programs → Windows Movie Maker”.
On the left is the “Tasks pane” which you can use to perform common tasks
related to Digital Video Editing.
Capturing Video: You may import a video from your digital video camera to
your computer. First, connect your camera in playback mode to your
computer. Then, from the “Import” group in the Tasks pane, click “From
digital video camera” and follow the on-screen instructions. The video on the
camera tape is encoded into a video file and saved to your computer’s hard
disk.
The “Contents pane” in the center shows clips, effects, or transitions youre
working with while you create your movie.
The area at the bottom where you create and edit your movie is displayed in
two views, the “Storyboard” and the “Timeline”. To switch views, use the
keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + T”. The storyboard is the default view. You can use
this to look at the sequence or ordering of the clips and easily rearrange
them. This view also lets you see any video effects or video transitions that
have been added. Audio clips are not displayed on the storyboard, but you
can see them in the timeline view.
Editing a Movie: Each movie is stored as a separate project. If you make
changes to a clip, those changes are only reflected in the current project;
they do not affect the source file. You can drag clips and pictures from the
Contents pane to the storyboard and arrange them for your current project.
To add a special effect, click on “Effects” in the Task pane and drag the
effect you require to the storyboard. A transition controls how your movie
plays from one video clip or picture to the next. To add a transition, click on
“Transition” and drag the transition to the transition cell between two clips or
pictures.
The preview monitor on the right enables you to view individual clips or an
entire project. By using the preview monitor, you can preview your project
before publishing it as a movie. You can also drag clips to the preview
monitor to play them. You can use the buttons underneath the preview
monitor to play or pause a clip, or to move a clip frame-by-frame. The “Split”

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button allows you to split a clip into two parts at the point displayed in the
preview monitor.
Publishing a Movie: Once you movie is complete, you may create a DVD to
share it with others. For this you would need a DVD writer and some special
software such as Sonic MyDVD or Windows DVD Maker. Insert a recordable
DVD into your DVD writer. Then, from the “Publish to” group in the Tasks
pane, click “Recordable CD” and complete the steps to publish your movie.
Understanding Terms and Technologies
Netizens
Today, the Internet is an integral part of our lives. As a powerful
communications medium, the Internet offers great possibilities for social
change. The term “Netizen” is now used regularly. This word has been
created using the two words “Net” and “Citizen”. So a Netizen is a citizen of
the world, thanks to the global connectivity that the Internet offers. A
Netizen is also known as a “Cybercitizen”.
Netizens physically live in one country but are in contact with much of the
world via the global computer network. Virtually, they live next door to every
other single netizen in the world. Geographical distances do not have much
significance since everyone exists in the same virtual space - Cyberspace.
The term “Netizen” indicates civic responsibility and participation. Netizens
try to be conducive to the Internets use and growth. They use the Internet to
engage in various intellectual and social activities such as giving and
receiving viewpoints and furnishing information.
Blogs
The term "blog" is a contraction of "Web log." A weblog is a journal or
newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for general public use.
Blogs have reshaped the web and enabled millions of people to have a voice
and connect with others. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to
other blogs, web pages, and other related media. Most blogs are primarily
textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or
audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media.
A blog gives you your own voice on the web. Its a place to collect and share
things that you find interesting — whether its your political views, a personal
diary, or links to web sites you want to remember. Blogs often provide
commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local
news; some function as personal online diaries. Journalists often use blogs to
publish breaking news, while others reveal inner thoughts through blogs.
There are three main features of a blog. The first is reverse chronological
order. This means that latest entries are displayed at the top. The second
feature is unfiltered content. Opinions are given freely without any

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restrictions, legal or otherwise. The third feature is comments. Comments
can be made on any issue discussed on the blog or from outside.
Edutainment
“Edutainment” refers to educational entertainment or entertainment-
education. It is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to
amuse. Edutainment is normally used to provide education related to one or
more specific subjects. Edutainment makes learning enjoyable.
Edutainment seeks to instruct by using some familiar form of entertainment
such as television programs, computer and video games, films, music,
websites, multimedia software, etc. There are also blogs on edutainment
that give the latest news and updates on available software. They have
videos and lessons that use edutainment as a basis for teaching in a more
efficient and faster way. Edutainment is also used to refer to the use of e-
learning modules to put across concepts in an entertaining manner.
The term “Edutainment” is used to distinguish regular computer games from
more educational software. Fast moving shooting games are not
edutainment. On the other hand, games which involve problem solving
experiences with gentle intelligent creatures may be referred to as
edutainment. Examples include educational software for children that teach
them to spell or count while playing games and CD-ROMs about machines
that contain animations showing how the machines work.
Infotainment
“Infotainment” is a term applied to software that seeks to inform and
entertain simultaneously. Infotainment or “soft news” refers to a part of the
news trade that provides information in a way that is considered entertaining
to its viewers. It attempts to minimize the dryness of regular news coverage
by adding a certain amount of light-hearted or sensational style.
Infotainment is a combination of information and entertainment. It refers to a
general type of broadcast program which consists of both "hard news"
segments and interviews, along with celebrity interviews and human drama
stories. Many non-fiction CD-ROM titles are classified as infotainment, such
as multimedia encyclopedias or reference disks.
Infotainment may include information related to topics such as health tips or
gardening tips, travel or shopping that are not actually "news" at all. Other
stories may deal with current trends such as a shift in political views or a
change in the attitudes of teenagers.
Netiquette
“Netiquette” or Network etiquette is etiquette on the Internet. It consists of
an informal group of rules and ways of behaving on the Internet. Cyberspace

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has its own culture. Not knowing the rules for behaving properly online might
result in unintentionally offending or misunderstanding someone.
Let us have a look at some of the core rules of Netiquette.
Think before writing: The most important rule relevant to e-mail marketing is
not to send promotional messages to anyone who has not agreed to receive
them. You must remember that your communication via email or on
discussion groups involves written words. There are chances that theyre
stored at the other end and may be used for purposes that you did not
intend. So, always be cautious with your words.
Always try to be polite: You may stand up for yourself when you have been
wronged, but try not to hurt people’s feelings. Follow the same standards of
behavior online that you follow in real life.
Respect the time and bandwidth of others: “Bandwidth” is the information-
carrying capacity of the channels that connect everyone in cyberspace.
There’s a limit to the amount of data that can be carried at a given moment.
For example, when you accidentally post a note to a newsgroup five times,
you would wasting both bandwidth and the time of the people who have to
check all copies of the posting.
Respect the privacy of others: In the same way as you wouldn’t wish to
snoop through your colleagues desk drawers, naturally you wouldn’t read
anyone’s email. Some people in cyberspace such as system administrators
have more power than others. They should not misuse this to read private
email.
Be tolerant: Everyone makes mistakes -- whether it involves a spelling error
or asking a stupid question or giving an unnecessarily long answer. Give
people the benefit of the doubt. Be tolerant and if you do decide to inform
someone of a mistake, point it out politely and preferably by private email
rather than in public.
Technology Today
Today, there are loads of gadgets and new technologies that can equip you
to deal with nearly every personal or business contingency. For example,
under-the-hood diagnostics can be performed while a car is speeding along a
track. As a result, mechanics can know what parts needed to be replaced
even before the car has come in for servicing. Even if you are not a great
singer, you may make use of a gadget to make your off-key singing sound
really melodious! These are just a few of the huge advancements in
technology.
Reading is not what it used to be in the past. It now has an additional
dimension. Digital versions of books are available complete with pictures,
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It is possible to easily contact and communicate with people you do not even
know using technologies such as Instant Messaging (IM), Chatting and Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP allows users to not only talk but also
broadcast video conferences via the Web.
Instant Messaging enables you to have a conversation with another person
or a group of people concurrently. It is similar to e-mail. The difference is
that you can send and receive messages as soon as they are typed. If both
parties are online at the same time, you can have a complete conversation.
There are different instant messengers available such as Yahoo messenger,
Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, Google talk etc.
Transferring files: In the “Internet” topic, we learnt to send instant messages
using Windows Live Messenger. You may also exchange files with your
contacts in the course of your conversation. In the Conversation window,
click the “Show Menu” icon at the right end of the toolbar and select “File →
Send a single file”. Browse for the file you would like to share and click
“Open”. Your contact is given an option to accept the file. When he does so,
the file is transferred to him.
Sharing Files: You can share files with your contacts by using the “Sharing
Folders” feature. You and your contact can access all the files in the shared
folder at any time, even if one of you is offline. Before you can share files
with a contact, both you and your contact must agree to share files with
each other by creating sharing folders. To create a sharing folder, click the
“Show Menu” icon at the right end of the toolbar in the Conversation window
and select “Actions → Create a sharing folder”.
In the “Sharing Folders” window, click the “Add Files” button. In the
displayed window, browse to the file you wish to share and press “Open”.
When your contact agrees to share the file, both you and your contact can
access it.
You may also drag the files you wish to share with your contact into the
“Sharing Folders” window.
Using a Webcam: In addition to text communication, Messenger allows you
to have a voice or video conversation with an online contact. This enables
you to see and hear your contact. For this, both you and your contact need
to have a microphone and speakers, as well as Web cameras for video
conferencing. To hold a video conference, click the “Show Menu” icon at the
right end of the toolbar in the Conversation window and select “Actions →
Video → Start a Video Call”. Your contact is given an option to accept the
video conference. When he does so, the video conference begins.
iPods, Podcasting and RSS
iPod: iPod is a brand of portable media players created by Apple and
launched on October 23, 2001. Till date, it is possibly the best-selling digital

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audio player series in history. Digital media players are lightweight digital
storage devices that do not require cassettes or disks. They store music files
internally.
Devices in the iPod family are designed according to the latest demands and
technology. They vary in size and features. “iPod classic” is a model which
has a hard-drive. The smaller iPods like “nano” and “shuffle” use flash
memory which is a non-volatile memory device. “iPod touch” is a model
which has a touch screen. iPods, other than the iPod touch, can also serve as
external data storage devices.
iPod is a music player and more. Apples “iTunes” software is used to transfer
music to the devices. iTunes stores a music library on the users computer
and can play and write music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos,
games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. You can also
purchase digital music files from within iTunes.
Using iTunes: Let us learn how to use Apple’s iTunes software. First, you
need to connect to “www.apple.com” and follow the on-screen instructions
for downloading and installing the iTunes software.
Finding Music: Select “iTunes Store” in the left panel and follow the on-
screen instructions to locate and purchase music files.
Click the “Create a playlist” button at the bottom-left corner and enter a
name for your playlist.
Click “Music” in the “Library” list in the left panel to view your songs. Drag
songs you would like to hear to your playlist. Now select your playlist and
click the “Play” button at the top to hear your music.
Creating a Custom CD: Using iTunes, you may create a custom CD. This is
one of the ways in which you can take your favorite tunes with you. You
would need to have a CD Writer on your computer for this. Select your
playlist and click the “Burn Disc” button at the bottom right. Insert a blank
CD into your CD drive. Now click on the “Burn Disc” button once more.
Uploading to a Digital Media Player: Another way to carry your favorite tunes
is to upload them to your iPod using iTunes. Connect your iPod to your
computer. iTunes starts automatically. To transfer individual music files, click
“Music” in the “Library” list and drag them to “iPod” in the left panel.
Podcasting: “Podcasting” is a new type of online media delivery which
consists of free audio and video broadcasts. Put simply, podcasting allows
you to download files onto your computer and MP3 player which can contain
music, talk shows or anything else. An important feature about podcasting is
that you can subscribe to a series so that it automatically downloads on to
your computer and MP3 player. The term “Podcast” is derived from the
words ‘iPod and ‘broadcast, but to create a podcast or even to listen to one,
it is not mandatory to possess an iPod, or any portable music player .

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Podcasting enables you to compile all your favorite music, film reviews, radio
programs and news stories and you may listen to them whenever and
wherever you wish. You can use podcasting software such as iTunes, Juice,
Odeo, Podnova and Feedburner to subscribe to your favorite podcasts, which
will then be automatically downloaded for you. Such software is available for
free download from the Internet.
Today, using the Internet, technologies like Podcasting empower you with a
voice that can literally reach around the world. Podcasts can be used for a
number of different things such as creation of informational, instructional
and promotional material. They may also be used in story telling for children
or the visually-impaired, for Commentaries, Sportscasts and lots more.
RSS Feeds: A “web feed” is a data format used for providing users with
frequently updated content. Podcasts are downloaded via a feed such as
RSS. Short for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary), RSS is a
method of publishing content on frequently updated web sites.
Users access headlines and see web site updates via an RSS reader which is
an application that displays a short summary and provides links to the full
article on the Web site. This allows users to "subscribe" to a site so that they
can quickly scan the updated headlines and then go to specific articles of
interest. Some browsers also include the RSS reading functions.
Bluetooth & Wi-Fi Technology
“Bluetooth” is the name of a new technology that promises to change the
way we use machines. We see a large number of cables in our offices, homes
and everywhere else. We often have a hard time trying to figure out which
cable needs to go where. Bluetooth is essentially a cable-replacement
technology which tries to solve this problem.
Conceived initially by Ericsson, Bluetooth is a small, cheap radio chip to be
plugged into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc. It creates a wireless
personal area network (PAN) and provides a way to connect and exchange
information between two devices over distances of about 30 feet. It aims to
simplify data synchronization between Internet devices and other computers.
It is a radio standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low
power consumption, with a short range. Using this technology, users of
cellular phones can buy a multi-purpose phone that can serve as a portable
phone and also be used to get information from a computer, and, in general,
have all mobile and fixed computer devices in total co-ordination.
Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi: “Wi-Fi” is short for "Wireless Fidelity" and is a set of
standards for wireless local area networks. It was originally developed for
use by wireless devices and local networks but it is now used for Internet
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Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequencies as Bluetooth, but with higher power
resulting in a stronger connection. It covers greater distances, but requires
more expensive hardware and higher power consumption. It enables a faster
connection, and offers better security than Bluetooth.
Home Networking
Today, computers are commonly found in homes. If you have more than one
computer, you can use a home network to share files and printers and play
multiplayer computer games. Home networks allow multiple users to access
the Internet at the same time.
Installing the Network: The steps to install the network are as follows.
1) Install the Hardware: Install network adapters in the computers that need
them by following the installation instruction manuals that come with the
adapters.
2) Set up an Internet connection: If you want to use your network to share an
Internet connection, you need to set up the connection first. For this, you
need a cable or DSL modem and an account with an Internet service provider
(ISP). Open the “Connect to the Internet” wizard and follow the instructions.
3) Connect the computers: There are several ways to connect computers
depending on the type of network adapters, modem, and Internet connection
that you have. It also depends on whether or not you want to share an
Internet connection among all the computers on the network.
4) Run the “Set Up a Wireless Router or Access Point” wizard: If your network
is wireless, run the “Set up a Wireless Router or Access Point” wizard on the
computer attached to the router.
Using the Network: Once your network has been installed, you may use it to
share different resources. A home network is commonly used to share files,
printers and Internet access as well as to run multiplayer computer games.
Popular Websites
Wikipedia
“Wikipedia” is one of the most popular reference sites on the Internet. It is a
web-based free content, multilingual encyclopedia written by contributors
around the world. It is the result of the combined efforts of an online
community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia in a
spirit of mutual respect.
It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists
of 195 independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia
Foundation. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one
of the largest reference Web sites.

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This is a special type of website, called a “Wiki” where anybody can edit and
add to an article. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia content.
Content is meticulously appraised and inappropriate changes are removed.
Repeat offenders may be blocked from editing. Anyone is welcome to add
information as long as they do so within Wikipedias editing policies. For
example, if you add information to an article, you must include appropriate
references.
This encyclopedia can be found at www.wikipedia.com. Select the language
of your choice to go to the Main Page. Let us click on “English”. On the left-
hand side of the screen you can see a “search” box with two buttons under it
labeled "Go" and "Search".
Let us look for information related to the great scientist Albert Einstein. Type
“Einstein” into the box, and press enter or click “Go”. This will take you
directly to Wikipedias most relevant article on the entered keyword. Here
you will most likely find all the information you need.
If you wish to look up additional Wikipedia pages, click “Search” after you
have entered your keyword. You see a page which displays links to other
pages. Simply click a link to view the related page. So, using Wikipedia, you
can research on any topic with great ease.
YouTube
YouTube is a website that specializes in publishing user-posted video clips. It
is one of the top ten most popular websites on the Internet. The visitors to
this site are mostly teenagers and young adults. Its slogan is “Broadcast
Yourself” meaning that everyone is free to broadcast whatever they wish,
provided it is not potentially offensive.
Started in 2005, the site was purchased one year later by Google. It can be
found at www.youtube.com. While much of the content consists of original
amateur videos, professional content is now being provided by some
advertisers and media producers.
Various people have used YouTube to achieve celebrity status by dancing,
singing, posting video resumes, and in other creative ways. Browsing
through the loads of available videos is simple and uploading your own video
is almost as simple. YouTube’s phenomenal appeal lies in its simplicity and
global reach. There are a number of other video sharing sites but so far,
none of them have been able to match the cultural impact or enormous
volumes of YouTube.
Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site, while registered users
are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. YouTube discourages
users from downloading videos to their own computers, preferring that they
watch videos online.

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Like most other social-networking sites, YouTube has been the focus of
controversies related to some sensitive political and personal issues.
Because of this, the site has been banned in a few countries.

*****THE END****

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