When you turn on a computer, it goes begins something called booting. Booting is the process of getting the computer ready for you to use. The following is what the computer and then Windows 95 goes through while booting:
At this point, Windows 95 is finished and is waiting for you to tell it what to do. Depending on how fast of a computer you have and how many items are in your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and how many programs you have in your StartUp group, this could take several minutes. During most of this process, you will see the blue sky with white clouds background of Windows 95.
Windows 95 presents the user with an easy-to-use interface. Figure 1-1 shows Windows 95 as it might look when it first starts. Since Windows 95 can be configured in many different ways, the version you have might look different from this. We will begin by exploring the parts of this screen.
Ronny's Computer. Unless you have changed its name as I have, this will say "My Computer" on your system. This lists the files, programs, folders, and hardware you have. Double-click on this icon and it will open a window similar to Figure 1-2 showing all the drives you have (A-G on my computer) as well as other information we will discuss later.
Network Neighborhood. You do not see this icon in Figure 1-1 since I am not connected to a network. If you are connected to a network, there will be an icon labeled Network Neighborhood that you can double-click on to access all the computers and printers to which you are networked.
In Box. This is where you will find incoming e-mail. Using this requires you to be a member of Microsoft Network or to use Microsoft Mail or Microsoft Fax.
Recycle Bin. When you tell Windows 95 to delete a file, Windows 95 appears to remove it from your computer. However, it simply places the file in the Recycle Bin. At anytime in the future, up to when you "empty" the trash or the trash gets full, you can recover the file. Once you open the Recycle Bin and empty the trash, you cannot get your files back. Note that Windows 95 does not use the Recycle Bin if you use an older program to erase a file. It also does not store temporary or working files that programs create and erase in the Recycle Bin.
My Briefcase. This is a Windows 95 tool that lets you group files together to move them between computers. This can be useful if you have a desktop and notebook computer or a computer at the office and another one at home.
The Microsoft Network. The Microsoft Network is an on-line service of Microsoft. It offers discussion areas, e-mail, shareware software, and more. Using this service is not free. There are competing services, such as CompuServe and America Online, that offer a broader range of services.
As you can see from Figure 1-1, Windows 95 is very visual in nature. It places a lot of graphical images on the screen. You can perform many tasks in Windows 95 by pointing to and manipulating these graphical images. Since Windows 95 is visual in nature, it is often called a graphical user interface or GUI. You pronounce GUI as "gooey."
A graphical user interface has a significant advantage, especially for new users. Without a GUI, you would have to type in commands for the computer to execute. In addition, you would have to deal with arcane error messages when you entered a command incorrectly or when the computer encountered a problem. However, with a GUI you simply point to pictures on the screen, click or double-click on them or drag them to a new location. When the computer needs more information, it displays a dialog box and allows you to click on the appropriate button or make a selection from a list.
The most common way to communicate with Windows 95 is using a mouse. As you move the mouse across your desktop, a small on-screen pointer tracks it movement. This on-screen pointer is the mouse pointer. Move the mouse left, right, forwards, or backwards and the mouse pointer moves in the same direction.
Most mice have two buttons on them, the left and right button. The majority of your actions in Windows 95 use the left mouse button. A few mice have three buttons. You rarely use the center button on these mice.
A mouse typically sits on a mouse pad to give it additional traction. If you move the mouse to the edge of the mouse pad and need to continue moving in that direction, you can pick the mouse up and move it back to the center of the pad. While the mouse is in the air and not touching the surface, the mouse pointer will not move as you move the mouse.
You pick items in Windows 95 by moving the mouse pointer until its tip is on the center of the picture of the item you wish to select. This is called pointing. The various pictures you see on the screen are icons.
You work with icons and other Windows 95 elements in one of four ways, clicking, double-clicking, dragging, and right-clicking. To click on an icon, you point to that icon with the mouse pointer and press and release the left mouse button. Clicking selects an icon or window and opens a menu.
You double-click by pointing to an icon with the mouse cursor and pressing and releasing the left mouse button twice in rapid succession. You must do this very rapidly in order for Windows 95 to see it as a double-click rather than just two clicks.
Dragging is typically used to move something. You drag by first pointing to the icon or other Windows 95 element with the mouse cursor. Next, press the left mouse button but do not release it. You can then move the mouse cursor to a new location. You then release the mouse button to finish dragging. You right-clicking by pointing to an icon or other element and clicking with the right mouse button. This is typically used to display an item-specific menu of actions you can take.
You can accomplish most of the actions you take with the mouse using keystroke combinations on the keyboard. These are called keyboard shortcuts. These are typically harder to perform than using the mouse and most users rarely use them so I will not cover them. They are called shortcuts only because they allow you to work without removing your hands from the keyboard.
We will see how to control Windows 95 in the next chapter. However, it is very important that you know how to stop Windows 95 so we are going to cover that in this first chapter.
Windows 95 performs a lot of tasks in the background. If you simply turn off your computer when you finish, you might interrupt some of these background tasks. In addition, Windows 95 creates temporary work files on your hard disk. Normally, it erases these but if you turn off the computer without giving it a chance, they end up cluttering up your hard disk taking up space. To avoid problems, always shut down Windows 95 properly.
To properly shut down Windows 95, perform the following steps:
Windows 95 will perform some housekeeping and then tell you when it is safe to turn off the computer.
You now know your way around the Windows 95 screen. You know what the computer does while it is booting and you know how to exit Windows 95.
© 2002 by Ronny Richardson, All Rights Reserved