SELECTING MORE THAN ONE CELL IN AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET. To select more than one cell click the left-hand mouse pointing at each cell in turn to be selected while holding down the Ctrl key. SELECTING ALL THE CELLS IN AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET. To select all the cells click the left-hand mouse button while pointing at the blank rectangle about the 1 and to the left of the A (left-hand corner of the sheet). EXCEL SHORTCUT KEYSShortcut Keys Description F7 Spell check selected text and or document. F11 Create chart. Ctrl + Shift + ; Enter the current time Ctrl + ; Enter the current date Alt + Shift + F1 Insert New Worksheet Shift + F3 Open the Excel formula window. Shift + F5 Bring up search box. Ctrl + A Select all contents of the worksheet. Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection. Ctrl + I Italic highlighted selection. Ctrl + K Insert link. Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection. Ctrl + 5 Strikethrough highlighted selection. Ctrl + P Bring up the print dialog box to begin printing. Ctrl + Z Undo last action. Ctrl + F9 Minimize current window. Ctrl + F10 Maximize currently selected window. Ctrl + F6 Switch between open workbooks / windows. Ctrl + Page up Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document. Ctrl + Page down Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document. Ctrl + Tab Move between Two or more open Excel files. Ctrl + Shift + ! Format number in comma format. Ctrl + Shift + $ Format number in currency format. Ctrl + Shift + # Format number in date format. Ctrl + Shift + % Format number in percentage format. Ctrl + Shift + ^ Format number in scientific format. Ctrl + Shift + @ Format number in time format. Ctrl + Arrow key Move to next section of text. Ctrl + Space Select entire column. Shift + Space Select entire row. CONTROL INCOMING E-MAILS Use Microsoft Outlook Rules Wizard to help screen your e-mail and delete mail that you are not interested in. TO START A NEW PAGE IN WORD Press the Ctrl key followed by the Enter key. GO TO THE END OF A WORD DOCUMENT Hold down the Ctrl key and press the End key. GO TO THE BEGINNING OF A WORD DOCUMENT Hold down the Ctrl key and press the Home key. SELECTING A BLOCK OF TEXT IN WORD ETC. Click the left-hand mouse button at the start of the text to be selected. Move the I-beam to the end of the text to be selected hold down the Ctrl key and press the left-hand mouse button. SENDING A WEB PAGE TO A FRIEND Internet Explorer users Send a friend the web page you are viewing by clicking File, Send, and "Page by E-mail". TO PLAN A ROUTE DOOR TO DOOR USE GOOGLE MAPS To try go to http://maps.google.co.uk/ INDENTING IN TABLES IN WORD To indent in a table press the Ctrl key and the Indent keys at the same time. If you press the Indent key only you move to the next cell not indent the text. BBC CLICK ON LINE For useful information about computing go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/default.stm CREATE A SHORT CUT TO A FAVORITE WEBPAGE Create a PC shortcut key to a favorite web page by creating a shortcut to the web page or URL. Users using Internet Explorer can quickly do this by right clicking on an empty spot of a web page and click 'Create Shortcut'. Once the shortcut has been created locate the shortcut and right click or view the properties of that shortcut. In the shortcut properties assign a new shortcut key and click OK. Now when the shortcut key is pressed the web page will be automatically loaded. Why not create one for http://www.haveringra.org.uk? ENLARGE TEXT IN WORD ETC. Quickly enlarge text in Microsoft Word and most other PC text programs by first highlighting the text and pressing CTRL + Shift + > or press and hold CTRL + Shift + < to decrease the size of text. OPEN A LINK IN A NEW WINDOW Open a link in a new Internet Explorer browser window by holding down the shift key on the keyboard and clicking on the link. STOPPING POP-UPS If you are not using it already try Google Toolbar 2.0, which includes a free popup blocker. If you are using Netscape 7.1 or higher, the browser already includes a pop-up stopper that can be accessed by clicking Tools and "Popup manager". Other programs that can be used can be obtained from the list below; Software Program Web Site address PanicWare Pop-UP Stopper http://www.panicware.com/ Smasher http://www.popupstop.com/ PopUp Cop http://www.popupcop.com/ NoAds http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/ CLOSE ALL OPEN WINDOWS IN "ONE CLICK" To close all open application in one click hold down the Ctrl key and individually click each of the open programs on the task bar once all buttons are selected click on one of the selected buttons with the right mouse button and click close. FIND TEXT ON A WEB PAGE Quickly find anything on the current page or frame by pressing CTRL + F. QUICKLY ACCESS AN E-MAIL DOMAIN Quickly and easily access a users domain by pasting their e-mail into the address bar of Internet Explorer. For example pasting support@computerhope.com will automatically forward you to the computerhope.com web page MOUSE SHORTCUTS Click, hold, and drag Selects text from where you click and hold to the point you drag and let go. Double-click If double-click a word selects the complete word. Double- click Double-clicking on the left, center, or right of a blank line will make the alignment of the text left, center, or right aligned. Double-click Double-clicking anywhere after text on a line will set a tab stop. Triple-click Selects the line or paragraph of the text the mouse triple-clicked. Ctrl + Mouse wheel Zooms in and out of document. ENABLE THE WINDOWS SINGLE-CLICK OPTION Users who have a hard time double-clicking or may be used to single-clicking an item to open it may wish the eliminate the double-click option in Windows. Open My Computer, Click Tools, Click Folder Options, in the General tab select the single-click to open an item option. FIND THE DATE THE SITE YOU ARE VIEWING WAS LAST UPDATED Determine the exact date and time when a website was last updated or modified by inserting the below string into the address bar. javascript:alert(document.lastModified) MICROSOFT OFFICE - REPEAT ACTION KEY Using the F4 key in Microsoft Office 2000 and above allows the user to repeat the last used action. For example if you have changed the font of a selected text and wish to change another portion of text to the same font, pressing F4 will do this for you automatically. MONITOR CLEANING The monitor screen can be cleaned with ordinary household glass cleaner. Be sure to remove power from the monitor and spray the cleaner onto a lint free cloth so the fluid doesn't leak into the electrical components inside the monitor. Vacuum off any dust that has settled on top of the monitor, and make sure no books or papers have been placed on the air vents. Obstructed monitor vents can cause the monitor to overheat or even catch on fire. QUICKLY ACCESS THE ROOT DIRECTORY OF A DRIVE Quickly display your root directory or network home directory through run by clicking Start / Run and in the open field type two periods ( ..) and press enter or click ok SAVE AN INTERNET PICTURE AS YOUR DESKTOP PICTURE Quickly save a picture as your wallpaper by right clicking on an image and choosing set as wallpaper. GOOGLE TOOLBAR Google is one of the most powerful search engines on the Internet. Using the the Google toolbar allows users to quickly search the complete internet or the page you are currently on. Get the Google toolbar at: http://toolbar.google.com. EXCEL SHORTCUT KEYSShortcut Keys Description F7 Spell check selected text and or document. F11 Create chart. Ctrl + Shift + ; Enter the current time Ctrl + ; Enter the current date Alt + Shift + F1 Insert New Worksheet Shift + F3 Open the Excel formula window. Shift + F5 Bring up search box. Ctrl + A Select all contents of the worksheet. Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection. Ctrl + I Italic highlighted selection. Ctrl + K Insert link. Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection. Ctrl + 5 Strikethrough highlighted selection. Ctrl + P Bring up the print dialog box to begin printing. Ctrl + Z Undo last action. Ctrl + F9 Minimize current window. Ctrl + F10 Maximize currently selected window. Ctrl + F6 Switch between open workbooks / windows. Ctrl + Page up Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document. Ctrl + Page down Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel document. Ctrl + Tab Move between Two or more open Excel files. Ctrl + Shift + ! Format number in comma format. Ctrl + Shift + $ Format number in currency format. Ctrl + Shift + # Format number in date format. Ctrl + Shift + % Format number in percentage format. Ctrl + Shift + ^ Format number in scientific format. Ctrl + Shift + @ Format number in time format. Ctrl + Arrow key Move to next section of text. Ctrl + Space Select entire column. Shift + Space Select entire row. SAVE AN INTERNET PICTURE AS YOUR DESKTOP PICTURE Quickly save a picture as your wallpaper by right clicking on an image and choosing set as wallpaper. FIX SLOW RUNNING COMPUTER Click here to find possible solutions QUICKLY UNDO MISTAKES Quickly undo mistakes in the majority of most PC Windows programs by pressing CTRL + Z. ACCESS WINDOWS HELP Press function key F1 on the keyboard. VIEW INTERNECT SHORTCUTS FROM THE CHANNEL BAR View your Internet Explorer shortcuts from the desktop with the Channel Bar. To enable this bar click Start / Run / Type iexplore -channelband and press enter. WINDOWS KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Below is a listing of Windows keys that can be used on computers running a Microsoft Windows operating system and using a keyboard with a Windows key. In the below list of shortcuts the windows key is represented by "Windows Key"( Flag Symbol on key). Shortcut Keys Description Windows Key + D Minimizes all windows and returns the user to the desktop. Windows Key + M Minimizes all windows. Windows Key + SHIFT + M Undo the minimize. Windows Key + E Open Microsoft Explorer. Windows Key + Tab Cycle through open programs through the taskbar. Windows Key + F Display the Windows Search / Find feature. Windows Key + CTRL + F Display the search for computers window. Windows Key + F1 Display the Microsoft Windows help. Windows Key + R Open the run window. Windows Key + Pause / Break key Open the system properties window. Windows Key + U Open Utility Manager. Windows Key + L Lock the computer (Windows XP and above only). QUICK SCROLLING USING THE SPACE BAR IN INTERNET EXPLORER Quickly scroll one page at a time in Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox by pressing the spacebar. Move back up a page at a time by pressing shift + spacebar. CLOSE ALL OPEN WINDOWS Hold down your shift key and click the X at the top right corner. MICROSOFT WINDOWS EXPLORER Quickly access the contents of your C:\ drive by clicking Start, Run, and typing \ and pressing enter. IMPROVE THE LOOK OF FONTS IN WINDOWS By default Microsoft Windows XP has smooth fonts enabled, however adjusting this settings can sometimes help improve the look and/or quality of your fonts. To adjust or change this feature click Start, Settings, Control Panel, double click the Display icon, click the Appearance tab, and click the Effects button. Verify that the Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts box is checked. We recommend that you utilize the standard method, however some users may find it better to use the ClearType. The appearance of a font can improve by increasing your video resolution. Verify that your computer has the latest drivers for the video card. MICROSOFT WINDOWS SEARCH USING GOOGLE Get a much more efficient search on text files, Microsoft Outlook & Outlook Express files, AOL Instant Messenger chat logs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Internet cache by using the Google Desktop Search. MICROSOFT WINDOWS SHORTCUT KEYSShortcut Key What is does Alt + Print Screen Create a screen dump of the open window. The "dump" can be pasted into Word and printed. MICROSOFT OFFICE APPLICATIONS This tip works with the majority of Microsoft Office applications. Easily create an underlined space by pressing CTRL + U to start the underline, then press SHIFT + Space for each underlined space you wish to create. An example of how this could be used is for printable forms, for example: Name: . WORD/EXCEL Close all open Microsoft Word and/or Excel files by holding down the shift key and clicking "File" and then "Close All". WORD Quickly move the cursor to the location it was at when the document was last saved by pressing SHIFT + F5. QUICK ZOOM IN WORD AND INTERNET EXPLORER Quickly zoom in and out of a Microsoft Word document by holding down the CTRL button and scrolling the wheel on your mouse. This also works with the Internet Explorer. ADJUST TEXT SIZE IN YOUR INTERNET EXPLORER When viewing web pages in your browser the text size may not be suitable for you. This is easily changed. Select 'View' on the menu bar found at the top of the browser. From the drop-down menu select 'Text Size' and another menu opens. This menu has five options: largest, larger,medium, smaller and smallest. One of them is identified as the current option. Select a size that moves the text size in the direction you desire and all body text on the current web page is accordingly adjusted. Text that is explicitly set in the web page may not change size. HOW TO CLOSE RUNNING PROGRAMS Your PC can get hung up when applications get lost or stalled. With 'Close Program' you can usually identify and close the errant program. All Windows operating systems beyond Windows 95 have a 'Close Program' box that lets you see all running programs. To close a running program: Open 'Close Program' by simultaneously pressing the 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' keys. Usually the program that is hung up says (not responding) next to it. To close it or any other program, select it and then press the 'End Task' button. If the program remains hung up, repeat these two steps until it closes. In some cases, depending on type of error, it is necessary to reset the PC. PROTECT YOUR PC WITH A SURGE PROTECTOR This is an area that is critical to the continued operation of your PC. Power surges and lightning strikes can sometimes get coupled onto your PC through the power or phone line. These surges can damage your PC. Surge protected power strips have snubber circuits that filter out these potentially dangerous power line transients. In addition to AC line protection many surge protectors also have protected phone line connectors. Use these to protect your PC's modem: a) Plug a standard telephone cable between the phone wall connector and the 'In' connector on the surge protector. b) Use a second cable to connect your modem to the 'Out' connector. Your modem and PC are now protected from dangerous phone line transients. ADD WEB LINKS TO YOUR FAVORITES LIST While viewing an Internet web page with your Internet Explorer browser press 'Alt' and 'D' together, and the link for the page is added to your favorites list. If you get a message that says 'Are you sure you want to remove folder xxxx', it means you favorites window is active. Click anywhere on the web page itself and try again. The web page link is stored even if your favorites list is not displayed. To display your favorites, click the 'Favorites' button on the standard toolbar and they on the left side of your browser. ADD PROGRAM ICONS TO THE START MENU When you click 'Start' there is an area above the 'Programs' folder where you can store program icons that you use fairly often. To add an icon here: Click 'Start', then 'Settings', then 'Taskbar and Start Menu'. The 'Taskbar and Start Menu' properties box opens. Click the 'advanced' tab, then select 'add'. A 'Create Shortcut' window opens where you select the path to the program icon. Select the icon and a 'Select Program' folder appears. Select the 'Start' folder, and a 'Select a Title' Folder appears where you can rename the icon if you wish. Click 'Finish' and the icon is added. ADD PROGRAM ICONS TO QUICK LAUNCH TOOLBAR The Quick Launch toolbar can be opened on the task bar. It is used to hold the icons of programs you use most frequently. They are always visible and accessible on the toolbar. To add a program icon from the desktop to the toolbar, drag it from the desktop to the end of the task bar near the 'Start' button. A copy of the program icon appears on the toolbar. You can also add an icon by copying it to the Quick Launch folder which is found at: C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch. SET YOUR MODEM'S MAX SPEED Double click the Modem icon in the control panel. The 'Modem Options' window appears. Two tabs should appear, 'General' and 'Diagnostics'. Select the 'General' tab, then select 'Properties'. which opens and has a 'Maximum Speed' box about half way down. Open the box and select 115,200, then 'OK'. If you have a 56kb/s modem this setting won't hurt it, but a setting of 9600 could slow it down. SET POWER USAGE OPTIONS Double click the Power Options icon in the control panel and a window appears with a number of tabs across the top labeled: Power Schemes, Alarms, Power Meter, Advanced and Hibernate. There may be variances in these options depending on which Windows operating system you have. Power schemes is very useful, especially if you leave your PC on all the time. Double click on it to open it. Two of the selections allow you to automatically turn off your monitor and hard drive(s) a selectable amount of time since the last keystroke or mouse movement. This saves your hard drive life by not having it continuously spin when it is not in use. You also save power by not having your display on when it is not in use. To set the amount of time the hard drive runs before shutting down, select the time you want from the drop down menu next to 'Turn off hard disks'. The monitor shutdown time is set similarly in the 'Turn off monitor' drop down box. The hard drive and monitor wake up when you initiate any activity that requires them. ADD AND REMOVE INSTALLED PROGRAMS (Windows 98) Double click the Add/Remove programs icon in the control panel and the 'Add/Remove Programs' window appears. The top portion of the window allows you to install programs. When you install programs from a CD or floppy, the installation doesn't open the 'Add/Remove Programs' window and proceeds without it. Removing Programs: The bottom portion of the window shows all user installed programs loaded on the PC and allows you to remove them. To remove a program, select it and then click the 'Add/Remove' button. You will be asked again if you want to proceed. Clicking 'yes' removes all the components of the selected program. USING THE CONTROL PANEL The Control Panel is utility that lets you configure just about everything in your PC. To open the Control Panel: Go to 'Start', then 'Settings'. Select 'Control Panel' and the Control Panel Window appears on the desktop with many icons inside it. ADD AND REMOVE INSTALLED PROGRAMS (Windows 98) Double click the Add/Remove programs icon in the control panel and the 'Add/Remove Programs' window appears. The top portion of the window allows you to install programs. When you install programs from a CD or floppy, the installation doesn't open the 'Add/Remove Programs' window and proceeds without it. Removing Programs: The bottom portion of the window shows all user installed programs loaded on the PC and allows you to remove them. To remove a program, select it and then click the 'Add/Remove' button. You will be asked again if you want to proceed. Clicking 'yes' removes all the components of the selected program. Click here to do a simple course on the Internet HOW TO ADD SHORTCUTS TO THE DESKTOP A shortcut is an icon on the desktop that you click to open an application. This saves you from having to navigate the path to the actual location of the file. It's easy to add a shortcut: Right-click anywhere on the desktop. A pop-up menu appears. Select 'New', then 'Shortcut' and a 'Create Shortcut' window opens. Use the 'Browse' button to find the path to the application or program. Select the icon of the program you want and the path to it appears in the 'command line' box. Click 'next' and a 'Select a Title' box appears where you are asked to enter a name for the shortcut. Enter a name and then click 'finish'. The new shortcut appears on the desktop. Drag the shortcut icon to where you want it on the desktop. Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP Updated: September 24, 2004They're back! PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. Click here to access the PowerToys CONTROL THE VIEWS OF RUNNING PROGRAMS Every running program is contained in a window on the desktop. In the upper right corner of each window there are usually three small control boxes that are used to control how the window is displayed USE NOTEPAD TO CREATE SIMPLE TEXT FILES Notepad is a limited word processor that comes with Windows. It allows you to create simple text documents with black only fonts. You can search for text strings in a document. All Notepad files have a text (.txt) file type. To open Notepad, go to 'Start', then 'Programs' then 'Accessories'. Single click the Notepad icon and it opens with a blank document. ADJUST YOUR PC's TIME AND DATE Double click the time that is displayed at the right hand end of the taskbar, which is located at the bottom of the Desktop. The 'Date/Time' window appears. You can adjust the year, month, day, time and time zone to match your PCs location. HOW TO BYPASS THE RECYCLE BIN If you are sure that you do not want an item, you can bypass the Recycle Bin and permanently delete it. Select the item you want to delete. Hold the 'Shift' key down and hit the 'Delete' key. The item bypasses the Recycle Bin and is permanently deleted. WHAT IS THE RECYCLE BIN The recycle bin can be found in Windows Explorer. A shortcut to the Recycle Bin is also on the Desktop. Any time you delete an item (folder, file or icon) it ends up in the Recycle Bin. It is a special area where deleted items remain until you restore them or permanently delete them. Restoring items Open the Recycle Bin and select the item to be restored with the right mouse button. Choose select 'restore' from the menu that appears and the item is restored to it's original location. Deleting items Click 'File' on the menu bar and select 'Empty Recycle Bin' and all the items are erased. If your sound is on, you will hear what sounds like paper being crumpled up. If you only want to delete specific items, select them. Then hit the 'Delete' key. DELETE WINDOWS TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES Whenever you access web sites on the Internet, cookies (small information files) and other files are written to a folder located at C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. After a while these files build up and take up lots of room on your hard drive. Go in and delete these every so often. DELETE WINDOWS RECENT FILES (Windows 98) Windows saves shortcuts to files that you have recently accessed or created to the 'Recent' folder located at C:\Windows\Recent. After a while a lot of shortcuts exist. If you don't need these shortcuts any more, delete them. HOW TO DELETE FILES To delete a file or folder, select it and then press the 'Delete' key. It is a good idea to delete outdated files that you no longer need. They add up and eventually take up a lot of space on your hard drive. RESET OR SHUTDOWN A PC (Windows 98) To shutdown a PC, you simultaneously press the 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' keys. The 'Close Program' window opens. Click the 'Shutdown' button. Windows closes and the PC shuts down. An alternate way: Click the 'Start' button on the task bar. Select the 'Shutdown' icon and a 'Shutdown' window with a combo box appears. Click the arrow on the combo box and a number of options, depending on the OS, are listed. Select 'Shutdown' to close Windows and power off the PC. Select 'Restart' to close Windows, reset the PC and restart Windows. The PC does not power down SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN When you are creating/modifying a file make sure to save your work often. How often? Every time I add a line or two I save it. There are a couple of ways to do this: With the file open click the 'Save' icon (looks like a floppy disk) on the toolbar near the top of screen. An alternate way is to hold down the 'Alt' key while hitting the 'F' key then the 'S' key. Saving your work often is very important because PCs do get hung up and have to be restarted. If you've done a lot of work without saving it and the PC hangs up, all your work is lost when you do a reset! HOW TO RENAME A FOLDER in Windows Explorer Select the folder, then hit the 'F2' key. The name of the folder is highlighted. Type the name for the new folder and it overwrites the highlighted text. Click your mouse or hit the 'enter' key and the new name is stored. HOW TO ADD A NEW FOLDER in Windows Explorer Navigate to the folder where you want to add a folder. Select the folder. The selected folder has an 'open folder' icon. Unselected folders have 'closed folder' icons. Only one folder can be selected at a time. With the folder selected, go to the 'File' command on the menu bar at the top left of the screen. A drop down menu appears. Select 'New' and another menu appears. Select 'Folder' and a new folder icon appears under the selected folder and in the right side view of Explorer with the name 'new folder' highlighted. Type the name you want for the new folder and it overwrites the highlighted text. Click your mouse or hit the 'enter' key and the new name is stored. COPYING FILES AND FOLDERS in Windows Explorer Place the cursor over the file or folder you want to copy, and right-click your mouse. Select copy from the menu that appears. Place your cursor over the destination folder and again right-click your mouse. Select paste from the menu and the item is copied to the destination folder. Note: When you copy a folder all folders and files under it are also copied. . HOW TO MOVE FILES AND FOLDERS in Windows Explorer Select the file or folder you wish to move, and continue holding down the left mouse button. Drag the item until it is over the destination folder. Release the button and the item is moved. Note: When you move a folder all folders and files under it are also moved. USING WINDOWS EXPLORER Windows Explorer is a utility that has been included with every Windows OS since Windows 95. It provides a way for you to manage all the folders and files on your PC. HOW TO OPEN WINDOWS EXPLORER You can find Windows Explorer by right-clicking 'Start'. Then select Explore from the list that appears and Windows Explorer opens. VIEWING FOLDERS AND FILES in Windows Explorer On the left side of Windows Explorer you will see a section called 'folders'. Under folders in Desktop are My Computer, My Network Place, Recycle Bin and My Documents. To see the all the folders and files on your PC, click 'My Computer' and it expands to show a list of the drive resources on your PC. Typically you will have listed: 3-1/2 inch floppy drive (A:) hard drive (C:) CD or DVD (D:) Control Panel icon. For the curious among you who may wonder what happened to the B drive, it used to be assigned to a floppy drive. In 1981 the IBM PC came out with no hard drive, and up to a maximum of two 160 Kbyte floppy drives labeled A and B. The operating system ran from a disk in the A drive. Application programs and user data ran on the disk in the B drive. As designers worked on the first PC hard drive they called it 'C', the next letter in the alphabet. When the hard drive was introduced in the PC-XT in 1983, it held the operating system as well as application programs and user data. Two floppy drives were no longer necessary. The A drive was retained to load data and programs onto the hard drive, and the B drive was no longer installed in commercial PCs. However, the hooks are still in most operating systems to recognize and use a second floppy drive which if installed will still use drive letter B. VIEWING FOLDERS AND FILES in Windows Explorer On the left side of Windows Explorer you will see a section called 'folders'. Under folders in Desktop are My Computer, My Network Place, Recycle Bin and My Documents. To see the all the folders and files on your PC, click 'My Computer' and it expands to show a list of the drive resources on your PC. Typically you will have listed: 3-1/2 inch floppy drive (A:) hard drive (C:) CD or DVD (D:) Control Panel icon. For the curious among you who may wonder what happened to the B drive, it used to be assigned to a floppy drive. In 1981 the IBM PC came out with no hard drive, and up to a maximum of two 160 Kbyte floppy drives labeled A and B. The operating system ran from a disk in the A drive. Application programs and user data ran on the disk in the B drive. As designers worked on the first PC hard drive they called it 'C', the next letter in the alphabet. When the hard drive was introduced in the PC-XT in 1983, it held the operating system as well as application programs and user data. Two floppy drives were no longer necessary. The A drive was retained to load data and programs onto the hard drive, and the B drive was no longer installed in commercial PCs. However, the hooks are still in most operating systems to recognize and use a second floppy drive which if installed will still use drive letter B. USE FIND/SEARCH TO LOCATE FILES Have you ever saved a file and then wondered where it went when you went to retrieve it? A useful utility called 'Search' (older Windows operating systems call it Find) can save the day. Click 'Start' and look for 'Search' or 'Find'. If you have 'Find' click it. If you have 'Search', select it, then click 'For Folders and Files'. In both cases a 'Search' box opens. Enter the name of the file in the 'Search' box. Select the drive(s) you want to search in by selecting them in the 'Look in' drop down box. Click the 'Search button' and all files and folders matching the search criteria appear on the right side of the Search Window along with each file's path. HOW TO SELECT FILES, FOLDERS AND TEXT Selecting files, folders and text is something that is done often with Windows. Every item must be selected before you can move, copy or delete it. To select a file or folder, put your cursor over the item and then click your mouse. The item is highlighted to indicate you've successfully selected it. To select text within a file, hold down the left mouse button and move (drag) the cursor across the text. Release the button. The selected text is highlighted. To unselect an item just move your cursor to a clear area and hit the left mouse button. CLOSING A WINDOW To close a window press the ALT key and Function F4 keys at the same time. WHAT IS A PATH? Accessing folders and files in a PC is similar to the way you access files in a filing cabinet. In a filing cabinet, each drawer holds hanging folders. Within each of these you can have files as well as manila folders that contain files. You can't put manila folders inside other manila folders though. In a PC you have much more flexibility. For example, one folder can have 10 folders and many files in it. Each of those can have 10 folders and many files inside it and so on. You can expand the folder within a folder structure as deep and wide as you want to. As you navigate through folders to the location of a specific file, you are following a path. A path always begins with the hard drive letter and then lists in order the folders you go through to get to the file. For example, iexplore.exe is the program that opens and runs the Internet Explorer browser. This program is found in the 'Internet Explorer' folder which is in the 'Program Files' folder. The complete path to iexplore.exe is: C:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe.