Computer Software

Windows XP

It is operating system from Microsoft and has following components

• The Desktop: Screen shown after Windows is loaded. It has icons, dialog box and pointer.
• Window: It is screen area with border around and has programs or files currently using.
• Icons: They are small graphic objects that represent specific programs to be used.
• Dialog box: Area of the screen within window that contains messages or input to be given.
• Mouse pointer: It shows where the mouse is currently pointing.

The Start Menu: It is a customizable nested list of programs for the user to launch and has

Component	Use
My Documents	Windows default linking to a folder for storing user documents.
My Recent Documents	Sub menu listing files which were being worked upon recently.
All Programs	It lists all user or system programs to choose for running.
Control Panel	It helps in changing the settings of many windows features.
Printers & Faxes	It is a link in control panel for configuring printer & fax.
Search	It is used to search for a file or folder on a computer or on network.
Help & Support	Opens windows help facility, to review topics from a table of contents.
Run	Type the path and filename of a program, file, or folder to open.
Turn Off Computer	Prepares your computer to be turned off or Log Off or Restart.

Mouse is extensively used in Windows XP and it involves

Action	Used For
Point	To move the mouse till tip of the pointer is on top of the object to select
Click	To select by press and release of the left mouse button once
Right click	To select & open a menu by press and release of right mouse button once
Double click	To open or execute the object by select and quick press and release of the left mouse button twice in rapid succession.
Drag	It moves an object by pointing and pressing and holding the left mouse button while moving the mouse and dragging the object. After reaching the place to place, release the mouse button.

Windows XP has various accessories like notepad, paint, windows explorer, calculator, WordPad, sound recorder, media player, games, system tools for backup and disk defrag. Various hardware and software components can be customized like screen background, screen resolution, mouse, new software install or removal from control panel. New versions of Windows have been launched by Microsoft which is Windows Vista, Windows 7 and the upcoming Windows 8.

• File: It is like a physical file having a file name used with specific application software.
• Directory: It is collection to store related files like a physical file rack having specific types of files.

18.2.2 MS-Word

It is software for letter or text writing with file called as document having one or more pages.  After opening MS-Word following screen opens

It has following parts

• Title bar: It displays the file name. The left end has the window control menu icon and the right end displays minimize, maximize (restore) and close buttons.
• Menu Bar: It has a drop down menus for various options in MS-Word.
• Toolbars: It has icons for various options in MS-Word like standard and formatting toolbar.
• Workspace: It is where text can be written.
• Status Bar: This bar is at bottom of window showing status of different settings as used.
• Scroll Box: It is an indicator of present position in the document and to move up or down.
• Scroll Bars: The vertical or horizontal scroll bar moves vertically or horizontally in the space.

Various tasks in MS-Word are

• Creating a document can be done by New option in File menu or press CTRL and N keys.
• Saving a document is done to save our work to a file on hard disk by pressing CTRL and S keys or select save option in File Menu.
• Closing Document is done by selecting close option in file menu or CTRL and W keys or click on Document close button in right end of menu bar.
• Opening Document is done by Select Open option in File menu or CTRL and O keys
• Exiting Word is done by exit option in the file menu or click the X close button in the application window title bar or press Alt and F4 keys
• Copy and Paste text involves, copying to make duplicate and cut moves away selected text. After selecting the text click Copy or cut option in edit menu, or press Ctrl + C to copy or Ctrl + X to cut and then, select paste in edit menu, or press Ctrl + V.
• Delete Text is done by backspace for right or delete key for character to the left.
• Undo and Redo – Any recent change can be undone by pressing “Ctrl and Z” keys or to repeat a recent action press “Ctrl and Y” keys.
• Formatting fonts for size or color, show borders or filling text with color to highlight it.

Standard Toolbar

Item Number	Function
A	Create a new blank document
B	Open a document
C	Save active document
D	Print active document
E	Print preview active document
F	Check Spelling and Grammar
G	Cut selected text
H	Copy selected text
I	Paste from earlier cut or copy text in the clipboard
J	Format painter or paste format
K	Undo previous operation
L	Redo previous operation
M	Show / Hide formatting character
N	Zoom level of the document
O	Help facility of MS-Word

Formatting Toolbar: It has buttons to perform general formatting functions like font size, type, color etc. As shown in the figure below

Item Number	Function
(1)	To change font style, type and size
(2)	Text format (Bold, Italic or Underline)
(3)	Paragraph alignment (Left, center, right ,justify)
(4)	Bullet and Numbering
(5)	Highlight text
(6)	Text color

Other options in MS-Word are specifying margins and paper orientation in page setup, printing by specifying number of copies or page to print, print preview to preview before printing, page border, using spell and grammar check tool, inserting clipart or images or auto-shapes or word art, adding bullets, inserting table, etc.

18.2.3. MS-Excel

It is an spreadsheet software used for calculations or as database and has parts as

MS-EXCEL screen

• Menu Bar – It is below title bar of the window, listing all nine drop down menu of MS-Excel.
• Status Bar – It is at bottom of the window showing keyboard keys status and computed result.
• Row and Row Number – The horizontal lines are rows, numbered 1, 2, and 3 up to 65536.
• Column and Column Number – The vertical lines columns named A, B, C and so on up to IV.
• Cell – The intersection of a row and a column is called the cell.
• Cell Address – The cell address is column name and the row address; so A1 is cell address of first cell at first column and first row. The last cell’s address is IV65536.
• Worksheets – It consists of cells organized into columns and rows and is stored in a workbook.
• Workbooks – It is MS-Excel file with many worksheets to store data with “XLS” extension.
• Work Sheet tabs – They appear at bottom showing worksheet names and to move or edit them.

Various tasks in MS-Excel are similar to MS-Word like

• Creating a workbook by selecting New option in File menu or press CTRL and N keys.
• Saving a workbook by pressing CTRL and S keys or select save option in File Menu.
• Closing workbook by selecting close option in file menu or CTRL and W keys.
• Opening workbook by Select Open option in File menu or CTRL and O keys
• Exiting Excel by exit option in the file menu or click the X close button or press Alt and F4.
• Copy and Paste cells involve, copy to make duplicate and cut moves away selected cells.
• Delete Text is done by backspace for right or delete key for character to the left.
• Undo and Redo – Any recent change can be undone by pressing “Ctrl and Z” keys or to repeat a recent action press “Ctrl and Y” keys.
• Formatting fonts for size or color, show cell borders or filling cell with color to highlight it.
• Change row height or column width by dragging boundary of column or row at top or left.
• Cell range – A range is two or more cells which can be adjacent (all cells are along side) or non-adjacent. Adjacent ranges are given as Start cell address: End cell address E.g. A1:A3 or A1:B3
• Number Formats – It has option for showing data in selected cells and opens by Ctrl and 1 keys, as
• General: It is default format for alphanumeric data.
• Number: It is for number data and sets decimal places, thousand separator and negative sign(-).
• Accounting: Currency sign and decimal places can set.
• Date: This option provides a variety of Date formats.
• Text: It makes data to text even number are treated as text.
• Formula – It is the most used facility of MS-EXCEL for calculating values to return a result. Each Excel formula must have three key elements: the equal sign (=) that signifies start of a formula, the values or cell addresses to be calculated, and the mathematical operators (+, -, *, /) or inbuilt MS-Excel functions (sum, max, min). An example is, after entering “=2+2” in A1 will show 4 in cell and “=2+2” in formula bar. Similarly if 2 is given in A2 and A3 then write this formula in A4- “=A2+A3” will also give 4. But, any number change in A2 or A3 will change result in A4 thus, using cell address in a formula. Similarly MS-Excel’s inbuilt function can also be used in A4 as “=SUM (A2:A3)”. MS-Excel functions and operators are listed as –

Operation	Example	Results
SUM	=SUM(A1:A100)	finds sum of cells A1 through A100
MAX	=MAX(C1:C100)	returns highest number from cells C1 through C100
MIN	=MIN(D1:D100)	returns lowest number from cells D1 through D100
UPPER	=UPPER(“abc”)	Converts text to uppercase
NOW	=NOW()	Returns the current date and time
+	=6+2	Adds
–	=6-2	Subtracts
*	=6*2	Multiplies
/	=6/2	Divides

MS-Excel Toolbars are explained below as it is similar to MS-Word toolbar

Standard Toolbar: It has standard options of open, close, sort, chart insert wizard, etc. as

Formatting Toolbar: It has formatting options of alignment, text styling, data format, cell border or fill, etc. as

Other options in MS-Excel are specifying margins and paper orientation in page setup, printing by specifying number of copies or sheet to print, print preview to preview before printing, using spell and grammar check tool, inserting clipart or images or auto-shapes or word art, making charts or pivot table, using sort or auto filter for data show or hide, etc.

18.2.4. Internet

The Internet is a system of linked networks that are worldwide in scope and facilitate data communication services such as remote login, file transfer, electronic mail, the World Wide Web and newsgroups. Connection to internet can be done by

• Dial-Up: It was used earlier need a modem to dial to provider but slow speed till 56 Kbps.
• DSL: Digital subscriber line needs DSL modem or router to connect with speeds 384 Kbps on phone line with phone and data transmission takes place simultaneously.
• Cellular: It is more popular with mobile phones with 2G or 3G and upcoming 4G technology. 3G is at higher speeds from 2Mbps to 14Mbps; and upcoming 4G at 100Mbps.
• Wifi or 802.11 Wireless: It is wireless connection for laptop, tablet or mobile with different methods in four different variety of 802.11a/b/g/n but needs wireless network adapters.

Terms used in internet

• TCP/IP: It the protocol used on internet to transmit data across different computers or networks which connect to internet or a common language for data exchange.
• IP address: Every device on is given a unique address, called IP address to connect to internet. It is like (192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0) and is a set of four numbers from 0 to 255 separated by a dot.
• Web Browser: Software used to open websites, download files or use internet like Mozilla Firefox, Google chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.
• E-mail: It is electronic mail to exchange messages from a sender to recipient, across the internet.
• URL or web address: It is the address of a website or web page and is like – http:www.in.com
• Web page: It is the page shown in web browser having an web address and is in HTML
• Surfing: It refers to clicking relevant information on a web page and move around like surfing.

Configure TCP/IP

The steps to configure TCP/IP on Windows XP are

• Go to Start à Control Panel à Network and Internet Connections.
• Right-click local area connection icon and select properties.
• Select Internet Protocol and click Properties button.
• Click ‘Obtain an IP Address automatically’ for dynamic IP by a DHCP server else, give IP address manually.

Download from Internet

Following steps need to be taken to download file from internet

• Find the download link for the file
• Ensure that the file is safe and doesn’t have viruses or spyware.
• Click on the link
• Accept the download notice that will popup near the top of the browser
• Choose a folder on computer to store the file and the filename to save with.
• Click save or start to start the download

STEP 1                                                        STEP 2

          STEP 3                                                                  STEP 4