Notes By Tanuja Banerjee, Computer teacher St. Anne’s Girls” High School
This chapter in Computer Science deals with Windows explorer–The students will have a fair idea of using the control panel for various activities such as changing date and time, mouse setting change and installing new fonts.
Windows Explorer– This application of Windows 7 is used to access all the files of computer.
File- A file is the basic unit of storage in Windows that enables a computer to distinguish one set of information from another. In other words we can say that it is collection of data or information. In a file we can save document, video, audio, songs, movies etc.by specifying a name to it. The filename consists of two parts- The main filename and its extension. A filename can have up to 255 characters and extension can be of three or four characters. Example: computer.docx.
Folder- A folder is like a file cabinet in which we can store files.
Some shortcut keys of Windows-
Win + → To swap desktop windows to left
Win + ← To swap desktop window to right
Win + F1 For help and support Centre
Win + E For Windows Explorer
Steps to open Windows Explorer-
Start ->All programs-> Accessories -> Windows Explorer
The Windows Explorer is divided into two panes-
- Left Pane- Another name of left pane is “ Tree Pane”. It shows the different drives of the computer and the hierarchy of folders in each drive.
- Right Pane- This pane is also known as content pane as it holds all the contents of folders and files.
There are seven parts of Windows Explorer-
- Title bar- This bar is present at the top, which hold Minimize, Maximize and Close button.
- Address bar- This bar shows the address of current folder.
- Search bar- This bar helps us to search files in current folder or sub folder.
- Command bar– Left part of the command bar has options depending on where we are in the explorer, or what is the selected file or folder. On the right side of the bar we have these three icons-
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- Change View- It is used to change the view of the folder.
- Preview button- When we select any file , we can see its contents in the preview area.
- Help button- This button is used for help and support. F1 is the shortcut key for help.
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- Navigation Pane- It enables us to access important parts of the storage area quickly.
- Content area- This is where the content of the selected folder are shown.
- Details Pane- It shows more details about the file or folder selected in content area.
Viewing Files and Folders-
- Small icons view- It displays files and folders as small icons without a preview of its contents.
- Medium icons view- It displays the files and folders as medium-sized icons.
- Tiles view- It displays files and folders as medium – sized icons. It also displays the basic information of the file present , such as its size and type.
- List view-List view displays the contents as a list of files or folder name preceded by small icons. We can sort files and folders in this view.
- Details view- It provides detailed information about files, including name, type, size and date modified.
- Large and Extra large icons view- They display large and gigantic icons of the files and folders.
- Content view- It displays each file and folder on a separate row along with their detailed information like date modified, size, author etc.
Working with Control Panel-
Control Panel- It is a system folder using which we can make changes in the appearance and current settings of Windows.
These include-
- Appearance and Personalization of the desktop
- Hardware and Software setup and configuration
- System and Security
- Networking and Internet
- User Accounts and Family Safety
- Setting Clock , Language and region.
Changing Date and Time- Steps
- Open Control Panel in large icon view
- Click on Date and Time option
- Click on Change date and time button
- To change the date , click the left and right arrows and move to the correct month and click on the date
- To change time click on the up and down arrows or change the time by clicking the box and entering the value using keyboard.
- After selecting Date and Time click OK.
Changing Fonts-
Fonts- The characters used in typing text that use the same design are called Fonts.
Steps to change fonts-
- Open Control Panel in large icon view
- Click on Fonts option. Font window will open.
- Right click on any font to perform any action, such as Delete for deleting a font.
- To install new fonts, copy the font and paste it in the font folder in control panel.
Mouse Setting- Mouse is a pointing device used for selecting and opening files , folders and programs. We can change setting of mouse like Mouse Pointer, double click speed etc.
Steps to change mouse setting-
- Open Control Panel in large icon view
- Click on Mouse option. Mouse Properties dialog box will appear
- On the buttons tab do any of the following steps-
- Under Button configuration, select the switch primary and secondary buttons. Check box to swap the functions of mouse buttons.
- Under Double- click speed we can change the speed of double click by moving speed slider.
- Under Click Lock, select the Turn on Click Lock check box, It will highlight or drag items without holding down the mouse button.
- Click OK to save changes.
