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Mouse | Windows | Desktop | Built-In | Formatting a Disk | Saving | Keyboard

Put away the software catalogues for a while. Let's explore what is built in to your computer.

Move your mouse pointer to the Start menu in the lower left corner of your screen.

Click one time on the Start button, move your cursor up to Programs in the menu that pops up and click. Clicking will keep that menu in place while you move somewhere else. Now slide your mouse pointer to the right and then up to Accessories and click again. The menu you see will contain most of the built in components that will be discussed on this page.

Calculator - A simple, four function calculator

Actually this calculator is not as simple as it looks. If you change the View from Standard to Scientific many more capabilities open up.

If you are not sure what something on the either calculator does, another built-in feature of Windows may be of assistance to you. I was not sure what log on the calculator does so I put the mouse pointer on the log button and gently clicked one time with the button under my middle finger. (If you do not have a button under your middle finger, perhaps you skipped the lesson on how to hold a mouse. You might want to go back and review.) A small dialog box opens:

Put your mouse cursor over the question ("What's This?") and gently click one time with the mouse button under your index finger. A neat looking pop-up box explains the function of the log button.

Note: This "What's This?" feature is not limited to the calculator.

Task: (1) Open the calculator (2) Enter your age (3) Divide by 7 (4) Remember that answer, it is your age in dog years. The person writing this page is 8.4 dog years old. (5) Calculate the age of that person in human years.

Notepad - A simple word processor with no formatting built in.

Because there is no formatting built in, this application is very useful to people writing web pages like this one. If you are just starting with computers, you will probably want to use another word processor. Open Notepad the same way you opened Calculator. If you forgot the path to use, go to the top of this page to review. The application window that opens looks quite different from most other windows.

Notice that there are no buttons. After you produce text you can not make it red nor can you change the size of just one word. Any document you save is saved as a text document (.txt).

Task: (1) Open Notepad (2) Type your name and press the Enter key (3) Type "I am xx dog years old," and press the Enter Key (4) Type "It feels good to be so young again!," and press the Enter Key (5) Click on the file menu and choose Save. (6) Name the document "dog" and save it on the desktop. Asking for help with step 6 is allowed.

WordPad - A word processor with quite a few formatting options.

Open WordPad the same way you opened Notepad and Calculator. If you forgot the path to use, go to the top of this page to review. The window that opens will look like a simple version of Word. Hint: That is how you can keep Notepad and WordPad straight in your mind. Wordpad is the one that looks like simple Word.

WordPad is capable of much more than Notepad. For this activity you will be asked to try only three things:

• Center the text
• Change the text size to 24
• Change the text color to Fuchsia

After you have made all three of those changes type "How Pretty!"

Task: (1) Open WordPad (2) Type your name and press the Enter key (3) Type "I am xx dog years old," and press the Enter Key (4) Type "It feels good to be so young again!," and change the word "good" to any color other than Black. (5) Change the size of the word "good" to any size larger than 20. (6) Click on the file menu and choose Save. (7) Name the document "dog2" and save it on the desktop. Asking for help with step 7 is allowed.

Paint - A fun-to-use drawing program

Open Paint the same way you opened WordPad, Notepad and Calculator. Click on the Start button, move your cursor up to Programs in the menu that pops up and click. Now slide your mouse pointer to the right and then up to Accessories and click again. Slide your mouse pointer to the right and find Paint and click on it once. To introduce you to Paint we will use four of the buttons below:
(This image was produced in Paint)

To select a color to draw with, click on any one of the 28 colors below the drawing area, then select the drawing tool. Try a different color with each tool.

• Oval Tool - Click once on the Oval tool to select it. Click in the white drawing area of Paint and your cursor changes to a cross hair. Then, click and drag to draw an oval. The further you drag before letting go of the mouse button, the larger the oval will be. If you hold down the Shift key before you click and drag, a perfect circle can be drawn.
• Line Tool - Click once on the Line tool to select it. After you select the Line tool, a box will appear below the oval tool.You may choose the thickness of the line by clicking on one of the 5 lines of thickness. Click in the white drawing area of Paint and your cursor changes to a cross hair. Hold the mouse button down to draw the line. Release the mouse when the line is drawn. This tool draws straight or diagonal lines, but no curved lines.
• Paint Brush -Click once on the Paint Brush tool to select it. After you select the Paint Brush tool, a box will appear below the oval tool with 12 brush shapes. Choose a brush shape and draw some shape. Click in the white drawing area of Paint and your cursor changes to a cross hair. Hold the mouse button down to paint. Release the mouse when the painting is done..To remove a paint you have just drawn, choose Undo from the Edit menu.
• Paint Bucket - Click on the Paint Bucket tool to select it. Select a color from the 28 color squares at the bottom left corner of the Paint window. Next, put the tip of the spilling paint in some area of your drawing. Gently click one time on the left mouse button and the chosen color will fill the space.

After you have practiced using these four tools, open a new blank document. Go to the File menu and choose New. Paint will ask you if you want to save the changes. Select No.

Task: (1) Using the Oval tool, Line tool and Paint Brush draw a dog face. (2) Use the Paint Bucket to fill in some area of the face with a color of your choosing. (3) Click on the file menu and choose Save. (4) Name the document "dog3" and save it on the desktop. Asking for help with step 4 is allowed. 

Mouse | Windows | Desktop | Built-In | Formatting a Disk | Saving | Keyboard

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Internet4Classrooms is a collaborative project developed by Susan Brooks and Bill Byles