If you’re just starting out with computers, there are many things that can make you feel lost and confused. Don’t worry, that’s normal. You’re not a dummy, not matter what the book says. No one starts off by knowing what to do with a computer. It’s certainly not intuitive, no matter what Apple or Microsoft might tell you. Stick with Computers Made Simple and we’ll sort it all out for you.
The first thing you see on your new computer is the desktop. This is much like your house or apartment. Everything you need is right there, waiting to be used. Just as you would paint your apartment to change its look, you can change the way your desktop looks. When you go away, sometimes you might have your lights set to come on at a certain time. Your screensaver, the thing that cuts in when you’ve been away from your computer for a while, does the same thing. I’ll explain all of this in another post but, for right now, we’ll get used to what’s on your desktop and just beneath it.
Your mouse is your steering wheel. With it, you can steer your way through menus and programs, making choices as you go. Since your mouse has two buttons, you might wonder which is which. The left button is the one that says, “Yes!”. The right button is the one that asks questions. If you right click in any area of your screen, whether it’s your desktop, a photo or inside a program, a menu will come up. That right click menu offers choices, basically asking you what you want to do. Try it now. Right click your desktop and choose personalize. This will bring up the program that is standard with Windows. It lets you choose how you want your desktop to look.
TIP: If you have Windows Starter Edition, the one that comes with most netbooks (those little laptops), you can’t change much on your desktop. Don’t worry, it’s not worth the extra money to upgrade Windows on a basic computer such as a netbook.
Every app or program has a different right click menu. If you’re stuck and can’t figure out how to do something, try right clicking anywhere on the screen to see what choices are offered.
The left mouse button is the one you use to select things. If a menu is open, one click will select the item you want. If you’re on the Internet, one click will open a link and a right click will offer different options to choose from. On your desktop you’ll have to double click to open a program or a folder. Sometimes you might double double click and get two things running at the same time but, no worries, just close one down by clicking the X up on the top right corner of the program screen.
Holding the left mouse button down is used for selecting things on your desktop or in something that you are working on. If you click and drag with your left mouse button in Word, for instance, you will highlight a section of text. On your desktop, holding the left mouse button after you click on an icon will allow you to drag that item around. Try it. Click once and hold the button down to drag any icon around your desktop. Cool huh?
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!