chapter 2 – introduction to windows operating system ii

Chapter 2 – Introduction to Windows Operating System IIManipulating Windows GUI

1CMPF112 Computing Skills for Engineers

What is GUI?A graphical user interface (or GUI,

pronounced "gooey") is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text.

Graphical User Interface is a graphical way to represent the operating system.

Allows user to use a mouse or keystrokes to select icons and commands from menus


What is GUI?A type of user interface item that

allows people to interact with programs in more ways than typing such as computers.

Offers graphical icons, and visual indicators, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation to fully represent the information and actions available to a user


What is Widget?A widget is a graphical component, or

control, that the user interacts with, such as a window or a text box.

CMPF112 Computing Skills for Engineers 4

• Button• Check box• Radio button• Combo box• Icon• Text box (edit field)• Tool tips• Scrollbar

• Status bar• Toolbar• Menu• command menu• context menu

• pie menu• Window• Panel• dialog box, modal

window

What is a Windows? A portion of the screen (in

graphical form) where programs and processes can be run.

You can open several windows at the same time.

For example, you can open your e-mail in one window, work on a budget in a spreadsheet in another, download pictures from your digital camera in another window, and order your weekly groceries on the Web in another window.

Windows can be closed, resized, moved, minimized to a button on the taskbar, or maximized to take up the whole screen.


What is an Icon? An icon in Windows is a small picture or object that

represents a file, program, web page, or command that can be manipulated by the user.

Icons serve as visual mnemonics and allow the user to control certain computer actions without having to remember commands or type them at the keyboard.

There are 4 default icons which are placed on a standard Windows desktop and come with the Windows OS package.

My Computer My Document Recycle Bin My Network Places


Icon – My ComputerContents of your floppy disk,

hard disk, CD-ROM drive, and network drives.

Search for and open files and folders, and gain access to options in Control Panel

Double click on any of the icon and user can see what is stored on each drive


Icon – My DocumentsPersonal folder. It contains two specialized personal folders, My

Pictures and My Music. In Windows Vista, "My Documents" has been

renamed to simply, "Documents". "My Music", "My Pictures" and "My Videos" have also lost their prefix,

You can make your personal folders available to each person with a user account on this computer,

You can make them private so that only you can access the files within them.

Any files created will be stored in the My Document folder (by default)


Icon – My Network PlacesProvides a view of all the shared

computers, files and folders, printers, and other resources on the network to which your computer is connected ( e.g. Local Area Network – LAN).

My Network Places presents a view of the network similar to the view of your computer presented by Windows Explorer.


Icon – Recycle BinAll deleted item/data will be stored here.Deleted data can be recovered here.To permanently delete a file, just click

Empty The Recycle Bin.The following items are not stored in the

Recycle Bin and cannot be restored:◦Items deleted from network locations.◦ Items deleted from removable media (such

as 3.5-inch disks).◦ Items that are larger than the storage

capacity of the Recycle Bin.CMPF112 Computing Skills for Engineers 10

Features of Windows GUITask BarFiles and FoldersStart menuWindows ExplorerWindows Find tool (choose Find

or Search from the Start menu)


Features of Windows GUI


Files & Folders

Find/Search tools

Start Menu

Task Bar

Desktop

Explorer

Task BarThe task bar is the place for the

Start button, clock and volume.The task bar gives you a log of all

programs you have opened.To switch programs, click on the

icon buttons on the taskbarTo view the properties of the task

bar :Click Start Setting Taskbar

Properties CMPF112 Computing Skills for Engineers 13

Files & FoldersA file is a collection of information that the

computer and the user uses.It is always in a particular format/extension,

◦ i.e. .doc, .pdf, .txt, .jpg, .avi, .mp3, .bat, .exe

You can arrange up files into folders (or directories) to organize them and make them easily accessible using My Computer/Windows Explorer.

Folders can have sub-folders as well for further organization


Files & FoldersThere are several thing that can

be done to files and folders.User can create folder and file,

move and copy files or folders, rename file and folder, delete file or folder, launching program, find file or folder and save file.


Start MenuAfter clicking on the Start menu,

a menu appears giving you a quick way to handle common tasks.

You can launch programs, call up documents, change systems settings, get help and shut down your PC.


Windows ExplorerHierarchical structure of files, folders, and drives

on your computer.It also shows any network drives that have been

mapped to drive letters on your computer.Using Windows Explorer, you can copy, move,

rename, and search for files and foldersThe right pane is the Folders pane, where a user

can select a folder to display its content in the right pane.

The plus (+) sign can be clicked to display a list of what it contains

A folder in the right pane can be double-clicked to display subfolders or files


Continue to notes given.
