Ch 2 - Customising the Desktop PDF

2 Customising the Desktop Let us Learn ¾ to customise your desktop ¾ to change the date and time of ¾ move, lock and hide the taskbar your computer ¾ to create shortcuts on the desktop ¾ to adjust the volume of your ¾ to change the wall...

2 Customising the Desktop Let us Learn ¾ to customise your desktop ¾ to change the date and time of ¾ move, lock and hide the taskbar your computer ¾ to create shortcuts on the desktop ¾ to adjust the volume of your ¾ to change the wallpaper and speaker screen saver ¾ to search for files and folders Connect We have already learnt about the different parts of the Windows desktop. Identify and label the marked components of the Windows desktop. 12 In this chapter, we will learn how to customise our desktop. Customising your desktop We have learnt about the different components of the desktop such as Icons, Taskbar, Start button and so on. We can change the settings of these components to customise your desktop. We can customise the taskbar, create shortcuts on the desktop, change the wallpaper and screensaver of your computer, and change the date, time and speaker volume of your computer to suit your requirements. Keyword customise: to modify something to meet our requirements Customising the taskbar The long horizontal bar at the bottom of the desktop is called the taskbar. It contains the Start button on the left and a notification area on the right. It also shows the icons of all open applications in the Program tab section. Start button Program tab Notification tab We can change the position of the taskbar, lock it or set it to auto-hide. Let us look at how we can change these settings for the taskbar. Moving the taskbar The taskbar can be placed to the left, right or top of the desktop. Steps to change the position of the taskbar 1. Right-click on a blank area on the taskbar. 2. Select the Taskbar settings option. 13  1 2 3. The Settings dialog box appears. Select the Taskbar tab. taskbar 3 4 4. The ‘Taskbar location on screen’, contains a list of positions where the taskbar can be placed such as, ‘Left’, ‘Right’, ’Top’ and ‘Bottom’. Select the desired location from the drop-down menu. Here ‘Top’ is selected. The taskbar now appears at the top of the desktop as shown. taskbar is placed on top 14 Locking the taskbar Keywords Locking the taskbar prevents it from uncheck: to remove the mark being moved to a different position on the desktop. from an option that is ticked pin: to place Steps to lock the taskbar 1. Right click an empty area of the taskbar. 2. Click the Lock the taskbar option. This will lock the taskbar and keep it at a ixed position. 3. You can unlock the taskbar 1 2 by repeating steps 1 and 2 and unchecking the Lock the taskbar option in step 2. Fun Facts You can also pin a program to the taskbar. Pinning a program to the taskbar allows you to start a program by just clicking its icon from the taskbar. Hiding the taskbar The taskbar is always visible at the bottom of the desktop screen, by default. You can hide it and show it only when the mouse pointer is moved at the bottom edge of the screen. Steps to hide the taskbar 1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar. 2. Select the Taskbar settings option from the list. 3. A Settings dialog box appears. 1 2 Select the Taskbar tab on the left of the dialog box. 15  4. Click the toggle switch under the option ‘Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode’. 4 3 The taskbar will now be hidden. Move the mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen to view it. Similarly, you can click the toggle switch once again to unhide the taskbar Explore taskbar is not visible Find out how you can resize your taskbar. Also find how you can pin a program to the taskbar. Activity 1 Move the taskbar to the right of the desktop and lock it. 16 Creating shortcuts A shortcut is an icon that can be used to open an application directly by double-clicking it, instead of selecting it from the Start menu. The lower left corner of a shortcut has a small jump arrow. Steps to create a shortcut 1. Right-click the application or folder that you want to create a shortcut of. A drop-down list will appear. 2. Select the Send to option. 3. Click the Desktop (create shortcut) option. A shortcut of the application will appear on the desktop. 1 2 3 4. You can also click the Create shortcut option from the drop down list to create a shortcut. However, it will create a shortcut for the application or folder in the same location, as shown below. 17  Techie Tip You can delete a shortcut by 4 right-clicking and selecting the Delete option. Deleting a shortcut does not delete the application. Activity 2 Create a shortcut for the OpenOffice Writer application on the desktop. Changing the wallpaper The background picture displayed on the desktop is called the wallpaper. Let us understand how we can change the wallpaper. Steps to change the wallpaper 1. Right-click on the desktop and select the Personalize option. The Settings window appears. 2. Select the Background tab. 3. Select the type of background that you want to set for your desktop. 4. Choose a picture from the available list. You can also use the Browse option to select any picture 1 saved on your computer. 5. Select how you want to place the image on the desktop. Here the Fill option is selected. This will stretch the wallpaper to cover the entire screen. 18  2 3 5 4 6. The selected picture will appear as the wallpaper as shown below. Changing the screen saver You must have noticed that whenever you do not move the mouse or do not press a key for a long time, the desktop starts displaying a moving picture or pattern on the screen. This image is called a screen saver. You can select the screen saver that will be displayed on your screen. You can also decide the screen wait time after which the screen saver will be displayed. Steps to change the screen saver 1. Right-click on the desktop and select the Personalize option. The Settings window appears. 2. Select the Lock screen tab from the Settings window. 19  2 1 3 3. Select the Screen saver settings option. 4. The Screen Saver Settings window appears. Select the screen saver of your choice from the drop-down list. 5. Click OK. 6. The selected screen saver is applied to the screen as shown. 4 5 Activity 3 Change the screen saver of your computer to ‘Ribbons’. 20 Changing the date and time You know that the time and date is displayed on the right side of the taskbar. The computer has an internal clock that keeps track of the date and time even when it is off. In case your computer does not display the correct date or time, you can change it. Steps to change the date and time 2 1. Right-click on the date and time displayed on the taskbar. 2. Select the Adjust date/time option. 3. The Settings dialog box appears on the screen. Select the Date & time tab. 4. Go to the ‘Set date and time manually’ option and click Change. 5. The Change date and time dialog box appears. Set the new date & time with the help of the 1 drop-down arrows keys. 3 4 6 5 6. Click the Change button to set the date and time to the new values. The new date and time will be set. 21  Wise Words Make sure that you set the correct date and time on your computer. This is because Windows uses it to record the exact time and date when creating or modifying a file. Adjusting the volume To increase or decrease the volume of audio or video on your computer, you can use the Speakers icon in the notification area. Steps to change the volume 1. Click the speaker icon in the notification area on the taskbar. 2 The Speakers dialog box opens. 2. Move the slider left or right to decrease or increase the computer volume. 1 3. Click the speaker icon to mute the sound of the audio and video 3 that you are playing. The sound completely goes off. To unmute, click the speaker icon once again. Activity 4 1. Use the speaker icon to change the volume of your computer system while playing an audio or a video file. 2. Also, mute and unmute the speakers and observe what happens while playing an audio or video file. 22 Searching for files and folders While using the computer, you may forget where you have saved a file and you are unable to find it. Sometimes, you may remember only a part of the file-name. In these cases, you can use the search feature of Windows to find a file or folder. You can search for files, folders or even programs on your computer using the Search box beside the Start menu. The search result will display all files and programs containing the search keyword. Search box For example: When you type ‘C’ in the search box, it will display all programs and files starting with ‘C’. However, if you want to see only applications starting with the letter ‘C’, you can click the Apps tab placed on the top. Similarly, if you want to view only files containing the letter ‘C’ in the names, type ‘C’ in the search box and select the Documents tab. 23  In the same way, clicking on the Web tab will show search results related to the letter ’C’ on the internet. 24 Steps to search for a particular application or file with the Start menu 1. Press the Windows key or click the Start menu to perform a search. 2. To find the application containing ‘Writer’, type the word ‘Writer’ in the search box and the search results will show you the applications with the name Writer. 2 1 You can also search for a file in a specific folder or location with the help of the search box in File Explorer Steps to search for the Chrome application in File Explorer 1. Open Windows Explorer and, in the search box, type a word or phrase that appears in the file name that you are looking up. For example, to find all files with the filename containing the word ‘chrome’, type the word ‘chrome’ in the search box. A list of file names will appear. 2. Go through the list and click the required file to open it. 2 1 25  Activity 5 1. Search for the Calculator application using the Search box in the Start menu. 2. Search for a file that you have recently saved in your computer with the help of a name given to the document. Let us Summarise Let us Exercise 1. Select the correct option. a. When you create a shortcut, a small jump arrow appears on the lower corner of the shortcut icon. i. left ii. right iii. centre iv. mid b. Why do we lock the taskbar? i. to avoid it from moving to a different position ii. to avoid pinning a new program to the taskbar iii. to avoid unpinning of programs from the taskbar iv. to avoid hiding it from the desktop screen 26  c. What is the default position of the taskbar on the desktop screen? i. top ii. left iii. bottom iv. right d. When can you see the screen saver on the desktop? i. All the time in the background. ii. As a background picture for the first 5 minutes when you start the computer. iii. When you do not move the mouse or press a key for a long time. iv. As a background picture for 5 minutes when you start any application. e. To disable the sound of an audio or video file, you must the speakers. i. mute ii. unmute iii. start iv. shut down 2. Answer the following questions. a. Describe the taskbar. How can we customise it? b. Why do we create a shortcut? c. Neha has created a text report of her school project and saved it in the computer. She cannot remember the entire file name, However, she remembers that the name of the file starts with the letter ‘C’.How can she search the file? d. What is the difference between a wallpaper and screen saver? Lab Activity 1. Use the link http://www.naturewallpaper.net/ to download a wallpaper with the help of your teacher. Change the wallpaper of your desktop to this wallpaper. 2. Change the screen saver of your computer. Leave the computer idle and wait for the new screen saver to appear. 3. Create shortcuts on the desktop for the MS Paint and Google Chrome applications. Use the shortcuts to open the applications. 27