Lec2-Windows and File Management PDF

ICT 141 COMPUTING SKILLS FUNDAMENTALS I FACULTY OF SCIENCE Lecture 2: Introduction to Windows & File management Computing Skills Fundamentals 1  Outline  Desktop  Desktop icons ◦ Adding, deleting, moving, hiding  Wi...

ICT 141 COMPUTING SKILLS FUNDAMENTALS I FACULTY OF SCIENCE Lecture 2: Introduction to Windows & File management Computing Skills Fundamentals 1  Outline  Desktop  Desktop icons ◦ Adding, deleting, moving, hiding  Window functionality  Recycle bin  Files, File attributes  Folders  File management tips  Back-up  Pathnames 2 Windows Desktop  Main screen area that you see after you turn on your computer and log on to Windows  Windows main working surface area ◦ Like the top of an actual desk  Resources can be accessed from the desktop  All opened programs or folders appear on the desktop (on the Taskbar)  You can arrange desktop items (e.g. files and folders) however you want. 3 Windows Desktop features (windows 7) Desktop icons Desktop Start Quick Notification button Launch Taskbar Area Windows Desktop features(Windows10) Desktop icons  Small pictures on the desktop representing files, folders, programs, and other items  When you first start Windows, at least one icon appears on your desktop: ◦ The Recycle Bin  Below are some examples of desktop icons How to open/start the item it represent? - Double-click the desktop icon 6 Notification area  At the far right of the taskbar  Has a clock and a group of icons  Moving mouse over any icon will display icon- specific information 7  Adding and removing icons  Which icons should appear on the desktop? ◦ Add or remove icons at any time  Most people ◦ Keep clean uncluttered desktop with few or no icons  But others place dozens of icons on the desktop for quick access to frequently used programs, files, and folders ◦ Want easy access from the desktop to your favourite files/folders/programs?  Create shortcuts to them. 8  Shortcut  An icon that represents a link to an item, rather than the item itself.  When double-clicked, a shortcut item opens.  Shortcut identification? ◦ By the arrow on their icon. 9 Adding shortcut to the desktop 1. Locate item you want to create a shortcut for. 2. Right-click the item 3. Click Send to 4. click Desktop (create shortcut). The shortcut icon appears on your desktop. 10 Removing an icon from desktop 1. Right-click the icon 2. Click Delete 3. Click Yes to confirm 4. Or No to cancel  If icon is actual item ◦ item is deleted  If icon is a shortcut ◦ shortcut is removed BUT ◦ original item is not deleted 11 Adding/removing common desktop icons  E.gs. Of common desktop icons:  Computer, Recycle Bin & your personal folders 1. Right-click an empty area of the desktop, 2. Click Personalize. 3. In the left pane, click Change desktop icons. 4. Under Desktop icons, select the check box for each icon that you want to add to the desktop, 5. Or clear the check box for each icon to be removed 6. Click OK. 12 Moving icons around  By default, Windows space icons evenly on an invisible grid.  Icons are stacked in columns on the left side. ◦ Not rigid: we can move icons by dragging them  BUT you can have automatic icon arrangement ◦ How?  Right-clicking an empty area of the desktop,  Click View  Then click Auto arrange icons. 13 Selecting multiple icons  To move or delete a group of icons at once: ◦ First select all of them i. Click an empty desktop area ii. Drag the mouse. iii. Surround icons that you want to select with the rectangle that appears. iv. Release the mouse button. Selected icons can be dragged or deleted. 14 Hiding/Showing Desktop Icons 1. Right- click on any blank portion of the Desktop. 2. In the menu that appears If there was a tick next to this click View option: it will disappear and the 3. Click Show desktop will display no icon desktop BUT if there was no tick, a tick icons. will appear and icons will be displayed 15  The Recycle Bin  When a file/folder is deleted ◦ it doesn't get deleted right away ◦ it goes to the Recycle Bin.  Brilliant isn’t?, ◦ We can recover accidentally deleted items  BUT if you won't need the deleted items again ◦ You can empty the Recycle Bin.  Item will be permanently deleted & disk space is reclaimed Empty Not empty 16  Window functionality  Title Bar  Window control buttons: ◦ Minimize ◦ Maximize ◦ Restore ◦ Close  Scroll Bars  Menu Bar  Toolbar 1717 Window Basics  Some Basic Concepts  File: A resource for storing information ◦ Available to a computer program ◦ Usually based on some kind of durable storage. ◦ Is "durable"  Remains available for other programs to use after the program that created it finishes executing. ◦ It is a counterpart of paper documents which traditionally are kept in office and library files Note: Almost all information stored in a computer must be in a file. 19  File Names  A collection of data or information that has a name, called the. ◦ name part dot extension part e.g. lecture2.pptx  In Windows |  Different types of files: data files, text files, program files, directory files etc.  Different types of files store different types of information. ◦ E.g. program files  programs, text files  text 20  File Name extensions  Extension gives type of contents  Some examples of file extensions: ◦.doc and.docx (Microsoft Word document) ◦.ppt and.pptx (PowerPoint) ◦.xls and.xlsx (Excel) ◦.htm (HTML fil ◦.exe (executable) 21  File Attributes  Settings associated with computer files ◦ They grant or deny certain rights to how a user or the operating system can access the file.  E.g. ◦ computers running Microsoft Windows have capabilities of having read, archive, system, and hidden attributes 22  File Attributes cont.  Read - File can only be read, nothing can be written to the file  Archive - Tells Windows Backup to backup the file.  System - A file used exclusively by the operating system. Should not be altered or deleted  Hidden - File hidden from view under normal viewing conditions  Directory: This attribute is tagged to folders or sub- folders to differentiate them from ordinary files  Compressed: reduced file size (e.g. x.zip)  Encrypted: prevent unauthorized access 23  Viewing File Attributes 1. Right-click filename 2. Select Properties 24 File Management File Management refers to organizing and arranging files in a computer – Can be done through a File Manager – e.g. My Computer or Windows Explorer Used to navigate the file system and manage Files and Folders Perform basic file operations View File properties Search for files  Basic File Operations  Create – create a new file  Copy – Make copy of a file. If stored in the same folder they cannot have the same name  Move - Move file from original location to a new one  Delete - Delete a file, i.e. move to the Recycle Bin. Empty the bin to permanently delete the file  Rename – Change the name of the file e.g. to reflect changes made to the contents of a file e.g. homework1.doc may be renamed to homeworkFinal.doc. 2525  Some tips for managing Files  Give all files meaningful names  All file revisions should be indicated on the filename by adding the revision date/time  Group all related files and store them in one folder/directory  Sort files by type, name, date etc. for easy access  Assign appropriate attributes to files  Always have a backup 27  File Backup  Files with extremely important data require back-up  Backing up files ◦ Means making copies of the files in a separate location so that they can be restored if something happens to the computer, or if deleted accidentally. ◦ A back-up process is used to protect against disasters that might destroy the files 28  Folder/Directory  A location that stores multiple files and other folders – Containers that are used to organize files – They can contain regular files as well as other folders – Generally don’t have extensions just a name  When in a command line, folders are referred to as directories  Icons of folders in Microsoft Windows 29  Creating Folders 1. Right-click on any blank portion of the Desktop. 2. Click New in the menu that appears 3. Click Folder.  A new folder will appear, given the name New folder by default. 30 Renaming Folders 1. Right-click on the Folder you wish to rename. 2. Click Rename 3. Type new name 4. Press ENTER 5. Type the new folder name 31 File System  Tree-like structure  Disk storage space partitioned  Disk drives are assigned letters e.g. C, D, etc.  At the top of the structure is a root folder showing the disk drive C:(Root) Documents Programs ICT121 MAT111 Microsoft Office Assignment1.docx …. 32 Basic Folder Structure 33  Pathnames  Pathname: ◦ Path taken through a file system to reach a file  Types: 1.Absolute pathname: From the root E.g. C:\Documents\ICT121\letter1.docx 2. Relative pathname: From some given location  Not specified from the root but from a specified location  Suppose you are currently in directory Documents  Relative path to week1.doc can be specified as ICT121\week1.docx 34 Finding a File Can use 1. Search box on Start menu – search results are based on text in the file name, text in the file, tags, and other file properties 2. Search box in a folder (using File Manager Finding a File Options Used – Name – Date – Type.e.g. jpg, txt, exe – Size (at least most) – Size:tiny – Size: medium File Properties File properties. To view information about a file or folder, right-click it and select Properties. – Name – Location – Type – Associated program – Size – Date created , modified, and accessed Finding a File: Using Wildcards Wildcard: a keyboard character that is used to limit files you want to see during a search represent one or more unknown characters in a filename * = as a substitute for 0 or more characters E.g. ICT.* match all files that start with ICT ? = as a substitute for 1character ????.txt Match only txt files with names of length 4 Examples moswetsi*b.abc matches moswetsi123b.abc moswetsi?b.abc does not match Computing Skills Fundamentals 39