Table Of Contents Contents

WINDOWS BASIC- ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 What is an Operating System- ............................................................................................................................... 7 Microsoft windows- ................................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWS-................................................................................................................................. 7 EXPLORING THE DESKTOP- ........................................................................................................................................ 8 SETTING DESKTOP PROPERTIES- ................................................................................................................................ 9 USING WINDOWS VISTA ............................................................................................................................................ 9 DATE & TIME SETTING- ............................................................................................................................................ 10 WORKING WITH WINDOWS- ................................................................................................................................... 10 USING HELP-............................................................................................................................................................. 12 WORKING WITH MULTIPLE WINDOW- .................................................................................................................... 12 SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS VISTA-....................................................................................................................... 13 ORGANIZING YOUR WORK-...................................................................................................................................... 13 Files & Folders-..................................................................................................................................................... 13 USING COMPUTER- .................................................................................................................................................. 13 WORKING WITH FOLDER- ........................................................................................................................................ 14 WORKING WITH FILES-............................................................................................................................................. 14 USING SHORTCUTS- ................................................................................................................................................. 15 USING APPLICATION- ............................................................................................................................................... 15 USING NOTEPAD- ................................................................................................................................................. 15 USING WORDPAD- ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Creating a Graphic using paint-............................................................................................................................ 17 Copying between Application- ............................................................................................................................. 19 Previewing, Printing and saving document- ........................................................................................................ 19 Cleaning up the Desktop-..................................................................................................................................... 20 Using calculator- .................................................................................................................................................. 20 What is word processing? ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Creating & Editing a document-........................................................................................................................... 21 Introduction to Microsoft Word- ..................................................................................................................... 21 The user Interface- ........................................................................................................................................... 21 Creating New Document- ................................................................................................................................ 22 Entering & Formatting Text ............................................................................................................................... 22 Moving trough text- ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Using Automatic Editing Features- .................................................................................................................. 24 Saving, closing & Opening files- ....................................................................................................................... 24 Navigating a document- ................................................................................................................................... 24 Editing a document- ......................................................................................................................................... 25 Working with graphics- .................................................................................................................................... 25 Previewing & printing a document- ................................................................................................................. 25 Revising & refining a document-.......................................................................................................................... 26

Revising a document-....................................................................................................................................... 26 Moving & copying selections- .......................................................................................................................... 26 Working with multiple documents- ................................................................................................................. 26 Controlling document paging- ......................................................................................................................... 27 Finding & replacing a text- ............................................................................................................................... 27 Inserting the current Date- .............................................................................................................................. 27 Modifying page Layout- ................................................................................................................................... 27 Paragraph Formatting in detail- ....................................................................................................................... 27 Character Formatting in detail-........................................................................................................................ 28 Creating Lists- ................................................................................................................................................... 28 Using Hyperlinks- ............................................................................................................................................. 28 Inserting shapes- .............................................................................................................................................. 29 Editing while previewing-................................................................................................................................. 29 Inserting Objects- ............................................................................................................................................. 29 Creating multilevel Lists- .................................................................................................................................. 30 Saving to anew folder- ..................................................................................................................................... 30 Hiding spelling and Grammar error- ................................................................................................................ 30 Formatting documents automatically- ............................................................................................................ 30 Creating a Table of Contents- .......................................................................................................................... 31 Updating the Table of Contents-...................................................................................................................... 31 Formatting a document section- ..................................................................................................................... 31 Using Footnotes & Endnotes- .......................................................................................................................... 31 Adding Bookmarks- .............................................................................................................................................. 32 Formatting picture Layout- .................................................................................................................................. 32 Referencing Figures- ............................................................................................................................................ 32 Creating a simple table- ....................................................................................................................................... 33 Sorting Data- ........................................................................................................................................................ 33 Creating Headers & Footers- ............................................................................................................................... 34 Checking the documents- .................................................................................................................................... 34 Printing selected Pages- ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Changing the display of the document- ................................................................................................................... 35 Creating Newsletter style columns- ..................................................................................................................... 35 Using WordArt- .................................................................................................................................................... 35 Inserting Symbols-................................................................................................................................................ 35 Adding a Drop cap- .............................................................................................................................................. 35 Using mail Merge- .................................................................................................................................................... 36 Using mail Merge- ................................................................................................................................................ 36 Printing Mailing Labels-.................................................................................................................................... 36 Preparing & printing envelope- ....................................................................................................................... 37 Merging for sending e-mails using Outlook-.................................................................................................... 37 Using a standard temples- ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Using a temples from word- ................................................................................................................................ 38 Word processing in other Languages....................................................................................................................... 38 Language setting in Windows VISTA-................................................................................................................... 38

Using a configured Language in a word- .............................................................................................................. 39 Overview of Excel- ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Creating & Editing- ................................................................................................................................................... 42 Creating a new workbook- ................................................................................................................................... 42 Entering & Editing Data- ...................................................................................................................................... 42 Changing the column width- ................................................................................................................................ 43 Saving, closing & opening a Workbook- .............................................................................................................. 43 Moving cells- ........................................................................................................................................................ 43 Centering & merging Cells- .................................................................................................................................. 43 Using Formulas- ................................................................................................................................................... 44 Duplicating cell content- ...................................................................................................................................... 44 Using Functions-................................................................................................................................................... 45 Formatting the worksheet- .................................................................................................................................. 46 Working with graphics- ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Entering the Date- ................................................................................................................................................ 47 Previewing & Printing- ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Using Chart- ............................................................................................................................................................. 48 Learning about Charts-......................................................................................................................................... 48 Creating a Chart- .................................................................................................................................................. 49 Managing a Workbook- ........................................................................................................................................... 49 Correcting Errors-................................................................................................................................................. 49 Working with Sheets- ........................................................................................................................................... 50 Managing large Sheets- ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Forecasting Values- .............................................................................................................................................. 52 Headers, Footers & Print setting ....................................................................................................................... 52 Overview of Presentation Graphics- ........................................................................................................................ 54 Introduction to Presentation Graphics- ............................................................................................................... 54 Creating a presentation- .......................................................................................................................................... 54 Using installed temples-....................................................................................................................................... 54 PowerPoint presentation views-.......................................................................................................................... 55 Creating your first slide-....................................................................................................................................... 55 Sizing & moving placeholder- .............................................................................................................................. 55 Saving & opening presentation- .......................................................................................................................... 56 Using a slide Layout & Inserting a pictures-......................................................................................................... 56 Changing Fonts & Formatting- ............................................................................................................................. 56 Checking Spellings-............................................................................................................................................... 57 Inserting, moving & deleting slide- ...................................................................................................................... 57 Running a slideshow- ........................................................................................................................................... 57 Previewing & printing a presentation-................................................................................................................. 57 Modifying & refining a presentation- ...................................................................................................................... 58 Finding & Replacing- ............................................................................................................................................ 58 Creating a text Box and Inserting a Hyperlink- .................................................................................................... 58 Create and Enhance a table- ................................................................................................................................ 59 Using smart art- ................................................................................................................................................... 59

Inserting clips & clip Art- ...................................................................................................................................... 59 Create & Enhance shapes- ................................................................................................................................... 60 Changing the Presentation design and color scheme- ........................................................................................ 60 Adding animation, sound, transition and build effect- ........................................................................................ 60 Changing the slide master- .................................................................................................................................. 60 Creating Notes Pages- .......................................................................................................................................... 61 Printing Handouts- ............................................................................................................................................... 61 Using Headers & Footers- .................................................................................................................................... 61 Duplicating & Hiding Slides- ................................................................................................................................. 61 Learning to control and annotate slideshow- ...................................................................................................... 62 Documenting a File- ............................................................................................................................................. 62 Using advanced Presentation Futures- .................................................................................................................... 62 Creating a new Presentation from existing Slides- .............................................................................................. 62 Adding Action Buttons- ........................................................................................................................................ 62 Delivering Presentation- ...................................................................................................................................... 63 Internet Basics- ........................................................................................................................................................ 64 What is Internet? ................................................................................................................................................. 64 What is www? ...................................................................................................................................................... 64 Information flow over the Internet- .................................................................................................................... 65 Brewers- ............................................................................................................................................................... 65 Navigating the Web- ................................................................................................................................................ 65 Using Internet Explorer 7- .................................................................................................................................... 65 Using the favorites centers- ................................................................................................................................. 67 Using Forms- ........................................................................................................................................................ 67 Printing and Saving Web Pages- .......................................................................................................................... 67 Finding Information on the Web- ............................................................................................................................ 68 Using Search Services- ......................................................................................................................................... 68 Google- ................................................................................................................................................................. 68 Communication using e-mail- .................................................................................................................................. 69 Using Web E-mail Services-.................................................................................................................................. 69 Using Newsgroups- .............................................................................................................................................. 69 Overview- ................................................................................................................................................................. 72 Introduction to database- .................................................................................................................................... 72 Creating a database- ................................................................................................................................................ 72 Introduction to Access- ........................................................................................................................................ 72 Creating new database- ....................................................................................................................................... 73 Creating a Table- .................................................................................................................................................. 74 Entering & Editing data- ....................................................................................................................................... 75 Changing the Column width- ............................................................................................................................... 76 Preview and print a Table- ................................................................................................................................... 76 Close and open a Table and Database- ................................................................................................................ 76 Modifying a Table- ................................................................................................................................................... 77 Customizing and Inserting Fields- ........................................................................................................................ 77 Finding and Replacing Data- ................................................................................................................................ 78

Sorting Records- ................................................................................................................................................... 79 Creating Forms-........................................................................................................................................................ 80 Using the Form Wizard- ....................................................................................................................................... 80 Adding Records in a Form- ................................................................................................................................... 81 Queries and Report-................................................................................................................................................. 81 Using Queries- ...................................................................................................................................................... 81 Creating Reports- ................................................................................................................................................. 82 Printing a Report- ................................................................................................................................................. 84 Appointment- ........................................................................................................................................................... 86 Creating Recurring Appointment-........................................................................................................................ 87 Creating an Event-................................................................................................................................................ 88 Changing the Calendar View- ............................................................................................................................... 89 Creating a Task List- ................................................................................................................................................. 90 Sorting Task-......................................................................................................................................................... 91 Updating the Task Status- .................................................................................................................................... 92 Printing Task and Calendar items- ....................................................................................................................... 92 Creating Notes- ........................................................................................................................................................ 93 Address Book- .......................................................................................................................................................... 93 Adding and Removing Contact- ........................................................................................................................... 93 Importing and Exporting Contact- ....................................................................................................................... 94 Searching Address Books- .................................................................................................................................... 94 Creating & Editing Mailings List- .............................................................................................................................. 95 Using Outlook For E-mailing- ................................................................................................................................... 95 Setting Up a Mail Account- .................................................................................................................................. 95 Creating an E-mail Message-................................................................................................................................ 96 Using Attachment- ............................................................................................................................................... 96 Sending Mail- ....................................................................................................................................................... 97 Receiving Mail- ..................................................................................................................................................... 97 Viewing & saving a attachment- .......................................................................................................................... 97 Replying to and formatting a mail- ...................................................................................................................... 98 Handling Mails in the Inbox- ................................................................................................................................ 98 Using Instant Search- ........................................................................................................................................... 99 Using Flags- .......................................................................................................................................................... 99 CD Writing- ............................................................................................................................................................. 100 What is CD writing?............................................................................................................................................ 100 .Burning CD using Windows VISTA- ................................................................................................................... 101 Erasing a CD- ...................................................................................................................................................... 102 Virus Protection- .................................................................................................................................................... 102 What is Computer Virus-? .................................................................................................................................. 102 Virus Protection- ................................................................................................................................................ 104 Getting more from your Computer- ...................................................................................................................... 105 Listening to music- ............................................................................................................................................. 105 Downloading Music- .......................................................................................................................................... 106 TV Tuner Card- ................................................................................................................................................... 107

PC to Mobile sending sms-................................................................................................................................. 108 Understand Terms & Technology- ......................................................................................................................... 109 Netizens- ............................................................................................................................................................ 109 Blogs-.................................................................................................................................................................. 109 Edutainment- ..................................................................................................................................................... 110 Infotainment- ..................................................................................................................................................... 111 Netiquette-......................................................................................................................................................... 111 Technology Today- ......................................................................................................................................... 112 IPods, podcasting & RSS- ................................................................................................................................... 113 Bluetooth & Wi-Fi Technology-.......................................................................................................................... 114 Popular Websites- .................................................................................................................................................. 115 Wikipedia- .......................................................................................................................................................... 115 Introduction to Computer- .................................................................................................................................... 118 What is a Computer- .......................................................................................................................................... 118 Generations of Computer- ................................................................................................................................. 118 Types of Computer System- ............................................................................................................................... 121 Components of a Computer System- ................................................................................................................. 123 Hardware- .......................................................................................................................................................... 124 Software-............................................................................................................................................................ 128

WINDOWS VISTA
WINDOWS BASICWhat is an Operating SystemAn operating system is the program that manages all the other programs in a computer after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program. It is the most basic program in a computer. The other programs are called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). The operating systems job is to control the computer at the most fundamental level. It manages memory, controls access to peripheral devices and serves as a translator between the user and the hardware, providing the means for the user and application programs to tell the hardware what to do. Users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command language or a graphical user interface (GUI). Examples of operating systems are: Windows, Novell Netware, Mac OS, UNIX and Linux.

Microsoft windowsMicrosoft Windows is a range of closed source commercial operating environments for personal computers and servers. The range was first introduced by Microsoft in 1985 and eventually has come to dominate the world personal computer market. Some of the useful features of Windows are as follows: You can see multiple programs running simultaneously on different areas of your screen. The Windows interface is based on Graphical User Interface or GUI, which means that the interface uses graphics or pictures to help the user navigate and access programs. Right-clicking the mouse on any object displays a context menu which you can use to execute many useful commands easily. You can use shortcuts to open a program without having to find the program on your hard disk. Help is always near. Pressing the F1 key in most situations either displays detailed instructions or brief descriptions of the controls. The help has a search feature, too, allowing you to find desired information by typing in a keyword. Clipboard: The Clipboard is a temporary storage area for information that yo u have copied or moved from one place and plan to use somewhere else. For example, you might want to copy a section of text from a website, and then paste that text into an e mail message. The Clipboard is available in most Windows programs.

INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWSWindows Vista has a more elegant and sophisticated look than all previous versions of Windows. The new Vista interface is great to look at, with a lot of added functionality making working in Vista a really pleasant experience -- and a more secure one. Windows Aero: This is the graphical user interface for Windows Vista. Its name is a contraction of the words Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. It includes new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons and animations which are visually very appealing. Glass window borders and surfaces make the interface both professional and beautiful. Windows Sidebar: This is a long, vertical bar that is displayed on the side of your desktop. It contains miniprograms called gadgets, which offer information at a glance and provide easy access to frequently used tools. To add a gadget, right-click on the sidebar and select Add Gadgets. Now simply drag a gadget from the Gadget gallery onto the sidebar. To remove a gadget from the sidebar, move your mouse over it and click on the X

sign next to it. Additional gadgets can also be downloaded from the Microsoft Gadgets website by clicking on Get more gadgets online. Search Boxes: Search boxes are prominently integrated into Windows Explorer, the Start menu, Control Panel, Windows Internet Explorer and Help. So no matter where you are, you can always search for related files, folders or information. Two types of searches are supported: Regular search, where a search is performed when you click the Search button, and Instant search, where the results are displayed immediately as you type. Windows Vista has maintenance utilities such as Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter. Disk Cleanup is used to remove unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, and Disk Defragmenter is used to rearrange your files so that they are not broken up.

Some of the security and safety features of Windows Vista are as follows:
Windows Defender: This is a software product which is a part of Windows Vista. It is designed to prevent and remove spyware. Spyware on your computer could result in information being transmitted from your computer without your knowledge. Windows Firewall: This helps in guarding your computer against many types of malicious software. User Account Control: This is an infrastructure that requires user consent before allowing any action that requires administrative privileges such as installing new software or changing system settings. Parental controls: An administrator can apply parental control restrictions to other users on the computer. Facilities include web content blocking, restrictions on what kind of games may be played and what programs may be executed.

EXPLORING THE DESKTOPWhen your computer is booted up and ready to use, the screen you see is called the Desktop. It is the background for all programs and contains the commands needed for accessing those programs. The background graphic is called Wallpaper. The desktop can be customized to suit individual needs. Another important graphic feature that you find on the desktop is an Icon. Icons are small pictures that are linked to programs. Most icons and toolbar buttons display a Tool Tip containing a brief description of the item when you rest the mouse pointer on it. Double-clicking on the icon runs the program or accesses the file and right-clicking accesses a menu offering options, actions and properties. Icons can be moved around on the desktop by clicking and dragging them. Vistas live icons graphically depict the content of files stored on your computer. The Recycle Bin on the desktop serves as a trash can. When you delete a file or folder, it goes into the Recycle Bin where it stays until the bin is emptied. Double-clicking on the icon opens a window that shows you its contents. If you delete something you shouldnt have, you can find it in the Recycle Bin and restore it to its proper place. When the Recycle Bin is emptied, everything in it is permanently deleted. At the bottom of the screen, you see a long, thin bar which is called the Taskbar. The currently active tasks are displayed in the form of buttons on the taskbar. When you move your mouse over a button, a thumbnail image of the window is displayed. The taskbar has a circular button displaying the Windows logo at one end and a clock on the other. The button at the left end is the "Start" button which is used to start a program, open a document, get help, find information and change the system settings. If you click on the "Start" button, a box called a Menu appears. This menu contains several items. Some of them have arrows next to them that access other menus. Some of them have sub-items which can be accessed by clicking on them. You may see icons on the taskbar, too. These are called "Quick Launch" icons that allow one-click access to frequently used programs. The right end of the taskbar is the Notification area. In the Notification area, to

the left of the clock are several icons that indicate the tools that are automatically started when you turn on your computer and are running in the background, such as antivirus protection. This area also temporarily displays icons while a tool is in use, such as a printer when printing is in progress.

SETTING DESKTOP PROPERTIESChanging the Wallpaper: You can make your desktop as attractive and colorful as you wish by setting a wallpaper of your choice. For this, click on Desktop Background. In the Picture Location box, select the location of the picture. Now from the pictures displayed, make your choice by clicking on it. You may use the Browse button to search for a background picture from another location not in the list. Specify how you want the picture to be positioned and click on Change background color to select a color to fill the space not used by the picture. You may also save a picture from a Web site as your desktop background. Right-click the picture and then click Set as Background. Setting a Screen saver: A screen saver is a program that displays an image, animation, or just a blank screen on a computer after no input has been received for a certain length of time. Screen savers were originally designed to prevent damages (called burn-in) to CRT screens. The screens manufactured nowadays are much more resistant to damages. To set a screensaver, click on Screen Saver in the Personalization window. Now select a Screen saver from the list. In the Wait field, specify the number of minutes of idle time after which you want the screensaver to start. To view possible setting options for a particular screen saver, click Settings. Click Preview to see how the selected screen saver will appear on your monitor. To clear the screen saver after it has started, simply move your mouse or press any key.

USING WINDOWS VISTA

The Start button is one of the most important features in Windows, as it is the starting point for most features on your computer. To use your computer, you need to start application programs and access files you have created using these applications. As you learn more about Windows Vista, you will find there are many ways to perform the same task. The list of programs on the Start menu is divided into two parts. The first part is the Pinned Items List. The programs on the pinned items list remain there and are always available for you to click to start them. You can add programs to the pinned items list. The next part is the Most frequently used programs list. Programs are added to the most frequently used programs list when you use them. Programs you have not recently used are removed from the list and replaced with the more recently used programs. Pointing to an item in the Start menu moves the selection cursor to the item and displays a pop -up description. Clicking an icon in the Start menu starts a program or accesses an item or feature immediately. When you point to an item with an arrowhead a folder symbol, a submenu with additional options is displayed. Documents: Documents is your personal folder. It is a convenient place to store documents, graphics, or other files you want to access quickly.

Pictures: The Pictures folder in Windows Vista offers a variety of options for viewing and managing your digital pictures. From within Pictures, you can view photos at different sizes, rotate them, view a slide show, print photos or copy photos to a CD.

Music: The Music folder is the place where Windows automatically saves all the audio clips you download from the Internet or save on your hard drive with Windows Media Player. To play a particular audio file that you have saved, simply double-click on it. Computer: This item in the Start menu is used to access drives, printers and other hardware, the Control Panel and other system applications.

Network: Network displays shortcuts to shared computers, printers, and other resources on the network. The shortcuts are created automatically whenever you open a shared network resource, such as a printer or shared folder. Control Panel: Using the Control panel, you can access many support applications that enable you to customize the appearance and functionality of your computer system. From the Control Panel, you can access hardware settings for the keyboard, mouse, printers and modem; as well as settings for the monitor display and sound. Help and Support: You can click Help and Support to learn how to use Windows Vista, obtain troubleshooting information, receive support and more.

All Programs: Clicking All Programs opens a list of programs currently installed on your computer.

DATE & TIME SETTINGThe System Date and System Time are the date and time as maintained by the computers internal clock. Windows uses these settings to identify when files are created or modified. Changing the date and time manually: To make changes to the system date and time, click on the Start button and select Control Panel Clock, Language, and Region Date and Time. On the Date and Time tab, click on Change date and time. Now click the correct day, month, and year under Date to set the date. To set the time, enter the correct time into the box under Time. To change only the hour, double -click the hour, and then click the arrows to increase or decrease the value. Similarly you may change the value of the minutes, seconds and the AM/PM indicator. Now click OK. Changing the Time Zone: Time zones are areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. To change your time zone, click the Change time zone on the Date and Time tab. Select your current time zone from the list and click OK. Updating the Date and Time: You may also synchronize your computers clock by an Internet time server. For this, make sure you are connected to the Internet. On the Internet Time tab, click Change Settings. If the box against Synchronize with an Internet time server is empty, click on it. Select the appropriate server and then click Update Now. Changing the date and time display: You may change the way in which your computer displays the date and time. Select Control Panel Clock, Language, and Region Regional and Language Options. On the Formats tab, select your current format and then click Customize this format. Enter the formats you require on the Time and Date tabs of the Customize Regional Options window.

WORKING WITH WINDOWSMinimize, Maximize, and Close buttons: These buttons reduce the window to a button on the task bar, enlarge it to fill the whole screen, and close it, respectively Menu bar: This contains several items that that you can click to make choices in a program. Scroll bar: This lets you scroll the contents of the window to see information that is currently out of view. Borders and corners: You can drag these with your mouse pointer to change the size of the window.

Sizing and Moving Windows: To make the desktop more workable, you can move and size windows. Using the buttons in the Title Bar you can minimize the window, maximize the window to its largest size, restore the window to the original size or close a window. Changing the Size of the Window: You can change the size of the window by pointing to the border of the window with your mouse and dragging to make it smaller or bigger. Dragging a corner changes the height and width simultaneously.

Moving a Window: To move a window, point to the title bar and drag the window to the new location on the desktop. Scrolling a Window: When there is more information in a window than can be viewed on the screen, scroll bars appear on the window. There are two types of scroll bars Vertical and Horizontal. To scroll you can either click the arrow of the scroll bar or you can drag the scroll box to move the content within the window. Arranging windows automatically: You can also have the windows on your desktop automatically arranged. To choose an arrangement, right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, then choose one of the options Cascade Windows, Show Windows Stacked, or Show Windows Side by Side. Dialog Boxes: A dialog box is a special type of window that asks you a question, allows you to select options to perform a task, or provides you with information. Data may be entered using push buttons, option buttons, check boxes, text boxes, list boxes, combo boxes and other such controls. Windows Controls: Most windows have controls that allow you to select commands, change settings, or perform other actions related to the working of the window. Let us have a look at some of them. Menus: To keep the screen free of unnecessary items, menus are hidden until you click their titles in the menu bar. To choose a command listed in a menu, click on it. If a command is shown in gray, it is un available and cannot be clicked. Some menu controls are shown by an arrow next to a word or picture. Command buttons: A command button performs an action when you click it. Command buttons may also appear as small icons without any text. Split buttons: These buttons change into two parts when you point to them. Clicking the main part of the button performs a command, whereas clicking the arrow opens a menu with more options. Option buttons: Option buttons enable you to make one choice among multiple options. They are also called radio buttons.

Check boxes: Check boxes enable you to select one or more independent options. Unlike option buttons, which allow you to choose a single option only, you can choose multiple options at the same time using check boxes. Sliders: A slider enables you to adjust a setting along a range of values by dragging the slider toward the value that you want. Text boxes: A text box is used to type textual information. This is the most commonly used windows control. Drop-down lists: These are similar to menus. Here, options are available for selection instead of commands to be executed. A drop-down list shows only the currently selected option when it is closed. The other options are displayed when you click the control. List boxes: A list box displays a list of options that you can select from. Unlike a drop-down list, some or all of the options are displayed without having to open the list. Tabs: In some dialog boxes, information is displayed on multiple tabs. The currently selected tab appears at the front. You can switch to a different tab by clicking on it.

USING HELPWith Windows Vista Help features, you may search across multiple remote and online providers to get the most information for the topic that you are investigating. Click the Start button and then click Help and Support to display the Windows Help and Support window. In the Search Help text box, you may enter the keywords you wish to search on. Click on the magnifying glass or press Enter to display a list of related topics. You may click on any topic under Find an answer to see help for that topic. You may perform tasks related to Security, Maintenance and Troubleshooting by selecting appropriate options. Under Ask someone you may click on the various links for additional assistance and support from friends, Windows communities or from Microsoft Customer Support online. Under Information from Microsoft you will find guidance on various tasks which will make your experience of working with Windows Vista smooth and convenient.

WORKING WITH MULTIPLE WINDOWThe capability to run multiple programs at the same time is called Multitasking. This makes working with your computer more like you would actually work, allowing you to switch easily between tasks without having to put one away before beginning the other. On the Start menu click Computer and then Help and Support. You can see that each program is displayed in its own window. Opening a New Window: Notice the Document1 icon on the desktop. This indicates that clicking this link will open the associated item on your computer, in this case, the Microsoft Word document named Document1. Double-click on it. A new window opens on the desktop and the taskbar displays an additional button for this open window. There are now three programs running at the same time, Windows Help and Support, Computer and Document1. As more windows are opened, the taskbar buttons resize themselves automatically to fit in the taskbar. The Document1 window is the active window, that is, the window currently in use. You can tell it is the active window because the taskbar button and title bar appear dark whereas those of the inactive windows are dimmed. Multiple windows can be open on the desktop at once, but only one window is active at a time. When a new window is opened, it appears in the size in which it was last used and at any location on the desktop. The newly opened window is automatically the active window and appears on top of other open windows on the desktop. Switching between windows: Using the taskbar: Each running program has a corresponding button on the taskbar. To switch to a specific program, just click its taskbar button. The window in which the program is running appears in front of the other windows. This is now the active window. If the taskbar becomes too crowded with buttons, then the buttons for the same program become grouped into a single button, as shown in the picture below. Click the button to see a menu of the items in the group, then select an item to make it the active window. Using ALT+TAB: You can cycle through all open windows and the desktop by holding down the Alt key and repeatedly pressing the Tab key. Release the Alt key to show the selected window. Using Windows Flip 3D: This feature allows you to flip through a cascading stack of your open windows. While holding down the Windows logo key, press the Tab key repeatedly or rotate the mouse wheel to cycle through open windows. Release the Windows logo key to display the window at the front. Alternatively, click any part of a window in the stack to display that window. You may also click on the Switch between windows icon on the taskbar to enable the Windows Flip 3D feature.

SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS VISTAIt is very important to shut down Windows Vista correctly. Do not turn off the computer by pressing the power button as you may lose valuable data. To turn off your computer, click the Start button, and then click the Power button in the lower right part of the Start menu. This action puts your computer in sleep mode. When you click the arrow next to the Lock button, you see various options. Let us see what each of them does. Switch User: This enables you to switch to another user without closing the programs of the current user. Log Off: If you share the computer with someone else, select Log Off. This closes all your open programs but does not put the computer off. Lock: This is used to lock the computer when you do not want anyone else to access your files. Restart: This closes all open programs, shuts down Windows and restarts the computer once again. Sleep: Sleep is a power-saving state. It saves all open documents and programs, and allows you to resume working within seconds. Shut Down: To shut down your computer completely, use this option. It closes all open programs, shuts down Windows and puts off your computer.

ORGANIZING YOUR WORKFiles & FoldersIn a computer, a file is an item that contains a collection of related information. Examples of files are text documents, spreadsheets, digital pictures, and even songs. Your computer represents files with icons. By looking at a files icon, you can tell what kind of file it is. Some common file icons are displayed. A folder is a container in which you can store files. Arranging files into logical groups makes it easy to locate any particular file. It is a named area on a disk that is used to store related subfolders and files. A folder within a folder is known as a Subfolder. Windows Vista offers Live Icon views of files and folders. You can graphically view the content saved on your computer in ways that enable you to visualize what is inside a folder or file.

USING COMPUTERTo open the Computer window, click on the Start button and select Computer. This displays the Windows Explorer which shows you the contents of your floppy disk, hard disks, CD-ROM drive, and network drives. You can also search for and open files and folders, and gain access to options in the Control Panel to modify your computers settings. You know that Windows has some common folders such as Documents, Pictures, Music and others that you can use to organize your files. The panel at the left is the Navigation pane. At the top, commonly used folders are displayed under the heading Favorite Links. You can view additional folders by clicking Folders at the bottom of the Navigation pane. This displays the Folders list, where you can click any folder to navigate directly to it. When you click a location in the Navigation pane, the folder contents in the right panel change to display the contents of the location you clicked. In the Folder List, folders created in the main folder appear indented below the main folder. Subfolders appear indented below their parent folders. So a Folder System is made up of folders and subfolders. A Folder System is also called a Directory System. When you move the mouse pointer into the area of the Folders list, you see a small triangle next to each folder which has subfolders. Click the triangle to expand the folder. Click the resulting triangle to collapse the expanded list. To close the Folders list, click Folders again. Click the Organize button to organize the contents of a folder. Click Layout to specify whether to display Menus, a Details Pane, a Preview Pane, and/or the Navigation Pane. Let us select Menu Bar. You can now see a menu with the items File, Edit, View, Tools and Help.

Click the Views button to specify how you wish to view the contents of a folder. You can choose from the options: Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, Small Icons, List, Details and Tiles. Sorting and Grouping Files and Folders: You may click on any column heading to sort the files by that column. Clicking again reverses the sort order from ascending to descending. Using Windows Explorer, you can copy, move, rename, and search for files and folders. For example, you can open a folder that contains a file you want to copy or move, and then drag the file to another folder or drive. You can use the context menu that appears on right-clicking the mouse to perform various functions.

WORKING WITH FOLDERCreating Folders: Using the Folders list, you may select the location where you wish to store your data files. Let us click on Documents. Click Folders to hide the folders list. To create a new folder, select File New Folder from the menu bar. A folder icon with New Folder written next to it is displayed. You may type a new name for this folder. Folder and File Names: When a file or folder is created, it must be assigned a name. The following characters cannot be used in a folder or file name: \ / : * ? > < | If you think youll need to use a folder frequently, drag it to the Favorite Links area. These links let you open folders quickly, no matter which folder youre presently in. Renaming Folders: To rename a folder, click on the folder name and select File Rename from the menu bar. Alternately, you may select the folder, right-click and select Rename. Deleting Folders: When you no longer need a folder you can delete it. If you delete a folder containing subfolders and files, all the subfolders and files contained within the folder are removed. Select the folder that you wish to delete. Press the Delete key or select File Delete from the menu bar. Confirm deletion by clicking Yes in the Folder Delete window.

WORKING WITH FILESThe name of a file consists of two parts, the File Name and the Extension. Different types of files are stored with different extensions. For example, a document created using Microsoft Word 2007 is stored with the extension .docx, while a document created using Notepad is stored with the extension .txt. Copying a file: You may make a copy of a file. For this, click on the file name and select Edit Copy from the menu bar. Now this file can be copied to one or more locations. Click on the folder you wish to copy it to. Now select Edit Paste from the menu bar. The file that was copied remains at the original location. A copy of it is created at the new location. A file can also be copied to a folder by selecting Edit Copy To Folder from the menu bar and clicking on the appropriate folder in the Copy Items window. Moving a file: You may move a file from one location to another. For this, click on the file name and select Edit Move To Folder from the menu bar. The Move Items window is displayed. Now click on the location you wish to move the file to and then click Move. The file is removed from the original location and placed at the new one. Drag and Drop: All Windows applications have the ability to copy or move selections using the Drag and Drop feature. First, select the item to be copied or moved. Then, point the mouse to it and drag the pointer to the new location by keeping the mouse button pressed. You may now drop the selection by releasing the mouse button. Selecting Multiple Files: When you want to copy or move several files into the same folder, you can select these files to copy or move them at the same time. Keep the Ctrl key pressed and then select multiple files. To quickly select adjacent files you may similarly use the Shift key. To select all the files and folders in the window, click Select All on the Edit menu. Renaming and deleting a file: A file can be renamed or deleted in the same way as a folder by clicking on it and selecting File Rename and File Delete respectively.

Finding Files: If youre looking for a specific file from a large number of files in a folder, you can use the Search box at the top to search the current folder. Type anything you can remember about the file, such as part of its name. If you dont know which folder to search, you can use the Start menu to search instead. Type in the Search box, and then click a result to open it.

USING SHORTCUTSYou may need to use a particular file or folder stored on your computer frequently. To access the location of this file quickly, you can create a shortcut icon for the location and place it on the desktop. To create a shortcut to your folder, locate the folder you have created to save your work. Point the mouse pointer to the folder name, right-click and select Send To Desktop (create shortcut). A shortcut icon with an arrow at the bottom left appears on the desktop. The default name of the shortcut is the same as your folder name followed by the word Shortcut. You may use this shortcut to qui ckly access your data file location again.

USING APPLICATIONUSING NOTEPADSome useful applications are available as a part of Windows Vista. Using Notepad: Notepad is a basic text editing program and it is most commonly used to view or edit text files. To start Notepad, click Start and select All Programs Accessories Notepad. If necessary, re-size the Notepad window to an appropriate size. When the application first opens, a blank workspace is ready for you to begin typing to create a new document. Editing a Document: One of the advantages of using a computer is that you can edit the contents of your file. In the open Notepad, type your Name and then press Enter. Type your Address and press Enter again. Take the mouse cursor to the beginning of your name and press Enter twice. Press the Up Arrow key twice and then type the date. Formatting a Document: You may wish to change the way your text appears. For this, select Format Font from the menu bar. In the Font window, select the font along with the style and size you require. Press OK to apply your selection to the complete text in your document. Printing a Document: Now, you may want to print a copy of your document. Select File Print from the menu bar. Another way is to do this is by directly pressing Ctrl+P. This method is called using a Keyboard Shortcut. Make the appropriate selections from the Print window. Saving Files: A permanent copy of the work you have created using an application program is stored as a file on the disk only when you save it. If you fail to save the file, all the changes you have made will be lost. Select File Save As. In the Save As window, you may specify the location where you wish to save the file and the name of the file. Click Save. Your file is stored with the extension .txt. A lightweight editor: Notepad is a basic text editor that you can use to create simple documents. Because Notepad supports only very basic formatting, you cannot accidentally save special formatting in documents that need to remain pure text. This is especially useful when creating HTML documents for a Web page because special characters or other formatting may not appear in your published Web page or may even cause errors.

USING WORDPADUsing WordPad: WordPad is an application used to create rich text documents. WordPad includes many features and can be used to create and format large and complex text documents. To start WordPad, click Start and select All Programs Accessories WordPad. A new blank document is displayed. Toolbars: The buttons on the main Toolbar are shortcuts for common file management tasks, such as creating or saving a file. The buttons on the Format Bar are used to change the format of text.

The Ruler is used to set tab stops by clicking on it where you want a tab stop to appear. A tab stop specifies the place that the cursor stops at when you press the Tab key. You can delete tab stops by dragging them off the ruler. Menus: Let us have a brief look at the different menus available on the menu bar. Each menu has different menu items. The File menu is used to perform tasks related to your document as a whole. You may create, open, save and print your documents using this menu. The Edit menu is used to perform tasks related to the content of your document such as entering and modifying your data. The View menu is used to specify whether or not you want to display the toolbar, format bar, status bar and the ruler. The Insert menu is used to insert the date and time and other objects in your document. The Format menu is used to enhance the appearance of your document content. The Help menu contains items through which you can get assistance whenever you require. Entering text: As you type, the text automatically moves to the next line when it reaches the right edge of the margin. This feature is called Word Wrap. Editing text: After you have entered your text, you may need to make some modifications. This is called Editing text. The first change you want to make to this document is to add a title. Click at the beginning of your text. The insertion point is positioned at the top of the document, ready for you to begin entering text. Press Enter twice and then use the Up Arrow key to move the insertion point up. Now enter the title and press Enter. After looking over the text, you may decide to remove a word. The two most common means to remove text are to use the Backspace key to delete unwanted characters to the left of the insertion point, or the Delete key to remove characters to the right. You can also select the text you want to delete and then press Delete to remove it. To select text, drag from one end of the area of text to the other. A quicker way to select a word is to double-click on it. Formatting Text: You decide you want to improve the appearance of the title by applying various formatting effects to the text. You want to center it between the margins, make the characters larger and display the characters in a color. Before you can apply the formatting effects, you first need to select the text you want to format. Since you want to select the entire title, you can click in the left margin of the line to select the entire line quickly. You may use the Center button on the Format Bar to center the title. To further enhance the appearance of the title, you would like to increase the font size. Font size refers to the height and width of printed characters. Font size is measured in points, which refers to the height of the character, with a point equal to about 1/72 inch. Most documents use a font size of 10 or 12 point. Click the Font Size drop-down list button on the Format Bar and select the font size you wish. Finally, you will make the title text bold and apply a color to it. Click the Bold button on the Format Bar to add a bold effect. Click the Color button and select a color of your choice. The title now appears in the selected color. Saving a file to the Desktop: If you like how the document looks then you may save the document. If you plan to use this file again shortly, you can save the file on the desktop using a new file name for easy access. To save the document, select File Save As from the menu. The Save As window appears on the screen. Type the desired file name and select Desktop as the location to save the file. Then click "Save" to save the file on the desktop. Your file is stored with the extension .rtf. The document icon for the WordPad file appears on the desktop. Notice that this icon does not display the arrow symbol that appears in shortcut icons. This is because the file is actually stored in the desktop folder and the icon is not a shortcut to an object that is in another location. To open this file, double-click on the file name on the desktop. The associated program, WordPad in this case, is started, and the file is opened and displayed in the workspace. The file name is displayed in the title bar before the program name and the Windows taskbar displays a button for the open application. Let us now see some additional features of WordPad.

Finding and Replacing Text: To find or replace specific characters, select Edit Find or Edit Replace from the menu and specify your search criteria in the Find what field. If you want to replace that text with other text enter it in the Replace with field. Click Replace to replace the original text with the new text. You may click Replace All to replace all occurrences of the original text. You may refine your search by checking the boxes against Match whole word only to find whole words matching your search criteria and Match case to make your search specific to capital and small alphabets. Moving, Copying and Deleting Text: To cut text that you want to move to another location, select the text, and then select Edit Cut from the menu. To copy text for writing to another location, select the text, and then select Edit Copy from the menu. To paste text you have cut or copied, place the insertion point where you want to paste the text, and then select Edit Paste from the menu. You may undo your actions by selecting Edit Undo from the menu.

Creating a Graphic using paintAnother application that is included with Windows is Paint, a drawing program that can be used to create and modify graphic images. To start Paint, click Start and select All Programs Accessories Paint. Generally, when we create a file, we open the application first, and then create and save the file. You may wish to create a blank file on the desktop. Select File Save. The Save As window is displayed. Specify the location as Desktop and then select the type of file you want to create from the Save as type list. In this case you will create a blank file called New on the desktop using the 24 bit Bitmap image file type. Your file is stored with the extension .bmp. The text under the icon displays the default icon name "New". Since the file is blank, the desktop icon displays a blank square. Now, you are ready to open the file and create a graphic. Let us create a logo for your organization, which is the picture of a palm tree. Since you want to use Paint to create the graphic, you need to select this application by clicking on the icon on the desktop. The Paint program is loaded with the blank file open. Paint has many of the same features, including a title bar, menu bar and status bar as you have seen in the other application programs. Try to draw a picture of a palm tree, similar to the one shown above, that you can add to the document you previously created using WordPad. The Paint program also includes a toolbar, called a toolbox. By default the toolbox is displayed on the left edge of the window. The toolbox buttons are used to draw shapes, fill shapes with colors, edit the drawing and so on. Displayed at the Top of the window is the color box that is used to add color to the graphic. The white area in the workspace is the drawing area where you may create the drawing. The pre-selected icon is the Pencil button. You can tell it is selected because it appears in a box. The mouse pointer appears as a pencil when this tool is selected and you are pointing to the drawing area. The tool you select is drawn when you drag or click in the drawing area. First, you need to draw the plot of grass below the tree. The Ellipse tool creates an ellipse or circular shape. When you move the mouse pointer into the drawing area, it changes to a plus (+). To begin drawing, move the pointer to where you want the circle to begin. A circle or ellipse is created by dragging the mouse until the shape is displayed as you want it to appear. You have created a simple oval shape with a black outside borderline and white interior. Notice the three additional buttons, called fill-style buttons, displayed at the bottom of the toolbox. The first button draws an ellipse with an outline border in the selected fill color without filling the object. This is the default selection and the setting you have used. The second button draws an outline border and also fills the object with the selected fill color. The last fill style creates an object without a border using the selected fill color. Adding Color: You now want to fill the shape with a green color. You may do this by selecting colors from the color box. The color box consists of two areas, the select colors area and the color palette. If you select colors before creating a shape, the outline of the shape is created using the foreground color, while the inside of

the shape is filled with the background color. To set the background color, right-click in the color palette. You need to delete the oval and replace it with another that contains color. Using the Brush Tool: Next, you want to create two tree trunks. You need to use the Brush tool to create the shape and apply the color at the same time. The brush applies the foreground color when you drag to create the shape. You may change the foreground color to brown. The Brush tool creates broad lines of color as you drag. Using the Eraser: You may make mistakes or to not like the appearance of your drawing. For this you may need to erase sections of your drawings. To clean up the drawing, you can use the Eraser tool to delete the parts of the trunk you may not like. The eraser uses the background colors. Using the Airbrush Tool: Finally, you want to create the palm fronds. You need to use the Airbrush tool for this purpose. This tool also provides several "spray" shapes. Using different shapes can add interest to the drawing. The Airbrush sprays with the foreground color. To use the background color, drag with the right mouse button held down while spraying. Creating a Custom Color: Since the color selection of green colors on the palette is limited, you may create a custom color. Double-click on a color in the color box. The Edit Colors window contains a palette of basic colors, many of which are displayed in the color box. The green color you selected is the selected color in the Basic colors palette. Click Define Custom Colors >> to display the color area to the right. This is a color matrix. To define a custom color, you may click anywhere on the matrix. You can also use the slider on the color gradient bar at the right to change the elements, such as hue and saturation, associated with the selected color. The box below the matrix displays the selected color. Click Add to Custom Colors and then click OK. The custom color automatically becomes the foreground color and replaces the originally selected green. Now you may apply this color to the fronds. Your logo is now ready. The Save command saves the document as it appears onscreen to the same file name, automatically replacing the original contents with the new contents. Now see the live icon representing your Paint document. You can see a small picture of the graphic you created. Let us now see some additional features of Paint. Drawing a Straight Line: In the toolbox, click the Line icon. At the bottom of the toolbox click a line width. Drag the mouse to draw the line. Press the Shift key while dragging to get a straight line. Drawing a Curved Line: In the toolbox, click the Curve icon. At the bottom of the toolbox, click a line width. Draw a straight line by dragging the pointer. Click on the page where you want one arc of the curve to be, and then hold down the left mouse button to drag the pointer to adjust the curve. Release the mouse button and repeat this step for a second arc. You can only create two curves for each line. Drawing a Rectangle or Square: In the toolbox, click the Rectangle icon to create a square-cornered shape, or click the Rounded Rectangle to create a round-cornered shape. At the bottom of the toolbox, click a fill style. To draw a rectangle, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer diagonally in the direction you want. To draw a square, press the Shift key while dragging the pointer. Drawing a Polygon: In the toolbox, click the Polygon icon. At the bottom of the toolbox, click a fill style. To draw the polygon, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to draw a straight line. Click on the page where you want each new line segment to appear. Repeat these steps and double-click when done. Typing and Formatting Text: In the toolbox, click the Text icon. To create a text frame, hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer diagonally to the size you want. On the text toolbar, click the font, size and style you require. Click inside the text frame to type text. Changing the Picture Size: To change the size of your picture, select Image Attributes from the menu. Enter the dimensions you require. You may also resize your picture by dragging the image resize handles that are located at the bottom right corner and along the sides of your picture. In this practice session, you will draw a shape filled with color.

Copying between ApplicationNow you can insert the logo of your organization (the palm tree) into your WordPad document. To do this, you need to copy the graphic from Paint and insert it into the WordPad document. You can select an item from an open document and copy it to another location in the same or another document. You can copy the entire picture or any part of the drawing by selecting an area. Since the drawing occupies almost the entire space, you may select the entire drawing area. A dotted line identifies the selected area, in this case the entire picture. Contents of the selected area are copied to the Clipboard. Embedding an Object: You are now ready to insert the picture into the WordPad document. You would like the palm tree picture that is stored in the Clipboard to be centered at the top of the document. The insertion point appears at the center of the blank line. This is because the Center feature was in effect for the line the insertion point was on when the two new lines were created. Now you are positioned in the document where you want the picture inserted. An object can be inserted into another document by pasting, linking or embedding it. The Paste and Paste Special commands on the Edit menu are used to insert a copy from the Clipboard into a document. You will embed the palm tree object in the document. Select Edit Paste. The graphic of the palm tree that was stored in the Clipboard is pasted into the document. It is surrounded by a box and eight solid squares called handles. These indicate the object is selected and can be manipulated. You can adjust the size of any selected object by dragging the handles in the same manner as sizing windows. Editing an Embedded Object: After looking at the inserted graphic, you may decide you want to add some text inside the graphic. To edit an embedded object, you can open the object server by double-clicking on it. This allows you to edit the embedded graphic from within WordPad. Paint, the server application is opened within WordPad, and the graphic appears in its own editing window. Notice that there is still only one Paint application button in the taskbar. This indicates that the Paint program has not been opened a second time in its own application window. You now have access to the Paint menu and toolbar so you can edit the object while you are still in the WordPad document. The Text tool is used to add text to a Paint object. You may want to add the company name to the grass area of the graphic. When adding text, you first create a box, called a text frame and then type the text inside it. If you do not like how your text box looks, you can always use Edit Undo from the menu and try it again. The text frame displays an insertion point, and the Fonts window is displayed. It shows the default type style and size that will be used when you type the text entry. You may want to increase the font size to 14 point. Before typing the text, you can also choose a color for the text. The color that is applied to the text is the foreground color. To make the background the same as the grass, you make the text frame transparent so that the background is visible. You may verify that the original file created using Paint, containing the palm tree, has not changed. Since no changes were made to the file, you are not prompted to save the file before it is closed. WordPad is displayed again, because it was the last-used application.

Previewing, Printing and saving documentAlthough you still plan to make several formatting changes to the document, you want to give a copy of the document to a friend to get feedback regarding the content and layout. To save time and unnecessary printing and paper waste, it is always a good idea to preview on screen how your document will appear when printed. The Print Preview feature displays each page of your document in a reduced size so you can check the layout. Select File Print Preview from the menu. The Preview window displays a reduced view of how the current page will appear when printed. This view allows you to check your page layout before printing. The flyer looks good and does not appear to need any further modifications immediately. The Preview window also includes its own toolbar. You can print the flyer directly from the Preview window using the Print button.

To save the current document, click the Save icon on the Toolbar.

Cleaning up the DesktopYou have a few files stored on the desktop of your computer. You may want to clear these from the desktop and move them to the folder where you store your data. Double-click the shortcut icon you created to your data location. Open the folder where you save your files. Right-drag the selected icons to the right pane of the window. Choose Move Here from the shortcut menu. Select View Refresh from the menu to refresh the display of the window. You can now see that the file icons are no longer on the desktop and are now located in the selected folder. Finally you will remove the shortcut icon. The desktop should be cleared of all icons you created and should appear the same as when you started.

Using calculatorUsing Calculator: Calculator is an application which performs functions parallel to a handheld calculator. It performs basic arithmetic, such as addition and subtraction, as well as functions found on a scientific calculator, such as logarithms and factorials. To start Calculator, click Start and select All Programs Accessories Calculator. Performing a simple calculation: To perform a simple calculation involving addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, perform the following steps: First, type the first number in the calculation. Then, click + to add, - to subtract, * to multiply, or / to divide. After that, type the next number in the calculation. Type other operators and numbers in the same way. Finally, click = or press the Enter key to get your result. The functions of the different buttons on the Calculator are as displayed. Backspace --> Removes the last digit of the displayed number. CE --> Clears the number displayed at that time. C --> Clears the entire calculation. MC --> Clears the numbers in the memory. MR --> Recalls a number from the memory. MS --> Stores numbers in the memory. M+ --> Adds the displayed number to the memory. Sort --> Calculates the square root of the number on the screen. % --> calculates percentages. 1/x --> Calculates the reciprocal of the displayed number. Performing a scientific calculation: Your calculator can be made into a full-functioned scientific calculator. For this, select View Scientific from the menu. You have a choice of four numbering systems: Hexadecimal, Decimal, Octal and Binary. In addition to handling simple calculations, the Scientific Calculator has complete trigonometrically calculations, programming calculations and statistical calculations for averages and standard deviation.

WORD PROCESSING
What is word processing?
Typing text using a computer is commonly known as Word Processing. The activity of word processing includes typing text using the keyboard and using various facilities of formatting, editing, printing etc. Word Processor Applications help you to create different types of written documents such as personal letters, form letters, brochures, faxes and even professional manuals. Through a word processor you can create, modify, store, retrieve and print part or all of a document. With a few keystrokes, you can easily correct errors, move paragraphs and reprint your document. Documents that you use often can be saved as templates, for example, an invoice form. Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer are a few of the popular Word Processors.

Creating & Editing a documentIntroduction to Microsoft WordMicrosoft Word is a complete Word Processor Application. To start the Microsoft Word application, click on the Start button and select All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Word 2007. Microsoft Word offers a wide variety of options to design documents. Word comes with a variety of templates for almost every purpose. You can also create your own templates. Additionally, you can create various indexes and tables in text documents. You can define the structure and appearance of the indexes and tables according to your needs. Microsoft Word contains numerous functions to assist you in creating perfectly styled documents. Text can be formatted multi-columnar and have text frames, graphics, tables, etc. integrated into it. The text frames can be linked anywhere, even beyond page limits to create a newspaper format. The user InterfaceThe User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The Microsoft Office user interface is uniform across most of its components. It consists of three main parts: 1) The Office Button 2) The Quick Access toolbar 3) The Ribbon The Office Button: This appears at the top-left corner of your screen. Clicking the Office Button displays the File menu. This contains commands for opening, saving, printing, and closing a file. In Word, a file is called a document. The Quick Access toolbar: This appears to the right of the Office Button near the top of the screen, displaying icons that represent commonly used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. It is designed to put your most commonly used commands in a place where you can always find them. To add an additional command to the Quick Access toolbar, click the arrow on the right. You can add an icon to the toolbar by just clicking on an icon name, such as Open or New, from the menu that appears. Now, click More Commands. Under Choose commands from: you can see a list of commands that you may add to your Quick Access toolbar. Click an icon and then click the Add button. Click OK. You can see that your chosen icons now appear on the Quick Access toolbar. To remove an icon, right-click on it and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar. The Ribbon: The Ribbon is a component of the Office Fluent user interface. It consists of:a) Task-oriented tabs. b) Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks. c) Command buttons in each group that carries out a command or display a menu of commands. The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in Word: The Home tab has common formatting commands, styles, bullets, and copy/paste.

The Insert tab contains all items that can be inserted into the file, such as pictures, clip art, pages, and text boxes. The Page Layout tab contains margin, orientation, and spacing properties. The References tab contains the most common items needed when generating a professional paper, including footnotes, citations, table of contents, and index. The Mailings tab contains the items needed for a mail merge. The Review tab contains spell check, thesaurus, and track changes. The View tab contains the view options for the document and is the location of the Switch Windows command to move between files open in that application.

You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs. When you move your mouse over most command buttons, a Super-tooltip is displayed. This provides a detailed description of what the button does. Equivalent keyboard shortcuts are also displayed if applicable. You may use them when you are more familiar with the commands. The tabs, groups, and command buttons change as you take on various activities. When you first launch most of the Microsoft Office applications youll find yourself in the Ribbons Home tab, which includes the most commonly-needed commands. Access keys: Access keys are another type of keyboard shortcut used to access the Ribbon. They relate directly to the tabs, commands, and other things that you see on the screen. You first need to press the Alt key. You then see little labels, or badges, showing the Key Tips for all the tabs. After you press a key to activate a particular tab, the badges showing the Key Tips for the commands on that tab appear. Every single command on the Ribbon, the Microsoft Office Button menu, and the Quick Access Toolbar has an access key, and every access key is assigned a Key Tip. You can hide the Ribbon if you wish to have more space to write. For this, right-click anywhere on the Ribbon and choose Minimize the Ribbon. To restore the Ribbon, right-click any tab and choose the Minimize the Ribbon command again. Creating New DocumentLet us now learn to effectively use Microsoft Word using the following simple Case Study. You are working for Global Tours and Travels. You are required to create a document listing the special offers of your company. You want your document to be attractive and at the same time informative. You decide to create a document like the one displayed above. We shall now learn step-by-step, how to include all such features into your document. When you first start Word, a new blank document is opened. It is like a blank piece of paper that has certain default settings which are the most commonly used settings. When an existing word document is open, to create a new blank document, click the Office Button and select New. A Template is a pre-designed document designed for common purposes such as a fax, invoice or business letter. You may create a new document using standard templates provided by Word by clicking on a template name in the New Document window.

Entering & Formatting Text

Let us now enter text into a new document. Type "SPECIAL OFFERS". Press "Enter" once to come to the next line. To insert a blank line, press Enter once again. Now type Come to any of the offices. Let us insert some more text. Setting up the way a page of text will look by entering certain attributes is called Formatting. A Font is a design for a set of characters.

Selecting Text: To select a section of text, click at the point you want to begin and drag your cursor to the right and release it when you have reached the end of the selection. Changing the Font: Let us select the text SPECIAL OFFERS and change the font. When text is selected, a "Mini Toolbar" is automatically displayed. It remains semi-transparent until you move your mouse pointer over it. It provides easy access to the most-used formatting commands. You will be comfortable using it after you are more familiar with the Word application. For now, let us use the command buttons on the Ribbon. On the Home tab, in the Font group, from the drop-down menu, move your mouse over the different fonts displayed. The "Live Preview" feature allows you to have a preview of how the selected font would affect the appearance of the text, without actually applying it. Click on the font you would like. Similarly, you may change the Font Size. To make the text appear in italics, click the Italic icon. To change the color of the text click on the arrow next to the Font Color icon and select a color. Making text Bold: To enter text with a bold display, on the Home tab, click on the Bold icon in the Font group and begin text entry. To make existing text bold, select it and then click on the Bold icon. Underlining: To underline your text, select it and then click on the Underline icon in the Font group. You may choose other underline styles and colors by clicking on the arrow to the right of the Underline icon. Justifying Text: Select the text you would like to justify. In the Paragraph group, you may select Align Text Left, Center, Align Text Right or Justify. Click on Center. Changing Line Spacing: Select the text you would like to change the line spacing for. Click the Line spacing icon in the Paragraph group and make your selection. Displaying formatting marks: You can display nonprinting characters in your text, such as paragraph marks, line breaks, tab stops and spaces. For this, click the Show/Hide icon in the Paragraph group. To remove the display, click on this button once again. Displaying formatting marks: You can display nonprinting characters in your text, such as paragraph marks, line breaks, tab stops and spaces. For this, click the Show/Hide icon in the Paragraph group. To remove the display, click on this button once again. Moving trough textMoving Using the Keyboard: You can use the arrow keys and other keys on the keyboard which are shown above to position the cursor at the location you want to type or modify text.

Moving Using the Mouse: You can use the mouse to move the insertion point to a specific location in a document. When you can use the mouse to move the insertion point, it is shaped as an I-beam. Click at the point where you wish to insert some text.

Using Automatic Editing FeaturesUsing AutoCorrect: You may use the numerous features provided by Microsoft Word to automatically correct your document. Click the Office Button, and then click Word Options. Now click Proofing and then click the AutoCorrect Options button. On the AutoCorrect tab, you may check the boxes against the options you require. These corrections are effected as you enter your text. You can see that the Correct TWo INitial CApitals option is checked. Now try typing the text HAppy with two initial capitals. As it is typed, you can see that it is corrected. You can even replace some text with alternate text as it is typed using the Replace text as you type option. Ensure that the box against the option is checked. Now enter numeric 1st in the Replace box and alphabetic First in the With box. When you type the digit 1 followed by the alphabets s and t, they are replaced by the text First. Building Blocks: Building Blocks in Word are designed specifically for the addition of frequently used content to your documents. Creating a Reusable Building Block: Select the text or graphic that you want to store as a reusable building block. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts, and then click Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery. In the Create New Building Block window, enter a unique name for the building block in the Name field, say Global Tours Logo. Select AutoText from the Gallery drop-down list. Now click OK. Using a Building Block: Let us insert this building block into another document. Click where you want to insert a building block in the document. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts, and then click Building Blocks Organizer. Click Gallery to sort by gallery. Click on a building block name and then click Insert. Using AutoComplete: Another useful feature is AutoComplete. Begin typing the unique name of the building block you created; type enough so that the name is different from that of any other building block and then press F3. The building block is inserted. When you begin typing in the name of a month, such as January, Word brings up a little box above the incomplete word. If you then press Enter, Word automatically finishes the name. Automatic Spelling and Grammar checking: Click the Office Button, and then click Word Options. Now click Proofing and then check the boxes against the spelling and grammar checks you require. These checks are enforced as you enter your text. Saving, closing & Opening filesSaving Documents: Your file is stored with the extension .docx. There are three ways to save a document. 1. Using the shortcut keys Ctrl+S. 2. Click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. 3. Click the Office Button and select Save. When you save a new file for the first time, the Save As window is displayed. Enter the name, folder and location for the file and then click Save. Closing a File: To close a file, click the Office Button and select Close. Another way of closing an open document is to click on the X shaped icon on the top right corner of the window. Opening Documents: There are two ways to open a document. 1. Using the shortcut keys Ctrl+O. 2. Click the Office Button and select Open. Navigate to the location of your document and click on the file name. Now click Open. Navigating a documentThere are different ways you can move through your document. Some of them are as follows: 1. Use the Up, Down, Right and Left Arrow keys on your keyboard. 2. You may also use the Page Up and Page Down keys on your keyboard.

3. Alternatively you may use the scrollbars on the right and bottom of your screen. 4. Use the Ctrl+Home keys to go to the beginning of the document and the Ctrl+End keys to go to the end. You may also navigate to a specific item in your document. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, select Find. On the Go To tab of the Find and Replace window, click on the object you wish to move to from the Go to what list. Let us select Line. Now enter the line number to which you wish to go. Now click the Go To button. Your cursor moves to the specified line. In this way you may navigate to a specific page, section, footnote, endnote etc. Editing a documentAfter entering the text of a document, you would like to proof read it for accuracy and completeness and modify or edit the document as needed. Selecting and Deleting Text: In order to delete a section of text, you may select it and press Delete. To remove individual characters, you may press "Delete" for characters to the right of the insertion point and "Backspace" for characters to the left. To delete an entire word, you may also use "Ctrl+Delete" for words to the right of the insertion point or "Ctrl+Backspace" for words to the left. To delete a blank line, click on that line and press Delete. Undoing and Redoing Editing Changes: After making some changes, you may decide they are not necessary after all. To quickly restore the changes, you can reverse your last action or command. For this select Undo Typing from the Quick Access toolbar or press Ctrl+Z. To redo the change select Redo Typing from the Quick Access Toolbar or press Ctrl+Y Working with graphicsInserting Graphics: You now wish to insert a picture of one of the buses of your company along with your company name. You may insert graphics into your document by selecting from the various options available in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab. Let us insert a picture from an existing file on the hard disk. Click the Picture icon. In the Insert Picture dialog box, specify your picture and its location and click Insert. The picture now appears in your document. Sizing and Moving Graphics: You may change the graphic that you have inserted in respect of size, location, color etc. To change the size, click on the picture. It is surrounded by eight boxes called sizing handles. Point to a handle and drag with your mouse to the size you require. To move your picture, place the cursor on the picture and drag with your mouse to the new location. Previewing & printing a documentPreviewing a document: It is always a good practice to preview your document onscreen before you print it. To view a document in the Print Preview mode, click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. The Print Preview tab appears when you view the current document in the Print Preview mode. One Page: Click this icon to display one page in the preview window. Two Pages: Click this icon to display two pages in the preview window. To display Multiple Pages, click the Zoom icon and select Many pages. To specify the number of pages to view, click on the icon below the Many pages button and drag towards the right and down. Zoom: The Zoom icon can also be used to specify the zoom percentage. The preview size will be adjusted accordingly. Shrink One Page: Click this icon to prevent the document from being printed on an additional page. This is particularly useful for documents which have only a small amount of text on the last page. Printing a document: There are two ways to print a document: 1. Click the Office Button and select Print Quick Print from the menu. 2. 2. Use the shortcut keys Ctrl+P. The Print window is displayed. Enter your options and click OK.

You may also select Print Quick Print from the Office Button menu. It lets you print a document with one click but does not offer the flexibility to specify whether to print all or just part of your document, number of copies and other such things.

Revising & refining a documentRevising a documentSpelling and Grammar checking: There are two ways you can do this: 1. On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, select Spelling & Grammar. 2. Use the keyboard shortcut F7. The Spelling and Grammar window appears only when a mistake is found. When the spelling checker encounters a word it doesnt recognize, it determines which words in its dictionary are similarly spelled and displays a list of those words, with the most likely match highlighted. You can also add words to your dictionary. Click Options to specify the spelling and grammar checks that you require. Thesaurus: The Thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms which you can use to find words that are synonymous with a term. There are two ways to start the thesaurus. 1. On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, select Thesaurus. 2. Press Shift+F7. You now see a panel on the right. In the Search for: text box, enter your expression, say Contact. Se lect Thesaurus: English (U.S.) from the dropdown list below. Click on the arrow to the right of the search box. A list of synonymous terms is displayed. You may point to a synonym of your choice and specify the action you wish to perform by viewing the drop-down list. You may choose from the options Insert, Copy and Look Up. Moving & copying selectionsUsing Copy: Let us select some text for copying to the clipboard. The document itself does not change, but any existing clipboard contents are overwritten. You may use any of the following methods: 1. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, select Copy. 2. Press Ctrl+C. Using Cut and Paste: You may decide to move a section lower down in your document. For this select it and use Cut to move the selected section. The Cut command involves deleting the section from the document, moving it to the clipboard and then pasting it to a location of your choice. On the other hand, the Copy command creates a copy at the new location, leaving the original location unchanged. You may use any of the following methods for cutting: 1. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, select Cut. 2. Press Ctrl+X. Paste: This command is used to insert the contents of the clipboard into the document. The contents are inserted at the position of the cursor. Any selected text or objects are replaced by the pasted contents. You may use any of the following methods for pasting: 1. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, select Paste. 2. Press Ctrl+V. Drag and Drop: All Windows applications have the ability to copy or move selections using the Drag and Drop feature. Let us now move the text back to its original location. First, select the item to be copied or moved. Then, point the mouse to it and drag the pointer to the new location by keeping the mouse button pressed. You may now drop the selection by releasing the mouse button. Working with multiple documentsOpening a Second Document: Save the current document by clicking the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Now open a second Word document by clicking New in the Office Button menu. Click Create in

the New Document window. A blank document is displayed in a new window. This becomes the active program. The previous document is the dormant program now. Copying between Documents: The dormant program appears dimmed on the taskbar. Make it active by clicking on the taskbar. Click Select in the Editing group on the Home tab. Click Select All from the menu displayed. Copy the contents by clicking Copy in the Clipboard group. Move to the new document by clicking on the taskbar. Paste the contents by clicking on Paste in the Clipboard group of the Home tab. Controlling document pagingTo control document paging so that important titles and headlines appear on the top of the pages, you may need to insert Page Breaks just before them so that they start on a new page. Let us leave our graphic on the first page and display the other text on the next page. To insert a Page Break, place the cursor at the point where you want a new page to begin and click Page Break in the Pages group of the Insert tab. Alternatively, you may use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter. A fixed page break is inserted and the cursor is now at the beginning of the new page. Finding & replacing a textFinding Text: You may search for a word or phrase in a document. Select Find from the Editing group on the Home tab or press Ctrl+F to display the Find tab of the Find and Replace window. Enter some text, say office and click Find Next. The next occurrence of the specified term after the current cursor position is selected. Finding and Replacing: You may search for a word or phrase in a document and replace it by some other text. Select Replace from the Editing group on the Home tab or press Ctrl+H to display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace window. Enter the text you wish to find in the Find what field and the text with which you wish to replace it, say new office in the Replace with field. Replace: You may click this button to replace the next occurrence of the search text by the specified new text. Replace All: You may click this button to replace all occurrences of the search text by the specified new text. A window appears showing the number of replacements made. More: You may click this button to specify additional search options. Inserting the current DateLet us now insert the current date into this document. Position the cursor above your text and select Date & Time from the Text group on the Insert tab. Select the format you require. If you want the date to be automatically updated when the current date changes, check the Update automatically box. This updating is seen when you next open your document. Modifying page LayoutChanging Margin Settings: To set margins, select Margins from the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab. You may click on any of the available options or click Custom Margins to enter your own specifications. On the Margins tab, you may enter your requirements in one or more of the fields. Changing the Orientation: You may orient your document vertically or horizontally by clicking on Orientation from the Page Setup group of the Page Layout tab. Select from the Portrait or Landscape options. Entering the Page Size: To set the Page Size, select Size from the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab. You may click on any of the available options or click More Paper Sizes to enter your own specifications. On the Paper tab, you may select the paper size from preset formats like A4, A5, etc. from the drop-down list. You may also manually set the dimensions you require in the Width and Height fields. Paragraph Formatting in detailIndents: Indentation determines the distance of the paragraph from either the left or the right margin. Select a paragraph of text. Then click on the Page Layout tab. In the Paragraph group, you may specify your indent requirements in the Indent Left and Indent Right boxes.

Alternatively, you may use the Decrease Indent and Increase Indent icons in the Paragraph group on the Home tab for indenting your text. Spacing: You may specify the spacing between paragraphs by adding space above or below selected paragraphs. For this use the Spacing Before and Spacing After boxes in the Paragraph group on the Page Layout tab. Setting Tab Stops: A Tab Stop is the amount of spacing that is applied each time you press the Tab key. You may set the position of a tab stop in a paragraph. Click on the Page Layout tab. In the Paragraph group, click on the arrow at the bottom right. This brings up the Paragraph window. On the Indents & Spacing tab, click Tabs to display the Tabs window. You may choose the default length of your tab from the Default tab stops list box. Alternatively, you may use your mouse to set the tab stops in the Ruler, although this method is not as precise. You can quickly set tabs by clicking the tab selector at the left end of the ruler until it displays the type of tab that you want and then clicking the ruler at the location you want. Character Formatting in detailChanging the capitalization of text: You may change a portion of text in respect of case. This means you may specify which parts you want in capital letters and small letters. Select the text Time Table. Now, click on the Change Case icon from the Font group. You may select an option from the menu displayed. Let us select UPPERCASE. You can see that your text is displayed with all capital letters. Highlighting: Select some text to highlight. Click on the arrow next to the Text Highlight Color icon in the Font group and select a color. Effects: On the Home tab, in the Font group, click on the arrow at the bottom right. This brings up the Font window. You may specify effects for your text by checking the boxes against the effects you require on the Font tab. Format Painter: You can copy the formatting applied to a section of text to another section. For this, select the text whose formatting you wish to use. Then click on the Format Painter icon on the Home tab in the Clipboard group. You can see that your mouse pointer changes to a paintbrush. Now, drag it over the text to which you wish to apply the format. Creating ListsYou may want to display the information about the special offers that you have entered as an itemized list so that it stands out from the rest of the text. You may use a bulleted list or a numbered list. Bulleted lists are normally used to list logically related information. Numbered lists are normally used to convey a sequence of events. Bulleted List: Select your text and then click on the arrow next to the Bullets icon in the Paragraph group of the Home tab and select a bullet style. Your text now appears as a bulleted list. Numbered List: Alternatively, you may decide to go in for a numbered list. In that case, click on the arrow next to the Numbering icon in the Paragraph group of the Home tab and select a numbering style. Joining and Separating Numbering: You have the option to restart numbering, continue numbering or even skip some numbers from the previous list used. Simply right-click on the number and select from the options Restart at, Continue Numbering or Set Numbering Value. Using HyperlinksInserting Hyperlinks: You now want to give information related to the different routes and their timings. Giving all this information in a single document will crowd the document. Also, the document will lose its clarity regarding the main information that it is meant to convey. So you may use a Hyperlink. A hyperlink is a connection to a location in the current document, another document or to a Web site. A hyperlink may be in the form of text or a graphic. Let us insert a hyperlink to another document called time_table.docx which contains the complete time table. This document exists in the same folder as your document. Place the cursor in your document at the point where you wish to insert the hyperlink. In this case, we shall use the text Time Table as a hyperlink. Select this text.

There are two ways to insert a hyperlink: 1. Use the shortcut keys Ctrl+K. 2. Click the Hyperlink icon in the Links group on the Insert tab. Use any of them to display the Insert Hyperlink window. Because you wish to create a link to another document, click Current Folder and then click on time_table.docx. Click OK. You now see that the hyperlink text is underlined. When you click on this text, you can view the time table document. Removing Hyperlinks: To remove the hyperlink while retaining the text, right-click on it and select Remove Hyperlink. To remove a hyperlink completely, simply select it and press Delete. Inserting shapesWord offers many predefined shapes that you can insert into your document. Click Shapes in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab to display the various shapes that you can use. You now wish to insert a banner at the bottom of your document like the one shown. Under Stars and Banners select the Double Wave banner. Drag your mouse to create your shape of the size you wish. You may use the sizing handles to modify the size of the shape. You may also drag to place the shape at another location. To make this banner more attractive, make a selection from the Shape Style group. Let us add some text to this banner. Right click on the banner and select Add Text. Now enter your text. You may format the text by selecting it and using the mini toolbar displayed. Editing while previewingNow you will preview your document to see if any changes are required. To view a document in the Print Preview mode, click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. The Print Preview tab appears when you view the current document in the Print Preview mode. Now you will preview your document to see if any changes are required. To view a document in the Print Preview mode, click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. The Print Preview tab appears when you view the current document in the Print Preview mode. When the mouse pointer moves over the document it is shaped as a magnifying glass with a plus sign. Click on the page you wish to magnify to see it in normal size. Click again to see it in a compressed size. When you wish to edit the document, uncheck the box against the Magnifier button in the Preview group on the Print Preview tab. The mouse pointer changes to an I beam. This indicates that you can now make changes to the text. Make your changes and then click Close Print Preview to close the preview window. You may now save your changes. Inserting ObjectsYou may insert external objects such as pictures, video clips, a spreadsheet or even another word document into your current document. You can edit the object later using the application which created the source file. For this, select Object from the Text group on the Insert tab. You may create a new object to insert or insert an existing one from a file. Let us insert an existing spreadsheet created using Microsoft Excel. In the Object window, click on the Create from File tab. Check the box against Link to file if you want your document to be updated whenever the file containing the inserted object is edited. Check the box against Display as icon if you want to display your object as an icon. Click Browse and navigate to the file you wish to insert. Now click Insert. Click OK in the Object window. You see that the object is now a part of your document Simply double-click on this object to edit it in the original application in which it was created, in this case Excel.

Creating multilevel ListsA multilevel list shows the list items at different levels rather than at one level. Different items are indented to represent their level in a documents structure. It makes the hierarchy of items in a document very clear and easy to understand. Creating a multilevel list: Click where you want to begin your list. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the Multilevel List icon and select a list style. Now enter your list. Use the Tab key to go to the next level and Shift+Tab to move up one level. You can easily change the level of an item in the hierarchy by simply increasing or decreasing the indent by using the Tab or Backspace keys respectively. Saving to anew folderNext, you will save the multilevel list you have created in a folder on your disk. You will use this folder to hold related files. You can create a new folder at the time you save a file. The steps to save the file are: 1. Click the Office button and select Save As. 2. Enter the appropriate location where you wish to place the file in the Save in field. Type the name of the new folder in the Name field in the New Folder window and press Enter. The new folder is created as a subfolder in the active directory. Press Save to save your file with the same name in the new folder. If you wish to change your file name, make appropriate changes in the File name field and then click Save. Your document is now saved in the newly created folder. Hiding spelling and Grammar errorWhen you go through a document, you sometimes notice that many spelling and grammar errors are indicated by red and green wavy lines. They are mostly for words that are not in the dictionary. You may turn off the display of these errors if you do not wish to be distracted as you work. Click the Office Button, and then click Word Options. Now click Proofing. At the bottom of the window, check the boxes against Hide spelling errors in this document only and Hide grammar errors in this document only and click OK. The red and green wavy lines are no longer displayed. You can still run spelling and grammar checks manually by using functions like Spelling & Grammar on the Review tab at any time you wish. Formatting documents automaticallyThere are two ways in which you can format your document automatically. Using Click and Type: On a new blank page, switch to the Print Layout view by selecting Print Layout from the Document Views group on the View tab. Move the mouse pointer across the page and observe the change in it. As you move the mouse pointer over different areas, the I-beam pointer displays an icon indicating the formatting that will be applied when you double-click at that location.

The chart displayed in the figure lists the different pointer shapes and formatting that is applied. You can use this method to quickly insert text, graphics or other items in a blank area of a document, avoiding the need to enter blank lines. Double-click at the center of the document. You can now enter text which will be formatted as per the pointer shape. Applying Styles: This is the second way in which you can format your document automatically. A particular style can be applied to a heading or any other text to improve its appearance or make it stand out clearly. In the document displayed, let us apply different styles to different heading levels. Select the main heading. On the Home tab, in the Styles group select the Heading1 style. This style is now applied to your selected text. Similarly, you may apply styles Heading2 and Heading3 to subsequent heading levels. This makes your document attractive as well as clear. To see the complete list of styles click on the arrow at the bottom of the Styles gro up. Click on a style to apply it to the selected text. Creating a Table of ContentsA Table of Contents is a listing of the topics that appear in a document with their associated page references. It shows you at a glance, the topics that are included in the document and makes it easier to locate information. Let us create a Table of Contents for the document you created in the previous assignment. Place the cursor at the beginning of the document. On the References tab, in the Table of Contents group, select Table of Contents. Click Insert Table of Contents at the bottom of the window that comes up. The Table of Contents window appears Click on the Table of Contents tab. You may enter your specifications here. For now, it is best to use the default settings. Simply click OK. Your table of contents is ready. You may now press the Ctrl key and click on any heading to move to the related content in your document. Updating the Table of ContentsUpdating the Table of Contents: You may introduce new headings or move certain information to another page in your document at a later stage. You can see in the displayed document that Region 3 is not displayed in the table of contents. You would need to update your table of contents. On the References tab, in the Table of Contents group, select Update Table. The Update Table of Contents window is displayed. You may choose to update page numbers only or the entire table. Select Update entire table and click OK. You can now see Region 3 in the table of contents. Formatting a document sectionYou may need to apply specific formatting to only a part of your document. To do so, you can create sections within the document and apply the formatting to the required section. Let us consider the document we had created earlier. Position your cursor before the first bulleted point. To insert a section in your document, select Breaks from the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab. Under Section Breaks, select the type of section break you wish. Next Page moves the section to the new page. Continuous creates the section at the cursor position. Odd Page or Even Page starts the section on the next odd or even numbered page. Formatting a section: Let us now make some changes to the section that you have created. Click on the arrow at the bottom right of the Page Setup group. In the Page Setup window, change the left margin to 2. Under Preview, select This section in the Apply to field. Click OK. You can see that the text in this section gets indented as per the new left margin. Using Footnotes & EndnotesFootnotes or Endnotes are used to provide certain references. Sometimes, meanings of difficult words are given in the form of footnotes. By default, Word places footnotes at the end of each page and endnotes at the end of the document.

Inserting a Footnote: To insert a footnote, position your cursor at the text you want the footnote to appear. Select Insert Footnote from the Footnotes group on the Reference tab. A reference mark is inserted at the point you selected and you are taken to the bottom of the page. Type your footnote. When you are done, right-click the footnote and select Go to Footnote to take you back to the insertion point in the main body so you can continue working on your document. Endnotes: You may insert endnotes in the same way using the Insert Endnote button in the Footnotes group on the References tab. You may make changes to your footnotes and endnotes in respect of numbering, location and format by clicking on the arrow at the bottom right of the Footnotes group. Deleting a Footnote or Endnote: When you want to delete a note, simply delete the note reference mark in the document window. Deleting the text in the note does not delete the note.

Adding BookmarksA Bookmark is used to mark a certain location in a document. It identifies a location in the document or a selection of text that you name for future reference. Adding a Bookmark: You now wish to insert a bookmark before the text Contact Us. Click before this text. Then select Bookmark from the Links group on the Insert tab. In the Bookmark window, enter a name for your bookmark and click Add. Moving to a specific bookmark: Select Bookmark from the Links group on the Insert tab. Click on the bookmark and then click Go To. Your cursor now moves to the bookmark location. Showing Bookmarks: Click the Office Button, and then click Word Options. Now click Advanced. Under Show document content, check the box against Show bookmarks and click OK. If you have assigned a bookmark to an item, the bookmark appears in brackets on the screen. If you have assigned a bookmark to a location, the bookmark appears as an I-beam. Deleting a Bookmark: To delete a bookmark, select Bookmark from the Links group on the Insert tab. Click on the bookmark and then click Delete.

Formatting picture LayoutSometimes, you may need to change the position of a graphic, drawing or object in your document or type some text around it. You can define the wrapping style around an object. Changing the Object Position: Click on the picture. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Arrange group, select Position. Move your mouse over the various options under With Text Wrapping and click on your choice. Your text now appears by the side of the picture. Wrapping text around graphics: To change the way text wraps around the picture, click on it and then click on the Format tab under Picture Tools. Select Text Wrapping in the Arrange group and choose a suitable option from the ones displayed.

Referencing FiguresSetting References: A cross-reference is a reference from one part of a document to related information in another part. You first must define a reference target for the cross-reference. You can also set crossreferences to the captions of charts and tables. Clicking on the reference takes you to the referred location in the document. In contrast to hyperlinks, references allow you to move within a document, but not among multiple documents. Click on the figure you want to refer to. You must now add a caption to this figure. This caption will be used for reference. Select Insert Caption from the Captions group on the References tab. In the Caption window, enter your caption, select the position of the caption and press OK. Now let us insert a cross-reference for this reference. Position your cursor at an appropriate location. Enter your text, say For your information, see . Select Cross-reference from the Captions group on the References tab. In the Cross-reference window, select Figure as Reference type and Entire Caption as Insert reference to from the respective drop-down lists. Under For which caption: click on the

appropriate caption and then click Insert. This displays the caption near your text. Now click Close. You may now press the Ctrl key and click on the caption to see the captioned picture.

Creating a simple tableA table is used to organize information into an easy-to-read format of horizontal rows and vertical columns. Inserting a Table: To insert a table, select Table in the Tables group on the Insert tab. You may drag with your mouse to specify the dimensions of the table or click Insert Table. In the Insert Table window, enter the Table size in respect of number of rows and columns. Click OK. Your table is displayed on the screen. Entering data: Click on a cell and enter your data. Press Tab to move to the next cell. Inserting additional rows and columns: To insert additional rows or columns at a later stage, click in the table. Under Table Tools, click on the Layout tab. In the Rows & Columns group, select Insert Above to insert a row above the current row. Select Insert Below to insert a row below the current row. Similarly, Insert Left inserts a column to the left and Insert Right inserts a column to the right. To insert multiple rows or columns, select the same number of rows or columns required to be inserted and then click on the appropriate icon. Shifting Cells: You may shift a few cells or a complete row or column. Select some cells which you would like to shift. Click on the arrow at the bottom right of the Rows & Columns group. In the Insert Cells window, select Shift Cells Right and click OK. You see that the data has been moved to the right and a new blank column has been inserted. Sizing a table: To quickly change the overall table size, drag the resize handle at the bottom right corner of the table to an appropriate location. This handle appears whenever the mouse pointer rests over the table. Moving a table: To move your table, place the cursor on the top left corner and drag with your mouse to the new location. Formatting a table: This is similar to formatting a document, except that the formatting affects the selected cells only. You may select the cells, and use the different formatting options from the Home tab. Let us center the text in the first column of the table displayed. Select the first column and click the Center icon in the Paragraph group Borders: You may specify the border style for your table. Click in the table. Under Table Tools, click the Layout tab. In the Table group, click Select, and then click Select Table. Now, under Table Tools, click the Design tab. In the Table Styles group, click the arrow next to the Borders icon and select Borders and Shading. In the window that comes up, click on your choice in the Style box. Now let us remove the borders of the table. For this click on the arrow next to the Borders icon and select No Border. Using table Styles: A quicker way of applying formats to a table automatically is to use the Table Styles offered by Word. The available auto formats consist of a combination of fonts, colors, patterns, borders and alignment settings. Click in the table. Under Table Tools, click the Design tab. In the Table Styles group, you may make your selection.

Sorting DataWord can quickly sort text, data or numbers according to specified criteria in ascending or descending order. Let us sort data contained in the time table document displayed. Move the pointer over the table until you see a four headed arrow at the top left corner. Click it to select the table. Under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, in the Data group, click Sort. In the Sort window, you may select the options that you want. Let us let the displayed field Coach Number remains as the field to sort by. Click OK. You can see that the data in the table is now sorted by Coach Number. Sorting a List: The Sort feature and various sorting options can also be used for non-tabled text. For this, select the Sort icon in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.

Creating Headers & FootersHeaders and footers provide information that typically appears at the top and bottom of each page in a document and helps the reader to locate information in a document. The same header and footer can be used throughout the document or different ones can be used in different sections. Inserting a Header: Let us now add a header to the document you created previously. Select Header in the Header & Footer group on the Insert tab. A list of header styles is displayed. Click on the first one. The header area becomes active. Press the Tab key twice and enter the name of your company in the header area. Now click Close Header and Footer on the Design tab under Header & Footer Tools. Inserting Footer: You may insert a Footer in the same way as the header using the Footer icon in the Header & Footer group on the Insert tab. Inserting the Page Number: You may insert the page number and the total number of pages in your document on every page of your document at a position of your choice. For this, select Page Number in the Header & Footer group on the Insert tab. Now click on Bottom of Page. From the list displa yed, scroll down and click on Bold Numbers 3. You now see the page number and number of pages displayed at the bottom right of the page.

Checking the documentsAfter your document is ready, you may like to check it in respect of spelling and grammar as well as formatting consistency. Click the Spelling & Grammar icon in the Proofing group on the Review tab. Choose Ignore All for all proper names, special terms and abbreviations. Respond appropriately to any other located errors. Click Close to end the checking. Checking Formatting Inconsistencies: To turn on this feature, click the Office Button, and then click Word Options. Now click Advanced. Under Editing options, check the boxes against Keep track of formatting and Mark formatting inconsistencies and then click OK. Word indicates formatting inconsistencies with a blue wavy underline. It identifies different formatting schemes that are very similar to each other. If the Format Consistency Checker finds at least two instances of a scheme that are identical, it offers you the opportunity to make all similar formatting schemes identical to the format scheme that occurs most frequently. In the document displayed the word South has been entered using the size and font of an existing st yle without applying the style. Right click on this underline to display formatting suggestions. You may choose to ignore or remove the inconsistency from the different options displayed.

Printing selected PagesYou know that to print a document, you need to click the Office Button and select Print from the menu. The Print window is displayed. Under Print Range, select All to print the entire document. To print only selected pages in your document, you may use either the Current page or Pages option under Print Range. Pages: You may use this option to print only the pages that you specify in the Pages field. To print a range of pages, use the format 3-6. To print single pages, use the format 7, 9, 11. If you want, you can print a combination of page ranges and single pages, by using the format 3-6, 8, 10, 12. Selection: You may use this option to print only the selected areas or objects in the current document.

Changing the display of the documentCreating Newsletter style columnsA newsletter is a common application for newspaper columns. In a newsletter, narrow columns help the reader read the articles more quickly. The default column style is one column across the full width of the page. Select the text that you wish to display in columnar format. Then, select Columns in the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab. You may click on the number of columns you require. Click More Columns to display the Columns window. Here, you may select other settings for the size and display of the columns under Presets and Width and spacing. You may apply these column settings to the whole or part of the document. Click OK. Your text is displayed in columnar format.

Using WordArtWordArt is used to enhance your documents by changing the shape of text and adding special effects such as 3-D and shadows. Let us use WordArt to enhance the heading of the document created. Select the text Special Offers. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, select WordArt. The WordArt Gallery is displayed. Click on a style. The Edit WordArt Text window is displayed. You may change the font, font size and font style if you wish. Then click OK. Click on the Format tab under WordArt Tools to modify the WordArt as per your requirements. Spacing: To modify the spacing between the characters of the WordArt, click on Spacing in the Text group. Now select Tight. You can see that your text has been adjusted accordingly. 3-D Effects: You may apply 3-D effects to your WordArt text. On the Format tab, click 3-D Effects. To select an effect, click on the left side of the displayed box. To change the direction of the 3-D effect, click 3-D Effects once again and click the appropriate Tilt button on the right side of the displayed box. In this way, you may enhance your WordArt text.

Inserting SymbolsTo insert Symbols or Special Characters in your document, select Symbol in the Symbols group on the Insert tab. Click More Symbols to display the Symbol window. On the Symbols tab, click on a symbol of your choice and click Insert. Then click Close. The symbol is inserted at the current cursor position.

Adding a Drop capDrop caps are the first character/s at the beginning of a paragraph that are enlarged, covering several lines. Let us use a drop cap in our document. Select the first letter C from the list of offers. Then select Drop Cap in the Text group on the Insert tab. Click Drop Cap Options to display the Drop Cap window. Click on Dropped under Position. Then set the Lines to drop field as 2. You may also specify the font and the distance of the drop cap from your text. Leave them unchanged for now. Click OK to display the drop cap in your document.

Using mail MergeUsing mail MergeThe Mail Merge feature combines a list of data, typically a file of names and addresses with a document to create new documents. The names and addresses are entered (merged) into the document in the blank spaces provided. The result is a personalized letter.
You wish to mail your document about special offers to a large number of people. This is very simple using Words Mail Merge feature. A wizard guides you and in a few steps, your letters to everyone are ready. A personal touch can be added by addressing each person by his individual name at the top of the document. Let us add the text at the beginning of our document as shown. Starting the Wizard: Select Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group on the Mailings tab. Select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to "Letters" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next wizard step. Selecting the starting document: Now, select "Use the current document". You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now, click "Next" Creating a List: Let us create a list of people we wish to send our document to. Select "Type a new list" and then click "Create". The "New Address List" window is displayed. Enter the Title, First Name and Last Name of the first person. Click "New Entry" to add subsequent entries. After you are done, click "OK". The "Save Address List" window appears. Enter your file name; say "List1" and click "Save". Click "OK" in the "Mail Merge Recipients" window. Selecting a List: In the Wizard, you see the selection has moved to "Use an existing list". You may choose a different list by selecting "Select a different list". But let us use the same list. Click "Next". Inserting Fields: Now, since you are ready with your letter, you may add the items that you wish to be incorporated in it. Click after the word "Dear". Enter a space. We are now ready to insert the field names. Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window. Click on Title, then on "Insert". Similarly, enter the fields First Name and Last Name. Now click "Close". You see that the field names are now inserted in your document. Make sure to insert a space between each field. Click "Next". Previewing Letters: You now see a preview of the letter to the first person on your list. Use the right and left arrows to preview letters to the others. You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the merge. Printing or Editing Letters: You may now click "Print" to print your letters or click "Edit individual letters" to make changes to any letter. You may make your selections from the windows that are displayed. Printing Mailing LabelsNow that your letters are ready, you want to create labels for the envelopes. Starting the Wizard: In a new blank Word document, select Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group on the Mailings tab. Select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to "Labels" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next wizard step. You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now click "Label options". The "Label Options" window is displayed. Here, you may select the type of printer, the type of label product, and the product number. For now, select Formed in the Label vendors box and "Formed AT-7210" under Product Number and click "OK". Then click "Next". Selecting Recipients: You have a list of people you wish to send your document to. Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse". In the "Select Data Source" window, navigate to the location of your list. The default location is the sub folder My Data Sources in the Documents folder. Click on your list "List1" in the appropriate location and then click "Open". The "Mail Merge Recipients" window is displayed. Let us now include address details. Click on the name of the list in the box at the bottom and then click "Edit". Enter the Address Line 1, Address Line 2 and City fields

for all the people in the list. After you are done, click "OK". Click Yes to confirm the address details in the window that comes up. Now click OK and then click "Next". Inserting Fields: Now, you may add the names and address details on the labels. Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window. Click on the Title field, then on "Insert". Similarly, enter the fields First Name, Last Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2 and City. Now click Close. You see that the field names are inserted in your document. Arranging Fields: Let us now arrange the fields. Press Enter after the Last Name field to bring the Address Line 1 to the next line. Similarly, move the Address Line 2 and City fields to the following lines. Then insert a space before each field in the first line. Replicating Labels: You may copy the layout of the first label to the other labels. Click "Update all labels". Click "Next". Previewing Labels: You now see a preview of the labels. Use the right and left arrows to move between labels. You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the merge. Printing or Editing Labels: You may now click "Print" to print your labels or click "Edit individual labels" to make changes to any label. Preparing & printing envelopeSometimes, you may want to quickly address a single envelope instead of printing and pasting a label. Starting the Wizard: In a new blank Word document, select Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group on the Mailings tab. Select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to Envelopes" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next wizard step. You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now click "Envelope options". The "Envelope Options" window is displayed. You may specify different settings related to the appearance and printing of the envelope on the "Envelope options" and "Printing options" tabs. On the "Envelope options" tab, select an appropriate Envelope size and click "OK". Now, click "Next". Selecting Recipients: You already have a list of people. Let us make envelopes for some of them. Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse". In the "Select Data Source" window, browse to the location of your list, click on "List1" and then click "Open". The "Mail Merge Recipients" window is displayed. Un-check the boxes in front of the names for which you do not want envelopes and then click "OK". Now click "Next". Arranging your envelope: Let us use the "Address block" feature. Click "Address block". This directly inserts all address fields on your envelope. In the Insert Address Block window, you make changes as required. For now, simply click OK. You may use "More items" to insert any individual items you wish, as you did for labels. Click Next. Previewing Envelopes: You now see a preview of the first envelope. Use the right and left arrows to preview other envelopes. You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the merge. Printing or Editing Envelopes: You may now click "Print" to print your envelopes or click "Edit individual envelopes" to make changes to any envelope. Merging for sending e-mails using OutlookYou may also want to e-mail your document so as to reach out to a larger number of people. You can use the Mail Merge task pane to create a group e-mail distribution. For this, your system must include a compatible e-mail program, such as Microsoft Outlook. Starting the Wizard: Select Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group on the Mailings tab. Select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard to display the Mail Merge Wizard at the right. Set the document type to "E-mail messages" and click "Next" at the bottom of the wizard to go to the next wizard step. Selecting the starting document: Now, select "Use the current document". You may go to the previous step at any time by clicking "Previous". Now, click "Next".

Selecting Recipients: You already have a list of people. Let us use this list. Just ensure that you have entered the e-mail addresses of the people on the list. Select "Use an existing list" and then click "Browse". In the "Select Data Source" window, browse to the location of your list, click on "List1" and then click "Open". In the "Mail Merge Recipients" window, click "OK". Now click "Next". Inserting Fields: Now, since you are ready with your message, you may add the items that you wish to be incorporated in it. Click after the word "Dear". Enter a space. Click "More items" to display the "Insert Merge Field" window. Click on First Name, then on "Insert". Now click "Close". Then, click "Next". Previewing your messages: You now see a preview of the first e-mail message. Use the right and left arrows to preview other messages. You may click "Edit Recipient List" to make changes to your list. Click "Next" to complete the merge. Sending mails: You may now click "Electronic Mail" to send your e-mails. The "Merge to E-mail" window is displayed. In the "To" field, verify that "Email Address" is displayed. In the "Subject line" field, type the subject line you want to use for all the messages. In the "Mail format" field, select the mail format you want to use. Under "Send records, select the records you want to merge. Then click "OK".

Using a standard templesUsing a temples from wordEvery Microsoft Word document is based on a template. A template determines the basic structure for a document and contains document settings such as fonts, key assignments, menus, page layout, special formatting and styles. You may use any of the standard templates provided by Microsoft Word for your document such as Resumes, Brochures and Reports. Let us create a new document based on an existing template. Click the Office Button and select New from the menu. In the right left panel, under Templates, click Installed Templates to see a list of templates. Selecting the Template type: Click on the Equity Letter template and then press the Create button. A new document is displayed with pre-defined settings. Adding details: Just click on the parts marked in square brackets and enter your details. Replace body text with your own text. You may make changes if required. Saving the document: You may save this file just like a normal document. Click the Office Button and click on the arrow next to Save As. Now click Word Document. In the Save As window, enter Special Package in the File name field and click Save. Your document is created based on the template you selected.

Word processing in other Languages

Language setting in Windows VISTASetting a language for the Windows Vista operating system: By default Windows Vista does not support entry in certain languages. Hence, before you can start using some languages on your computer, you must configure Windows Vista to be able to use fonts specific to those languages. You can do this by configuring the language settings in the Clock, Language, and Region option of the Control Panel. Click on the Start button. Then click Control Panel. Now, click Change keyboards or other input methods under Clock, Language, and Region This displays the Keyboards and Languages tab of the Regional and Language Options window. Now click Change keyboards. In the General tab of the Text Services and Input Languages window, the box at the top displays the default input language. In the box at the bottom, you see a list of languages that Windows Vista has been configured to use. Click Add to add a new language. In the Add Input Language window, let us add the Arabic language as an example. Click on the plus sign in front of Arabic (Saudi Arabia). Now click on the plus sign in front of the word Keyboard displayed below

it. Check the box next to the first keyboard type and click OK. Now, click Apply and then OK in the Text Services and Input Languages window. Finally, click OK in the Regional and Language Options window. You can see an icon EN in the system tray towards the right end of the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This icon lets you change the fonts to English or any other as required. By default it is set to the English option. Click on it to show the other input languages that have been configured. You can see the Arabic language in the list. In a similar way, you may configure Windows Vista to use any language of your choice.

Using a configured Language in a wordStart the Microsoft Word application. Click on the EN icon on the taskbar. Click on the Arabic language in the window that comes up. Now start typing your text. You can see that your text appears in the new language.

SPREADSHEET
Overview of ExcelYou have recently accepted a new job as an Administrative Assistant with All Saints High School. Currently the school records are maintained on paper forms and stored in file cabinets organized alphabetically. Although the information is well organized, it still takes time to manually leaf through the folders to locate the information you need. The school has purchased new computers and it plans to computerize all administrative operations. You are responsible for maintaining the exam records of all students. You will prepare the Exam Record of students in Microsoft Excel 2007. Microsoft Excel is the worlds most widely-used spreadsheet program, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. To start the Microsoft Excel application, click on the Start button and select All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Excel 2007. A spreadsheet is like an accountants ledger, consisting of rows and columns. It is mainly used for different type of calculations varying from very simple to complex. A spreadsheet is like an accountants ledger, consisting of rows and columns. It is mainly used for different type of calculations varying from very simple to complex. Features of Microsoft Excel 2007: - It is a general purpose electronic spreadsheet used to organize, calculate and analyze data. - It is very easy to manage, since you can add, change, update and delete data with a few keystrokes. - You can create well-designed spreadsheets that produce accurate and professional-looking results. - You can create charts to represent data more effectively. - All data is stored in the computer, therefore there is no paper used. Whenever a hard copy is required, whole or part of the spreadsheet can be printed. The User Interface is the way in which you interact with your computer. The Microsoft Office user interface is uniform across most of its components. It consists of three main parts: 1) The Office Button 2) The Quick Access toolbar 3) The Ribbon The Office Button: This appears at the top-left corner of your screen. Clicking the Office Button displays the File menu. This contains commands for opening, saving, printing, and closing a file. The Quick Access toolbar: This appears to the right of the Office Button near the top of the screen, displaying icons that represent commonly used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. It is designed to put your most commonly used commands in a place where you can always find them. The Ribbon: The Ribbon is a component of the Office Fluent user interface. It consists of:a) Task-oriented tabs. b) Groups within each tab that break a task into subtasks. c) Command buttons in each group that carry out a command or display a menu of commands.

The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in Excel:

The Home tab has some of the most commonly used buttons, like those for cutting and pasting information, formatting your data, and searching for important pieces of information with search tools. The Insert tab lets you add special ingredients like tables, graphics, charts, and hyperlinks. The Page Layout tab helps you in getting your worksheet ready for the printer. You can specify margins, paper orientation, and other page settings. Build useful formulas that can resolve a great deal of problems. The Data tab lets you get information from an outside source for analysis. It also includes tools for dealing with large amounts of information, like sorting, filtering, and grouping. The Review tab contains proofing tools like spell check. It also has buttons that let you add comments to a worksheet and manage revisions. The View tab lets you select from a variety of viewing options. It also enables you to view several separate Excel spreadsheet files at the same time.

You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs. For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, you may see the assignment titled The User Interface in the Microsoft Word topic. In Microsoft Excel 2007, a single file or document is called a workbook. It contains a collection of one or more worksheets and, optionally, chart sheets containing graphic pictures of your worksheet data. Each worksheet can be used to organize different types of related information. The worksheet is divided into a grid of rows and columns. The intersection of a row and a column is called a cell. To enable you to explore massive amounts of data in worksheets, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 supports up to 1 million rows and 16 thousand columns per worksheet. Specifically, the Excel 2007 grid is 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns which work out to more than 17 billion cells. The columns are named as A, B, C, AA, AB, AZ, BA, BB, XFD and the rows are numbered from one onwards. Each cell has its ow n address called the cell address. A special feature of Excel is Auto Calculate. By default, Microsoft Excel automatically recalculates formulas when the cells that the formula depends on have changed. Excel also calculates workbooks each time they are opened. At the bottom of the workbook window are tabs that give you instant access to other worksheets in the workbook. You can use the arrow keys to move left, right, up or down. As you move from one cell to another, the reference or address of the active cell appears in the Name Box. There are several methods for navigating a worksheet. To enter data in a cell, you must first move to the cell. The simplest way is to click the cell that you want to activate with the mouse. You can use the arrow keys to move left, right, up or down. As you move from one cell to another, the reference or address of the active cell appears in the Name Box. Cell address: The address of a cell is made up of two parts the column name and the row number. Suppose you want to refer to a cell in the third row and fifth column, the address of that cell will be E3.The number of the third row is obviously 3 and the name of the fifth column is E. To view the part of the worksheet that is currently not visible, use the vertical scroll bar on the right edge of the window or horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the window. To move among the worksheets in your workbook, you need to click the worksheet tabs. There are some keyboard shortcuts to navigate within the worksheet. - Page Up and Page Down keys can be used to move up or down one screen

- Use the Home key to move to column A of the current row - Use Ctrl+Home to go the cell A1 and - Ctrl+End to go to the cell in the last row and last column that contains data. To activate a particular cell, use the F5 function key or press Ctrl+G. Type the address of the cell you want to make active and click OK. To select a group of cells, click in the cell you want to begin, drag your cursor and release it when you have reached the end of the selection.

Creating & EditingCreating a new workbookWhen you first start Excel, a new blank Excel workbook is opened. It is here that you will be entering the data. There is another way to create a new blank worksheet. Click the Office Button and select New. Now click Create in the New Workbook window. Template: You may also create a new workbook using a template. A template is a file that is provided by the application in a ready to use form. It includes predefined settings that can be used as a pattern to create many different types of workbooks. For example a Sales Report, Balance Sheet, Expense Statement, etc. Whenever you create a new workbook using a template, the same default settings are used. A template file has an extension .xltx. You can also design and create your own workbook templates.

Entering & Editing DataAfter you are presented with a blank worksheet, you can enter data in it. To enter data, move to a cell where you want to enter data and type the entry using the keyboard. Click in cell A1 to activate it and type Roll No and press Enter to complete the entry. The cell pointer will move down one row. Continue typing the data in column A as shown in the accompanying figure. When you finish entering data in one column, activate cell B1 and repeat the same procedure as you did for column A. While entering the data in the Name column, you will see that the data overflows into the next column, that is, column C. Leave it as it is for now. We will see later on, how to adjust the column width. Enter data in all five columns as shown. Correcting typing mistakes: While entering the data, if you make a typing mistake, use the Backspace key on the keyboard to erase the wrong character typed and continue typing. The Delete key on the keyboard can be used to clear the contents of a cell. To overwrite the contents of a cell simply make the cell active and type whatever you want to. You may wish to change only a part of the text in a cell. For this, double-click on the cell. Now move the cursor to the point at which you want to edit the text. You may make the changes you require. To remove individual characters, press "Delete" for characters to the right of the insertion point and "Backspace" for characters to the left. Below the Ribbon, you see the Name Box on the left and the Formula Bar on the right. You can use the formula bar to enter and edit data, instead of editing directly in your worksheet. This is particularly useful when a cell contains a large amount of information. When you start typing in the formula box, a checkmark and an "X" icon appear just to the left of the box. Click the checkmark to confirm your entry, or "X" to roll it back. Resizing the Formula or Name Box: To make it easier to view and edit a large amount of text in a cell, you can adjust the size of the formula box in the formula bar. To adjust the height of the formula box, move your mouse over the bottom of the formula box until the pointer changes to a vertical two-headed arrow and then drag with your mouse to where you want it.

To accommodate long names, you can also resize the name box. To adjust the width of the name box move your mouse between the name box and the formula box until the pointer changes to a horizontal twoheaded arrow and then drag with your mouse to where you want it.

Changing the column widthNow you will adjust the width of the column B. Move the mouse to the boundary between column B and column C in the bar where column names are given on top. The shape of the cursor will change to a double sided arrow pointing to the right and left. Double click on the boundary while the cursor is a double sided arrow. The width of the column will be automatically adjusted to the maximum length of characters in the column. You can also click and drag the mouse to adjust the width of the column. Place the mouse on the boundary between the columns. When the cursor shape changes, click and drag the mouse to widen the column as much as needed. The height of a row can be changed in a similar manner. You can also specify the width of the column by clicking on a column and selecting Format Column Width in the Cells group on the Home tab. Enter the column width and press OK.

Saving, closing & opening a WorkbookNow that all the data has been entered, you must save the file. To save a file, click the Office Button and select Save As. Then type Exam Record in the box in front of the label File name and then click on the Save button. Your file is stored with the extension .xlsx. The name of the workbook appears in the Title Bar. Now close the file. To close the file, click the Office Button and select Close. It is a good practice to save a file often to prevent data loss due to unforeseen circumstances like power failure. As soon as you have opened a new file, save it. Keep saving it as you work. Once a file has been saved, to save it again, click the Office Button and select Save or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+S. Another way to save is file is, to click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. To open an existing workbook, click the Office Button and select Open or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+O. From the window that is displayed, browse to select the file you want to open. Now click Open.

Moving cellsYou now have to add a heading to the worksheet. To do so, you must make place on the worksheet. Select all the data you have entered, by placing the mouse in cell A1. Then click and drag the mouse up to the last cell containing data to be moved. The background color of the cells changes as you drag the mouse. Release the mouse when you reach cell E11. To move the cells down, move the mouse to the dark border you see around the selection. The cursor changes shape to a four sided arrow. Click and drag the mouse so that the contents of cell A1 are now in cell A8. You may also use the Cut and Paste commands to move cells. Select the data from the cells to be moved and then select Cut in the Clipboard group on the Home tab. A moving border appears around the selection. Click on the cell where you want to move your data and then click on the upper part of the Paste icon in the Clipboard group on the Home tab.

Centering & merging CellsTo merge and centre headings: Type the headings in appropriate cells as shown in the accompanying figure. Let the text overflow into the neighboring cells. You will soon see how to bring the heading to the center of the data. Select cells starting with A1 to E1 and click on the Merge & Center icon in the Alignment group on th e Home tab. As soon as you click on the icon, all the selected cells are merged and the heading is centered. Do the same for the other headings , Exam Record and Class VIII B, one heading at a time

You have to now insert cells to make place so that we can give a combined heading for the three subjects. Select the cells C8 to E8 and right-click on the selection. Select Insert from the pop-up window and select Shift cells down from the Insert window. In the cell above Sub1, type Marks. Merge and center Marks above the three subject marks as shown in the accompanying figure. Move the data for Roll_No and Name one row down, as shown in the figure.

Using Formulas-

Formula: A formula is nothing but an expression that performs calculation on data contained in the wor kshe et. In Exce l, a for mul a alwa ys begi ns with an equ al sign (=) and uses arithmetic operators like +, -, *, /, %, and ^ to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percent and exponentiation respectively. A formula is evaluated from left to right and in the following order: percent, exponentiation, multiplication and division, addition and subtraction. Formula AutoComplete: The Formula AutoComplete feature makes entering formulas very simple. When you begin typing a formula, Excel displays a drop-down list of matching items, including a description of each item. When you see the item you want, press Tab to enter it into your formula. You have now to calculate the total marks for each student. To do this, you have to make use of a formula. Type Total in cell F8. Move the cursor down and type =C10+D10+E10 and press Enter. The total of the marks for the three subjects is displayed in cell F10 as 248. You have now to calculate the percent marks for each student. Type Percent in cell G8. Move the cursor down and type =F10 * (100/300) which is the formula to calculate percentage and then press Enter. The Percent marks for the three subjects are displayed in cell G10 as 82.66667. What-If Analysis: If you change one or more numbers in your spreadsheet, all related formulas are recalculated automatically. Thus you can change the value in a cell and see the effect on other related cells. This is called What-If Analysis. Let us change the marks of one student. You can see that the value in the Percent field is changed automatically.

Duplicating cell contentYou have to calculate the Total and Percent marks for all students in the same way. But you dont have to type the formula every time. The formula can be copied and pasted in the other cells. Select cells F10 and G10. Right-click anywhere in the selection. Select Copy from the pop-up window. Alternatively, you may use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C. A moving border appears around the select ion. This indicates that the contents have been copied.

Select all cells from F11 to G19. Right click in anywhere in the selection. Select Paste from the pop-up window. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V. The formula for adding marks and calculating percent is copied from cells F10 and G10 respectively and pasted into all selected cells. The contents of several continuous cells, that is, a range, can also be copied and pasted in a similar manner on the same worksheet, another worksheet, another workbook or in a totally different application file. In the Formula Bar, observe the formula you have pasted in cell F11. It shows =C11+D11+E11. The formula in cell F12 is =C12+D12+E12. The row numbers have changed relative to the positions of the cells containing the formula. This is called Relative Cell Referencing.

Range: A range is a selection of two or more cells. The cells in a range can be adjacent or non-adjacent. An adjacent range is a block of adjoining cells. A non-adjacent range is two or more cells or ranges that are not adjoining. In formulas, an adjacent range is specified by giving the starting and ending cell addresses separated by a colon (:). Let us select the range A11:A18 using the mouse. Click on the cell A11 and drag to the cell A18. Now select C14:F21.

Using FunctionsA Function is a prewritten formula that performs calculations automatically. You now have to give Grades to the students according to their marks. You will use the IF function to do so. The grades will be given as follows: Percent marks greater than or equal to 80, A+ grade Percent marks greater than or equal to 75, A grade Percent marks greater than or equal to 60, B grade Percent marks greater than or equal to 50, C grade Percent marks greater than or equal to 35, Pass grade All others fail. Type the heading Grade in cell H8 and type the function as shown below in cell H10. =IF(G10>=80, "A+", IF(G10>=75, "A", IF(G10>=60, "B", IF(G10>=50, "C", IF(G10>=35,"PASS", "FAIL")))))

Press Enter. The result of the function is displayed in cell H10. Copy this function and Paste it in the rest of the cells from H11 to H19. The grades for all students are displayed.

Now to find the maximum, minimum and average marks scored by the students, you can make use of some statistical functions. Type Maximum marks, Minimum marks and Average marks in cells B22, B23, and B24 respectively. To insert a function in cell C22, activate it. Select Insert Function in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab. From the window that opens, click in the drop down box next to Or select a category. Select the Statistical category. From the Select a function list, select MAX from the alphabetical list of functions and click OK. The Function Arguments window is displayed. Here you can enter the numbers or the range from which you want to find the maximum number. Type the range as F10:F19 next to Number1 and click OK. The maximum number in the range is displayed in cell C22 as 262. Observe the formula bar to see how the function is written. It is written for you by Excel as =MAX(F10:F19) Now, to find the minimum marks, you have to use MIN function. Activate cell C23. Select Insert Function in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab. Since the MAX function has been most recently used, the Statistical category will already be selected. If the category is something else, select Statistical from the Or select a category list. From the Select a function list, select MIN from the alphabetical list of functions and click OK. The Function Arguments window is displayed. Enter the numbers or the range from which you want to find the minimum number. Type the range as F10:F19 next toNumber1 and click OK. The minimum number in the range is displayed in cell C23. Observe the formula bar to see how the function is written. It is written for you by Excel as =MIN(F10:F19) There is another way of using functions. You can simply type the function you want to use in the cell. To find the average marks, you have to use the AVERAGE function. Activate cell C24, and type =Average(F10:F19) in it. Press Enter to complete the entry. The result is displayed in cell C24. You can type all the functions in the same manner whenever you want to use them.

Formatting the worksheetYou can make your spreadsheet look more coordinated and professional by using Styles and Themes.

Styles are individual designs that can be applied to different parts of the document. You can choose from a variety of predefined styles by selecting Cell Styles in the Styles group on the Home tab. Themes are universal designs that unify all of the styles. A theme consists of a color palette, font set, and effects. You may access the theme gallery by selecting Themes in the Themes group on the Page Layout tab. Adding a thick border: Select the range of cells from A8 to H19 and click on the arrow next to the Borders icon in the Font group on the Home tab. Now select Thick Box Border from the displayed list. A thick border is displayed around the entire range. Alignment: To bring the headings to the center, you must first select all of them. To select all headings, click in cell A1. Hold down the Ctrl key and click in cells A4, A5. With the Ctrl key still held down, select range A8:H8 and range C9:E9.

Alignment: To bring the headings to the center, you must first select all of them. To select all headings, click in cell A1. Hold down the Ctrl key and click in cells A4, A5. With the Ctrl key still held down, select range A8:H8 and range C9:E9. To bring the headings to the center, click on the Center icon in the Alignment group on the Home tab. All the headings are centered. You may use the Align Text Left or Align Text Right icons to move the headings to the left or right if you wish. While the headings are still selected, you can make them bold. If the headings are not selected, select them first, and then click on the Bold icon in the Font group on the Home tab. Changing the Font and Font Size of the headings: Select cell A1 and click on the Font list in the Font group on the Home tab. A list of fonts is displayed. Select Bodoni MT Black. Then click on the Font Size list and select 14. The font and the font size of the heading is changed. Changing the font color of the headings: Select all headings and click on the arrow next to the Font Color icon in the Font group on the Home tab. A window of colors is displayed. Select Blue. The font color of all headings is displayed with the color Blue. Decimal Places: The percent marks are displayed with many decimal places. You want the percent marks to be displayed with only two decimal places. Select the range of Percent marks. Select Format in the Cells group on the Home tab. Now click on Format Cells and from the window that opens, click on the Number tab. Select Number from the Category list and change Decimal places to 2. Click OK. The numbers in the Percent range are displayed with two decimal places. Highlighting: To highlight the range of Maximum, Minimum and Average Marks, select the range B22:C24. Click on the Fill Color icon in the Font group on the Home tab. Select the color Yellow. The cell range is filled with the color Yellow. Indenting: To adjust the indenting of the contents of a cell, click on the cell. Then, in the Alignment group on the Home tab, click on the Increase Indent or Decrease Indent icon as required.

Working with graphicsResizing the graphic image: Click on the Bulls Eye image. It will be bigger in size. You have to resize it so that it occupies less space and looks proportionate to the rest of the data on the page. To resize it, click on the lower right corner handle of the image, and drag the mouse so that the image becomes smaller in size. Release the mouse when the image becomes the desired size.

Entering the DateInserting a row: Click on row number 7 on the left side. Right click and select Insert. One Row will be inserted. To insert multiple rows, select an equal number of rows. This means that when you select four rows, four more rows are inserted. Activate cell A7 and type Date:. Then place the cell pointer in cell B7 and select Insert Function in the Function Library group on the Formulas tab.

Select Date & Time as category. Select Date as function and click OK. Type the Year as 2007, Month as 02 and Day as 21 in the Function Arguments window. Click OK. The date is displayed as 2/21/2007 in cell B7. Formatting the date: To change the date format, right-click in cell B7 and select Format cells. The Format Cells window is displayed. Click on the Number tab. Select Date from the Category list and select the Type as 14-Mar-01. The sample format is visible in the Sample box. Click OK. The date is displayed in the format 21-Feb-07.

Previewing & PrintingThe worksheet is now ready. You can print it. Before getting a hard copy, you can preview the worksheet. If you do not like the way it looks, you can make more changes. To preview your worksheet, click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. The Print Preview tab appears when you view the worksheet in the Print Preview mode. Click Close Print Preview in the Preview group to close the preview. Everything seems to be OK. But the logo of the school needs to be moved up, in line with the schools name. Moving the graphic image: Click and drag the Bulls Eye image so that it is in line with the schools name. Release the mouse when done. The image can also be moved by using the arrow keys on the keyboard by selecting it first. Click on the image to select it. Use the right arrow key to move the graphic image to the right, left arrow key to move it to the left and so on. Printing the worksheet: Click the Office Button and select Print Print or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P. Select the printer name from the list in front of Name. Under Print Range enter Pages From as 1 To 1. Select Active Sheet under Print what and click OK.

Using ChartLearning about ChartsYou have to present the exam results of the students of class VIII-B. The most easy and effective manner to do this would be to present it in the form of a chart. A chart is a visual representation of data and conveys the information in an easy to understand and attractive manner. There are different types of charts available in Microsoft Excel 2007 such as Column charts, Line charts, Bar charts, Area charts, Bubble charts and many more. You may select a suitable type depending on the data you want to chart and the emphasis you want the chart to impart. Here you will learn to make a single data series chart. Parts of a Chart: A chart has different parts as labeled in the accompanying image. Chart Title The tile of the chart Student Vs Marks. Value Axis The Y-axis on which the value is shown. Value Axis Title The title Marks. Category Axis The X-axis on which the category for which you have charted the values is shown. Category Axis Title The title Name Chart Area The entire area on which the chart is drawn. Legend The legend, as in a map, shows which color is used to represent what: Series 1 in this case.

Creating a ChartTo present the marks of all students as a chart, select the Name range (B11 to B20), hold down the Ctrl key and select the Total range (F11 to F20), without selecting the titles in cells B9 and F9. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, select Column. Now select Clustered Column, the first image from the Chart sub-types displayed. You can now see the chart on your worksheet. You can make your chart more attractive. Under Chart Tools, on the Design tab, select a suitable style from the Chart Styles group. Now let us add more details in our chart. For this we shall use the Labels group on the Layout tab under Chart Tools. Click Chart Title and select Above Chart. Now type the title Student Vs Marks. As you type, it appears in the Formula Bar at the top. Press Enter. The chart title is displayed above your chart. Similarly, to enter the description for the X-axis, select Axis Titles Primary Horizontal Axis Title Title below Axis; type Names and press Enter. To enter the description for the Y -axis, select Axis Titles Primary Vertical Axis Title Rotated Title; type Marks and press Enter. Data Labels are used to label the elements of a chart with their actual data values. Select Data Labels outside End. You can now see the actual marks of each student. Moving the chart: Click on the chart and when the mouse pointer changes to a four-headed arrow, drag it to a position of your choice. Sizing the chart: Click on the center of any side of the chart or at a corner. When the mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow, drag to a suitable size. To print only the chart, select it by clicking in the chart area. Now click on the Office Button and then select Print Print.

Managing a WorkbookCorrecting Errors , . : , . , . + , + . , . : , . , . + Z . + Y . While entering data, if some spelling mistakes have been made, the spelling checker locates all misspelled words and proposes the correct spelling. Place the cell pointer at the beginning of your worksheet or from wherever you want to start checking for errors. Select Spelling in the Proofing group on the Review tab or use the keyboard shortcut F7.

The Spelling window is displayed and one by one every word in your worksheet is checked. If a spelling is found to be wrong, options are displayed in the Suggestions box. In that case, select the correct word from the suggestions list and click on the Change button. If there are more than one occurrences of the same word spelt wrongly, click on the Change All button. If the spelling is correct but shown as incorrect for some reason, click on Ignore All or Ignore Once whichever is appropriate. When you click on any button such as Change, Ignore etc., the spelling checker moves to the next word. If you change a word which you did not want to, click on Cancel. You can also add a word which is not included in the dictionary by clicking Add to Dictionary. When the checking is completed for the entire worksheet, a message saying so is displayed.

Working with SheetsYou want to make the exam record for another class now. You can use the same format of the worksheet. You do not have to type all the headings once again. Simply copy them from one sheet to another. Select all headings in the range A1 to H10. Right-click on the selection and click on Copy. On the sheet tabs below, click on Sheet2. The Sheet2 will be displayed. Right-click in cell A1 of Sheet2. Select the Paste option. The range copied from Sheet1 is pasted in cell A1 of Sheet2. You may make changes in this sheet for another class. All you need to do is to add data. A whole new worksheet with the same layout but with different data is ready. Moving or copying sheets: Right click on the Sheet1 tab. Select the Move or Copy option. The Move or Copy window is displayed. You may copy a sheet to another workbook. In the To book list, select the book you want to move the sheet to. You can also select the sheet before which you want to insert it. From the Before sheet list, select the sheet. To copy the sheet, click in the Create a copy check box. You may also move or copy sheets with the mouse. Click a sheet you want move and drag it to the place you want to copy it and release the mouse button. While you drag, a solid black triangle appears along with a blank page icon. When you release the mouse, the sheet will be moved to the new location. To copy a sheet with the mouse, hold down the Ctrl key while you drag a sheet. A + sign appears on the page icon while copying the sheet. When you copy, another copy of the sheet is made. The number of the copy appears in brackets in the sheet tab Naming a sheet: When you have many sheets, it becomes difficult to remember what data is stored on each sheet. You can name the sheet accordingly, to give you an idea of what data is stored on the sheet, without opening the sheets. Double-click on the name of the sheet. The name will be highlighted. Simply type the new name. The name of the sheet is changed. Manage a sheet: When you right-click on the sheet tab, a number of options is displayed in the pop-up window. Through the options in this window, you can insert, delete, rename, move or copy, select all sheets, and change the tab color. If you select Insert, the Insert window is displayed, from which you can select whether you want to insert a worksheet, a chart or something else. If you select Delete, the current sheet will be deleted after confirmation. You may change the tab color of sheets to distinguish between the data stored on each sheet. For this, rightclick on a sheet tab and select Tab Color. You can select all sheets by selecting the Select all sheets option. To deselect the sheets, right click in any of the sheet tabs and select Ungroup Sheets. Using Auto fill: Auto fill is a feature of Microsoft Excel 2007 that makes entering a series of headings easier by logically repeating and extending the series. Auto fill recognizes and automatically extends data and alphanumeric headings as far as you specify.

Type the entry January in a cell. Move the mouse to the corner of the selection. You will see a black plus sign. This is the fill handle. Drag the mouse as far as you want the cells to fill and release the mouse. All the range you selected will be filled with names of months starting with January. Other such auto fill entries are - days of the week in short, names of the months in short, number series like 1000, 2000, 3000, etc. Absolute reference: An absolute reference is a cell or range reference used in a formula whose location does not change when a formula is copied. To stop the automatic relative cell references, type a $ (dollar) character before the column and row number. This makes the cell reference absolute. When a formula containing an absolute cell reference is copied to another row or column in the worksheet, the cell reference does not change. For the Final exam, 20% of the Unit Test marks are to be calculated. Prepare the data as shown in the accompanying figure in the neighboring space, starting with cell J1. You may copy the Roll Nos and the Names, but data for marks will have to be typed. Now, to calculate 20% marks, activate cell M6 and type =L6 * $O$2 in it. By adding $ before O and 2, you have made the column and the row references absolute. Copy this formula from cell M6 to the remaining students and check the formula for each student in the Formula Bar. Although the formula has been copied, the reference of cell O2 has remained constant. Referencing multiple sheets: While working you may have to reference data from more than one sheet. This is called referencing multiple sheets. Now, Sheet1 has the value 100 in cell A1 and Sheet2 has the value 200 in cell A1. Let us now go to Sheet3. Here, in the cell A1, enter =Sheet1!A1+Sheet2!A1 and press Enter. You can see that the sum of the figures on the other two sheets is displayed here. Thus Sheet1 ! A1 refers to cell A1 on Sheet1. Zooming the worksheet: In Microsoft Excel 2007, there can be data in a number of rows and columns all of which cannot be seen at the same time. At such times, you can change the display percentage of the sheet. Select Zoom in the Zoom group on the View tab. In the zoom window you may select a zoom percentage of your choice. If you reduce the percentage, more data will fit on the screen and vice versa.

Managing large SheetsYou already know the massive size of the worksheet in Microsoft Excel 2007. You can work in any part of the worksheet at any time. But the problem comes when you need to refer to some other part while working in one part of the sheet. At such times, you can view two areas of a worksheet and lock rows or columns in one area by splitting or freezing panes. You can then scroll in one area of the worksheet, while rows or columns in the non-scrolled area remain visible. Splitting Panes: You can split the window either horizontally, vertically or both horizontally and vertically. To split the window vertically, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell other than the first one in the top row. Select Split in the Window group on the View tab. Now both panes have a common vertical scroll bar but individual horizontal scroll bars to enable you to move separately in the two panes. To split the window horizontally, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell other than the first one in the leftmost column. Select Split in the Window group on the View tab. Now both panes have a common horizontal scroll bar but individual vertical scroll bars to enable you to move separately in the two panes. To split the window both horizontally as well as vertically, place the cell pointer in the appropriate cell where you want the split to appear. Select Split in the Window group on the View tab. You can see that three panes have appropriate vertical and horizontal scroll bars. When a window is split both horizontally and vertically, the top left pane freezes. Also, if you click on the top left cell, selecting Split in the Window group on the View tab results in a horizontal and vertical split. To remove a split, select Split in the Window group on the View tab once again.

Freezing panes: With the Freeze Panes option, you can freeze either, or both, rows and columns. This means that, regardless of where you are in the worksheet, you can see the information in those rows and/or columns at all times. You can freeze information in the top and left panes of the window only. To freeze the left pane of the window, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell other than the first one in the top row. Select Freeze Panes Freeze Panes in the Window group on the View tab. Moving using the horizontal scrollbar keeps the column numbers in the frozen pane unchanged. To freeze the top pane of the window, place the cell pointer in an appropriate cell other than the first one in the leftmost column. Select Freeze Panes Freeze Panes in the Window group on the View tab. Moving using the vertical scrollbar keeps the row numbers in the frozen pane unchanged. Let us assume that you wish to have the headings and roll numbers & names of the students visible always. For this, click the cell below and to the right of the row and column you want to freeze. Select Freeze Panes Freeze Panes in the Window group on the View tab. As you scroll through your worksheet, you can see that the frozen panes are visible at all times. To freeze the top row or first column, select the appropriate options from those displayed on selection of Freeze Panes in the Window group on the View tab. To remove the freeze, select Freeze Panes Unfreeze Panes in the Window group on the View tab.

Forecasting ValuesGoal Seek: One of the features of Microsoft Excel is analyzing data. During analysis, you often come across situations, where you have to see the effects of changing selected factors in a worksheet. If you know the result that you want from a formula, but not the input value the formula needs to get that result, you can use the Goal Seek feature. It is a method which aids you in forecasting values. For example, if a student has failed, you want to find out, how much he should have scored in the failed subject to score pass marks. Student with Roll Number 6 has failed. You can see that he has scored very poor marks in one of the three subjects. You now want to find out, how many marks he should have scored in that subject so that he would have secured a Pass grade. You can do this with Goal seek. Activate cell F16, containing the Total marks of the student. Select What-If Analysis Goal Seek in the Data Tools group on the Data tab. In the Goal Seek window, type 105 (the passing total marks) in the To value box. Click in the By changing cell field and then click C16, the cell with the marks below pass level. Click OK. The Goal Seek Status window is displayed. The value in cell C16 is adjusted to get the target value. Click OK. The marks in the failed subject are adjusted to 35.

Headers, Footers & Print setting

Page orientation: Depending on the area of the worksheet you want to print, you can change the orientation of the page so that data can be fitted accordingly. If there is more data to be fitted on one page, you can change the page orientation to landscape. The default setting is Portrait. Click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. If the data is not properly visible on the page, you may change page orientation to Landscape by selecting Orientation in the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab. Header and Footer: Before you print your data, you may decide that the page must have a header and footer. The header and footer give additional information about the data on the page. The text that appears in the top margin of the page is called the Header. The header is usually the title you would give to the page. The text that appears in the bottom margin of the page is called the Footer. The page number is usually given as the footer. Select Header & Footer in the Text group on the Insert tab. A box is displayed at the center of the header area. Here, you may enter the text First Term Exam Report. Press Enter and type Class VIII B on the second line. Now press the Tab key. This displays another box to the right. On the Design tab under

Header & Footer Tools, click on Current Date in the Header & Footer Elements group. This will insert the date. Now click Go to Footer in the Navigation group. We shall now insert the page number in the box displayed. For this, click on Page Number in the Header & Footer Elements group. Now press Tab. Press the Esc key to return to normal mode. Click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. Check the layout and close the preview by clicking Close Print Preview in the Preview group. Printing selected worksheets: You do not always need to print the entire workbook. You can print selected sheets in the workbook. Select all the sheets you want to print by clicking on the sheet tabs. Use the Ctrl key to select more than one sheet. Click on the Office Button and select Print. In the Print window, select the name of the printer from the list in the Name field. In the Print what section, click on Active sheet(s) and then click OK.

PRESENTATION GRAPHICS
Overview of Presentation GraphicsIntroduction to Presentation GraphicsIf you have to make a presentation to an audience and you want it to be good, you can choose from a variety of computer tools called Graphics Presentation Programs. These programs are designed to help you to create an effective presentation, whether to the Board of Directors of a company or to your fellow colleagues. An effective presentation puts your point across clearly and in an interesting manner. Graphics Presentation Programs include features to handle pictures, text, movies and sounds, charts and tables. With a few keystrokes you can quickly change, correct and update the presentation. In addition, a Graphics Presentation Program may also suggest layouts and color and animation schemes for different types of presentations and offer professionally designed templates to help you to create a presentation that is sure to hold the attention of your audience. Exploring Microsoft PowerPoint: To start the Microsoft PowerPoint application, click on the Start button and select All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. You see the familiar Microsoft Office 2007 user interface which consists of: 1) The Office Button which displays a menu containing commands for opening, saving, printing, and closing a file. 2) The Quick Access toolbar which displays icons that represent commonly used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. 3) The Ribbon which has Task-oriented Tabs, Groups and Command buttons. The following Ribbon tabs are displayed in PowerPoint: The Home tab contains the basic formatting tools. The Insert tab contains the basic set of objects which you can insert into a slide. The Design tab contains tools to design your slides. The Animations tab contains tools to animate objects and create transitions between slides. The Slide Show tab contains tools that control how the slide show is presented. The Review tab contains tools which help you proofread and correct a presentation. The View tab contains tools which help you view your presentation in the most suitable way.

You will gradually learn to use the commands on all the tabs. For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, you may see the assignment titled The User Interface in the Microsoft Word topic.

Creating a presentationUsing installed templesA Template is a pre-designed presentation designed for common purposes such as a photo album or a quiz show. You may create a new presentation using a template provided by PowerPoint. Click on the Office Button and select New.

In the left panel, under Templates, click Installed Templates to see a list of templates. Click on a suitable one and then press the Create button. A new presentation is displayed with pre-defined settings. You can make changes as required.

PowerPoint presentation viewsViewing a presentation: A view is a way of looking at a presentation. Microsoft PowerPoint has three main views: Normal View, Slide Sorter View, and Slide Show View. Slide Sorter View: Click the View tab. Select Slide Sorter in the Presentation Views group. This is an exclusive view of your slides in thumbnail form. When you have finished creating and editing your presentation, Slide Sorter View gives you an overall picture of it, making it easy to reorder, add, or delete slides. Normal View: Select Normal in the Presentation Views group. This is the main editing view. It has three working areas. On the left are the Slides and Outline tabs. Click on the tab names to view the respective tabs. The Slides tab shows your slides as thumbnail-sized images while you edit. This makes it easy to navigate through your presentation and to see the effects of changes. You can also rearrange, add or delete slides. The Outline tab shows your slide text in outline form. In the Normal View, on the right you can see the Slide Pane, which displays a large view of the current slide. On the bottom is the Notes Pane in which you can type notes that you want along with a slide. Slide Show View: Select Slide Show in the Presentation Views group or press F5 on your keyboard. This view takes up the full computer screen, like an actual slide show presentation. In this full-screen view, you see your presentation the way your audience will. You can see how your graphics, timings, movies, animated elements and transition effects will look in the actual show. You may also change the presentation views by clicking on the buttons displayed on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.

Creating your first slideYou are working for a company which offers various educational courses. You wish to create a presentation which introduces your company and tells about its numerous activities. When you start PowerPoint, you see a blank presentation in Normal View with the default name Presentation1. In the Slide Pane on the right, you see two boxes. These are called Placeholders. Click in the first placeholder and type the name you want to give your presentation. In the second placeholder type a subtitle. Applying a Theme: You may enhance the appearance of this slide which looks quite plain. Click on the Design tab. In the Themes group, click on the arrow at the bottom right to see all available themes. Now click on a theme of your choice. You may need to change some of the text that you have entered on your slide. Editing in the Slide Pane: You may make changes directly in the slide pane. In the existing slide, let us assume you need to make changes to the title. First, click on the text in the title. The title is now a selected object and is surrounded by a selection rectangle. An insertion point is displayed to show your location in the text. You may now edit the text as you wish. Using the Outline Tab: Alternately, you may make editing changes to your text on the Outline tab. These are simultaneously reflected in the Slide Pane.

Sizing & moving placeholderYou know that placeholders are boxes that are part of most slide layouts. These boxes hold title and body text or objects such as charts, tables, and pictures. Click on the title text. Sizing a placeholder: The Sizing Handles at the sides and corners of the selection rectangle can be used to adjust the size of the placeholder. When you move your mouse over a sizing handle the pointer becomes a two-headed arrow. Dragging a corner sizing handle adjusts both the height and width at the same time. The sizing handles at the sides are used to adjust only the height or the width.

Moving a placeholder: You may wish to change the position of your placeholder. To move a placeholder, click in an area between the sizing handles on the side borders. When the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, you can drag to the location you wish. You can see a Rotation Handle which is a round arrow at the top of the placeholder. It can be used to rotate the placeholder to any angle. To rotate a placeholder, drag the rotation handle in the direction that you want to rotate it.

Saving & opening presentationTo save your presentation, you may click the Office Button and select Save. In the Save As window specify the location at which you wish to save your presentation. You may use the default name for your presentation or enter a new one. Now click Save. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S. Your file is stored with the extension .pptx. Now click the Office Button and select Close to close this file. To open a file that you have previously saved, click the Office Button and select Open. In the Open window, browse to the location of your presentation and click on the file name from the displayed list. Click the Open button to display the selected file on the screen. To open a recently used presentation you may click the Office Button and then click on the presentation name in the list displayed under Recent Documents.

Using a slide Layout & Inserting a picturesA Slide Layout refers to the arrangement of elements, such as text, pictures, tables, charts and movies, on a slide. Let us create a new slide by specifying a layout. Click on the Home tab. In the Slides group, click on the lower part of the New Slide icon. The available layouts are displayed. Select a suitable one. You can see a new slide with the specified layout. Similarly, create a slide using the Picture with Caption layout. Enter the title and text as shown. To display a picture of your company logo on your slide, click the picture icon. In the Insert Picture window, browse to the location of your picture file. Click on the picture name and then click Insert. Let us also insert the same picture on the first slide we created. Click on the first slide on the Slides tab in the left pane. Now click on the Insert tab. In the Illustrations group, select Picture. As you did earlier, in the Insert Picture window, browse to the location of your picture file. Click on the picture name and then click Insert. Enhancing the Picture: You may make changes to the picture by using various Picture Tools. Click on the picture. Now click on the Format tab under Picture Tools. In the Picture Styles group, click on the More arrow to see all available picture styles. You may click on a style of your choice. You may apply other effects to your picture by selecting from the various options available under Picture Effects in the Picture Styles group on the Format tab.

Changing Fonts & FormattingChanging Font and Font Size: Let us change the Font and Font Size of the text on the second slide. Click on the second slide on the Slides tab in the left pane. Now click on the Home tab. Select the text to be formatted by highlighting the text on the slide. You may select the desired Font and Font Size from the Fonts group. You will now observe that the text has changed to the new font of the size you selected. You may also increase or decrease the font size by clicking on the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size icons in the Fonts group. Formatting: Enhancing the appearance of the slide to make it more attractive, readable and user-friendly is called formatting. Applying different formatting to characters and paragraphs can greatly enhance the appearance of the slide. Changing Font Effects and Color: From the Fonts group, you may select other effects such as Bold, Italic, Underline and Text Shadow by clicking on the respective icons. You may also change the color of the font by clicking on the arrow to the right of the Font Color icon and making your selection. Changing Alignment: You may change the alignment of text by clicking on the Align Text Left, Center and Align Text Right icons in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Let us center the title of the slide.

Bullets and Numbering: You may enter text as a bulleted or numbered list. Let us create such a list on the third slide. Click on the third slide on the Slides tab in the left pane. Now to create a bulleted list, select the text and then click the arrow to the right of the Bullets icon in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Make your selection from the various bullet styles displayed. Similarly, to create a numbered list, you may use the Numbering icon in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Changing the Background Style: To change the background of your slides, click on the Design tab. Select Background Styles in the Background group and make your selection. Changing Page Properties: Select Page Setup in the Page Setup group on the Design tab. In the window displayed you may specify the size and orientation of your slides and then click OK.

Checking SpellingsAs you may have entered the information on previous slides, you may have unknowingly left several typing errors uncorrected. To correct the misspelled words, click on the Review tab. Now select Spelling in the Proofing group or use the keyboard shortcut F7. In this way you can check the spellings on all the slides of the presentation at one time. For each word that is misspelled, a dialog box will appear and will prompt you to effect suitable corrections. If you do not wish to change what you have typed, click Ignore. You may choose Ignore All if the word appears many times throughout the presentation. To correct a word that is spelt incorrectly, you may highlight one of the suggestions displayed or manually correct it yourself by typing in the correct word in the Change to box. Click Change to make the correction or Change All if there are multiple instances of the misspelled word in the presentation. When your entire presentation has been scanned, you will be informed accordingly.

Inserting, moving & deleting slideInserting a Slide: You know that you can insert a new slide by selecting New Slide in the Slides group on the Home tab. To insert a slide between two slides, click on the slide after which you want the new slide on the Slides tab and then click on the New Slide icon. Moving a Slide: To move a slide in Normal View, select one or more slide icons on the Slides tab, and drag to a new location. To select multiple slides in a row, press Shift before clicking the slide icon and then drag. If you have a large number of slides in your presentation, you may find it more convenient to use the Slide Sorter View to view all your slides and change their positions. Change to Slide Sorter View by clicking on the Slide Sorter button on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. Now click on the slide you wish to move and drag it to a new location. Let us move all slides back to their original positions. Deleting a Slide: You may use either the Normal View or the Slide Sorter View to delete a slide. Let us revert to Normal View by clicking the Normal icon on the Status Bar. Now to delete the blank slide that was just inserted, click the slide icon on the Slides tab. You may now select Delete in the Slides group on the Home tab or press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Running a slideshowRunning a Slide Show: Once all the slides are in the order that you want, you can see how your presentation would look when viewed by an audience to run a presentation, click on the Slide Show tab in the Start Slide Show group, click From Beginning or use the keyboard shortcut F5 to view the complete presentation You may click or press the spacebar to move to the next slide. Viewing the slide show from the current slide: To do so, on the Slides tab, click the slide icon from which you wish to view your slides. Then click the From Current Slide icon in the Start Slide Show group on the Slide Show tab.

Previewing & printing a presentationPreviewing A Presentation: As you work with your slides, you may wish give copies to your colleagues for their comments. To save time and unnecessary printing and waste of paper, it is always a good idea to preview onscreen how your slides will appear when printed. To see a preview of your slide in a window on the screen, click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. The Print Preview tab appears

when you view the slide in the Print Preview mode. Click Close Print Preview in the Preview group to close the preview. Web Page Preview: To preview your presentation as a web page, you need to add the Web Page Preview command to the Quick Access toolbar. Click on the Office Button and then click PowerPoint Options. In the window displayed, click Customize in the left pane. Under Choose Commands from: select All Commands. From the list displayed below, select Web Page Preview. Now click Add and then click OK. You can see the Web Page Preview button on the Quick Access toolbar. Clicking it displays your presentation as it would look in a web browser. Click the Outline button at the bottom left to hide the left pane. You may view all the slides by using the Next Slide and Previous Slide buttons at the bottom of the screen. Printing a Presentation: Click the Office Button and select Print Print or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P. The Print window is displayed. Print range: Under Print range you may specify which of the slides you want to print. You may print all slides, the current slide only or any selection of slides. Print what: Here, you may specify whether you wish to print the slides, handouts, notes pages or outline view. Color/grayscale: Here, you may choose the color quality of the prints. Choosing the Grayscale or Pure Black and White option allows you to print without color. Enter your options and click OK.

Modifying & refining a presentationFinding & ReplacingFinding Text: You may search for a word or phrase in your presentation. Click on the Home tab. In the Editing group, click Find or press Ctrl+F to display the Find window. Enter some text and click Find Next. The next occurrence of the specified term after the current cursor position is selected. Replacing Text: Click "Replace". In the "Replace" window, you may enter the new text in the "Replace with" field. Click Replace to replace the current word with the new word. Click Replace All to replace all occurrences of the search text by the specified new text. A window appears showing the number of replacements made. Finding and Replacing: Alternatively, to replace text you may select Replace from the Editing group on the Home tab or press Ctrl+H to display the Replace window. Match case: You may check this box for a case sensitive search. Find whole words only: You may check this box to search for whole words matching the search criteria.

Creating a text Box and Inserting a HyperlinkYou may insert hyperlinks in your slides. A hyperlink is a connection to a location in the current document, another document or to a Web site. Let us insert a hyperlink from the third slide to the first slide. Click on the third slide icon on the Slides tab. First let us create a small text box below the text on the slide. Inserting a text box: A text box is a container for text or graphics. To create a new text box click on the Insert tab. In the Text group, click Text Box". Click on the slide below the existing text and drag with the mouse to draw the textbox. Adding text to a text box: You will notice that the text box displays an insertion point, indicating that you can enter text in it. Enter the text Go to Slide 1. As you type the text in the text box, it is automatically resized as needed to display the entire entry. You may also change the size and position of the text box by using the sizing handles.

Inserting a Hyperlink: Select the text entered in the text box. Now click on the Insert tab. In the Links group, click Hyperlink. In the Insert Hyperlink window, under Link to: click on Place in This Document. Under Select a place in this document, click on First Slide. Now click OK. You can see that the hyperlink text is underlined. When you run the slide show, clicking on this link takes you to the first slide.

Create and Enhance a tableA Design tab is displayed under Table Tools. You may select a table style from the gallery displayed. Click the arrow at the bottom right to view all the available styles. Select a suitable one. You may size or move your table as required. Now you are ready to enter the table content. Enter the headings and details in the other rows as shown. You may enhance the appearance of the text in your table. Let us change the style of the heading text. Select the text and then click Quick Styles in the WordArt Styles group on the Design tab under Table Tools. You may select a style from the gallery displayed.

Using smart artA Smart Art graphic is a visual representation of your information and ideas. Using Smart Art graphics, you can effectively communicate your message in a quick and simple way. You may choose from various categories such as Process, Hierarchy, Cycle, Relationship and others. Each category contains several different layouts. Let us create a Smart Art graphic to describe the course structure of one of the courses offered. First create a new slide using the Blank layout. Click on the Insert tab. In the Illustrations group, click Smart Art. In the Choose a Smart Art Graphic window, select a category. Now select a suitable graphic and click OK. In the graphic displayed on your slide, you may enter text directly by clicking the text boxes. Alternatively, you may click Text Pane, in the Create Graphic group on the Design tab, under Smart Art Tools. This displays the text pane where you can enter your text. Close the text pane by clicking the X icon at the top right corner. Changing Colors: You may apply color variations to the shapes in your Smart Art graphic. In the Smart Art Styles group on the Design tab under Smart Art Tools, click Change Colors. Now make your selection from the gallery displayed. Applying a Smart Art Style: A Smart Art Style is a combination of various effects that you can apply to the shapes in your Smart Art graphic to create a professionally designed look. In the Smart Art Styles group, click the arrow at the bottom right to view all the available styles and select a suitable one. Create a text box above the Smart Art graphic and enter the text as shown. Now click Quick Styles in the Drawing group on the Home tab. You may select a suitable background style for your text box from the gallery displayed.

Inserting clips & clip ArtYou may insert Clips and Clip Art in your slides. A Clip may be a single media file, including art, sound, animation or movies. Clip Art refers to a ready-to-use picture. Let us first insert a small clip on one of our slides. Click on the slide containing the Smart Art graphic on the Slides tab. Now click on the Insert tab. In the Illustrations group, click Clip Art. In the panel displayed on the right, in the Search for box, enter a word or phrase that describes the clip or the file name of the clip. Since yours is a company having operations related to computers, let us look for a clip using the word Computer. In the Search in list box, ensure that All collections are searched by checking the box against Everywhere. Let us search for clips of the type Movies. For this, in the Results should be list box, check the box against Movies. Ensure other boxes are unchecked. Now click Go. A number of related clips are displayed. Simply click on the one you wish to insert and drag it to a suitable place on your slide. You may change the size of the clip as required. Similarly, to insert Clip Art, check the box against Clip Art under Results should be and ensure other boxes are unchecked. Now click Go. From the pictures displayed, drag a suitable one onto your slide. When you run your slide show, you can see both the clip and clip art displayed on your slide.

Create & Enhance shapesPowerPoint offers many predefined shapes that you can insert into your document. Create a new slide using the Blank layout by clicking New Slide in the Slides group on the Home tab. In the Drawing group, click Shapes to display the various shapes that you can use. Under Basic Shapes, click on Hexagon. Drag your mouse to create a shape of the size you wish. You may size and position the shape as required. Adding Text: To add text within the shape, simply start typing as shown in the figure. The entered text appears at the centre of your shape. Coloring the Shape: You may apply color to the shape by choosing from a variety of background styles. Click Quick Styles in the Drawing group and select a style from the gallery displayed. To enter a title above the shape, you may create a text box as shown in the slide in the figure.

Changing the Presentation design and color schemeChanging the Presentation Design: After you have created many slides, you may decide to give a totally new look to your presentation. Click on the Design tab. In the Themes group, click on the arrow at the bottom right to see all available themes. Now click on a theme of your choice. On the Slides tab, you can see that the new theme has been applied to all the slides. Changing the Color Scheme: To change the color scheme, click on Colors in the Themes group on the Design tab. You may select a color scheme by clicking on it. It is applied to all slides.

Adding animation, sound, transition and build effectAnimation refers to the addition of special visual or sound effects to your slides. In PowerPoint build effects are animations to slide contents. Applying animation to an object: Let us add some animation effects to the graphic in the slide shown. First, click on the graphic. You can see it is surrounded by a box. Now click on the Animations tab. In the Animations group, click in the Animate list box and select Fly In. You can view the animation effect right away on your slide. Now, click Custom Animation in the Animations group. In the panel at the right, click the arrow in the list box below the Speed list box and select Start After Previous. This results in the animation starting after the previous slide. Now click Play to view your animation. Applying transition effects: A transition specifies how the display changes when you move from one slide to another. On the Animations tab, in the Transition to This Slide group, click on the More arrow to see all the available transition styles. Click on a suitable one. To associate a sound with your transition, select one from the Transition Sound list box. You may specify how you wish to move to the next slide, whether on the click of the mouse or after a stipulated time by entering related details under Advance Slide. Click the Apply to All button if you want the same transition effects for all slides. You may click the Preview icon in the Preview group to view the transition effects for the current slide.

Changing the slide masterThe Slide Master is used to make global changes to the slides in your presentation. This ensures consistency and saves time. To see the Slide Master, click on the View tab. In the "Presentation Views" group, click Slide Master. You can see a number of slide icons in the left pane. If you move your mouse over them, screen tips explain they are masters for different layouts. Click on the slide icon related to the Blank Layout. You see the master slide in the right pane. Any change made to this slide will be reflected on all slides created using the Blank layout. Let us change the background style. Click Background Styles in the Background group on the Slide Master tab and select a suitable one. Now close the Master View by clicking on Close Master View in the Close group. On the Slides tab, you can see that all the slides with the Blank layout have the new background style applied.

Creating Notes PagesYou can create Notes Pages that include extra notes for yourself while you give your presentation, or for your audience. In Normal View, use the Notes Pane at the bottom of the slide to write notes about your slide. To view your notes page, click the View tab. Click Notes Page in the Presentation Views group. You may also use this view to enter or edit notes by clicking in the lower placeholder.

Printing HandoutsYou can print your presentation in the form of handouts with one, two, three, four, six, or nine miniature slides on a page. These can be used by your audience to follow along as you give your presentation or for future reference. Printing Handouts: Click the Office Button and select Print Print or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P. The Print window is displayed. Print range: Under Print range you may specify which of the slides you want to print. You may print all slides, the current slide only or any selection of slides. Print what: Select Handouts. Slides per page: Select the number of slides you wish to print on one page. Let us select 4. Order: Select the order of printing the slides, whether horizontal or vertical. Let us select Vertical. Scale to fit paper: Check this box to print the slides of a size suitable to fit on the sheet of paper. Frame slides: Check this box to print the slides with an outer frame. Click Preview to view your handouts onscreen and Print to print them.

Using Headers & FootersHeaders and Footers are used to add information such as slide numbers, the time and date, a company logo or the presentation title to the top of a handout or notes page in your presentation, or to bottom of a slide, handout or notes page. Adding a Footer to a Slide: Click the Insert tab. In the Text group, select Header & Footer. On the Slide tab in the Header and Footer window, check the box against Footer, and then type the text that you want to appear at the bottom of the slide in the center. To insert the date, time and slide number on the slide, check the appropriate boxes. Select any other options that you want and then click Apply. To display the same footer information on all slides, click Apply to All. Adding a Header or Footer to a Handout or Notes Page: In the Header and Footer window, on the Notes and Handouts tab, select the Header or Footer check box, and then type the text that you want to appear at the top or bottom of each notes page or handout. Click Apply or Apply to all. Hiding the Footer: To hide the footer on a specific slide, click the slide icon on the Slides tab. Click the Insert tab and in the Text group, select Header & Footer. On the Slide tab of the Header and Footer window, clear the Footer check box and click Apply. To hide the footer on the title slide, check the box against Dont show on title slide.

Duplicating & Hiding SlidesDuplicating a Slide: In a presentation, if you need to duplicate a slide, it can be quite easily achieved. Duplicating a slide creates a copy of the selected slide and places it directly after the selected slide. On the Slides tab, click the slide you wish to copy. Click the Home tab. In the Slides group, click New Slide and click Duplicate Selected Slides below the layouts displayed. Hiding a Slide: If there is a slide that you do not want to display to a particular audience, you may hide the slide. To hide a slide, right-click the slide on the Slides tab and select Hide Slide. The hidden slide icon with the slide number inside appears next to the slide that you have hidden. When you run your presentation, this slide will not be displayed.

To show a slide that you have previously hidden, right-click the slide that you want to show, and then click Hide Slide.

Learning to control and annotate slideshowNavigating the Slide Show: Running the slide show and practicing how to control the slide show helps you have a smooth presentation. For example, if someone has a question about a previous slide, you can go backwards and redisplay it. You may move to any slide in your presentation. Right-click on a slide during the slide show. A menu is displayed as shown. Use the Next, Previous, Last Viewed and Go to Slide options to move between slides. Annotate a slide show: During your presentation, you may want to point to an important word, underline an important point or draw checkmarks next to items that you have covered. For this, right-click on the slide and select Pointer Options from the menu displayed. Let us select Ballpoint Pen. You can then move your mouse and use it as a pen on your slide. Also, you may decide the color of this pen by using the Ink Color option.

Documenting a FileDocumenting a file: Document properties are details about a file that help identify it. These may be a descriptive title, the author name, the subject, and keywords that identify topics or other important information in the file. Before saving the completed presentation, you may wish to include some related documentation with the file. Click the Office Button and select Prepare Properties from the menu. In the Document Information Panel, click the arrow next to Document Properties to select the set of properties that you want to change, for example, Advanced Properties. In the window displayed, click on the Summary tab. Enter your details on this tab. Now click OK and close the Document Information Panel.

Using advanced Presentation FuturesCreating a new Presentation from existing SlidesTo make the task of creating a new presentation easier, you may use the slides from one of your existing presentations. Copying a slide: You may want to copy the slide which describes a course structure from your presentation to a new presentation. To do this, on the Slides tab, right-click the slide to be copied and select Copy. Now create a new presentation by clicking on the Office Button and selecting New. In the New Presentation window, select Blank Presentation and press the Create button. Right-click the first slide in the new presentation and select Paste. The copied slide will be inserted in the presentation after the current slide. You may make any changes with respect to colors, themes etc that you require. Saving the new presentation: Before you make any additional changes, you may save the file as a new presentation. Save the file by clicking the Office button and selecting Save. Specify the location and the new file name in the Save As window and click Save. If you want to use all slides from a presentation in a new presentation, simply save the presentation with a new name. Click the Office Button and select Save As and enter the new file name and location. Click Save. Now you may make changes to the new presentation as required. Your original presentation does not get affected.

Adding Action ButtonsYou may add action buttons on your slides to perform functions such as playing sounds, moving to another slide or running another program when you click on them. Let us use an action button to play a sound in the slide shown in the figure. Click the Insert tab. In the Illustrations group, click Shapes. Under Action Buttons, click on the Sound icon. Now drag with the mouse to create the button of the size you require. The Action Settings window is displayed. This has two tabs, Mouse Click and Mouse Over. As the names suggest, the actions specified are performed when the mouse is clicked on the button and moved over the button respectively. Let us use the Mouse Click tab. Check the box against Play sound. Select Chime from the list of sounds.

During the slide show, when you click on this button you can hear the sound of a chime. You may perform various actions using action buttons such as moving to another slide or running another program.

Delivering PresentationRehearsing timing: Before delivering a presentation, it is important to rehearse the timing, so that you are sure that it fits within a certain time frame. PowerPoint includes a timing feature that records the length of time spent on each slide and the total presentation time while you are rehearsing. You may use the recorded times to advance the slides automatically when you actually give your presentation. Click the Slide Show tab. In the Set Up group, select Rehearse Timings. The Rehearsal toolbar appears, and you can see the timing in the Slide Time box at the right. Click Next to move to the next slide. After you set the time for the last slide, a message box displays the total time for the presentation and asks you to confirm that you wish to keep the recorded slide timings. Click Yes. Slide Sorter view appears and displays the time of each slide in your presentation. Now when you run your slide show, the slides advance automatically as per these settings. If you do not want the slides in your presentation to advance automatically as per the slide timings recorded, on the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, clear the Use Rehearsed Timings check box. Now, your presentation can be delivered and you are ready to impress your audience. To exit the PowerPoint application, click the Office Button and then click the Exit PowerPoint button at the bottom right.

INTERNET
Internet BasicsWhat is Internet?
When computers are connected to each other, they form a network. A network may consist of just two computers next to each other or can even extend to a large number of computers located in different parts of the world. Usually when computers in one office are connected to one another, the network is known as a Local Area Network or LAN for short. When this is done over longer distances, the network is known as WAN which stands for Wide Area Network. The word Internet is derived from the word inter-networking which means connecting different networks together. Thus the Internet can be termed as a Network of Networks. History of Internet: In the second half of the decade from 1960 to 1970, the United States Department of Defense began a project on computer networks. This project was named ARPANET. Gradually, after 1970, Universities, Government Departments and Research Centers also began using this network To send data along telephone lines, wireless telephones and even satellites, researchers developed a new set of rules called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or TCP/IP. The roots of the giant network called Internet can be traced back to this project. By 1993 the concept of Internet had changed completely. Instead of having a central system of limited machines, new independent centers were created in different places. This led to the birth of the modern Internet. Today the Internet has become a popular medium for information. You can have access to entertainment, information, companionship and many other opportunities on the Internet. It has become a popular medium for business, education, shopping, playing, advertisement and news. Transactions of large industries are also effected over the Internet. With the help of Internet, monetary transactions are also being carried out. This is known as e-commerce. Using Internet you can communicate with or find out about what is happening in any part of the world. It is popularly known as the "Information Highway" which is used as a versatile means for information sharing. Chatting with your friends in virtual chat rooms is another facility that is available. You may chat using the keyboard. Anyone with access to the Internet can exchange text, data files, and programs with any other user. Today, using voice chat, you can also chat with the other person as if you were talking on the telephone. You can also play different games on the Internet. There are a large numbers of applications that can be used on the Internet for various purposes. Examples are Electronic Mail (e-mail), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet to connect to another computer, Newsgroups, Mailing lists, Chat groups, World Wide Web (WWW or Web) and Instant Messaging.

What is www?
The World Wide Web (WWW) is information organized in the form of Web pages containing text and graphic images. You can retrieve documents, view images, animations and videos; listen to sound files, exchange voice data and view programs that run on practically any software in the world. The World Wide Web was originally developed in 1990 at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The World Wide Web Consortium now manages it. The name of its website is http://www.w3.org. You can access the World Wide Web on the Internet by using any browser application such as Mozilla, Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc. A web page is simply a document formatted in a standard language known

as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). It contains hypertext links represented by underlined text and images that lead to related information. "Web Surfing" means moving through different web pages. This may be done by following hyperlinks, either from a search or through a series of linked pages. You may even move between pages at random, in the course of learning something, or just having fun. The information on WWW can be classified in different categories based on the type of their content such as Business and Commercial, Educational, Advocacy (to influence readers to support a cause or idea), News, Statistical Information and Personal Information.

Information flow over the InternetThe Internet uses some rules or standard set of protocols for communication between computers. This ensures uniformity among users using various types of computer systems. Protocols are used to create an Internet connection for your computer and they handle the data transfer over network lines. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the name of the core protocol used on the Internet. Using this protocol, the information to be transmitted is broken down in the form of small packets. Each packet contains the address of its destination computer as well as the computer of its origin. The other protocols are Point to Point Protocol (PPP) and Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP). A network also has components called Routers that help choose the best path for an individual packet to travel and reach its destination. The packets are reassembled at the destination to get the original information. How do we connect? If a computer is part of a local area network (LAN) that has connectivity to the Internet, you can access the Internet through the LAN. Using a telephone, you can connect your Personal Computer (PC) to the Internet. To do so, you need a device called the Modem. Using the modem and dialer software, the PC connects to the server of an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is how the PC establishes a connection to the Internet through an ISP. You can also connect to the Internet using a leased line. In this method, the data transmission rate is much higher. Besides these, there are also other options for connecting to the Internet. Examples are DSL, Cable Modem, Set Top Boxes and other propriety solutions.

BrewersA Web Browser is a software tool used to browse the Internet. It is a special application program that brings information from any part of the world through the Internet to your computer screen. Using a browser, you can communicate with any computer over the Internet. A browser does the work of connecting to the Internet and locating and displaying web pages. It allows navigation from one page to another. Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Mozilla are some examples of the browser applications that are commonly used. Each web site has a distinct, separate and unique address. This address is known as the Uniform Resource Locator or URL in short. You can connect directly to a web site by typing the URL of that site in the address bar or location bar of the web browser. Most browsers have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This allows easy viewing of text, images, and animations, playing audio and video files and running programs.

Navigating the WebUsing Internet Explorer 7Internet Explorer is a world-class browser that is designed to support various internet standards across a variety of platforms. Since it is created by Microsoft, it is closely integrated with the Windows operating

system. With an Internet connection and Internet Explorer, you can find and view information about anything on the Web To start Internet Explorer, click on the Launch Internet Explorer Browser icon on your desktop. If you do not see this icon, click on the Start button and select All Programs Internet Explorer. At the top, you see a long rectangular box called the Address Bar. When you want to visit a website, type the website address or URL in the address bar, for example, http://www.microsoft.com/ and press Enter. Another way to navigate the web is to go the address bar and type what you are looking for. Say you are looking for digital cameras. Type digital camera and press Enter. Internet Explorer automatically sends your query to a search service and displays the results. The URL of the web page is displayed in the address bar. To the right of the address bar, you can see the Refresh button. You may use this to reload a web page. The Stop button to its right is used to stop a page from loading. Use the Back button to the left of the address bar to go to the previous page you were on. If you clicked the Back button and you want to move forward to the page you were on just before you clicked it, you may use the Forward button. To quickly go back to a website you visited earlier, you may click the down arrow just to the right of the Forward button and select the webpage from the dropdown list. Below the address bar, you can see a toolbar. Right-click on a blank space on the toolbar and select Menu Bar. You now see a menu displayed above the toolbar. Home Page: The default page displayed when you start Internet Explorer is called the Home Page. The Home Page of a website is the opening or main page of the website, which is intended chiefly to greet visitors and provide information about the site or its owner. You may change the Internet Explorer Home Page to a site of your preference. Select Tools Internet Options. On the General tab, you may enter your preferences under Home page. Tabbed Browsing: Tabs enable you to have multiple websites open in one Internet Explorer window at one time. You can quickly switch between open websites by simply clicking on the tabs. To create a new tab, click the New Tab button or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T. To close a tab, click on the X to th e right side of it. Quick Tabs: To see a thumbnail view of all the websites you have open in your tabs, click the Quick Tabs button to the left of the first tab. Click on a thumbnail to view a particular website. To access the Internet Explorer Tabbed Browsing options, select Tools Internet Options. Under Tabs, click Settings. In the Tabbed Browsing Settings window, you may enter the settings you require. AutoComplete: Internet Explorer automatically records Web addresses, forms data, and passwords. To access the Internet Explorer AutoComplete options, select Tools Internet Options. On the Content tab, under AutoComplete, click Settings. In the AutoComplete Settings window, you may enter the settings you require. You can scroll through a web page using the horizontal and vertical scrollbars. Selecting links: When you point to a link on a web page, the pointer changes to a hand and the URL is shown in the status bar. When you click on the link, the web page related to the link is opened. Links may be in the form of underlined text, buttons or pictures. Using frames: The browser area can be divided into different scrollable areas called frames. When you click on a link on one page included in a frame, the related page is displayed in another frame. You may adjust the size of the frames by dragging the border between the frames. Viewing thumbnails: Thumbnail images are small images shown on a web page because of space limitations and the time required for downloading. Click on thumbnails to view related documents. Displaying web pages in other languages: Some Web sites offer their content in several languages. To view these pages in your preferred language, you can add languages to your list of languages in Internet Explorer. Select Tools Internet Options. On the General tab, click Languages. In the Language Preference window, click Add. In the Add Language window, select the language you want to add and click OK.

Click OK in the other windows as well. If you speak several languages, you can arrange them in order of priority. If a Web site offers multiple languages, content will appear in the language that has the highest priority.

Using the favorites centersInternet Explorer Favorites are used to save links to sites that you want to visit again. Creating a list of favorites allows you to visit those sites with a single click, rather than having to type the sites URL each time you want to visit it. Adding items to the Favorites list: Go to the page that you want to add to your list. Click the Add to Favorites button on the toolbar and select Add to Favorites... The Add a Favorite window is displayed. You may type a new name for the page in the Name text box. You may organize your favorite pages in folders and save items under different folders. To place this favorite in an existing folder, from the Create in drop-down list, select the desired folder and click Add. Alternatively, you may create a new folder for a favorite. For this, click New Folder. Enter a name for the new folder in the Create a Folder window and click Create. Now click Add in the Add a Favorite window. The Favorites list contains all the favorites you have created. This list appears under Favorites when you click the Favorites Center button on the toolbar. If you would like to display the Favorites Center at the left of your screen at all times, you may pin it to the window by clicking on the Pin the Favorites Center button. To unpin it, simply click on the X shaped, Close the Favorites Center icon. Organizing your Favorites: You may wish to organize your favorite pages by topic. Click the Add to Favorites button, and then click Organize Favorites. In the Organize Favorites window, you may use the different buttons in the lower part to create, rename or delete a folder. You can also move items from one folder to another by using the Move button or dragging the item to the appropriate folder Using the History list: Internet Explorer keeps track of the web pages you have previously visited in the form of history. To view the History list, click the History button in the Favorites Center. Now, click on one of the calendar icons. History items are displayed sorted by website. Click on one of the yellow icons to see what pages you visited at a particular site. You may then click on a website link to open the related page. You may re-sort your History items by clicking on the arrow next to the "History" button and making your selection.

Using FormsForms are part of the web page that can help you to enter data, such as your name, address, phone number, and so on. For example, you may have to enter your personal details while booking an airline ticket online. A form may have text boxes, check boxes, buttons, pop-up menus or drop-down lists. You can fill information in it and submit the form contents by clicking on buttons provided. Online Application Forms: Online Application Forms are forms that are given to the user to fill when connected to the Internet. These must be filled in carefully before they are submitted. Preliminary validations are performed on some fields. Some mandatory fields must be entered before the data is accepted. The form shown is used to register for a Yahoo mail account. Once you have completed your registration, you can login to your account and use all facilities available.

Printing and Saving Web PagesPrinting and saving web pages: To print the current page, select File Print from the menu. The Print window is displayed. You may print all pages, selected text, the current page, a specific page or range of pages by making the appropriate selection under Print Range. Previewing a web page: To have a look at how a page will look before it is printed, you can use the Preview option. For this, select File Print Preview from the menu. Saving an entire web page: Select File Save As from the menu. The Save Webpage window is displayed. Specify the location at which you wish to save your file. You may save the web page with a new

name by making changes in the File name field. You may choose a format for the page from the dropdown list in the Save as type field. Now click Save. Saving an image from a page: You may wish to save only an image from a web page. For this, position the mouse pointer over the image. Right-click to display a pop-up menu. Choose Save Picture As. The Save Picture window is displayed. Choose a folder in which to save this image. Type a file name for the image and then click Save. Saving a page without displaying it: Position the mouse pointer over the link to the web page you wish to save. Right-click to display the pop-up menu. Choose Save Target As. The Save As window is displayed. Specify the location at which you wish to download the web page. Type a file nam e and then click Save. Click Close when the download is completed.

Finding Information on the WebUsing Search ServicesAs you know, there is a vast ocean of information available on the World Wide Web. Search services help you to quickly locate information about a specific topic from multiple websites. A number of search tools have been developed and are available on different web sites. A search can be done by entering a keyword, a descriptive world or phrase or by browsing a topic list. Search services can be categorized into two types, web directories and search engines. Web directories are databases of Internet sites that are organized by topics or subjects. Search engines are also huge databases of web sites, but typically offer no categories or differentiation between different types of material. The search engines use a program called crawler or spider to check out websites, read and store specific types of information and add new sites to their existing database of sites. The database is updated periodically by the spider. Using the Search Box: One of the new features of Internet Explorer 7 is the Search Box located at the top right. You can search the internet using most search engines from the search box instead of going to other search engine sites. If you want to find something on a page you are currently on, click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select Find on this Page. Enter your search criteria and click Next. Finding search services: There are numerous sites providing search services such as www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.ask.com, www.lycos.com, www.live.com and www.altavista.com. As all search engines use different techniques and resources, it advisable to use more than one search engine for conducting a search. You may add search providers to Internet Explorer 7. For this, click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select Find More Providers. Then, click on the name of a provider in the displayed web page. Now click Add Provider in the window that comes up. You may change the default search engine if you wish. For this, click on the down arrow to the right of the magnifying glass and select Change Search Defaults. Click Set Default and then OK to make the search provider you just added as the default one.

GoogleGoogle is one of the most popular search engines. Start the Internet Explorer browser and type www.google.com in the address box. Press Enter to display the Google home page. Searching by Topic: The Google web site interface consists of many links to various topics and a search text box. You may click on the link of your choice. Click more to view additional links. Click even more to see some more useful links. Searching by Keyword: Some simple tips for entering keywords are be specific, use more descriptive words as opposed to general ones, use multiple words and leave out non-essential words. Type the keyword on which you wish to search in the search text box. Then press the Google Search button. The search results displayed have links to the pages containing matches to your desired keyword. The result displayed is page wise if the resulted list is big. Click the links to visit the related web pages.

Im Feeling Lucky: You may try using the "Im Feeling Lucky" button when you have entered your search terms. This takes you straight to the most relevant website that Google finds for your query. You will not see the search results page at all, but if you do, the "Im Feeling Lucky" site would be listed on top. Advanced Search: Once you know the basics of Google search, you might want to try Advanced Search, which offers numerous options for making your searches more precise and getting more useful results. Click Advanced Search to enter your options. Preferences: You may configure your search exactly as you want it. Click Preferences to enter your requirements. You can filter inappropriate material, set the interface language and search for pages written in specific languages. Language Tools: Click Language Tools to specify your language preferences for a particular search. If you typically search only pages in a specific language, you can save this as your default search behavior on the Preferences page.

Communication using e-mailUsing Web E-mail ServicesE-mail, or electronic mail, enables communication by sending and receiving written messages via a computer over the Internet. You need an e-mail program and a connection to the Internet. This is a very powerful tool for communication and a prime reason for the popularity of Internet. E-mail has become very popular because of its speed, low cost and absence of time restrictions. The use of e-mail in our country, especially in urban areas, has increased rapidly in recent years. Just as every web page has a unique address, similarly every e-mail account has a unique address. A complete e-mail address is normally in the form of ahmed@yahoo.com. In this, ahmed is the name of the person; yahoo.com is the name of the domain or server. When an e-mail is sent, it is not necessary for the person to whom the e-mail has been sent to be available, or for his computer to be on. The mail sent by you is sent to the mail server. When the mail server identifies the recipient, it sends the message to his address. At the other end, the identity of the recipient is verified and then the mail is forwarded. When the recipient switches on his computer and connects to the mail service, all the mail that has been received is downloaded to his computer. There are basically two types of e-mail services you can use. The most popular is the free web mail service that many web sites provide. Some of the examples are mail.Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Rediffmail.com, Indiatimes.com, etc. The other is based on Post Office Protocol (POP3) using which you may download mails onto your computer or send mails stored on your hard disk. To use the e-mail facility the user has to register with the web site providing the facility. The web site has a registration page that will ask you to enter some information and also make you accept a user agreement. You have already seen how to fill in an online form. The website provides you with a unique user name and you can also specify a password. The different websites have different features for the e-mail facility they provide. Some of the common features are a Login Page, Inbox, Address Book, Auto Reply and Customized Signature. Besides these, many more personalization features are also provided. Login Page: To access your mail account, you must first login. For this, you have to enter the user name you selected during the registration process and also your password. The website authenticates your user login information and then provides access to your mailbox.

Using NewsgroupsA newsgroup is a forum on the Internet for discussions on a specified range of subjects. Newsreaders are used to gain access to various types of newsgroups, to download and read news messages, and to post replies to them. Newsgroups are also called discussion groups. If you have not previously set up a newsreader, Microsoft Outlook automatically sets up the Windows Mail Newsreader. This newsreader is a Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) newsreader, which you can use

to download newsgroup content and then work with it when you are not connected to the Internet. Select Go News from the menu. If you do not find the News item in the Go menu of Microsoft Outlook, perform the following steps. On the Standard toolbar click the "Toolbar Options" arrow. Point to "Add or Remove Buttons", and then click "Customize". Click on the "Commands" tab. In the "Categories" list, click "Go". In the "Commands" list, click "News", and drag it and place it in the "Go" menu. You may then close the Customize window. In Windows Mail, you can see that there is a default news account named Microsoft Communities. This indicates that you may subscribe to a newsgroup of your choice on the Microsoft news server. Adding a News Account: Let us add a new account. Select Tools Accounts from the menu. In the Internet Accounts window, click Add. In the window displayed, click on Newsgroup Account and then click Next. Enter your name as you want it displayed and click Next. Now, enter your e-mail address. Click Next. Here you are required to enter the Internet News Server Name. Enter the server name and then click Next. When Congratulations is displayed, click Finish. You can see this account under the News heading in the Internet Accounts window. Also, a folder with this name is created in the list of folders in the left panel. Click Close. You see a window asking whether you would like to view a list of available newsgroups. Since this list needs to be downloaded from the news server, ensure that you are connected to the Internet and click Yes. The list is downloaded and the Newsgroup Subscriptions window is displayed. On the All tab, you may click on the group you wish to subscribe to. Use Ctrl+Click to select multiple groups. Then click Subscribe. Now click OK. The names of the newsgroups appear in the folder list. To unsubscribe from a group, right-click on its name and select Unsubscribe. Click OK to confirm. Click on a newsgroup name in the folder list to see a list of messages. You may read any message you wish by double-clicking on it. To print this message, select File Print from the menu bar. You may choose to reply to a message. Click Reply Group to send a reply to all members of a gro up and Reply to reply to the individual sender of the message. Select File New News Message to create a new message to send to the complete group. Using messengers for Instant messageInstant Messaging enables you to have a conversation with another person or a group of people concurrently. It is similar to e-mail. The difference is that you can send and receive messages as soon as they are typed. If both parties are online at the same time, you can have a complete conversation. There are different instant messengers available such as Yahoo messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, Google talk etc. To use a messenger, it must first be downloaded from the Internet and installed on your computer. Now, download the Windows Live Messenger and install it. Select Start All Programs. In the Windows Live folder, click Windows Live Messenger to start the Windows Live Messenger. Enter your e-mail address and password and then click Sign In. Adding a Contact: Before you can chat with someone, you need to add his name to your list of contacts. Click the Add a contact button. In the Instant Messaging Address box enter your contacts e-mail address. If your contact does not have Windows Live Messenger, enter your message in the Personal invitation box and check the box against Also send an e-mail invitation to this contact. If you wish, you may add additional information in the Contact, Personal, Work and Notes sections. Click Add Contact after you are done.

You can see that the contact is displayed in your list. In the contacts list, you can see which of your contacts are online and offline at any given time. You can chat with any contact who is online. When a contact comes online, you are notified about it. Chatting with your contact: Now, you are ready to begin your chat. In the main Messenger screen, doubleclick the name of an online contact. In the box at the bottom of the conversation window that comes up, type your message and click Send or simply press Enter. This message is displayed immediately on your contacts screen. In the same way, messages from your contact are displayed on your screen. You can see the complete conversation in the upper section of the Conversation window. Emoticons, also called Smileys, are symbols that help to convey emotion or additional meaning in a written statement. You may send an emoticon along with your message. Type your message and then select an emoticon from the list. When you click Send, the emoticon is sent along with the text. You can also send messages to contacts who are offline. When you click on the name of a contact who is offline, you are informed about his status. Offline contacts will receive the messages once they come online. Changing the Color Scheme: You may change the color scheme of the Messenger application by clicking on the Paint Brush icon at the top of the main Messenger window and selecting a color of your choice. Changing the Display Picture: You may change the picture that is displayed against your name. Click on your name at the top of the screen. Click Change display picture. Choose a picture and then click OK in the Display Pictures window. The new picture is then displayed. Specifying Other Settings: You may specify other settings such as the way your name is displayed in a conversation. For this, click on your name at the top of the screen. Click Options. In the window displayed, you may click on the different categories in the left pane to specify related settings. Changing your Status: You may wish to display a specific status against your name such as Busy, Out to lunch etc. For this, click on your name at the top of the screen and then click on the status you wish. Right-click on a contacts name in the main window to perform various activities such as sending an e-mail, editing contact details, deleting the contact etc. Saving your conversation: You may save your complete conversation. For this, click on the Show Menu icon to the right of the Paint Brush icon in the conversation window. Now select File Save. Click OK in the window that comes up. In the Save As window, enter the file name in which you want to save it and press Save. After you have completed your chat, you may close the conversation window by clicking Show Menu and selecting File Close.

DBMS
OverviewIntroduction to databaseYou have recently accepted a new job as an Employment Administrator with All Saints High School. You are responsible for maintaining the employment records for all employees of the School. Currently, the employment records are maintained on paper forms and stored in file cabinets organized alphabetically. Although the information is well maintained, retrieving any kind of information is time consuming. You need to manually leaf through the pages to locate the required information. Also making reports quickly is a difficult task. The school has recently purchased new computers and the management now wants to update the employee record system to an electronic database management system. The software tool that you will use to accomplish the task you have been assigned will be Microsoft Access 2007. It is an electronic database management system which can store, organize, access, manipulate, and present information in many different ways. In the following labs, you will learn how to create a database, enter data, edit data, print and preview data and much more, using Access 2007. What is a database? : A database is an organized collection of related information. Typically, the information in a database is stored in a table. Tables are made up of vertical columns (called fields) and horizontal rows (called records). The tables are related or linked to one another by a common field. Each row is a record which contains all the information about a person, thing or place. Each column is a field which is the smallest unit of information about a record. Access 2007 is a relational database management application that is used to create and analyze a database. A relational database is the most widely used database structure. Here, data is organized in linked tables.

Creating a databaseIntroduction to AccessTo start the Microsoft Access application, click on the Start button and select All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Access 2007. The first screen that appears is the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page. In Access, every database is stored in a single file which has the extension .accdb. That file contains database objects, which are simply the components of a database. The four main objects in an Access database are Tables, Queries, Forms and Reports. Tables store information. The table object is the basic object and has to be created first, before any other objects are created. You can create as many tables as you need to store different types of information. Queries let you quickly perform an action on a table. Usually, this action involves retrieving a piece of information. However, you can also use queries to make changes to your database. Forms are windows that you create and arrange in order to easily view or change the information in a table. Reports help you print some or all of the information in a table. You can choose where the information appears on the printed page, how its grouped and sorted, and how its formatted. The features of Access 2007 are as follows: -Once the data is entered in the database, you can quickly search the table to locate a specific record based on the data in a field.

-It is easy to add, delete and modify records from a table. -Its capability to sort records in a table according to different fields can provide more meaningful information. -You can analyze the data in a table and perform calculations on different fields of data. -You can quickly produce reports using some Access features. -Your tables, queries, forms and reports are displayed as tabbed objects in the Access window. By clicking the object tabs, you can easily switch between various objects. Access provides you with a wide variety of templates that are ready-to-use databases that contain all that is needed for performing a specific task. For example, there are templates that can be used to track issues, manage contacts, or keep a record of expenses. Template databases can be used as they are, or you can customize them to suit your needs. Several templates are displayed under Featured Online Templates, and more become available if you click one of the categories under Template Categories at the left of the Access window.

Creating new databaseCreating a database entails several basic steps: planning, creating, entering and editing data and then previewing and printing. Planning is the first step in the development of a database. You must understand the purpose of the database. You must plan the design of your database in respect of how many tables will be required, what data each of them will contain and how will they be related. You must know how the structure or layout of each table in the database must be. For this you must study the existing employee records. After studying the existing record keeping procedures and the reports that are created, you decide to create several separate tables of data in the database. The main table will include the employees basic information. Another will contain information of all the departments in the School and a third one will contain the payroll of the employees. For now, you will create only the table containing the employee information. Creating a database: Now that you have designed the database, it is time to create it so that the data can be stored in it. Click Blank Database under New Blank Database. In the panel at the right, the default database name is displayed in the File Name box. Change it to Employee.accdb. You may specify the location where you wish to store your database. Click on the Browse icon to the right of the file name. In the File New Database window, click on Desktop in the left panel and then click OK. Now click Create. You see the familiar Microsoft Office 2007 user interface which consists of: 1) The Office Button which displays a menu containing commands for opening, saving, printing, and closing a file. 2) The Quick Access toolbar which displays icons that represent commonly used commands such as Save, Undo, and Redo. 3) The Ribbon which has Task-oriented Tabs, Groups and Command buttons. For more details on the Microsoft Office User Interface, you may see the assignment titled The User Interface in the Microsoft Word topic. At the left, you see the Navigation Pane. When you open a database or create a new one, the names of your database objects such as tables, forms and reports appear in the Navigation Pane. To open a database object, double-click the object in the Navigation Pane. To apply a command to a database object, right-click the object and select an item from the context menu that appears. The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical bar, to provide you with a larger work area. To minimize the expanded Navigation Pane, click the arrow in the upper corner. To expand the minimized Navigation Pane, click the arrow at the top.

Creating a TableAccess creates your first database object, a table named Table1 which is completely blank, with no defined fields. Access provides different window formats called Views to display and work with the objects in a database. At the bottom of the screen you see the words Datasheet View on the Status Bar. This indicates that you are now in datasheet view. This view provides a row and column view of the data in tables, forms, and queries. In Datasheet view, you can edit fields, add and delete data, and search for data. You may also create a table using this view. You can now see the name of your table in the Navigation Pane on the left. The Emp Info tab is displayed in the document window on the right. Before you can enter data into a table, you must create the structure of the table, meaning the fields that will hold the data. Let us first understand what is meant by a Primary Key. A primary key is a field or set of fields in your table that provide Access with a unique identifier for every record. You must specify a primary key for all tables. Access automatically creates an index for the primary key, which makes queries and other operations fast. Access also ensures that every record has a non-blank primary key field, and that it is always unique. When you create a new table, Access automatically creates a primary key and assigns a field name of "ID" and the AutoNumber data type to it. You will learn about the different data types shortly. Now let us begin creating the table structure. Field name: A field name is used to identify the data stored in a field. The name can consist of letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters, except a period (.), an exclamation (!), and brackets([]). You cannot start the name of a field with a space. Following are some examples of valid field names: First name, Phone No, Subject1, etc. Type Employee ID as the field name and press Enter. You can see a small key to the left of the field name indicating that this field is the primary key of the table. Data type: The data type defines the type of data the field will contain. It is important to choose the right kind of data type before you start entering data in the table. Access provides a number of data types to choose from. Click on the drop down menu button to select the Data Type. Following are the data types you can use. Text: It is the default data type and is used to store text entries, like words, combinations of words and numbers, and numbers that are not used in calculations. Examples are names and phone numbers. You can enter up to 255 characters in a text field. Memo: It is used to store text that is too long to be stored in a Text field. Summary of a book is an example. Number: It is used to store numbers only. Calculations can be performed on the numbers stored in a Number field. Marks in an exam is an example. Date/Time: It is used for storage of date and time information. For example, Birth date, Date of joining, etc. Currency: This is similar to the Number data type, but is formatted to display decimal places and the currency symbol. For example, Price, Fees, etc. AutoNumber: It is a unique, sequential number that is automatically incremented by one whenever a new record is added to the table. Yes/No: This data type accepts only two values Yes or No, True or False, and On or Off. It can be used for fields like Fees Paid, Pass, etc. OLE Object: This data type is used to store images, documents, graphs etc. Hyperlink: This is used to store web addresses. Attachment: This is used to store images, spreadsheet files, documents, charts and other types of supported files to the records in your database.

Description: The Description text box is used to describe the field. Giving this description is optional. Type the description wherever applicable. The description that you give here is displayed in the Status Bar when you are in the Datasheet view. Select the Text data type. When you select a data type, its default properties are displayed under Field Properties. Information about the data type is displayed in the left panel and on the right hand side is the help box displaying information about the current task. As you can see, the default field size of the Text data type is 255. A field property is a characteristic that helps define a field. Each data type has its own set of field properties. Some of the more common properties are as follows: Field Size: It decides the maximum number of characters that can be entered in the field. Format: Specifies how the data is displayed in the table and printed. Input mask: Simplifies data entry and controls what data is required and how it is to be displayed. Caption: Specifies a field caption or a prompt for the user to enter data. Default Value: It specifies a default value for a field to be automatically filled in at the time of data entry. This value can be changed. Validation Rule: Restricts the data entry to meet certain conditions or requirements. Validation Text: It is displayed when the validation rule is violated. Required: Specifies whether or not a value must be entered in a field before the record is stored. Allow Zero Length: Specifies whether or not an entry containing no value is valid. If you set it to Yes, it can be used to indicate that you know no value exists for a field. Indexed: An index is used to speed up queries, sorting, and grouping operations run against large amounts of data. This field property specifies whether an index is to be created on that field. Now, let us change some of the defaults. Click the Field Size property text box. Double-click on 255 to select it and type 4 to change the field size. Click with the mouse in the Field Name column to enter the next field name. Type First Name and select Text as the Data Type from the drop down menu. Click in the Field Size property box and change the field size to 15. Do not make any other changes. In the same manner, enter the information shown in the table until you come to the Birth Date field. Select the Data Type of this field as Date/Time from the drop down menu. Click in the Format property box and open the drop down list. Select General Date. Follow the same procedure for the next field Date_Of_Joining. The Photo field is of a different type you want to store the photo of the employee. So select the Data Type as Attachment. The structure of your table is now ready. You may change the primary key simply by clicking on another field name and then clicking on the Primary Key icon in the Tools group. Let us change the primary key back to Employee ID as before. You must save your table structure before you can start entering data into the table. Click on the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar.

Entering & Editing dataYou can now start entering data in the table. But you cannot do so until you change the view. We used the Design View to define the structure. We now need to switch to Datasheet View. Click on View Datasheet View in the Views group. You can see that the name given to the field with the data type Attachment has been replaced by a paperclip icon. The insertion point can be seen in the first column of the first row, that is, in the Employee ID column. Type the employees ID number. Use the right arrow key or press Enter to move to the next field. If you make a mistake while typing, use the Backspace key to delete characters to the left of the insertion point

or the Delete key to delete characters to the right of the insertion point. Check that you type data exactly as it appears in the accompanying table. Remember not to use any spaces before or after the data. See that there is consistency in the data that you enter. For the date fields, you may enter the date directly or use the Date Picker displayed at the right of the field. Complete the information for the first record except for the Photo field. Inserting a picture: The photo can be inserted as an attachment. Double-click in the attachment field to open the Attachments window. Now click Add. In the Choose File window, navigate to the location of the picture file. Click on the picture and then click Open. You can see the name of the picture in the Attachments window. Click OK. To see that the picture has really been inserted, double-click in the attachment field. Now double-click on the name of the picture in the Attachments window. You have been informed by the HR department, that an employee has resigned and is no longer an employee of the School. Then you must delete that employees record. Deleting a record: Select the record to be deleted by clicking the Record Selector. This is the small box to the left of the record. You may drag with the mouse to select multiple records. On the Home tab, in the Records group, click Delete. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Click Yes to delete the record.

Changing the Column widthThe data you have entered may not be completely visible in the Tables column. You may adjust the column width. For this, position the mouse on the right border of a column header. Then drag in the desired direction, left or right until you get the desired width. Alternatively, you may adjust the column width to a specific number of characters. For this, right-click a columns name and select Column Width. This displays the Column Width window where you can type the desired value. Then click OK.

Preview and print a TableThe table is now ready and you want to print it. Before printing it is advisable to preview it. Click on the Office Button and select Print Print Preview. Previewing the table gives you an idea how the table will look after it is printed. It displays the table in a reduced size so that you can see the layout. The document will be printed using the default settings. If you want to change some settings you may do so. The Print Preview tab appears when you view the table in the Print Preview mode. You can see the preview consisting of one, two or multiple pages if there is more data than can fit on one or two pages. The page is displayed with a heading and date in the Header and the page number in the Footer. If you want to change the page orientation, click on the Landscape icon in the Page Layout group. Check once again whether everything is as you want it and click on the Print icon. To close the preview, click the Close Print Preview icon. You may also print the table by clicking the Office Button and selecting Print Print from the menu or use the shortcut keys Ctrl+P. The Print window is displayed. The Print Range section of the window lets you specify how much of the document you want to print. Select All to print all records. Select Pages From to specify the number of the pages you want to print. To print pages that are continuous, enter the page range. For example, to print pages 1 to 5, in the Pages From: field, type 1 and in the To field enter 5. To print selected records, select Selected Record(s). After you have entered your print specifications, click OK.

Close and open a Table and DatabaseYou have finished working with the employee database for now and you want to stop working but continue later on. You have to close the table and database that you have created and have been working on until now. Closing a table: Multiple table tabs may be open at one time. To close a table, you may first click on the related tab to make it active. Since you have just one table open presently, simply click on the X shaped icon at the right end in line with the table name. If you have made any changes that have not been saved, Access will prompt you to save them before closing. If you click No to discard changes, the table will close

without saving the changes. Clicking on Cancel will not close the window and you will be able to continue working. Click Yes to save changes. The table tab will close. Closing the database: Next, you have to close the database. Click on the Office Button and select Close Database. You are now back to the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page. You may create a new database or open an existing one. To exit Access, you may click the Office Button and then click the Exit Access button at the bottom right. Opening the database: When you need to work once again with the Employee database, in the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, click on the database name in the list displayed under Open Recent Database on the right. The Employee Database window is displayed. To open the Emp Info table, double-click the table name in the navigation pane. The table will open in Datasheet View.

Modifying a TableCustomizing and Inserting FieldsIf you look through the records, you realize that there is no uniformity in the data entered in the State field. Also, you have forgotten to add two fields! The PIN code number needs to be added to make the address complete and the gender of the employee also needs to go on record. You can easily make all these changes and put restrictions on the way data is entered or displayed. You can even add and delete fields. To set the display format, you need to first change to Design View. For this, click on the upper part of the View icon in the Views group on the Design tab. Make the State field the current one by clicking on it. You want all the records to display the name of the state in uppercase. The fields Format property can be defined to tell Access the way you want the data to be displayed. To define the format, you can use the four symbols used in the table shown. So, to change the State fields format to display it in uppercase, you have to enter the appropriate symbol in the Field Properties window. Move to the Format field property text box and type >. Change to Datasheet View Click on Yes to save changes. You can see that all data in the State field is displayed in uppercase. Now, you must insert those fields which you have missed while designing the database the first time. One is the Pin Code and the other is the Gender of the employee. The Pin Code field should be after the State field and the Gender field should be after the Phone field. To do so, switch to Design View. Make Phone the current field. Select Insert Rows in the Tools group on the Design tab. A row is inserted between the State and Phone fields. Type Pin Code and make its data type as Text. In the Size field property, type 7 and in the Format field property text box, type @@@ @@@ with a space after the first three characters. This will display the PIN codes of all records in the same format. For example, BS83DT will be displayed with a space between BS8 and 3DT. Repeat the procedure for inserting a row and adding the Gender field after the Phone field. Enter its Data Type as Text, Field Size as 1 and Format as >. Save the new table structure by clicking on the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Now switch to Datasheet View. The table is displayed with two new columns which have no data in them. Fill in these empty fields in all the records. While looking through the records, you observe that most of the employees are from Bristol State and that there are more males than females as employees. So, by setting the default value of the Sate field to Bristol and that of Gender to F, you can make data entry a bit quicker. A default value is used to specify a value that is automatically entered in a field when a new record is added. This value can either be accepted or another value can be entered by the user while adding a new record.

Switch to Design View and make the State field the current one by clicking on it. Click on the Default Value property text box and type Bristol in it. Similarly, make the Gender field the current one and click on the Default Value property text box. Type F in it. Switch to Datasheet view. Save the design changes related to default values. Observe that the new blank record has the State and Gender fields already filled with values. This is because of the Default Value property that you have set for these two fields. You want the Gender field to accept only two values M for male and F for female. Setting the Validity Check option makes sure that the values entered by the user are valid for the field type. A validation rule is an expression that defines acceptable values. An expression is a formula consisting of a combination of symbols that evaluates to a single value. You can also add validation text, which is an explanatory message that appears if the user enters invalid information in a field for which a validation rule has been set. If you do not give a message, Access displays a default message but it does not clearly explain the reason for the error. The table above shows some examples of validity rule settings and corresponding messages. Adding a Validity Rule: Switch to Design View and click on the Gender field. In the Validation Rule property box, type M Or F and in the Validation Text property box, type Please enter either M or F only. Now, switch to Datasheet View. You will be asked to save the changes. Click Yes. A warning message box is displayed saying that the data integrity rules have been changed. When you make changes to the structure of a table, you often make changes that could result in the loss of data or existing data may become invalid. Access asks you if you want to check the existing data with the new validity rule. For now, click No. Type the data shown in the table in the new record. The State and Gender fields are already filled with default values. You may change them if required. Now try entering an invalid value in the Gender field. Type k or any other letter in either upper or lower case, except F or M. The warning message is immediately displayed. Click OK to continue. Press Backspace and enter valid text.

Finding and Replacing DataFinding and Replacing data: If you want to search for some information in the table and also replace it, you may use the Find and Replace icons in the Find group on the Home tab. The Find command

locates all specified values in a field and the Replace command finds a value and automatically replaces it. Finding and replacing data is fast and accurate but you have to be careful not to replace unintended values. Now, you have been told to make two changes. One is that the State names should all be shortened to 2 lettered names. That means you have to replace Bristol with BS, EASTSIDE with ES, NORTHSIDE with NS and so on. The other is that, one of the employees, Jenny Smith is married and needs to change her Last Name and Address. You need not do this manually. You may use the Find and Replace feature. While in the Datasheet view, click in the Last Name field of the first record and select Find. The Find and Replace window is displayed with the Find tab selected. In the Find What box, type Smith, the last name of the employee. The Look In box displays the Last Name field because the field was the current one when the command was given. You want to match the whole field, not part of it. So, in the Match box, select Whole field. In the Search box, select All. You want Access to find a perfect match to what you have typed in the Find What box, so, click in the Match Case check box and click Find Next. The first occurrence of the search criteria specified is highlighted. Check whether it the record you are looking for. If it is, close the Find and Replace window and make the necessary changes in the Last Name and the address fields. Click on the Cancel button if you do not want to perform any action. Now, you have to make changes in the State field. So click in the State field and select Replace. Click on the Replace tab and type Bristol in the Find What box. In the Replace With box, type BS. The State field will already be selected in the Look In box. Select Whole Field in the Match box and All in the Search box. Click in the Search Fields As Formatted check box which finds data based on its display format. Click Find Next. Clicking on the Cancel button, cancels the command. If the text is found and it is the one you want to replace, then click on the Replace button. If you make changes to a single record, using the Undo command will cancel the last action as long as you have not made any further changes to the table. Once you move to another record or move to another window, the Undo command has no effect. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z or click on the Undo icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Your original data appears. The State field in the second record is highlighted. Since you want to replace all the fields containing WESTSIDE with WS, click on Replace All. Instantly, all the fields containing WESTSIDE are replaced with WS. A warning message is displayed by Access, warning you that the replace operation cannot be undone. You are asked whether you want to continue, click on Yes because thats what you want. If you remember, you had set the default value for the State field as Bristol. So you need to make a change in the default value too since you now need BS. Switch to Design View and click in the State field. In the Default Value property box, type BS and switch to Datasheet View. Save the changes made to the table. You will see that the new record at the end has the default value changed to BS.

Sorting RecordsIn the first lab, you had seen what a primary key is and what its importance is. You also saw that the records in a table are arranged according to the primary key. But the Accounts department has requested for the employee list in alphabetical order. How are you going to give it to them? To arrange the records in the table in alphabetical order, you can sort them on a single field the field on the basis of which you want to arrange them. In this case, the Last Name will be the field which you will use to sort records. Sorting: Sorting the data often helps in finding some particular information quickly. In Access, you can sort data in ascending or descending order. You can sort on one field or more than one adjacent field. When you select multiple columns to sort, Access sorts records starting from the leftmost column and moves to the right across the columns. The new sort order is saved with the table data and automatically applied every time you open the table.

To return to the primary key sort order, the temporary sort must be removed. In the Datasheet view, observe the order of the records before sorting. They are sorted on the Employee ID field which is the primary key. Now, click in the Last Name field of any record. Select the Ascending icon in the Sort & Filter group on the Home tab to display the records sorted by Last Name. Observe the order of records after sorting on the Last Name field. You see that Ted and Tom are sorted by Last Name but not by First Name. Toms record appears before Teds which is not in ascending alphabetical order. To sort first by Last Name and then by First name, you need to sort on multiple fields. To sort on multiple fields, sorting is done from the leftmost field. So, Last Name must be to the left of First Name. To change the order of fields, switch to Design View. Click in the Field Selector of the First Name field. This is the small box to the left of the field name. Now drag the mouse down until you see a black line under the Last Name field. Then release the mouse. The Last Name field moves up one row so that it is the second field in the field name list. Click Save on the Quick Access toolbar. Switch to Datasheet View to see the order of the fields. The records are displayed according to the changed order of fields. To sort on multiple fields, you need to select the two fields. To select the two columns, in Datasheet View, position the mouse pointer in the column heading of Last Name. The cursor will change to a solid black arrow pointing downwards. Drag to the right to select the next column First Name. Both the columns will be highlighted. Select the Ascending icon in the Sort & Filter group on the Home tab again. Observe the re cords of Tom and Ted now. They are arranged alphabetically first by Last Name and then by First Name, so Teds record comes first and then comes Toms record. To remove the temporary sorting order, select Clear All Sorts in the Sort & Filter group. The records will again be displayed in the order of the Employee ID field.

Creating FormsUsing the Form WizardBeing the one to be in charge of the employee records database, one of your main objectives is to make the database easy to use. Seeing the records at all times in the form of rows and columns can be tiring to the eyes. To make it easy to view and use, Access provides a feature to create onscreen forms. A form is a database object that is mainly used to enter and display records and make changes to existing records onscreen. Forms are based on a table and contain design control elements like descriptive text, titles, labels, lines, boxes and pictures. It is desirable for the onscreen form to be similar to the paper form filled in by each new employee when hired. The information on this form will be used as an input source for the new record that will be added for the new employee. The Form Wizard feature of Access makes it very easy to design forms. It guides you through the steps required to create a form. In the Tables/Queries list, the name of the current table Emp Info is displayed. The fields from the current table are displayed in the Available Fields list. Select the fields from the list one by one. Click on Employee ID and click on the button with > symbol on it. The field name is displayed in the Selected Fields list now. The button below this can be used to move all fields into the Selected Fields list. The other two buttons below this, as you may have realized can be used to move fields back into the Available Fields list. Select all the fields in the same manner as the first field and click on Next. In the next step, the layout of the form is displayed. Columnar is selected by default. Leave it as it is and click on Next.

In the next step, you are asked to select the style of the form. Select a suitable one and click Next. The next step is the last step, where you are asked to give the form a name and save it. Emp Info will be displayed by default. If not, type it and click Finish. The form is displayed with the first records contents in it. The field names are on the left with the corresponding data in boxes in front of them. At the bottom of the form window is the record number indicator. You can move one record up or down by clicking on the Next record or Previous record buttons respectively. The First record button takes you to the first record and the Last record button takes you to the last one. Click on the New (blank) record button to add new records.To close the form, click the close button on the form. You can see your form name displayed in the navigation pane on the left.

Adding Records in a FormA new employee has recently joined the School and you need to input all related information into the database. You will add this information using the form you created. To add records, you first need to open the form. In the navigation pane, double-click on the form name Emp Info. The form will be displayed. Click on the New (blank) record button at the bottom of the window. The form with all blank boxes is displayed. Of course, the State and the Gender fields have their default values. You can start typing the data of the new employee as shown in the accompanying figure. In this way, you can enter and view as many records as you want. After you are done, click Save on the Quick Access toolbar. Now, click on the table name in the navigation pane and scroll if required, to see all the records that you have entered. You can see that both the form and the table are open on two separate tabs. You may click on the tab names to switch between them.

Queries and ReportUsing QueriesTo get any information, it is necessary to frame a question. Framing it correctly will give you the most accurate information. For example, if you ask at the railway enquiry counter Is there a train to Central Park? you will most probably not get the expected answer. But if you ask, When is the train to Central Park? you may get the most appropriate answer It leaves on Tuesday morning at 6:30 am. So framing a question correctly is important. In Access, to get information stored in the tables, you have to put questions in the form of queries.

Query: A query is a request for specific data in a database. Queries are used to view data in different ways, analyze and even change existing data. Queries can be used as a source for forms and reports because they are based on tables. Access saves each query in your database, like any other database object. Once youve saved a query, you can run it any time you want to take a look at the actual data that meets your specifications. Creating a query in Access is very much similar to creating a table or form, which you have already done. There are five types of queries in Access: Select query, Crosstab query, Parameter query, Action query and SQL query. The most common is the Select query, which you are going to use. A Select query retrieves the requested data from one or more tables and displays it in a query datasheet in the order you specify. Using the Query Wizard: Click on the Create tab. In the Other group, click Query Wizard. You will find this wizard similar to the one you used to create a form. The New Query window is displayed with Simple Query Wizard selected. Click OK to display the Simple Query Wizard window. In the Tables/Queries list, the Emp Info table is already selected. If not, select it. In the Available Fields list, you see all the fields in the Emp Info table. To select the required fields, select them one by one and click on the > button. Select the following fields - Last Name, First Name, Address, City, and Phone. Click Next. Here, accept the default name for the query or type a new one and click Finish. The query is displayed with all the records in the table, but with selected fields. Modifying a Query: There was nothing very different in this query. It was very simple. But now, you have a request from the Administrative department, they want a list of all employees, who have been in service for at least five years, for a 5 Years Service Award they want to give. This is very interesting. How are you going to specify this condition? You need to make some modifications in this query you have just created. While the query is open, click on the Home tab. Switch to Design View by clicking on the upper part of the View icon in the Views group. In the document window, at the top, you can see all the fields of the table used for the query in a small window. In the lower part, the fields selected in the query are displayed. Now, to know about the employees who have been in service for 5 years or more, you need to check their dates of joining the organization. For this, you need to modify the query by adding the Date_of_Joining field and specifying criteria. If you do not see the Date_of_Joining field in the window at the top, scroll down a bit. Then, double-click on this field. It is displayed in the first blank box after the Phone field. You must now specify a criterion for this field. Specifying criteria: You need the list of employees who have been in service for at least five years. In the criteria row, type the condition as >= 1/1/2001 AND < 1/1/2002 and press Enter. As soon as you press Enter, Access adds the # signs before and after the dates to identify the values in the expression as dates. Running a query: To see the result of this query, click on the Run icon in the Results group on the Design tab. The records matching your criteria are displayed. Saving the query: You now need to save this modified query. For this, click the Office Button and select Save As. Type the name 5 Year Service in the Save As window. Confirm that the As box has Query displayed in it. Click OK. Now close the query tab.

Creating ReportsThere is another request from the Administrative department they need an address report of all employees sorted by name. You will do this with the help of the Report Wizard that is provided by Access.

A report is a printed output generated from tables and queries. It might be a simple listing of all fields or of selected fields based on a query. You will be creating this address report based on the Emp Info table. Using the Report Wizard: Click on the Create tab. In the Reports group, click Report Wizard. The Report Wizard window is displayed. In the Tables/Queries list, select Table: Emp Info. Select fields Last Name, First Name, Address, City, State, Pin code, and Phone one by one by clicking on the > button, as you did while selecting fields for the query. Click Next. In the next Report Wizard window, there is an option for grouping fields, which you are not going to need, so click Next. The next Report Wizard window asks for the sort order of the records to be printed in the report. You can sort the records by up to four fields in either ascending or descending order. You need the address list of employees in ascending order of Last Name and within that in ascending order of the First Name. So, select Last Name as the first field and First Name as the second field and click Next. In the next window, you are asked about the layout of the fields and the page. You can have the fields laid out as either columnar, tabular or justified and the page can be oriented either as a portrait or a landscape. Click in the check box that says, Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a page and click Next. The next window lets you select the style of the report. Select a suitable one from the list and click on Next. The next window is the last step of the wizard. Here enter the report title as Employee Address List, click on Preview the report and click Finish. The preview of the report is displayed with the title and footer and all the records arranged in the specified sort order. But if you see the report properly, the headings and contents of some fields are not displayed completely. You need to make some changes. To make these changes, you need to modify the report layout. For now, close the report tab by clicking on the X shaped icon at the right end. Modifying report layout: Double-click on the report name in the Navigation Pane. Switch to Layout View by selecting View Layout View in the Views group. Now, the first thing you need to do is to exchange the order of the fields First Name and Last Name. Click on the heading Last Name. When the mouse pointer appears as a four-headed arrow, drag to the right to position it after the First Name column. You can see that the complete column is shifted to the right.

If you see that a heading is not displayed completely, click on it. A box appears around it. When the mouse pointer appears as a two-headed arrow, drag the right edge of the box to a suitable size. Similarly, where the data is not displayed completely, click on it. Then drag the right edge or lower edge of the box that appears to a suitable position. You may find that the State field is too big for its two character contents. You can reduce its size and make space for the other fields. To see the preview, select View Print Preview in the Views group. Check if all the data contents are visible on the page. If they are still not properly visible, you may move and resize the fields again as required. Save the report either by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S or by clicking Save on the Quick Access toolbar. Click Close Print Preview to close the preview.

Printing a ReportPrinting a report: The report is now ready to be printed. Click the Office Button and select Print or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P. The Print window is displayed. Select the printer from the Name list. Select the Print Range by clicking on Pages From and typing 1 to 1. Click OK. There is a requirement to print a report of all those employees who were listed for the five years service award. To create this report, you can make use of the query you created to list those employees. To create a report from a query, you have to follow all the same steps you performed to create a report from the table. The difference is that, in the Report Wizard, instead of the table, you will select the query. Click on the Create tab. In the Reports group, click Report Wizard. The Report Wizard window is displayed. Select the query 5 years service from the Table/Query list. Add all fields in the Available Fields list by clicking on the >> button and click Next. Click Next once again. The next Report Wizard window asks for the sort order of the records to be printed in the report. You need the report in ascending order of the Last Name and within that, in ascending order of the First Name. So, select Last Name as the first field and First Name as the second field and click Next. In the next window, you are asked about the layout of the fields and the page. You can have the fields laid out as either columnar, tabular or justified and the page can be oriented either as a portrait or a landscape. Click in the check box that says, Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a page and click Next.

The next window lets you select the style of the report. Select a suitable one from the list and click Next. The next window is the last step of the wizard. Here give a report title as 5 Year Service Awards, click on Preview the report and click Finish. You can see in the preview, all the records of employees who have worked for five years. Close the preview. Then close the database by clicking on the Office Button and selecting Close Database. You may exit Access by clicking on the Office Button and then clicking the Exit Access button.

PIM

Your cherished dream has come true; your company has decided to give laptops to each of its key employees. So you do not have to worry anymore about sharing your Personal Computer. You have decided to use this opportunity to its maximum potential and are eager to personalize your work environment. You want to use tools to organize your contacts, schedules etc. With Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, you have an integrated solution for managing your time and information. It can be used to organize and track all types of information. Some of the important tasks that can be performed using Microsoft Outlook are maintaining a personal calendar of appointments, events and meetings, and storing addresses. Starting Microsoft Outlook: To start the Microsoft Outlook application, click on the Start button and select All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. When you open Microsoft Outlook 2007, you will see a navigation pane on the left which contains categories such as Mail, Calendar, and Contacts etc. The upper portion of the navigation pane contains Category specific tools for working with different types of information. The bottom portion contains Category buttons for different tasks.

The Navigation Pane can be minimized into a vertical button bar, to provide you with a larger work area. To minimize the expanded Navigation Pane, click the arrow in the upper corner. To expand the minimized Navigation Pane, click the arrow at the top. The To-Do Bar on the right gives you a consolidated view of your calendar, upcoming appointments, tasks and important mail enabling you to prioritize your work. If the To-Do Bar is not visible at any time, click View To-Do Bar Minimized. This enables you to see a minimized view of the To-Do Bar at all times. To begin with, we shall take a look at the calendar. Click the button corresponding to Calendar in the navigation pane. The calendar for the current month is displayed in the category specific tools window. The Day view, having todays date and time divisions, is displayed in the information viewer on the right.

AppointmentYour immediate concern is to record all your important appointments in the calendar. Let us create an Appointment. Select the month from the calendar by using the arrows. Select the day. In the time slot type Meeting with the client. Press Enter. Your appointment has now been recorded. By default an appointment is allotted half an hour.

Let us create another appointment and enter more details. Select the time slot of 6 pm for the appointment in the information viewer of the Outlook window. Click the New button on the Standard toolbar. The Untitled - Appointment window is displayed.

Type Meeting with maintenance people as the Subject. Press the tab key and type Factory Premises as the Location. Select 7 pm as the End time from the drop-down list.

You may wish to be reminded about your appointment by a bell. On the Appointment tab, in the Options group, select the amount of time in the Reminder list before the appointment when you want the reminder to appear. To turn a reminder off, select None. In the Show As field, you may select the way in which you want your appointment to appear in the Calendar. Select Out of Office. In the text box below, type your notes, say Take along the maintenance log file & purchase bills. Now click on the Save & Close button in the Actions group. You can see that one hour has been allotted for this appointment. The Out of Office indicator is displayed at the left corner. You can also see the appointment on the To-Do Bar at the right. You may click the To-Do Bar to expand it and view details. Click it once again to return to the minimized form.

Creating Recurring AppointmentThere are some meetings which take place on a regular basis, such as meetings with your Accounts Manager. Click on the Today tab in the Standard toolbar. Click on Monday in the next week in the left panel. Click the 9 am time slot. Select Actions New Recurring Appointment. You can specify details of the appointment in the Appointment Recurrence window. Under Appointment time you may set the start and end time of the appointment. Select the end time 10:30 AM from the drop-down list. Under Recurrence pattern you may specify the days in the week when the appointment is going to occur and also if it is going to occur daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. The current setting is Weekly, Recur every 1 week on Monday. Let us keep this setting unchanged. Under Range of recurrence you may specify the time frame for your recurring appointment. The current setting is No end date. You may keep this setting. Click OK. In the Untitled - Appointment window type Weekly meeting - Accounts Manager as the Subject and Accounts office as the Location. Click on Save & Close on the Recurring Appointment tab, in the Actions group.

Now click the Monday of the next week and the following week on the calendar. You can see that the recurring appointment has been recorded.

Creating an EventThere is a two day exhibition for Product Promotions to be held in two weeks. Since it will last for at least 24 hours, such an entry is called an Event. Click on the Tuesday of two weeks later, in the date navigator window. Right-click in any of the time slots and select New All Day Event. There is a two day exhibition for Product Promotions to be held in two weeks. Since it will last for at least 24 hours, such an entry is called an Event. Click on the Tuesday of two weeks later, in the date navigator window. Right-click in any of the time slots and select New All Day Event. Type Product Promotion Exhibition as the Subject. Type International Trade Center as the Location. Select the next day from the End time drop-down menu. Set the Reminder to 2 days in the Options group of the Event tab. To mark the calendar to show that you will be out of office during these days, select Out of Office from the Show As list. Click on the Save & Close button in the Actions group.

Changing the Calendar ViewBy default, you can view your calendar on Day/Week/Month basis. This means that you may click on the related button to see the appointments on your calendar as you wish. In addition, you can view your calendar based on different criteria. Select View Current view.

The different views are described above.

Creating a Task List-

A task is a personal work related action item. A task can occur only once or happen on a recurring basis, such as a weekly report. For your weekly meetings with your assistants, you have several tasks that need to be completed. Click on the Tasks button in the Navigation Pane. If there are any tasks that have been entered previously, they are displayed. To change the view to a simple list, if necessary, select View Current View Simple List.

Click in the Click here to add a new Task text box. Type Create presentation displays for Product Promotion. Click in the Due Date text box and select a date from the calendar. Press Enter. Your task has now been recorded. Create the following tasks in a similar way: 1. Meeting with the Accounts Department. 2. Meeting with the maintenance staff. 3. Meeting at the Yoga Club. Updating the status of a task: Double-click on a tasks Subject. The Task window is displayed. Enter todays date as the Start date. From the Status drop-down menu, choose the option In Progress. From the Priority drop-down menu choose the option High. Set the % Complete to 25%. Click on Save & Close. To change the view to a detailed list, select View Current View Detailed List. This view shows detailed information about each task. It includes different columns for priority, subject, status, due date, percentage complete and categories. A category is a descriptive keyword or phrase to which you can assign related items. Outlook 2007 offers you Color categories that allow you to group information in a way that allows you to find and track all information most effectively. To set up your categories, select Actions Categorize All Categories. Outlook has certain predefined categories. You may make changes as per your requirements. Creating a new category: Click New in the Color Categories window. Let us enter the category name as Personal. Click OK Renaming a category: You may rename an existing color category to make it more meaningful. Select the Yellow Category and click Rename. Now enter the category name as Time & Expenses and click OK. Categorizing tasks: Select the task Meeting at the Yoga Club from the list. To assign a category to this task, right-click in the Categories column. From the available categories list, select Personal. Now the task has been assigned to the Personal category. Similarly, assign the following categories to the tasks as follows: 1. Meeting with the Accounts Department Time & Expenses 2. Meeting with the maintenance staff Orange Category You can use the same categorization techniques for other Outlook item like appointments and mails.

Sorting TaskSorting tasks is the process of rearranging items in ascending or descending order. For example, you might want to sort your tasks by Status or Due Date. Clicking in a column heading other than Task Subject sorts

the list according to that column. In the Detailed list view, click on the column heading Categories. You see that the tasks are sorted in ascending order by Categories. The next time you click, they are sorted in descending order. You may also sort tasks by using the Arrange By option from the View menu. You may sort your tasks according to Subject by selecting View Arrange By Subject. In the Tasks Timeline view, the tasks are arranged according to their due dates. To change the view to Task Timeline, select View Current View Task Timeline. Scroll the time line window to view all the tasks. In this view, each task will be represented by a task symbol. The subject of the task is also displayed. Now to return to the Detailed list view, select View Current View Detailed List.

Updating the Task StatusYou can update the status of the task at any time and specify the status and percentage completed. To update the status of the task, click in the Status column next to a task. From the drop-down list, select Completed and press Enter. You can now see that this task appears crossed out with % Complete as 100%. You may click on the Delete icon on the Standard toolbar to delete a completed task from the list.

Printing Task and Calendar itemsMany times you may need to print out your task list and appointment calendar so that it is available during a meeting. Select File Print. The Print window is displayed. Here you need to specify details about the Printer, the Print style, Print range and Copies. If necessary, select the appropriate printer for your system from the Name drop-down list. The Print style section specifies the format in which you want to print your task list. Here two styles are available, Table or Memo. The Print range section allows you to specify the rows in the table that are to be printed. The Copies section allows you to enter the number of pages and copies. Click on the Page Setup button. Click on the Header/Footer tab. Let us make some changes. Type your name in the left header text box. Select and delete the user name from the left footer box. Click OK. Before printing it is always a good idea to take a preview of the document you want to print. Click on the Preview button. To display the preview in actual size, click on the Actual Size icon in the toolbar. If everything is OK, click on the Print button in the preview window. Click OK in the Print window.

Similarly, to print the appointments, select Calendar in the Navigation pane. Select View Current View Active Appointments. Now, select File Print.

Creating NotesThe Notes tool is used to create a reminder for yourself. Notes are an electronic version of paper notes that you use to jot down quick reminders. Let us assume that you need to create a note to remind you to send an email message for an event. Click the button corresponding to Notes in the navigation pane. Confirm that the Notes view is set to Icons. Click on the New icon on the Standard toolbar.

A blank yellow colored note window is displayed. Type the required message and then close the window. You can reopen the note and make changes to it by double-clicking on it.

Address BookThe Address Book is an electronic book, which includes detailed information of all the people with whom you communicate. You can choose to enter different types of information such as business and home address, phone numbers, email addresses, nick names, birth-dates and anniversaries. By referring to your address book you can contact or communicate quickly with any individual from the contact list. Like other outlook tools, Contacts has several views like Business Cards, Address Cards, Phone List, By Category, By Company and others.

Adding and Removing ContactTo add a contact, click Contacts in the navigation pane. Click the New button from the Standard toolbar. The Untitled - Contact window is displayed. On the Contact tab, you can see the General button of the Show group highlighted. Here, you can enter the basic contact information such as Full Name, Company, Addresses, Phone numbers etc. Several of the fields include drop-down lists that allow you to further customize the information for each contact. Enter the required information in the appropriate fields. Click on the "Save & Close" button in the Actions group. You can view the entire contact list in the Business Cards format. The names are automatically listed in ascending alphabetical order. By double-clicking on the contact you may edit the information. If you want to delete a particular contact from the contacts list, right-click on the contact and select Delete. You may also delete a contact by selecting Edit Delete or pressing the Delete key af ter selecting the contact.

Importing and Exporting ContactYou may need to save your contacts to a file so that they are available for use in the future. This is called Exporting. This file can then be used to copy details of your contacts to another lo cation or another computer. This is called Importing. Exporting contacts: 1. Select File Import and Export. The Import and Export Wizard window is displayed. This wizard guides you through the complete procedure. Choose Export to a file. Click Next. 2. Choose Personal Folder File (.pst) from the Create a file of type list box. Click Next. 3. Select the Contacts folder from the Select the folder to export from list. Click Next. 4. Click on the Browse button. Specify the location where you wish to save the exported file in the Open Personal Folders window. Type Contacts in the File name text box. Click OK. 5. Now click Finish. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders window, click OK. The contacts you entered are now saved in a file and will be available when you want to import them later.

Importing contacts: 1. Select File Import and Export. In the Import and Export Wizard window, choose Import from another program or file. Click Next. 2. Choose Personal Folder File (.pst) from the Select file type to import from list. Click Next. 3. Click on the Browse button. Select the file from the appropriate location and click Open. Since there is a possibility that your imported file may contain contacts which you already have, you may select from three possibilities with regards to duplicates. Select the appropriate option and click Next. 4. Select the Contacts folder from the Select the folder to import from list. Now click Finish. The new contacts will be incorporated into the existing list.

Searching Address BooksYou can search for an address and the information associated with it in the address book. In the Find a contact box on the Standard toolbar, type the name of the contact you want to find and press Enter. Outlook will search all the available address books. You can enter a partial name (such as Hyosuke), first or last name, e-mail address and company name. To quickly open a contact you have previously searched for, click the arrow in the Find a contact drop-down list, and then select the appropriate name.

Creating & Editing Mailings ListA mailing list is a collection of contacts. This list is saved with a name. It provides an easy way to send messages to a group of people. You may add contacts from different address books into your list. You can also enter new contacts. Creating a mailing list: To create a mailing list, select File New Distribution List. In the Name field, type a name for the mailing list. On the Distribution List tab, in the Members group, click Select Members.

Under Address Book, select the address book that contains the e-mail addresses you want in your distribution list. In the list below, select the name, and then click Members. Do this for each person you want to add to the distribution list, and then click OK. Adding other members: You may also add members that do not exist in your address books to your mailing list. For this, click Add New in the Members group in the Distribution List window. Enter details in the Add New Member window and click OK. Now click Save & Close in the Actions group. The mailing list is saved in your Contacts folder by the name you give it. Creating Mails: To create a mail to send to all members of a mailing list, click Mail in the navigation pane. Click the New button on the Standard toolbar. The Untitled Message window is displayed. Click on To to display the Select Names window. Then click on the name of the mailing list and after that click To. Now click OK. You can see the name of the mailing list in the message window. Thi s mail can then be sent to all members of the list after completing other details.

Using Outlook For E-mailingSetting Up a Mail AccountA very important feature of Outlook is sending and receiving e-mail. You may create your mails offline and connect to the Internet only when you are ready to send them. Additionally, all incoming mail can be stored on your hard disk. You may disconnect from the Net and read your mails at leisure. You are holidaying in Malaysia and you want to send an e-mail to your friends back home. You first need to set up your mail account. Click Mail in the navigation pane. Select Tools Account Settings. On the E-mail tab, click New. On the Auto Account Setup screen, check the box beside Manually configure server settings or additional server types and click Next. Under Choose E-mail Service, ensure that Internet E-Mail is selected and then click Next.

In the Internet E-mail Settings screen, under User Information, enter your name and email address. Under Server Information, select Account type, either POP3 or IMAP depending on the type of mailbox you use. POP3 is generally used. Enter the respective server names provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the Incoming mail server and Outgoing mail server (SMTP) fields. Under Logon Information, enter your email address in the User Name field and the password for that account. Ensure that the Remember password box is checked. Click the More Settings button. On the Outgoing Server tab, check the box My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication and click OK. Click Next, and then click Finish on the Congratulations! screen. Now click Close.

Creating an E-mail MessageCreating a Mail message: This is also known as Composing a mail. To send an e-mail, you must enter details such as the e-mail address of the recipient, the subject and the content of the mail. Click the arrow next to the "New" button on the Standard toolbar and select "Mail Message". In the Untitled Message window, click on the "To:" button. This brings up the Select Names window. Select the appropriate Address Book. Then click on a name from the list to whom you wish to send the mail and click the To -> button. Use the Cc -> and Bcc -> buttons in the same way for entering the addresses to which you wish to send copies to. Cc stands for carbon copy and Bcc stands for blind carbon copy. If you add a recipients name using Bcc, the name is not visible to other recipients of the message. You may add multiple names to any of the fields. Click OK. You may also directly type in e -mail addresses not included in your address book. Now enter the subject and in the large white box below the subject field, type your message.

Using Attachment-

Attachments are separate files that are sent along with your e-mail message. They can be compared to a covering letter sent with a parcel or a birthday card sent along with a present. Attachments do not form part of your e-mail message but they can be opened and viewed or edited by the e-mail recipient. You can attach all sorts of files to an e-mail, including spreadsheets, word processor documents, database files, even sound recordings and graphic images. Attaching a file: You now want to send some digital pictures of Malaysia along with your message. While composing the message, click on the Paperclip Icon in the Include group. Specify the location and name of the picture files on your computer that you would like to attach. You may select multiple files by holding down the Ctrl key while you click each file. Now, click Insert. The list of files attached is displayed just

below the Subject Field. You may remove incorrect file attachments by clicking them and pressing the Delete key.

Sending MailAfter you have finished entering all information, click the Send button. If you are not connected to the Internet, your mail is stored in the Outbox. When you connect, mails from the Outbox are sent to the intended recipients. You may also click the Send/Receive button when connected to send mails which are in the Outbox. A copy of all sent messages will be kept in your Sent Items folder. Drafts: You may create a draft of a mail and send it at a later stage. For this, create a mail as described earlier. Instead of clicking the Send button, click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar. Your mail is now stored in the Drafts folder. You may edit your message at any time by clicking on the Drafts folder in the left panel and then double-clicking on the related message in the right panel.

Receiving MailReceiving Mail: By default, when you start Microsoft Outlook, all mails that you have received are deposited in your Inbox. You can see this folder in the left panel. Click on it to see a list of all mails received in the center panel. Here you can see details such as the senders name and the subject of the mail. You may also use the Send/Receive button to send and receive mail. Reading Mail: In the center panel, click on the mail whose content you wish to see. You can now read the message displayed in the right panel which is the Reading Pane.

Reading Mail: In the center panel, click on the mail whose content you wish to see. You can now read the message displayed in the right panel which is the Reading Pane.

Viewing & saving a attachmentViewing an attachment: You may also receive attachments from your friend like the ones you sent. It is very important to know how to view them. In order to view an attached file, the recipient needs to have a copy of the software application that was used to create the attachment initially. For example, if you have

received a picture as an e-mail attachment, then you must have the related software installed in order to see it. One of your friends has written to you that she has paid your college fees since you are out of town. She has also written about submission dates for your projects. She has attached a picture of her visit to Malaysia last year. When you receive an attachment in a message, and want to quickly see what the attachment contains without opening it, you can preview it. For this, simply click the attachment In the Reading Pane. To return to the message body, click the Message button. To open an attachment of a mail in your Inbox, right click on the attachment name and select Open. Saving an attachment: To save an attachment of a mail in your Inbox, right click on the attachment name and select Save As. Specify the location to save the file and then click Save.

Replying to and formatting a mailReplying to a mail: You now want to thank your friend for paying your fees. To reply to her mail, click on the Inbox folder and then click on the mail in the center panel. Now click the Reply button. A new mail message window is displayed. You can see that the recipients e-mail address and subject with the words RE: before it are already filled in. Also, the original mail that you had received is appended at the end. You may make any changes you require. Enter your mail content and send it like any other mail.

Forwarding a mail: You might want to convey the information related to the project submission dates to another friend. You may forward the mail that you have received. For this, click on the mail from the Inbox and then click the Forward button. A new mail message window is displayed with the original mail content and the subject. You can also see the original senders name and e-mail address as well as the date and time it was originally received. Now, enter the e-mail address of the person you wish to send it to in the To: field. The Subject field displays the words FW: followed by the original subject. This may be changed if required. Let us edit the content to remove the statement regarding the payment of fees. You may also make any other changes to the message that you wish. Now send it like any other mail. Let us edit the content to remove the statement regarding the payment of fees. You may also make any other changes to the message that you wish. Now send it like any other mail. Let us edit the content to remove the statement regarding the payment of fees. You may also make any other changes to the message that you wish. Now send it like any other mail.

Handling Mails in the InboxSorting Mails: You may sort the mails in your Inbox by selecting a suitable option by clicking on the Arranged By: button in the center panel. You may sort your mails by date received, subject, senders name etc. You may click on the box to the right of the Arranged By: field to reverse the sort order. Saving Messages: To save a mail that you have received to another place on your hard disk, click on it and select File Save As from the menu bar. In the Save As window, enter details regarding the location where you wish to save the mail and click Save. Printing Messages: To print a mail, click on it and then click on the Print button on the Standard toolbar.

Deleting Messages: To delete a mail, click on it and then click on the Delete button on the Standard toolbar. The message will be deleted and moved to your Deleted Items folder. You may want to empty the Deleted Items folder to make free space for additional storage. For this, right-click on the folder name and select Empty Deleted Items Folder and then click Yes in the window that comes up.

Using Instant SearchThe Instant Search feature helps you to quickly find items in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. The Instant Search pane is always available in all of your Outlook views, such as Mail, Calendar and Contacts. Let us use it to find a message in your Inbox. Simply type a word in the search box. The moment a match is found, the related mail is displayed. You can make your search more focused by clicking the Expand the Query Builder arrow. Type your search text in the From, Body, Subject, or To fields. To display more search fields in the Query Builder, click Add Criteria, and then select the search fields you want from the list. You can use the same search techniques to find any Outlook item.

Using FlagsFlags are very useful throughout Outlook. You can use a flag to quickly create a follow-up item that can be tracked in the To-Do Bar, in your Inbox, and even in the Calendar. All flagged mail items get added to the todo bar making it easy for you to keep track of the tasks and mail that you need to reply to or act upon. Let us flag a mail in the Inbox. Click on the flag symbol next to an important mail. You can see that it gets added in the To-Do Bar. When you have taken the necessary action, you can click the flag once again. It is replaced by a tick and is removed from the To-Do Bar.

MAKING IT WORK FOR YOU

CD WritingWhat is CD writing?

CD Writing is also known as Burning of a CD. A burned CD is a CD that has been written by using a process that involves using a device called a CD Writer or CD Burner to burn indentations into the CD. The reasons for burning a CD might be to create a backup of your files or simply to backup frequently used CDs. To burn a CD you need both a CD burner and CD burning software. Windows Vista comes with software that will burn your CDs for you. There are two types of CDs: 1) Recordable CDs - also known as CD-R 2) Rewriteable CDs - also known as CD-RW On CD-R disks, the space can only be used once, although you may add files over multiple sessions until the total space has been used. On CD-RW disks, the space can be erased and re-used many times. However, CDRW disks can only be used on CD-RW drives and not on ordinary CD-ROM read-only drives. CD-RW disks are also more expensive. Before you can copy files to a CD, the disc must first be prepared using a process called formatting. You may format a CD using either the Live File System or Mastered format. By default, Windows burns discs in the Live File System format.

Live File System discs enable you to copy individual files immediately to a disc. This is a convenient format if you need to copy a few files at a time. You may delete individual files or reformat the disc to create additional disc space when you use a rewriteable disc.

Mastered discs enable you to burn multiple files to a disc at one time. This format is advisable if you need to burn a large collection of files, such as a music CD. Creating such a disk requires as much free space on your hard disk as the capacity of the disc you are burning

.Burning CD using Windows VISTA-

Using the Live File System format: To write a CD using the Live File System format, perform the following steps: Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer. This is the Destination Drive. In the window that appears, click Burn files to disc. In the Burn a disc window, enter a name for this disc, and click Next. It takes several minutes for the disc to be formatted in the Live File System format. When the formatting is complete, an empty disc folder opens. Open the folder that contains the files you want to write to the CD in another window. This is the Source Drive. Re-size and arrange the windows in such a way that both the Source Drive and the Destination Drive are visible on the screen. Now drag the files to be copied into the empty disc folder. As you drag files into the disc folder, they are copied automatically to the disc. Using the Mastered format: To write a CD using the Mastered format, perform the following steps: Insert a writeable CD into your computers CD Writer. In the window that appears, click Burn files to disc. In the Burn a disc window, enter a name for this disc and then click Show formatting options. Click Mastered and then click Next.

An empty disc folder opens. Open the folder that contains the files you want to burn, and then drag the files into the empty disc folder. The files are copied to a temporary folder on your hard drive. You may change the files in this folder if you wish. Let us delete one of the files. After you are sure about the files to be written to the CD, on the toolbar, click Burn to disc. The selected files are copied to the disc. When the disc burning is complete, the disc burner tray will open and you can remove the disc.

You may write the same files to another CD by checking the box against Yes, burn these files to another disc. Now, click Finish.

Erasing a CDA rewriteable CD may be erased and written many times. If you use the Live File System format, you can delete one or more files to make more room on the disc. To delete a specific file on a disk, click on the file name. To select more than one file, hold down the Ctrl key while you click the files you want. Now, press the Delete key. To erase all files on a disc, on the toolbar, click Erase this disc. In the window that is displayed, click Next. Click Finish when the process is complete.

Virus ProtectionWhat is Computer Virus-?

A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. An example of an executable file is a program, COM or EXE file. A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. While viruses can be intentionally destructive, for example, by destroying data, many other viruses are fairly benign or merely annoying.

The insertion of a virus into the program is termed as an "infection", and the infected file, or executable code that is not part of a file, is called a "host". A virus can infect different parts of the computers operating and file system. Viruses are one of the several types of malicious software. The term virus is often extended to refer to worms, Trojan horses and other such software. A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program. However, a worm is selfcontained and does not need to be part of another program to spread itself. Worms harm the network and add to network traffic, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer. Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as their malicious activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself.

A Trojan Horse is a malicious program that is disguised as or embedded within legitimate software. Spyware is software designed to take control of another computer system without the consent of the owner. An Identity Theft is a harmful act by deliberately impersonating a person, for example, using someone elses credit card. Adware is a software package that automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer.

Virus Protection-

Today, due to the popularity of the Internet than network-borne worms are more common than viruses. Anti-virus software, originally designed to protect computers from viruses, has in turn expanded to cover worms and other threats such as spyware, identity theft and adware.

Some of the popular antivirus packages are Norton Antivirus, MacAfee, AVG Antivirus and Quick Heal. Antivirus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software. This software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this.

The first is scanning all files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus dictionary. The second is identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might indicate infection. Such analysis may include data captures, port monitoring and other methods. Most commercial antivirus software uses both of these approaches, with an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach. It is important to regularly scan your computer using a good anti-virus program. You must keep your antivirus program updated by downloading the latest releases by your antivirus program vendor. Always scan floppies and CDs for viruses, before copying data to your hard disk. Even if CDs are read only, the files on them may already be infected.

Getting more from your ComputerListening to music-

You can use your computer for lots more than just computational activities. To listen to music, you may use your Windows Media Player or download other players such as Winamp and Real Player from the Internet. A sound card and speakers (or earphones) are also required to hear audio. Audio files in mp3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) format are optimized for storing music in compressed format. Because these music files are compressed, a large hard drive is not required to store them. This means you can store thousands of songs without running out of hard drive space. However, you can always copy music to a CD to free up space.

You may also listen to music online. Playing video or sound in real time as it is transferred to your computer over the World Wide Web is called Streaming. Streaming requires a powerful computer and a fast connection since the file is not stored on your computer. Streaming has two advantages over downloading. First, there is no download wait when streaming. You can hear the music as soon as your player starts receiving the stream. Second, after the music has finished playing, no files are left on your computer to take up space.

Downloading Music-

Rather than traveling to a store to buy a music CD, buying online is fast and convenient. Theres nothing worse than buying a CD after youve heard a good song, only to find its the only good song in the album. By downloading from the Internet, you can choose to purchase individual songs, if so desired. If you hear a great song on the radio, you can log onto one of the music sites and download it within seconds. Rather than traveling to a store to buy a music CD, buying online is fast and convenient. Theres nothing worse than buying a CD after youve heard a good song, only to find its the only good song in the album. By downloading from the Internet, you can choose to purchase individual songs, if so desired. If you hear a great song on the radio, you can log onto one of the music sites and download it within seconds.

The best way to find the music you want on the internet is to use a search engine. There are many popular sites for music lovers such as Music-Sites.net and music.lycos.com. Once a song is found, listen to a sample to make sure its the one you want before downloading it. If it is not a free download, you will be prompted to type in a valid credit card number to pay for the music. You must specify the location on your computer to store the downloaded file. A Download Manager window shows the progress of the download. Once downloaded, double-click the file to play it. By downloading music, you may create a large music collection on your computer. It can be copied on CDs or a digital MP3 player so that you can take it wherever you wish.

While downloading music, you must respect copyright laws. Although many sites offer pirated music, there are others from which you can download legal music. If you are downloading pirated digital files, you could be subject to steep fines or other penalties, and they could be exposing your computer to viruses, spyware and other unwanted software.

TV Tuner Card-

A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. This means that your computer can serve both as a computing device as well as a television. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, enabling the recording of television programs onto a hard disk. Many TV tuners can function as FM radios.

The card contains a receiver, tuner, demodulator, and an analog-to-digital converter for analog TV. Like TV sets, each version is designed for the radio frequencies and video formats used in each country. Broadcasts can also be digitally recorded by the computer for later replay, or distribution to other computer users.

Most internal tuners do all the low level demodulation needed to convert a radio signal into an on-screen image using a hardware chip and do not need to use the CPU. Some cheaper tuners cannot do much of the signal processing and rely on the systems CPU for that task. Most internal tuners do all the low level demodulation needed to convert a radio signal into an on-screen image using a hardware chip and do not need to use the CPU. Some cheaper tuners cannot do much of the signal processing and rely on the systems CPU for that task. Most internal tuners do all the low level demodulation needed to convert a radio signal into an on-screen image using a hardware chip and do not need to use the CPU. Some cheaper tuners cannot do much of the signal processing and rely on the systems CPU for that task.

PC to Mobile sending smsSMS is an abbreviation for Short Message Service. It is a globally accepted wireless service for sending messages of up to 160 alphanumeric characters between mobile subscribers and external systems such as email, paging, and voice mail systems. SMS is a very popular service, particularly among young people.

This service is available on digital Global System for Mobile (GSM) networks allowing text messages to be sent and received via the network operators message center to your mobile phone, or from the Internet, using an "SMS gateway" website. If the phone is powered off or out of range, messages are stored in the network and are delivered at the next available opportunity.

You require Internet connectivity and an SMS service provider to be able to send an SMS from your PC to a mobile phone. There are numerous sites providing paid SMS services. There are others that provide this service free of cost as well. You have to register with a site in order to send SMS using the interface provided. Today, SMS is used by organizations for marketing, as well as for providing value-added services such as reminders for payments, information about flight delays, current events, sports news and much more.

Understand Terms & TechnologyNetizensToday, the Internet is an integral part of our lives. As a powerful communications medium, the Internet offers great possibilities for social change. The term Netizen is now used regularly. This word has been created using the two words Net and Citizen. So a Netizen is a citizen of the world, thanks to the global connectivity that the Internet offers. A Netizen is also known as a Cybercitizen.

Netizens physically live in one country but are in contact with much of the world via the global computer network. Virtually, they live next door to every other single netizen in the world. Geographical distances do not have much significance since everyone exists in the same virtual space - Cyberspace.

The term Netizen indicates civic responsibility and participation. Netizens try to be conducive to the Internets use and growth. They use the Internet to engage in various intellectual and social activities such as giving and receiving viewpoints and furnishing information.

Blogs-

The term "blog" is a contraction of "Web log." A weblog is a journal or newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for general public use. Blogs have reshaped the web and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other related media. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media.

A blog gives you your own voice on the web. Its a place to collect and share things that you find interesting whether its your political views, a personal diary, or links to web sites you want to remember. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as personal online diaries. Journalists often use blogs to publish breaking news, while others reveal inner thoughts through blogs. There are three main features of a blog. The first is reverse chronological order. This means that latest entries are displayed at the top. The second feature is unfiltered content. Opinions are given freely without any restrictions, legal or otherwise. The third feature is comments. Comments can be made on any issue discussed on the blog or from outside.

Edutainment-

Edutainment refers to educational entertainment or entertainment-education. It is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse. Edutainment is normally used to provide education related to one or more specific subjects. Edutainment makes learning enjoyable.

Edutainment seeks to instruct by using some familiar form of entertainment such as television programs, computer and video games, films, music, websites, multimedia software, etc. There are also blogs on edutainment that give the latest news and updates on available software. They have videos and lessons that use edutainment as a basis for teaching in a more efficient and faster way. Edutainment is also used to refer to the use of e-learning modules to put across concepts in an entertaining manner. The term Edutainment is used to distinguish regular computer games from more educational software. Fast moving shooting games are not edutainment. On the other hand, games which involve problem solving experiences with gentle intelligent creatures may be referred to as edutainment. Examples include educational software for children that teach them to spell or count while playing games and CD-ROMs about machines that contain animations showing how the machines work.

InfotainmentInfotainment is a term applied to software that seeks to inform and entertain simultaneously. Infotainment or soft news refers to a part of the news trade that provides information in a way that is considered entertaining to its viewers. It attempts to minimize the dryness of regular news coverage by adding a certain amount of light-hearted or sensational style. Infotainment is a combination of information and entertainment. It refers to a general type of broadcast program which consists of both "hard news" segments and interviews, along with celebrity interviews and human drama stories. Many non-fiction CD-ROM titles are classified as infotainment, such as multimedia encyclopedias or reference disks. Infotainment may include information related to topics such as health tips or gardening tips, travel or shopping that are not actually "news" at all. Other stories may deal with current trends such as a shift in political views or a change in the attitudes of teenagers.

NetiquetteNetiquette or Network etiquette is etiquette on the Internet. It consists of an informal group of rules and ways of behaving on the Internet. Cyberspace has its own culture. Not knowing the rules for behaving properly online might result in unintentionally offending or misunderstanding someone. Let us have a look at some of the core rules of Netiquette. Think before writing: The most important rule relevant to e-mail marketing is not to send promotional messages to anyone who has not agreed to receive them. You must remember that your communication via email or on discussion groups involves written words. There are chances that theyre stored at the other end and may be used for purposes that you did not intend. So, always be cautious with your words. Always try to be polite: You may stand up for yourself when you have been wronged, but try not to hurt peoples feelings. Follow the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.

Respect the time and bandwidth of others: Bandwidth is the information-carrying capacity of the channels that connect everyone in cyberspace. Theres a limit to the amount of data that can be carried at a given moment. For example, when you accidentally post a note to a newsgroup five times, you would wasting both bandwidth and the time of the people who have to check all copies of the posting.

Respect the privacy of others: In the same way as you wouldnt wish to snoop through your colleagues desk drawers, naturally you wouldnt read anyones email. Some people in cyberspace such as system administrators have more power than others. They should not misuse this to read private email. Be tolerant: Everyone makes mistakes -- whether it involves a spelling error or asking a stupid question or giving an unnecessarily long answer. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Be tolerant and if you do decide to inform someone of a mistake, point it out politely and preferably by private email rather than in public. Technology Today-

Today, there are loads of gadgets and new technologies that can equip you to deal with nearly every personal or business contingency. For example, under-the-hood diagnostics can be performed while a car is speeding along a track. As a result, mechanics can know what parts needed to be replaced even before the car has come in for servicing. Even if you are not a great singer, you may make use of a gadget to make your off-key singing sound really melodious! These are just a few of the huge advancements in technology.

Reading is not what it used to be in the past. It now has an additional dimension. Digital versions of books are available complete with pictures, video clips, and sound. It is possible to easily contact and communicate with people you do not even know using technologies such as Instant Messaging (IM), Chatting and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP allows users to not only talk but also broadcast video conferences via the Web.

IPods, podcasting & RSS-

iPod: iPod is a brand of portable media players created by Apple and launched on October 23, 2001. Till date, it is possibly the best-selling digital audio player series in history. Devices in the iPod family are designed according to the latest demands and technology. They vary in size and features. iPod classic is a model which has a hard-drive. The smaller iPods like nano and shuffle use flash memory which is a non-volatile memory device. iPod touch is a model which has a touch screen. iPods, other than the iPod touch, can also serve as external data storage devices. iPod is a music player and more. Apples iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. iTunes stores a music library on the users computer and can play and write music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. You can also purchase digital music files from within iTunes.

Podcasting: Podcasting is a new type of online media delivery which consists of free audio and video broadcasts. Put simply, podcasting allows you to download files onto your computer and MP3 player which can contain music, talk shows or anything else. An important feature about podcasting is that you can subscribe to a series so that it automatically downloads on to your computer and MP3 player. The term Podcast is derived from the words iPod and broadcast, but to create a podcast or even to listen to one, it is not mandatory to possess an iPod, or any portable music player. Podcasting enables you to compile all your favorite music, film reviews, radio programs and news stories and you may listen to them whenever and wherever you wish. You can use podcasting software such as iTunes, Juice, Odeo, Podnova and Feedburner to subscribe to your favorite podcasts, which will then be automatically downloaded for you. Such software is available for free download from the Internet. Today, using the Internet, technologies like Podcasting empower you with a voice that can literally reach around the world. Podcasts can be used for a number of different things such as creation of informational, instructional and promotional material. They may also be used in story telling for children or the visuallyimpaired, for Commentaries, Sportscasts and lots more. RSS Feeds: A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Podcasts are downloaded via a feed such as RSS. Short for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary), RSS is a method of publishing content on frequently updated web sites.

Users access headlines and see web site updates via an RSS reader which is an application that displays a short summary and provides links to the full article on the Web site. This allows users to "subscribe" to a site so that they can quickly scan the updated headlines and then go to specific articles of interest. Some browsers also include the RSS reading functions.

Bluetooth & Wi-Fi TechnologyBluetooth is the name of a new technology that promises to change the way we use machines. We see a large number of cables in our offices, homes and everywhere else. We often have a hard time trying to figure out which cable needs to go where. Bluetooth is essentially a cable-replacement technology which tries to solve this problem.

Conceived initially by Ericsson, Bluetooth is a small, cheap radio chip to be plugged into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc. It creates a wireless personal area network (PAN) and provides a way to connect and exchange information between two devices over distances of about 30 feet. It aims to simplify data synchronization between Internet devices and other computers.

It is a radio standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range. Using this technology, users of cellular phones can buy a multi-purpose phone that can serve as a portable phone and also be used to get information from a computer, and, in general, have all mobile and fixed computer devices in total co-ordination. Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is short for "Wireless Fidelity" and is a set of standards for wireless local area networks. It was originally developed for use by wireless devices and local networks but it is now used for Internet access as well. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have slightly different applications.

Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequencies as Bluetooth, but with higher power resulting in a stronger connection. It covers greater distances, but requires more expensive hardware and higher power consumption. It enables a faster connection, and offers better security than Bluetooth.

Popular WebsitesWikipedia-

Wikipedia is one of the most popular reference sites on the Internet. It is a web -based free content, multilingual encyclopedia written by contributors around the world. It is the result of the combined efforts of an online community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia in a spirit of mutual respect. It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists of 195 independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites. It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists of 195 independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites. It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists of 195 independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites. It offers quick understanding on various issues and current affairs. It consists of 195 independent language editions sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites. This is a special type of website, called a Wiki where anybody can edit and add to an article. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia content. Content is meticulously appraised and inappropriate changes are removed. Repeat offenders may be blocked from editing. Anyone is welcome to add information as long as they do so within Wikipedias editing policies. For example, if you add information to an article, you must include appropriate references.

This is a special type of website, called a Wiki where anybody can edit and add to an article. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia content. Content is meticulously appraised and inappropriate changes are removed. Repeat offenders may be blocked from editing. Anyone is welcome to add information as long as they do so within Wikipedias editing policies. For example, if you add information to an article, you must include appropriate references. This encyclopedia can be found at www.wikipedia.com. Select the language of your choice to go to the Main Page. Let us click on English. On the left-hand side of the screen you can see a search box with two buttons under it labeled "Go" and "Search".

Let us look for information related to the great scientist Albert Einstein. Type Einstein into the box, and press enter or click Go. This will take you directly to Wikipedias most relevant article on the entered keyword. Here you will most likely find all the information you need.

Let us look for information related to the great scientist Albert Einstein. Type Einstein into the box, and press enter or click Go. This will take you directly to Wikipedias most relevant article on the entered keyword. Here you will most likely find all the information you need.

If you wish to look up additional Wikipedia pages, click Search after you have entered your keyword. You see a page which displays links to other pages. Simply click a link to view the related page. So, using Wikipedia, you can research on any topic with great ease. You Tube-

YouTube is a website that specializes in publishing user-posted video clips. It is one of the top ten most popular websites on the Internet. The visitors to this site are mostly teenagers and young adults. Its slogan is Broadcast Yourself meaning that everyone is free to broadcast whatever they wish, provided it is not potentially offensive.

Started in 2005, the site was purchased one year later by Google. It can be found at www.youtube.com. While much of the content consists of original amateur videos, professional content is now being provided by some advertisers and media producers. Various people have used YouTube to achieve celebrity status by dancing, singing, posting video resumes, and in other creative ways. Browsing through the loads of available videos is simple and uploading your own video is almost as simple. YouTubes phenomenal appeal lies in its simplicity and global reach. There are a number of other video sharing sites but so far, none of them have been able to match the cultural impact or enormous volumes of YouTube. Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. YouTube discourages users from downloading videos to their own computers, preferring that they watch videos online. Like most other social-networking sites, YouTube has been the focus of controversies related to some sensitive political and personal issues. Because of this, the site has been banned in a few countries.

ALL ABOUT COMPUTER

Introduction to ComputerWhat is a Computer-

To begin with, you must understand the impact of computers in the world today. Computers are affecting our lives is some way or the other. Airline and railway reservations, telephone and electricity bills, banking, medical diagnoses, weather forecasts the list of services using computers is almost endless

A computer is a device that allows you to input data, process data quickly and efficiently, receive outputs and store data. Thus a computer consists of one or more input devices, output devices, storage devices and a processing unit. The three basic benefits of a computer system are speed, accuracy and diligence. A computer works diligently at all times without getting bored or tired like human beings. However, computers cannot take over all human activities simply because they are less flexible than humans. They do not have the potential to work out alternate solutions. In unanticipated situations, computers produce erroneous results or abandon the task altogether.

Generations of ComputerThe development of computers was characterized by phases of growth, which have come to be called as Computer Generations. Major technological developments in each generation led to smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient computers.

First Generation (1940 -1956) - Vacuum Tubes: These computers used valves leading to a huge size and cost.

Second Generation (1956 -1963) - Transistors: These computers used transistors that were more efficient and cheaper than valves.

Third Generation (1964 -1971) Integrated Circuits: These computers used Integrated Circuits (IC). A major breakthrough was achieved when hundreds of transistors could be placed on a single silicon chip. This Integrated Chip became the basis of the third generation.

Fourth Generation (1971 Present) Microprocessors: These computers used microprocessors. With the introduction of VSLI (Very Large Scale Integration), thousands of transistors could be placed on a single chip. Fourth Generation (1971 Present) Microprocessors: These computers used microprocessors. With the introduction of VSLI (Very Large Scale Integration), thousands of transistors could be placed on a single chip. Fourth Generation (1971 Present) Microprocessors: These computers used microprocessors. With the introduction of VSLI (Very Large Scale Integration), thousands of transistors could be placed on a single chip.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond): Artificial Intelligence: The fifth generation computer tries to infuse intelligence into computers. The development of these computers is still in its infancy, but some examples that can be given are various speech recognition systems and robots.

Types of Computer SystemA system is a group of integrated parts that have a common purpose of achieving an objective. There are various computer systems categorized on the basis of size, cost and performance. Let us look at the main ones. Personal Computers or Microcomputers: The Personal Computer (PC) is the most popular computer system. It is small in size but capable of handling large tasks. It can perform a diverse range of functions from keeping track of household accounts to keeping records of the stores of a large manufacturing company.

Minicomputers: This is a general purpose computer. It can vary in size from a small desktop model to the size of a small filing cabinet. A typical mini system is more expensive than a PC and it has greater speed and storage capacity. This computer system is usually designed to simultaneously handle the needs of multiple users.

Mainframe Computers: A mainframe is another form of a computer system that is generally more powerful than a typical mini system. They are used in large organizations for large-scale jobs. Different mainframe computers may vary widely in terms of cost and capability. Mainframe Computers: A mainframe is another form of a computer system that is generally more powerful than a typical mini system. They are used in

large organizations for large-scale jobs. Different mainframe computers may vary widely in terms of cost and capability.

Super Computers: These systems are the largest, fastest and the most expensive computers in the world. They are used for activities such as weather forecasting, complex scientific and defense applications, biomedical research and large-scale chemical analyses in laboratories.

Components of a Computer SystemA complete computer system is made up of four main parts: Hardware, Software, Data and Users. Let us understand each part.

Hardware: The hardware consists of all devices of the computer that you can see and touch. These include input, processing and output devices.

Software: The software of a computer system refers to the organized sets of instructions that control the working of the computers operations. These instructions are stored as programs. Some programs are used by the computer to control its own tasks and devices. Data: Data consists of raw facts and figures which the computer manipulates and processes into meaningful information. Data is stored in digital form on the computer. This means that the computer reads and stores all data as numbers. However, it outputs information in a form that can be understood by human beings.

User: A user is a person who uses the computer externally with a specific objective. He is not involved with the internal functioning of the computer system. He inputs data and gets the information he requires.

HardwareAs you know, a computer follows the Input-Process-Output cycle for its operations. So the devices used can be categorized as input devices, output devices and processing devices. Input devices are used to give instructions to the computer. Output devices are used to display the output of an operation. Processing devices do the actual processing. Additionally, data is stored in Storage Devices while processing as well as for future reference.

Input devices: Let us have a look at some input devices.

Keyboard: This resembles a common typewriter. It has different keys that perform various operations. The user can type in data and instructions using the keyboard.

Mouse: This is a small device that is connected to the system unit. Movement of the mouse causes a corresponding movement of a pointer on the screen. It usually has three buttons with which the user can select options from the screen.

Joystick: This is a pointing device with a vertical lever mounted on a base. It is mainly used for computer games and ultrasound scanners in hospitals.

Scanner: This device is used to capture information such as photographs and documents on paper and translate it into a computer image.

Microphone: This device allows a user to record sound or enter data and instructions into the computer by speaking into it.

Output devices: Now let us see some output devices.

Monitor: This is also called a Visual Display Unit (VDU). It is used to display both data that is entered and data after it is processed to the user. It is similar to a TV screen and can display text and graphic images. There are generally two types of monitors available in the market. They are CRT monitors which stands for Cathode Ray Tube and LCD monitors which stands for Liquid Crystal Display.

Printer: Since the output on the monitor cannot be stored for later reference, a printer is used to obtain a permanent copy of the output. Some printers are capable of printing at very high speeds.

Speakers: You may use speakers to listen to sound files which can be on CDs or those that you have recorded using a microphone.

Processing devices: Now let us have a look at some processing devices.

System Unit: Processing of input data takes place in the system unit. The component of the system unit that is involved in the actual processing is the Microprocessor.

Motherboard: This is another component of the system unit. The motherboard has the standard circuitry that is needed for the computer. It also has slots that enable you to plug in other input and output devices.

CPU: The Central Processing Unit or the Microprocessor is the brain of the computer and is placed inside the system unit. It is responsible for processing data, storing data and retrieving information. Almost all signals, information and functions travel through the computers microprocessor.

Storage Devices: There are two types of storage devices - Primary and Secondary storage devices. The primary storage device for a computer is the Random Access Memory (RAM). It is a volatile storage device meaning that when the computer is switched off, data stored in the RAM is lost.

Secondary Storage Devices:

Some of the secondary storage devices are hard disk, compact disk,

floppy disk and pen drive. The hard disk is placed permanently inside the computer. Compact disks, floppy disks and pen drives are portable storage devices which you can use to transfer data from one computer to another.

Disk Drives: The microprocessor does not read or write directly from storage media such as the hard disk or the floppy disk. A disk drive is a device that is specially designed to perform these functions. When data from a disk has to processed, it is read by the disk drive. After processing, the disk drive writes data onto the disk. So it performs both the tasks of reading and writing, in other words, the input and output functions. This is the reason that a disk drive is referred to as an input-output device.

SoftwareA computer is incapable of performing any task with the hardware alone. It requires instructions to function as desired. A set of instructions is called a program. A set of programs written to achieve a common objective is called a software package. Software may be categorized into two types Application Software and System Software.

Application Software: Software that is designed for a specific application is called application software.
Some examples are software for billing systems, accounting software or software that enables the creation and storage of documents.

System Software: This is the Operating System of the computer. It comprises of programs that the
computer uses to manage its tasks and devices. The operating system performs the two main tasks of storage management and device management. Data to be processed and programs to be run are stored at locations known only to the operating system. It takes care of the actual transportation of information from one device to another.