Basic PC Operation 

Turning the computer on.  First, press the space bar on the keyboard or move the mouse to see if the computer is just in the "sleep" mode.  If it's really off, press the power button and turn on the monitor also. (In Barron Collier computer labs, the user name is adulted and the password is adult).

Turning the computer off.  Click Start (the green button in the lower left corner of the screen), select Turn off Computer, then click Turn off. Switch off the monitor, too.

Clicking and double-clicking.  Unless otherwise specified, "click" means "single-click" with the left mouse button - that is, click and release the left mouse button once.  Don't double-click unless the instructions specifically say to double-click. "Right-click" means use the right mouse button; right clicking is much less common than left-clicking. Hint: the active part of the on-screen mouse pointer is the tip of the little arrow.  Make sure the tip of the arrow is on the thing you want to click on.

Dragging. To "drag" means to hold the left mouse button down and slide the mouse pointer.  "Right-drag" means to drag with the right mouse button instead.

Moving and resizing windows (On-screen windows containing programs or documents, photos, etc). Move windows by dragging the blue upper border.  Resize a window by dragging the lower-right corner (mouse pointer changes to a diagonal arrow). Hide (minimize) a window temporarily by click on the "-" box in the upper right.  Show a minimized window by clicking on its tab in the bottom taskbar.

Opening ("launching") a program.  Click Start (the button in the lower left corner of the screen), select Programs, then select the program from the pop-up menu of programs.  

Switching between programs.  Each currently open program shows a tab in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.  To switch to a program, click on its tab.  To close a program, right-click on its tab and select Close. 

Quitting (Exiting) a program.  Select File --> Exit OR click on the red x box in the upper right of the program's window OR right-click on its tab in the taskbar and select Close. 

Opening a disk (hard disk, floppy, of CD-ROM) to inspect its contents. Double-click on "My Computer" icon on the desktop, then double-click on the disk you want to open.  

Opening a file. Double-click on the file to allow the computer to decide what program to use to display the file.  To choose the program yourself, open the desired program first, then select File --> Open and navigate to the file. In Windows XP,  right-click on the file and select Open with.  This displays a list of programs that can open that file type.  Select one.  Or select Choose Program... to make another choice. 

Creating a new folder. Open the disk or folder where you want the new folder, then right-click on the white area of the window and select New --> Folder.  Type a name for the folder and press enter. To create a new folder on the desktop, right-click on the desktop (screen background) and select New --> Folder.  

How big is a file?  To determine how much disk space a file or folder takes up, right-click on the file icon and select Properties from the pop-up menu.  

Re-naming a file or folder.  Right-click on the file or folder, select Rename, type the new name, press enter.

Deleting a file or folder.  Right-click on the file or folder, select Delete, click Yes.

Saving a file in another location.  Select File --> Save as...  Click on the "Save in:" menu at the top of the box and select the desired disk or folder to save the file in.  Click Save.