Unit 4.

Performing Basic Computer Operations

4.1 PROCEDURE FOR STARTING AND SHUTTING DOWN A COMPUTER

As we all know that computer is a very useful machine. It is very important to properly start the
computer and after finishing the work, it needs to be properly shut down. If the power of the computer
is switched off, and the files you were working on were not closed, the files and the operating system
may get corrupted.

4.1.1 Starting a Computer

The steps to start a computer are given below:

1. Press the Power button of the computer.

2. When you turn on the computer, lights on the keyboard may blink for a while and you may
hear a beep sound. This indicates that the Power-on-self text (POST) has started. POST is a
sequence of tests that determines if the computer hardware like, keyboard, RAM, disk drives,
etc are working correctly. The monitor may display a message, if a component is not
functioning.
3. After the POST, the computer starts the operating system. The process of bringing up the
operating system is called booting. The computer knows how to boot because the instructions
of booting are built into a chip called BIOS (Basic Input/ Output System).
4. When the operating system starts, say Windows 7, Windows welcome screen appears. The
first screen that appears after Windows 7 is successfully loaded is called desktop.
5. Now, you can perform various tasks on the computer.

4.1.2 Shutting down the computer

Before shutting down the computer, you need to save and close all the files and applications. You can
completely turn off the computer, you can make it sleep or hibernate it.

To turn off the computer completely, click the Start button, and then click Shut Down.

If you choose Sleep option, the system uses very little power, the computer starts up faster and you
are back to where you left. You can use sleep option if you going away for a short time. Laptops and
tablets goes to sleep when you close the lid or press the Power button.

If you select Hibernate option, system uses less power than Sleep. When you start the PC again, you
are back to where you left.

4.2 Operating Systems

An operating system is the basic software that controls the computer. It serves as an interface
between the user and the computer.

Some of the functions of Operating system are:

• It manages all the devices of a computer and keeps track of the status of the device, whether it
is busy or not.
• It also checks whether the device is functioning properly or not.
• It also controls software resources of the computer.

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• t manages the computer memory and keeps track of which memory space is in use by which
program and which space is free.
• It manages the structure of the files and directories on a computer system.
• It keeps track of the amount of disk space used by a specific file.
• It allows you to create, copy, move and delete files.

4.3 TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

4.3.1 Commonly used operating systems
<A> DOS

DOS (Disk Operating System) is an operating system for a personal computer. Early computers were
able to run one program at a time. It had a command line interface in which a user has to remember
the commands to run the program and do other operating system tasks. For example, the DOS
command, dir, will display the list of files in the current directory.

<B> Windows

It is an operating system developed by Microsoft. Some popular versions of Windows operating

system are- Windows 98, Windows, 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

<C> Linux

It is an operating system designed for personal computers. It is a free and open-source software, which
means it can be modified and redistributed.

4.3.2 Mobile operating Systems

Some popular operating systems that are used in mobile phones are:

<A> Android It is an operating system used in mobile phones and tablets. It is owned and maintained
by Google and is an open-source operating system. The android releases were nicknamed after sweets
or dessert items like Cupcake (1.5), Donout (1.6), Éclair (2.0), Frozen Yogurt (2.2), Honeycomb (3.0)
and Jelly Bean (4.1), Kitkat (4.4), marshmallow (6.0),

<B> Symbian It is an operating system used in mobile phones. Symbian was developed and sold by
Symbian Ltd. It is primarily used by Nokia. It is also used by Japanese mobile phone manufacturers for
handsets sold in Japan.

<C> Windows Phone It is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smart phones and
pocket
PCs. Windows Mobile. Windows 8.1 is the latest release of this operating system.
iOS It is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for iPhones, iPads, and iPods. It is
supported only by Apple hardware. iOS 9 is the latest release of this operating system.

Lets Try It

1. Start your computer and see the changes on the computer screen. Shut down the
computer properly.
2. Identify and name the operating system installed in your computer.
3. Discuss the functions of operating system.
4. Discuss how to properly start the computer and shut down the computer.

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 Worksheet

1. What is an operating system?

2. Write functions of operating system.
3. Name any three operating systems for computers.
4. Name any two mobile operating systems.
5. Why is it necessary to properly shut down the computer?

4.4 DESKTOP OF WINDOWS AND LINUX

4.4.1 Windows 7 operating system
Windows 7 is an operating system developed by Microsoft and is used on personal computers.

After loading Windows 7, the first screen that appears on the monitor is called desktop. From the
desktop, you can access different components of Windows 7.

By default, Windows 7 has a picture for the desktop background. This is called wallpaper.

Small pictures on the desktop are called icons. These icons represent files, folders, applications, etc.
At the bottom of the desktop is a long bar called the Taskbar. To the left of the taskbar is the Start
button.

<A> Components of Windows 7 Desktop are shown below in figure 1:

icons
Computer
icon
Wall paper
Recycle
Bin

Task bar

Start
button

Let us discuss some special icons on the Desktop – Computer, Documents, My Network Places, and
Recycle Bin.

<B> Computer

It displays all the storage areas of the computer. Through the Computer icon, you can access all drives,
files, and folders on the computer.

<C> Documents

This contains area to store files on the computer.

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 <D> My Network places

It contains information about the interconnected computers.

<E> Recycle Bin

Files and folders deleted by the user are stored in the Recycle Bin. From Recycle Bin, you can retrieve
files or folders deleted by mistake.

Permanently Deleting Files

You can permanently delete the contents of the Recycle Bin in any one of the
following ways:

Right-click the Recycle Bin icon and then click Empty Recycle Bin.

OR

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon.

2. The Recycle Bin window appears. (Fig 2)
3. Click Empty the Recycle Bin.

Fig 2

Restore Files/Folder from Recycle Bin window

Fig 3
To recover a file from the Recycle Bin, right-click the file, and then click Restore. (Fig 3)
Or
Select the file and click Restore this item
<F> Taskbar

Taskbar is the long horizontal bar present at the bottom of the screen. To the left is the Start button.
Right of the taskbar contains Date/Time. You can also see icons of active applications and some
shortcuts on the Taskbar

The main components of Taskbar are shown in the following figure 4:

Active Notification
Start button Date/Time icon
Applications Area

Fig 4 Taskbar

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<G> Start button It is located on the left of the taskbar. Clicking
the Start button opens the Start menu and provides access to
programs and features, like:

Shut Down:- allows the user to turn off the computer

All Programs:- Provides access to all the installed programs and

applications. To start an application, just click it.

Search Box:- This allows the user to search a file or a folder or run
executable files.

Control panel:- This allows the user to change various settings.

Lets Try It

1. Start your computer.

2. Name the operating system on your computer. _____________________.
3. Observe the icons on the desktop. Identify Computer icon, Recycle Bin, Start button, taskbar,
etc.
4. Double-click Computer icon.
5. Write down the partitions of the hard disk.
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
6. Identify removable disks on the computer.
______________
______________
______________
______________
7. Double-click Recycle Bin.
8. Restore any one file.
9. Empty Recycle Bin.
10. Click Start button.
11. Write names of any three programs/applications installed in your computer.
_________________
_________________
_________________
12. Change the Wallpaper using following steps:
a. Click Start ➢ Control panel.
b. Under Appearance and personalization, click Change desktop background.
c. In the window that appears, select the desired picture.
d. Click Save Changes button.

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 Worksheet

1. The first screen that appears after starting the computer is called ________
2. Small pictures on the desktop are called __________
3. The long horizontal bar present at the bottom of the desktop is called _________
4. Name the folder where all the temporarily deleted files are stored.
5. How can you recover files from Recycle Bin?

4.5 FILES AND FOLDER

Everything you store on your computer is stored in the form of a file. Files can be separately placed
into groups, called folders/directories. Each directory/folder can contain related files and/or sub-
folders. This allows easy accessibility of files.

4.5.1 Creating a folder

The steps to create a new folder are:

1. Double-click the Computer icon. (Fig 5 )

Fig 5 Fig 6 Files and folders in Local

Disc D:
2. Select the drive in which you want to create a new folder. Say, Local Disk D:.
3. Window will open up showing files and folders in Local Disc D: (Fig 6 )
4. Click New Folder on the toolbar.
Or
Right-click anywhere in the blank area of the right column. A shortcut menu appears. Select
New ➢ Folder from the shortcut menu. (Fig 7 )

Fig 7 Shortcut Menu

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 Fig 8 New Folder created

5. A new folder is created with name New Folder highlighted (Fig 8 ).

6. Type a name for the folder (Fig 9 ). Press Enter key.

Fig 9 Naming a folder

4.5.2 Creating a file

To create a new file:

1. Right-click anywhere in the blank

area of the right-column.
2. In the Shortcut menu, click New and
select the type of the file you want to
create. (Fig 10)

Fig 10 Creating a new file

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4.6 KEYBOARD AND MOUSE ACTIONS
4.6.1 keyboard operations
We already know that a keyboard has many keys on it. We can type numbers, letters, and symbols by
pressing keys of the keyboard. The characters we press on the keyboard appear on the screen.

The most common keyboard used these days is QWERTY keyboard. It

is so called because the first six letters on the keyboard are Q,W,E,R,T,
and Y.

Let us discuss some special keys of the keyboard.

Backspace key

This key is used to erase the character to the left of the

cursor.

Delete key

This key is used to delete the

character to the right of the cursor.

Caps Lock key

The Caps Lock key is present on the left side of the

keyboard. When you press the Caps Lock key, a light is
turned on. When the Caps Lock key is ON, all the letters
you type will appear in uppercase (capital).

If the Caps Lock key is turned off, all the letters you type
will appear in lowercase.

Alt key

This key is used in combination with other keys to perform certain actions. It
is located on both sides of the space bar key. It can be sued to access the
options in the File menu or Ribbon. For example, pressing Ctrl + Alt +Del keys
together, opens the Windows Task Manager window.

Shift Key

The Shift key is used along with the other keys. There are two shift keys
on the keyboard. The Shift key is used to type the upper symbol present
on some of the keys of the keyboard.

It is also used to type letters in uppercase, if Caps Lock key is off.

If Caps Lock key is on, the Shift key can be used to type alphabets in
lowercase.

Ctrl (Control) key

This key is used in combination with other keys for performing particular
operation. For example, Ctrl + C is keyboard shortcut for Copy command,
Ctrl + V is the keyboard shortcut for paste command.

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Esc (Escape) key

Esc key is found on the top left corner of the keyboard. This key is used to stop an
action, leave a program, close a dialog box, etc. For example, you can stop a
browser from loading web page if it is taking too long. You can also close a dialog
box by pressing Esc key.

Function keys

On the top of the keyboard, there are function keys marked from F1, F2, f3, and so on. These keys
have special function defined by operating system or currently running program. They may be
combined with Alt or Ctrl keys. For example, F1 key is used as the Help key in almost every program.
On pressing this key, the help screen appears.

Also pressing Windows key + F1 opens the Microsoft Windows help and support centre.

Tab key

Pressing this key moves the cursor several places along the same line.

Fn (Function) key

Function (Fn) key is found in most laptop

computers and some desktop computer keyboards. This key can be used to
perform special hardware functions, such as adjusting the screen brightness,
volume of the speaker, etc.

On pressing the fn key and the key that increases the brightness on the
laptop screen.

Print Screen key

When you press this key, the current screen image is sent to the computer
clipboard. Once the image is stored in the clipboard, you can paste the image
in any image editor or any other program.

4.6.2 Mouse actions

When you move the mouse, a tilted arrow, called the mouse pointer moves on the screen. The
mouse pointer helps in pointing and selecting objects on the screen.

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Different mouse actions are:

• Click
• Double-click
• Right-click
• Drag and drop
Click

Clicking the mouse means pressing the left mouse button once and releasing it. A click is used to
select an item on the computer monitor.

Double-click

Double-clicking the left mouse button twice within a short period of time and releasing it. This action
is used to open a program, a file, or a folder.

Right-click

Right-clicking the mouse means clicking the right button of the mouse once. This shows a list of
commands.

Drag and drop

Drag and drop action of mouse is used to move an item from one position to another.

4.7 COMMON DESKTOP OPERATIONS

4.7.1 Moving an icon from one position to another
Lets see how to move the icon ‘Recycle Bin’ on the Desktop from one position to another.

1. Place the mouse pointer on the icon ‘Recycle Bin’.

2. Press and hold the mouse button. (Fig 11)

Fig 11

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 3. Holding the mouse button, drag the icon to the new position. (Fig 12)

Fig 12

4. Release the mouse button.

4.7.2 Using Computer icon on Desktop

When you double-click Computer icon, a window shown below appears on the screen. In the following
figure, you can see that hard disk has three partitions- Local Disk (C:), Local Disk (D:) , and New Volume
(F:) . Also a removable DVD Drive (E: ) is there in the system.

Hard disk
drives

Removable
disk drives like
CD, DVD, Pen
Drive

Fig 13 Computer Window

To view the contents of any item, e.g., a particular hard disk drive partition, double-click its icon.

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 Lets Try It
1. Create a folder on the desktop named ‘MyPracticalFile’.
a. Open this folder ‘MyPracticalFile’.
b. Right-click anywhere in the blank area of the right-column.
c. In the Shortcut menu, click New and select the type of the file you want to create, say Text
Document.
d. The default name for the text document appears. Type the desired name and press Enter key.
e. Double-click to open the file in Notepad (in this case).
f. Type few lines on the topic ‘Functions of Operating system’.
g. Save the file by pressing Ctrl + S or by selecting Save option from the File menu.
2. Discuss the concept of files and folders. Also discuss the importance of creating folders.

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