Lab Exercise 1: The Windows Operating System

Lab Exercise 1: The Windows Operating System

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Opening Windows Explorer and creating a new folder

1. Go to the START menu, click on the All Programs option, then click on ACCESSORIES.

2. Choose WINDOWS EXPLORER

3. There are two other shortcuts to Windows Explorer:

1. Right click on the Start button and select Explore.

2. Press WINKEY + E (WINKEY is the key with the Windows logo on it between Ctrl and Alt keys)

4. Insert your USB flash drive.

5. Click “Removable Disk (F:)” in the left window. If you named your drive, it will have that name instead. (You may have to expand the My Computer selection to see the F: drive)

6. In the Right window, right click on the empty space.

7. On the pop-up menu, select New → Folder

8. Name that folder ”<L ast Name First Name> File Systems Lab”, e.g., John Doe's folder would be Doe John File Systems Lab. You have created a directory on your disk.

Collapse and Expand the Individual drives

1. Click the minus or the plus sign next to My Computer. To collapse or expand the folder view, toggle the signs back and forth a few times for practice, ending with the minus sign next to My Computer.

2. Click the plus sign next to drive F:\. The plus sign will become a minus, designating that the drive has been expanded. The folders that you created in the root of your desk are now visible in the left window. Only when you click on a drive or folder in the left window, will the contents be displayed in the right window.

3. Remember: a plus sign means clicking will expand it, and a minus sign means clicking will retract it.

Finding the G:\ drive

1. Besides the F:\ drive, we will also be using the network to download and upload files. The network we will be using has been setup for you. It will be the last drive under My Computer. The name of the drive is student files on 'Service-dc' (G:). This is also known as the G:\ drive. Files for assignments will be available there, and you will also turn in your electronic assignments on this drive.

2. Click the plus sign next to this drive, there is a folder for the Elements and Fluency sections of the course.

3. Click the plus sign next to the 128 Elements folder. There is an Incoming and an Outgoing folder.

4. Click the plus sign next to the Incoming folder. You will not see anything because you are not allowed to view the contents of this folder.

5. End this step with ever folder collapsed. (i.e. there should be a plus sign next to every drive.)

Creating folders with different method of finding the G:\ drive

1. Click once on the words “Removable Disk (F:)” in the left window.

2. Open the File menu by clicking on the word File on the menu bar

3. Select the New option and then select the Folder option

4. Name this folder “Today”. (You have just created another folder on the root of your flash drive.)

Changing the appearance of Windows

1. Click on the Start bar.

2. Then select Control Panel. The Control Panel will contain most of the options you would use to change the way Windows works. For a more detailed description of each item, try researching them online.

3. Under the Control Panel icon options, select Display. This pulls up the Display properties box; from here we can modify the look and feel of Windows.

4. Under the Desktop tab, change the background to Ripple. Click the Apply button to finalize the change.

5. If the Desktop is not visible, either minimize each application individually using the left-most button in the right corner of an application, or use the shortcut WINKEY + M. This will minimize every window for you.

6. To restore all of the application windows, either click on each one individually on the task bar or use the shortcut WINKEY + SHIFT+ M.

7. The Display properties box can change the background, screensaver, or color scheme of windows. If you are tired of the blue title boxes on applications, they can be changed under Display properties. The Display properties can also be reached by right clicking on the Desktop and selecting Properties. Try closing the Display properties and reopening it using that method.

8. Change the background back to Bliss and select Apply, then click OK to close the Display properties.

Adding subfolders

1. Click once on the ”<Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab”, the folder you just created in the left window.

2. On the right window, create another folder, name ”Text Files”, using the first method that you learned.

3. Now you should have two folders in the root directory and one folder under ”<Last Name Firtst Name> File Systems Lab” folder.

Searching for files

1. To search, click on the Start bar, then select Search (shortcut: WINKEY + F)

2. On the left side there are several options to help facilitate your search. If you know more about the files or folder you are trying to find,

it will make the search faster. However, we don't, so select the All files and folders option.

3. There will now be a Search criteria window on the left. The first box is where you type the name or extension of the file you're looking

for. Type in FindFile.txt

4. Next we have to select where the file might be found. This file is somewhere on the G: drive, so under the Look In option, select the G: drive. Now click Search to begin looking.

5. Hopefully file appeared on the right side of the Search window. Listed there will be the name of the file and its location. Select the file name that is in the Data Files folder.

6. Right click on the file name and select Open Containing Folder. This will open a new window to the file.

7. Close the search window and select the newly opened window.

Sorting files

1. Sometimes there are multiple files in a directory and it is useful to sort them to find the ones we want. To easily sort first select View →Details from the menu options. Now the Category listings above the first file allow us to sort. The basic option are Name, Size, Type, and Date Modified.

2. By clicking on one of these, the files in the directory will be sorted in ascending order (i.e. alphabetical) by that option. If the same

option is clicking again, the files will be sorted in descending order (i.e. reverse alphabetical).

3. Let's sort by Name first. Click the Name field above the first file. Now click the Type field. Finally sort by Size.

Copying files

1. Now we want to copy FindFile.txt and Story.txt to the Text Files folder on your disk. Luckily when we sorted by size the files were placed together, thus making it easy to select them.

2. The simplest way to copy the files is to click the Folders button near the top of the window. This will take us to the Windows Explorer view. Now select the files FindFile.txt and Story.txt, then Right Click on one of them. This will bring up a small menu, select Copy from the menu. To copy multiple files, or alternatively you can drag a rectangle around the items you want but that doesn't start directly on a file.

3. Now using the Windows Explorer, select the F: drive, and then continue clicking ”+” signs until the <LastName FirstName> folder is

visible. Right click on the <LastName FirstName> folder and select Paste. This copies the files

4. The shortcut keys for copying the CTRL + C, and the shortcut keys for pasting CTRL + V.

Helpful Hotkeys

_ ALT + TAB - If there are multiple applications open, this will switch between them.

_ WINKEY + M - This command will minimize an application.

_ WINKEY + SHIFT + M - This command will maximize an application, it will undo the previous one.

_ WINKEY + D - This command will minimize an application, which is an easy way to get to the desktop.

Double click on ”<Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder.

From now on you will be working on your flash disk

1. Moving a File

_ Open the ”<Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder, select the ”Story” file by clicking on it only once. Then right click and drag it to the ”Text Files” folder in the same directory. Release your finger and choose the Move Here option from

the pop-up menu. Note that the file you moved just disappearing from the ”<last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder.

Moving a file removes the original.

2. Deleting a file

_ Click on the “Text Files” folder. Select the “Story” file. Right click on the highlighted area and choose Delete. You can also

select a file and press the Delete key to remove files. When asked if you really want to delete the file, choose yes.

3. Renaming a file

_ Right click on the ”FindFile.txt”. From the pop-up menu choose the rename option. Then type ”FileLab.txt”. Hit enter, or click

on white space, to complete the renaming.

4. Close Windows Explorer.

Submit your lab

Your grade for this lab will depend on two things:

1. Copy your ”<Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder to the Incoming folder on the G:\ drive by dragging the folder and dropping it in the Incoming folder. Another way is to right click on the <Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder, select Copy, then right click on the Incoming folder and select Paste.

_ If you do not submit your lab you will not receive a grade for this part.

2. Send your TA an email.

_ Attach your <Last Name First Name> File Systems Lab” folder to the e-mail (Your folder needs to be compressed before it can be attached to your e-mail. In order to compress the folder, right-click on it, select Send to, and then select Compressed (zipped) folder.

_TA's email address located on this site.

_ Make the subject of the email [EECS 128 -Section# ] Lab 1 Submission. Following directions is a large part of lab. Just to make sure you are paying attention the subject of the email will be graded.

_ You may include any text that you wish. “I am completing my lab 1 submission” will suffice if you can't think of anything creative.

_ Make sure that you put your name in the email.