BTA Study Sheet for Networking, File Management and Windows

  1. A network is a group of computers connected together in some way that can communicate with each other through connections or links.
  2. A LAN is a Local Area Network. These computers are geographically close together.
  3. A WAN is a Wide Area Network. A group of networked computers that are not geographically close together.
  4. A WAN is far apart and a LAN’s computers are close together.
  5. Internet is the largest WAN.
  6. Sharing resources such as printers and programs and sharing files
  7. A server is a central computer that stores files for everyone connected to a network to make them easier to manage and protect. The computers connected to it are called clients.
  8. This is a picture of a simple network. Please remember the pictures of the ones I showed you in class. This is a local area network. A wide area network would have a connection to other computers and/or networks through the router or a server. On the test, you must label the computers as clients, label the server, etc.

File Management

  1. A file management system is a way to organize data on a computer that is logical and makes things easier to find. Windows uses a hierarchical system to organize folders and files.
  2. Drives, folders and files are like a filing cabinet.
  3. If you create appropriate folders, it will be easier to locate your work. In class, we discussed ways to save your work at school. Examples: To organize by class, to organize by purpose, to organize by teacher, to organize by program (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), etc.
  4. A file is a storage place for data.
  5. The three letters that occur after the dot in a filename. These will tell you what kind of file it is.
  6. a. jpg files are pictures

b. txt files contain text only

c. pdf files are usually opened with Adobe reader and are read-only documents (they cannot be edited)

d. doc files are Word documents

  1. What do each of these drive letters stand for? A: and B: are usually floppy drives; C: is usually the hard drive in that computer; D: and E: are usually CD or DVD drives; F:-Z drives are usually network drives. The U: drive at our school is a network drive located on the server where student folders and files are stored.
  2. We only save to the U: drive for a couple of reasons. (1) In order for the teacher to be able be access your work, it must be saved on the U: drive. (2) If a computer stops working or you want to access your files in another room, you must save to the U: drive in order to able to get to your work.
  3. We do not save to the C: drive because you can only access that document by sitting at that computer.

Windows

  1. When you start Windows, you are at the desktop.
  2. When you want to see what documents or applications you have open, you should look at the task bar.
  3. The button to send a document to the taskbar is the minimize button.
  4. To close an application, you should click the X or the close button located on the title bar.
  5. The part of a Windows screen that allows you to choose what to do next is the menu bar.
  6. My Computer allows you to see all of the devices that are available on that computer. If you click on a drive letter, it will show you the file hierarchy on that drive including folders, subfolders, and files.
  7. You can click on the diagonal lines in the right-hand corner of the window, or choose the maximize or restore down button, or grab the side of the window with the mouse, hold down the left mouse button and drag.
  8. To move a Window, grab the title bar with the mouse and click and drag.
  9. Cascading windows are the default. This means that they pile up on top of one another in layers, just like water in a waterfall. If you choose to tile windows, it will show all open applications side by side.
  10. When your computer is booted up and ready to use, the screen you see is called the desktop. It is the background for all programs. On the desktop are icons or pictures. Some of the these represent application shortcuts; some of these represent shortcuts to a document or a folder. At the bottom of the desktop is the taskbar. The taskbar contains the Start button which allows you to access programs on your computer, a quick launch section which has quick ways to launch programs, any open applications you have at that time, and a notification area which is a place for your computer to notify you of things like new mail, the time, if you have a new device connected, speaker volume, etc.

The next illustration is an example of a typical program Window. You will have to label the parts of a Window on the test.

Miscellaneous items:

  1. Why is the recycle bin important?
  2. How many active Windows can you have at one time?
  3. How can you switch between open applications without using the mouse?