This guide deals with disk format, Microsoft Paint software, the basic tools of any graphic software and how to save a document.

FORMAT

Disk Format is the way in which operating systems organize the distribution of information on a magnetic disk. If a disk is not formatted appropriately, the P.C. cannot read it. All disks have to be formatted in order to be read.

Activity I

1) Open My Computer.

2) Insert your diskette into the floppy disk drive (Drive A:) and Format it.

The procedure is:

• Right click (this means click with the right mouse button) the Drive A: icon. This will open the Shortcut menu of commands related to this item. (You could also choose Format from the File menu).

	The context menu is a menu which contains all commands directly related to the action you are performing. You can access this menu by right clicking the corresponding element.
	Among the options you get for Drive A: is Format... By clicking here a dialog box will open asking for information about how to format the disk.

• Choose Format…

• In the dialog box check Quick. Then click Start. (If the disk hasn't had previous format, the machine will ask if you wish to give it a full format. Say Yes).

• Close the Format Results box that appears and the Format dialog box. Your disk is now ready for use. You will save here all the practice exercises.

WARNING!: Formatting destroys information if there is any.

3) Open your disks window (double-click the Drive A: icon). It will be empty.

From the menus you can create folders in order to organize the information that you put into the machine.

For this, you use the File - New - Folder command (from the File menu of the open window). You will see a new folder appears every time you do that. It has a windows-suggested name which is selected (highlighted in blue). This means you can immediately name from the keyboard. After you name it just hit enter or click on a white area of the window to save it (it will un-select).

If for some reason the folder name un-selects or you want to change an existing folder or file name, you can select it again by clicking the the icon or name once and after a short interval clicking the name once again.

Note: don't click twice too quickly or it will think you want to open the folder (as in a double click) and a window will appear showing it's contents (empty of course).

4) Using File - New - Folder, create the following folder structure on your disk:

 

Tests with Windows 98 School Work Letters

Personal Business Family

Grandparents Uncles Cousins

Note: All these folders are in Drive A: but Personal, Business and Family are contained in Letters. In turn, Grandparents, Uncles and Cousins are in the Family folder. To create folders inside others, you must first create the 'level 1' folders which will contain the others. Then you open these first ones by double clicking them. Now you use File - New - Folder from the window menu that just opened.

5) Delete the Uncles and School Work folders. (Select the folder you wish to eliminate and hit the Delete key.)

6) Verifiy that the structure has now become:

 

Tests with Windows 98 Letters

Personal Business Family

Grandparents Cousins

Activity II

1) Open Microsoft Paint (Start - Programs - Accessories - Paint).

 

Paint is an application you can use to create logos, drawings, illustrations, cards or any other graphic. When you open Paint a blank work sheet called untitled opens.

2) Draw anything you like trying to use various tools, line widths and colors. Experiment with the tools and if you want, get help from the Help menu from the Paint window.

PAINT WINDOW ITEMS

TRICK: Point at a tool (pencil, eraser, magnifier etc.) and wait for information about it to appear. Right next to the tool you will see a flag with it's name and on the status bar you will see a short description about it.

3) Add a title to your work using the Pencil tool and writing with the mouse.

4) Write your name under the drawing using the text tool.

When saving a file for the first time you must use File - Save as... For this, you will need to enter some information in the Save as dialog box:

• In what drive to save: to choose the floppy disk you can drop the available drives list and choose 3½ Floppy (A:).

• In which folder: you can double click on the desired folder and subfolders (Tests with Windows 98).

• The name you must write in the text field (Creation).

• Then click Save.

5) Save your work as Creation in Tests with Windows 98 on your disk.

If you want more information about saving, see the Saving Guide